It’s E3 season, and every year leading up to the big event, there’s all kinds of leaks about what fans can expect to see at the show. Many of these leaks turn out to be fake, but there’s usually at least a handful of leaks that are accurate. This year, a massive E3 2021 leak proved to be right on the money, as did the leaks surrounding abrand newFinal Fantasyprojectthat was announced during Square Enix’s E3 2021 showcase,Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
The leaks made a lot of bold claims aboutStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, detailing its gameplay style, its story, and how it ties to the overarchingFinal Fantasyuniverse. Surprisingly, almost all of theFinal Fantasy Originleaks have turned out to be accurate, though there was one big claim in the leaks that was actually false.
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Here are the big leaks that cropped up aboutStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originprior to its reveal, many of which turned out to be completely true.
Soulslike Final Fantasy
One of the surprising details mentioned in theStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originleaks was that the game would apparently be inspired by theDark Soulsseries. While theFinal Fantasygames have largely been traditional RPGs,Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origindoes indeed appear to be a Soulslike game. This is a rather significant departure from what fans expect from theFinal Fantasyfranchise, but with Soulslike games all the rage, it could prove to be a gamble that pays off big time for Square Enix.
WhileStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originis seemingly inspired byDark Souls-style games, there does appear to be one big difference. The leaks claim thatStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originwill have a difficulty level that is more accessibleto the mainstream audience, which seemingly translates to it being “easier” than what fans may expect from a Soulslike game. Whether or not that’s actually the case remains to be seen, as the topic hasn’t really been addressed yet, but fans should find out soon.
AStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy OriginPS5 demois technically available to download now, but it’s not playable in its current state. Once Square Enix fixes the demo and makes it playable, then those on PS5 should be able to play it and that could offer more insight into just how similar it is to theDark Soulsgames and if it has a comparable difficulty level to those titles.
Final Fantasy 1 Connection
Besides claiming thatStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originwould be a Soulslike game, the leaks also pointed to it having astory tied directly to the events ofFinal Fantasy 1. Leakers categorizedFinal Fantasy Originas a spin-off of the originalFinal Fantasygame, and that appears to be a mostly accurate assessment. With literal decades between the release of the firstFinal FantasyandStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, though, this new game has little in common with the NES original.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originis about a new group of characters getting pulled into the world of the originalFinal Fantasy, where they take onvillain Garland, aka “Chaos.” It’s quite possible that there are even more connections betweenFinal Fantasy Origin’s story and the originalFinal Fantasygame, though fans will have to standby for more information about the game to be sure.
Final Fantasy Origin is Not PS5 Exclusive
The leakers were correct aboutStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originbeing a Souslike game, and they were also right about how it has a connection to the originalFinal Fantasy. They didn’t know about the “Stranger of Paradise” title being in front ofFinal Fantasy Origin, and they were also wrong about the game being aPlayStation 5 exclusive. While theStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origindemo is exclusive to PS5, the game itself will not be exclusive to Sony’s next-generation platform.
It was confirmed duringSquare Enix’s E3 2021 presentationwhere the game was revealed thatStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originwill be released on numerous platforms when it launches in 2022. In fact, it will be a cross-gen game, confirmed for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. So not only is it not a PlayStation 5 exclusive game, but it’s coming out on nearly every modern core gaming platform besides the Nintendo Switch.
It’s possible that there are some PS5-exclusive features or other content in store forStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, however. It’s not uncommon for games to incentivize players to get them on one platform versus another through things like platform-specific DLC, so fans will have to stay tuned on that front. Regardless, the actualStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origingame is not a PS5 exclusive, so those on PC and Xbox can also look forward to its release next year.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originlaunches in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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