Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (Zero Punctuation)

This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee reviews Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
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#ZeroPunctuation

[@theescapist]

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[@renixmar3373]

oh shit, no Kirby review yet

[@orxy5316]

You will want to watch this one for Kirby...

[@BlacklightSonate]

still no rune factory 5, my disappointment is immeasurable, lol

[@mekman4]

Today I learned that FF: Strangers in Paradise is a remake of the original. I was confused, this helps. I think it looks kinda cool! Great Stuff!

[@Lee-nd4yf]

@@renixmar3373 b b 7yu u

[@Mrfritz590]

The best summary I ever heard of this game's plot was: "No!" Jack said, "I must kill the Chaos!" "No Jack." said the voice on the radio, "You are the Chaos." And then Jack was a Darkness.

[@wesleythomas7125]

"I want to be on the airships, daddy!" "No son, you will be kill by Chaos!"

[@Gamepersonality]

That feels like those scripts written by bots I've seen around the tube lately!

[@retroicdescent]

Sounds like dialogue out of a "Half Life Full Life Consequences" video, lmao!

[@wesleythomas7125]

@@retroicdescent It's from Doom: Reprocussions of Evil.

[@Zeiru]

10 points for that John Was A Zombie reference.

[@cupsnlantern]

Stranger of Paradise: The story of a very angry boy, his friends, and their JO crystals.

[@seymorbuns5363]

…what does the Jo stand for?

[@hedonistredd4592]

Must've been a lot of positive energy at the last battle. 👍

[@Raigosai]

🎵"we~, have the crystal gems, they always save the day,"/ "And if you think they can't, we'll charge them all the way!"/ "That's why the people of, this, club... believe in..."/ "Jaaaackin' off~" "-And Steven!"

[@seymorbuns5363]

@@cranapple3367 thanks

[@marceloslacerda]

@@seymorbuns5363 joy

[@kingsleycy3450]

Stranger of Paradise is entirely inexplicable, but it tells its convoluted story with such unearned, edgy swagger that I thought Yahtzee would at least get some ironic enjoyment out of it.

[@sdbzfan1]

The fact that he never mentioned when the lich introduces itself and jack cuts it off is when i realized he wasnt gonna recommend this

[@Reachfan2]

I agree, but what shocks me even more is that Jack seems to be the opposite of Aloy from the Horizon games and Yahtzee doesn't even acknowledge that. When Yahtzee reviewed the newest Horizon game and called Aloy selfish for trying to do everything herself without help, it reminded me of that SoP meme/cutscene where Jack called out that one girl's BS about being the villian of the story so no one else can carry the burden. I was certain Yahtzee would acknowledge something like that, but instead here we are scratching our heads about the mind of the enigma that is Yahtzee's mind.

[@MichelleJNorton]

@@Reachfan2 egh, he doesn't like FF games, never has, usually gives up near the beginning... so I didn't expect him to recommend it.

[@palladiamorsdeus]

@@MichelleJNorton This isn't Final Fantasy, regardless of the name.

[@___Nightbreeze]

@@sdbzfan1 1:28 - He mentions Jack cutting people off there.

[@Evanz111]

The thing that confused me most in this game is if your character is wearing a facemask, the cloth extends and contracts when the character is speaking. I have NEVER seen a game bother to optionally animate face armour physics for a specific armour type on the head, and yet it skips so many other corners.

[@zomgl2pnoobffs]

This is an especially odd priority since anime characters don't move their chins. Ever.

[@katelights]

yep, another sign that the game was partway done and they just had to package up what they had into some kind of saleable object.

[@Ramsey276one]

Freaking hell... XD

[@whoareyoutoaccuseme6588]

@@zomgl2pnoobffs You can tell the quality of an anime on whether they bother animating the chins or not.

[@KojiroOokami]

Sad to say, the direction games are going is that graphics are everything and must be top notch. Gameplay and story be damned. I swear, the more new games come out the more I want to go back to the old PS1 and prior games

[@dhayris160]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard “better cure that poison” and thought “how tf do I do that?” Pretty sure a monk skill can do it, but no white mage spell can, which is dumb.

[@Ramsey276one]

ARE YOU SERIOUS?! W T A F ?!?

[@Ramsey276one]

69 likes confirmed D

[@frknspacewizardbrett6044]

I guess they just forgot about Poisona (PURE on the NES, Esuna in most remakes), which was 4th level white magic in final fantasy 1.

[@FFSamurai]

@@frknspacewizardbrett6044 Maybe they figured “well half of the spells from FFI are bugged to shit so we can say the player’s constantly casting pure but, as to be as authentic as possible, it does jack shit.”

[@frknspacewizardbrett6044]

@@FFSamurai The irony is that PURE is one of the spells that (as far as I remember) actually worked completely as intended.

[@bonogiamboni4830]

"I've never heard of this game in my life" "1:14 The plot is that you're an angry man on a quest to defeat chaos" "Ah ok it's that game."

[@tytris203]

I love how offended he was at Sophia's name being longer than 4 characters.

