There are two ways that a video game can stand out against its competition: be good or be bad. Somehow, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin found a middle-ground - be so bad that it's good. Although you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who would refer to the action-packed take on the standard Final Fantasy formula as a frontrunner for GOTY, Team Ninja's first game in Square Enix's RPG franchise is pulling in relatively good reviews.
According to most critics, The game's Soulslike combat and versatile Job system make it quite fun. At the same time, some of the ideas that Stranger of Paradise tries to explore end up feeling half-baked if incompetent. But, for the most part, critics agree that Stranger of Paradise, despite the rough edges, is compelling enough to be worth buying.
describes Stranger of Paradise as a "more focused version of Final Fantasy that shows some different directions for the series from its traditional games." Phil then ends his review by saying that, "while it might be confusing and memey, disjointed and weird, Stranger of Paradise is also a lot of fun."
