26th of April, 2024: “Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise” is on sale for just 20€. I had heard of the game before, mainly about how utter dogshit the story was, how funny its protagonist was, and how inconsequential its cast. I call a trusty companion, one @Trumai, and with a shared poor financial decision, we end up buying the game with the intent of playing it together.

As we start, we’re dismissive—me and her both. I laugh a few times at Jack’s pure hatred for Chaos and his unrelenting will to “kill” it, and I start to realize that every single criticism thrown at this game is almost entirely correct. The plot is disjointed, always a step ahead of you in classic Nomura (or Nojima?) fashion; the characters are one-note and rather dull; and Jack is every bit as funny as you’d expect him to be.

But that’s where it all started.

We found ourselves enjoying the gameplay so much that we regularly broke into giggles, always in pursuit of more ways to make the game ours, and in that regard, this game is absolutely incredible. There are so many jobs, so many builds to make, and so many fun mechanics. And as time passed, the more I played, the more I fell in love with Jack. I started to joke around, calling things “Jack’s” as soon as I approached them. Like “Jack’s door,"  “Jack’s ladder,"  or “Jack’s chest." I thought it was a silly joke, but I soon realized it was only my subconscious trying to tell me what this game was truly about.

This is Jack’s game. Not Neon’s, not Ash’s, not Sophia’s, and god forbid, it’s Jed’s. This is a game about Jack; this is Jack’s adventure. And you’d be a fool not to make it yours too.

I started to grow bitter of the other characters, of these errands the Lufenians had us run, so much that I began to agree with Jack, I began to tear through hordes of enemies, my desire to reach that final boss, that Chaos fight I so anticipated, it was overpowering me, and my trusty companion kept her dismissive behavior, I began to even detect a hint of annoyance at my, at Jack’s, mission.

I swore to myself, “You will defeat Chaos, Jack. We will do it.”

The doors were no longer just Jack’s; they were mine too. The ladders, the chests. I had become an extension of Jack; I had become his will to defeat Chaos and his unrelenting fury. I had become the belief he doubted.

This is Jack’s review, and you better like it.