Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is an action RPG and a spin-off title in the Final Fantasy franchise developed by Koei Tecmo Games and Team Ninja, and published by Square Enix, released March 18, 2022. Revealed on June 13, 2021 at the Square Enix Presents digital presentation for that year's E3, Stranger of Paradise follows Jack, Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia in their quest to defeat Chaos as Warriors of Light.
A limited time demo, titled Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Trial Version, was released the same day as the reveal, exclusively on PlayStation 5. However, the demo was "corrupt and unplayable" at the time of release, with Square Enix promising they would resolve the issue. Two days later the issue was resolved with a patch and the demo time was extended to compensate for it.
A second limited time demo, titled Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Trial Version 2, was released on October that same year for both PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S. This was released alongside more previews of the game accompanying a new TGS trailer and a release date.
A third and final demo, titled Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Demo Version, was released on March 9, 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. This demo is an initial portion of the full game, up to the Western Keep, with its save data carrying over to the final release.
==Gameplay==
Stranger of Paradise features an action heavy battle system, that is said to "link to the story". The player controls Jack, who can change Jobs and equip 8 different kinds of weapons and features a party that consists of 3 characters at a time. Party members' equipment can be changed and customized. Additionally, players can take on levels in multiplayer, with up to 3 people, each controlling a different party member.
===Job system===
Jack and his companions can change jobs, with the player controlled one being able to switch between two jobs on the fly. Jobs can be upgraded using job points across a job tree.
Basic Jobs 	Advanced Jobs	Expert Jobs
Swordsman 	Warrior 	Dark Knight
Duelist 	Knight 	Breaker
Pugilist 	Thief 	Tyrant
Mage 	Monk 	Sage
Lancer 	White Mage 	Void Knight
Swordfighter	Black Mage 	Paladin
Ronin 	Red Mage 	Ninja
Marauder 	Dragoon 	Assassin
Pilgrim1 	Berserker 	Liberator
Marksman3 	Samurai 	Cyclic Warrior
― 	Evoker1 	Summoner1
― 	Hunter3 	Blue Mage2
― 	― 	Gambler3
1: Obtained in Trials of the Dragon King.
2: Obtained in Wanderer of the Rift.
3: Obtained in Different Future.
===Map Screen and missions===
Most interactions in the game begin from the map screen, which allows the player to choose locations to visit, equip their characters, access the smithy, and perform the "Talk" action with the people of Cornelia. Talk allows the party to interact with people located in Cornelia, with the conversations changing depending on the current story mission.
The game is split into missions which can be accessed from the world map. Locations have story missions, bookended by cutscenes, and side missions that grant additional items and experience. Although they use the same maps and geometry, side missions have remixed enemy encounters and different available paths.
==Synopsis==
Set in a "dark fantasy world" version of the setting of the original Final Fantasy, simply named Cornelia, Jack and his companions claim to be Warriors of Light, though they harbor doubts about their place in the prophecy.
===Setting===
Final Fantasy takes place in an unnamed fantasy world with three large continents. The world's elemental powers are determined by the state of four glowing crystals that each govern one of the four classical elements: earth, fire, water, and wind. Despite the similarities, it is not the same world as depicted in first Final Fantasy game. Additionally, various locations in the world are based on settings from other Final Fantasy games. The "Fool's Missives" logs in the Archives section refer to other games in the series as "Dimensions".
* Chaos Shrine, a shrine that appeared suddenly, sent from some unknown future to the present. Based on the Chaos Shrine from Final Fantasy.
* Pravoka Seagrot, captured by pirates led by the captain Bikke. Based on the Sastasha Seagrot from Final Fantasy XIV.
* Western Keep, an ancient, war scarred castle where the dark elf king Astos resides. Based on Castle Palamecia from Final Fantasy II.
* Refrin Wetlands, a land in which there exists something that can cause "distortions" in the world and propagate darkness. Based on the Sunleth Waterscape from Final Fantasy XIII.
* Crystal Mirage, an ancient translucent tower in the middle of a forest. Based on the Crystal Tower from Final Fantasy III.
* Flying Fortress, a highly advanced fortress in the clouds full of mechanical contraptions that houses Tiamat. Based on the Tower of Babil from Final Fantasy IV.
* The Wicked Arbor, a dense forest shrouded in miasma. Based on Evil Forest from Final Fantasy IX.
* Mt. Gulg, an active volcano that is difficult to traverse that houses Marilith. Based on the Fire Cavern from Final Fantasy VIII.
* Hallowed Massif, a frost laden mountain prone to avalanches. Based on Mt. Gagazet from Final Fantasy X.
* Cavern of Earth, an ancient tomb that houses Lich. Based on the Tomb of Raithwall from Final Fantasy XII.
