Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, we tried this interesting spin-off
Stranger of Paradise
You know the line of the genie of the lamp in the Disney movie Aladdin? Phenomenal cosmic powers ... in a tiny living space. Well, the impression that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin left us is exactly that, that of a game with potential to sell, but tucked into too tight a dress - at least for now. We tried a new build of the game, briefly retracing the steps of the tutorial and also part of the Temple of Chaos, where unlike the demo it was possible to notice that Jack's faithful companions are dressed casually like him; perhaps an indication that the lived one is the introductory part of the whole experience.The steps forward can be seen, testifying that Team Ninja is working hard to offer an experience that is perhaps a little behind the times, but still well packaged: after all, we are talking about the team that gave us the two Niohs , extremely valid experiences from the point of view of the combat system (a little less on the story, but who knows, this time it could be different given the starting point).
We cannot however deny that the game has yet to do a bit of a road before presenting head held high on the market, but if the constancy in improving is what we perceived in this new test, there is definitely room for it to overturn the little positive impact initially had on the public. Sure, the characters didn't hit the mark and Chaos quickly became a mantra / meme, but it must be said that we have no idea who they are. Learning to know them we could re-evaluate them in a positive way: the potentially isekai nature of the game leaves us perplexed, it is undeniable, but who knows that these foreigners from a distant future cannot offer more than what appears at first glance.
No more chatter, here's what we discovered by trying Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
Isn't Chaos Chaos?
Some gigantic opponents of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Narratively speaking, if it was already speculated that the demo could have shown the introductory or almost part of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, this revelation comes as no surprise: Chaos is not actually Chaos. A Sephiroth-style clone? A manifestation? A bait? Any trick used by the real Chaos to deceive us? All valid hypotheses and none correct, when the remains of the "deceased" Chaos are replaced by those of a girl leaving us, Jack, Ash and Jed stunned: Neon, this is his name, tells us how he embarked on a journey to defeat Chaos along with his comrades, who fell one after another until she was left to discover a bitter truth - the illusion in which the people of Cornelia have wallowed up to that moment, reassured that they can blame a single entity of all possible evil.The revelation does not convince Jack, however, sure that Chaos is waiting in the shadows ready to plot something, which is why he does not give up on his chase which has now taken on the contours of a obsession. Neon, who has no respect for Jack, decides to join the group with the promise that she will start giving him credit if she can prove her right. And this is how the prophecy dating back to the time of the original Final Fantasy takes shape: "When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come". How the story will evolve from here on is not known and is perhaps one of the main doubts: not because games of this genre have ever had an exemplary narrative, both Niohs do not present anything for which to tear their clothes, but for the fact that the author is Kazushige Nojima, capable of bringing out thick narratives and other equally forgettable ones. It's always a lottery game, figuring out where his pen will take us, and the isekai imprint given to Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin raises more than one eyebrow, however we reserve the right to talk about it when we have more clear what awaits us. br>
Jobs are never enough
A Stranger of Paradise fight: Final Fantasy Origin The duration of the trial did not allow us to analyze the jobs as we would have liked, a question for which we still need a lot time, but we immediately noticed a new one absent in the demo: the boxer. Notwithstanding that Jack's customization allows you to partially bend the jobs to the player's needs, it is clear that this one in particular is aimed at stressing the enemy to send him into crisis much more quickly - unlike the warrior who focuses on slow movements and strength. brute to tear creatures to pieces. Of course, on the other hand there is the risk of exposing yourself a lot to damage due to the close range that it requires to use this job, however if well built it is able to reset the resistance of enemies quickly and allow instant elimination. With the bosses, a more impactful strategy, or a mix of speed and brute force, could prove useful, but the game does not forbid it, on the contrary, it invites us to look for our style.If there is an element that we really appreciate in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is just that, that is the profound versatility of the combat system and a number of jobs sufficient to open different playful experiments, enhanced by the fact that you can "equip" two jobs and pass from one to the other seamlessly. The boxer was not the only job introduced compared to the demo but, as we wrote, the time to try them thoroughly was limited and we cannot talk about it in detail. However, nothing prevents us from mentioning them, to make you understand how far the customization of the fight could go: the basic jobs have included, in addition to the three present in the demo, boxer and duelist. Among the advanced ones we find instead many more, together with the well-known warrior, dragoon and black magician: knight, thief, monk, white magician and red magician. As you can see, there is plenty of room for fun combining builds.
