STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN Reviews

CHAOS!!! Jokes aside, highly recommend the game including the DLC. The DLC basically gives you god mode (dopamine rush) for all content except Rift floor 22 onwards, so anyone can complete it. This is one of my favourite under-rated games. So unfortunate it released close to Elden Ring, and that the trailers made the game look like a meme. This is like Nioh 2.5 and if you liked Nioh, you would like this for sure. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy, it also has lots of references/callbacks to nearly all FF's up to XV. I like that they don't rely on the references to make the game and the references are just enough to feel like they are unique to this game. Recreation vs. inspiration. It has great boss designs and the job system is fun too. Story is actually good, but the way it's executed is bad that makes it funny/good imo. Music is ok, I enjoyed the remixes of the original songs used here, when I recognised them. The amount of build options available is staggering. If you like finding and making OP builds, this is a game for you. PC performance is decent I guess... slows down a lot when bursting enemies (but I heard that's because your FPS needs to be capped to 60). The game's native HDR mode isn't that good, I prefer SpecialK's HDR or SDR. Anti-aliasing and upscaling options aren't great either, it only has DLSS2 and FSR1.0. You can use Optiscaler to get XeSS (if you have an Intel Arc GPU) or FSR3.x for AMD. Using FSR3.x with an upscaling ratio close to native (native gives a black screen) makes the game look a lot better/stable. For those on linux proton 10 is not working, use proton 9. Hope this gets a sequel

Came for the memes Some of the worst dialogues ever written Story is Dumb af Main character is a gorilla with clothes Combat is somewhat good Recycled linear areas all the time Extremely repetative

Amazing combat and character progression, one of my favorite games in recent years!

If you enjoy nioh this is simplified with final fantasy flavor. Finished the base game, I'd give it an 8/10. The game feels like something you'd rent from blockbuster as a kid cause it looks cool and beat it over the weekend. Fun dumb action with a protagonist that that's 100% dead set on KILL CHAOS. Minus points for repetitive dungeon corridors and repetitive enemies near the end, everything else is fun though.

Very fun game, if you enjoy games like Nioh, this'll probably be up your alley. It's nice that you can unlock any class any time you want, so long as you're willing to put the time in, it doesn't unlock through story missions, it's almost immediate that you can go for whatever play style you want. Also your character is a highly aggressive fighter, even the white mage class will have your character smashing enemies over the head before stamping them into red shards, so if that's your kinda thing, you won't be disappointed.

Fantastic game. In depth combat system and surprisingly cool story, As a fan of Team Ninja I knew what I was getting into in terms of the combat system, but the Final Fantasy portion caught me by surprise. Expecting a one dimensional romp, I found a sincere, pure and lovable adventure. The good parts are really good. The combat system, while being easier than what Team Ninja has previously produced, is still engaging and fun, the boss battles being the highlight. It's the main part of the game and the reason I will keep playing after clearing the game's base difficulty. There's a lot of variety, having dozens of jobs to choose, all of them with their own series of skills. Good enough enemy diversity, using the Final Fantasy bestiary. You will see some recognizable beasts rendered in great detail. It does have it's flaws though. The system is really complex, but the base game doesn't really require you to engage with all of it in the beginning. Then, when you need those mechanics, you may even have forgotten they exist. The game has an extensive "tips" section in the pause menu to freshen up on all of the mechanics. The game showers you with loot, but nothing is important in the lower levels. To remedy that, the game has an auto-equip option of all the highest level items your character can carry and you can auto-dismantle the rest of the items. The level design goes from good to serviceable. While the environments are varied, the maps are nothing more than a series of corridors that sometimes interconnect. Some maps can feel disorienting, but there is a clear indicator of where you are supposed to go, with visible quest indicators. The performance, while generally good on system that meets recommended requirements, does suffer from the abundance of effects on screen at some points. It never affected my enjoyment of the game, since they mostly occur during finishing moves while you are invulnerable. Recommended to both Team Ninja and Final Fantasy fans.

A decent game that is overblown by the memes surrounding it. It is a showcase of some of the finest action combat Team Ninja have put out, despite being a little repetitive. There's a deep character customization system that really lets you tailor your character build; a job system that lets you switch class freely at any time, backed by Diablo-style loot drop system. If there's any gripe I have, it's that the different classes are not distinctive enough. Once you unlock all the available movesets, the only thing that really changes when you switch class is the class-exclusive ability, and they're more gimmicky than practical. Still, the amount of moves and abilities you can do is nothing to scoff at. Enemies hit hard and fast, but it's not the kind of game that you'd play defensively. Many features of the game very much incentivize playing in a very hyper-aggressive manner: chain-cancelling, soul guard, etc... Parrying with soul guard recovers MP (which is used for many abilities), chain-cancelling allows for instantaneous parries or continuous attack chains; it's easy to see how high the learning curve is with the tools available, and once mastered, the combat becomes immensely satisfying. Did I mention that there's an ability called Lightbringer which you lets parry with almost no consequence, practically making you invincible, for a short amount of time? I had a few laughs due to the absurdity of the dialogue, but as soon as the game tries to justify its story, this is where the game falters hard. Poorly written dialogue that leaves you guessing more often than not. Making heads or tails out of the story is an excruciating endeavor; the developers went to great lengths to create all the background details and world-building, but the story is way too thin for what it tries to get across. When the story finally does say something, it is full of nonsensical, cryptic exposition-filled dialogue that does not get to the point. It doesn't help that some scenes are just... bad, in a "no, that's not how real human beings act" kind of way. It's tough because I do enjoy the hammy characterization, but I don't know if it wants to be a parody of itself, or a totally serious thing, as such, the narrative is not as satisfying as it should be. Narratively speaking, I get the sense that the developers were trying to "subvert expectations" (a term that I despise because being obvious is somehow considered a bad thing) of long-time Final Fantasy fans, but the result is a huge frustrating mess to get through. The combat at least pushes this game from middling to decent quality. 7/10

Hm. I HAVE TO KILL CHAOS! Hm. Did you ask for Final Fantasy 1 to be remade as a sudo Dark Souls game? no? well you got it anyways. Hm. These guys grunt a lot. They basically only grunt and mention Chaos. Hm. I am enjoying this game so far. Hm. Once again, I HAVE TO KILL CHAOS!

A very compelling story told in not so compelling way resulting in a very misunderstood, yet worthy tribute to the verse. Game lets you break it dozen different ways and still keeps up with you. So much chaos, such fun.

This game sums up Square Enix for the last decade. They created a winning formula and generally tweaked things. Then bam, a hack and slash or a linear game or one completely lacking content. This one, linear. Don't expect much exploring. Don't expect open areas. This is a dungeon crawler. I can just about recommend this game.