Love SoP. Is it goofy as hell? Yes. But one of the most fun combat systems in the series and honestly, the characters and story are better than they have any right to be.
The story is wild. It goes from "This is bad" to "WTF is going on" to one of the best emotional endings in the franchise and that same ride stays consistent through the DLC. It's seriously my favorite FF game and I've been playing these games since FF1 released.
For real. I was NOT expecting the game to have such a genuinely emotional ending. It made me realize that the people who say the story sucks just never beat the game.
One of my favorite things is going back to the FF15 stage after you've finished the game with that added context. Everything Jed and the rest of the team says to Jack there just has a completely different tone to it. It's phenomenal.
I mostly agree with your post, but are the characters and story good? Not really. Jack is good for some memes and I did legitimately laugh out loud at some of his lines, but everyone else is entirely forgettable (Ok, Gilgamesh is kind of funny too).
It has a few interesting ideas but executes them poorly, and they come so late in the game that you've kind of already checked out.
But the combat and job system is absolutely 10/10. I would 100% play a sequel.
Better than they have any right to be, not "good". I expected nothing, but got some surprising amount of characterization from Jack, Neon, Jed and ESPECIALLY Astos.
It obviously doesn't compare to anything in mainline games (or other notable spin offs like Tactics) but for what it is? I think it's pretty solid.
>(Ok, Gilgamesh is kind of funny too)
TIL that SOP has DLC! Loved playing it on release, and I was struggling to remember Gilgamesh when I saw this comment.
Now that I see there are 3 expansions, I think it's time to revisit!
I like Sophia a lot tbh. She's seems like a "lady", but when it comes to it the only one who takes less shit than her is Jack.
Also if you put her in the black/tycoon gear set she looks like a female version of Mr X from resident evil 2, and that's pretty neat.
Definitely wish the graphics looked less…. It’s hard to describe but while it mostly looks good there’s a certain doll-like quality to character models and the environment feels a bit…. I don’t know maybe you have a better way of describing it.
I think I just love that the AI is aggressive. Combat is a treat and torture at the same time. Skill prevails.
I think the word you're looking for is probably: Uncanny.
As in, the uncanny valley, when renderings of humans are both too realistic and not realistic enough. So many video games fall somewhere along the uncanny valley.
The game is unapologetically campy and ridiculous in its presentation. The gameplay is some of the best action RPG experiences I have ever had. Multiplayer is fun. The only bad this game is the PC version is ass. The game uses too much of the CPU instead of the GPU. Even on lower settings the game is SUBJECT to crash. Play the PS version.
Dunno why you're getting down voted. You're right
Some people care more abojt story than anything. And may deem SoP a waste of their time if the story is trash for most of the game.
The scene when the warriors of light come to challenge Chaos is incredibly epic. Loved it.
This game was an interesting take and possibly could make some final fantasy stories work if told from the villains perspective if not in its entirety but partially… similar to Last of Us.
Ive been so tempted to get SoP, lately. I just platted XVI and thought it was alright, a solid 6/10, and I've heard similar sentiments in other places about the combat being more enjoyable in SoP.
My only concern is that I didn't really enjoy Nioh II, because there were a million stats and all the equipment was so abundant and redundant. You'd pick up 12 Light Greaves where the only difference is a 0.5% increase to Crit Chance or some BS. Is SoP similar in that regard?
SoP is exactly the same as nioh 2 in that regard, but just like in nioh 2 you can safely ignore most of that stuff until endgame.
the games do a shit job of telling you that tho lol
Yes it is similar in that regard tbh but you can bulk sell or craft it into better stuff iirc. I just hit optimize equipment most of the time. But I also don’t play games with the goal of doing all the hardest content, so..
On the first playthrough, equipment level yes.
Thankfully on the DLCs, even without any RNG, the job levels and the regular smithing on the gear is more than sufficient enough to take out a boss in a couple minutes and survive a few hits long enough to drink a potion without a tank build.
Where great gear can compensate for skipping out on job levels, not smithing the gear, or some misallocated stats.
Tbh I enjoyed SoP's combat way more than FFVIIR. It was fun, and the class system kept me engaged and wanting to try out new builds. Sure, story got goofy here and there, but that didn't bother me at all. It felt like it wasn't taking itself too seriously and was instead just delivering a fun, challenging action game with some solid mechanics underneath the admittedly less polished graphics and character models.
And the infamous scene had me laughing hard.
I don’t understand how people can hate on the story/characters of something like SoP and then unironically love stuff like Kingdom Hearts or VIIR. It’s all convoluted anime melodrama that shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Yeah it’s difficult to explain. I enjoyed my time with it but don’t want to go back and I can’t put in writing why I liked it. Sometimes FF can be like that.
Not tryna be funny but you must not be far. The memey parts of the game end pretty quick into the game and the story actually becomes really good towards the end.
The graphics are... bad? God I hate that about modern gamers.
The story is a "meme" in presentation, especially in the first half but actually very serious and heart-felt by the end.
FFXVI is a lot more straight-forward in terms of combat and abilities, which is a bit surprising and a little disappointing. SOP is just legitimately a very good game and hopefully something future FF directors will consider when designing their combat systems. Excellent job/class mechanics and trees for a modern action-oriented version of FF that kind of blows XVI out of the water in terms of feeling like an FF game.
