From basic Swordfighters to expert Tyrants, Liberators, and more, discover the best jobs to unlock in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
Released in March of 2022, Stranger Than Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a popular RPG that imagines the early days of series protagonist, Jack Garland, as he battles throngs of monsters while exploring a new alternate universe. Much of the gameplay revolves around the 27 jobs that players can unlock, which essentially bolsters their class tiers and weapon usage, giving them much more powerful combat skills and magical abilities.
In addition to being able to switch between two jobs on the fly, Jack and the others can accumulate job points throughout the game, which can be used to unlock even more advanced and expert job classes.
When the game begins, players will start with the default job known as Swordsman. However, when it comes to the most valuable first job to unlock, Swordfighter will pay the most dividends. All one has to do is locate a Greatsword and their basic default skill will be upgraded with a gnarly Spinning Slash move that will deal considerable damage to an enemy.
Since sword fighting is such an integral part of Jack’s success as the game progresses, it will behoove players to learn how to get used to the mechanics of jousting, dodding, parrying, and the Interception abilities that the Swordfighter job offers. Practical, easy to obtain, and a great way to get short-term experience for long-term gain, Swordfighter is a solid starting place.
By working through the Lancer and Pugilist skill trees to become enlightened, players of the all-time beloved RPG series can unlock the excellent and extremely useful Monk job. By channeling the Monk’s Focus ability upon obtaining the advanced-level job, players can heal their Magic Power (MP) and their Break Gauge at once, enabling them to minimize their health damage.
What makes the Monk job so effective, despite a visually lackluster skill, is that allows players to combine a defensive healing skill with a more aggressive offensive-minded job, the balanced sum of which makes Jack and his companions very hard to defeat.
By now, every Final Fantasy fan should know how much magic plays a factor in the game. Of the five different Mage jobs in Stranger of Paradise, the advanced-level Red Mage gives players the most versatile options for any given task by effectively combing the offensive Black Mage and defensive White Mage skills at a slightly diminished clip.
Although slightly diminished in power, the Red Mage job is too valuable to pass up. It can be used to buff, protect, and heal or used to incur immense damage on enemies, giving players who are too noncommittal to the White and Black Mages separately to enjoy the joint powers of both. Moreover, unlocking Red Mage only requires completing the basic Mage and Swordfighter jobs, making it relatively easy to obtain.
The first expert-level job to make the grade, the Assassin is absolutely ideal for landing critical hits on enemies and building off of the HP. By unlocking the Monk and Thief jobs, Assassins can wield daggers, knuckles, a mace, and a lance to deal considerable damage to enemies and tag-mark targets using a special Assassination ability. The more marks, the higher the damage.
While the Assassin job is not very effective against weaker opponents or large groups of enemies due to its lack of shielding abilities, it will help greatly when taking on some of the bigger baddies like Ahriman and Gigas, especially when using the stealthy invisibility skill.
By mastering the Knight and White Mage jobs, players of the popular Square Enix video game will unlock the Paladin job, another handy balance of offensive and defensive prowess. By using the awesome Holy Fang ability, players can restore their HP during an attack while also reducing the damage of an enemy during the same fight. Even if a player’s HP is full, Holy Fang will enable them to deal extra holy damage.
While it may sound complex, playing as a Paladin is highly entertaining as it allows players to become stronger in direct correlation with an enemy getting weaker. However, the drawback is that it will drain a substantial amount of MP, so it’s best to use Paladin judiciously.
With the unparalleled power of the Zantetsuken blade, Breaker is a badass expert-level job worth trying in the highly-acclaimed Final Fantasy game. While it will be quite grueling to obtain by mastering the Samurai, Dragoon, and Berserker classes, few jobs are as brutally punishing for Jack to unlock.
Once unlocking the Breaker, one swipe of the almighty Zantetsuken blade will shred an opponent to death and immediately release a Soul Burst. While Breakers cannot use shields, their ability to mount lethal combos, attack from long range using Lightbringer skills, and swipe through the hardest bosses in the game makes it absolutely ideal.
Thanks to its awesome array of abilities to choose from at the beneficial cost of tools rather than Magic Points, Ninja is one of the absolute best hand-to-hand fighting jobs in the game. Essentially the final form of the Samurai and Thief classes, Ninjas can use their almighty Ninjustsu skillset to dispatch the 11 ranked bosses in a hurry.
Moreover, expert-level Ninjas also possess Affinity Bonuses that give them the rare ability to restore their MP while mounting offensive attacks. While such MP isn’t usually strong enough to muster the most lethal elemental attacks, Ninjas almost approach Tyrant-level supernatural strength.
No job in Stanger of Paradise is able to wield mightier magic than the Sage. With the unique and ultra-powerful ability to channel the best of both White Magic and White Magic, the formidable balance of offensive and defensive spell casting is second to none.
While Sages do not entail as many combo abilities as some of the other jobs, their Teleportation skill gives them an added advantage over opponents as it allows them to evade attacks and move around undetected. However, the Sage’s Ultima spell is arguably the most devastating in the entire game, enabling players to defeat bosses one-on-one or annihilate a large AoE full of enemies.
One of the final expert-level jobs to unlock is the Tyrant, which comes after completing the Monk and Red Mage trees. Defined by their enviable Enchant skill, Tyrants are able to buff their weapons by attaching them to any element of their choice. Extremely versatile and even more deadly, the Tyrant is definitely a job every Final Fantasy fan ought to try out, especially if their gameplay is all about exploiting an enemy’s weakness.
Also equipped with the ability to utilize shields, Tyrants can prevent just as must damage as they can deliver, using 8 Affinity Bonuses, 10 Abilities, 2 Combo Abilities, 8 Combo effects, and a supremely powerful Magic Arts Command to overwhelm most enemies. Indeed, Tyrants are as commanding as they sound.
Without question, Liberator is the best job to unlock in Final Fantasy Origins. The primary reason is that it is the only job able to use all weapons, giving them an immense advantage over almost every foe. Able to use shields as well, what really sets the Liberator apart is its Mighty Guard skill, which allows players to create a protective forcefield around them to decrease damage taken while slowing restoring HP over time.
Combining the Mighty Guard with one of five unique Liberator combo abilities will enable Liberators to generate a seemingly never-ending pool of HP, making it nearly impossible for any boss or basic bad guy alike to stand a chance.
A Senior List Writer covering a wide array of topics who has been with Screen Rant since September of 2019, Jake Dee has written movie news and reviews since 2008, working primarily with OMG Horror (IGN), JoBlo.com, and Arrow in the Head as a freelance reporter based in Los Angeles. A hopeless cinephile, social media Luddite, certified Nic Cage doppelganger, and a big Weekend At Bernie’s fan, Jake can often be found tucked away in a dark corner watching an old horror movie. Born and raised in California, Jake has a Bachelor’s Degree in Film & Digital Media from the University of California Santa Cruz with an emphasis on theory and criticism, is the author of several “WTF Happened To This Movie” and “WTF Really Happened To This Movie” videos on YouTube, and has covered everything in the entertainment industry from set visits, studio luncheons, and red carpet interviews to wrap parties, movie premieres, private screenings, talent interviews, and more.
