Other downside is also probably the time of release because of Elden Ring eating up every possible chance of having a massive community playing that over it. Which is understandable given that Elden Ring is also fun.
off rip I was thinking that the story of Stranger of Paradise was weirdly paced, but then I had to catch myself and remember this is a remake of the first final fantasy, which was mostly just an elongated fetch quest with a twist at the very end, and you're right, the story only starts to make sense like halfway through, so I can see why some ppl would write it off early on
The 2nd half of SOPFFO's story is great. It's all about Jack's origin story building toward him becoming FF1's Garland (that end cutscene with him was incredibly menacing & chilling). Considering how simple FF1's story was (and obviously the average FF fan probably wouldn't even remember), SOPFFO handled it ok.
My primary issues were the handling of loot (even more convoluted than Nioh 2), and the graphics (needed to get that bad boy up to a minimum of a stable 1080p60fps for next-gen hardware).