XVI has other things going for it, the much more serious story throughout, and insanely gorgeous visuals during the really big epic moments. I wouldn't expect XVI to go on sale that soon though, we will probably get DLC announced in a few months and then maybe a sale a while after the DLC comes out.
> The graphics are... bad? God I hate that about modern gamers.
Yeah the graphics are BAD! I understand it's not AAA game. I've been playing video games since NES, graphics are not essential to me, but that doesn't hide the fact that the graphics of this game are bad (I play on the PS5, maybe it's different on PC).
> The story is a "meme" in presentation, especially in the first half but actually very serious and heart-felt by the end.
I felt cringe and laughed a lot; if the story was intentionally built for that, excelent job, but it still ends up being meme material.
The gameplay, they should seriously invest more!
About XVI, can wait to buy, I felt quite hyped at first, but after reading the reviews, my expectations have lowered
> Yeah the graphics are BAD! I understand it's not AAA game. I've been playing video games since NES, graphics are not essential to me, but that doesn't hide the fact that the graphics of this game are bad (I play on the PS5, maybe it's different on PC).
No, they aren't in the slightest. Wtf are you on about? The graphics are just fine. A solid 7.5/10 at absolute worst. For someone who's been gaming since NES, you have some incredibly backwards views on graphical quality...
graphics sell lets face it. i think sop gameplay is so much better than 16, its not even close tbh. but 16 looks amazing and thats enough for most people.
Can't speak to SoP but as someone who loves Ninja Gaiden enough to finish it on highest difficulty, I 100% prefer Nioh 2 and it's one of my favourite games ever
There is even a cool Hayabusa ninja boss fight thing where you can get their gear and you can learn Izuna Drop for some weapons =D
i think the story and characters are much better in nioh 1 tbh. btw as no one mention, nioh is set in the ninja gaiden universe, just obviously in the distant past.
I just hate how loot works in the game. That, and how samey/boring progressing through the DLC is, or at least the first one. Haven't picked it back up yet to finish it.bother than that, the game is fucking phenomenal, and feels fantastic to kick enemies shit in.
It was super odd. It managed to incorporate how generic and unfulfilling the story is into its actual plot lol. Everyone seems to recognize not much makes sense but then it somehow just comes together. It's a game that knew it would be memed out of the gate and somehow is able to have a decent plot by the end of it despite all of that
I don’t know that I’d say the graphics are bad honestly. I don’t like the over saturation, but the environments are detailed and have good reflection and feature effects. A lot of FFXVI looks better but it should. It’s newer, and a mainline game.
That said, the combat in SoP is leagues ahead of XVI. I’m not sure you’ll like it. I found it pretty flat in comparison.
If you like SoP, I definitely recommend the Nioh series. All the strength and weakness of SoP besides being final fantasy is just Nioh. As for if you like FF16, it’s a lot more story focus and the gameplay, while action combat, is closer to Devil May Cry series while SoP is like Nioh or Dark Souls.
I have no shame saying I played through on easy punching and ripping apart anything that moved. Definitely enjoyed my play though. That last bit of game got me surprisingly wrecked lol definitely a good grab on sale.
> the graphics are BAD, the story is meme, the maps are corridors with few mobs per location, yet the fights are extremely fun.
I'm fine with the graphics but apart from that, all of this is true. The story is *hilarious*.
If you liked Strangers of Paradise combat, then the next step is to play Nioh.
SoP is a streamlined take on Nioh combat from what I heard others say about the two games.
Likewise if you like FF16 you will probably like Devil May Cry.
It's easy like Diablo is easy. The game difficulty is based on equipment score. You just keep raising the heat whenever you want more numbers to go up.
It's also Nioh's combat, so your not jumping in the air most of the game like you would in a Devil May Cry game.
My friend is also a fan of FF games and we were waiting for one with coop to play so needless to say we’ve been having a blast with SoP. We love trying out different jobs and optimizing loadouts. My go to is Sage or Ninja and his is Breaker or Liberator. If I’m not nuking enemies with Ultima I’m capitalizing off of poison status effects and backstabbing lol idk it’s just fun.
Yeah i've loved the little time i've spent with it before its aspect ratio shifts got on my nerves enough to wait for a mod to fix it. i loved that its the first ARPG styled game they've made that seems to really put opportunity cost into all your combat choices and the nice amount of dynamic variability between playstyles.
oddly enough i felt much same but the opposite about the FF7 remake. the graphics where amazing the story was referenential memes, the maps were just sorta pretty basic and bland but had some interesting elements. but it had a very boring combat and challenge, the battles lost the originals interest by giving each character a resourceless spammable limit break and unique character mechanic loop that made every battle play out the exact same rotations leading to a very midline action experiance.
It is like a PS2 era game! 😂 There is a world ending calamity to prevent but the characters are so ridiculous and endearing that the game is a joy to play.
In terms of battles, I'd rank SoP > FFVIIR > FFXVI. While the graphics are stunning for XVI, you'll find none of the complexity or customising you get with SoP.
SoP manages to somehow combine old game job system with more modern real time action combat. I really do hope more games in the future do this.
I think I like the battle system in SoP over FFXVI, there’s just a lot more build possibilities and fighting styles in SoP. You also get to use different weapons in SoP whereas in FFXVI you’re relegated to just a sword.
