I have to admit, I was rather sceptical about Final Fantasy Explorers when I first heard the game’s description, but after hearing the game director’s initial pitch… I’m actually even more sceptical.
Final Fantasy Explorers is described as an action RPG with multiplayer capabilities. Players band in parties of up to four characters and fight familiar Final Fantasy monsters and summons. The game takes place in the land of Amostera where crystal gatherers, known as Explorers, earn a living by undertaking various quests in the town of Libertas and going out to the various parts of the world.
Initially, my scepticism radar started beeping when I noted that the game’s mentioned features sounded very Monster Hunter-esque, while the descriptions themselves seemed to be trying very hard not to sound like Monster Hunter. The multi-player, the battling large boss-like summon monsters, the central town where players get quests, the various locations like fields and volcanoes… It was hard not to notice similarities.
Then came the developer interview in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu. Asked what distinguishes Final Fantasy Explorers from the numerous other multi-player action games, director Atsushi Hashimoto stated, “Firstly, it’s not simply an RPG, but it’s an action RPG where players can roleplay with the jobs from the Final Fantasy series. Secondly, you can battle the famous historical summon monsters.” Basically, the director of the game just said that the game’s biggest appeal was that it was a Final Fantasy game.
Now, granted, this isn’t really a new practice for Square Enix. They have been riding on the success of the Final Fantasy brand and its iconic characters and creatures for quite some time now — often to very enjoyable results. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but in terms of building credibility, I’m going to need a little more than that.
Hashimoto did go on to explain other features of the game, like the ability to capture and train monsters, and the combo capabilities. Hasihimoto even went on to say he didn’t consider the game to be Final Fantasy-ish, but rather a toy chest with multiple different enjoyable elements contained within. Still, the almost deliberate avoidance of comparisons with Monster Hunter wasn’t very reassuring.
I suppose I am “optimistically sceptical” — if that’s a thing — about the upcoming Final Fantasy Explorers. I’m sceptical, but I don’t want to be. I’m fairly certain that Square Enix will offer an enjoyable game. I should add that while I would understand a developer’s hesitation to want to be compared to a juggernaut like Monster Hunter, I personally have played many Monster Hunter “clones” that I’ve enjoyed quite thoroughly. The God Eater series, Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, Square Enix’s own Lord of Arcana and Lord of Apocalypse. I’m also looking quite forward to the release of Freedom Wars next week. Hopefully Final Fantasy Explorers will be equally fun, but as it stands, with what info I’ve been given, I can only warily hope.
Final Fantasy Explorers is scheduled for release on the 3DS. No release date has been announced at this time.
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Comments
9 responses to “I Want To Look Forward To Final Fantasy Explorers”
Fixed.
Isn’t demon souls, and dark souls by comparision (to a lesser extent with the open world), a clone of monster hunter as well?
I doubt square enix will feel fomfortable emulating the same difficulty wall as monster hunter anyway. They will prob put levels in and it will be a grind ur way over the hard parts thing.
I’m not sure if you even played monster hunter and the soul series judging from what you said. The only similarity of the games is a third person game and that is all.
Two can play the illogical comment game – As someone who has played both series extensively, I’m not sure if you’ve played them both. The combat system is pretty much identical, it was clearly lifted from Monster Hunter, which in terms of Japanese games, would be like trying to make an FPS like call of duty, monster hunter being one of the highest selling IP’s in Japanese history.
It’s still rough we don’t get God Eater 2 or any Phantasy Star since Portable 2.
But back on topic, I really hope this game gets released in the west and that SE is not doing a SEGA and Type-0 was a one off Japan only release, even though I know it’s coming to the west now after quite awhile.
HOLY SHIT!… It sounds like every coop action RPG in the last twenty years.
But in all seriousness I actually kinda wanna play this.
If they put Valefor in, I’m set.
I love how this article was written as if Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles wasn’t a thing…
This is hopefully a good thing, as while the Gamecube/GBA connectivity was a tricky gimmick to sell, it was a great game. The current proliferation of WiiU and 3DS users will provide a solid platform for the game to be successful too.
Agreed, this is basically a spiritual successor to Crystal Chronicles while taking some successful ideas from FFXIV.
Pretty sure its trying to be a monster hunter clone and not a diablo clone like CC.