[@madwaltz9812]

It's worth noting regarding the 4 letter long name thing, that the Japanese version of FF1 was also 4 letters, but used Japanese kana, so the name "Sophia" would fit. I can't say for certain, but I doubt the 4 character limit thing was as memorable to Japanese players as the 4 letter limit was to western players, because 4 kana is considerably less restrictive than 4 English letters. The warriors of light all having 4 character or less names would be a cool touch though, and something a savvy localization team could have done (perhaps by renaming "Sophia" to "Fia" or something).

[@aaronking2020]

Soph

[@duronin]

Sofi

[@jacobcurliss9687]

Sfia

[@MysticCouchPotato]

Phia

[@lisatravis3989]

Sofa

[@vanhoras3082]

I remember the E3 trailer being a meme on just how bloody stupid it was. Suppose this is one of the rare cases of a trailer being entirely accurate.

[@Donolohe]

I remember sitting at YongYea's stream that day and trying with others to make him add "KILL CHAOS" to everything for the remainder of it, because he's so good at doing that voice.

[@SuccubiPie]

It's still extremely fun to play. It's like Kingdom Hearts 2 in that regard, but with Nioh gameplay.

[@Skaless]

@@SuccubiPie totally agree, this game is great to play, and the story is entertaining to me because I find it horrendously bad and told terribly as well. Normally I would hate this but it almost seems self aware as to how bad it is and doubles down on it, which somehow makes it entertaining for me 🤷‍♂️

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@Skaless There's definitely more than a few movies that would fall into that category. They're bad but they're the right kind of bad that makes them good or at the very least extremely entertaining.

[@KenshinIV]

I don't know if I've ever seen a "Triple-A" game that would fit at home on Mystery Science Theater 3000 more perfectly than Stranger of Paradise.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

From what I saw of it in Thor Highheel's review, it seemed very self-aware. Like it was mocking dark and gritty heroes the exact same way Flash Gordon and Queen were mocking naive and altruistic heroes. I mean, every single character treats the growling and bitterness like its the most adorable thing. The sarcasm couldn't get any thicker.

[@Nirwanda001]

What about kingdom hearts or metal gear?

[@KenshinIV]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 It isn't. It's 100% sincere. It's just *that* bad.

[@KenshinIV]

​@@Nirwanda001 I mean, Kingdom Hearts is every bit as nonsensical, and it just gets every bit more so as it goes along. Metal Gear is a different beast entirely. It's tonally all over the place, and often intentionally so, that it's more of a case by case basis. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

[@deathdoom8]

@@KenshinIV the sincereity is what makes it better, it's 2000s edgy kino

[@distractedgaming4526]

I dunno, I kinda unironically love it so far. "Chaos doesn't exist." "Bullshit!" *Turns on Linkin Park*

[@k3salieri]

Walks away thinking he's a badass.

[@SuccubiPie]

@@k3salieri Jack is based.

[@distractedgaming4526]

@@redgarlicbred6228 Real talk, Linkin Park is not in that game. Jack does however, turn on some edgy sounding metal. It makes for perfect meme material however.

[@88Ravenfeathers]

It was Limp Bizkit.

[@loadedexcrement]

@@redgarlicbred6228 It's actually Limp Bizkit, and it is NOT edited in. They are legitimately on the soundtrack for the game.

[@RacingSnails64]

"Like trying to kick a scorpion while programming a microwave." Perfectly spot on.

[@raphsere]

Stranger of Paradise is such a strange beast. A prequel to a very simple and straightforward 1987 video game, with the convoluted writing of a modern SE game, edgy aesthetics straight out of the 2000s, and this very 2010-ish undercurrent of meta awareness (especially in the way *Jack Garland* constantly interrupts the bosses' monologues). There are people who genuinely like it however, and I think they fall into two broad categories: those with irony poisoning, and those who, in an era of algorithm-driven game and design-by-committee, enjoy how *sincere* this game is. Sadly, it's sincere in a way a teenager's edgy fanfics (which is what SoP essentially is at its core) are sincere. It's messy and doesn't have quite the talent to pull it off. With those, I think SoP could have very well become a cult hit like Metal Gear Revengeance (which it reminds me off), but as it stands, I fear its fate is to be forever remember as "that game with the Chaos meme in it".

[@The_OPN]

I am definitely in the latter camp. I can't bring myself to hate a game that genuinely just tried to do something and was made by people instead of committees. The hilarity of the game is just a cherry on top

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

Honestly, they should have just given it to Brian Clevinger, he could write a good Final Fantasy game, he already did a Final Fantasy once and it took 9 years but HE DID IT.

[@shawklan27]

Bullshit.

[@Evanz111]

What if I enjoy it because of how amazing the combat is? ):

[@jdjohnson1591]

@@shawklan27 *proceeds to Limp Bizkit*

[@spacebearcadet746]

The funniest thing? After this entire adventure Jack undertakes, he ends up being bodied by a group of level fives, with nothing more than bronze Shields and Swords.

[@HellecticMojo]

well, he's here to kill chaos, one way or another.

[@Evanz111]

Hahaha, I remember Shenpai’s friend made the same observation on their playthrough, I loved it

[@spacebearcadet746]

@@Evanz111 poor milky, that game made him break down so beautifully. Especially the grilled cheese metaphor.

[@the5destroyer]

Rapiers, Canes, Hammers, Daggers, Nunchucks, and Barehanded Fists. No Spears here, and you don't get shields until the next town.

