You don't often get video games that are so bad they're good in the way that you get Steven Seagal movies or something because unfortunately you have to play them, but Stranger of Paradise fits the bill - it's a genuinely entertaining total fucking mess.
It may be objectively the most 7/10 FF of this decade, but what I've played was a banger. Jack made me genuinely laugh by how he acts as an over the top chad, gameplay is a mix of lootfest and Nioh. A guaranteed fun for me.
Nioh só que pior
This review contains spoilers
Being a fan of the final fantasy series. I wanted to at least give each game its fair share to see what exactly they all have that special to them. Which is why it's funny enough that I am starting with one of the newer titles that is a prequel to the original game.
In concept Stranger of Paradise is an interesting attempt to give a story to the character Jack Garland who spoiler alert, is the first boss of final fantasy one. So there's not a lot you can try to come up with there. But to their credit Square Enix and Team Ninja tried to at least do something.
The problem is it's very hard to get attached to a character that in the original game exists and gets defeated by 4 level 5 characters. Throughout the entire time with the story, I found it very hard to believe that this guy is the same person that I had to fight in the chaos shrine within the first maybe half an hour of final fantasy one.
I played through the whole game with a friend and tried to keep an open mind to the story and to try and let it all get into my head. So I could have my own opinions and see how good this story could possibly be. The only words I can say before I come back to it is anyone who says that Jack Garland is the best protagonist we have ever had in final fantasy is a liar. The story felt like it was beating me over the head for even trying to understand it and really only became good within the final hour maybe.
Combat wise the game is incredibly fun. Setting up classes however you want. Each having different abilities that make them viable and combing abilities from some classes makes the experience even more fun. For example, I played Dark Knight which allowed you to use your health to deal more damage so a risk vs reward. I would then add in abilities from other classes to recover HP so I wouldn't lose as much.
Graphically the game looks great. Each location is based off a location from all the past final fantasies up to that point so from 1 to 15, each places has a location tied to it. It was a love letter in the sense. Each location also used a motif from the original games so you could have part of the original song included in and it sounded so good. My favorite was 15's rep.
Now the actual story. The entire time you're getting these moments that are supposed to make Jack and his comrades seem as though they know each other very well but we never get to see them actually do anything together, and all these are just weird moments that make no sense until the very end. And even then it's still done poorly to the point that you still don't understand.
The game ends how you expect if you've played Final Fantasy. Jack has to become Chaos. However, the way in which they do was interesting, but feel flat for me. You find out that basically the world of Final Fantasy is being reset by another race of people to keep trying to balance light and dark within it to help with their own world??? It was kinda vague even then. And Jack has been sent in multiple times to keep the balance. By the time you take control of him, he has secretly set in motion the means to stop this reset and to have the world act in its own way and can't be controlled anymore.
The plan of course being, become Chaos. But due to the world being reset, they keep losing their memories. So Jack gets someone on the inside and basically says, "Hey, lead me and I will make sure this doesn't happen again." The rest of the party slowly gets their memories back but it takes Jack the longest to get it back so for the entire game you're as in the dark as he is. The second to last mission has the party remember what to do and fight Jack so he can kill them and regain more memories and corrupt himself to become chaos as you are now forced to kill your comrades which maybe would've made someone emotional but because of how it is handled you're kinda meh about it.
The final mission itself has you go and blast your way through the chaos shrine to go and take the fight back to the lufenians to take the world of FF1 back. You invade and fight Darkness Manifest which is Amano's art of Chaos turned into a 3D model and it looks fantastic. The game ends with Jack taking up the mantle of Chaos, his "friends" becoming the 4 fiends, and them saying we'll train the warriors of light ourselves as the game fades to black and begins the timeloop before cutting ahead the beginning of FF1 with Jack, officially in the Garland armor sitting on the throne in the chaos shrine as the Warrior of Light and his party enter. You see them wrapped in light before.... and I'm not joking... fucking Frank Sinatra's My Way starts playing and credits role.
The moment the credits hit, the bits I was starting to enjoy and even looking forward to immediately turned sour. I felt angry, annoyed, and felt like I was played for even trying to enjoy the story.
All in all. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origins is great with combat, cool outfits, but horribly captured characters that have no reasons for you to care about them till it's to late and a story that beats you up for trying to understand it.
I can not in good faith recommend this game unless you just want to ignore the story and beat the shit out of stuff.
While there is DLC for it I'm not sure when I'll get to it after how the story made me feel. But when I do this review will be updated.
In concept Stranger of Paradise is an interesting attempt to give a story to the character Jack Garland who spoiler alert, is the first boss of final fantasy one. So there's not a lot you can try to come up with there. But to their credit Square Enix and Team Ninja tried to at least do something.
