Square Enix’s first attempt at the Soulslike genre,Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, has seen a few problems since release, due primarily to performance issues on PC and console. Dipping frame rates and hindered resolutions have lead some fans to dig into the data forStranger of Paradise’s protagonistand side characters to find a likely cause for these performance problems.Through the work of several dataminers, including Twitter users AkiraJkr1 and DeathChaos25, players have found that it’s the finer details on many character models that cause the performance issues. The result is that players can interestingly makeStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Originrun a little smoother by implementing a simple change in these models: removing their hair.RELATED:Square Enix Threatens Bans For Streamers Showing Off Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin EndingWhat these dataminers have found is that while the character models inStranger of Paradisehave an impressive amount of detail to them, they are apparently overly designed. One example shows that the Minister from the early moments of the game can drop the frame rate for a PC using a RTX 3090 down to 25 FPS thanks to the details in his fur coat. Essentially, both the default models and the ability tocustomizeStranger of Paradise’s characterscan hinder the performance of the game depending on how many extra bells and whistles an outfit has.
One solution that PC players have found is to remove the physics and models for hair and fur, drastically lowering the processing power needed to render each character as the game runs. So, keepingStranger of Paradise’s Jackand his companions bald can improve the performance and stop the frequent frame rate drops that some players have been reporting. Additionally, this negative effect appears to extend beyond the main characters and onto even basic enemies, some of which have bodies rendered under their clothing and complex designs with fangs, fur, and scales.
The result of all of these tests and deep dives into the data shows that whileStranger of Paradisewas ambitious with character designs and the limits of the game engine, it may have gone too far in some cases. This means that even players who can meet thePC requirements forStranger of Paradiseare often fighting an uphill battle with the game’s performance. Some of these issues could be fixed through patching the game down the line and optimizing the rendering of some character models, but for now the best option for some players may be to run around with bald warriors of light.
Stranger of Paradiseis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin’s Job System Could Redefine the Soulslike Character Build Formula