[@spacebearcadet746]

@@the5destroyer I'll correct that. Thanks.

[@nate51691]

The one thing that got missed by not just yahtzee, but so many people, is that it's not a re-telling of FF1, but a prologue. This is not a story of the warriors of light, it's a story of how Garland became Garland, and then Chaos, via time-loop/time-travel bullshit, before the warriors of light come in at the end and curbstomp him. The same warriors of light who are at a point in their adventure that they should still be struggling with level 5 goblins. That's the best part of this whole thing -- you go on this grand adventure, which is admittedly quite parallel to the ff1 adventure, become incredibly strong, and then get your teeth kicked in by a bunch of novices with their default copper swords. The fact that this got missed by so many people, despite being pretty blatant, is just testament to how poorly written and disjointed the game's story is, though. At least the combat is serviceable, and the dialogue is unintentionally fantastic in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way.

[@sarafontanini7051]

plsu even if you DO get what is going on it comes across dumb, convoluted and jsut not that engaging. Oh so the dude who turns into a giantdemon and tries tokills us isn't REALLLY evil? OH boi how original.

[@imatiu]

I remember someone saying that it's not so much a prologe as an alternate timeline. But I don't know enough about the plot of either Game as to be able to confirm or deny that point.

[@Reshapable]

You have to get to the very end of the game and still be paying attention when the psychos are talking to get that, so it's less of a "got missed" and more of a "nobody cares". On paper I love it but jeeZUS that was a terrible trip to get to a twist only OG players have a chance of appreciating.

[@nate51691]

@@imatiu not an alternate timeline. Very end cutscene is the companions revealing themselves to be the four fiends, the MC taking his place as the first and final boss of FF1, and then the party from FF1 entering the boss room to fight Garland, complete with the Warrior of Light helmet on the front character. The other bit they do to show it is when the MC, Jack, finally uses his last name -- Garland. As in, the first boss who then later becomes Chaos. The convoluted plot of the game is that he is sent to the past, without memories, to stop himself, leading to him becoming himself, leading to the WoL defeating him and setting the events of FF1 into motion. Mixed with very disjointed cutscenes, flashbacks, flash forwards, and stuff not explained til the very end. But ye, anyone saying it's ff1, and not a prequel, didn't finish the game or, just as likely, didn't care about the story by that point lol

[@imatiu]

@@nate51691 Yeah I get those points but the whole bit with the interdimensional thingies, according to some comments, are what indicates that this is an alternate timeline, that is to say an iteration of that convoluted loop that happens after FF1 in which Jack changes things, which would explain why Jack at the end of the Game is stronger than Garland in FF1.

[@possum8220]

I can’t believe he didn’t mention the Limp bizkit part of that first boss cutscene

[@aSHTEBALA]

It’s official, Limp Bizkit is cannon in Final Fantasy

[@level3xfactor]

I'm really surprised the word "Nioh" wasn't mentioned once in this entire review. For those wondering, this game is made by Team Ninja, the devs behind Nioh. One of the game's two biggest strengths are its combat, which is essentially Nioh 3 with the FF job system attached to it. It's super fun and rewarding to experiment and mix and match new job types with. The second strength is its story. Not because it's good, mind you. Oh no, no, no, the plot is so wacky, nonsensical, and hilarious, it has its own sense of enjoyment. Like watching all the not serious parts of the story of a Yakuza game with zero context. It's the kind of story that definitely isn't enjoyable for everyone. But if you're like me (and I know I am) and you love pointing at a screen when something stupid happens, laughing, and having that be the main centerpiece of your enjoyment, you'll unironically ironically love the game's story. Also, put Jack in Kingdom Hearts 4, you cowards. You won't do it.

[@andycyca]

Jack would be the perfect way for Final Fantasy to return to KH: Halfway through the story, Sora and co. find Jack and start explaining their convoluted mission. Jack, as usual, finds it all boring and declares the trio to be evil minions of Chaos. A boss battle ensues and the Three Musketeers end up fleeing. Close to the end of the game, Sora is nearly defeated when a strange light comes from out of nowhere: It's Jack, at the end of his own magical mystery tour to find Chaos. Jack sees the BBEG and a glint comes to his eye: «This must be Chaos». They fight. Although Jack loses, he sees the Light in Sora and asks him to finish what he started. Sora--once again forging immediate True Friendship in less that 5 seconds--finds renewed hope and strength to see the BBEG to the end.

[@VicStrange9]

Damn. I like Nioh's combat system. Problem is, I also like decent story, and this game seems to be wack for the sake of wack. I do that on D&D, tyvm.

[@Alloveck]

Same people as Nioh huh? That would explain that good combat with a horrible D-pad item/magic system. I swear that team just doesn't want people to use magic or items at all and that's their way of stopping it. Sure works on me. But wait, I just realized stances are nowhere to be seen as far as I can tell, so does that mean SoP has better combat than Nioh?

[@114Freesoul]

@@Alloveck The combat system takes some things from Nioh, but it's less of a 'Nioh 3' and more of a hybrid of Nioh and FF. The depths comes from the different jobs and abilities each job has, rather than stances. Also, if anything, the mage classes are pretty OP; Yahtzee's complaints about the casting interface are kind of overblown - if you can hold one button and move your stick, you should be fine. ...actually, hold on, did you actually just imply that stances make Nioh combat bad?

