A new trailer of Team Ninja’s new Final Fantasy spinoff, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, gives players a closer look at the combat of the game. As one would expect from a game from the development team behind Nioh and the 3D Ninja Gaiden games, Final Fantasy Origin offers players a wide variety of tools and unlockable fighting styles to keep combat fresh.
At a glance, FFO is a very “Dark Souls-like” title. However, Team Ninja added a few touches that keep the game feeling original and closer to the mainline Final Fantasy series.
The game features the return of a staple mechanic of the Final Fantasy series, Command Abilities. These spells/special moves likely have a variety of uses such as the announced move Lightbringer, which acts like a burst that blows enemies back.
These aren’t the only special moves players can make use of either. The trailer shows that players can use the Soul Shield to absorb and fire back enemy projectiles, adding another layer of strategy to the combat since one enemy may be susceptible to an ability of another.
Another series staple showing up here is jobs. The main character, Jack, starts the game as a Swordsman and throughout the game will gain access to other classes and weapons such as Lancer, Duelist, Mage, Marauder, and more. As with other action games of this style, players can instantly change classes at the push of a button to mix together different move lists and abilities for larger combos.
Each class is able to unlock a wide variety of command abilities that players can use to create their own class combinations. To unlock these abilities and affinities, players must use the classic experience map to upgrade their various jobs.
The trailer also reveals that players can join with others in multiplayer missions, no matter how far each player has progressed through the game.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin releases March 18, 2022, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
