I've been following this dude "Rxmako" on YouTube for over a decade. He plays many action titles, musou games and he kinda put Stranger of Paradise on my radar.

I bought SoP during a sale on the Epic Games Store, a few months ago. Played the tutorial, had to refund because the game is so poorly optimized it almost fried my GPU.

I waited for a sale on PSN (I've got a digital only PS5) and got the game + expansion pass on my birthday. Hooray!

By the time of writing this I've put about 10 hours into this game and while it does many things right, it also does many things wrong. There is a very rewarding combat system hidden below layers of rubbish and nonsense. The looting and gearing system is convoluted. The fighting can get messy. The camera messes things up. The graphics and art direction are all over the place and are sooo damn kitsch, sooo damn fugly at times.

This game hits the mark in terms of vibe and gameplay (most of the time) but it really misses in terms of polish, visibility, graphics, story, pacing, UX, interface, inventory management, etc.

So I'm at a point in the game where I defeated the first of 4 crystal bosses. A tough fight. But there's so many classes and subclasses and items and moves and shit I feel I'm juggling, that the appetite to continue is kind of gone. The experience gets a bit soured and I conclude that "this game is too hectic, frantic, messy and chaotic for me."

A shame. Cos I really looked forward to experiencing this game. But sometimes less is more. This game did not need a Diablo style looting system. It did not need such complicated classes and overlap. It needed more enemy types, more enemy variety, more polish, more streamlining overall and less chaos.

Maybe I've gotten too old to enjoy these types of frantic games... DMC5 has not clicked with me either... Elden Ring did, massively, and I'm loving my time with EDF 5... So maybe it is just the overall package here that is lacking...

TL;DR Less is more. There is a lot of chaos to be found here.

I really only knew about the game as the funny killing Chaos meme game before I started playing it so I was genuinely surprised when it turned out to be a souls-like (I was expecting something more akin to FF13 or 15) though I suppose it's meant to be more like Nioh since it was apparently built on the same engine as the sequel.

The gameplay mechanics took some getting used to but I found it enjoyable on the whole even if there were several stumbling blocks. Most of the bosses didn't take more than one or two tries to clear but the first fiend boss fight against Tiamat was a huge wake up call for actually learning to use the magic-absorb parry effectively; other than that it was just pattern learning and sometimes switching to a better job set, I felt compelled to try and at least fill out the skill tree for all the jobs starting with the ones that seemed like they'd be clunkier at first which only felt somewhat worth it in the long run.

Some of the mechanics like the weapon upgrades/effects tinkering felt like it wasn't really worth looking into either just because of the sheer volume of equipment drops you go through on each level and how you're always finding higher base level stuff that way, maybe it would have some use if you do a good amount of the postgame chaos difficulty mode but I didn't really feel like doing more than a few hours of that. I also only did a tiny bit of the online co-op mode but it seemed neat enough.

Speaking of postgame, despite how much of a s***post this game tends to be seen as I did feel like I enjoyed the ending more than I was expecting. I'd say it's worth checking out if you like games with that style of gameplay or are a fan of the series, since the story is pretty much a continuation of the weird edgy lore retcon-expansion for the world of FF1 that started in Dissidia, though as implied at the start of this paragraph I found that this game executes that a lot better.

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.

Stranger of Paradise is an all-timer because it has the best action RPG combat system I have ever seen. This is what action RPGs should've always been. It's a shame it took so long for this genre to get here, but I'm so happy it finally made it. This is what I pictured when I first heard the words "action RPG".

I played this game coming off of Bravely Default II last year which is the JRPG from Square Enix that brought back the job system from earlier Final Fantasy games along with more traditional turn-based combat. This combat system was so smartly translated to an action game in Stranger of Paradise. I am doing attacks similar to the ones in Bravely Default II in real-time, and it feels powerful and satisfying. There's no stamina bar like in Soulslikes, and there is no pausing/slowing down the game to select attacks from a menu like in Final Fantasy VII Remake and past action RPGs. Basic attacks cost nothing and dodging costs nothing. All action happens in real time with combat leaning more into the fast-paced, combo-tree-driven style of the character action genre (my favorite genre) similar to games like Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, and Devil May Cry, but since it's an RPG, the combo tree is customizable. Leveling up different jobs unlocks new attack abilities for weapon types the job can use. This provides a list of abilities to assign to different combo tree paths on a weapon. I could create my own combo tree to play the way I want to play weighing the pros and cons of each attack ability to find ones that fit my needs.

