Hírek
Stranger of Paradise’s Trials of the Dragon King is a hilarious take on NES-era lore
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Lucas White
During the ending, anti-hero Jack Garland takes the throne and embeds himself in the Chaos Shrine with his friends, fellow “Strangers” transformed into the classic Four Fiends. The world of Cornelia has been trapped in a cycle by a cosmic race of mad scientists, and Jack plans to break it. By channeling his rage and embracing Chaos, Jack has set himself on the path to becoming the villain of Final Fantasy. By doing so, he hopes to force nature to heal itself by making things so bad the world produces a Warrior of Light powerful enough to defeat him and restore balance. And with control of the cycle in his hands now, Jack will reset the timer as many times as he needs.
Just before the credits roll, the entrance of the Chaos Shrine opens, and a group led by the original Final Fantasy’s iconic Warrior of Light stride in to challenge the evil within. This moment seems to set up the events of the NES Final Fantasy, where the party confronts and defeats Garland in the opening hours (setting up for a climactic battle with Chaos at the end)—but not quite. Instead, Stranger of Paradise sets up the punchline of a joke, subverting expectations with its pitch-black sense of humor.
Here’s where the game’s first DLC starts. Trials of the Dragon King picks up immediately where Stranger of Paradise’s main story leaves off, with the Warrior of Light confronting Garland to restore the light and bring balance back to the world encased in darkness; you get it by now. Everything Jack and his friends worked for—endlessly fighting, losing their memories, reliving tragedy and getting nothing in return—has led up to this moment. The Warrior of Light will prove himself, defeating the Four Fiends, Garland, and Chaos itself to finish the story.
Nope! Jack Garland whips this dude’s ass without breaking a sweat. The entire game builds up to this moment, a Soulslike comprising hours of challenge and failure. But you spank this dude in less than thirty seconds; the goblins in the first level are tougher than this jabroni-tier Warrior of Light knockoff. Clearly, there’s more to this DLC than this post-game pushover. I couldn’t believe it; it’s a plot twist that uses the game’s uphill battle, lore, and historical context against you, snapping a thirty-year legend like a twig. It’s brilliant.
Trials of the Dragon King's opening moment is darkly funny, but it also serves a greater purpose in building the bridge between SoP and Final Fantasy. And that purpose is to introduce a missing element from the original story that was conspicuously absent until now: Bahamut.
Bahamut, the DLC’s titular Dragon King, was a crucial element in the original game. In the NES classic, you start by drafting a crew of Warriors of Light by giving them names and classes in that old school, Wizardry-inspired style. But their basic combat roles aren’t strong enough to lead them to victory. Luckily, after conquering the Citadel of Trials and finding the Rat Tail, Bahamut grants the party new power, upgrading their classes to the next level. Warrior becomes Knight, Thief becomes Ninja, Monk Becomes Master, and the Mages become Wizards of their respective colors. This mid-game power boost gives the crew enough momentum to cross the finish line.
In Stranger of Paradise, Jack and the Four Fiends encounter Bahamut as a cross-dimensional traveler searching for worthy combatants in need of his godly power. Instead of finding lost people in need of guidance, he finds Jack Garland. This man is the stark opposite of lost. Jack is angry and obsessed with self-determination. He’s willing to be a villain capable of destroying a whole world, hitting the reset button to do it again—over and over for thousands of years—to bully nature into regaining agency.
Bahamut just doesn’t get it at first. The two have some pretty amusing exchanges in which Jack ends up reversing the transaction. After clearing the Trials himself, Jack tells Bahamut to pound sand because this world doesn’t want any gods. Confused but intrigued, Bahamut ends up agreeing to help Jack build Warriors of Light strong enough to take him down. Here we see some fun, new context to a big moment in the NES game. A triumphant and exciting advanced class upgrade is the end result of a bemused god trying again and again to train some fighters strong enough to kill a guy who bullied him into the training in the first place.
At the DLC's conclusion, the story doesn’t get that firm resolution you might expect. Bahamut brings a Warrior of Light much stronger than the first loser who showed up, but Jack still wins. Trials of the Dragon King ends in failure, but not without a twisted sense of hope. Jack notices the big improvement, and feels comfort in trusting Bahamut to cultivate his eventual demise, which will finally free Cornelia from the whims of gods and monsters. And we ultimately see the end result of that in Final Fantasy proper. It’s a compelling twist that tightens the transition between Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and the classic NES RPG that started it all. Considering the unhinged twist that Stranger of Paradise brings to the whimsical original, making the Warrior of Light look like a doofus in the process was a pitch-perfect way to get there.