It was clear right from the start that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a reimagination of Final Fantasy 1, as players start the PS5 demo by going into the Shrine of Chaos, the very first dungeon of the original game. While there are plenty of overt references to the source material, there are also many subtle nods that are really easy to miss. These cool details may slip past the radar of players that aren't intimately familiar with Final Fantasy 1's story, gameplay, and music, but they show intentionality on the part of the developers.
There are obviously some differences between Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Final Fantasy 1, as this isn't a true remake. This allows the new game to carve its own path forward while using locations, characters, and story beats inspired by the original game. It also seems like certain aspects of the original game really helped to inform the developers when creating the level design, as they are filled to the brim with callbacks and other Easter eggs. Some of these like the music may be easier to recognize than others, but certain level design aspects are a lot harder to recognize.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Music References Final Fantasy 1 Music
The Final Fantasy franchise as a whole is known for its incredible music. There are overarching themes that have appeared in all the music throughout the franchise, and remakes and remasters tend to reference their source material in brilliant ways. There are two major times where this happens in the Final Fantasy Origin demo, however. As players progress through the demo, they might notice that the music has hints of the original Chaos Shrine soundtrack in it. Particularly, the melodic horn in the demo is a direct reference to the melody of the Chaos Shrine soundtrack. Hearing the two side by side makes it easy to tell.
Likewise, the Garland boss fight music itself has a nice touch of Final Fantasy 1 battle music in it. A lot of the theme is original, but it is all based off a melody that appears in Final Fantasy 1's battle music. This motif appears early on in the boss music but then is modified and changed throughout the entire thing. There's also an interesting use of bells in the demo's boss theme that could be a reference to the Final Fantasy 1 battle music remix from Final Fantasy Dissidia, which Final Fantasy Origin is heavily inspired by as well.
Stranger of Paradise: FFO Demo - Jobs Reference Final Fantasy 1 Classes
Although Final Fantasy Origin uses the iconic job system, this actually wasn't around during the time of the original Final Fantasy. Instead, players chose a class for each of their four Warriors of Light that they would stick with for most of the game until they unlocked the upgraded version of the class. There were six options in the original Final Fantasy: Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, Black Mage, White Mage, and Red Mage.
The starting jobs of the three Warriors of Light in Final Fantasy Origin are a direct reference to these classes in the original game. Jack starts off as a Swordsman, which could be seen as similar to Fighter. What's more, the advanced job of Swordsman becomes Warrior, another name used for this class in certain releases of Final Fantasy 1. Jed appears to have the Thief job, and Ash uses his fists and is presumably the Monk (Black Belt job). Players can also unlock the Mage job that upgrades into Black Mage another job from the original game. Red Mage is confirmed to be available in the full game of Final Fantasy Origin, although there's no word on White Mage just yet.
Stranger of Paradise: FFO Demo - Referencing Final Fantasy 1 Enemies
This aspect of the demo's level design is really interesting because it proves that the developers did their research or played Final Fantasy 1 themselves. Throughout the demo, players will encounter enemies such as Goblins, Wolves, Skeletons, and more. Interestingly enough, all three of those aforementioned enemy types were actually found within or around the Shrine of Chaos in the original game. This was clearly an intentional decision on behalf of the developers.
It even goes a step further, with one mini-boss type enemy also being a direct reference to Final Fantasy 1. In the beginning of the demo when players encounter their first Darkness Vent, they are faced with a larger and more powerful type of Goblin. The Goblin Guard uses Pelt instead of Stone Throw, and is capable of both dealing and taking a lot more damage than his smaller counterparts. While walking around in and near the Chaos Shrine in Final Fantasy 1, Goblins have a chance to be replaced with Goblin Guard enemies that were much tougher.
Stranger of Paradise: FFO Demo - Final Room References the Shrine of Chaos Dungeon
To cap off the list of easy to miss references, players that are very familiar with the first game may have noticed that the game's final room somewhat mimics the layout of the dungeon from the original game. The map was very simple, with a large room in the center being flanked on all four corners by smaller rooms. In the original game, these corner rooms are optional, as the door leading into the main room where Garland is found is unlocked.
Final Fantasy Origin changes this up a little bit, locking the door that leads to garland and forcing players to explore more to find the key. That said, the room before this locked door is laid out in a similar, albeit slightly different manner as the original Chaos Shrine. Players enter the four rooms that surround it are the Skeleton room that players entered from, the room with the key, a blocked off passage, and the room with the Griffon in it. It will be interesting to see if more areas from the original game are adapted in this way. If all of these Easter eggs could be found in just the short demo, there are bound to be a ton in the full game.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin releases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.