Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Reviews
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 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 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: Final Fantasy Origin is an incredibly fun game, filled with bombastic combat, which also expands on the existing lore of the original Final Fantasy.
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 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.
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full of opportunities, how is it possible to have such a classic game, not surprising, with a messy history and simply outdated?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
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
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.
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.
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 Origin is an action-oriented RPG whose gameplay mechanics are almost entirely based on those of Nioh, one of the most prominent Dark Souls clones. The game is a bit outdated in its layout and it seems to come from another age.
Review in French | Read full review
When paired with the “so bad, it’s good” story and dialogue, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a good time for the partly the wrong reasons. Critically, it’s not great. You’ve still got a car crash of a game on your hands. But, it’s a car crash you can’t look away from. In the meantime, the combat and job system is a rollercoaster ride which takes you right past it, being a wild ride in its own right.
Strangers of Paradise is a loveable action-RPG despite its best efforts to spoil itself with a story that only becomes interesting in the last hour. The action is a little messy and not all of the moving parts gel together perfectly, but it's got a compelling janky charm that is hard to ignore.
Enjoyable Souls-lite combat can't make up for the tedious loot system and laughably bad storytelling, in this misconceived Final Fantasy spin-off.
Will Final Fantasy diehards get a kick out of Stranger of Paradise? It's hard to say. There are multiple enjoyable nods to past games throughout the levels, enemies and pieces of lore. The soundtrack is excellent, featuring remixed or remastered themes of multiple games. The combat is fast paced and the extensive job system takes the Final Fantasy system of old and thoroughly modernises it. Yet the game is decidedly un-Final Fantasy. Exploration is minimal, the story takes far too long to get going, the dialogue is often laughable and the characters are mostly bland blank slates. As an over the top action cheese-fest, the game puts points on the board. Just don't expect it to compete with the greatest hits.
There’s not much by the way of emotional connection to this game. It’s old-fashioned, cliched in its storytelling and I found myself constantly hitting the skip button to get to the actual fighting.
With Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Team Ninja has produced yet another rather good Final Fantasy action game. With its deep yet more forgiving combat system, it can appeal to those not seeking the challenging experiences of something like Nioh. Furthermore, with its complex mix-and-match Jobs system, it brings a uniquely Final Fantasy flair to the hack-and-slash genre. Unfortunately, its dull protagonist and plot may struggle to keep the attention of anyone curious about the backstory it is trying to create for the original Final Fantasy. The loot system could also do with some overhauls. Still, you can certainly do worse than Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin if you’re looking for a new multiplayer action game with some clever Final Fantasy twists.
While some may be put off by the game’s approach to storytelling, and the unfortunate graphical situation, the sum of all of Stranger of Paradise’s parts outweighs its issues. The game is about an amnesiac edgelord who wants to kill Chaos. The game is about discovering what friendship truly entails, and how far someone would go to protect what they love. The game is about forgiveness, and overthrowing the shackles placed unjustly by those in power. The game is about punching the ever-loving crap out of a Cactuar, grabbing it by its legs, and exploding it in a finely-pasted mist while your friends cheer you on.