Despite initial concerns, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin proved to be a hit with fans. Regardless of whether a player finds the story to be poorly written or an entertaining mix of deadpan humor and self-parody, the latest iteration on Nioh's gameplay impressed. Koei Tecmo's star developer Team Ninja was a good choice to help Square Enix’s push for more action games. Even though this reimagining of the first Final Fantasy was not how fans envisioned its 35th anniversary celebration, Jack is here to stay.
Although the last few months have been quiet, a season pass consisting of three expansions has been announced, and the first will be released on July 20. These three content packs will be "Trials of the Dragon King," "Wanderer of the Rift," and "Different Future." Judging by the trailers for Trials of the Dragon King, these expansions will take place after the main story of Final Fantasy Origin. For that reason, even though there will be many mechanical additions, discussing this DLC will include spoilers for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
Trials of the Dragon King Will Include New Missions and Story Content
The main attraction of Trials of the Dragon King is the introduction of four new main missions and nine side missions. It isn't clear what these will consist of, and whether every main mission will have a boss fight. The expansion seems to take place partially in the middle of the base game, and partially in the Final Fantasy 1 timeline introduced for its epilogue. In the past, Jack Garland's party will need to undergo some manner of trial to gain Bahamut’s favor, although the warrior-king of dragons seems willing to offer free advice. Meanwhile, in the present, Jack has assumed his role as Chaos to fight the new Warriors of Light. Unlocking these missions will require engaging with other new content, but the results should be interesting enough to merit it.
Those results include getting access to new boss fights. The first is Bahamut himself, who is now taking a more active role than he did in Final Fantasy 1. Originally just a quest giver who provided job upgrades in exchange for a Rat Tail, Bahamut will now also test the party directly, which players should use to prepare for a battle against the Warrior of Light. That scenario seems to be a duel against the Yoshitaka Amano-designed Warrior from the cover of Final Fantasy 1 using both his Dissidia Final Fantasy appearance and some Dissidia attacks. It will be a fanservice spectacle, and players should enjoy being able to turn the tables on this classic boss with an endgame Garland.
New Jobs, Classes, and a Weapon Type are Coming to Stranger of Paradise
While it may not fit with the heavy-set Garland most fans are familiar with, Trials of the Dragon King introduces staffs as a weapon type. What is fitting for Dissidia players is how these staves are implemented: when attacking, the player can separate the sections of a staff via chains to attack enemies over a wide area. During combos, players can dynamically adjust the length of the weapon to either perform forward-moving thrust attacks or create distance while releasing larger vertical or horizontal strikes.
Appropriately, with this new weapon comes three new jobs. The Pilgrim is a melee job that leans into the stave’s combo abilities with its job action, assault hook. This works like Nero's Snatch technique from Devil May Cry, allowing Jack to jump to an enemy or pull them to him. The next job is the magic-oriented Evoker, which can summon a spirit to assist with many abilities. It sounds like this has a lot of strategic potential, but those looking for more flash will want to opt for Summoner instead. This job makes Bahamut a summon in FF1’s world, and gives the player control over him. Their MP will continually decrease, but in exchange players gain access to all of Bahamut's signature Flare attacks.
Plenty More Additions are Coming in Final Fantasy Origin’s DLC
The rest of the content revolves around either enhancing Final Fantasy Origin’s endgame or providing new options. A new difficulty setting called Bahamut will be the place to start looking for content, as selecting it will add the Bahamut tab to the game menu. This tab contains the titular Trials, in which players will fight under various handicaps to earn Dragon Treasures and possibly Chaos equipment. Dragon Treasures can be exchanged for items and equipment at the Exchange Shop, and new conversations with Bahamut will be unlocked as more Trials are completed. Talking with Bahamut unlocks new missions and progresses the main story, so players will need to prove their mastery through Trials if they want to proceed.
Equipment drops on the Hard difficulty or higher may be imbued with Chaos, giving them stronger special abilities. The player will also gain the ability to equip accessories with their own special boons. Some accessories even give players access to enemy skills, like Cactuars' famous 1000 Needles. Finally, jobs now have class permutations, such as the Monk becoming a Black Belt, using the old Rat Tail item that should lead to even more variation in abilities. If this is the level of new content that players can expect from each expansion, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin fans shouldn't worry about running out of fun anytime soon.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Trials of the Dragon King DLC will launch on July 20, 2022.
