There seems to be no shortage of Final Fantasy remakes and remasters, with games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the ones in the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection giving fans the opportunity to revisit older titles with a fresh coat of paint. The latest one to join their ranks is Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins, a reimagining of the first entry in the Final Fantasy series by the developers at Team Ninja.
The new game draws plenty of inspiration from modern games like the ones in the Dark Souls series, meaning it is more difficult than your standard action RPG, particularly its various boss battles. It also places less emphasis on grinding to level up, so as you can imagine, this might work to throw off long-time series players used to relying on that particular gameplay style. Thankfully, the game also introduces its own gameplay quirks and systems that can be manipulated to make getting through its adventure a relative breeze. With that in mind, here are a few pro tips and tricks to help you bring Chaos to its knees.
5 Fallback On Your Party Members During Boss Fights
In Stranger of Paradise, players control Jack Garland, whose singular obsession with defeating the entity known as Chaos serves as a catalyst for much of the story. Combat takes place in real-time and while you have no direct control over other party members, periodic commands can still be issued that influence how they perform in a fight.
More often than not though, you'll find that they fight just as competently without any handholding, effectively making use of all the weapons and abilities at their disposal. This extends to boss battles where you might be easily overwhelmed if care is not taken. This is why it is a good idea to let your party members get a piece of the action, especially when you're low on health and need some time to heal or take stock of the situation.
4 Focus On Depleting Break Gauges To Defeat Stronger Enemies
One of the defining gameplay mechanics found in Stranger of Paradise is the Break Gauge. Basically, attacking an enemy not only whittles down their health bar but also their Break Gauge as well, which functions as a stamina meter of sorts. The amount of damage dealt depends on the type of weapon or ability used as certain abilities like the Lightbringer allow you to inflict more Break damage.
Once an enemy's Break Gauge has been completely depleted, it becomes stunned during which time you can perform a Soul Break, a special finishing move that also replenishes any lost MP. It is often better to focus on dealing break damage – especially with tougher enemies who might have more health than you can efficiently take down in a short time – than just hacking and slashing at their health bar with very little in the way of strategy.
3 Switch Jobs On The Fly To Avoid Depleting Your Break Gauge
While we are still on the topic of Break Gauges, it is worth noting that you equally have one which gets depleted each time you block or use the Soul Shield. And just like with enemies, you also get stunned once your Break Gauge is completely depleted. This is especially dangerous while facing tougher enemies that can pretty much one-hit you while your defenses are down.
The good news is that each currently available Job has its own Break Gauge, independent of another. So when one is close to getting depleted, it is possible to avoid getting stunned by quickly switching to another Job. And since you can easily switch jobs on the fly or through the Jobs section of the Battle Settings menu, this is an effective strategy for staying one step ahead of the enemy.
2 Bypass Enemy Encounters To Get To Loot Faster
Stranger of Paradise is unlike traditional Final Fantasy games in several ways. It doesn't require nearly as much grinding as past titles, where you'll typically have to spend considerable time leveling up your characters with low stat enemies before moving on to more powerful ones. But most importantly, it places a greater emphasis on the accumulation of loot, doling it out generously over the course of the game.
This can often be found in the various chests in the dungeons that you explore. And while there are usually multiple enemies guarding the path to these chests, defeating them is not always a requirement for getting to the treasures within. So prudent players can effectively run past several enemies without having to engage them, which is a strategy that wasn't all that viable in older games where you needed the experience from those enemies to get stronger.
1 Use The Optimize Equipment Option To Avoid Sorting Through Your Inventory
Speaking of loot, there is a very large amount and variety to be found in Stranger of Paradise, so much so that players will become inundated before long just trying to sort through it all. It is clear that the developers at Team Ninja had noticed this though because they thankfully added an Optimize Equipment option.
What this does is that it goes through all your acquired gear, after which it automatically equips your party members with the best ones in the pile. This not only ensures that you are currently rocking the best gear at any given time, but it also completely eliminates the need for scrolling through hundreds of items, which is itself a huge lifesaver.
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