There’s a new rumor for the next upcoming title to be added to PlayStation Plus Extra before the year ends, and it may not be a popular one.
As reported by GameRant, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is the next rumored game to be joining PlayStation Plus’ library.
Released last year, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is that odd Team Ninja project with Square Enix, providing a revised alternate universe take on the world of the original Final Fantasy.
In this world, Cornelia becomes a dark fantasy where protagonist Jack and his allies take a dark path towards defeating its biggest threat, Cornelia. It also features real time combat, exploration, and a battle system that shifts between physical attacks and magic.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin certainly turned out better than a prior Team Ninja collaboration, Metroid Other M, but that doesn’t mean it’s popular. Well, it may be more popular than the now non-canon Metroid side story, but this is an addition that may prove divisive to PlayStation Plus’ subscribers.
Spoilers follow in the next two paragraphs.
Jack turns out to be Jack Garland, the antagonist of the original Final Fantasy on the NES. This game turns out to be an alternate universe origin story for Garland, as he and his allies discover that Chaos cannot be defeated until someone absorbs enough darkness from the world to become its physical manifestation.
After a series of betrayals and incriminating revelations, Garland embraces his destiny to become the embodiment of Chaos itself, controlling events so that, as the world cycles to repeat itself, the four heroes will finally assemble with enough strength to defeat Chaos.
Aside from the dramatic changes to Final Fantasy’s story, some loyal fans just find Jack’s adventure to be too much of a departure from the franchise’s conventions to accept it. But Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin still has its fans, and in fact has received its fair share of critical acclaim.
It’s likely most PlayStation Plus users simply won’t open the game up on their library, knowing what it is. But given it’s a comparatively old title, such that most gamers who wanted the game have already played it, it’s not great value for subscribers at all.
But then again, it’s one of those things were console loyalty seem to be driving these subscriptions above anything else. They’ll even pay above the minimum needed for online, not because the library on PlayStation Plus Extra is great value compared to Game Pass, but because they’re already tied to PlayStation and they’ll take what they can get.
