Final Fantasy Explorers is Square Enix‘s take on the Monster Hunter genre. They make good use of the deep Final Fantasy history, letting players fight the series staple monsters, use familiar classes, and dress as your favorite characters. It’s everything you’d think a fan could want in a game of this pedigree.

Unfortunately, Square Enix forgot to make it fun. They streamlined the combat too much, made stats carry too much weight, and didn’t add much in the way of exploring. The game is great for a few hours, until you realize that the game is just a repetitive grind that only grows more asinine as you increase your avatar strength.

You may think that’s true of Monster Hunter as well, but Capcom‘s crowning jewel is less linear, the combat is more involved, and even when overpowered you have to make some effort to win. In Final Fantasy Explorers, once your stats are high enough, your best option is to just spam attacks until the target dies. Then pick up the quest and do it 9 more times to get a piece of cosplay armor.

After the game left my system, so did my desire to play it. I can only recommend Final Fantasy Explorers to the hardcore Final Fantasy buffs that just want a fan service game, because that’s all you’re getting here. It qualifies for my Seal of Dour Disapproval

Game Rankings 2016:

1. Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam (link)
2. Final Fantasy Explorers

Games in Blue have received the Seal of Awesome Approval.

Games in Red have received the Seal of Dour Disapproval.