Much ado’s been made about the clothes and outfits Jack, Ash, and Jed wore in the Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin announcement trailer and demo. Now, as part of a Famitsu interview, Creative Producer Tetsuya Nomura explained those looks are intentional. Square Enix’s official translation noted, and referred to them as “a hint to show that they’re not of that world.”
Here is Nomura’s exact comment going over the Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin outfits Jack, Ash, and Jed have on and how the clothes themselves matter.
Yes, people probably imagine characters that look like the emblematic Warrior of Light when they think of Final Fantasy I, but as you say, if you’re familiar with the premise of Final Fantasy I, you might be able to pick up some clues from the designs of Jack and the others.
The initial outfits for Jack and his allies are nothing more than a hint to show that they’re not of that world. They don’t represent anything about their character. Like other games where you can change your equipment, this is simply their plain state. Perhaps.
Nomura also pointed out the intentional difference in appearance from the typical Final Fantasy hero. He said the following.
Additionally, one of our concepts was to create something that looked completely different to what people might picture when they think of the Warriors of Light fighting Garland in Final Fantasy I. Jack and his allies have the mission to defeat Chaos, but we needed them to be characters that people would think of as totally separate to the Warriors of Light.
Finally, Nomura hinted that each of the three revealed characters’ names have some meaning to them. He said they “have the same meaning hidden in their names.” However, he didn’t elaborate, as he said, “But that would be a spoiler, so I’ll save that for another time.”
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin will come to the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2022. The Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin extended PS5 demo dates mean it its available until June 26, 2021.
