Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin review - An entertaining, challenging trip through time

sportskeeda.com:

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a game I have been waiting for, and boy did it ever deliver. On a personal level, I do not typically play Soulslike games because I’m terrible at them. With that said, I had to play this.

It takes players through the classic Final Fantasy 1 story, but in a way that they will likely not see coming. We will be avoiding major spoilers in this review when it comes to the story. It is intrinsically linked to the first Final Fantasy.

The story may start a little slow, and it might be complex, but it all pays off in a way that moves me on an emotional level.

One of the biggest questions that will no doubt be asked about Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is, “Is this a Soulslike?” On the greater difficulties (Hard/Chaos), I would say yes, yes it most certainly is.

Full disclosure, I reviewed this on Normal and Story difficulty because I am certainly not a Souls player. I may try them more after playing this game, however. Most of the fights were a decent challenge on those difficulties, with Zombie Dragon making me want to scream and throw my PlayStation 5 into the ocean.

In its own way, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin may have pushed the Souls genre forward in its own way. That is primarily thanks to the 28 jobs in the game, each with its special abilities and traits.

Players will have Basic, Advanced, and Expert jobs, with Advanced and Expert jobs having specific requirements to unlock, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. Playstyles will vary wildly for fans of the game, but I spent the most time as Ronin, Samurai, and Breaker.

I will not spend a lot of time on the story because it’s complex and avoids major spoilers. As in Final Fantasy 1, the Warriors of Light showed