Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – Different Future Review – Curtain Falls

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has been a wild ride for almost a year, but everything eventually has to end. After confronting powerful enemies from another world, such as Bahamut and Gilgamesh, Jack Garland and his companions face yet another powerful entity in the Different Future expansion that aims to erase their world forever. Their old powers are not enough to defeat the new powerful enemies, which include a couple of familiar faces from the Final Fantasy universe, so the expansion provides players with some additional tools to turn their Chaos factor up to eleven.

Unlike the Trials of the Dragon King and Wanderer of the Rift expansions, the Different Future DLC has plenty of new story content. At some point after defeating Gilgamesh, Jack Garland and his companions meet a Moogle who has traveled from another world to warn them of a looming danger for their world. Traveling to the city the Lufenians called Central, Jack will have to confront not only the mastermind behind the destruction of the city, which was used to monitor dimensions, but also several other fearsome enemies, including Emperor Mateus Palamecia from Final Fantasy II. While the new expansion’s story is not particularly long, it features a few nice surprises which won’t be spoiled here, bringing the story of Jack to a satisfying conclusion that ties Stranger Of Paradise rather nicely with other entries in the Final Fantasy series.

When it comes to gameplay additions, Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – Different Future doesn’t disappoint. The new expansion introduces not only new locations and some greatly designed bosses but also a new difficulty setting called Lufenia that works slightly differently from the other DLC difficulties like Bahamut and Gilgamesh. Instead of increasing the mission’s level, which is still capped at Level 500, the new difficulty makes missions equivalent in difficulty to floor 30 of the Rift. Bosses’ movesets are further tweaked from Gilgamesh difficulty to provide the ultimate challenge, which can be further increased with a new Trial of the Dragon King option, which can make Lufenia difficulty missions equivalent to up to Rift floor 180. Speaking of the Rift, additional floors have been added past floor 100, with enemies behaving like they do in Lufenia difficulty and Trials of the Dragon King Trials getting activated in Null Voids.

The new Lufenia difficulty is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the new content added by the Different Future expansion. The new expansion adds a new weapon type, Gun, that is an excellent addition to the game, as it works substantially differently from the other weapons, introducing a ranged playstyle that works surprisingly well. The three new jobs – Hunter, Marksman, and Gambler, are also great additions that further improve the game’s already massive customization options. Finding and modifying gear for any specific build has also become slightly less time-consuming, thanks to the Manikin Materials that can be obtained in Lufenia difficulty and in the Rift past floor 100. These items can be used in place of others when increasing the gear’s level or applying any other change.

Being the final DLC expansion for the game, players will need to complete the other two Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin expansions, which can be quite a challenge if the player has only completed the game at Normal or Hard difficulty. For those who are not into massive grinding, the game offers an Extra Mode that grants infinite MP and Break and even complete invincibility by using the Liberator’s ability Runic Protection, which can make them breeze through all the additional content, including the new content included in the Different Future expansion. Even so, two of the new bosses will give players some trouble even in Extra Mode, as they have attacks that instantly remove all buffs. Those who completed Wanders of the Rift normally and explored the Rift further after defeating the final story boss will not have much trouble going through missions at Lufenia difficulty or the Different Future new missions, as they are not a huge jump in difficulty as the Rift was. Those that didn’t, however, will be in for a rough awakening, as most enemies will take too long to defeat and have the power to one-shot Jack.

With new story and optional content, new challenges, and new tools to play with, Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – Different Future is, without a doubt, the game’s best expansion. While the massive power creep which started with the first expansion can be a huge turn-off for those who only played the game by Team Ninja for its story, the inclusion of Extra Mode makes it possible for those that loved Jack’s tale to experience its true conclusion without too many issues.

PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – Different Future

Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – Different Future

With a bigger focus on story, new challenging content, a new weapon type and Jobs that add more combat and customization possibilities, Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin – Different Future is, without a doubt, the best DLC released by Team Ninja for its game. While the jump in difficulty from the previous DLC isn’t as big as it was in the previous expansions, Lufenia difficulty will still wreck unprepared players, making playing the expansion’s new content in Extra Mode the only viable way for those who do not want to spend hours upon hours grinding for gear and materials.