Applies half-learned lessons about level design and class-based customization from the Soulslike genre with junky looting and spammy battle systems from the MMO genre and creates a pretty hysterical mutation out of the two of them. Likely more fun to get a group to laugh at/with but also just on the side of being too easy and silly to feel embarrassed to be playing this in this day and age (even if just because you have a PS+ Extra account for now) to try even random rooms. The type of game where you can discover a wind spell will blow away poison gas, but the arbitrary lava you have to get across isn't affected by spells but instead stopped by destroying the statue it's pouring out of.

This is one odd game. So odd that it's hard to talk about it critically. It's junk food. Is it arrogant to critique junk food? Do you treat McDonalds like you'd treat a restaurant, fine dining or not? Of course it's not the same thing, this used to be an AAA priced game on launch that got price-dropped afterwards, but it still isn't set out to wow you with its amazing story and visuals or whatever do AAA games promise nowadays, and that is fine.

That being said, it succeeds. It's a fun game with deep systems and engaging combat that makes you feel powerful, segmented by competent dungeon-crawling segments, each loosely based on a different numbered game in the series (which is unfortunately too subtle to be impactful). This is all accompanied by a story that is fun to experience and doesn't take itself seriously, but at the same time is a bit hard to follow and is not as meme-y or as satirical as it might seem for those who watched clips of it online. These funny moments are actually part of main character Jack's oddly compelling character development, something that is one of the game's biggest charms and gives the journey more meaning. Other than that, there's the in-depth job system that allows for a lot of customization and the amazing and surprisingly free co-op, which is by itself the ultimate way of experiencing this gem.

Overall, it's a relatively short soulslike experience that can be straight-forwardly played with friends, and that is something that I'm partial to. It being a Final Fantasy game with a Final Fantasy story is just icing on the cake.

I was curious by this game for the memes and ridiculous voice acting. Destroy Chaos. That is all I knew we had to do but this game went from a laugh fest to a heart-wrenching tale that made me cry.
First off, if you've played Nioh. Welcome to Nioh with a Final Fantasy skin. The gameplay, the mission layout, the currencies. It's flat out, Nioh and it's awesome.
The Nioh layout was a more accessible souls game and Stranger of Paradise does a fantastic job at being both easy if you want it to be and hard as freakin nails if you choose to play it's harder difficulty setting once you beat the game.
Our main character is Jack, a normal dude who has one goal. Destroy Chaos and that is his whole personality. The plot starts off very simple but then as you play, the hidden reports, the hidden meaning behind characters words. You begin to realise, that it's convoluted and way more intense than you think.
I can't stress enough how this game takes ridiculous over the top acting and gameplay and blends it in the end with the first time I have ever genuinely started crying in gameplay. Not just a cutscene.
This game IS ridiculous. This game IS over the top. However it manages to weave a fantastic ending and is just a huge throwback to how I felt playing a PS3 game for the first time in my parents lounge room.