<Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin> interview session

Nmia had the opportunity to join the interview session of <Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin> where Daisuke Inoue,Masashi Fujiwara as well as Fumihiko Yasuda attended. This game will be launched this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One as well as PlayStation 5. Let’s have a look at the contents of the interview session.

Daisuke Inoue (SQUARE ENIX’s Producer)

Masashi Fujiwara (SQUARE ENIX’s Director)

Fumihiko Yasuda (KOEI TECMO GAMES & Team NINJA Producer/Brand Ambassador

- What made Final Fantasy Origin worthy of exploring further for the theme for SQUARE ENIX as well as for KOEI TECMO & Team NINJA?

For Final Fantasy Origin, we took the FFI as a motive to build up a story, but in the original title of FFI we didn’t really got to see how Garland, who was a good warrior/knight, go down that path of evil . Therefore, we took the interpretations of what might have happened that led him in that path and kind of try to dive into that element, of to why he decided to go in the pursuit of chaos and go down that path. We are hoping to dive in deeper and to humanize Garland.

- What sparked or kickstarted the collaboration of this project between KOEI TECMO and SQUARE ENIX?

This whole project started from a numerous idea/concept of trying to create an action game where players go through various dungeon and locations to complete the game and also taking in to the concept/storyline of Final Fantasy I, on how Garland ended up going down to that path of evil, we wanted to incorporate that storyline and put that together and create a full fledge or very authentic action game. At the same time, we were already working with TEAM NINJA Dissidia Final Fantasy and with an approach of trying to create an authentic kind of action game, we decided to ask TEAM NINJA who is very skilled at making these action games and that is how the collaboration came to be.

- The main character design is somewhat plain compared to the usual designs made by Mr. Tetsuya Nomura. Is there any reason behind this?

Even in the original game of Final Fantasy I, the main protagonists are treated as strangers who came from some place unknown. We took the design motive from Final Fantasy 1 lore and were inspired by it. Therefore, we incorporated the concept in his companions as well so they are treated as strangers that are not of the world there are in that we believed has been reflected into their attire as well as you can see a little bit more of a modern design. For the character design, Nomura mentioned that in Final Fantasy I as well as the original game, you do notice that the characteristics aren’t really brought to the forefront, especially the fact that you can change their jobs and their appearances which takes that into the account that the characteristics were not the centre piece and not brought to the forefront. Therefore, Nomura decided to go down the same path for Final Fantasy Origin as well.

- In respect of the darker turn for the narrative that we see in Stranger of Paradise, was there a purpose through direction that the team expected to explore, in opposite of what we have come to expect in the rest of the Final Fantasy or mainly due to the fact that we are playing as Garland.

So this will be the latter where we will definitely be inspired by playing as Garland which was the basis of the foundation of the world lore of the game. It naturally led to the game having a darker turn where it has also been reflected in the character action , where the actions are more aggressive as well as exhilarating, something we have not seen in the previous warriors of light.

- Through the trailer, job systems,dungeons as well as open world elements could be seen, should fans expect more of Final Fantasy staples in this particular game as well?

Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is not an open world game, but things or elements in the Final Fantasy series that will definitely be in the game are Final Fantasy equipment and gears. As for the job systems, there are still some jobs that appeared in past Final Fantasy titles which we still haven't been able to reveal for this game, but through this elements we definitely feel that the players will be able to experience the Final Fantasy staples through the world lore.

- The class system was one of the most attractive part of the demo. What was the biggest difficulty faced when implementing the Final Fantasy class system into this ARPG genre game and the class was the hardest to design?

The job system is very iconic to the Final Fantasy series, therefore we wanted to be careful on how we try to implement it into this action game as we progress with the development. When we look at purely RPG games, players are usually in a party so its alright for people to have jobs they are good at and vice versa but, for this game we wanted to avoid making people felt like we were pushing and forcing various jobs to them , in order to make sure that didn't come off as the taste and players are able to enjoy the game, we incorporated a system where players could swap between jobs so that they are able to get by as well as made adjustments to the enemies movement to make sure that everything was about balance in this action game.

- Has there been any changes made in terms of how much freedom players have in customizing the growth of our companions outside of equipment or even jobs? Are there plans to expand upon that kind of system?

Aside from equipment and jobs, there isn't anything particular for companions or NPCs. Generally, the other NPCs will be able to do as Jack does as player progresses.

- Will the usual Final Fantasy summons and espers be included in the game? If yes, will it only come in boss form?

On the foundation we used Final Fantasy I as a motive, we found it difficult to incorporate some of the summons or espers that did not appear in the original game so we left it at there for that.

- Will there be any other friendly creatures in the overworld besides cactuar?

Cactuar is a Final Fantasy mascot, so we did take into account how we could incorporate it into the game so that it could be enjoyed by the players. We incorporated cactuar into the game as a bonus monster through which players would get good items if they manage to defeat it. Cactuar would be a monster players would want to encounter and at the same time we hope players will have fun defeating it. It will have a cactuar-like element and features where there will be thousand needles attack or it will run off randomly, making it a challenge to defeat it.

- Will it be easier for players to get into Stranger of Paradise compared to other Final Fantasy games? Did the team have any considerations when designing the game as well as combat and progressions.

With Final Fantasy being an RPG series, we understand some of the Final Fantasy fans might be playing action games for the first time and we definitely kept it in mind as we progressed with the development, making sure we created something enjoyable for the players as well. We have the story mode as well as safety mode to cater to that sort of audience, we also implemented a multiplayer mode that will be presented in a very different kind of approach in terms of gameplay for the players compared to the single player mode, and it will be able to help people take on some of the monsters they wouldn't be able to take on alone along with other players.

- In terms of multiplayer, is it contained in the main narrative itself or is that a separate thing altogether?

Players are able to enjoy the multiplayer mode in the main story as well.

- Will there be a setting where players can adjust or optimize their own party member AI battle styles such as focus range attack, healing or melee to customize our best team?

The party member AI battle styles wouldn't be customizable up to the level of Final Fantasy XII, instead the movement and battle styles of the party members AI will be different depending on what job players choose for their party members. For example, the party member attracts hate from surrounding enemies if the knight job is chosen for that member. Players will definitely see different kinds of action or movement that aligns with each selected job characteristic.

- Will there be any endgame content to keep players active in the game?

We are definitely planning to have some sort of end game content for replayability purposes.