There is a limitation to attack abilities in that they cost mana as expected for a game based on Final Fantasy. There are no items for regaining mana though. Instead, mana is refilled through combat by landing hits on enemies, parrying enemies with the soul shield, and executing enemies with the soul burst allowing me to play aggressively instead of having to back off and wait like in a soulslike. Also, the way they handle parrying with a sould shield is so smart. The player has a break gauge. Getting hit while blocking takes a chunk out of the gauge. If I don't block, the gauge fills back up again. If the gauge gets depleted, a hit will stagger me leaving me open for attacks. The soul shield allows me to drain the gauge in order to hold up a magic shield. If I get hit while this magic shield is up, it acts as a parry knocking an enemy back and leaving them open for attack. A successful soul shield parry will also restore some mana too. After playing a game like Sifu where parrying timing didn't make sense based on what I was seeing on screen, I'm happy to get this more forgiving version of a parry especially since the game relies so heavily on it.

The story is weird and ridiculous in how it's told, but it's also hilarious and endearing. The ways in which this is strange is something that shouldn't be in a big game like this, but it's better for it. It was an unexpected highlight of the game. I was excited to get to the next cut scene.

The loot system is disappointedly cumbersome. I get way too much of it leading to me spending too much time in menus. Dismantling them also takes too long as there is no filter based on equipment level to help me easily dismantle low level equipment that is useless to me. Then using materials to upgrade equipment also takes too long. I didn't bother with it much. The game won't tell me which equipment piece is upgradeable and each equipment piece has three different effects to upgrade on them. It's very tedious to go through each item and each effect on each item to see if it's upgradeable. They could've have made this a much smoother experience. The equipment doesn't even have as many effects as Nioh in a way the makes me want to manage it all. The one good feature they added was the optimize equipment button which equips my party with the highest level of equipment available. From there I can make adjustments based on job affinity bonuses that match the jobs my party has equipped. It's the one part of this game that bugged me.

Rating: 5/10

PC version for the record, and I didn't play it long.

The intent of this is to be a placeholder because I may come back to this down the road. I don't know though, I'm not a very forgiving guy when it comes to games. Usually if a game doesn't work upon release or I have a bad experience I don't revisit it.

The reason I may come back to this is because I predict that there's a game in here that I'll greatly enjoy. I can see that the combat is fun. I can see that there's a decent amount of depth. I can see that the cheesiness of the dialogue and the plot will be endearing and ridiculous. I can see that there's some decent art design in here. I can see all this.

But I can't play it. I tampered with the settings and it runs mildly okay but things look murky. Shadows look ridiculous. Technical issues galore. When you use the soul burst it just kills the flow. Look, I'm no graphics whore and it's not like I expect amazing things from my good but not amazing rig, but when I'm playing a port that feels shitty, the entire experience just feels sub-par and I just get mad. I know that the 5/10 may be confusing when it sounds like my experience is a 2, but I see the potential here and will like it if things get fixed, I'm sure.

So I'll leave this here for now. If I end up going back to it down the road I will delete all this and write a proper review.

Ostin Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originin kokeakseni vaivaannuttavan edgyn mutta pelimekaanisesti pätevän soulsliken. Periaatteessa sain mitä tilasin, mutta myös paljon enemmän.

Strager of Paradise (en jaksa kirjottaa koko hiton nimeä) on Team Ninjan tekemä toimintaroolipeliesiosa ihan ensimmäiselle FF:lle. Tarina vaikuttaa aluksi melko tyhjänpäiväiseltä ja kämäiseltä, mutta mitä pidemmälle peli menee, sitä mielenkiintoisemmaksi maailma ja meno muuttuu. Päähenkilönä on vitsin maineen pelille ansainnut, paikoin loistavan vaivaannuttava Jack. En odottanut paljoa hahmolta, mutta pelin loppu pääsi sekin paketoimaan hahmon tarinan hienolla tavalla. Ei tarina täysin tasavahvaa tavaraa ole, mutta yllättävän kiinnostavaa kuitenkin. Paitsi vapaaehtoiset dialogit NPC-hahmojen kanssa. Nämä ovat jopa vakuuttavan tyhjänpäiväistä jaarittelua.

Tarinaan on hauskasti sidottu myös FF-fanserviceä muistakin kuin ihka ensimmäisestä pelistä. Periaatteessa kaikki pelin alueet ovat ottaneet vaikutteita "muista ulottuvuuksista", ja nämä ulottuvuudet ovat muita pääsarjan FF:iä.