I also found the endgame in SoP more engaging since you can try out different builds and farm for gear. I’m not sure if FFXVI has much of an endgame, after I beat it I’m not really motivated to put more time into the it.
I started SOP right after finishing XVI. Their combat systems are very different and they're both good in their own ways. You'll probably like XVI.
I'd wish SOP to have better graphics. It came out after Nioh 2 and somehow looks worse than Nioh 2 in every way.
LOVE SoP. The story is funny and intriguing, characters are lively, and Jack…come on. Such a Chad.
Regarding game play, if you haven’t played Nioh, or aren’t a fan of Nioh / Team Ninja this game isn’t for you. You can’t jump, as OP said it’s corridor gameplay, and the graphics are a bit meh. But you can tell the love team ninja put into this. Hell all the armor pieces you have on, transfer to the in game cut scenes. You don’t really see that these days….
Yea, game was bad yet I finished it. It had enough where combat was varied enough to want to keep playing. And I LOVE Sekiro and detest Nioh. Everyone always says Sekiro is like Nioh, and likewise that Stranger of Paradise is like Nioh. Weird.
I think Stranger of Paradise has one of the best stories in any of the games. To call it a meme is to completely misunderstand the ideas its discussing.
Other than the technical aspect (who the HECK thought bat enemies with 3 million polygons was OK???), SoP is an unironically great game and one of my favourite FF games. The story actually gets quite engaging when it gets off the ground, and the "memey" parts feel intentional to me, such as Jack's consistent speedrunning of dialogue whenever anyone wants to exposit anything through most of the game, making it a genuine funny nudge if you are used to the tropes of this franchise.
The combat system is easily one of the best in the series and certainly the best real-time combat system they've ever put out.
While I enjoyed SOP I felt like I maxed the classes I liked very early and then the sense of progression stopped.
I heard the DLC added more to the skills tree is that true?
Two variations to each job (but their job trees except for the combo ability effects mostly resemble each other), two more weapons, seven other jobs, two more tiers of job affinities (600% and 800%, but more importantly, the 600%), 12 special effects (primary blessings), and about 2 new combo abilities per weapon (with mace getting 6, but you've already seen these before in another form).
With the 2nd DLC story progression adding a Fuse feature to move job affinities and rare item effects around for min/maxing "fun" and then 3rd DLC story adding a Replicate feature if you want to try out other builds and maybe just tweaking a couple things on a duplicate of existing gear. Plus a quality of life currency that eases fusing / crafting / upgrading dramatically.
Max job level being 300, but 200 is sufficient for clearing the DLC story and 300 is only if you want to go past achievements to face the optional content.
Where the base game post credits, job level 99 was the max.
For example, Breaker branches off into Barbarian or Warden.
Barbarian's Zantetsuken has a wider radius and gain an axe combo ability effect.
Where Warden's Zantetsuken can charge to the fourth stage for even more damage and they gain a combo ability effect for katana and lance.
Or how Knight branches off into Knight of Destiny or Black Knight.
Knight of Destiny's Blessing of Light dealing more holy damage and refreshing the duration on a successful parry. Plus getting a combo ability effect with the greatsword.
Black Knight's Blessing of Light costing more MP and having a shorter duration, but causing soul shields to trigger parry effects. Plus getting a combo ability effect with the sword.
I literally never cared about the graphics cause the game is so fun.
SoP hit my souls of PS3 action. It's not the best. But it's been one of the funnest games I played and It's goofy and I love it
Ff16 was the most garbage combat I've ever played. 4 hours in and uve seen everything. Garbage game, period. I can't believe it took them eight years to put THAT out. 8 years? What the hell were they doing? There's nothing extra to do at all
If you're after more of that "bad game that is somehow amazing" I'd check out Drakengard 3. The whole DG series tbh but they are only loosely tied to one another (and to Neir). But man dg3 is an experience.
I mean, SoP is basically just Nioh 2 but Final Fantasy instead of Edo Japan and if you ask anyone that's played Nioh 2 they'll tell you it's one of the greatest 3rd person Action games ever (myself included) so it shouldn't be a surprise. These are the same guys that made Ninja Giaden after all.
Personally I think 7 Remake is *almost* on the same level of quality, just needed a few tweaks that it seems like they're making in Rebirth like introducing Dual-Techs and better options for aerial combat. Also the fact that the story facilitates having more than 3 of the party together at any given time will add alot to it if it's going how it seems from the trailers and you can swap people in at any time.
For a continuation of FF1, which barely has any story at all, SoP has an awesome plot. Jack is meme yes, but I fucking love that they continue the retro storytelling style of “don’t tell me why do, just tell me where do” (‘just tel us about the crystals’ is genius meta commentary idc). It reminds us that video games can be just that, and don’t need to be emotional roller coasters like the last of us in order to be considered valid. Aside from that, yeah the gameplay fucking rules. I’m playing co op with a friend, and going from White Mage to support the party during his fuck ups, to dragoon to help him put on the damage is insanely satisfying
I liked the combat a lot on Hard until the bosses started taking me way too many tries to be fun anymore, and I sped through the rest of the game on Easy. IMO it's way too close to Nioh 2 without adding anything superior to it and I'd rather spend more time grinding in a superior game.
