Pre-Release WMGs
The main character, Jack, will turn out to be Garland.
Final Fantasy I already had a time loop as part of its plot, and based on how Jack has a rough Blood Knight personality it doesn't make him far off from Garland already. And from what little we do know of the original Garland, he was once a proud knight until he became a Fallen Hero for undisclosed reasons. If this turns out to be true, the game will be a Protagonist Journey to Villain style plot, which would end with Jack becoming what he hates and wants to kill... leading into the true Final Fantasy I and the true Warrior(s) of Light becoming the hero.- Seemingly confirmed thanks to the second trailer, which makes Jack give his full name as Jack Garland. Similarly, a Play Arts Kai action figure for Jack
has him in Garland's armor from Dissidia. - Partially Confirmed, Partially Jossed: Jack does become the Black Knight with an updated design based on the original FF1 design but this Garland seems to be notably different in motivations (Attempting to stop the Lufeians). and was always the being known as Chaos before getting the Classic armor, instead of being a normal Knight who gains the power of Chaos after losing to the warriors. Also the Warriors of Light that face him in the 1st DLC are soundly defeated.
The boss similarities to Nioh/Ninja Gaiden
Since the game is developed by Team Ninja, shall we see which bosses, as well as Superbosses will be similar to those in Nioh and Ninja Gaiden?- Confirmed closer to Nioh, with some having multiple phases that change moveset notably.
Bahamut will now be a boss instead
The original FF1 had him send the Warriors of Light out to get him a Rat Tail before they could get their job promotion. This time, you have to go through a brutal fight worthy of That One Boss to show you deserve to kill Tiamat, as well as Chaos.- Jossed for original game and narrative purpose stated, but does appear as a DLC Boss.
The main characters are Trapped in Another World
The title Stranger of Paradise refers to how the main characters are "strangers" to the Final Fantasy world. Combined with them all wearing casual, modern clothing, they might be humans from a world like ours transported to the Final Fantasy world.- Adding to this, while Jed and Ash wear clothing and gear that's better befitting of classic Final Fantasy wear, Jack is the one who's default outfit feels misplaced-ly modern (more befitting games like Final Fantasy VIII or Final Fantasy XV). This could combine and tie into the above WMG that Jack's setting off to become the Garland/Chaos that the Warriors of Light eventually face off against in Final Fantasy, with Jack being the one true titular Stranger of Paradise.
- Was seemingly Confirmed. Specifically, all three main characters are strangers to the world of Final Fantasy I. And as nods to this, all three have contemporary casual-wear that their stock arts depict them wearing.
- Has since been offically Jossed by the producer Jin Fujiwara, directly saying "It is not meant to be like an isekai, sorry. We understand that people may have seen the protagonist’s outfit, which seems very modern compared to your typical high fantasy, and may have had that interpretation." Clarifying in the same interview that "In this realm where Final Fantasy 1 also takes place, we have also have the people of Lufenia — they have ancient technologies, but they also have very advanced technologies at the same time. So they kind of coexist between the sort of high fantasy but also modern-looking elements."
- Has since been offically Jossed by the producer Jin Fujiwara, directly saying "It is not meant to be like an isekai, sorry. We understand that people may have seen the protagonist’s outfit, which seems very modern compared to your typical high fantasy, and may have had that interpretation.
OR The main characters are from the world Final Fantasy 1 takes place but are from a time where the story of the warriors happened so long ago they're myth or before Chaos first appeared and made the four fiends.
On the other hand, if you notice almost none of the characters seemed bothered in the least by the presence of the monsters and seem to accept them as they come. This may be because of how singularly focused they are or potentially they live in a world where these creatures exist, but otherwise the world is much more like our own. This would work with it either being before or after Final Fantasy 1 for a few reasons:- Before Chaos rose, there was an advanced civilization with robotics and this would make sense why Jack and their gang specifically is focused on Chaos, because Chaos is going to destroy his home to create the cycle that are the events of FF1 and the four fiends.
- In the case of after, it'd make sense why Jed would make light of the idea they're the "Warriors of Light" because to them, the Warriors of light is their King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable, a legend which may have had some truth but no one knows how much. This is only added on since the story of FF1 is a cycle that chronologically ends with the heroes disappearing in the Chaos shrine (to travel back 2000 years into the past to defeat chaos). It makes sense that the public would sooner or later build unreliable myths of their exploits, with some going as far as to claim they are the blood of the warriors of light, to the point the truth would be buried and the heroic ideal is dismissed as real.
The final battle of the game will be against the actual Warrior of Light.
