Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin announced - Coming 2022 to PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

PshycoNinja · Jun 14, 2021

I am completely baffled at some of the comments in this interview. Like genuinely shocked.

Nomura said:
The initial concept for STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN came up around the time following the release of DISSIDIA 012duodecim FINAL FANTASY. I was thinking to myself about making my next game into one that featured action elements in which locations are conquered, rather than the kind with battles against characters.

Some time passed without anything coming of it, but separately I was also thinking to myself about another plan for a new series of FINAL FANTASY titles revolving around "the story of an angry man". Even more time passed, at which point I received a request for a new plan, so I combined these two ideas to come up with this.

This quote alone makes it sound like this is just a game that was slapped together with vague ideas and really shoehorned ideas. Also concerning is that he was thinking about this idea while working on FFXV and it just really goes to show how sometimes he just needs someone to be like "Hey bud, I need you to really focus on this game now and not something else."

Nojima said:
"It's not a hope or a dream. It's like a hunger. A thirst."

When I wrote this line, I felt like the story had been brought to life.

What drives them to want to defeat Chaos as much as they do?

What, then, are their hopes and dreams?

It was in this moment that what used to be fragments and pieces of story came together in a powerful way.

This further makes it feel like it was a game born from fragmented ideas and kind of slapped together. Like the way Nojima describes it makes it sound like he honestly didn't know what to make of the story after Nomura approached him with the fragmented ideas he had for the game. The way he words it, it almost feels like a story forced together tenuously.

Inoue (Director) said:
There may be some people who were disappointed that this announcement was not a new, numbered title in the series, but this game contains ambitions within that even a mainline title may not have been able to achieve.

This is such a weird comment in general to say about your game that you just announced.

Usuda (Director Koei Tecmo) said:
I grew up playing FINAL FANTASY since I was very young, so it is a great honor to have the opportunity to be involved with this title. Furthermore, I'm truly excited that Team NINJA is able to deliver the first full-on action game in the FINAL FANTASY series to the world.

Okay, how did PR and marketing let this one slide? The game has been described as an Action RPG.

Square Enix said:
Developers including Tetsuya Nomura and Kazushige Nojima talk about their vision for the new action RPG… and why it's a very different FINAL FANTASY.

So...is it a full on action game or action RPG? Regardless of the semantics, it feels almost insulting to say this is the first action title in the FF series when there have been MANY action titles in the FF series of games. FF7R, FFXVI, FFXV, Type-0, Dissidia games. I dunno. The comment rubbed me the wrong way.

Egida · Jun 14, 2021

KDR_11k said:
All I can think of is:

Yes! Thank you! I was going crazy trying to remember the game.

Laughing Banana · Jun 14, 2021

Is... is this set up as a prequel to FF1?

I mean, you meant to tell me that the very first FF hero, the tale that precede all the FF afterwards, the very first Warrior of Light... is a guy named Jack?

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding something here....

crimilde · Jun 14, 2021

Reading the developer comments, the combat in the demo sounds like it could actually be pretty fun, and I know Team Ninja take feedback seriously. Just wish we'd be able to play it.

Hiroya Usuda said:
In this trial version, we've made specific demo-oriented adjustments so that players of all styles will be able to enjoy it—we have incorporated elements such as multiple jobs and weapon types, adjustable difficulty levels, and great replayability. Please let us know your thoughts and feedback once you have given it a try!

Fumihiko Yasuda said:
Using the feedback that the players provide after playing the trial version, all of us at Team NINJA will work to make this a title that meets the expectations of not only action game fans, but also FINAL FANTASY series fans around the world!

KDR_11k · Jun 14, 2021

Samiya said:
no, they're just reusing art assets from FFXV

CHAOS!

crimilde · Jun 14, 2021

Edit: tweet was deleted:

Deleted member 11038 · Jun 14, 2021

crimilde said:

Finally, i hope the gameplay is at least fun.

Chibs · Jun 14, 2021

crimilde said:
Reading the developer comments, the combat in the demo sounds like it could actually be pretty fun, and I know Team Ninja take feedback seriously. Just wish we'd be able to play it.

