![]() A dark castle features shining blue ornamentation. A warm, sunny forest can turn stormy at the touch of a glowing orb. Deep caves reveal glittering, coral-like mushrooms with a bioluminescent glow. He journeys across environments that echo the story’s deep thematic questions think “the coexistence of light and darkness,” for example. Unpersuaded, Jack says “bullshit,” puts in his little Bluetooth headphones, blasts some rock music, and keeps walking forward. Multiple key characters, including party member Neon (whose silvery hair and slender face is straight out of a Yoko Taro game), assert that Chaos is just a fairy tale. Stranger of Paradise’s story follows Jack and his four compatriots on a mission to kill Chaos - although it’s not quite clear what “Chaos” really means. This blinged-out pirate is the de facto mayor of a town, apparently. If you die, the game will even supply some tips to beat the boss. The fights, when done correctly, aren’t overlong. The boss fights required focused play, but cubes placed just in front of their lairs make it easy to try time and time again. Like other Final Fantasy games, Stranger of Paradise pits you against larger-than-life bosses - a six-headed dragon here, an elemental god there, and even a zombie dragon that oozes a tar-like substance. The cherry on top? You also have five potions that get replenished every time you “touch cubes,” which function as checkpoints throughout each level. Your party members join you to gang up on enemies as well. As you fight, you’re allowed unlimited dashes and swings of the sword and aren’t limited by stamina. ![]() The game introduces a “Soul Shield,” which is essentially a block mechanic that allows you to counter both melee and magical attacks without needing to land a perfectly timed block. The combat will make you feel as assured as the gruff Jack. Apparently dudes make friends by having the same rock. Jed and Ash meeting Jack for the first time in the game. Paired with its scattered story and absurd character moments, its velocity was more than enough to make me hoot and howl throughout my rollicking playthrough. But despite Team Ninja’s dense action-gameplay loop, I still found the combat approachable. As a Final Fantasy fan, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this. Stranger of Paradise’s gory, dark, and difficult aesthetic had me battling my way through labyrinthian levels seething with monsters. This is a full-on souls-like, with tough-as-nails bosses that you have to take down with old-fashioned melee strikes. ![]() Stranger of Paradise doesn’t use the turn-based combat for which the Final Fantasy series is known, nor is it even semi-turn-based like Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Team Ninja, the Koei Tecmo subsidiary responsible for the Nioh series, teams up unexpectedly with Square Enix as one of the creative forces behind this Final Fantasy spinoff. From the very start, Stranger of Paradise had me reeling. It’s a fever dream of a beginning, and the fact that this all is packaged within an intense and, at times, fiercely difficult action RPG makes it feel all the more delirious. After that, the scene cuts to Jack (Jack, not the Chairman of the Board) meeting two other dude-bros in a medieval town, and the three decide to go adventuring together - because they all have the same kind of rock in their possession. The protagonist, Jack, then walks through a dreamy field of golden wheat as Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” plays. ![]() ![]()
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