Game news Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin: Everything you need to know about the gameplay of the FF spin-off
As the release of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is fast approaching, we were able to interview Jin Fujiwara, producer of the game at Square Enix, as well as the two co-directors of the game, Daisuke Inoue at Square Enix and Hiroya Usuda at Team Ninja. What to learn more about the gameplay and in particular about the job system which is at the heart of the mechanics of the title.
JV: Are the jobs designed to fulfill a specific role (like in an MMO with Tanks, DPS or Healers), or are all the classes versatile and can be used in all situations?
In general, for each job, when we design them, we want to make sure that each one allows the game to be played in its entirety, so we have not made any job specialized to the point that it can only be used in a specific situation. .
JV: Can we choose the jobs of our companions? If so, is it necessary to make a balanced group, with for example a white mage to heal, a black mage to do damage and a paladin to take damage, to be as effective as possible?
Firstly, regarding the question of choosing jobs for teammates, the player can, but there will be jobs that each character is particularly good at, so it will be optimal to choose among those. As for team formation, again it will depend on the player. You will be able to choose jobs that will be complementary with the player’s, or you can simply choose jobs that make you think “oh, this character should have that one” or “this character fits that one particularly well”.
It really depends on the player’s style of play. For example, in my case, I often say to myself “I have these good weapons, so I will give them jobs that make good use of these good weapons”. So there’s a lot of flexibility on how you want to change them. I think it’s more fun if you don’t care too much about exact odds but just do whatever you want.
JV: How many jobs are there in total in the game, between base classes and jobs? And how do you unlock them?
There will be 27 jobs in total in the game. As for unlocking them, for each job there will be a job tree, similar to a skill tree. Players will be able to go through the skill tree, level up certain things… And there will be a certain box in each skill tree that unlocks a new job, which will allow the player to have access to this job, to level it up, etc.
JV: Are there skills common to all classes?
For example, this has already appeared in the demo, but there is a skill called “Enlightenment”, and it is a skill that Jack himself has, so it can be used with any job.
JV: Is it possible to go through all the content of the title with a single job or is it strongly recommended to alternate regularly between two jobs to reach the end of the game? Are certain classes more effective against specific types of enemies?
As said before, we’ve made sure that any job can be able to get to the bottom of the game’s content, so in terms of effectiveness against certain types of enemies, that would be more into the idea than, for example, if there is an enemy that inflicts certain status effects, it would be easier if you play a job that can heal that status effect, or that sort of thing, so nothing too important.
JV: Is it possible to improve the equipment or do you have to constantly find better ones to become more powerful?
It wasn’t in the trial version but there will be a Blacksmith function, where weapons can be upgraded, a bit customized, effects can be added to them. But in general, it will be better to get more powerful equipment.
JV: Can you explain how the job affinity system works?
Initially, we had thought of a system of equipment sets. Once the full set was equipped, it would have had particular effects on the playstyle, but the problem with this system was that the equipment ended up limiting the customization of the character’s appearance. We thought it would be more fun to give the player a little more freedom.
We have therefore introduced and assigned a value and an affinity level to each class: if you gather pieces of equipment particularly suited to the Warrior, your class affinity will increase and make you more powerful, but this does not limit you. to the Warrior class, however, it is possible to also increase the affinity level of the Mage for example, giving you the possibility of creating a balanced character with a strong affinity with the Warrior and Mage classes. We were offered this system which offers more latitude to create and customize your build, so we decided to implement it.
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Through TheXsand, Journalist jeuxvideo.com
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