Good combat, good fun. Silly plot, and became very easy towards the end - I wasn't overlevelled, but it felt like it. Would have liked to see even more classic FF enemies too.

If you are a big FF fan, you'll enjoy this. If you're a Souls fan you'll probably enjoy this - not the best of the genre, not the worst.

Story is gloriously silly before becoming genuinely good in the last couple of hours.

Once this game was announced, I went day after day thinking this was a goofy, low quality Final Fantasy Dark Souls from the Nioh team. Man, I was wrong. This thing is great!

Not only do you have lovable edgelord protag Jack AKA Shadow the Hedgehog AKA Dr. House in a Final Fantasy game, and not ONLY does he play 7 seconds of nu-metal on his phone in frustration from not yet having killed Chaos before turning it off again, but this is a really good take on a more accessible/casual Dark Soulsy/Nioh thing.

It’s really easy (on default difficulty) if you’ve played one of these before, but it’s still really fun and well made. Good bosses, a dense campaign that takes maybe 15 hours to run through (20ish with some side stuff), and a strangely told story that sheds new light on the world of Final Fantasy 1. And, for as strange and budget as the storytelling feels, it…completely sold me on its vision for an expanded FF1???? I even bought the DLC to (hopefully if I get to it) see how it wraps up! Jack Garland is DMC Dante but way more lovable. Anytime a character has a monologue, he tells them to shut up before pulling out a weapon. It’s like he’s so earnestly stupid that it wins you over. A real anti-Final Fantasy protagonist.

I also appreciate that it seems to have a looty Diablo-style grind in its endgame, where you run side missions and the DLC for increasingly crazy mission difficulty levels. While I think it's a clever way to add longevity and works well for a game that isn't balanced to From Software levels of design polish, I am a bit annoyed the DLC (which features the end of the base game's story) is balanced for endgame difficulty so if you play the default "Action" difficulty you're going to get your ass beat in the DLC. There are lore friendly options, but it's still pretty annoying IMO.

Still, super cool video game. Strongly recommend checking it out and sticking with it (it gets SO MUCH BETTER after the first couple missions) if you're interested.

A game with very fun combat, a bunch of different class options and a silly storyline. If you can get it on a sale, you'll have a good and fun time which is all you can ask for. All in all, it gave me very Xbox 360 2006-7 vibes in a positive way. I played the whole thing co-op. Well, nearly the whole thing, there are several sections including the final boss which mandate you do it solo. Here's a tip though, for these sections you can usually just run through if you don't feel like fighting. There's a heap of jobs/classes to change into to vary up your playstyle and you can have two ready to go at all times, so you can be fairly versatile to handle the myriad of different enemies coming at you.

If you know anything about the first Final Fantasy, also, you'll get an extra kick from the game. The protagonist, Jack, is absolutely hilarious and even if you aren't paying too much attention to the story, you can't help but follow along with it thanks to how ridiculous and amusing he is. It's so refreshing to have a JRPG character actively resent some of the JRPG tropes and just call them out in real time. It's all explained in universe, for the most part. He's just an angry man and I appreciate him for that. I have no idea if I was meant to take the story seriously and honestly, I don't ever want to know if I was. As a final note, I enjoyed the voice acting - Mocean Melvin who plays the main protag did a genuinely good job despite the goofy lines. Thanks Jack, the best 7/10.

O que me segurou nesse foi o combate. A história é simplesmente horrível, mas ela beira tanto a ruindade que passa a ser engraçada meio que no estilo filme B de terror. O Jack é simplesmente um dos personagens mais anti-carismáticos que eu já vi/joguei. Gordon Freeman e Isaac Clarke fizeram mais sem falar uma palavra e esse cabrunco me solta um literal "I don't give a fuck who you are!" do NADA e com zero emoção ou sequer uma motivação por trás.

Agora sobre o combate e a gameplay em geral não há muito o que elaborar. É um jogo bem simples de ação ao melhor estilo Diablo/PoE, com muitas possibilidades de builds e drops infinitos dos mesmos itens com um % de dano de Kiwi ácido maior que anterior. Inesperadamente, esse mar infinito de possibilidades exaure a paciência bem rápido e tudo parece repetitivo mais cedo do que deveria.

