Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an action role-playing game that is heavily focused on fast-paced and brutal battles. The kingdom of Cornelia has been shrouded in darkness, it is up to Jack and his allies to bring back the light of the crystals before it's too late.
As the game is heavily based on combat and fighting off a plethora of enemies, it can easily become overwhelming. This is especially true if you're not used to games with a similar fighting style to this one. However, Team Ninja has kindly thought about this, and there's a selection of difficulty settings to suit each experience level.
In this guide, we are going to show you the differences between each difficulty level, and how you can change them.
Difficulty Settings
The difficulty setting that you choose will determine the intensity of combat and how easy other enemies are to defeat. It will also determine what kind of loot you'll gain, the harder the difficulty is, the better loot you can get. Here's our breakdown of each setting.
Casual
Casual mode can be activated after you select the "Story" difficulty but it cannot be used in online play. This is the easiest difficulty level and it's perfect if you're new to Final Fantasy games. Also, if you want to enjoy the story without worrying about getting killed every few minutes. Here are the extra benefits of activating casual mode:
- Unblockable attacks can be blocked
- Enemy strength is the same as "Story" setting
- Max MP is not lost when you fall in battle
- Fallen allies will automatically be revived
- Any items that you can get are the same as "Story" setting
- Break gauge and your ability consumption are reduced,
Story
The Story difficulty significantly reduces how tricky combat can be. It allows you to enjoy the overall story of the game. However, it doesn't completely remove the challenge of fighting enemies, so you can still get some enjoyment out of beating them.
Action
This setting is recommended for those of you who are used to fighting games, or how battles work in the Final Fantasy universe. Each battle is challenging in its own right but they're not impossible to win.
Hard
This is the highest difficulty setting in the game. If you're looking for brutal, fast, and extremely hard battles then this is the setting for you.
- Playing on PC?: Learn the recommended PC requirements for Stranger of Paradise.
How to Change Difficulty Settings
When you enter the game for the first time, you can pick a difficulty setting. If you come to realise that you made the wrong choice, then there's no need to worry. You can freely change the difficulty setting throughout the game in a few different ways. Here's how:
Cubes
You can change the difficulty setting at any Cube when you interact with it. However, you can only lower the setting this way, you cannot go from Story to Hard. To do this, walk up to the cube and interact with it. In the side menu, select "change difficulty", then select the one you want.
World Map
Before you enter an area or a mission, you can change the difficulty setting on the World Map. To do this, look at the command bar at the bottom of your screen. You should see a prompt for "change difficulty". Here, you can increase or decrease the current difficulty level before venturing into the next area.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin can be very tricky, so there may be times that you'll want to play with your friends. You can find out more about this in our multiplayer co-op guide. Also, the game is available in a few different editions. Check out our editions guide to find out more about what's included in each one.