A refined artificial intelligence
The three protagonists of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin If the jobs had done us realizing their potential already during the demo, artificial intelligence was instead one of the biggest problems: in no uncertain terms, our comrades were very prone to receiving damage but very unwilling to inflict it in turn. Observing them in combat they were clearly the example of a botched AI, often more of a hindrance than helpful given the tendency to end up on the mat and eventually force us to waste a potion to get them back on their feet (one of the many differences with Nioh , which allowed you to help your companions without spending resources). With this new test, however, Team Ninja has shown that it has taken considerable steps forward and now, although not yet perfected at its best, it is much more reactive and even at the maximum difficulty the risk that the companions end up k.o. it is more contained; with bosses it happens a little more often but sometimes it happened that we were the first to die. This is to give an estimate of how much less they are now led to suicide.It is precisely in relation to artificial intelligence that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has shown us yet another novelty, or the so-called Resonance. This is a command that we can give to companions, urging them to give their best and sending them into a kind of fury for a limited time, during which they will become more aggressive and attract the attention of enemies. Combined with the fact that they are more reactive than in the past, this small introduction allows us to manage the fight in a more reasoned way, for example by enhancing the job of the magician who needs time to cast a spell and cannot move in the meantime.
Shifting monsters' attacks to someone other than us is a great way both to have a tactical advantage and, quite simply, to attack them from behind by inflicting more damage while they are busy at take it out on artificial intelligence. It should be noted that there is no way to interrupt the Resonance once the command is given and you have to wait for it to wear out before you can use it again, even if the fight is over.
New game, old problems
A Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin clash Souls any or, in fact, with Nioh. Especially in the most excited phases, it has happened to lose the connection with a particular enemy to end up on another in the opposite direction, perhaps losing the opportunity to eliminate it and ending up suffering damage ourselves. Likewise, the hitboxes on both sides are still not optimal, even though they do a decent job in general. It does not help a graphic sector that is dated for now, which gives the impression of dating back to two generations ago, and although from this point of view no soulslike, pure or not, has ever shone, it is also true that the standard of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin needs to be revised.It being understood that the streaming tests always leave the time they find and cannot be analyzed from a technical point of view, it is still evident that aesthetically much more can be done: in the new setting, a forest along which it was possible to artificially change the weather in order to proceed through the various areas, it all seemed to us a uniform palette where it happened several times to "lose" Jack, confused in the setting.
Despite everything, however, we would like to specify that the game is moving forward clearly in development and the lack of a launch date leaves the developers the necessary time to improve it where it is needed. The potential is there, we reiterate it, but we must build the right space for them to express themselves otherwise they risk being suffocated by too narrow boundaries.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a game with a lot of potential it needs, in addition to a technical finish, the ideal space to express yourself at your best. We know what Team Ninja is capable of, we have seen it with Nioh that this project is strongly inspired by, and the job-based combat system shows that it can give a lot if, above all, you realize the road that still has to go to improve. The improvements to artificial intelligence, both in terms of reactivity and with the newly introduced Resonance, demonstrate the will to improve more and more. The story is a big question mark, especially given its unclear relationship to the original chapter (is it a rewrite? A spin off? Something totally unrelated?) And the fact that Nojima is capable of both great storylines and very good scripts. questionable, while from a technical point of view the uncertainties are still evident. However, the margins for improvement are there to be seen: the hope is that they will be seized, to arrive at the creation of a game perhaps out of time but still capable of giving hours of fun.