Tying into the WMG about Jack being the past incarnation of Garland, it's only fitting that he lives long enough to see himself become the villain... and then gets knocked down by WoL. And since Dissidia shows our hero getting ready to embark upon his "original" journey after the 13th cycle, there will be no need to explain why the very first boss battle of the entire series is instead depicted as the toughest fight in Stranger of Paradise, Superbosses notwithstanding. (It helps that, in-universe, Garland is supposed to be a One-Man Army that only the Warriors of Light had any hope of defeating.)- Jossed. The final boss is the previous Lord of Chaos, or at least a version of Chaos known as "Darkness Manifest."
- The Trials of the Dragon King DLC expansion does, however, feature the Warrior of Light as a boss. The Warrior is defeated in all fights and the first fight is impossible to lose, with the fight only ending if the player wins or quits.
The Four Fiends will make their return as bosses.
Of course it wouldn't be the same without them. It'll show how their boss fights translate from the original turn-based game to this soulsborne-based one.- Tiamat has been confirmed, so the other three are likely.
- Kraken, Marilith, and Lich have all been confirmed.
The characters seen in the demo aren't the actual main characters
In the full version, once the characters defeat Garland, something terrible happens and the party is killed because of it. Then it cuts to the actual main cast, the real Warriors of Light.- Jossed: The Heroes from the Demo and previews are the real heroes AND in the end are motivated to create the traditional Warriors of light to defeat their actual enemy.
The Warriors of Light are stuck in a time loop
Every time they kill Chaos, they're sent back in time to do it all over again, hence why they're so obsessed with wanting to kill him.- Confirmed, sort of; every time they break the balance, the Lufrenians reset time and change parameters, forcing them to kill Chaos over and over. Until Jack breaks it by becoming Chaos as apart of a gambit a mastermind stard, that mastermind being an older version of himself before he was forcefully mind wiped.
You can recruit new party members and switch them out
It wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game if you couldn't.- One interview confirmed that this will be the case. There are other party members, but the player can have a maximum of three at any time.
There will be five party members total.
And something bad will happen to all of them. Jack will become Garland/Chaos, and Jed, Ash, and the other two will become the Four Fiends.- Confirmed that there are five, but Jossed that something bad happens, it was always the plan to do it. In order to get at their real enemy.
The short names that Jack, Ash, and Zed have are deliberate nods to the restrictive character limitations present in the older versions of the first Final Fantasy games.
Starting out, the English character limit was 4, expressed in the maximum number of letters the player could use in the names they could give the party they created. Jack, Ash, and Zed are all names that fit into that character limit. Following this, any new party member reveal going forward will also have names that are 4 letters long or less.- The second trailer introduces a party member named "Neon", who continues this trend.
- Sophia, however, bucks the trend.
The game depicts the imagination of someone playing the first Final Fantasy game while working through issues in his life.
Thus, the Darker and Edgier style could be a reflection of the true protagonist's mental landscape.- Jossed: while the director and producer confirmed this is a "parallel" story to the original game. They break away notably including that the 'traditional' Warriors of Light, don't appear in the main game until the conclusion as enemies. With Jack's team becoming the Fiends and going along with his plans to make the Warriors into capable heroes, capable of saving themselves.
Jack's goal will eventually shift to defying his own destiny to become Chaos.
Whether he succeeds is up in the air, but it would be cool to try to break out of his fate.- Confirmed. His original destiny was to be a Manchurian Agent maintaining a Forever War that kept the time-mastering Lufenians in power. Driving himself to become powerful with Chaos' power was his best shot at destroying them. He then pivots this to make the Warriors of light a reality with the intention of aiming them at them.
Square Enix will license an actual Limp Bizkit song in response to the "Bullshit" meme.
If the devs already made the second trailer "Chaos"-free in response to the "Chaosposting" meme, why not? And if a Limp Bizkit song doesn't make it into the game for some reason, Square Enix might use it for one of the game's future trailers instead.- Jossed for main game and first 2 DLCs.
The "Heroes" of 8-Bit Theater will make an appearance as a bonus boss
For the funny.- Jossed for main game and first 2 DLCs.
The world of the game is a literal Constructed World.
In the new demo, the "Fool's Missive" messages on the loading screen of the cave level specifically talks about how the author's "master" has the ability to alter the world somehow and that the cave's environment is similar to "Dimension 14". It looks remarkably similar to Sastasha from Final Fantasy XIV. This suggests that the world is not merely just the same one as Final Fantasy, but instead one created in its image but taking inspiration from other "dimensions" (aka Final Fantasy games). This could also explain why the events are similar to that of the original game, but taking different turns — the conditions to recreate the myth are there, but something has changed the variables and led to the games' protagonists taking the place of the original Warriors of Light.- Jossed. The Lufenians have altered history so many times that their world has practically become a modded video game to them. The plot of the game is how Garland and company manage to sanitize the world to factory settings.