* Ruins of Machina, a long abandoned mechanized facility still guarded by a Soul Cannon. Based on Ronka Ruins from Final Fantasy V.
* Sunken Shrine, a technologically advanced shrine that houses Kraken. Based on the Junon Underwater Reactor from Final Fantasy VII.
* The Ancients' Tower, a white tower filled with trap mechanisms. Based on Delkfutt's Tower from Final Fantasy XI.
* Vigilia Court, a twin-headed tower of modern design. Based on the Citadel from Final Fantasy XV.
* Terra Tortūra, a landscape filled with floating islands, monsters and traps. Based on the Floating Continent from Final Fantasy VI.
===Story===
The Four Fiends took control of the crystals over the course of four centuries, their dwindled light resulting in the world’s decline. At an unspecified point, the sage Lukahn tells of a prophecy about four "Warriors of Light", who will save the world in a time of darkness.
Three of the Warriors of Light—Jack, Ash, and Jed—arrive at the kingdom of Cornelia, each carrying a darkened crystal. They offer their services to the King of Cornelia to kill the source plaguing the world: Chaos. Before leaving, the warriors are approached by kingdom's princess Sarah to find a missing Cornelian knight named Garland. They encounter a person matching Garland’s description at the Chaos Shrine, only to be revealed as another Warrior of Light named Neon who lost her comrades and join Jack’s group.
The four assembled Warriors of Light travel east to Pravoka for details of their mission from the mayor, only to end up liberating the town from a band of pirates and have them take them to the abode of the dark elf Astos for the answers they seek. Jack and his friends later meet Sophia, who joins their party as a team of five.
One by one, with guidance from Astos, Jack and his companions defeat the fiends but find the darkness more prevalent than before. Jack and his party later confront Astos, who reveals he is a reconnaissance unit left behind by the Lufenians, a highly advanced civilization who have been using Cornelia as an experimental dumping ground for the darkness. "Chaos" is a source of darkness stemming from the heart of humanity, not a corporeal being. 
To prevent the emergence of Chaos in physical form, the Lufenians have been manipulating space and time in Cornelia, resetting the world when Chaos seems due to emerge. They have also sent in Strangers, special agents meant to preserve the Lufenians' preferred balance between darkness and light, to allow them to continue their experiments. Jack is revealed to have been one such agent.
In a previous cycle, disgusted by the Lufenians' actions, Jack made a plan to wrest control of Cornelia from them, with Astos and his traveling party being his accomplices. Since a Stranger's memory is wiped after a mission, Astos would be the only one to remember Jack's plan: to have Astos guide the others' actions over an uncountable number of cycles, creating the ideal conditions to make Jack strong enough to face the Lufenians, all while keeping their plan from being discovered.
After learning the truth from Astos and suffering a terrible loss, Jack begins to embrace the darkness burgeoning in his soul, granting him great power. Returning to the Chaos Shrine, Jack uses a portal to cross over to a Lufenian research station monitoring Cornelia. Despite the Lufenians' attempts to stop him he seizes the Dimensional Crystal Matrix that granted them the ability to reset the timeline and uses it to cut them off from Cornelia.
Despite this success, the world is still blanketed in darkness. Jack returns to the Chaos Shrine in the distant past, meeting his old allies, now the four fiends. In a bid to become the darkness the true Warriors of Light will vanquish as foretold in the prophecy, Jack gives into the darkness burgeoning in his soul to become Chaos himself.
===Characters===
;Jack's party
*Jack Garland, the player character, whose goal is to kill Chaos; he carries a darkened crystal orb that resonates with others who have them.
*Ash, one of Jack's companions, who also carries a crystal orb.
*Jed, one of Jack's companions, who also carries a crystal orb.
*Neon, a warrior whose party fell in their quest to defeat Chaos, who took the form of Chaos Advent to give the world a chance to strike them down. She carries a crystal orb and joins Jack in his quest.
*Sophia, a woman who, much like Jack, wants to see Chaos purged from the world. She carries a crystal orb and joins Jack in his quest.
;NPCs
*Chaos Advent, a figure who resembles the knight Garland and journeyed to the Chaos Shrine prior to the party with the same goal before claiming to have become Chaos.
*The King of Cornelia, who entrusts Jack's party with defeating Chaos.
*Queen Jayne of Cornelia, who cares much for her children and the people of her kingdom.
*Princess Sarah, a princess who plays the Lute and was in love with Jack.
*Princess Mia, Sarah's younger sister.
*Bikke, a pirate captain that's taken over Pravoka.
*Astos, the Dark Elf prince, who has a history with Jack.
*Lufenians, a mysterious advanced civilization whose machinations still affect the present day.