Itse pelattavuus oli mielestäni melko lailla lähellä Niohin nopeatempoista soulslike-räimettä. Tähän oli päälle tuotu hauska FF-ammattijärjestelmää mukaileva hahmonkehitys sekä vähän Sekiron posture-mittarin tyylinen break-mekaniikka: kun break mittarin saa tyhjäksi, vihun tai bossin elkkupalkin voi tyhjentää laakista näyttävällä animaatiolla. On mukana kanssa party membereitä, jotka ovat ihan avuliaita taistelun tuiskeessa. Kaiketi moninpelissä nämä vaihtuisivat luontevasti ihmispelaajiin.

Grafiikkojen puolesta peli vaikuttaa hieman pienemmän budjetin spinoff-peliltä, mitä se onkin. On mukana todella näyttävää CGI-animaatiota – kuten FF:ssä kuuluukin – mutta muuten esimerkiksi jäykät dialogi-cutscenet ja jokseenkin itseään toistavat dunkut kielivät säästön paikoista. Peli on kuitenkin äärimmäiset värikäs, taistelut ovat todella sulavia ja överiräväkät bossien tappoanimaatiot ovat todella palkitsevaa katsottavaa. Ei peliä katsoessa siis silmiin satu todellakaan.

Musiikkikin on pelissä oikeastaan kautta linjan hyvää. Suoranaisesti suosikkibiisejä ei jäänyt mieleen, mutta missään kohtaa se musiikki ainakaan häirinnut, ja monesti se tuntui tukevan todella nopeatempoista taistelua hyvin. Hauskasti myös musiikissa oli pieniä viittauksia aiempien FF:ien kappaleisiin. Esimerkiksi FF7:n inspiroiman voimala-alueen taustamusiikeista pystyi bongaamaan hyvinkin tutunkuuloisia pätkiä.

Soulslikeille epätyypilliseen tapaan, Stranger of Paradise tarjoaa eri vaikeustasoja. Pelin alussa näitä on kolme, ja läpäisyn jälkeen saa vielä yhden lisää. Itse pelasin pelin hardilla, ja tämä oli pääosin varsin sopiva vaikeustaso itselle. Kuolema korjasi välillä ehkä liian hanakasti, ja pelin loppupäässä perusvihut skaalautuvat(?) jo turhauttavan pahoiksi, mutta muuten toimi hyvin. Pelin bossitkin ovat kyllä todella herkkiä rankomaan, mutta näitä opetteli mielellään. Eri ammattejakin tuli usein vaihdeltua, jotta löytäisi toimivan strategian bossiin, mikä miellyttänee ammattisysteemin suunnittelijoita. Kenttäsuunnittelukin on pelissä melko lailla tasavahvaa, joskin parissa kentässä oli hieman suunta hukassa.

Peli on keston puolesta melko lailla kompakti. Itsellä meni pelin tarinaan arviolta 22 tuntia, ja varmaan jos pelaisi helpommalla vaikeustasolla, voisi siitä höylätä vielä useamman tunnin pois. Tämän lisäksi pelissä on lisätehtäviä, joista saa esimerkiksi materiaaleja aseiden uppaamiseen tai party membereille uusia ammatteja. Näitä tuli muutamat vedettyä, mutta usein pääjuonen eteneminen oli paljon tehokkaampi tapa tulla vahvemmaksi, joten ei sinänsä ollut suurta motivaatiota keskittyä näihin.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin putosi varmasti monen tutkalta pois pelin supervaivaannuttavan julkistuskaaoksen tienoilla. Suosittelen kuitenkin heittämään ennakkoluulot romukoppaan, hyväksymään Jackin cringe-kertoimen ja rehdisti kokeilemaan peliä. Minulla ainakin oli pelin varissa varsin hauskaa.

Tuli ostettua jo season passikin alennuksesta, jonka avulla saa kaiketi pääjuonen verran lisää pelattavaa. Ei huono diili sekään.

First thing’s first: Yes, this is the game that the “Chaosposting” memes, the “Bullshit” GIF & the image of the guy seemingly fist bumping the camera (that last one is just a mid-cutscene screenshot, although he does like fist bumping his allies) came from.

Before I get into the story, I would like to discuss this game’s biggest strength: the gameplay. Whilst I haven’t played the Nioh games, it is clear that Team Ninja did take a lot of cues from what they’d done in that series when designing this game. Subsequently, while Dark Souls & Elden Ring comparisons are inevitable, Stranger of Paradise is pretty different & much faster paced than those games. Instead of mostly dodging until you can attack enemies from behind, Stranger of Paradise mostly encourages you to either block attacks or use the game’s Soul Shield ability to parry them and gain additional MP slots for using abilities (with the occasional attack you have to dodge, but those are signposted clearly). Stranger of Paradise also emphasizes running down an enemy’s stagger gauge to perform instant takedown moves. The default controls are reminiscent of other Souls-Likes, but you can switch to a more Nioh/Devil May Cry-esque control scheme in the options menu. My biggest issue with the combat really is just that the game is so generous with weapons & armour that in the late-game, you have to dismantle a bunch of old gear every couple of missions. It’s a time-consuming process & in my experience, the auto-dismantle feature Team Ninja added in a post-release patch doesn’t work.

