Final Fantasy Explorers: Sweet but (cut) short

 

 

When I started playing my freshly received copy of Final Fantasy Explorers, I had an instant and intense crush on the game. I played it until the battery of my 3ds was depleted, and as I was waiting for it to refill, I started devising a lauding post about the game that would have started with the words: "Sometimes, not having expectations at all is the best way to be pleasantly surprised". This starry-eyed post will never come to exist, though: eight hours of play later, I'm on the verge of quitting the game entirely.

The weird thing is, I still love nearly everything about that game. See for yourself that long list of goodness:

—The vistas are breathtaking and the game offers such gorgeous crystalline colours that I could spend minutes just gazing at the sceneries. The level of stylization is just right, with characters models that are neither sickeningly kawaii nor boringly realistic. I'm not a fan of Square, but they sure know how to craft amazingly beautiful games when they want to.

—The physics are awesome. This is pure hack-and-slashy goodness, easy to grasp yet never getting old no matter how many foes you slice. Cherry on the cake, the weapons are as classic as they get: we're talking about swords, staves, knuckles, bows and the like, all weapons that will make A-RPG aficionados feel right at home. No over-complicated custom weapons à la Monster Hunter—I'm looking at you, Insect Glaive—which is just perfect for a brute like me who loves nothing more than to charge mobs like a bull and slash them senselessly.

 

 

—Although the game world is not enormous, it is still vast enough to justify the presence of the world "explorers" in the title. Many different types of landscapes are here for the roaming, and the fact the various areas of the game world are connected and can be reached by cruising around on foot makes said game world feel more wholesome and cohesive—although the transitions between areas are often quite abrupt. Add to this the gorgeous vistas and you get a delicious roaming experience that really made me feel like a full-fledged explorer.

—The game offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to classes, special attacks and the like. The avatar's class can be changed anytime to gain access to new weapons and tons of interesting abilities can be learned for a modest fee. Some of them can really turn the tables and make an explorer's life easier, such as the "Regen" ability that gradually replenish the HP bar.

—The menus are clear, detailed and pleasantly intuitive. I've had to endure a slew of crappy menu systems in games I've played lately, so this comes as a real breath of fresh air. 

—Last but not least, FFE is not stingy when it comes to monster drops, farming points and quest rewards in general. There is always something to grab as one is roaming around, and even the shortest trip on the field will yield some items and a monetary reward. To be presented with a list of your loot at the end of a quest is a fine pleasure that fills the heart with giddy—and greedy—joy. 

 

 

On top of being fond of all these elements, I couldn't get enough of the initial quests offered by the game. We're talking about tutorial quests and fetch quests that involved roaming the game world under a very lenient time limit; and roam the world did I, drinking in the breathtaking vistas and wreaking havoc on the local fauna. Oh, the joy! It was both relaxing and stimulating, and I could have gone on like that forever, exploring new remote areas while looting and slaughtering every beast in sight. But this dream plan was not meant to be, because once these appetizers were polished off, the game started for good. Off with twenty-bear-asses quests and welcome to the slaughtering of formidable monsters, starting with four Eidolons. Since then, I feel like I've been fighting an endless stream of boss fights, and my interest waned with every one of these fights. Gone are the exploration, the sightseeing, the hack-and-slashing and the looting that I loved so much, and in their place came strict time limits and 30-minutes-long fights against single massive enemies. I lap up epic boss fights as a rule, but not ten times in a row. And not if that's all there is to a game.

This is a very peculiar situation that I've never encountered before in any other game. I love everything about FFE except the content of the missions; and yet, since said missions are basically the core of the gameplay, I cannot keep playing despite loving every single other aspect of the game. FFE aside, this turn of events may be the surefire sign that monster-slaughtering games à la Monster Hunter are simply not my cup of tea—which is quite a pity, because I own a couple of titles belonging to that genre. Oh, well. I'll try them all just to be sure that I'm not missing on a gem, but I don't think I will purchase any other Monster Hunter entry. Or Toukiden, for that matter.

 

 

Since I started writing that post, I've not been touching FFE at all, so it's safe to assume that I'm done with the game for good. The five first hours will go down in my personal gaming history as an incredibly pleasant experience, though, and I won't forget about them. I've at least gotten a modicum of enjoyment out of that game, so the purchase wasn't for naught! And this eye-opening experience will save me from investing more money in monster-slaughtering games that I may not be able to enjoy no matter how hard I try. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

4 comments:

Sieg 13 February 2016 at 17:45

Eh, having borrowed it from a friend I can safely say that it was a huge blunder. It basically a MH lite with a FF motif. No wonder SE took their time with localizing FFE, they were probably thinking if it was actually worth the effort.

Oh, and good call with not bothering with Toukiden: it the worst hunting game you can pick up.

Isleif 13 February 2016 at 18:25

I will give a try to my copy of Toukiden before giving up on the genre entirely, but I must confess that I don't have much hope. Although the concept of hunting boss-like monsters never really appealed to me, I somehow hoped that I could wring some enjoyment out of these games and play them my way, just like I did with the Pokemon series; but maybe this optimistic scenario is not meant to be, and the genre is just not made for me at all. Oh, well. That's no big deal, given how massive my backlog already is!^^

Sieg 14 February 2016 at 09:43

Since you already have the game, you may as well try it out. Although, if you didn't like neither MH4 or Freedom Wars, chances are that you won't like Toukiden. Personally, I thought it was a pretty boring experience. Sure, it's beautiful, REALLY beautiful, specially the Vita version and it has some decent combat ideas, but the AI of the bosses is kinda "meh" and they have too much HP for their own good, making many of the bosses slow and predictable attackers and huge damage sponges.

Isleif 14 February 2016 at 12:40

We'll see! I bought Toukiden thinking that it would be similar to Dynasty Warriors, and I was a bit bummed to learn that it was actually a monster-hunting game. I got it for 10 euros only, though, so the loss won't be that stinging if it turns out that I don't like it!