Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin's Most Useful Ability
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a combat-heavy game with some aggressive enemies, but there is one useful ability that makes things a lot easier. Stranger of Paradise has different jobs that can be equipped by the main character. These have different special abilities and weapon proficiencies, but there are some powers that are shared across all jobs.
In Stranger of Paradise, the player can select up to three Command Abilities, which are mapped to the left trigger and the face buttons. One of these is always saved for the Lightbringer power, which pushes enemies back and powers up Jack's weapon. The player needs to unlock different Command Abilities using job points that are gained by using a job in combat. These abilities cost MP to use, which the player can gain by striking the enemy or absorbing attacks with the soul shield.
Games like Elden Ring might not have difficulty options, but Stranger of Paradise is more forgiving, as there is a Story mode for those who want to breeze through the combat. The Action (Normal) and Hard modes are a lot less forgiving, and some of the bosses can be brutal. The player has some options to make things easier, such as using party members to draw aggro from foes, allowing Jack the chance to heal, but this isn't always reliable. There is one ability in Stranger of Paradise that makes the game easier, as it cuts down the need for healing.
Blood Weapon is a Command Ability that can be found on the Stranger of Paradise Marauder job skill tree. It only requires a single bar of mana to activate, which means it's easy to keep maintained throughout a battle. Blood Weapon allows the player to restore health when dealing damage to the enemy, regardless of the weapon they're using. When coupled with a fast weapon (like claws or daggers), it can heal a ton of hit points in a short period of time.
There are a few reasons why Blood Weapon is so useful. Stranger of Paradise has an equivalent to the Estus Flasks in the Dark Souls series, in the form of Potions, but the player can only bring a few of them into battle and they're slow to use, leaving them open to a counterattack. The Red Mage and White Mage jobs are in the game, but using magic is incredibly slow, in a game where a lot of enemies are really fast or have a lot of range, making it risky to stop and cast a healing spell.
Jack can bring party members into battle with him, but they won't heal him, and using their resonance ability only makes them draw aggro from the enemy. By comparison, Blood Weapon is cheap to use, fast to activate, and can fully heal Jack in a single string of follow-up hits after dodging an enemy attack. Blood Weapon makes every Final Fantasy Origin boss fight easier, as the player can heal on the go.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on March 18, 2022.