The problem is it's very hard to get attached to a character that in the original game exists and gets defeated by 4 level 5 characters. Throughout the entire time with the story, I found it very hard to believe that this guy is the same person that I had to fight in the chaos shrine within the first maybe half an hour of final fantasy one.
I played through the whole game with a friend and tried to keep an open mind to the story and to try and let it all get into my head. So I could have my own opinions and see how good this story could possibly be. The only words I can say before I come back to it is anyone who says that Jack Garland is the best protagonist we have ever had in final fantasy is a liar. The story felt like it was beating me over the head for even trying to understand it and really only became good within the final hour maybe.
Combat wise the game is incredibly fun. Setting up classes however you want. Each having different abilities that make them viable and combing abilities from some classes makes the experience even more fun. For example, I played Dark Knight which allowed you to use your health to deal more damage so a risk vs reward. I would then add in abilities from other classes to recover HP so I wouldn't lose as much.
Graphically the game looks great. Each location is based off a location from all the past final fantasies up to that point so from 1 to 15, each places has a location tied to it. It was a love letter in the sense. Each location also used a motif from the original games so you could have part of the original song included in and it sounded so good. My favorite was 15's rep.
Now the actual story. The entire time you're getting these moments that are supposed to make Jack and his comrades seem as though they know each other very well but we never get to see them actually do anything together, and all these are just weird moments that make no sense until the very end. And even then it's still done poorly to the point that you still don't understand.
The game ends how you expect if you've played Final Fantasy. Jack has to become Chaos. However, the way in which they do was interesting, but feel flat for me. You find out that basically the world of Final Fantasy is being reset by another race of people to keep trying to balance light and dark within it to help with their own world??? It was kinda vague even then. And Jack has been sent in multiple times to keep the balance. By the time you take control of him, he has secretly set in motion the means to stop this reset and to have the world act in its own way and can't be controlled anymore.
The plan of course being, become Chaos. But due to the world being reset, they keep losing their memories. So Jack gets someone on the inside and basically says, "Hey, lead me and I will make sure this doesn't happen again." The rest of the party slowly gets their memories back but it takes Jack the longest to get it back so for the entire game you're as in the dark as he is. The second to last mission has the party remember what to do and fight Jack so he can kill them and regain more memories and corrupt himself to become chaos as you are now forced to kill your comrades which maybe would've made someone emotional but because of how it is handled you're kinda meh about it.
The final mission itself has you go and blast your way through the chaos shrine to go and take the fight back to the lufenians to take the world of FF1 back. You invade and fight Darkness Manifest which is Amano's art of Chaos turned into a 3D model and it looks fantastic. The game ends with Jack taking up the mantle of Chaos, his "friends" becoming the 4 fiends, and them saying we'll train the warriors of light ourselves as the game fades to black and begins the timeloop before cutting ahead the beginning of FF1 with Jack, officially in the Garland armor sitting on the throne in the chaos shrine as the Warrior of Light and his party enter. You see them wrapped in light before.... and I'm not joking... fucking Frank Sinatra's My Way starts playing and credits role.
The moment the credits hit, the bits I was starting to enjoy and even looking forward to immediately turned sour. I felt angry, annoyed, and felt like I was played for even trying to enjoy the story.
All in all. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origins is great with combat, cool outfits, but horribly captured characters that have no reasons for you to care about them till it's to late and a story that beats you up for trying to understand it.
I can not in good faith recommend this game unless you just want to ignore the story and beat the shit out of stuff.
While there is DLC for it I'm not sure when I'll get to it after how the story made me feel. But when I do this review will be updated.
Gameplay is coo I wish the story was in the whole game and not the last hour and the characters actually got development so I could care about any of them throughout the game and the soundtrack is pretty mediocre for a final fantasy anniversary game
Yeah, guys... it's a good game.
Gameplay is Nioh and I fw that (a pretty good Nioh tbh, maybe a bit too easy), but I get why it isn't for everybody. The weapons have a nice variety of moves, the jobs system adds a good layer of customization and the Sekiroish posture bar + different attacks with specific responses compliments everything pretty well.
I was just expecting your average bs writing because of how infamous this game became, but it's just and enjoyable silly game, and that's fine. You get the goofiest and most unhinged scenes (and i mean it in a good way), you can have a laugh at the clichés of the IP, you get a healthy dosis of fanservice/tribute to the whole franchise, you get a compelling ending to nicely wrap the story (even if it isn't anything mind blowing) and most importantly, you get CHAOS. Did people just miss half the game being satirical? Did they expect a life-changing plot? I know FF has some dense fans, but c'mon, it's so explicitly meant not to be taken too seriously.
