Stranger of Paradise is a funny old thing. Revealed last year with an eyebrow-raising trailer in which chaos reigned and with a playable demo stumbling out soon after, it soon became the butt of online jokes – though over time and with a little bit of added context a fascinating retelling of the original Final Fantasy has emerged, with Garland, the evil knight of the first game, cast in the starring role.
With Koei Tecmo on development duties, there’s more than a touch of Nioh to its hard-edged action, while Square Enix keeps the Final Fantasy references coming thick and fast, from the FF5-inspired job system to familiar locations that draw upon the likes of FF13’s Sunleth Waterscape.
Stranger of Paradise’s nuttiness is all its own, though, and is pushed to the max in the latest trailer, below, that’s just been put out ahead of the game’s 18th March release date. A mad, sprawling thing that culminates in Frank Sinatra’s My Way, it’s perhaps the most promising look yet at this unhinged and novel spin-off.
I had the chance to talk to producer Jin Fujiwara and director Daisuke Inoue from Square Enix, and producer Fumihiko Yasuda from Koei Tecmo about the genesis of the project, the reaction to it to date and what to expect come launch.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins Final Trailer Watch on YouTube
I’d like to rewind to talk about the genesis of the project and how it came about first of all. Why choose now to go back to the origins and do this alternate take?
Jin Fujiwara: First of all, obviously, Tetsuya Nomura had in his mind that he wanted to visit the character of Garland from Final Fantasy, and he wanted to do something with that character as a motif. Then there’s also the fact that this year is the 35th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series.- that seemed like a good time for us to revisit these origins.