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[Jigorath]

MMORPG.com - 8.2

You’ll be able to take along any combination of 3 friends, monsters, or strangers via the internet to get the job done. With 12 Eidolons to capture, 21 jobs to unlock, and 10 different historic characters to collect there is more than enough Final Fantasy fan service offered up in Explorers to ensure that it successfully married the best of monster hunter style action RPGs and the Final Fantasy franchise.

Game Informer - 7.8

Final Fantasy Explorers never fully captivated me. Building up your character is fun and the Final Fantasy fan in me enjoyed all the callbacks, but it didn't keep me invested. It gives you plenty to tinker with, but doesn't have the meat to back it up.

God is a Geek - 7.5

Final Fantasy Explorers may tread a new path for the franchise, but it doesn’t offer anything new for the genre.

Destructoid - 7

Final Fantasy Explorers has a litany of pacing issues, particularly when it comes to its quests and, visually, it feels like a DS-era game at times. But players who are willing to jump in with both feet will find a lot to love, and that goes double if you're planning to play through the adventure with a friend.

Gamespot - 7

The sheer number of quests and the complexity of customization will keep you busy for hours. If you like that sort of thing, that is. Even though its economy leaves a bit to be desired, it's not clunky enough to dissuade you from working hard to earn items and craft your ultimate armor.

Nintendo Life - 7

Final Fantasy Explorers feels like an entry point for the genre rather than a true rival to Capcom's crown - it's accessible and enjoyable, but the shallow nature of the gameplay might leave seasoned players feeling a little cold after extended play.

IGN - 6.8

For a few hours at least, Final Fantasy Explorers is a charming little adventure that’s fun to play alone with your monster buddies or with real-life friends. But repetitive quests, the lack of a serious challenge until late in the story and a poor travel system eventually broke the charm spell that Explorers had cast upon me.

Gamesbeat - 6.5

Some life-long players of the franchise may not feel like Explorers has enough Final Fantasy for them. It has a lot — and lets you customize much of it along the way — but it just doesn’t have that “magic feeling” I get when playing a Final Fantasy and knowing that game’s world is at stake.

Nintendo Enthusiast - 6

Final Fantasy Explorers just feels shallow. It’s not that it is a bad game, it’s just painfully average in almost every respect.

Metacritic

 

[Illucio]

The reviews seem somewhat consistent.
/loses faith with title

This game did seem like a cash in at the monster hunting genre rather then improving on the formula with a FF twist.
So I'm not too surprised.

 

[Shenmue]

Damn pretty bad scores.

 

[Hedge]

painfully average

Describes pretty much everything I've heard of the game, sadly. I was hoping it'd be good. :/

 

[Femto.]

I did have the CE pre oredered, I'm kind of glad I canceled it.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

The reviews seem somewhat consistent.
/loses faith with title

This game did seem like a cash in at the monster hunting genre rather then improving on the formula with a FF twist.
So I'm not too surprised.

I'm not surprised either after watching the gameplay and hearing the Japanese audience say it's not even a good Monster Hunter clone.
There was a rumor that this is what became of the cancelled Chocobo Racing 3D and if that's the case than I strongly prefer Chocobo Racing instead.

 

[Jolkien]

I would mostly play alone as none of my friend have a 3DS. I guess I will skip it.

 

[Falk]

I was really hyped for this game, nearly imported, then World of Final Fantasy.

Rather surprised that the scores are reasonably consistent though; games in this genre usually have a far greater variance depending on whether the gameplay clicks.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

I'll play it regardless because I liked what I saw in the Japanese demo.

 

[Thoraxes]

Picking up a copy along with 3 friends to go in on it this weekend. It should prove fun!

 

[Ghost Slayer]

Sound in line with JapanGAF and importer impression. Decent game but not thing is special

 

[CaviarMeths]

So basically casual Monster Hunter with a Final Fantasy skin.

Yeah, I can dig that.

 

[ivysaur12]

Ugh, if this was a solid 8/10, I would consider diving in.

 

[cws]

I will wait for Monster Hunter X.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

So it's an OKAY game. We're done here, folks.

 

[Hentailover]

B-b-b-but... I can play as a cute red mage in this game!!!

 

[Alvarez]

Adjusted for Final Fantasy Score Inflation, isn't that an average score of 5/10?

 

[Devilgunman]

In line with what I played from Japanese version. It's a watered down MH clone. A lot of repetitive and boring quests.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

To make matters even more depressing, this will probably outsell Dragon Quest VII and VIII combined.

Spoiler

I'll be buying all three.

 

[Lucifon]

Not sure whether to cancel my preorder or keep it. It's only £20...

 

[Champion]

Square's lackluster 3DS presence continues ;_;

 

[Oregano]

I actually thought it would review worse than this. I bought into this knowing it wasn't very good. I'm a total sucka...

Spoiler

Totally worth it for the rest of the collector's edition stuff.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

In line with what I played from Japanese version. It's a watered down MH clone. A lot of repetitive and boring quests.

Yeah, that's what's keeping me from getting it.

In a vacuum, maybe I'd be bored enough to play it. But with MH4U already out and in my 3DS? I don't see the point.

