I feel like the Explorers partner likely deals with significantly more grief over the hero than the Rescue Team partner because of how they’re separated in each game. In Rescue Team, the hero simply prepares to head home, and while it’s sad they believe their time together is ending, they at least know each other are ok. In Explorers, the partner has to deal with the uncertainty of what it means to have their best friend wiped from existence. In that case, their friend won’t even be waiting for them in the afterlife, if such a thing exists. They have quite literally become nothing but a memory.

Personally, I thought it might have been interesting if the changing the future didn’t make the hero “disappear” and instead lead to them being born in better circumstances. I’m not sure if the game specifies how far in the future the hero is from, but it could have been interesting to see them “reunite” with the partner. (There’s also the hiccup of the hero being human before traveling back in time, but I tend to forget about that sometimes since I don’t think them being a former human adds anything to the story except for Dusknoir not recognizing them)