- Not entirely Jossed. The part about the Lufenians using areas and locales from other FF games as the basis for those seen here (and FFI by proxy) is entirely correct, furthered by the explicit use of the corresponding musical motifs in most cases. The only anomaly according to the in-game lore is the Chaos Shrine, which only appeared in this world after the Strangers first arrived.
Post-Release WMGs (Unmarked Spoilers)
What each of the DLCs will be:
- Trials of the Dragon King: The focus of this DLC will be Bahamut, and it'll involve Jack and the party post-game fighting and recruiting him to get him to help the future Warriors of Light. Other FF summons may make appearances as well.
- Jossed: It was Jack solo fighting first the Warriors of light (Killing 3 of them in cut scene) and then going on a quest to make them more powerful, but still defeating them anyway in a final rematch.
- Wanderer of the Rift: Gilgamesh. At first, it'll be a fight against the Gilgamesh from XV, but midway through the fight the usual Gilgamesh will show up and join Jack's party, and you'll both proceed to kick the new Gilgamesh's ass.
- Jossed: It is Jack and the original Gilgamesh jumping through rifts.
- DIFFERENT FUTURE: The superbosses of this game: The four Warriors of Light. At the end, while the Dissidia WoL is seen, the other three Warriors also appear to have distinct designs. "DIFFERENT FUTURE" would refer to this being an alternate ending to Final Fantasy where Garland wins. You will fight all four Warriors of Light at once, and it will be the hardest fight in the entire game.
- Partially Jossed: Dissida Warrior of Light design appeared in the original DLC and it's implied that's the reason they loss, due to him being made of Lufeian Cid.
- Jossed: There is a fight, but it's a rematch against the Warrior of Light alone and then a role-reversal where the player controls the Warrior of Light against Jack. The DIFFERENT FUTURE does refer to an alternate ending, but it is largely unconnected to the Warriors of Light.
- Partially Jossed: Dissida Warrior of Light design appeared in the original DLC and it's implied that's the reason they loss, due to him being made of Lufeian Cid.
Different Future will not be a "correction" to make things go down the path of the original Final Fantasy or Dissida Final Fantasy timelines
But instead an ending where the Warriors of Light, Jack and the fiends all team up to raid the Lufeians. With the Warrior and Jack teaming up to deliver the final blows against them as Light and Darkness combined. Jack is released and allowed to live his life with Sarah as the new king and queen with the Warriors of Light acting as the leaders of their new united nation peacefully.- Jossed: Jack's party raids Lufenia but the Warriors of Light are not involved with it. The game is also ambiguous about what happens to Jack after he's defeated by the Warrior of Light.
If we get a sequel or something, Jack will fight other Final Fantasy villains and heroes.
I think it would be funny seeing him beat the shit out of Meteion. Speculation for the identity of the Lufenians' collaborator
- Shinryu, as laid out on the YMMV page.
- Cid of the Lufaine
- Lukahn/Lukin the Sage; the renowned sage who foretold the coming of the Warriors of Light in the original Final Fantasy and who, as Dissidia would put it, is in truth more akin to a historian of sorts. Perhaps after Jack and his allies seized control over the Stable Time Loop, the old sage - in comparison to Nil - accepted defeat and decided to play along with the ruse so he could see what would happen once the Stable Time Loop was broken.
- Chronodia; the collaborator was the one who granted the Lufenians the ability to trap Cornelia in a Stable Time Loop - a likely easy feat to do for the Lord of Time herself.
- Omega; as this article lays out, Omega has links to interdimensionality, has the processing power of a supercomputer and has a potential motive for wanting to absorb the energy produced by the resets.
- Alternatively...
- A member of the ancient civilisation responsible for the creation of Omega; given that Omega is ultimately just a machine - and also briefly serves as The Dragon for Nil in the final DLC - it's possible that it may in fact be its creators (or creator) who are associated with the Lufenians (this is if we don't assume that the members of said ancient civilisation are not in fact the Lufenians themselves).
- The Creator; like the Lufenians, it is an Evilutionary Biologist who utilises crystals to study the lifeforms of various worlds and has a habit of destroying said worlds after writing said lifeforms off as "failures". Furthermore, the fact that it forces players of The After Years to fight bosses from other Final Fantasy games would imply that it may be aware of the alternate worlds in which the other Final Fantasy games take place.