[@Alloveck]

@@114Freesoul Yes I did. Over 600 hours between the two of them so far, and obviously I quite enjoyed them. (And still aren't even done with Nioh 2, decided to pause that until I could upgrade my PC rather than continue putting up with bad framerates on certain missions.) But even after all that time, stances never stopped feeling like a minor annoyance I didn't want to deal with that wasted button combos that could have been used for more simultaneously equipped skills. I love them skills, but hardly ever found any use for low stance at the very least. The biggest reason I've ever switches stances is just to use the ol' stance switch ki pulse, or to use a skill limited to another stance. If Nioh 3 dropped down to just two stances or eliminated them entirely, I'd be happy. Though a less rigidly limited onmyo/ninjutsu usage system would be my top wish. And seriously, there are effective ways to map more than four commands at once to a D-pad. Use them.

[@pilotsayshello1758]

I love how this is easily one of the most understandable and formulaic videos because collectively nobody knows what the fuck is going on in this game

[@RaxusXeronos]

from what I saw, neither do the characters themselves.

[@Ashurman666]

Three guys bond over their vibrating JO crystals and embark on a mission to kill Chaos but then Chaos turns out to be a girl, she joins the party and that's when I signed off.

[@MrDevious88]

What do expect from Tetsuya Nomura? He can take a game centered around Disney cameos and make it the most convoluted storylines around !

[@Ashurman666]

@@MrDevious88 Nomura didn't write the story for SOP, he only did the art.

[@ragingguts]

@@Ashurman666 he was a producer so he did have involvement with the shitty story

[@athroughzdude]

Yahtzee, did you forget Nioh? This is the same studio as Nioh. You reviewed Nioh. This shouldn't be that surprising to you.

[@robertbernard7844]

He did mention early into this video that he likes to go into a game blind. Meaning he probably skipped the research this time.

[@athroughzdude]

@@robertbernard7844 It's not even research, he played Nioh! He just forgot that this is how this team seems to like to do the Souls-like style.

[@robertbernard7844]

@@athroughzdude I know he did a review of Nioh. Maybe he just forgot about it? No thanks to Sekiro existing and pushing Nioh off the cliff of relevance.

[@RossMitchellsProfile]

@@davidmurray3542 You say that. There's parts of the game where you're dumped in the throne room after a cut scene and able to talk to some NPCs until you get bored and go to the exit, this just ends the mission and throws you back to the world map, seems a little odd, why not just have a cutscene, why let the player run around that room at all if they can't go anywhere. (didn't get far so maybe that changes later on)

[@micheljavert5923]

It's a real alignment of Yahtz's storytelling abilities and how utterly batsh!t crazy something is, when Yahtz can describe something that makes me say "what" at the same time he does in a pre-recorded video.

[@MaztRPwn]

Batshit.*

[@aSHTEBALA]

What

[@johnoneil9188]

"There they meed a king who appears not to be so much as dressed as upholstered." That mental image is hilarious.

[@espio87]

FFI's plot was a bit confusing at the end with the whole time loop thing. It wasn't meant to be taken as a challenge, Square...

[@ragedump]

3:33 is a top-tier one-liner. I'm gonna put this one in my back pocket for sure.

[@sunlitsonata6853]

Funny he mentioned never using Mages, as I generally found it very helpful to distract enemies and bosses with the AI partners while mega magic was being cast for healing, buffs and offensive spells.

[@andycyca]

Indeed! Many the late game bosses are way easier fighting as a mage. The sage job is a bit op

[@supesmin446]

@@khamjaninja. You just don’t like good games, sorry :/

[@BigCowProductions]

@@supesmin446 correct

[@Medytacjusz]

I got the impression Yahtzee never delves deep into game's systems, always opting for a more brute force intuitive approach

[@supesmin446]

@@jornavyr2459 I like Strangers of Paradise, so your statement is false

[@bangormc3rd562]

It's astounding that a game with a protagonist who constantly tells everyone (including his own party members) to shut up can still manage to be so agonizingly verbose.

[@malikoniousjoe]

It may just be a crippling lack of self awareness

[@Aurichalcam]

The massive unga bunga energy of the protagonists looped the game dialogue from being just bad to legitimately amazing for me

[@zacatkinson3926]

what the hellis ungainly bunga? like just obnoxious behaviour? regardless you comment was hilarious !

[@ProxyDoug]

The reason for there being 5 party members despite the obvious ending is actually kinda cool. The story is still bad, but it's an interesting reveal.

[@BugsyFoga]

Looks like it’s time to kill chaos !!!

[@WeirdWonderful]

Yeah there is pretty nothing worse that you can hear from a doctor during a colonoscopy that is worse than "Oh My God !", with "So THAT'S where my keys went." being a distant second.

[@Mister100Percent]

"Who on Earth would buy this?" "I know that someone, it's me."

[@randomjunk1977]

Well here's a sentence I never thought I'd say: that breast cancer joke was one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.

[@hexxidelux6224]

They could have remade their original game (which, from the name, I think they probably thought it would be the only one, at least in places other than Japan) into something more engaging, but instead, they tried to explain the Final Fantasy franchise of canonically non-linked/unrelated stories in different worlds by giving it an origin story that will also have nothing to do with every game before and after it. Wait, that does sound like Final Fantasy, actually.