Gameplay is Nioh and I fw that (a pretty good Nioh tbh, maybe a bit too easy), but I get why it isn't for everybody. The weapons have a nice variety of moves, the jobs system adds a good layer of customization and the Sekiroish posture bar + different attacks with specific responses compliments everything pretty well.
I was just expecting your average bs writing because of how infamous this game became, but it's just and enjoyable silly game, and that's fine. You get the goofiest and most unhinged scenes (and i mean it in a good way), you can have a laugh at the clichés of the IP, you get a healthy dosis of fanservice/tribute to the whole franchise, you get a compelling ending to nicely wrap the story (even if it isn't anything mind blowing) and most importantly, you get CHAOS. Did people just miss half the game being satirical? Did they expect a life-changing plot? I know FF has some dense fans, but c'mon, it's so explicitly meant not to be taken too seriously.
This review contains spoilers
I loved jacking off with my pals <3. i loved the music and jack is literally one of the most fun final fantasy protags ever! the levels all being inspired from other FF games was also awesome!
The gear system is truly the only red mark on this wild game. Best needle drop in video games
Solid combat, story I could barely make sense of carried by the greatest protagonist of all time. Slightly tarnished by the bafflingly bad loot/levelling system.
Linkin park kingdom hearts
Doesn't really get good until the end. The final fight of the third expansion makes me want to push it to three stars.
This is not a game for me. I am not a challenge hungry boss killer. Stranger of Paradise still delivers a killer experience with very fun co-op gameplay and a digestible quick-and-easy map and challenge structure that pushed me to get better and better at the game. Unfortunately, I never did, but I still enjoyed every part of the experience and story.
He did it his way
Really dumb and messy game, but in a good way. I love chaos warriors.
Had never played a Souls-like before this and depending on how you define the genre maybe I still haven't. Either way, this was enjoyable. A little too much emphasis on class variety, if you ask me. I maxed out most job trees at Level 30 without grinding, and very rarely did I need to switch up jobs to handle bosses. The story's predictably a messy disaster but it all mostly still works as either a prequel to or alternate version of the original Final Fantasy game. Ultimately this feels like a fairly minor and largely forgotten title - did it really only come out two years ago? Feels like five to ten! - but I really did enjoy it for the most part once I understood how to play it.
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.
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.
So far, it's the best game I've been able to dig into this current year. An explosive game with no shortage of fun combat, a play-your-way attitude, and an overall awesome story, even if it takes a little bit to spread its wings.
To start with the most important part of a game like this, the gameplay. It's truly phenomenal what they've been able to do with this. Most games do dive into the whole break-bar vs. HP mechanic so many times now, but Stranger of Paradise just does it differently, based on what kind of player you are. You can be the HP-draining goon spamming high-level attacks at a boss and overwhelming them with pure skills. You can be the break-master, using parries and exploiting spell weaknesses to pop their shields quickly, then come in with a satisfying crush. Speaking of crushing enemies - did they grab some YouTube ASMR artist to work sound for these kills? Popping enemies with Jack's crystal-power will NEVER get old as long as you play, and there are plenty of satisfying moments to keep you playing. I didn't even get into the parry mechanic that allows you to steal an enemy attack, stock it, and unleash it on another enemy going forward. If that's not demonstrating how this game is absolutely fire, I don't know what is. This game is already taking insane liberties my brief time with FF7R failed to take, and is nailing down combat to make it less repetitive than something like FF16. It is definitively, the best feeling action-based FF game ever.
To venture more into the awe-inspiring class building of FF Stranger of Paradise, almost every Final Fantasy class is here for long-time fans of the JRPG to enjoy. You'll be spoiled quickly for choice when things really start to unlock, and it's easier to earn job XP. There's maybe 8 base classes that devolve into another 8 advanced classes, with another 8 or so expert-level classes that continue to give players more choices as they enter deeper. It's fun as well because basic does not necessarily mean bad. Job affinities keep the system in check, pairing strategy with job selection.
The story is pretty good. I think there are some times the game really has nothing to say, so it doesn't, and I applaud the game's designers for doing that as it works towards a really satisfying build and conclusion, but it does leave me feeling awkward for about 40-60% of the game as you're really just going level by level. Speaking of which, level design could be a bit better, as most are just three checkpoints in a linear fashion and then a boss battle, but I applaud them for still finding ways to branch paths, and explore ways to hide loot and enemies like the Cactuar and Tonberry for mega-XP and loot.
This amazing game loops in elements from a ton of my favorite franchises: Borderlands, Diablo, strokes of the right stuff from FF15/16, and presents this in a masterful, wonderful game that doesn't take too much time of yours from bloat, as most AAA games seem to do nowadays whenever you hear "RPG".
