With the announcement of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Square Enix is now working on bringing fans of old-school JRPGs and modern Action RPGs together with the help of Team Ninja. While early looks at the game, as well as some leaks about the developer team-up originally painted this new Final Fantasy to look a lot like Nioh, some of Creative Producer Tetsuya Nomura's comments might be leaning more towards God of War.

Specifically, Nomura has released a statement about beginning development of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin with the goal of working on a new project that follows "The Story of an Angry Man" through a Final Fantasy adventure. Looking at this "Story of an Angry Man" idea and then seeing how some actions work in-game, like the Soul Burst mechanic, it looks like the most recent God of War might have had an impact on the development.

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God of War's Executions

Starting with what might have been the inspiration for some of the combat in Stranger of Paradise, one of the most well received aspects of the God of War combat throughout the series has been the executions. However, with the latest release in 2018, the more intimate camera over Kratos' shoulder gives players a much more up-close and personal experience with breaking enemy guards and ripping them into pieces. These even flow directly into combat by either spawning additional health items on a successful kill, or by stunning enemies in the immediate area after performing a successful execution.

On top of the uses these special attacks have in combat, these also act as visceral finishers for taking out some of God of War's toughest bosses like the Valkyries. The act of tearing out a Valkyries wings is an incredibly satisfying way to end these intense encounters, on top of showing how Kratos still channels his rage into raw strength to rip even the most powerful creatures apart. Square Enix has taken a similar approach to these stagger-induced kills and boss finishers in Stranger of Paradise, really nailing home the whole "Story of an Angry Man" angle mentioned by Nomura.

Stranger of Paradise's Soul Bursts

In the case of how these special finishers have appeared so far in the Stranger of Paradise demo, players are given the option to perform both a guard break and a finisher called Soul Burst. It works similarly to how guard breaks and finishers worked in Nioh as well, if the comparisons weren't already stacking up, where players have to drain the enemy's stamina meter and is rewarded with the chance of a powerful attack. The main difference in Final Fantasy Origin, however, is that the finisher is built to always deliver a killing blow to anything aside from a boss and is tied directly into how magic works in the game.

Performing a Soul Burst transforms enemies into red crystals that act as a consumable pick-up that charges the player's MP, allowing them to use more attacks that speed up guard breaking. It's all built to cycle in on itself by rewarding players for successfully guard breaking with more of the abilities used to make it easier, letting skilled players chain these through entire squads of enemies as their abilities drain and recharge. However, what's most impressive about these Soul Bursts is both how visceral they can be, as well as how they sometimes have the ability to warp the stage around the player in true God of War fashion.

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Final Fantasy Origin's Jack as God of War's Kratos

The aspect of these Soul Bursts that seem to scream God of War more than they suggest a Nioh inspiration, even though they are clearly carried over from the latter, is how visceral Team Ninja has made these finishers. Instead of gracefully slicing his weapons through the enemy, Jack picks each enemy up with his bare hands and breaks them to pieces, sometimes using those pieces to break more pieces. Between pulling the wings off of a griffon, to breaking a wolf's jaw open and throwing the two separated halves aside, this all has the same visceral energy as when Kratos buries his axe in an enemy and then slices them in half.

Of course, looking at it from the "Story of an Angry Man" angle, it becomes obvious why these two styles of combat feel like they're so in sync with each other. Both Jack and Kratos are driven in combat by rage and able to use that to summon inhuman levels of strength in order to break their enemies apart with a bit of cinematic flair. It's almost as if Square Enix and Team Ninja saw what Santa Monica Studio was doing with how Kratos dispatches his villains in God of War and decided to give that a try, but with an anime protagonist instead of a western one.

How This Could Help Predict Final Fantasy Origin's Story

How to prepare for garland boss fight

Looking at how God of War's story has taken the character of Kratos could give some insights on what the major progression of Final Fantasy Origin's story intends to go. It just remains to be seen if Jack is more like the current version of Kratos, calm and measured as he tries to set an example for his son, or the original trilogy's Ghost of Sparta, a killing machine with only a single goal of cutting down everyone in his path. Considering the burning hatred Jack seems to have for Chaos, it looks like players might be in for a more classic version of the archetype, complete with savage finishers and remorselessly carving through enemies.

So, players can strap in and expect to count how many times Jack screams about chaos in Strangers of Paradise on repeat as they cut down legions of classic Final Fantasy enemies. If the trailers and demo are anything to go by, fans of Nioh are already likely on-board, but there might also be a place for anyone who loved God of War old and new with this new title. Either way, for those interested in where Final Fantasy is going in the future, this new team-up with Team Ninja looks like a strong showing for the future of the series outside of the numbered titles.

Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is set to release in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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