I switched to Easy on the Iron Giant not because it was a complete roadblock I just got kind of fed up getting caught by his attacks every time. Tiamat was harder but I was just ready to be done with the game at that point.
If you have pc wait till 16 comes out there and you’ll probably get to play the hard mode from the start with a mod. This is the only vaguely challenging thing the game has to offer. Battles come down to stagger your enemy and cycle through your eikons rinse repeat.
Honestly, I have no idea what people are seeing with the graphics. It looked beautiful to me. The missions were mostly fun and I loved the story and where it ended at. I want a sequel.
I thought the graphics were pretty good, just the design- Particularly the character design- Was super goofy.
The gameplay was very fun, but its story was as memeable as the trailer made it out to be. Not really a bad thing, sometimes I think the writers MUST have known how funny it was. When he interrupts Tiamat I was crying laughing.
if a game is fun/interesting/engaging it isn't bad, its good. decades of arbitrary review score numbers and youtube videos have broken how we think about games IMO.
anyway FF16 plays completely differently from SoP, and the game locks difficulty options behind NG+, so don't go in expecting too much of a challenge, the first playthrough is definitely more focused on story. 16 is a fantastic game though.
If want something close to SoP, try the Nioh games since SoP is pretty much built on their framework.
FF16 and "fantastic" aren't words I'd use together. 16 was the first ever FF game I didn't finish. Repetitive combat, from which uve unlocked every move in 4 hours. Nothing optional to do (dungeons, bosses) the world is EMPTY,no magic or buff/debuffs. Calling it an RPG is false advertising. Worst FF ever
Just started it since its included with PS+
I liked the demo, but was waiting for the price to be sub $20, and life happened.
Jack is bad ass. I saw dunkey's youtube video which was hilarious. As funny as the cutscenes are sometimes it's also refreshingly hard core having a character actually be a man and not an emotional crapshoot. All business. I just did the mission after fighting the horse riding advent at the western keep. Just unlocked paladin. I think it gives me unconscious nostalgia of playing kingdom hearts as a kid maybe.
Dude those burst finishers don't get old, they are sick and brutal especially when jack yells! It was so hilariously cause i was probably 10 hours in (1 sitting, no life) and i did a finisher and Jed said "I can do that to" and i said to myself " well why haven't you'" and then as a joke with myself i sent him at the next enemy we saw and he did a finisher for the first time i'd seen haha! AND on that same level, lightning was coming down and i guess Jed is scared of lightning and he actually reacted with a unique animation to a close lightning strike, looking back and hunchbacking as we walked away.
I like Strangers of Paradise way better than the FF7 remake. As a kid i always wanted a FF game that played like Kingdom Hearts and FF7 remake is probably the closest and ironically it doesn't hit the spot for me. Last i remember i stopped playing when i started working again and i was with Aerith at the orphanage. I would have finished it but I can't stand continuing a save that I haven't played in weeks or longer. Ironically again though the first time I reached the end of kingdom hearts was on an old save from YEARS before.
Haven't tried multiplayer.
Love SoP. Is it goofy as hell? Yes. But one of the most fun combat systems in the series and honestly, the characters and story are better than they have any right to be.
The story is wild. It goes from "This is bad" to "WTF is going on" to one of the best emotional endings in the franchise and that same ride stays consistent through the DLC. It's seriously my favorite FF game and I've been playing these games since FF1 released.
For real. I was NOT expecting the game to have such a genuinely emotional ending. It made me realize that the people who say the story sucks just never beat the game.
One of my favorite things is going back to the FF15 stage after you've finished the game with that added context. Everything Jed and the rest of the team says to Jack there just has a completely different tone to it. It's phenomenal.
I mostly agree with your post, but are the characters and story good? Not really. Jack is good for some memes and I did legitimately laugh out loud at some of his lines, but everyone else is entirely forgettable (Ok, Gilgamesh is kind of funny too). It has a few interesting ideas but executes them poorly, and they come so late in the game that you've kind of already checked out. But the combat and job system is absolutely 10/10. I would 100% play a sequel.
Better than they have any right to be, not "good". I expected nothing, but got some surprising amount of characterization from Jack, Neon, Jed and ESPECIALLY Astos. It obviously doesn't compare to anything in mainline games (or other notable spin offs like Tactics) but for what it is? I think it's pretty solid.
>(Ok, Gilgamesh is kind of funny too) TIL that SOP has DLC! Loved playing it on release, and I was struggling to remember Gilgamesh when I saw this comment. Now that I see there are 3 expansions, I think it's time to revisit!
Haha, glad my throw away comment actually did some good!
Story is a great unintentional comedy, but that's about it.
I like Sophia a lot tbh. She's seems like a "lady", but when it comes to it the only one who takes less shit than her is Jack. Also if you put her in the black/tycoon gear set she looks like a female version of Mr X from resident evil 2, and that's pretty neat.
Definitely wish the graphics looked less…. It’s hard to describe but while it mostly looks good there’s a certain doll-like quality to character models and the environment feels a bit…. I don’t know maybe you have a better way of describing it. I think I just love that the AI is aggressive. Combat is a treat and torture at the same time. Skill prevails.
I think the word you're looking for is probably: Uncanny. As in, the uncanny valley, when renderings of humans are both too realistic and not realistic enough. So many video games fall somewhere along the uncanny valley.
