Square Enix

Final Fantasy has seen a lot of ups and downs throughout its time in Square Enix. From having its concept grabbed out from its foundation with the fall of Dissidia to a reconceptualization of combat due to their other hit series Kingdom Hearts and its more favorable combat. With this in mind, the release of Strangers of Paradise served as a new divide for the old fans with their prequel setting and story of the original direction Dissidia wanted to take the story, while also shaking up the combat and writing for the new players who grew up in the post-Kingdom Hearts era of Final Fantasy. The true concern of this release amongst the community was whether it would alienate new and old players or fabricate a new platform for the future of the series. The first of these factors is the combat and its new style.

The new gameplay style was pioneered by Team Ninja, who after their main line Ninja Gaiden games had been put on hiatus, turned to the souls-like formula to release the Nioh series which set the precedent for what souls-like formula would hold. With this in mind, they combined the gameplay philosophy they had established and put it on the backdrop of a once-forgotten world of Cornelia. The combat itself is divided into classes with a limit of certain weapons, spells, and armor you would collect as loot in the game. One of my biggest problems with the game is some of the unhealthy designs that Team Ninja had brought over from their projects, these being the amount of loot management and the mission transitions. Loot is constantly being thrown at you with a very primitive storage/ inventory screen which means you will have to sacrifice good items and spend 20 minutes sorting loot just to have to do that after the next mission. After you are done with a mission, you are brought out to the menu screen to go to the next. It’s very odd, especially having the Soulsborne aesthetic constantly showing through.  But overall the gameplay is great with the combination of a command list of the Final Fantasy series with the limitation and flow of combat being within the soulsborne’s individuality.  

A younger user of Game FAQs, Hazai, delineates the differences between the play style of other Team Ninja games, “Only played Nioh 1 but the combat in origins is way more combo/fighter based,” Hazai perpetuates. “It’s all about animation cancels between specials and swapping between 2 classes for insane damage.”

The other factor that surprisingly stayed everlasting was the art style. The best way to explain the art style is a semi-realistic anatomy with cool radiant colors. I loved the émigré and medieval armory which combined the fantastical direction that Dissidia had taken the series with the more cyberpunk/ sci-fi aesthetics that Square would carry through most of the 00s. 

Editor Claire Tabri for the Laptop Magazine holds a refutation to my belief that the game’s graphics and art style are underutilized, “Its environments are minimally detailed, featuring empty rooms and basic backgrounds that make every corner of this world feel uninspired. “

I think this game is a great deterrent from both sides of the community which in a way helped bring the community together again. I loved what Team Ninja did with the combat and overall design of the game. Unfortunately, this game was sandwiched between two heavily branded and funded games in the series. This remains one of my favorite Final Fantasy games and souls to this day.