Topic: Final Fantasy Explorers- also known as "Summon Hunter"

[Evan_B]

Hey all. As I've mentioned numerous times on the forums, my podcast, and elsewhere, I'm a huge fan of the Crystal Chronicles series.  I've played all of the co-operative entries and had great fun with friends, even in spite of the wonky controller issues and mediocre internet functions of the DS entries.

While Final Fantasy Explorers is not the perfect replacement for Crystal Chronicles co-op dungeoning, it is serviceable enough for me, especially because of the 3DS' improved online capabilities and the neat new job system. It seems to be taking more cues from Monster Hunter but the Devs affirmed it was more like a "FFXIV Lite" experience which has me pumped. My friend and I have already agreed to preorder the game and I fully anticipate sinking an obscene amoun of time into it. Since it is four player, I was wondering if any of you are interested in joining up for the ride. I have sunk time into Monster Hunter but with Explorers my friend and unduly expect to goof around and enjoy the game without becoming too consumed by the grind.

What we know so far:
-Story seems light. You have discovered a new land ripe with Crystals for harvesting, and carry out the will of some empire as explorers of the unpopulated land.

-The game is, more or less, a "segmented" world. You will have to traverse large swaths of terrain to get where you need to be.

-One central city.

-Emphasis on quest completion.

-The job system of other Final Fantasy games makes an appearance, with equipment being suited for specific jobs.

-Skills are gained via job experience, but are not limited to a single class- for example, white mages can share the skills of a Black Mage if you should choose to switch your job, with the developers emphasizing the goal of making job transitions as painless as possible.

-If you aren't playing online, you can obtain the eggs of field enemies and turn them into allies, which can grow and become valuable assets.

-One of the more bizarre aspects of the combat system is the ability to go into a trance mode in which you transform into a famous character from the mainline series.

-Summons feature as boss characters this time around and are the most challenging enemies in the game.

-The original Japanese release have buyers a 3DS remastered version of the original Final Fantasy, but it's doubtful we'll get the same treatment.

Discuss! Job mains? Player names?

[NWR_insanolord]

This sounds neat. I'll have to look into it a bit more but this sounds like something I'd like.

[Ian Sane]

I'm somewhat interested in the game but I need to try a demo.  Monster Hunter in theory sounds up my alley but I've played the demo for both 3 and 4 and didn't like them at all.  So I wouldn't risk taking a chance on this.  Thankfully Square Enix has been good about 3DS demos.

[Evan_B]

After having played a bit of this game, it most certainly is the final fantasy of monster Hunter, though the enemy variety is much higher and individual encounters are a bit more rewarding. Also the skill system is MUCH more interesting than Monster Hunter and the Overworld traversal is very cohesive and satisfying.

[Mop it up]

I'm interested in the game, but I'm waiting for a few more impressions first, particularly to see if my friends are getting it. I'll likely end up taking the plunge, but in a couple of weeks or so.

[TheFleece]

I've been playing it for a few days and it's not as Monster Hunter as I thought it would be and actually reminds me of a mix between Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest IX. It's got the same vague plot as Legend of Legacy, but I found this more tolerable because of the Final Fantasy setting. The lack of 3D caught me off guard but it doesn't hurt the game play.

[Evan_B]

The main problem with the game, in my opinion, is the atrocious amount of online lag which kills the intensity of fights.

Otherwise, there's a lot of good here, I just think it's a bit too unpolished in some areas and the lack of stability hinders them from doing really cool stuff with the boss fights. That's too bad, because I think it's a decent enough first attempt, but since it didn't sell well they probably won't try at it again. A shame, because it has ideas that are good enough to differentiate it from the Monstrous Hunter series, but it can't compete.