New Footage of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Shared

Marking the 34th anniversary of FINAL FANTASY’s original release, Square Enix used the opportunity to showcase new gameplay and cutscene footage for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – seeking to highlight “the connection between the upcoming action RPG and the first title in the FINAL FANTASY series”. As its name should imply, Stranger of Paradise is a spin-off title focusing more on the action RPG mechanics than more traditional RPG systems, doubly so given it is being co-developed by Team Ninja, who are known for their work on the Dead or AliveNinja Gaiden and Nioh franchises. 

With the game offering an alternate retelling of the original Final Fantasy, and shedding light on the dark origins of Garland through the viewpoint of Jack and his comrades – the latest gameplay footage is headlined by the northern bridge scene from the original game. The footage also showcases some of the gameplay, which has been revised and adjusted based on player feedback of the second TRIAL VERSION released earlier in the year. The gameplay videos highlight several gameplay elements including: basic and advanced jobs, abilities, equipment, and multiplayer functionality. 

You can see some of this new footage (and complementing screenshots) below:

New Cutscene Footage

Jobs

Job Switching

Square Enix also shared these statements from the original FINAL FANTASY developers, Hironobu Sakaguchi (Now CEO of Mistwalker Corporation) and Akitoshi Kawazu:

“Garland, who is defeated at the beginning of the story, is reborn 2000 years in the past as Chaos where he continues to rule over darkness, but is once again bested by the Warriors of Light… I created this endless cycle in the story because it was the first game in the series, and even though it is a pixel art RPG, I thought that by giving the story such layers, it wouldn’t just be viewed as some kind of “toy,” and we could elevate it to an authentic form of entertainment. That was the reason behind this decision. I think the same can be said for the scene when the player crosses the northern bridge, and the title and opening story text are shown on screen.”

Hironobu Sakaguchi

“The story of FF Origin is told through the eyes of Garland. It’s quite exciting to see this story depicted through the villain’s perspective. I’m interested to see what kind of emotional impact

that the story of this game might have on players this time around.

“As far as what happens to Garland… People who played the original FINAL FANTASY

already know his fate, but I hope people will find appreciation in how this title portrays him.

“So that’s what happened!?” “I’m almost in tears!”

“These are the kinds of emotions I look forward to seeing from our players.”

Akitoshi Kawazu

Co-developed by Square Enix and Team Ninja, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin will be released on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC on 18 March 2022.

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