[@VonOzbourne]

As ironic as it has become, the director originally thought that this would be Square's "final" game before they go bankrupt. But as someone who enjoyed playing the original back in the day, I'd have been good with a Link to the Past style remake [although not necessarily with the toony art] Just adding voice acting, some cut scenes for the expository bits, fleshing out the story a little bit more and some quality of life updates for those of us that don't have time to grind anymore, would have been a much better option than going... well, the convoluted mess route.

[@Zeratultheking]

@@VonOzbourne I think it just shows that SE doesn't know what remake is, and calls a re-imaginging/prequel a remake and wonder why people don't give a crap about it. Next they are going to say FF(Insert number) sequel, the time they didn't defeat the boss and what happens. AKA not a sequel. I mean games back in the 90s figured out how to make prequels/sequels and remakes properly without all this crap. Hell even hydlide franchise did it without making the marketing ridiculous and that's an awful franchise.

[@Narokkurai]

I don't think it's "missing" content, I think it's just how Team Ninja has decided to tell stories lately. They cut out every single part except the cutscene that leads to a dungeon or leads out of one. The interstitial details just aren't their concern.

[@matthewmuir8884]

Wait; this was made by Team Ninja? That explains a lot.

[@Narokkurai]

@@matthewmuir8884 Yeah it's all built on the same engine they used for Nioh and Nioh 2. Stranger of Paradise is effectively an FF themed spin-off of Nioh.

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@Narokkurai Yikes. Why would they do that for a Final Fantasy game?

[@Narokkurai]

@@matthewmuir8884 Because Square-Enix is run by fucking aliens who only know humanity from discarded fashion catalogues and decades-old internet forums? I have no idea why they do anything, but at least they keep letting Yoko Taro make videogames.

[@porkins8340]

@@Narokkurai Discarded fashion catalogues from the Zoolander cinematic universe*

[@ultgamercw6759]

The development of this game must have been *CHAOS* ......

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

I haven't played this game, so I was curious about how to cure poison. It literally only took a minute for me to find a post that said to either use the Monk's Chakra ability to cleanse it or get Paladin to 400% affinity for status immunity.

[@cronorockwell]

In FF1 if you get caught in a dungeon poisoned and out of Antidotes, you're as good as dead.

[@camwyn256]

"I, Garland, will knock you all down!"

[@venrexx]

Just going to put this out there: There is a Monk ability called "Chakra". Chakra heals all status effects and grants temporary resistance to stats effects. So when they tell you to heal poison, I assume they are talking about using something like that. I'm not sure if there are other abilities that cure status affects. This is the only one I know about. Can't really argue any of your other points, though.

[@114Freesoul]

This. I'd also point out that while magic interface takes a bit of getting used to, mage jobs are actually some of the strongest in the game. Being able to hit all elemental weaknesses at will, stunlocking enemies with Aeroga plus having access to flare/ultima spells that just destroy everything in a huge AOE is really nothing to look down at.

[@zidanetribal1406]

You can cure poison! It’s an ability you unlock in one of the job class trees. It’s in the Monk tree, and it’s called Chakra

[@ProvostZarakov]

You can cure poison there is a command skill called Chakra that removes debuffs

[@Heavysweating]

3:33 15 years and the man still got it, goddamn what a zinger

[@ewaep]

Hilariously this game is best played with 2 other friends. Something I'm aware Fast Speaking Game Insulter is in want of. The magic system is actually great when you have two psychopathic meatshie... loyal defenders of light attracting attention for you to build up to dropping ultima on the boss. Also the game needs to be played with the understanding that the plot shouldn't be taken too seriously. There is a cutscene with Jack laughing excitedly and exclaiming that Chaos Exists, he knew it. It's like 15 seconds long and camp AF.

[@fighteer1]

Based on those ending credits I strongly suspect that Yahtzee is a fan of 8-Bit Theater.

[@cupcake5478]

I did wonder how someone who says they hate jrpg's knows so much about FF1's original story.

[@fighteer1]

@@cupcake5478 Yahtzee has said that he enjoyed the Final Fantasy series up to VI. VII is when he thought it went into being too "anime" for his tastes. It's funny how that break seems to have happened right when it blew up into massive popularity. Of course, he also says he hates hybrid real-time/turn-based combat systems, and FF has used that since IV. Maybe before then, but I've only played the original US releases.

[@elberethgilthoniel1397]

Had no idea 8 bit theater existed. Thanks for the new show to check out.

[@thegodforger923]

@@elberethgilthoniel1397 early 2000s webcomic actually.

[@Facebones2391]

Square is either "wow this game is surprisingly good" or "wow I'm surprised someone made this terrible game" with little in between.

[@flat-seventh]

The odd thing is, I think this game is exactly in between

[@Coreisus]

Yea no. Square-Enix makes either really good games or in-between games. Thing is, their fanatic followers say anything that's not revolutionary is objectively bad.

