The Team Ninja team talks with 3DJuegos about the sources of inspiration behind this new adventure in the veteran saga.
Square Enix continues to seek to expand the Final Fantasy saga beyond its most usual territory, and proof of this we have in the firm commitment to the action of the next Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin signed by Team Ninja, creators of Nioh. Despite this, the Japanese team has wanted to make it clear to 3DJuegos what has been its main priority in this project: treat the franchise with respect.
For Stranger of Paradise, the saga that has had the greatest influence has been Final Fantasyfumihiko yasuda“For Stranger of Paradise, the saga that has had the greatest influence has been Final Fantasy, although that may seem a bit obvious. It is an RPG, but we entered the project thinking how we could translate an RPG and turn it into an action game,” he explains. fumihiko yasuda, producer of the video game, in a recent interview with the newsroom. “We wanted to make sure that we treated Final Fantasy with respect in the way we were handling its elements, so that has been our priority,” explains the director of Nioh 2.
However, in Team Ninja it has a past of recognized prestige focused on action, and in fact Stranger of Paradise uses the same graphic engine as the Nioh saga, “so there are influences or similarities”, for which they acknowledge having noticed other action sagas like Onimusha or souls-like video games.
Points in common with Final Fantasy
That respect for the IP also seeks to make Stranger of Paradise a video game in which Final Fantasy fans can find common ground. “There are gameplay elements, like being able to choose your profession, and choosing and using different skills, that we think will be quite familiar to Final Fantasy players,” adds Yasura. “In addition to identifying the weaknesses of the enemies and attacking them in a certain way, or stealing their abilities and using them against them. I think traditional players will also be able to enjoy these items“.
Although this is an action game, it also maintains the most important of the RPGfumihiko yasudaAlso, Stranger of Paradise is still an RPG, so fundamental elements such as leveling up, equipment and character progression through different factors are preserved. “We’ve decided to take things a bit more towards the action game side, but there are still RPG elements“, Yasuda guarantees in his chat with 3DJuegos. “That has been our policy in Team Ninja.” “For people who are very good with action games, they may not need them, but if someone is not so skilled here, we have created a safety net with typical RPG elements“, highlighted the producer.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin hits stores this March 18 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. You can delve deeper into the adventure by checking out our latest impressions of Stranger of Paradise.
More about: Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Final Fantasy and Team Ninja.