I was curious by this game for the memes and ridiculous voice acting. Destroy Chaos. That is all I knew we had to do but this game went from a laugh fest to a heart-wrenching tale that made me cry.
First off, if you've played Nioh. Welcome to Nioh with a Final Fantasy skin. The gameplay, the mission layout, the currencies. It's flat out, Nioh and it's awesome.
The Nioh layout was a more accessible souls game and Stranger of Paradise does a fantastic job at being both easy if you want it to be and hard as freakin nails if you choose to play it's harder difficulty setting once you beat the game.
Our main character is Jack, a normal dude who has one goal. Destroy Chaos and that is his whole personality. The plot starts off very simple but then as you play, the hidden reports, the hidden meaning behind characters words. You begin to realise, that it's convoluted and way more intense than you think.
I can't stress enough how this game takes ridiculous over the top acting and gameplay and blends it in the end with the first time I have ever genuinely started crying in gameplay. Not just a cutscene.
This game IS ridiculous. This game IS over the top. However it manages to weave a fantastic ending and is just a huge throwback to how I felt playing a PS3 game for the first time in my parents lounge room.

So far, it's the best game I've been able to dig into this current year. An explosive game with no shortage of fun combat, a play-your-way attitude, and an overall awesome story, even if it takes a little bit to spread its wings.

To start with the most important part of a game like this, the gameplay. It's truly phenomenal what they've been able to do with this. Most games do dive into the whole break-bar vs. HP mechanic so many times now, but Stranger of Paradise just does it differently, based on what kind of player you are. You can be the HP-draining goon spamming high-level attacks at a boss and overwhelming them with pure skills. You can be the break-master, using parries and exploiting spell weaknesses to pop their shields quickly, then come in with a satisfying crush. Speaking of crushing enemies - did they grab some YouTube ASMR artist to work sound for these kills? Popping enemies with Jack's crystal-power will NEVER get old as long as you play, and there are plenty of satisfying moments to keep you playing. I didn't even get into the parry mechanic that allows you to steal an enemy attack, stock it, and unleash it on another enemy going forward. If that's not demonstrating how this game is absolutely fire, I don't know what is. This game is already taking insane liberties my brief time with FF7R failed to take, and is nailing down combat to make it less repetitive than something like FF16. It is definitively, the best feeling action-based FF game ever.

To venture more into the awe-inspiring class building of FF Stranger of Paradise, almost every Final Fantasy class is here for long-time fans of the JRPG to enjoy. You'll be spoiled quickly for choice when things really start to unlock, and it's easier to earn job XP. There's maybe 8 base classes that devolve into another 8 advanced classes, with another 8 or so expert-level classes that continue to give players more choices as they enter deeper. It's fun as well because basic does not necessarily mean bad. Job affinities keep the system in check, pairing strategy with job selection.

The story is pretty good. I think there are some times the game really has nothing to say, so it doesn't, and I applaud the game's designers for doing that as it works towards a really satisfying build and conclusion, but it does leave me feeling awkward for about 40-60% of the game as you're really just going level by level. Speaking of which, level design could be a bit better, as most are just three checkpoints in a linear fashion and then a boss battle, but I applaud them for still finding ways to branch paths, and explore ways to hide loot and enemies like the Cactuar and Tonberry for mega-XP and loot.

This amazing game loops in elements from a ton of my favorite franchises: Borderlands, Diablo, strokes of the right stuff from FF15/16, and presents this in a masterful, wonderful game that doesn't take too much time of yours from bloat, as most AAA games seem to do nowadays whenever you hear "RPG".

Stranger of Paradise is the best Final Fantasy game I've played in my life, and it should be a much, much more recognized game amongst the community and game-reviewers as a whole. Give it a shot on a sale if you're curious.