Man, I would not wanna be in the room when the team receives this feedback, I doubt it'll be very 'constructive'.
I'll give the demo a shot at least... when it actually works

King Kingo · Jun 14, 2021

PshycoNinja said:
Why are you reducing his role on this game. He came up with the concept. He is the creative producer. He is the character designer. He has an interview where he's pretty much the central dev involved in the game. This game is his idea.

I love Nomura too, but he has some real stinkers sometimes.

Does no one remember he was the one who came up with All The Bravest and credited as Creative producer, original concept.

I'm not reducing his role, I just think that this trailer was the perfect fuel for people to hate on Nomura because they can. Let's be real, this man is working on multiple projects and I doubt that this game is going to take the most of his creative focus compared to the next Kingdom Hearts console entry.

Even I think this trailer is a stinker but you don't see me solely blaming Nomura when the reality of this game's creative direction is way more complicated.

crazillo · Jun 14, 2021

I didnt't find this announcement amazing or anything and I'm not a fan of the story premise, but I do think the reaction is a bit overblown compared to the truly atrocious Babylon's Fall, for instance. The gameplay could be fun.

Kain · Jun 14, 2021

Not saying that all the goodwill S-E got from releasing VIIR and it being actually great went down the toilet, but they sure do try their best.

Razmos · Jun 14, 2021

Eien1no1Yami said:
Eurogamer has a let's play scheduled in about 40 minutes from now.

Do they not know the demo is not working?

It would be kind of a joke if they got it working for a news outlet but nobody else

Quinton · Jun 14, 2021

PshycoNinja said:
This further makes it feel like it was a game born from fragmented ideas and kind of slapped together. Like the way Nojima describes it makes it sound like he honestly didn't know what to make of the story after Nomura approached him with the fragmented ideas he had for the game. The way he words it, it almost feels like a story forced together tenuously.

That quote, in particular, was just... classic Nojima nonsense as delivered by Nojima himself.

duckroll · Jun 14, 2021

Razmos said:
It would be kind of a joke if they got it working for a news outlet but nobody else

It'll be really funny of a major news outlet has a livestream of them failing to get the game working and just discussing the bad publicity around the entire announcement instead. I'm sure S-E's marketing department is going to have a field day tomorrow.

Xils · Jun 14, 2021

crazillo said:
I didnt't find this announcement amazing or anything and I'm not a fan of the story premise, but I do think the reaction is a bit overblown compared to the truly atrocious Babylon's Fall, for instance. The gameplay could be fun.

Aside from it being a Final Fantasy game which always brought along a big reaction, this has that so bad it's good energy going for it so it's the kind of thing that's fun to make fun of.

Babylon's Fall is just bad. There is just no fun to be had for that kind of bad so people are just shitting on it and move on rather than keep memeing it like this game.

Ferrs · Jun 14, 2021

Eien1no1Yami said:
Eurogamer has a let's play scheduled in about 40 minutes from now.

Do they not know the demo is not working?

It says in 6 h from now to me.

spman2099 · Jun 14, 2021

crazillo said:
I didnt't find this announcement amazing or anything and I'm not a fan of the story premise, but I do think the reaction is a bit overblown compared to the truly atrocious Babylon's Fall, for instance. The gameplay could be fun.

I think the problem is that the premise that leaked seemed so promising. If this game hadn't been associated with Final Fantasy, and if that premise hadn't been leaked, I think people would have just moved on. However, as is, it made for a very disappointing reveal.

Zor · Jun 14, 2021

Nonagon · Jun 14, 2021

Duty said:
Lmao

Hmm, I was so sure the red-haired guy would be called Ash. I think it's a missed opportunity.

FakePlasticTree · Jun 14, 2021

It looks like they took Williams model from Nioh, shaved his head and put in him in a shirt bought out of a used clothes store.

Kazooie · Jun 14, 2021

En-ou said:
More like DMC than Souls.

In tone, maybe, but have you seen the slow as molasses combat? Clearly Souls, not DMC.

Echo · Jun 14, 2021

Musubi said:

Bah, speak for yourself. I like the twinks, please give them back. 😭

oliverandm · Jun 14, 2021

I swear "Stranger of Paradise" is such a dumb title, and my head cannot get rid of the thought that they listened to Coolio and thought "living in a stranger's paradise" was cool lyrics that they just tool and made their own spin on. Even "Jack", "Jed" and "Ash" as the characters names... I want Chad, Chuck and Ted in DLC following.