P.S.: Terminar com "My Way" do Frank Sinatra foi um dos poucos acertos.

went into this with the lowest expectations possible and for the most part I wasn't really into the story but the last 2 hours were actually bonkers and I ended up enjoying the ending! same goes for jack as a protagonist, he's unintentionally funny at times with his dialogue but he's actually solid overall.

combat was pretty good, it was very "nioh" like for a lack of a better comparison and the job system lend to some really fun combinations. all in all I wouldn't say it's among my favorite ff games but for that ending alone it was worth it

Jack and his lanky twink bf that he forgot

Really enjoyed this, story is compelling enough that I actually found myself watching cutscenes around the second half of the game, and just generally worth it because Jack is a funny protagonist

I think the main way this game falters is sound design, so many attacks are just completely silent coming out so it can be hard to not get hit

Otherwise very fun I like how broken Sage's Ultima is

A prequel/reimagining of FF1 starring a grouchy guy named Jack, yelling about killing chaos could have been terrible. But, it's probably the best FF spinoff game I've ever played. The story did not need to go that hard, you WILL know why Jack is so pissed off. Combat was especially fun, smashing classic FF monsters with Jack's fists never gets old. Only downsides are that the repetitive level design made some of the areas hard to navigate, and just like Team Ninja's other ARPGs, it just dumps too much trash loot. At least the latter is solved by auto-equip.

Final Fantasy is my favorite video game franchise of all time, so it sucks to say this but... this game is the worst game I've played in a long time.

I was actually planning a better review for this, but Stranger of Paradise is such a complete clusterfuck of a mess that I just gave up what I was writing.

To get the good out of the way: the combat and the job system. These are the only redeeming qualities of the game, issues and all. The combat grind can be really fun, even on side quests and the jobs, while there certainly are more than it should, are just fun to good through. Aside from that, SOP is riddled with flaws.

It has major balancing issues (especially during endgame boss fights), it is aggressively repetitive, writing and voice acting are laughable, the story feels like it was written by a teenager going hard through puberty, the whole plot makes no effort to make sense, characters are hollow, soundtrack is forgettable, level design is objectively dull, graphics have a weird saturation filter over it and the game is just not fun at all!

They even failed when making loot engaging. The game is BASED on collecting loot, going through the combat grind and improving, but you get MILLIONS of useless items per second and you HAVE to dismantle them to make room for MORE, that way, you literally spend HOURS looking through menus. And even after that, the areas and monsters just keep getting stronger, so you have to get MORE of the SAME loot and repeat the same thing FOREVER! It is POINTLESS! I also absolutely hated how the game handles MP, potions and status effects. Such important elements to the gameplay that become an immense nuisance to manage. Unbearable.

Not even the bosses are good. Some of them a ridiculous button-mashing annoyances, while others are extreme difficult to strategize/avoid damage sponge fiends. Makes no sense.

AND WHY THE HELL DID THEY EVEN BOTHER WITH THE STORY! IT ONLY MADE THINGS WORSE!

I'm not even sure why I finished this horrible Nioh knockoff. Probably because I paid for it.

In case you really want the good "4 warriors of light saving the crystals" experience, go play the original Final Fantasy. There are plenty of remasters and re-releases out there. Just keep away from this hellish beast.

Primeiro devo falar, se tu gosta de Final Fantasy tu precisa jogar esse titulo da franquia, principalmente se você ama o FF Clássico como eu.

O que mais me surpreendeu foi a liberdade que você têm pra escolher o seu estilo de jogo e sinceramente, você não aprender como fazer uma boa build vai te prejudicar e muito. O scaling do jogo é natural e acontece de uma forma que não se torna irritante, o combate é desafiador e sinceramente, tem algumas boss fights que são frustrantes e beiram a insanidade se você não pegar rápido o sistema de parry do jogo.

O final do jogo eu sinceramente acabei me distanciando um pouco do jogo por fases com um level design um pouco questionável, mas felizmente, o final do jogo fez eu esquecer tudo isso com uma sequência de plot twists que meu amigo... Vai explodir a tua mente.

Um ótimo jogo e um ótimo Final Fantasy.

Fui esperando nada e mesmo assim consegui me decepcionar. A história é chata e a direção é ruim, apesar da ideia base ser boa, os personagens são mais esquecíveis que os personagens de FF1 original. A gameplay é realmente boa, mas o que me decepcionou de verdade foi a dificuldade, sendo da Team ninja (alo Nioh) eu já esperava isso, mas como o começo foi divertido e justo (tirando os bosses que tem muito Hp e padrões chatos), até que chegou no Tiamat, que normalmente na saga ele já é insuportável, mas o desse jogo se supera, foi a partir desse momento que eu coloquei o jogo no fácil, e mesmo que eu tirasse dps, provavelmente iria colocar dnv, o balanceamento de level vai pro caralho, e passar tempo farmando level nesse jogo seria uma perca de tempo. O que me preocupa é o boss final, ele é divertido, só que no normal eu tenho minhas dúvidas genuínas sobre a qualidade da dificuldade dele. Os inimigos são extremamente repetitivos e os novos designs são feios, tudo bem que é um jogo de umas 9 horas, mas mesmo assim é meio paia. Fora que não tem direção de arte basicamente, além do jogo ser feio e rodar mal. Por incrível que pareça, não odiei tudo, o combate é bom e variado, só o esperado vindo da Team ninja, as músicas são surpreendentemente boas, e eu gosto da ideia de ser uma releitura de FF1, que eu considero um grande jogo mesmo que não tenha envelhecido nenhum pouco bem. No final é só um jogo que achei medíocre, não consegui gostar, mas não julgo quem gosta.

