Me, a Fool: Hang on nah I definitely won’t bother making my lamia oc in a character creator because that goes against why I decided to make them a lamia and not a naga
Me, 6 months later loading up Final Fantasy Explorers: Hmmm the male side is nice but I don’t feel any of the hairstyle options are something I can settle on for another gijinka attempt of my lizard dude let’s try the female side……… oh, okay yeah options here could work for Iori yeah!
Oh no the flirty senpai oneesan type character is actually pretty nice….
And now currently rocking the academy delinquent look after spending the night farming the relevant Amaterasu quest!
So, I’ve purchased Final Fantasy Explorers with the intention of having it be my “filler” before MHGen’s release. I had a look at a couple of gameplay videos, read some reviews and most importantly, some of my other friends strongly recommended me to play it.
Well... I initially didn’t want to blow the money on it, but with the peer pressure behind, I succumbed. But it should be a good game right? I mean, Square Enix? Right? But, to me, nah.
BEFORE WE PROCEED, I would like to say that I have less than 50 hours in this game. I probably barely scratched the surface of it, but I felt that I didn’t really want to put in the effort to discover more. So take what you read from this post with a pinch of salt.
Many reviews stated that it was Monster Hunter-ish. Yes and no. So let me break it down into a couple of core components for further discussion.
Gathering
Classes
Combat
Skills
Crafting
Firstly, the gathering of FFEX was indeed quite similar to MH. In the sense that you had to go around (and out of the way sometimes) to look for materials. These materials in turn may be a core component of an equipment that you would craft later on. You simply walk up to the gathering site and hit a button. Tadah! However, it is much more simple compared to MH. The items you get are much less random than MH. You could say that it is more “casual”. Not a huge issue to me. But it does mean that your progression can be quite scripted. (You can only get a higher level material from a higher level quest. Whereas in MH, some higher level materials can be obtained in low level quests, but at very very low chances.)
Next, classes. MH also has “classes”. In terms of weaponry that is, both FFEX and MH allows you to change your “class” anytime between quests. But in FFEX, each class has a role to play. Like the trinity of MMOs. Not saying that it is a bad thing, I actually quite like the concept. However, I do have an issue with regard to how this system handles boss aggression. In MH, large monsters usually target hunters of higher priority. (Gunners, hunters using items, hunters with low health, etc) The only way for these hunters to get out of trouble is to read the situation correctly and time evades with care. Also, my personal experience tells me that the way the a large monster picks a target can be random at times. For the case of FFEX, there is a stat known as “malice” (iirc). For every damage (or was it hit?) you deal to the boss, you build up malice. The boss will only target the person with the highest malice. As such, if you play in a party, the tank is always having a “malice race” with the dps classes. (Tbh, the evade function is kinda wonky and I can never use it properly.) If the dps builds up too much malice, he’s gotta run around and let the tank catch up. Or fear getting the boss’s attention. In essence, I’m not a fan of a 100% target system being used by bosses. Things become too predictable and imo, quite mundane.
Thirdly, combat. This has got to be one of the most underwhelming aspect of the game for me. Attacks are target based. As in, there’s a target lock function... You turn it on, select your target (tab targetting...) and your attacks are directed to that enemy. Well, just turn it off then!? Yes, you can turn it off. But guess what? When it comes to boss fights and you would like to break off a certain boss part (like the head for example), your attacks NEVER reach that high. You are NOT able to control where your attacks are directed at vertically. That was.... Disappointing. Not to mention that I was playing as a ranged class (machinist) and all I could do was shoot around me at eye-level if my targeting-function was turned off? Come on. -smh- The combat is also largely based around skills. Which I should have expected. It kind of makes your basic attacks quite pointless late game, considering that you can level up your skills... Which I will go into next.
Skills. You can have up to 8 equipped at one time, if they don’t exit a certain limit. Each skill takes up a certain number of points, which are decided by your class level. And yes, you do actually have to grind for levels. On top of that, you also have to level up your skills. The mechanic sounded really cool at the start. As you fight, you gain “resonance” and when the bar is full, you can activate it and gain a temporary bonus. This bonus is a list of up to 4 (or was it 8?) random buffs, from which you choose 1. Say you pick Fire element. Your offensive skills now gain Fire damage, after the quest, you can go and learn your offensive skill with the Fire damage, leveling it up and then adding it into your roster of skills to interchange with. Of course, there are supportive buffs for your support skills as well.... Yada yada. In essence, each skill can have up to 8 different “level ups”. Some bonuses can stack and some have a limit. But due to the random nature of the list which you can get to choose from... You guessed it, more grinding. -Sigh- Not trying to say that grinding is bad, but mindless grinding based on luck is just not my thing. (Recalls the number of time I had to kill Zinogre to get one bloody Jasper... RNGesus man... RNGesus.)
Last but not least, crafting. It is about as typical as any game. Gather the required stuff. Hand it over to the NPC. Tadahhhhh.... ( ; ; )
I mean... I’ve heard interesting stories about how crafting was like in FFIX (but I have never played it)... But well, MEH. They are different games. I shouldn’t be having unreasonable expectations huh...
TLDR: If you are looking at this game, thinking that it would be similar to any of the Monster Hunter games. You are wrong. If you are looking for some kind of miniature MMO game with some friends to play with, have tons of time to grind for skills, levels and classes etc. Then maybe you might want to consider this. On the whole, I enjoyed maybe... The first few boss fights of the game? But that was about it. The enjoyment rapidly declined and turned into boredom. I eventually stopped playing it altogether and I am now looking to sell/trade it for something else.
I hope this opinion-filled post that I’ve shared does give you some insight as to what the game is like! #nohatepls
I’m going to need Japanese game developers to stop shoehorning poor game design into 21st century games. Final Fantasy Explorers is a lot of fun but the incessant running around everywhere is extremely irritating. Why do I need to run around an enormous world map to get to my destination in a handheld game, Square Enix? Aren’t handhelds meant to be be played in small bursts? Why doesn’t this game have “quick travel,” a standard feature in games these days, Square Enix??
