Today Square Enix released its 3DS exclusive, Final Fantasy Explorers. The game houses many new features such as new bosses, enemies, and an entirely new world to explore. Although the game may look like it has an MMO play style from gameplay, it is different in many ways.
First off, the game actually seems to have the potential for a very good storyline; I don’t know about you, but it’s been awhile since I’ve ever played an MMO where I actually cared about the story. Even the Final Fantasy MMOs had very lacking and boring stories in my eyes. Final Fantasy Explorers has a somewhat intriguing story. The story is based on the idea of “The Crystals.” The crystals are these mystical ores that make humans able to advance civilization. Amostra is an island that houses many of these crystals, causing many “explorers” to come in search of fame and fortune. This proves to be no easy task, as the crystals are guarded by these mystical guardians called Eidolons: Basically, their job is to prevent anyone from taking these crystals. If you haven’t guessed already, this is the part where the player comes into play (pun intended). You yourself are an explorer, and you are out to make a name for yourself. What better way to do this than by conquering the grand crystal? As mentioned earlier, you will have to battle many viscous Eidolons, but what was not mentioned earlier is that Amostra is also swarming with many classic Final Fantasy monsters. So, basically think the Gold Rush with deadly monsters, That’s Final Fantasy Explorers.
The second and last thing that I will mention about the game is, of course, the gameplay. As it’s probably made obvious in the title, the aim of this game is to explore. You have the option to go hardcore and explore alone, or you can take it easy and explore either locally with your friends or even online. Don’t have any friends? No worries. The game also features a throwback to Final Fantasy XIII-2: You can recruit and level up monsters to fight in place of that emptiness. That’s not all either. Perhaps my personal favorite feature of the game is the trance system. Throughout the game, you collect this stuff called magicite. which you can then equip. By equipping this, you gain access to the “trance system”. What is this trance system, you ask? Well, as you’re battling your heart out, there’s this thing called the trance meter that fills up. Once this bad boy gets filled, you can transform into a classic Final Fantasy character (the character you transform into depends upon the magicite equipped). In total, there are about 11 characters that you can fight as, and they all house very different abilities. So, this means I can play as Lightening again? Score!
Want to actually see some gameplay for yourself? Check out The official trailer for the game.