New screenshots and details from Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin have revealed some of the game’s modern-day reimagining of classic characters and locations from the first Final Fantasy game.
As revealed on the Square Enix blog, Stranger of Paradise will see you travel to the Western Keep, Crystal Mirage, and The Flying Fortress. These are all locations from the very first Final Fantasy game (although back then the Crystal Mirage was known as the Mirage Tower).
On this journey, you’ll also come across Astos, the king of the dark elves, who lives in the Western Keep. That’s exactly where he was fought as a boss in the original Final Fantasy. Also joining the returning cast is Tiamat, a multi-headed dragon who was fought at the top of the Flying Fortress in the original game. The Stranger of Paradise blog doesn’t mention if Tiamat will be in the same place for Final Fantasy Origin, but notes that the Fiend of Wind uses wind-element attacks like Whirlwind and Tempest. It can also use Macro Burst, an breath attack from all of its six mouths.
Also revealed is Sophia, a character who will join protagonist Jack in the quest to defeat Chaos. Like Jack, she also possesses a black crystal. Square Enix is currently being coy as to the significance of those black crystals, but they are presumably linked to the crystal in the Chaos Shrine found in the original game.
In addition to these characters and locations, the blog post also highlights three of the class-like Jobs that players will be able to use in the game. Swordsman is a melee-focussed Job with spinning slashes and sweeping attacks, the Mage is a basic elemental attacker able to cast spells like Fire, Fira, and Firaga, and the Pugilist uses weapons like knuckles and claws to attack in chains.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin releases on March 18 for PS5, PS4, Xbox consoles, and PC via the Epic Games Store. For more, check out the previous batch of screenshots and details that revealed Captain Bikke the pirate. If you were unable to play the demo that released earlier this year, be sure to read our Stranger of Paradise preview, in which we said it’s “a very promising looking action/soulslike spin on the Final Fantasy franchise.”
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.