[@guguy00]

@@Coreisus Two words - BABYLON'S FALL

[@Facebones2391]

Lmao someone doesn't remember The Quiet Man or whatever that dumb shit was called. Square being given credit for good games instead of acknowledging their output is largely mediocre and goes unnoticed, and the big stuff is either fantastic or total shit. For a developer who takes so few proper risks, that track record sucks.

[@Facebones2391]

The comment was supposed to be succinct not nuanced. And I'm certainly no square fanatic, I never even played ff7 til the remake and I approve of it being multiple games so...my feelings differ from square fans. Ff9 was my old school jam and Nomura agrees with me.

[@TabbuEme]

I liked Stranger of Paradise, it is unintentionally the funniest game this year.

[@Manganization]

I'm of the opinion that the devs knew exactly what they were doing.

[@andycyca]

I don't know if the devs wanted it to be this funny or it was an accident, but I agree: it's a ridiculous game and I love it for it. I think it's a game that shouldn't be taken «seriously» at all. The moment one accepts it, it becomes 1000x funnier

[@TheGprinziv]

@@andycyca He blasts Bring Me the Horizon after telling Neon not to carry the burden of becoming Chaos alone. They knew exactly what they were doing and this game is meant to be played tongue firmly in cheek.

[@luminomancer5992]

@@andycyca There is absolutely no way the devs didnt know what they were doing, its so specifically made to be the way it is.

[@Evanz111]

@@TheGprinziv Bring Me The Horizon*

[@nikolasbryant4235]

Oh shit, is this the "Chaos?" Game?

[@webbowser8834]

Yes, this is the game where you kill chaos

[@k3salieri]

Chaos.

[@ligtningdog6399]

Yes, this the "call something 'bullshit' then plays limp bizkit in your ipod" game

[@AdryanConsalter]

Frum Dunkey's video? Yes

[@ElementalScepticism]

It is quite funny that he says there's so much of this game that's missing; this seems to be a running theme with everything but the MMORPG recently. FFXV consistently had complaints about being an unfinished game, Final Fantasy VII Remake was "too big" for them to finish in one game, etc. Here's a funny thing about the ailments in the game. They *can* be cured, by a very specific command ability you get from being the Monk job. In order to unlock that class, you have to max out one half of both Pugilist and Lancer. The Monk job has the "Chakra" command ability, which lets you basically heal any ailments that are causing you problems. Still feels weird that that's so hyper-specific. I say this because I heard beforehand that a few, select people were excited for it, and I thought it would be worth a laugh. After playing it, it definitely seems to be a small game pretending to be a big game. Yahtzee's right, too. The game markets one of the big highlights of the game as the fact you can dress your characters up in whatever gear comes your way. But because the gear is levelled, and certain equipment has "affinity" linked to a specific job, it becomes a lot fucking harder to pick and choose what you wanna wear unless you wanna get twatted by most of the enemies, or do shit-all damage.

[@elberethgilthoniel1397]

Seems like this game came up with gimmicks first and then built a game around them. Like Uncharted games being made of set pieces first and then writing plot to connect them. This game has a dress your character tool, but tried to weld on a rpg levelling mechanic that handicapped the players ability to robustly enjoy the customization. Little game trying to be a Big game indeed.

[@GayBearBro2]

Honestly, I'm enjoying this game as a multiplayer game with friends. Yeah, the whole game can be run as solo missions (it's kind of suggested you just do a Story-difficulty run and play with friends afterward), but the improvement in team functionality with competent companions makes it better. On the other hand, I'm only about 5 missions in and it was nice going through those locations and story bears from the actual first game.

[@kingcole5977]

Better watch out for those Story Bears 😄

[@GayBearBro2]

@@kingcole5977 They can really sneak up on you sometimes!

[@PonzooonTheGreat]

You're laughing. He wants to kill chaos and you're laughing.

[@masonasaro2118]

even worse: look up jack’s last name, it’s a MASSIVE spoiler, but it’s hilarious when i first saw it

[@mattwo7]

4:55 Could have sworn White Mage had Esuna but Regenra basically negates poison by healing faster than it can hurt you.

[@Evanz111]

Also there there’s a cleanse universal skill you can equip on any class, I think maybe from the monk?

[@featherfall1211]

Wait.. is this the game where the Protag at one point just says "Bullshit" then turns music on his phone on max volume and walks out?

[@djoecav]

The CHAOS of the CHAOS will CHAOS

[@kusicostanza8243]

Chakra is a skill you can unlock to cure poison or any status ailment so you mustn't have looked it up

[@scunnerdarkly4929]

This is possibly the first time I’ve seen KZbin’s auto captions fully capture Yahtzee’s expletives in all their glory. Such a potty-mouth.

[@Str8Faced]

"who on earth would buy something with so much of it blatantly missing?" Pretty much defining the entirety of the modern games industry.

[@imef3735]

In a world full of incomplete AAA games at least we can still enjoy full indie game experiences like Celeste, The Messenger, or Crosscode.

[@T4RN15H3D]

@@imef3735 Don't forget about Hollow Knight.

[@Adrian-zs3ol]

@@imef3735 Nice to see some Crosscode appreciation!

[@imef3735]

@@Adrian-zs3ol Cross.Code. HYPE! Lea! I'm pretty glad that the dlc lived up to my expectations too. Let's hope they release more quality games like it.