So much of this screams 1980-1990s when Japanese devs actively tried to appeal to americans in their presentation. So funny to me.

CaviarMeths · Jun 14, 2021

PshycoNinja said:
I am completely baffled at some of the comments in this interview. Like genuinely shocked.

This quote alone makes it sound like this is just a game that was slapped together with vague ideas and really shoehorned ideas. Also concerning is that he was thinking about this idea while working on FFXV and it just really goes to show how sometimes he just needs someone to be like "Hey bud, I need you to really focus on this game now and not something else."

This further makes it feel like it was a game born from fragmented ideas and kind of slapped together. Like the way Nojima describes it makes it sound like he honestly didn't know what to make of the story after Nomura approached him with the fragmented ideas he had for the game. The way he words it, it almost feels like a story forced together tenuously.

This is such a weird comment in general to say about your game that you just announced.

Okay, how did PR and marketing let this one slide? The game has been described as an Action RPG.

So...is it a full on action game or action RPG? Regardless of the semantics, it feels almost insulting to say this is the first action title in the FF series when there have been MANY action titles in the FF series of games. FF7R, FFXVI, FFXV, Type-0, Dissidia games. I dunno. The comment rubbed me the wrong way.

That's what I was saying, just top shelf cringe. These comments seem so out of touch with both what audiences actually want and don't seem to know what they're actually doing here. Just a completely baffling PR package that SE put together for this.

"Some fans will be disappointed it's not a numbered entry."

???

Between FF7R-2, FF16, and Endwalker, nah, I think fans are pretty set on numbered entries for now!

The "story of an angry man" is the one that just absolutely sends me though.

BBboy20 · Jun 14, 2021

Edit: tweet was deleted:

Trim · Jun 14, 2021

Square needs to give people a character creator at this point

crimilde · Jun 14, 2021

Trim said:
Square needs to give people a character creator at this point

It's not like Team Ninja don't have one already from Nioh 2.

Wispmetas · Jun 14, 2021

Honestly, this game still has a long way to release. The online blow to these character designs may make them change it. And honestly that's really my biggest gripe with the game, it can be edgy and a bit cringe, but I'm here for that shit every now and then honestly. But those designs? I just don't vibe with them at all.

NovumVeritas · Jun 14, 2021

The story of an angry man. Sounds promising. Lol

Xils · Jun 14, 2021

Trim said:
Square needs to give people a character creator at this point

These guys will all die by the end of the prologue (after the fight with CHAOS in the trailer) and you'll get your character creator.

Blent · Jun 14, 2021

Mesharey · Jun 14, 2021

This game totally feels like something from PS3 era when Japanese companies were trying to make games for western audiences and failed miserable.

Like what Team Ninja said, Japanese hamburger.

CaviarMeths · Jun 14, 2021

Xils said:
These guys will all die by the end of the prologue (after the fight with CHAOS in the trailer) and you'll get your character creator.

The PR includes images of Jack as different jobs in different armour.

Dandy · Jun 14, 2021

mazi said:
jack, jed and ash. sounds like a sean cody video.

if you know you know

But where's Cade?!

Katana_Strikes · Jun 14, 2021

Really hard to fathom them green lighting this but then we have Balan Wonderwhatever. This looks like everything SE shouldn't be doing and would have learned their lesson from many a times over. But here we are.

Wispmetas · Jun 14, 2021

CaviarMeths said:
The PR includes images of Jack as different jobs in different armour.

I'm almost certain all of those images were taken from the trial.

Menchin · Jun 14, 2021

Looks like absolute garbage

Can't wait to play it

Sawyer · Jun 14, 2021

I still can't believe how unappealing every single aspect of this looks to me.

PshycoNinja · Jun 14, 2021

BBboy20 said:

As someone who works QA, I have no idea how this made it to PSN. The issue 100% has to be on PSN or a bad file transfer but even then...I am baffled it made it through all the QA checks and once it hit PSN it has a corrupted file that is unable to boot the game. How does that happen?

Xils · Jun 14, 2021

CaviarMeths said:
The PR includes images of Jack as different jobs in different armour.