 

[Glass Rebel]

The amount of classic characters and how they seemed to push them already made me suspicious. It looked like Final Fanservice Hunter from the jump and these reviews seem to confirm it. Too bad.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

From what I've heard it's more of an MMO-lite than it is a Monster Hunter clone, so take that as you will. Honestly having traditional MMO class roles in an action game like this seems like a unique and interesting take on the genre. Plus with the final fantasy fan service and job system (so good), I bet it will be a fun romp for early in the year. 7 out of 10 is certainly not a bad score for a game like this.

 

[jahasaja]

Damn I thought this would keep me happy until MHX. I guess dragons dogma will ha to do that and the 3ds will continue to gather dust.

 

[Blade25]

So there are only 10 bosses to fight in the game? Are there extra DLC bosses to fight? Does anyone know if there will be a higher level of difficulty similar to g-rank in monster hunter? That's my biggest concern...

 

[Wagram]

From what I've heard it's more of an MMO-lite than it is a Monster Hunter clone, so take that as you will. Honestly having traditional MMO class roles in an action game like this seems like a unique and interesting take on the genre. Plus with the final fantasy fan service and job system (so good), I bet it will be a fun romp for early in the year. 7 out of 10 is certainly not a bad score for a game like this.

That's what has me excited for it to be honest. I can't stand Monster Hunter.

 

[Setzer]

8.2 from MMORPG and 7.8 from Game Informer are solid reviews. Looks like a fun game. I'll be picking this up later today.

 

[archnemesis]

I'm not a fan of Monster Hunter and if this is shallow and repetitive then it will be easy for me to skip it. It's being released in a very crowded season. Legend of Legacy, Etrian Odyssey 2: Untold: The Fafnir Knight, Bravely Second: End Layer, Project X Zone 2, and Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon are all released within a month in Europe.

 

[Possumowner]

As expected from me,fairly average.I shall still give it a go though...I'm either a sucker for punishment or just love anything FF related,or both

 

[heringer]

At $20 I would give it a shot. Will wait a price drop.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Better than expected. Should be a fun lil game!

 

[Robin64]

Seems okay. And sometimes that's enough. I'm in.

 

[TatteredHat]

Glad I held off for reviews, I think I'll pass on this and wait for MHX to come out to get my fix.

 

[Cheeseman Battitude]

Pre-order cancelled. I've got a couple of MH games. Doesn't look like I need this.

 

[flaviusconstantius]

The great irony is that Final Fantasy XII IZJS was a far better Monster Hunter rival than this. It was a game where grinding and going after insanely powerful foes was fun, and they were unique in a way that a direct assault led to a game over.

 

[dreamlongdead]

I'm mainly afraid of the online community being small, but otherwise the game looks like it could be fun.

I unfortunately have to pass for now, because I don't have the money.

 

[Baleoce]

Polygon - 8/10

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Polygon - 8/10

LOL

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

So basically casual Monster Hunter with a Final Fantasy skin.

Yeah, I can dig that.

It WISHES it was that good.

I was pretty disappointed with this last year

 

[Orniletter]

Sounds all right.

Every hunting game that's not Monster Hunter is kinda mediocre, I think the FF coat of paint will help me to get over the weaker gameplay.

 

[shark sandwich]

Can anybody compare this with Fantasy Life?

My wife has never gotten into JRPGs but she loved the shit out of Fantasy Life. I'm wondering if this is another game we could play together.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Can anybody compare this with Fantasy Life?

My wife has never gotten into JRPGs but she loved the shit out of Fantasy Life. I'm wondering if this is another game we could play together.

I'm guessing this is far more combat-oriented than Fantasy Life. I haven't seen anything even mentioning what you do other than fight.

 

[Chorazin]

Huh. I was kinda willing to write this off, but the reviews make it appealing to me for some reason. I could never get deep into Monster Hunter because it's really intimidating and deep for what I want in a handheld, but this sounds like that format but not as crazy convoluted.

Might pick this up tonight....

 

[Matticers]

Seems like an okay game at worst and a pretty good game at best. And... I'm cool with that. I love the open job system in FF games whenever they allow it so I'll probably pick it up for that alone. It seems like it'll be fun if you can handle the repetitiveness from this sort of game.

 

[Robin64]

Huh. I was kinda willing to write this off, but the reviews make it appealing to me for some reason. I could never get deep into Monster Hunter because it's really intimidating and deep for what I want in a handheld, but this sounds like that format but not as crazy convoluted.

Might pick this up tonight....

That's where I'm coming from too. I want a simpler Monster Hunter-alike, MH is too much for me.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

Game Informer 7.8

Final Fantasy Explorers never fully captivated me. Building up your character is fun and the Final Fantasy fan in me enjoyed all the callbacks, but it didn't keep me invested. It gives you plenty to tinker with, but doesn't have the meat to back it up.

.............2.2 points short of a 10

lol

 

[Kyzer]

I thought this was more like hardcore fantasy life than a monster Hunter alternative?

 

[Effigenius]

Square's lackluster 3DS presence continues ;_;

....outside of Japan anyway....