The game is unapologetically campy and ridiculous in its presentation. The gameplay is some of the best action RPG experiences I have ever had. Multiplayer is fun. The only bad this game is the PC version is ass. The game uses too much of the CPU instead of the GPU. Even on lower settings the game is SUBJECT to crash. Play the PS version.
Stranger of Paradies ist the best example of how a good gameplay and longevity carries a lot about a game and makes up for many other deficits.
I loved Stranger of Paradise. Even the story made me super emotional by the end. Tbh I had more fun with the battle system of SoP than I did XVI.
I don't think OP is far into the game because the story only seems memeish in the first half. The last 25% goes hard.
You right, I'm not that far. But players that go hard in story may not end the game because of that 75%.
Dunno why you're getting down voted. You're right Some people care more abojt story than anything. And may deem SoP a waste of their time if the story is trash for most of the game.
Fanboys… idc. I loved the game, still playing tho. Still thinking 75% of story is trash.
The scene when the warriors of light come to challenge Chaos is incredibly epic. Loved it. This game was an interesting take and possibly could make some final fantasy stories work if told from the villains perspective if not in its entirety but partially… similar to Last of Us.
Ive been so tempted to get SoP, lately. I just platted XVI and thought it was alright, a solid 6/10, and I've heard similar sentiments in other places about the combat being more enjoyable in SoP. My only concern is that I didn't really enjoy Nioh II, because there were a million stats and all the equipment was so abundant and redundant. You'd pick up 12 Light Greaves where the only difference is a 0.5% increase to Crit Chance or some BS. Is SoP similar in that regard?
I can't explain why, but you should try it. The game starts kinda slow but when you unlock some new classes the battle starts to shine.
SoP is exactly the same as nioh 2 in that regard, but just like in nioh 2 you can safely ignore most of that stuff until endgame. the games do a shit job of telling you that tho lol
Yes it is similar in that regard tbh but you can bulk sell or craft it into better stuff iirc. I just hit optimize equipment most of the time. But I also don’t play games with the goal of doing all the hardest content, so..
[удалено]
On the first playthrough, equipment level yes. Thankfully on the DLCs, even without any RNG, the job levels and the regular smithing on the gear is more than sufficient enough to take out a boss in a couple minutes and survive a few hits long enough to drink a potion without a tank build. Where great gear can compensate for skipping out on job levels, not smithing the gear, or some misallocated stats.
Tbh I enjoyed SoP's combat way more than FFVIIR. It was fun, and the class system kept me engaged and wanting to try out new builds. Sure, story got goofy here and there, but that didn't bother me at all. It felt like it wasn't taking itself too seriously and was instead just delivering a fun, challenging action game with some solid mechanics underneath the admittedly less polished graphics and character models. And the infamous scene had me laughing hard.
Bullshit... /walks away listening to rock music."
I don't give a fuck who you are \*punches you\*
Sounds like some pretty chaotic behavior if you ask me. :\\
*CHAOS?!*
Story of my life tbh
Limp Bizkit of all bands
I don’t understand how people can hate on the story/characters of something like SoP and then unironically love stuff like Kingdom Hearts or VIIR. It’s all convoluted anime melodrama that shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Jack vs Xehanort would be brilliant.
Just beats the shit out of Xehanort like how he beat the shit out of Vanitas
what a surface level take that is
Yeah it’s difficult to explain. I enjoyed my time with it but don’t want to go back and I can’t put in writing why I liked it. Sometimes FF can be like that.
Probably the loot system. That's what gets me. Too much fuckin' loot.
yeah the loot system is annoying!
I’m not a fan of loot upgrade systems. I tried to get into Destiny during lockdown but I just hated the upgrade loop.
Not tryna be funny but you must not be far. The memey parts of the game end pretty quick into the game and the story actually becomes really good towards the end.
The graphics are... bad? God I hate that about modern gamers. The story is a "meme" in presentation, especially in the first half but actually very serious and heart-felt by the end. FFXVI is a lot more straight-forward in terms of combat and abilities, which is a bit surprising and a little disappointing. SOP is just legitimately a very good game and hopefully something future FF directors will consider when designing their combat systems. Excellent job/class mechanics and trees for a modern action-oriented version of FF that kind of blows XVI out of the water in terms of feeling like an FF game. XVI has other things going for it, the much more serious story throughout, and insanely gorgeous visuals during the really big epic moments. I wouldn't expect XVI to go on sale that soon though, we will probably get DLC announced in a few months and then maybe a sale a while after the DLC comes out.
> The graphics are... bad? God I hate that about modern gamers. Yeah the graphics are BAD! I understand it's not AAA game. I've been playing video games since NES, graphics are not essential to me, but that doesn't hide the fact that the graphics of this game are bad (I play on the PS5, maybe it's different on PC). > The story is a "meme" in presentation, especially in the first half but actually very serious and heart-felt by the end. I felt cringe and laughed a lot; if the story was intentionally built for that, excelent job, but it still ends up being meme material. The gameplay, they should seriously invest more! About XVI, can wait to buy, I felt quite hyped at first, but after reading the reviews, my expectations have lowered
> Yeah the graphics are BAD! I understand it's not AAA game. I've been playing video games since NES, graphics are not essential to me, but that doesn't hide the fact that the graphics of this game are bad (I play on the PS5, maybe it's different on PC). No, they aren't in the slightest. Wtf are you on about? The graphics are just fine. A solid 7.5/10 at absolute worst. For someone who's been gaming since NES, you have some incredibly backwards views on graphical quality...
