Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a Soulslike that presents a “bold new vision” for the long-running JRPG series. Not only that — it also takes a bold stance on the inherent difficulty of the Soulslike genre. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has an easy mode that proudly lets players “breeze through the story” and block otherwise unblockable attacks.
What’s different in the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin easy mode?
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin features “An easy mode for players who want to breeze through the story.” Selecting the easiest difficulty setting in FF Origin makes enemies easier to defeat, plus allows users to block any incoming attack.
A high level of difficulty is arguably one of the Soulslike genre’s defining characteristics. There’s much more to it than just that, of course, but some purists deem being difficult a non-negotiable factor. This has resulted in many a heated online debate, perhaps most notably surrounding the infamously hard Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Its developer, FromSoftware, is responsible for popularizing the genre and doesn’t add difficulty settings to the successful Soulsborne games.
Fans eventually made their own Sekro easy mode, though Square Enix is saving everyone the trouble with a built-in solution. Interestingly, Team Ninja is handling Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin development. The studio has a knack for developing punishing games, including the Nioh and Ninja Gaiden series.
Since the Final Fantasy franchise doesn’t typically adopt Soulslike gameplay, the Stranger of Paradise easy mode is almost certainly a business decision. Square likely doesn’t want to risk alienating a portion of the existing audience, which potentially has no interest in (metaphorically) beating their collective heads against a new installment.
For more on Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, check out how it fits into the FF series’ timeline. The debut trailer is also now a meme, thanks to the staggering number of times the word “Chaos” appears.
