Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Reviews

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is ranked in the 48th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Mar 14, 2022

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.

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Mar 14, 2022

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.

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Wccftech
Top Critic
8.2 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2022

Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise is a chaotic alternative retelling of the very first Final Fantasy, following story beat by beat until it transforms into something unique in its own way.

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6 / 10
Mar 14, 2022

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin thinks that it's Daniel Craig's James Bond but it's actually Austin Powers. There's barely a moment in the game that isn't stretching credulity, be it the absurd writing, bewildering story, or inane characters. There's a host of technical issues, too. But somehow, despite everything, it manages to fail upwards and be a pretty good time. Maybe we've lost the plot but we liked it.

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8 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2022

Narratively speaking, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin would be a badly written JRPG, but luckily Square Enix and Koei Tecmo's latest game is more than anything a very engaging action game that is very faithful to its source. Not perfect by any means but still enjoyable, the Nioh "soulslike" formula applied to the epic of Final Fantasy gives flesh to an interesting action game with a suprisingly deep learning curve and accessibility options that welcome any kind of player to the party.

Review in Italian | Read full review

6.5 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2022

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.

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Mar 14, 2022

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.

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JVL
Kikitoès
Top Critic
12 / 20
Mar 14, 2022

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

GameMAG
Top Critic
5 / 10
May 18, 2022

It would be better if instead of this Team Ninja made another Dark Souls clone, which they do great.

Review in Russian | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Jul 29, 2022

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins - Trials of the Dragon King is a DLC aimed at those who have played the base game beyond its ending, providing new customization options, a new difficulty setting, new difficulty modifiers and more. Beyond this, the expansion doesn't provide a lot of new story and gameplay content, making it a worthy purchase only for those who have found Chaos mode too tame, and are ready to get challenged again by the base game's foes and a few new ones.

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6 / 10.0
Nov 4, 2022

With little additional story and gameplay content, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Wanderer of the Rift is yet another endgame expansion that doesn't introduce enough new features to make most players return to the Strangers' world worthwhile. Only hardcore players who want to explore the maximum potential of the game's mechanics will find some value in an expansion that feels even more disappointing than the one that came before it.

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8 / 10.0
Feb 2, 2023

With a bigger focus on story, new challenging content, a new weapon type and Jobs that add more combat and customization possibilities, Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - Different Future is, without a doubt, the best DLC released by Team Ninja for its game. While the jump in difficulty from the previous DLC isn't as big as it was in the previous expansions, Lufenia difficulty will still wreck unprepared players, making playing the expansion's new content in Extra Mode the only viable way for those who do not want to spend hours upon hours grinding for gear and materials.

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60 / 100
Apr 22, 2023

All in all, I don’t think I can recommend Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. Maybe if you have a dedicated gaming PC and don’t care about lackluster narrative presentation, you’ll enjoy it. As it is, I can only shake my head and go back to Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion.

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4 / 5.0
Mar 14, 2022

Stranger of Paradise is a peanut butter and chocolate combination of Final Fantasy XV and Nioh. The beauty of it is that you don’t even have to be a fan of Final Fantasy I to enjoy Stranger of Paradise. The story explains everything you need to know and anything you bring into it from previous knowledge is just extra. The combat is just spicy enough that you can feel like a powerhouse, but lets the players somewhat tweak the difficulty to their own desires if they’d rather face a tougher challenge. If this is the way that Square Enix will be remaking the early Final Fantasy games I am entirely in. This iteration takes modernization to the best possible level.

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7.5 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2022

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is a wacky game that will end up being a cult classic. The devs were not afraid to march to the beat of their own drum, and the result is the type of slightly messy, unique AA game that we used to get in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It’s goofy, flawed, and fabulous, and I hope Square Enix continues to lean into publishing more experimental titles like this.

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ACG
Top Critic
Wait for Sale
Mar 14, 2022
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Review "Buy, Wait, Never Touch? video thumbnail
Mar 14, 2022

Final Fantasy Origin will enthrall players with its dumb, but awesome story and approachable Soulslike gameplay.

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Mar 14, 2022

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.

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75 / 100
Mar 15, 2022

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

7 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2022

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