Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin new trailer sets up narrative

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin recently released a new story trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy spinoff title. This is the final clip before the March 18 launch of the dark, action-oriented game.

In it, we see more of Jack, his allies, and the four major bosses of the world — the Four Fiends. We also hear Jack’s full name, Jack Garland. This was already confirmed previously, but hearing it in the trailer gives a lot of weight to what fans can expect.

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Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Jack’s journey to being an antagonist

The developers of the game have already revealed that Jack Garland is, in fact, Garland from Final Fantasy 1. In the original Final Fantasy, Garland created a 2,000-year time loop and became Chaos as the last encounter.

This is interesting since Jack Garland and his allies have just one goal: to defeat Chaos, once and for all. Fans of the series likely know that Garland was once a knight of Cornelia and ultimately became the primary antagonist.

Kraken, one of the Four Fiends, was on full display in the recent trailer (Image via Square Enix)

But what about his allies? Jack has four other protagonists who travel with him — one for each of the other fiends: Lich, Marilith, Kraken, and Tiamat. All were visible in the trailer and showed combat with each of the prime servants of Chaos.

Fans also got a peek at Astos, the king of the dark elves, who offered Jack and his team guidance. In Final Fantasy 1, Astos was a major boss encounter for the Warriors of Light, so it’s unclear if he will also lead Jack Garland astray.

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Jack’s way, but at what cost?

It’s also worth noting the music backing for the second half of the trailer: Frank Sinatra’s My Way. During it, Jack talks about memories being lost and how he’ll ultimately be forgotten. He is a more aggressive, violent protagonist, and his actions will eventually lead to regret and his undoing.

The team believes they are the Warriors of Light, destined to save the world, but through the actions of Jack Garland and perhaps all of them, their fate is to become the evil they battle.

Polygon spoke to Jin Fujiwara about Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin in an exclusive interview. In it, one topic was the Frank Sinatra song choice:

“The story is going to be depicting Jack and how he lived and the choices he made throughout his life. And so the fact that he is sort of living his life and making the choices that he is confident and he is not going to regret we felt really matched with the lyrics of ‘My Way’, so we wanted to incorporate that song [in the trailer].”

The more that is seen of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the more it looks like it will be a story of tragedy. People who think they are heroes and doing the right thing ultimately create pain and suffering for countless others.

It’s well-known that Jack Garland will become the Final Fantasy antagonist Garland, but the “how” will be explored in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

This latest trailer shows off quite a lot while also keeping essential story points hidden. We do know that Jack e has his love, Sara, and a driving need to defeat Chaos at any cost.

His rage and despair are in full, plain view in the trailer, and it sets players up for an unforgettable action RPG experience this coming March in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.