35 years ago, the four Warriors of Light fought the fallen knight Garland at the start of the first Final Fantasy game. In more ways than one, that was only the beginning. Garland was the prologue to a much longer adventure for the Warriors of Light. It culminated in the revelation that a time loop trapped the world, and Garland was waiting for them once again at their journey’s end. For Final Fantasy, a total of 14 direct (though narratively unconnected) sequels followed, with another on the way, plus countless spinoffs. Final Fantasy is now one of the biggest video game franchises of all time. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin represents the closing of a different style of time loop for that franchise as, three and a half decades later, Square Enix returns to the original Final Fantasy bringing the full breadth of the franchise’s history along with it.
