Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Reviews
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a B-movie game. It’s loud, dumb, and full of fun. You have to ignore a lot – a lot – of issues if you want to extract the joy from its chaotic heart, but once you commit, toy around with the weapons, penetrate its poorly-explained mechanics and forgive Jack for his one-dimensional personality, you’re left with a game that’s part Devil May Cry, part Nioh, and part Face/Off. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to play that?
Enjoyable Souls-lite combat can't make up for the tedious loot system and laughably bad storytelling, in this misconceived Final Fantasy spin-off.
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 feels like a game anchored to two generations ago. Although this can often be seen as a positive aspect, it is not so much when it represents truly poor graphics and an empty story that hinders more than contributes. Still, the combat system offers a fun and fresh experience that will satisfy fans of action games.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise is a game that will mainly interest the fan. The game doesn't have a very strong storyline and can feel very monotonous after a while. Also, the game doesn't look very nice. Fortunately, the cool combat system makes up for a lot. This certainly doesn't make the game great, but it does work as it should and plays very nicely. A disappointment that may still please you.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Overall, I would say that you should play Stranger of Paradise for its combat and not its story. While there are nuggets available for series fans, this isn’t the pinnacle of storytelling by any means. It’s best to dive into the gore rather than the lore; fight for fun, be like Jack and focus on the Chaos. Certainly don’t expect this to be a brilliant subversion of the original Final Fantasy’s narrative.
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.
Stranger of Paradise is a good game, but it had the potential to be a great game. Its self seriousness backfires to a genuinely endearing degree, but also leaves the story poorly fleshed out and possibly hard to follow. The combat may be fun, fluid, and visceral, but issues with the PC version should make players look to other platforms.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin feels like a wasted opportunity, with an intriguing base idea but a lackluster plot, bad characterization and a disappointing technical production. It's partly saved by a satisfying - although not original - gameplay and a surprising ending.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I have mixed feelings with Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, a game that makes constant Final Fantasy one winks, a magnificent Combat of Team Ninja and a sublime soundtrack, but all this is tarnished by a poor technical section and an absurd plot. I don't know if I recommend the game, I leave that to your discretion. What weighs more for you, the combat or the story? If it is the second, I do not advise you to compare it. That's right, it's not a bad game as a whole, but I can't encourage you to buy it when you're only going to enjoy 10 minutes of it. Not to forget its missions, well, be prepared to walk endless corridors with non-existent lighting.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin shines in its combat system and its class system, leaving the story in something more anecdotal.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
There’s no denying that Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin has its unintentionally awkward moments when it comes to the story, but at its core it’s a solid experience from both a gameplay standpoint and in terms of how it links back to the entire Final Fantasy universe. In fact, fans of the franchise will certainly be blindsided by nostalgia when it comes to music and settings, so I encourage newcomers to the series to try a few of the mainline entries first if they want to get the most out of this one. As for me, I found myself enjoying Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin in the same way that I enjoyed Final Fantasy X-2: preferring combat to story. Simply put, as long as you set your expectations accordingly, you’ll have a good time.
It’s somewhat fitting that in this topsy-turvy action spin-off, the only thing that’s truly upside-down is the presentation of the original game’s story. Even as the narrative stumbles, the core gameplay is strong enough to motivate to see this story through to completion, no matter how chaotic.
Stranger Of Paradise combines Nioh's gameplay and Final Fantasy worlds in a very beautiful way, providing a rather good experience even with problems with the characters and the repetition of missions
Review in Arabic | 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.
What we're left with is a Frankenstein's monster of a game, with nowhere to call home and no one to love it. The worst part is that it's a damn fun time that deserves attention for its merits.
As much as I want to love this game as a whole, the story lets it down. That being said, the combat and build up to the various boss fights were unarguably brilliant.
All leading to an ending that long-time fans will appreciate but newcomers will leave confused. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a mixed bag of highs and lows that collide together for an average adventure.
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.