Final Fantasy Origin looks incredibly strange. Inspiring hundreds of memes since its unexpected unveiling back in June, a clip from the game’s newest demo had the internet doubled over in laughter as they watched the main character Jack walk away from a serious conversation with earbuds in, randomly blaring something Limp Bizkit-adjacent as he wears his trademark scowl. Despite how ridiculous that clip was, it’s managed to pull in more fans anxious to see more similarly edgy moments in the game’s lore. Sadly, Square Enix may have just shot itself in the foot after making a certain Twitter post.
Final Fantasy Origin will be available in three different versions: a standard physical edition, a standard digital edition, and a Digital Deluxe edition. Buying either digital edition will grant gamers a number of unique bonuses, including the “Lustrous” shield, the “Braveheart” and “Rebellion” swords, a PlayStation 4 theme, and three-day early access. The Digital Deluxe edition will also include the soundtrack, a digital artbook, and the DLC Season Pass. The three missions included with the Season Pass are Trials of the Dragon King, Wanderer of the Rift, and Different Future. Most would expect the Season Pass to be available to all players, regardless of purchased version, on day one. However, the Tweet clearly states that the missions “won’t be available separately.”
What does this mean? The worst-case scenario is that Square Enix is dead serious about the wording in this message and that this content will ONLY be available to those purchasing the Digital Deluxe edition. It seems like a poor decision on the company’s part, and one angry user, @CursedWind21, summed it up perfectly, writing “Screw us for buying the game physically, eh? This isn’t a random re-skinned weapon or anything like that. It’s CONTENT. CONTENT people will miss for ‘not getting the DIGITAL DELUXE version of the game.'”
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin will be released on March 18, 2022, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. The title will be an Epic Games Store exclusive, and a new trailer released in October showed far more polish than the first glimpse fans were given back in June.