*Nil, an ambitious Lufenian who is connected to Jack and his past.
;Chaos and the Four Fiends
*Lich, a Fiend of Earth that faces Jack's party in battle.
*Tiamat, a Fiend of Wind that faces Jack's party in battle.
*Kraken, a Fiend of Water that faces Jack's party in battle.
*Marilith, a Fiend of Fire that faces Jack's party in battle.
*Chaos, a being that may be more myth than creature, its existence fuels Jack's quest.
;Others
*Warrior of Light, one of the true Warriors of Light that Garland arranges to save Cornelia.
*Bahamut, the king of dragons from another dimension who helps Garland in aiding the true Warriors of Light.
*Gilgamesh, a dimensional wanderer whom the Lufenians use to restore their connection to Cornelia.
*Moogle, a time traveler who aids Garland in stopping the Lufenians’ attempt to restore their connection to Cornelia.
* The Emperor, a despot from another dimension who stalked Mog over to Jack Garland's realm to conquer it.
* Omega, a living weapon from the rift summoned by the Lufenians to deal with Garland.
==Development==
Tetsuya Nomura came up with the concept for Stranger of Paradise, an action game where one conquers dungeons, around the time after the release of Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and united that concept with a series of Final Fantasy games he was ideating that were focused around "the story of an angry man", being Garland from the first Final Fantasy. Nomura considered it a challenge to find a middle ground for the title, between "mature" and "stylish". Although Nomura has stated that the game was merely “inspired by” the first Final Fantasy, main scenario writer Kazushige Nojima believes that being a prequel is "one possible interpretation".
Around the time Stranger of Paradise was ideated, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT was in development, in collaboration with Team Ninja. Due to their pedigree in action games, the team at Square Enix looked to collaborate with them again for this title.
During development the team was unsure if they should allow players to direct party members and influence their growth, but would make that decision based on feedback from the demo. There was a thought among the development team of having only Jack in combat, but it was decided against as they felt the concept of a party was integral to the Final Fantasy series. The game itself can be played in online cooperative multiplayer, with other players being able to take control of companions. This was done in an effort to balance the game out for people that do not regularly play action games, allowing them to team up to decrease the difficulty of the game.
The team took efforts to attempt to fit the game as an "authentic Final Fantasy" title, ensuring the vocabulary and systems fit with what was previously established, while also finding that the differences are part of what make each title feel like one. Game director Daisuke Inoue was told by various developers that worked in older Final Fantasy titles that the willingness to take new ideas characterized the Final Fantasy series. When thinking of the different locales for the game to explore, the team took inspiration from other Final Fantasy titles and added areas from multiple games, though adjusted from their original setting to fit with the tone of the game.
Following the feedback from the first Trial Version, the team focused on improving certain aspects of the game, including graphical improvements, better lighting, combat and difficulty adjustments, AI improvement and frame rate consistency.
==Release==
The game released on March 18, 2022, in both physical and digital formats, excluding PC where it released exclusively digitally through the Epic Games Store. The PC version later released on Steam on April 6, 2023. Additionally a Digital Deluxe Edition of the game launched the same day and includes access to a digital artbook, digital mini soundtrack and access to the Season Pass, including upcoming DLC Trials of the Dragon King, Wanderer of the Rift and Different Future. Pre-ordering either digital edition received early access to the game as well as the Braveheart weapon and the Lustrous Shield. All purchases were similarly eligible to obtaining the early purchase bonus weapon Rebellion.
The first DLC expansion called Trials of the Dragon King was released on July 20, 2022 and the second one called Wanderer of the Rift was released on October 26, 2022. The third and final DLC expansion called Different Future was released on January 27, 2023. They include a continuation of the story of the base game, as well as new features such as new jobs, new weapon types, and the introduction of accessories as equipment.
==Reception==
Upon the release of its reveal trailer, Stranger of Paradise received mockery for its dialogue, particularly the repetition of the word Chaos, with publications citing its tone as "super-edgy" and "so bad it's good".
Seemingly as response to the mockery, the second trailer distanced itself from using the word "Chaos" in the English version, with producer Jin Fujiwara mentioning in an interview that the team was not particularly pleased with the initial reception, citing the initial mystery as part of the reason the word was repeated so much. Despite this, the game received further mockery for a scene in the second demo, with publications comparing Jack's attitude to "a stubborn child who doesn’t want to listen to their mom" and "the demeanor of a moody teenage boy", though others hoped the game was "in on the joke" and "self-aware." Despite the tone, the game's demo was generally praised for its combat options and scope.
After release, the game was noted for erratic performance, which was attributed to unoptimized models and shaders, with models for singular regular enemies alone reaching 30 MB in geometry, and PC mods that disabled hair drastically increasing performance.