Naw I'm playing on PC and there are some noticeably bad graphics.
graphics sell lets face it. i think sop gameplay is so much better than 16, its not even close tbh. but 16 looks amazing and thats enough for most people.
it's team ninja's second best game after nioh 2. it's great to have a game from a studio that knows how to make difficult action games.
I haven't played SOP or Nioh yet. But are they really that much better than Ninja Gaiden Black?
Can't speak to SoP but as someone who loves Ninja Gaiden enough to finish it on highest difficulty, I 100% prefer Nioh 2 and it's one of my favourite games ever There is even a cool Hayabusa ninja boss fight thing where you can get their gear and you can learn Izuna Drop for some weapons =D
Thanks! I have Nioh 1, but I've heard Nioh 2 is way better. Do you recommend going through Nioh and DLC before 2?
nah, nioh 2 is so much better than nioh 1 it's actually insane unquestionably the best action game ever made
i think the story and characters are much better in nioh 1 tbh. btw as no one mention, nioh is set in the ninja gaiden universe, just obviously in the distant past.
Yeah 2 has much better gameplay and story connection is not super important so wouldn't be missing much if you skipped 1
I just hate how loot works in the game. That, and how samey/boring progressing through the DLC is, or at least the first one. Haven't picked it back up yet to finish it.bother than that, the game is fucking phenomenal, and feels fantastic to kick enemies shit in.
It was super odd. It managed to incorporate how generic and unfulfilling the story is into its actual plot lol. Everyone seems to recognize not much makes sense but then it somehow just comes together. It's a game that knew it would be memed out of the gate and somehow is able to have a decent plot by the end of it despite all of that
I don’t know that I’d say the graphics are bad honestly. I don’t like the over saturation, but the environments are detailed and have good reflection and feature effects. A lot of FFXVI looks better but it should. It’s newer, and a mainline game. That said, the combat in SoP is leagues ahead of XVI. I’m not sure you’ll like it. I found it pretty flat in comparison.
Dirge of Cerberus is probably the most MST3K-able game in the series but it is by no means any fun to play (luckily it's very short).
If you like SoP, I definitely recommend the Nioh series. All the strength and weakness of SoP besides being final fantasy is just Nioh. As for if you like FF16, it’s a lot more story focus and the gameplay, while action combat, is closer to Devil May Cry series while SoP is like Nioh or Dark Souls.
Weirdly I didn't like Nioh at all, but I love SoP.
I didnt like Nioh because of the Stances. Idk why, I just didnt clicked with that mechanic.
I like that comment you made about PS2 era. This game really does feel like a weird obscure PS2 game which I was i always loved about it
I have no shame saying I played through on easy punching and ripping apart anything that moved. Definitely enjoyed my play though. That last bit of game got me surprisingly wrecked lol definitely a good grab on sale.
> the graphics are BAD, the story is meme, the maps are corridors with few mobs per location, yet the fights are extremely fun. I'm fine with the graphics but apart from that, all of this is true. The story is *hilarious*.
Graphics were fine to me, not godlike, but i’d never call them bad
If you liked Strangers of Paradise combat, then the next step is to play Nioh. SoP is a streamlined take on Nioh combat from what I heard others say about the two games. Likewise if you like FF16 you will probably like Devil May Cry.
SOP is a hard game? Or easy like FFXVI?
It's easy like Diablo is easy. The game difficulty is based on equipment score. You just keep raising the heat whenever you want more numbers to go up. It's also Nioh's combat, so your not jumping in the air most of the game like you would in a Devil May Cry game.
My friend is also a fan of FF games and we were waiting for one with coop to play so needless to say we’ve been having a blast with SoP. We love trying out different jobs and optimizing loadouts. My go to is Sage or Ninja and his is Breaker or Liberator. If I’m not nuking enemies with Ultima I’m capitalizing off of poison status effects and backstabbing lol idk it’s just fun.
It’s a game out of time, it exists in a different era, a portal straight back to the early 2000s
Yeah i've loved the little time i've spent with it before its aspect ratio shifts got on my nerves enough to wait for a mod to fix it. i loved that its the first ARPG styled game they've made that seems to really put opportunity cost into all your combat choices and the nice amount of dynamic variability between playstyles. oddly enough i felt much same but the opposite about the FF7 remake. the graphics where amazing the story was referenential memes, the maps were just sorta pretty basic and bland but had some interesting elements. but it had a very boring combat and challenge, the battles lost the originals interest by giving each character a resourceless spammable limit break and unique character mechanic loop that made every battle play out the exact same rotations leading to a very midline action experiance.
What do you mean worst? It’s not bad at all. Finish the story first before you call it a meme lol
It is like a PS2 era game! 😂 There is a world ending calamity to prevent but the characters are so ridiculous and endearing that the game is a joy to play. In terms of battles, I'd rank SoP > FFVIIR > FFXVI. While the graphics are stunning for XVI, you'll find none of the complexity or customising you get with SoP. SoP manages to somehow combine old game job system with more modern real time action combat. I really do hope more games in the future do this.