[@Adrian-zs3ol]

@@imef3735 THERE'S DLC!? SINCE WHEN!?!?!?

[@SavageGreywolf]

A game written by the man who gave us the lore of Kingdom Hearts and coded by the studio that gave us Other M, I wonder what went wrong 🤔

[@ChrisStoneinator]

Aw come on, Team Ninja have made some good stuff...

[@TheCyclicGamer]

Nomura didn't write the game, it was Nojima, the guy who wrote a majority of the mainline FF games. And honestly, the story is alright for what it's worth. It's a nice prequel to FF1, and the gameplay, the most important part, is really fun too.

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@TheCyclicGamer What he said is still technically true as Nojima was also the writer for the first two Kingdom Hearts games (he didn't write KH3 because he was busy writing FF7 Remake).

[@TheCyclicGamer]

@@matthewmuir8884 And those games had pretty good stories.

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@TheCyclicGamer True, though I would've preferred for FF7 Remake to actually have been, well, FF7 _Remake_ and not FF7 Alternate-Timeline-Sequel (to be fair to Nojima though, the stuff with the Whispers and the game not actually being a remake were Kitase's idea).

[@AnguzBeef]

The combat has a lot of depth and with the parry system it makes for one of the most arcadey but satisfying takes on souls-like combat since Nioh.

[@janogabor7697]

Nioh sucks ass tho.

[@AnguzBeef]

@@janogabor7697 Get gud scrub

[@LegendaryPlank]

TBH souls combat is mega over rated and SoP is unironically a better souls game than all of them.

[@newlgh]

Not a spoiler, these are not the warriors of light... thats made very clear in the immediate beginning of the game and even a lot of the promotional material.

[@NovaTheVERmin]

From my understanding of the trailers and the original FF1 story, Jack is either Garland in the first cycle or is/becomes Chaos unfortunately haven't had a chance to play this game yet

[@dragmire3D]

I want Jack to meet Butters' alter ego. He'd love Butters' password in Shattered But Whole.

[@YeOldeMachine]

There is a unlockable spell called Chakra that is equipped in the same menu as lightbringer, that cures all status ailments.

[@cybertronftw1]

I know every reviewer has already mentioned it , but I was really hoping for him to call out the limp biz kit moment

[@EifiE]

Seemed to miss that the mission structure wasn't due to being cut, it was straight out of Nioh, of which this shares a dev team and engine. Also missed how truly customizable combat can be, with the mixing and matching of skills and job swapping.

[@FlyinTonite]

The characters do tend to ramble. As though they talk with ZERO PUNCTUATION.

[@francesco8000]

This game gave us the first Sigma Main Character in a Final Fantasy game. That alone deserve a 10\10.

[@IliyaMoroumetz]

By Sigma, you mean like... the Megaman X Character? Or the Alpha, Beta types that statutory rapists, i mean, 'pick up artists' refer to in a pejorative sense?

[@gustavvaip1600]

sigma balls

[@ligtningdog6399]

@@IliyaMoroumetz The game would of been better if it was X's Sigma

[@IliyaMoroumetz]

@@ligtningdog6399 ah. I see. Thanks for clearing that up.

[@andycyca]

I honestly thought Yahtzee would be even more critical of the game, particularly of the story. I liked the game, but it starts to tie its loose ends quite late in the game sand Yahtzee probably didn't time to see it. I'd love to see his take on the crazy writing at the end of the story

[@stevewalker1790]

I doubt they ever intended an overworld, since Nioh was also level-based. Personally, I prefer it that way.

[@LegendaryPlank]

The obsession with non linearity is still in full swing 2 years later Stranger. Not every game needs a fuckin hub or to be entirely physically connected!

[@paz1514]

Honestly ? It's one the best games to come out in a long time and I'm not gonna let some guy who couldn't even beat the tutorial monster in Monster Hunter 3 tell me it's bad..

[@loneherozero]

I feel for you yahtzee, I'm also sick , get better

[@TheLunarLegend]

Honestly the game is just so hammy I love it. Jack legit cracks me up. I don't know if that was intentional or not but that's the vibe I got and I loved it.

[@Zayl1016]

This game is goofy but endearing from what I've seen. It goes full Nojima and while I doubt it is intended, it is goofily camp.

[@Ashurman666]

You do know Nomura didn't write anything for the game right? He did the art, not the story.

[@Zayl1016]

@@Ashurman666 I'm talking about the other one who isn't as meme-ized but equally responsible for some of the... Nomura-isms.

[@Asaski09]

Foggy memory, but I think this is the second(?) time in 15 years he's done the brilliant black-screen-white-text 'serious' redaction. Should we be notifying someone at TVTropes?

[@beardkendal]

I loved how ridiculous the game is and the story actually grew on me as i played and understood what was going on. It's like they are making fun of how bare bones the original final fantasy was in terms of story. Best part is realizing jack gets bodied by level 5's after all of that.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

In my headcanon he gets bodied by four white mages wielding hammers, at least one of whom is already dead.

[@et1033]

In the story's defense, it was really confident in how incomprehensible it was and I can only respect that. Also Tetsuya Nomura was involved, which could only give the writers a debuff in their logic I'm assuming.

