Final Fantasy Origin Confirms Inspirations for Dungeon Designs, and Explains Five Warriors of Light

In anticipation for the release of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Square Enix has been releasing a series of blog posts, where the team behind the game preview various aspects of it, such as characters and dungeons. The latest post details the inspiration behind some of the most recently revealed dungeons, and goes into details on the crafting system and the game’s approach to the party and the five Warriors of Light.

Dungeon Inspirations

A previous blog post revealed the Sunken Temple and Cavern of Earth, which house Kraken and Lich respectively. It was confirmed that the design for these locations was inspired by the Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XII.

Fans of Final Fantasy VII can see that that Sunken Temple looks a lot like a Mako Reactor. Director Daisuke Inoue explained that this was a particularly hard motif to bring to life: they were not able to make it match the same style as the game, since the Final Fantasy VII Remake had just done it. Instead, they focused on making a level design that “was fun in its own right and created our own interpretation of the dungeon as best we could.”

Next was the Cavern of Earth, which is confirmed to take its inspiration from Final Fantasy XII — the Tomb of Raithwall in particular. Inoue explained that the Tomb would be the perfect motif for a location deep under the earth, crawling with the undead. They also mention the Demon Wall boss that lies within the Tomb in Final Fantasy XII: originally they wanted to include the boss in the dungeon, but couldn’t do so due to the costs involved. Instead, Inoue said that they “ended up implementing the idea into the dungeon as a mechanic.”

Whether this will happen more than once within the dungeon is unclear, but expect to have to make a quick escape at some point while in there!

This is in line with their previous confirmation that they have taken some elements from other Final Fantasy games for Origin’s various locations. While not confirmed yet, some other potential locations and motifs could be the Crystal Mirage (The Crystal Tower from FFIII), the Flying Fortress (Ronka Ruins from FFV), the Western Keep (Figaro Castle from Final Fantasy VI), the Wicked Arbor (Evil Forest from Final Fantasy IX), the Ancients’ Tower (Delkfutt’s Tower from Final Fantasy XI), and the Refin Wetlands, which we saw in the most recent demo for the game (Sunleth Waterscape from Final Fantasy XIII). There’s even an unknown location we got to see that looks very close to Insomnia’s throne room in Final Fantasy XV.

From the locations alone, it looks like the developers of the game are making Final Fantasy Origin a love letter to the series as a whole. There is little doubt that long-time fans are going to enjoy going to new levels and seeing familiar locations!

Crafting System Origin

Then, Inoue discussed why they added a Crafting system into the game: one of the major factors was the fact that purely relying on loot for the gameplay would limit what could be achieved (and a large part of the game will involve finding new equipment as you go through dungeons). That’s when they decided on creating a system for crafting, which will give use to your unwanted loot, allowing it to become materials rather than being tossed out or sold.

Equipment also can come with various effects and affinities, meaning that even if you do find something like a stronger weapon, it may not have an effect you want or not sync well with your current Job. The crafting system will help relieve the dependency on chance in these loot drops, allowing you to customize your equipment to better suit your gameplay style.

Party Size and Five Warriors of Light

Unlike most Souls-like games (in which the player is fighting alone), Final Fantasy Origin features a party of three members at all times: Jack and two of his companions. The reason for this was the game’s multiplayer feature, with Inoue adding, “We wanted a lot of people to be able to play the game, and we thought that a party would be the best way to do that.” However, developers made sure to balance this so the game wouldn’t feel too easy either — by limiting the party to three members and restricting other party members to only one Job that cannot be changed (when they’re controlled by the AI).

Adding to the fun, there is also a bit of a mystery surrounding the Warriors of Light in the game. In the original Final Fantasy, Lukhan’s prophecy stated that there were four Warriors of Light. However, Final Fantasy Origin features five Warriors of Light in your party! Producer Jin Fujiwara explained that this was done to show that the story will be going in a different direction than expected, and that this inaccuracy in the prophecy will play a part in the game’s story.

There were a couple of other notable things devs touched on in the blog. First of all, the precise origin of Jack and his companions (and their memories) will be revealed throughout the game’s story. In addition, since the game’s last demo the team has been working on the AI for the party characters, the framerate stability, and addressing how difficult it was to get matched up in multiplayer based on feedback from players.

The game will be releasing on March 18, and will be available for almost every console besides the Switch. Remember that players with digital preorders will get to play 3 days early! If you are interested in preordering and haven’t done so already, you can check out our Pre-Order Guide to see all of your options for buying the game (and the goodies you get if you do!).