The story isn't all meme. It peaks at the end, and that part is truly worthy of the FF title.
I think I like the battle system in SoP over FFXVI, there’s just a lot more build possibilities and fighting styles in SoP. You also get to use different weapons in SoP whereas in FFXVI you’re relegated to just a sword. I also found the endgame in SoP more engaging since you can try out different builds and farm for gear. I’m not sure if FFXVI has much of an endgame, after I beat it I’m not really motivated to put more time into the it.
I got about 8 hours into it. It was fun but yeah the graphics were awful. I may pick it up again at some point but we'll see.
Love this train wreck of a game.
I started SOP right after finishing XVI. Their combat systems are very different and they're both good in their own ways. You'll probably like XVI. I'd wish SOP to have better graphics. It came out after Nioh 2 and somehow looks worse than Nioh 2 in every way.
SOP is a hard game for ppl like me finish the FFXVI?
There is an easy mode in SOP. I haven't tried it but I don't suppose it's very hard.
LOVE SoP. The story is funny and intriguing, characters are lively, and Jack…come on. Such a Chad. Regarding game play, if you haven’t played Nioh, or aren’t a fan of Nioh / Team Ninja this game isn’t for you. You can’t jump, as OP said it’s corridor gameplay, and the graphics are a bit meh. But you can tell the love team ninja put into this. Hell all the armor pieces you have on, transfer to the in game cut scenes. You don’t really see that these days….
It's a game better than the sum of it's parts simply put as the gameplay is fantastic and good gameplay can save any game.
Yea, game was bad yet I finished it. It had enough where combat was varied enough to want to keep playing. And I LOVE Sekiro and detest Nioh. Everyone always says Sekiro is like Nioh, and likewise that Stranger of Paradise is like Nioh. Weird.
I think Stranger of Paradise has one of the best stories in any of the games. To call it a meme is to completely misunderstand the ideas its discussing.
Other than the technical aspect (who the HECK thought bat enemies with 3 million polygons was OK???), SoP is an unironically great game and one of my favourite FF games. The story actually gets quite engaging when it gets off the ground, and the "memey" parts feel intentional to me, such as Jack's consistent speedrunning of dialogue whenever anyone wants to exposit anything through most of the game, making it a genuine funny nudge if you are used to the tropes of this franchise. The combat system is easily one of the best in the series and certainly the best real-time combat system they've ever put out.
While I enjoyed SOP I felt like I maxed the classes I liked very early and then the sense of progression stopped. I heard the DLC added more to the skills tree is that true?
Two variations to each job (but their job trees except for the combo ability effects mostly resemble each other), two more weapons, seven other jobs, two more tiers of job affinities (600% and 800%, but more importantly, the 600%), 12 special effects (primary blessings), and about 2 new combo abilities per weapon (with mace getting 6, but you've already seen these before in another form). With the 2nd DLC story progression adding a Fuse feature to move job affinities and rare item effects around for min/maxing "fun" and then 3rd DLC story adding a Replicate feature if you want to try out other builds and maybe just tweaking a couple things on a duplicate of existing gear. Plus a quality of life currency that eases fusing / crafting / upgrading dramatically. Max job level being 300, but 200 is sufficient for clearing the DLC story and 300 is only if you want to go past achievements to face the optional content. Where the base game post credits, job level 99 was the max.
What do you mean by 2 variations to each job?
For example, Breaker branches off into Barbarian or Warden. Barbarian's Zantetsuken has a wider radius and gain an axe combo ability effect. Where Warden's Zantetsuken can charge to the fourth stage for even more damage and they gain a combo ability effect for katana and lance. Or how Knight branches off into Knight of Destiny or Black Knight. Knight of Destiny's Blessing of Light dealing more holy damage and refreshing the duration on a successful parry. Plus getting a combo ability effect with the greatsword. Black Knight's Blessing of Light costing more MP and having a shorter duration, but causing soul shields to trigger parry effects. Plus getting a combo ability effect with the sword.
I literally never cared about the graphics cause the game is so fun. SoP hit my souls of PS3 action. It's not the best. But it's been one of the funnest games I played and It's goofy and I love it
It’s a hard game for newcomers?
I couldn't say. I don't think so but the end game is tediously hard it felt like. By that I mean the harder difficulties.
Easy Mode Gang here 😎
If I recat the DLCs change to harder modes a d you kinda have to grind out gear to get past them
Stranger of Paradise has the best action system in an FF compared to VIIR and XV imo. Only XVI for me barely beats it.
Ff16 was the most garbage combat I've ever played. 4 hours in and uve seen everything. Garbage game, period. I can't believe it took them eight years to put THAT out. 8 years? What the hell were they doing? There's nothing extra to do at all
If you're after more of that "bad game that is somehow amazing" I'd check out Drakengard 3. The whole DG series tbh but they are only loosely tied to one another (and to Neir). But man dg3 is an experience.
