Everything old is new again in theFinal Fantasyfranchise. Dormant entries in the aged series are becoming relevant once again with shiny new releases, whether they’re theFinal Fantasy Pixel Remasterseries bringing new-yet-old sprite work to the classic franchise, or theFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeseries, which is telling the old story ofFinal Fantasy 7in a whole new way. Between those and the effort over the past few years to release upgraded versions ofFinal Fantasy 7,8,9,10,10-2, and the upgraded version of12onto modern consoles, the entirety ofFinal Fantasyis available to modern players in some kind of enhanced version.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originlooks to shake up that mold. Taking an approach comparable toFinal Fantasy 7 Remakebut with its own twist,Stranger of Paradiseseeks to adapt the originalFinal Fantasyas a heavily actionized Soulslike comparable to developer Team Ninja’sNiohgames. This is a significant reimagining of what the source game was, and also a striking use of the firstFinal Fantasyafter Square Enix had spent so long doing little more than take imagery from it. If this endeavor is a success, there’s a chance that fans could be looking at a new template for how Square Enix treats its older titles over the next several years.
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Final Fantasy Remakes, Rebuilt For Action
One notable commonality betweenFinal Fantasy OriginandFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeis that they’ve both taken turn-based games and translated them into action games.FFOin particular is especially action-orienteddue to the expertise of Team Ninja, yet it still adapts classic job and magic systems that have been around since the NES games. Set besideFinal Fantasy 15and16, it seems like action RPGs, sometimes bordering on full action games with leveling and in-depth customization, are where Square Enix wants the series to go.
This shift towards action games isn’t the only evidence that such a direction is being applied to most of theFinal Fantasybrands. Square Enix is building up new franchises and development studios to fulfill the demand for new “old school” turn-based RPGs. Tokyo RPG Factory and its small set of games was a somewhat unsuccessful venture, butDragon Quest, theBravely Defaultgames,Octopath Traveler, and soonProject Triangle Strategywere all much more successful. Fans would still like to see classics likeFinal Fantasy 6andChrono Triggerrendered likeOctopath’s“HD sprites over 3D environments,” but that can wait while the action remakes and new turn-based titles take their turns.
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Old Final Fantasy Is New Again
The upcoming games most likely to fit this template are all probably going to be based on much older titles. It’s easy to see a path Square Enix can take where it and its business partners gradually work on remaking the oldestFinal Fantasygames. This could be done in chronological order, or it could be done by popularity. ManyFinal Fantasy 6,8, and9fans have been clamoring to see their games get more love. WhileFF9is getting a show soon,6and8have been left with HD remasters.FF7Rtakes priority over high-profile projects like that for now, but remakes of those in a similar vein could pop up eventually.
However, more relevant to the immediate future is the classic NES and somewhat less famous SNES titles. If Team Ninja stays on tap as a partner developer forFinal Fantasy’s future, more games likeStranger of Paradisecould be made out of the older games. With that being said, they wouldn’t necessarily need to come off as edgier alternate tellings likeFFO. Chances are,Jack and his obsession with killing Chaosaren’t making it out of his home game. His storyline was based on an old idea Tetsuya Nomura had been workshopping anyways, rather than anything directly fromFinal Fantasy 1.
How Classic Final Fantasy Could Fit Into Stranger of Paradise’s Template
That does raise the question of how these old games could be adapted. The firstFinal Fantasyfits as a straightforward dungeon-crawler, as do all of the games beforeFF6. However, they also all have more established characters. Despite their weak writing compared to modern games,Final Fantasy 2and3do have set casts, especially if the rewritten DS remake ofFF3is taken into consideration. If more action-RPG remakes are pursued, then even withinStranger of Paradise’s proposed template there would have to be variance based on just how many new plot elements or characters could be permitted, and, without knowing howFFOlooks between its dungeons, how much focus the world itself gets as its own sort of character. No one would want to lose all the charm and memorable moments from these old games.
To get an idea of how these sorts of remakes would go, one could simply imagine howFinal Fantasy 2would look reimagined as an action game. The core party is made up of written characters rather than total blank slates likeFF1, so they could be kept. The potential for many different playstyles and even something like thejob progression system ofFFOis still there, asFF2always allowed players to build in any direction they pleased. One could extend this toFF3andFF5as well, which encouraged frequent job switching. Really,Final Fantasy 2asFinal Fantasy Originwith more town areas would work quite well.FF4andFF6would just need to take a structural approach closer to the linear, plot-drivenFF7 Remake.
ClassicFinal Fantasytitles have their fans and are an important part of the franchise’s legacy that should be preserved and remembered. With the preservation job already complete, there’s no reason not to set aside the time, talent, and budget to give these games full remakes full of new gameplay and modern visuals. Even those who don’t appreciate the heavily action-oriented direction Square Enix’s biggest franchise is heading in must admit thatseeing theseFinal Fantasygames get love, attention, and a new chance to shine on modern hardware isn’t a bad thing. Hopefully, Square Enix carries on the work it’s doing withFinal Fantasy OriginandFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeinto other classic entries.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originreleases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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