Play Your Heart Out: “Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin”

This is a game that has few flaws and is very addictive and entertaining. I give it a 10/10.

“Stranger of Paradise” was released on March 15, 2022, on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Microsoft Windows platforms. The review for this game was based on the Xbox Series X version of the game.

As I played this game on the Xbox Series X, I noticed the heavy amounts of ray tracing used. According to an article by Adrian Willings, published by pocket-lint.com, ray tracing is “a system that’s used to enhance the lighting in games. This is done in a variety of different ways. It’s used in everything from reflections to shadows both in the gaming environment and on items within it. This includes things like atmospheric effects, reflections on surfaces (water, metal, glass) and even diffused lighting.”  

This game uses ray tracing, and though it is hard to prove it, it is more noticeable on the console version than on videos of the game demoed on YouTube.

In addition, I found the best way to run the game is in performance mode, which is 60 frames per second and 1080p with ray tracing, especially because I do not have a 4k tv.

Logically speaking, this game feels like a remake with some additions to the original “Final Fantasy” that was released on Nintendo in 1987. They use some of the same cities and themes as the first game. However, I could be wrong.

The graphics are not very impressive when watching someone play the game on YouTube, though. However, the actual gameplay is very, very good and tight, and this is easily one of the top 10 best looking games on the Xbox Series X.

The one flaw the game has is that there is no map or mini map to navigate the levels with. I often found myself getting lost repeatedly, but so far I am still progressing.

The game is supposed to have around 16 levels or areas, with each one requiring two or more replays for different objectives. Also, the characters don’t level or get more powerful, their “job” skills do. The jobs have a max of level 30, with at least a dozen jobs to manage. More jobs are introduced as you get further in the game.

This game is a great game, a fun game, and a time-consuming game that is worth the hours sunk into it.