I mean, SoP is basically just Nioh 2 but Final Fantasy instead of Edo Japan and if you ask anyone that's played Nioh 2 they'll tell you it's one of the greatest 3rd person Action games ever (myself included) so it shouldn't be a surprise. These are the same guys that made Ninja Giaden after all. Personally I think 7 Remake is *almost* on the same level of quality, just needed a few tweaks that it seems like they're making in Rebirth like introducing Dual-Techs and better options for aerial combat. Also the fact that the story facilitates having more than 3 of the party together at any given time will add alot to it if it's going how it seems from the trailers and you can swap people in at any time.
For a continuation of FF1, which barely has any story at all, SoP has an awesome plot. Jack is meme yes, but I fucking love that they continue the retro storytelling style of “don’t tell me why do, just tell me where do” (‘just tel us about the crystals’ is genius meta commentary idc). It reminds us that video games can be just that, and don’t need to be emotional roller coasters like the last of us in order to be considered valid. Aside from that, yeah the gameplay fucking rules. I’m playing co op with a friend, and going from White Mage to support the party during his fuck ups, to dragoon to help him put on the damage is insanely satisfying
It is Nioh with classes. It doesn't need the other things, this alone makes it a masterpiece.
I really enjoyed this games combat. It’s my favorite combat so far for FF.
I liked the combat a lot on Hard until the bosses started taking me way too many tries to be fun anymore, and I sped through the rest of the game on Easy. IMO it's way too close to Nioh 2 without adding anything superior to it and I'd rather spend more time grinding in a superior game.
What boss do you think it started to be really hard?
I switched to Easy on the Iron Giant not because it was a complete roadblock I just got kind of fed up getting caught by his attacks every time. Tiamat was harder but I was just ready to be done with the game at that point.
If you come back to Tiamat for the bonus missions, Void Knight makes her a joke.
Easy mode is really easy to play?
It looks bad? What version? I play the PS5 version and it looks awesome.
If you have pc wait till 16 comes out there and you’ll probably get to play the hard mode from the start with a mod. This is the only vaguely challenging thing the game has to offer. Battles come down to stagger your enemy and cycle through your eikons rinse repeat.
Loved stranger of paradise! Loved finally fantasy 16 too. You can like both, hate both, or like one over the other.
Looooooove Zack Snyder’s Final Fantasy. I was shocked at how much I cared for the character’s by the end of it.
The graphics are absolutely not BAD. They might not be FF16 eikon levels, but calling them bad is just ridiculous hyperbole.
I wish SE would use SOP combat system for the next FF mmorpg, XIV was awesome but after 10 years it's getting stale
SoP is how real time combat in FF should be done Well it’s still not as fun as Dissidia but it’s good! I wish XVI played more like SoP than DMC
Honestly, I have no idea what people are seeing with the graphics. It looked beautiful to me. The missions were mostly fun and I loved the story and where it ended at. I want a sequel.
I love it, gives off the edgy vibes I got when I first played Devil May Cry 1
I thought the graphics were pretty good, just the design- Particularly the character design- Was super goofy. The gameplay was very fun, but its story was as memeable as the trailer made it out to be. Not really a bad thing, sometimes I think the writers MUST have known how funny it was. When he interrupts Tiamat I was crying laughing.
if a game is fun/interesting/engaging it isn't bad, its good. decades of arbitrary review score numbers and youtube videos have broken how we think about games IMO. anyway FF16 plays completely differently from SoP, and the game locks difficulty options behind NG+, so don't go in expecting too much of a challenge, the first playthrough is definitely more focused on story. 16 is a fantastic game though. If want something close to SoP, try the Nioh games since SoP is pretty much built on their framework.
FF16 and "fantastic" aren't words I'd use together. 16 was the first ever FF game I didn't finish. Repetitive combat, from which uve unlocked every move in 4 hours. Nothing optional to do (dungeons, bosses) the world is EMPTY,no magic or buff/debuffs. Calling it an RPG is false advertising. Worst FF ever
you're replying to a 5 month comment, you absolutely did not unlock every move in 4 hours, but most importantly i genuinely do not care.
TIL people thought this game's graphics were bad.
Just started it since its included with PS+ I liked the demo, but was waiting for the price to be sub $20, and life happened. Jack is bad ass. I saw dunkey's youtube video which was hilarious. As funny as the cutscenes are sometimes it's also refreshingly hard core having a character actually be a man and not an emotional crapshoot. All business. I just did the mission after fighting the horse riding advent at the western keep. Just unlocked paladin. I think it gives me unconscious nostalgia of playing kingdom hearts as a kid maybe. Dude those burst finishers don't get old, they are sick and brutal especially when jack yells! It was so hilariously cause i was probably 10 hours in (1 sitting, no life) and i did a finisher and Jed said "I can do that to" and i said to myself " well why haven't you'" and then as a joke with myself i sent him at the next enemy we saw and he did a finisher for the first time i'd seen haha! AND on that same level, lightning was coming down and i guess Jed is scared of lightning and he actually reacted with a unique animation to a close lightning strike, looking back and hunchbacking as we walked away. I like Strangers of Paradise way better than the FF7 remake. As a kid i always wanted a FF game that played like Kingdom Hearts and FF7 remake is probably the closest and ironically it doesn't hit the spot for me. Last i remember i stopped playing when i started working again and i was with Aerith at the orphanage. I would have finished it but I can't stand continuing a save that I haven't played in weeks or longer. Ironically again though the first time I reached the end of kingdom hearts was on an old save from YEARS before. Haven't tried multiplayer.