Stranger of Paradise is the best Final Fantasy game I've played in my life, and it should be a much, much more recognized game amongst the community and game-reviewers as a whole. Give it a shot on a sale if you're curious.
To start with the most important part of a game like this, the gameplay. It's truly phenomenal what they've been able to do with this. Most games do dive into the whole break-bar vs. HP mechanic so many times now, but Stranger of Paradise just does it differently, based on what kind of player you are. You can be the HP-draining goon spamming high-level attacks at a boss and overwhelming them with pure skills. You can be the break-master, using parries and exploiting spell weaknesses to pop their shields quickly, then come in with a satisfying crush. Speaking of crushing enemies - did they grab some YouTube ASMR artist to work sound for these kills? Popping enemies with Jack's crystal-power will NEVER get old as long as you play, and there are plenty of satisfying moments to keep you playing. I didn't even get into the parry mechanic that allows you to steal an enemy attack, stock it, and unleash it on another enemy going forward. If that's not demonstrating how this game is absolutely fire, I don't know what is. This game is already taking insane liberties my brief time with FF7R failed to take, and is nailing down combat to make it less repetitive than something like FF16. It is definitively, the best feeling action-based FF game ever.
To venture more into the awe-inspiring class building of FF Stranger of Paradise, almost every Final Fantasy class is here for long-time fans of the JRPG to enjoy. You'll be spoiled quickly for choice when things really start to unlock, and it's easier to earn job XP. There's maybe 8 base classes that devolve into another 8 advanced classes, with another 8 or so expert-level classes that continue to give players more choices as they enter deeper. It's fun as well because basic does not necessarily mean bad. Job affinities keep the system in check, pairing strategy with job selection.
The story is pretty good. I think there are some times the game really has nothing to say, so it doesn't, and I applaud the game's designers for doing that as it works towards a really satisfying build and conclusion, but it does leave me feeling awkward for about 40-60% of the game as you're really just going level by level. Speaking of which, level design could be a bit better, as most are just three checkpoints in a linear fashion and then a boss battle, but I applaud them for still finding ways to branch paths, and explore ways to hide loot and enemies like the Cactuar and Tonberry for mega-XP and loot.
This amazing game loops in elements from a ton of my favorite franchises: Borderlands, Diablo, strokes of the right stuff from FF15/16, and presents this in a masterful, wonderful game that doesn't take too much time of yours from bloat, as most AAA games seem to do nowadays whenever you hear "RPG".
Stranger of Paradise is the best Final Fantasy game I've played in my life, and it should be a much, much more recognized game amongst the community and game-reviewers as a whole. Give it a shot on a sale if you're curious.
Haven't actually played this game.
It's probably funny as fuck.
It's probably funny as fuck.
class building / combinations 💯💯
nah
started to play because of the memes, kept on playing because the game is actually good
also jack is fucking awesome
also jack is fucking awesome
Really fun combat and goofy story. It starts to get a bit repetitive towards the end, and the job system really wears out its welcome.
The game seems a bit goofy at the beginning and can hardly be taken seriously. Mainly because of the cosplaying vibes of the party in cutscenes and the seemingly one-dimensional characters, but still manages to tell a compelling story up until the end.
A bit of a Souls like with a bit of beat em up elements. Honestly it feels really great destroying the enemies. It also has the Doom (2016) type of glory kills that are amazing to get. The story and characters are pretty edgy and goofy but I still found them enjoyable. I really wanted to see how everything turned out especially since you are playing as the main villain of FF1. I think it gives a very interesting and convoluted answer but I thought it was still a cool idea to see.
Even as someone who's not a real ass FF fan I still enjoyed the game. It even got me interested in playing the OG games. Which I got to find time to actually sit down and play them.
Still an overall great time and it's pretty cheap complete now. Although I haven't played the DLC yet but I think they seem fine.
Even as someone who's not a real ass FF fan I still enjoyed the game. It even got me interested in playing the OG games. Which I got to find time to actually sit down and play them.
Still an overall great time and it's pretty cheap complete now. Although I haven't played the DLC yet but I think they seem fine.
CHAOS! Cool gameplay with cringey but funny main character.
CHAOS
CHAOS
~
I had a really fun time with this game having played it on story difficulty. It felt like a more action-focused Dark Souls. I loved the way each level was based on a specific section from a different Final Fantasy game and the graphics were really cool and stylized. The story was also hilarious and pretty interesting. I had a good time.
it's a good game. give it more than 10 minutes i promise it's engaging. the gameplay is really rewarding once you get the hang of it and while it's kind of difficult build making is fun. also i think they made jack garland gay
merci kenjiro tsuda pour le travail
if jack garland was real i would give him a big kiss and tell him everything will be okay