[@TheCyclicGamer]

Nomura didn't write the game, Nojima did. And this is what I don''t get, yea SOP's story is rough around the edges, quite a lot in some areas, but ya'll point to FF9 and be like "That's the peak of FF storytelling!" when that game has a supposed highly educated princess who doesn't know what daggers and crops are.

[@jorgenjorgensen2739]

Unintentionally, the funniest game this year reminds me of Devil may cry type of plot, but they were serious, which makes it more hilarious.

[@GGHF]

I swear the opening and ending song gets 1% louder every time a new episode comes out.

[@shittyname2657]

The funniest final fantasy in years.

[@mattwo7]

Xehanort: χ-Blade! Ansem SoD::Darkness! Jack: Chaos!

[@sirbalsac]

For the record, you can cure poison through the Chakra ability. Or you can get gear that reduces poison build up.

[@NathanCassidy721]

Considering I never heard of this game prior to this, it sounds like the perfect summary of Square Enix’s understanding of Final Fantasy. They never really known what to do with the franchise since FF7 (maybe 9, debatably) and got caught in the “innovation” fallacy. And then get confused when things like Bravely Default, Dragon Quest 11, and Octopath Traveller, games that are iterations of stuff they’ve done in the past, do really well.

[@uldralawd4095]

And in those rare moments they DO release a good game, they completely miss the point of what people liked about it and fuck it right into the ground. Bravely Default 2 wasn't terrible, but a vastly inferior experience compared to the first two games. Not really sure how that happened when they already had a great blueprint to work off of. Dragon Quest and Octopath, on the other hand, appear to have officially been demoted to "mobile game" status. Fun.

[@goldensun441]

fully aware of all its flaws and still enjoyed it. DARKNESS SO THICC I CAN TASTE IT!!!!!

[@Oblivion9873]

Theres no way yahtzee picked the 8 bit theater party characters to represent the ff1 party by mistake

[@MalandrosNyclo]

For the record, Chakra cleanses poison. Gotten from the Monk tree.

[@justicetaylor3050]

Lol. Got the ending text joke about Jack possibly wanting to kill Sonic’s pet Chao.

[@mattwo7]

3:10 Welcome to Corneria!

[@Evanz111]

I can’t help but feel like that was intentional, generic NPC names and repeated dialogue and all!

[@CamperCarl00]

An ability called chakra can heal poison or the actual white mage job with esuna.

[@AlexanderLeset]

It's certainly not perfect, but I absolutely adore SoP

[@AlexanderLeset]

Also, you can absolutely cure poison with Chakra from the monk class, and the story really isn't that complicated

[@Mechazoid5116]

Content isnt missing it only makes sense when you beat it. Not like amazing or anything but it makes sense

[@plinfan6541]

Finally, a review of the greatest game with the Peak of Maincharacter. Nobody will ever be as cool as Jack ever again.

[@WilliamTheMuddy]

I was a big fan of the classic Final Fantasy games. I played the first 9 games over and over again on one platform or another (with the exception of 8 because 8 sucks donkey taint). These games made up a huge part of my childhood, and I legitimately think they had a major degree of influence on the shambling, socially inept adult I am today. Stranger of Paradise personally infuriates me on a deep and visceral level.

[@sleepysera]

Don't take yourself so seriously and you might actually enjoy it, you know? Not everything is an insult to your precious childhood memories. FF2 is my favourite FF game and I love all of the early games the most and played FF1 many times, and yet I absolutely ADORE the Kill Chaos game because it's fucking hilarious and knows exactly what it is doing. It's fun, it's silly, it's actually REALLY satisfying to play and doesn't invalidate anything that happens in the FF1 story that it is the prequel for. You can just have fun with something without giving it unnecessary meaning. What is there to be mad about? It's a really dumb, really enjoyable game. What more could one ask for?

[@MissSallyB1]

T-shirts with the "gosh I'm cross" guy PLEEEEEASE

[@ghostlyswat12]

He got one thing wrong it’s not a retelling of ff1 it’s a prequel to ff1 so te story takes place before the first game apparently according to people

[@NovaTheVERmin]

Yes if it was a retelling of FF1 it would be called FFR (e.g. FF7R) this is the story that leads to the events of FF1, knowing the story of FF1 probably will make things make way more sense that probably wouldn't without the knowledge of the original game

[@br3aking366]

Akshually if you use the chakra ability from the monk tree you can cure your poison

[@01oo011]

All I know about Stranger in a Strange Land is something about killing chaos.

[@jamesgrey13]

Methinks someone hasn't leveled up the Monk job class, and got the one ability that cures poison! :D

[@scottmacgregor3444]

Was that... Was that an 8 bit theater nod at the end there?!?

[@pyrodontcutoffsoldiershand2746]

No this game wasn't cut, the map is how Team Ninja designs games in 2022

[@nicholassmile5800]

Oh my gawd. You referenced 8 bit theater. Bravo.

[@TheHikariOne]

Okay that Sonic Adventure reference during the credits was pretty funny.

[@averagejoe5145]

I hear that the game DOES retcon some of the original Final Fantasy game, but some people are divided over the retcons for various reasons. Also, I heard on Guru Larry's channel that Squaresoft wanted originally wanted to call the series "Fighting Fantasy," but that name was already copyrighted. (It's a tabletop RPG for those who don't know.)