Overall, unless you’re looking for a pure Souls-like experience, Stranger of Paradise offers a dynamic & fast-paced combat system that nevertheless takes inspiration from Dark Souls. And if you aren’t into the high difficulty of Souls-Likes (or are just here for the story and/or memes), the game does have lower difficulty settings to make the game more enjoyable for you.

As for the story (co-written by Final Fantasy VII, FFVIII & Kingdom Hearts 2 writer Kazuhige Nojima), it is an… interesting experience. At first, it feels like so bad, it’s good edgy throwback to the 2000s wherein the protagonist seemingly drops more curse words than every character in the rest of the Final Fantasy series combined. But as you get closer to the end the story starts to become actually good. The edgy exterior starts to give way to an unexpectedly emotional story about the folly of anger & the importance of memory. Similarly, the dialogue also goes from meme-worthy to good as the game goes on (ex: the “Bullshit” scene takes place in the first couple of hours). On a related note, the music (mainly composed by FFXIII-2 co-composer Naoshi Mizuta) is pretty good and calls back to previous Final Fantasy games in subtle, but appreciated ways.

Speaking of references to previous Final Fantasy games, Stranger of Paradise, being the game released to mark the 35th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise, has numerous references & call backs to previous FF games. Most of them take the form of dungeons being inspired by (and implied in-universe to pulled from the worlds of) previous Final Fantasy games (ex: The Crystal Tower from FFIII (also a prominant location in FFXIV), Sunleth Waterscape from FFXIII, Sastasha from FFXIV & the Citadel from FFXV), but outside of that, there are plenty of classic Final Fantasy elements included (ex: Chaos, Warriors of Light & a Job system reminiscent of FFV & FFXIV). These references aren’t so all-consuming that they detract from the story being told, though.

Moving on to the technical & visual aspects, Stranger of Paradise is a mixed bag. On one hand, the art direction is as good as should be expected from a Square Enix game. Sure Jack looks like a generic video game protagonist from the late 2000s-early 2010s, but that feels intentional given the direction the story goes in & the rest of characters do have designs that fit their characters. The only one I can really question is Neon wearing a school-girl outfit. Is it meant to signify how she’s younger than the rest of the cast? Maybe, but she’s supposed to be 18 according to the Final Fantasy Wiki (or at least her physical appearance is). Most likely explanation is that someone at Team Ninja and/or Square Enix wanted one of the characters to wear a school girl outfit and didn’t care how little sense it made.

As for the technical side of things, this game is a mess. It’s been patched to improve performance, but the game’s visuals still aren’t up to par for a PS5 game. The anti-aliasing solution Team Ninja is using can’t keep up with this game’s environment design & causes the game to look like a shimmery mess at times (and this is with the game set to resolution mode!). And it’s not a case of Team Ninja not putting much effort into the PS5 version. The PS4, Xbox One & Series S versions are even worse in this regard & people found at launch that the PC version’s framerate tanks whenever there is fur or hair on screen. Yes, seriously. That issue has been fixed, but these issues & the fact conversations with Cornelian citizens are in a menu rather than an explorable area indicate that this game’s budget was slashed in development & was rushed out the door to kick off the anniversary (which, given how greedy & questionably competent Square Enix’s management are, wouldn’t be surprising).

Conclusion:

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a game that balances engaging yet challenging Souls-meets-Devil May Cry combat & telling a surprisingly tragic & emotional story about the folly of anger and the importance of staying true to yourself & doing things on your own terms in a more proficient manner than I expected going in. If you’re a fan of games like Nioh or Dark Souls, but want something you can occasionally laugh at after Elden Ring that still has tragic undertones, I can’t recommend Stranger of Paradise enough. Just don’t expect a polished masterpiece from this game (it certainly didn’t seem to have the budget for it); embrace Jack’s wild ride, and you’ll be fine.

Ratings:

Creative score (story, gameplay, voice acting, art direction): 8.5/10

Technical score (graphics, audio, performance)): 7/10

Business Practices score: 7/10 (Fine, aside from the limited-time demos)

Overall score (my thoughts on a game’s overall quality, doesn’t consider the business practices unless they are detrimental to the experience): 8/10