Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Reviews
Trashy Final Fantasy spinoff with a boring story, but one that scores with an ingenious combat system and online co-op.
Review in German | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins is a strange, ridiculous, and largely delightful game. You have to accept a game that is almost painfully free of irony and self-awareness, but if you do, you'll find one of the most enjoyable spin-offs to carry the Final Fantasy name. The combat is fast, frantic, and fun, and the customization options are through the roof. The only thing that holds it back is if players enjoy the story in the same campy way as Resident Evil 4 or only find it to be frustratingly unfun.
It can be challenging to wrap one's head around Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. On the one hand, it is utterly steeped in Final Fantasy mythology. And yet, it's a far cry from a traditional Final Fantasy game. In a way, it feels like an attempt to apply the Final Fantasy VII Remake approach to a game much less suited to such treatment, with fascinating, if not entirely successful, results. Fans of heavily customizable action games will find a lot to love but might be divorced from the nods and homages to Final Fantasy history. It'll be the players who have a foot in both worlds that will most enjoy Stranger of Paradise, but despite some narrative pacing issues and a bit of bloat, most players will find it an enjoyable, action-packed fantasy adventure.
Square Enix and Team Ninja's latest experiment is a diamond in the rough that you have to sort through depending on which aspects you consider most important in a video game. The anachronistic technical aspect, the confusing visual style, and above all the terrible level of writing will risk alienating players looking for a "classic" Final Fantasy. If you can disengage from expectations and not place too much importance on the story, you might even find its overt tamarazzine hilarious. Within these rough edges, however, pulses a solid action RPG with a technical and layered battle system that, despite its flaws, pleasantly dragged us through hours of challenging and damn fun combat, especially against bosses. If you've never played a soulslike before, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin might be the best way to take your first step into a genre of games with a higher than average level of challenge, but even if you've grown up on bread and Estus you'd do well not to take it lightly. More than ever, we recommend trying out the online demo before deciding whether or not to buy it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
We expected nothing and we are still disappointed. With a studio with a rather nice track record and such a strong license, full of opportunities, how is it possible to have such a classic game, not surprising, with a messy history and simply outdated?
Review in French | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is basically the best of both worlds with the combination of Square Enix’s RPG elements merging with Team Ninja’s fighting mechanics to create a whole new experience for the series. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is still very much a Final Fantasy game, but it's great to see Square Enix take a risk with this title which has been fantastically executed.
An action RPG with several technical and structural problems, fun at times but too immature to achieve the objectives it sets itself.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an incredibly fun game, filled with bombastic combat, which also expands on the existing lore of the original Final Fantasy.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin seems to prove that the Final Fantasy franchise can thrive in the action game scene with this first franchise venture from Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo. The title isn't a true home run, but it is an exciting adventure that expands the franchise lore in a unique direction. The Final Fantasy Job system is as interesting and exciting as ever and adds a unique twist on the action game format as players grind through each challenging dungeon and fill in all the Job talent trees one by one.
Stranger of Paradise is one of "those" games - a scuffed diamond that's a joy to play, yet has unmissable imperfections. However, while annoying, a poor story and bland visuals don't diminish its punchy RPG action, nor its rewarding web of character customisation options. Needless to say, we're pretty eager to see how Stranger is received by the Final Fantasy fandom.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a partially successful experiment. The deficient script and the anachronistic technical sector, without forgetting a listless artistic direction, are in this case counterbalanced by a layered combat system and largely borrowed from Nioh.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise is violent, dark, and brilliantly captivating. It’s a must-play for Final Fantasy fans. Steeped in sentiment and lovingly crafted homages to our favourite games, it offers a new mystery to unravel and breaks the mould of what you’d expect from the series. You might miss having a wide world to explore, proper side quests, and all the usual trimmings, but there’s a lot to love about Stranger of Paradise that you won’t find in your back catalogue of FF games.
True to its name, Stranger of Paradise is a bizarre game. The combat is so much fun that it carries the rest of the disjointed process to the finish line. Those looking for an easier Soulslike experience with a lot of Final Fantasy fanservice will find a lot to love in Stranger of Paradise, as will those who found Elden Ring unnecessarily punishing. Stranger of Paradise is a lot of fun, so long as the player takes on Jack's mindset, and only focuses on killing Chaos and doesn't think too hard about anything else.
I didn’t expect to enjoy smashing the heads of monsters like this. I also didn’t expect to enjoy a story about a hyper-masculine man like Jack. But what I’ve come to learn in my time with Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is that Jack isn’t a knight in shining armor. He’s better.
Final Fantasy Origin will enthrall players with its dumb, but awesome story and approachable Soulslike gameplay.
Stranger of Paradise is the perfect example of gameplay towering above the sum of its parts. I loved the combat and job system, which allows for dynamic battles and strategy. It's just a shame that the rest of the game feels low budget and unfinished. If you're looking for an origin story to the original Final Fantasy, you'll get it here, but chances are you may want to forget it as soon as you're done.
Underneath all of these issues, it is a great game with a lot of heart. But it is unfortunately held back by lackluster presentation of what could be an interesting story and the accumulation of the general lack of quality of life issues.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin isn't the strongest outing from Team Ninja, but players will likely enjoy the compelling job system and engaging combat... when performance issues aren't hampering them, that is.
All things considered, Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is a good spin-off. It feels different enough to stand out, without it being so different to throw fans off. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite check every box. Combat could be a little better, gameplay a bit deeper, story a little less goofy and so forth but it’s a good first attempt. One that is worth giving a go if you enjoy either experience.