==Production credits==
Concept & Creative Producer & Character Design	Tetsuya Nomura
Logo illustration 	Yoshitaka Amano
Story & Scenario 	Kazushige Nojima
Director (Square Enix) 	Daisuke Inoue
Producer (Square Enix) 	Jin Fujiwara
Executive Producer (Square Enix) 	Shinji Hashimoto
Executive Producer (Square Enix) 	Ichiro Hazama
Executive Producer (Square Enix) 	Yoshinori Kitase
Director (Koei Tecmo Games) 	Hiroya Usuda
Director (Koei Tecmo Games) 	Nobumichi Kumabe
Producer (Koei Tecmo Games) 	Fumihiko Yasuda
Executive Producer (Koei Tecmo Games) 	Yosuke Hayashi
Executive Producer (Koei Tecmo Games) 	Hisashi Koinuma
Chaos Design 	Takayuki Takeya
Main Composer 	Naoshi Mizuta
Music 	Hidenori Iwasaki, Ryo Yamazaki
===Voice cast===
Character 	Japanese 	English
Jack Garland 	Kenjiro Tsuda 	Mocean Melvin
Ash 	Atsushi Miyauchi	Mark Neely
Jed 	Yusuke Suda 	Alejandro Saab
Neon 	Kana Okazaki 	Alejandra Reynoso
Sophia 	Mayumi Asano 	Laura Post
Princess Sarah 	Yume Miyamoto 	Cherami Leigh
King of Cornelia 	Mugihito 	Fred Tatasciore
Queen Jayne 	Miyuki Ichijou 	Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Minister Lagone 	Akio Harose 	Tom Taylorson
Mia 	Natsuki Inaba 	Isabella Crovetti
Astos 	Yoji Ueda 	Todd Haberkorn
Bikke 	Kousuke Goto 	Jake Eberle
Nil 	Kimiko Saito 	Mari Weiss
Chaos Advent 	Koji Ishii 	Christopher Sabat
Warrior of Light (Archived audio)	Toshihiko Seki 	Grant George
Gilgamesh 	Kazuya Nakai 	Keith Szarabajka
Moogle 	Sumire Morohoshi	Bailey Gambertoglio
The Emperor 	Ken'yū Horiuchi 	Christopher Corey Smith
==Gallery==
;Artwork
Key art from Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.png|Key art, featuring Jack Garland covered in blood.
Key art from Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin 02.png|Key art featuring Jack's party and Garland in a sea of clouds, based on concept artwork for the original Final Fantasy titled the Cloudsea Djinn..
Key art from Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin 03.png|Keyart featuring the main characters in the silhouette of Garland.
Trials of the Dragon King.jpg|Key art of Trials of the Dragon King DLC.
FFOrigins Different Future DLC.jpg|Key art of Different Future DLC
;Renders
Jack from Stranger of Paradise.png|Jack render.
Ash from Stranger of Paradise.png|Ash render.
Jed from Stranger of Paradise.png|Jed render.
Neon from Stranger of Paradise.png|Neon render.
Sophia from Stranger of Paradise.png|Sophia render.
Princess Sarah from Stranger of Paradise.png|Princess Sarah render.
Bikke from Stranger of Paradise.png|Bikke render.
Astos from Stranger of Paradise.png|Astos render.
FFOrigins Darkness Manifest Render.png|Darkness Manifest Render
FFOrigins Warrior Of Light Render.png|Warrior of Light Render
FFOrigins Emperor Mateus Render.png|Emperor Mateus render
;Promotional screenshots
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 01.png|Jack, Ash and Jed arriving at the Chaos Shrine.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 02.png|Closeup of Jack.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 03.png|Jack's party standing before Garland.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 04.png|Closeup of Garland.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 05.png|Jack and Garland in combat.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 06.png|Jack as a Warrior fighting a goblin.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 07.png|Jack as a Black Mage fighting a skeleton.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 08.png|Jack as a Dragoon fighting a wolf.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 09.png|Jack finishing off an enemy, turning their blood to crystals.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 10.png|Jack pushing back surrounding enemies.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin promo 11.png|Jack fighting a griffon.
Warriors of Light Trials of the Dragon King.png
FFOrigins Emperor.jpg
FFOrigins Lufenian Woman.jpg|Lufenian woman (Nil).
;Box art
SPFFO Jp PS5 cover.jpg|PS5 Japanese box art
SPFFO Jp PS4 cover.jpg|PS4 Japanese box art
==Allusions==
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy took much influence from other Final Fantasy games.
==Citations==
==External links==
* English website
* Japanese website
* English Twitter
* Japanese Twitter
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