To say that Stranger of Paradise can be overwhelming is an understatement. There are so many jobs, so many stats, so much gear—and that’s just all the backend stuff you need to manage. So here are some non-spoiler tips to help you out.
Let the Game Auto-Optimize Your Gear
An obscene amount of weapons and armor drop in Stranger of Paradise. You can easily pick up 300 new pieces of gear in a single story mission. You’ll notice that each one has a litany of basic stats, special stats, and synergy with specific jobs. To be frank, none of this matters until after you beat the story and grind to hit the gear level-cap. Thus, the rule of thumb is to just hit the “Optimize Equipment” button on the “Battle Settings” screen (and “Dismantle” the rest at the “Smithy”) unless…
…Unless You’re Grinding a Specific Job
The amount of job experience points you get in Stranger of Paradise is based on your “affinity” with a specific job. Just by having a job equipped, you will have some affinity with it and can unlock skills as you level that job up to boost your affinity even further. But here’s the thing, gear can also add bonuses to affinity, so you can really speed up leveling a job by equipping gear of that job type. On the other hand, you can level up other jobs along with the one you are playing simply by equipping gear with affinity for a different job. In fact, it’s totally possible to level a job completely without ever having to play it!
Don’t Worry About Being Massively Underleveled
As you get into the story, you’ll notice that your “Avg. Equipment Level” is far bellow the “Mission Level”—with a big red triangle with an exclamation mark inside it warning that you’re completely out of your depth. Ignore this. The best place to get gear to match the mission level is inside that mission itself. Just go into the mission, kill the first few enemies, gather their drops, and return to the save point to reset the room and heal. Do this a few times and you’ll have you’re whole party kitted out with mission-appropriate gear.
Image source: STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN on Twitter.
Spend a Minute or Two to Max Out Your MP
Each mission you start with a paltry two bars of MP—and in a game where MP is your most important resource, this is a huge handicap. Luckily, you can increase it. The easiest way to do so is by “breaking” an opponents defenses and using a “Soul Burst” to explode them into a bloody crystalline mist. The trick, of course, is to break them before you deplete their HP. One simple way to do this with almost any job is to knock an enemy down with an ability or magic attack and then charge up a normal attack and bash them while they’re getting up. Of course, if you want to make it even easier, the Aeroaga spell is a multi-hit tornado designed to break enemies in a single cast—it’s basically an “I win” button for black mages and sages. So while you’re grinding gear at the start of each story mission, use that time to max out your MP as well.
Your Max MP Can Go Down
Just like the enemies in the game, you can have your defense broken. Not only does this leave you incapacitated for a few seconds, it decreases your max MP as well The big reason you need to wear the best gear you have. Once you’re gear is around 10 levels below the mission level, any random enemy can break your defenses in a single hit—meaning you’re playing on extra hard mode with no MP. Dying also decreases your max MP so, if you die to a boss, be sure to backtrack and kill a few enemies to get it back to max. Going right back into the fight means handicapping yourself against a boss that already kicked your ass once, after all.
It’s Okay to Leave the Side Quests for Later
As the gear you get in side quests is rarely useful in the next story mission—they’re not really helpful in that department. So there’s no need to do them right as they unlock. That said, you should do them eventually because many unlock new jobs for your AI party members—which is always nice. And if you do decide to do them right when they unlock, be sure to play in multiplayer: some are staggeringly hard with the AI party members alone.
Image source: STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN on Twitter.
Don’t Do Story Missions in Multiplayer (At First)
To be frank, your AI party members are garbage. They rarely draw agro and stand around doing nothing as often as attacking. So, it makes sense to want real people in your party instead. However, there is a major downside when it comes to doing a story mission coop: your partners have almost certainly done it dozens of times before and are basically speed running the damn thing. Do you want to explore the stage, find all the secrets, and listen to the character conversations that are vital to the plot? Then you don’t want to do it in multiplayer. Do it on story difficulty if you have to. (Subsequent runs and side missions, on the other hand, should totally be done in multiplayer—it’s a blast.)
Multiplayer Unlocks Fully After the Third Story Mission
Multiplayer is really the key to this game—especially once you complete the story. However, you do have to play a bit to unlock it. Completing the third story mission, “Audience with the Dark Elf,” will allow you to create and join multiplayer parties. …It’s just too bad that the net code is terrible and you’ll get more server errors than multiplayer games.
Image source: STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN on Twitter.
Be a Team Player
Want to be loved by your party in multiplayer? Pick White Mage or Sage as one of your jobs. These two classes allow you access to party-wide support and healing spells. Constantly casting Hastega basically makes you MVP by default as it not only increases movement speed but attack speed as well. Moreover, an occasional Regenga or Curaga will completely eliminate the need for potions—which can then be used to resurrect downed party members instead. And if you want to really want your team to love you…
Be Sure to Unlock Your Command Abilities
Each job has one command ability that can be unlocked (it’s the skill with the diamond background on the skill tree screen). Unlike other abilities, these can be used no matter which job you have currently equipped. These insta-cast spells are total game changers. The Knight skill, for example, casts “Provoke” which makes the enemies attack you alone for a short time. The Red Mage’s skill reduces your max MP but makes your MP auto refill. The Sage skill allows you to teleport—basically making you invincible when dodging. But the real OP command skill that will make your multiplayer party love you? The Liberator skill, “Bravery,” boosts the attack power of your entire party. Keep that and Hastega up for all major fights and your party won’t care if you personally do any damage or not.
Top image source: STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN on Twitter.
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