Well, the prologue also needs to teach you about different jobs and armours.

I'm just in denial.

CloudWolf · Jun 14, 2021

Can't wait for the Bed of Chaos boss fight

Deleted member 1102 · Jun 14, 2021

Was hoping this was some weird fever dream when I woke up this morning but alas, CHAOS ruled supreme. What a fucking pile of shit this game looks.

Zukuu · Jun 14, 2021

PshycoNinja said:
As someone who works QA, I have no idea how this made it to PSN. The issue 100% has to be on PSN or a bad file transfer but even then...I am baffled it made it through all the QA checks and once it hit PSN it has a corrupted file that is unable to boot the game. How does that happen?

Because it's a hard deadline set long before the demo was close to finish.

They wanted to make it launch during E3.

DealWithIt · Jun 14, 2021

"the story of an angry man"

I'm honestly just baffled anyone could think this was an interesting worthwhile starting point for a game after the last 15 years of gaming.

This is a bad PS3 game risen from the dead.

PshycoNinja · Jun 14, 2021

Zukuu said:
Because it's a hard deadline set long before the demo was close to finish.

They wanted to make it launch during E3.

QA would never approve a demo to release that cannot boot. That is literally item number 1 on a checklist in any company that makes games or software. And I cannot imagine a senario where QA is telling people "Hey the game doesn't boot" and it being met with "Release it anyways."

Laughing Banana · Jun 14, 2021

I can't believe this and FFXIV are coming from the same company. I mean the amount of respect the latter shown to the history of FF is really tremendous... and this.........

Aadiboy · Jun 14, 2021

Nomura designs don't work for high fantasy

PshycoNinja · Jun 14, 2021

DealWithIt said:
I'm honestly just baffled anyone could think this was an interesting worthwhile starting point for a game after the last 15 years of gaming.

This is a bad PS3 game risen from the dead.

I feel like after God of War people stopped doing that in general. Even God of War moved away from that as a premise.

Laughing Banana said:
I can't believe this and FFXIV are coming from the same company. I mean the amount of respect the latter shown to the history of FF is really tremendous... and this.........

Ehhhhhhhh. I feel XIV mostly is just a themepark with their only direction being "lets take ideas from other games and pass it off as our own and we'll call it an "homage"". Idk maybe I am jaded XIV fan but XIV doesn't feel super original and I feel like that has slowly been detrimental to the games originality. 5.3 I checked out because it just felt like they stepped over a line for me personally.

Linus815 · Jun 14, 2021

DealWithIt said:
I'm honestly just baffled anyone could think this was an interesting worthwhile starting point for a game after the last 15 years of gaming.

This is a bad PS3 game risen from the dead.

why? Last year's GOTY's main theme is quite literally anger.
There is nothing inherently wrong with designing a game around hatred/vengenace/whatever. It's all about how its executed.

Laughing Banana said:
I can't believe this and FFXIV are coming from the same company. I mean the amount of respect the latter shown to the history of FF is really tremendous... and this.........

Not really sure what's weird about an AAA company with several studios with different budgets having variable quality. It's... normal? And yeah this game looks bad so far. The same company also released FF14 1.0 which was one of the biggest trainwrecks ever. Didn't stop them from making making several bangers afterwards.

Laughing Banana · Jun 14, 2021

PshycoNinja said:
Ehhhhhhhh. I feel XIV mostly is just a themepark with their only direction being "lets take ideas from other games and pass it off as our own and we'll call it an "homage"". Idk maybe I am jaded XIV fan but XIV doesn't feel super original and I feel like that has slowly been detrimental to the games originality. 5.3 I checked out because it just felt like they stepped over a line for me personally.

I disagree. It's palpable the amount of love and respect the FFXIV team has for the history of FF, as a huge fan of FF it's a huge treat playing FFXIV because of this.

I mean the way they handled

Warrior of Light

in Shadowbringer was tremendous. Compared to this.........

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin announced - Coming 2022 to PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Game Developer

Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer

Unshakeable One Winged Slayer

Specialist at TheGamer / Reviewer at RPG Site

One Winged Slayer

Unshakable Resolve

One Winged Slayer

Game Developer

Account closed at user request

Game Developer

Game Developer