surprisingly lots of fun. combat is very satisfying and fluid, all the different classes are fun to experiment with. there was something happening in the story but I wouldn't be able to tell you what, although it's still very entertaining because of jack.
only issue is I think menuing is a bit convoluted, and inconsistency in difficulties especially in bosses (some were really easy and then a few are actually tough)

but if you're looking for a fun action game then here ya go

*I've never played nioh so I couldn't tell you if this is similar in gameplay

Nioh is now a template to be randomly assigned to franchises and historical eras, like musou. That is what this game taught me.

Runs out of ideas in the middle so every fight turns into 7 big annoying enemies at once, levels are too linear (though I love that they are inspired by various Final Fantasy dungeons, including my favorite Delkfutt Tower), itemization is awkward, and the plot is extremely laughable. But you know what? It's fun, it's easy, it's learnable, and you punch monster make crystal go smash good.

Completed the main story, and enjoyed it, but I don't intend to continue for a while. Too mind-numbing. That this game is 80gb confounds me.

My relationship with this game is actually quite funny I really did not gel with the weird quick cut into a time skip that the opening did and partially maybe it's because by the time I started my playthrough, the game had been memed on endlessly not without a good reason, it does have a early 2000s edgy ps2 game charm in the same vein as dirge of cerberus a FF7 sequel spin off staring Vincent Valentine.

But there was another part of the internet that I have a bone to pick about this game the people and reviewers who say this game is "making fun of how stupid final fantasy" is or a final fantasy for "sane people" these people clearly didn't actually play the game or finish it, because this is through and through a final fantasy action game that loves final fantasy, the way it adapts the job system the fact that every level is a reference to a different location in a final fantasy game, the fact it ties so heavily to the first final fantasy which isn't exactly a game modern gamers are talking about, while also being able to take things from later in the series to make something that is both a love letter and something new, it's not the most original game, while people and critics mentioned think jack our gruff guy protagonist is a new concept who isn't "gay or cares about the anime plot" unlike other stinky FF games. when in reality protagonists like cloud, squall, and lighting were more gruff straight to the point, no nonsense, goal driven. Usually there character growth or change comes into caring a lot more at least if we are looking on a surface level, and in the end jack is very much like these other final fantasy protagonists he even has more fun and talkative party members to bounce off his more brooding behavior. and it is funny.

which in that topic of humor I feel the idea that this game is so insanely ridiculous but doesn't care about aforementioned "anime bs" is also not only part of the eventual plot revelations but them being a bit tongue-in-cheek is just what all narratives especially ones of series that have been going on for this long will do personally I put this game on a similar spectrum to Kingdom hearts, Devil may cry, yakuza, metal gear, etc. crazy shit happens but these games play its more serious moments straight and some players fuck with that and can take more of the emotional stuff and things maybe these series want to say or stories they want to tell and enjoy it without a layer of irony.
in a TLDR sense some vocal critics enjoyed the game I liked incorrectly and I just wanted to bitch about it to make my review different.

I wouldn't say I even enjoy the narrative on the same level as the previously mentioned games but what this game wants to do works, the real meat is how the character we play as ties really well into the gameplay, this rough action man in a FF world punching the hell out of monsters is satisfying way and man this game adapts the job system insanely well for an action rpg, bringing back jobs that final fantasy fans haven't seen in years with enough customization to really fit your playstyle as well as more advanced jobs letting you equip more weapons than the last.

most people have this gameplay gripe but the item bloat is insanely bad I heard nioh 2 had the same issue but hopefully they'll learn sometimes less is more, as well as there being so much you are usually just going to auto optimize unless you really like a weapons ability or are playing fashion souls.

that and some pacing issues between missions kind of bog the game down when in the later half I really wanted some answers and they were like "ok but do this first" for no real reason other than the game would be over too soon, its not as bad as it sounds it happens like once or twice.
another gripe is that they like replay cutscenes you saw like 10 minutes ago and I know its got final fantasy magic world dimension stuff but I'm not a dumb dumb idiot baby I can handle it. also this isn't a real knock against the game and adding more character depth and interaction may take away what the game was trying to do but that's mostly why the game is just "really good at what it does and exceeded my expectations" but not in my favorite games of all time category which that's just my taste in games still really good

I voted this game goty in 2022 as a joke because I didn't have a real answer but I am actually glad I played it.