When Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin was first announced, many players immediately began to focus on the protagonist Jack and his two companions. Well, with the launch of Square Enix’s latest trial version, the developers have shown that there will actually be more companions to choose from, including the newcomer Neon.
This new companion appears later in the new Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin demo, and is tied in a way to story progress that doesn’t need to be spoiled here. All that players need to know is that if they thought the manly entourage and modern clothes had made the new Soulslike feel too much like Final Fantasy 15, this new character will insert some much needed representation.
The new character Neon is a young girl and one of the four fabled Warriors of Light, the previously title for the player named heroes of the very first Final Fantasy title. Likewise, protagonist Jack and his bros are supposedly the other three Warriors of Light and in some way destined to kill Chaos in Stranger of Paradise. So, once Neon is revealed, she quickly joins the party and has the potential to be one of the stronger allies that players can have in their active party when playing offline.
Not only is Neon often strong enough to kill several of the enemies in Stranger of Paradise on her own, but her inclusion in the party does address a concern some fans had when the game was first announced. The specific concern was mostly centered on the initial look at the party being similar to Final Fantasy 15, in that it seemed to completely omit any women from the core group of fighters. It’s a lack of representation that previous titles in the series hadn’t seemed to struggle so much with, though fans had grown somewhat worried that the coed parties were a thing of the past if these two games were setting a trend.
All things considered, Neon is a welcome member of the party, thanks in no small part for being a huge help in Stranger of Paradise’s brutally difficult missions. Additionally, given the menu used to trade Neon out for either Jed or Ash from the earlier demo, it looks like she might not be the only new character to join the party by the end of the adventure. However, even if Jack, Jed, Ash, and Neon are the only Warriors of Light from the original Final Fantasy for players to take on the journey, it’s at least nice to have some variety among the team with the young, new hero.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is set to release in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.