mystic quest - my thoughts

[robo2]

Just a few thoughts on this game as it seems to be widely hated by rpg fans. Bearing in mind this is the first non action rpg i have played.Thought it was really good, although maybe it dragged on a bit. did get confused in a few places does this make me an idiot? what makes this rpg worse than others apart from the obvious easy difficulty level?

[eugenek]

Just a few thoughts on this game as it seems to be widely hated by rpg fans. Bearing in mind this is the first non action rpg i have played.Thought it was really good, although maybe it dragged on a bit. did get confused in a few places does this make me an idiot? what makes this rpg worse than others apart from the obvious easy difficulty level?

Well, first of all, it gets compared to arguably the best RPG series of all time, so there's that. But other than its easy difficulty, the plot and graphics are comparatively very simplistic and rather unsophisticated. It's just not that deep. Taken on its own, it's not THAT bad, it's just not at that Final Fantasy level.

[cyberfluxor]

I like the remix of music in each town. It is a good game to pick up and is very affordable last I recall. Some may find it boring, but has it's own niche in the RPG and FF realm.

[Graham Mitchell]

A friend actually just gave me the cart about a month ago. It came in a cache of stuff he got off ebay and he loathes the game, stating he "can't get into it".

Personally, I don't think it's so bad. I actually quite liked it when I was young, mostly for the sound. But it's not bad, and if you're in the mood for something that has a similar ambience to FFIV and V, this might be a decent game for you. Just bear in mind--there are areas where you are tempted to fight and fight and fight (those little tombstone/arena things on the map) to level up like Y's, so if you're doing the game in a complete fashion, the pace is rather slow.

And somebody mentioned the town music--which is excellent!

Basically, if you're interested in the history of Square (particularly their quirky, uncharacteristic games) this is an important part of that history, and it doesn't totally suck.

[Astrosmash]

I always thought it was fine for what it was. I mean, it was promoted as a beginner's RPG, so of course it's not going to be as in-depth an experience as other games in the series. It works as a pop-in-and-play game though.

Graphics are fine; not as good as Square's later SNES games, of course, but not really any worse than Final Fantasy II (US), and I liked how enemies changed appearance to reflect damage dealt to them. And the music's great IMO.

I always thought the Mystic Quest bashing was largely undeserved.

[Sudo]

It's a good game, just not as good as the main Final Fantasy games.

[Steven]

*waits for Daria to pop in this thread* ;)



I always thought the Mystic Quest bashing was largely undeserved.


Ditto. For what it meant to serve as, that is, an RPG for the beginning RPG'er, I found it quite solid. Not great or anything, but damn worthy and plenty solid. It really eases beginners in, has some decent plot moments, and I liked the ability to jump and see where monsters were on the map. It was cool how they did that. And as someone already mentioned, damage is actually shown on larger monsters. That was very sweet, as was the ability to use weapons on the map, like chopping down trees or hooking onto a platform high above with the grappling hook.

I hear a lot of people rip it, but when I played it, it really was my FIRST "real" RPG (i.e. turn-based) experience. And it turned out I enjoyed it quite a bit. Now, if I played this after the epic FFIII, then I can see why some people are a bit sour on it. But it should be viewed in its content and time of release IMHO. At least, that's how I look at games. It's unfair to compare a game in '92 to one that came out 2 years later and was made for, really, a different more mature audience.

Some gamers don't do that, they just decide if a game is good or not, PERIOD. Fair enough, but for my money, I examine a game's overall merit, among many other aspects, based on its time of release. Mystic Quest was just fine as a beginner's RPG from late '92

[badinsults]

The problem with FFMQ is that it is inferior to FF4 in every way. The only saving grace is the awesome music (especially the ice cave). I found the worst part was the forced grinding when most of the battles were insanely easy (and if you were defeated, you could restart the battle). The story was unfocused, the graphics were NES-like and there is not many treasures to find.

[Astrosmash]

Ditto. For what it meant to serve as, that is, an RPG for the beginning RPG'er, I found it quite solid. Not great or anything, but damn worthy and plenty solid. It really eases beginners in, has some decent plot moments, and I liked the ability to jump and see where monsters were on the map. It was cool how they did that. And as someone already mentioned, damage is actually shown on larger monsters. That was very sweet, as was the ability to use weapons on the map, like chopping down trees or hooking onto a platform high above with the grappling hook.

I hear a lot of people rip it, but when I played it, it really was my FIRST "real" RPG (i.e. turn-based) experience. And it turned out I enjoyed it quite a bit. Now, if I played this after the epic FFIII, then I can see why some people are a bit sour on it. But it should be viewed in its content and time of release IMHO. At least, that's how I look at games. It's unfair to compare a game in '92 to one that came out 2 years later and was made for, really, a different more mature audience.

Some gamers don't do that, they just decide if a game is good or not, PERIOD. Fair enough, but for my money, I examine a game's overall merit, among many other aspects, based on its time of release. Mystic Quest was just fine as a beginner's RPG from late '92


Absolutely. It was meant to be an "entry-level RPG" and Square never claimed it was anything else (that phrase appeared on the front of the box, after all). It was lighter and simpler than IV or VI, yes, but that was the point.

To say it "doesn't measure up" to IV and VI is like saying that, on the NES, Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom doesn't measure up to the Macventure ports (namely Shadowgate or Deja Vu). Yes, they're all similar-format point-and-click adventure games, but Tomato was designed for a different purpose and with a different audience in mind.

Plus Mystic Quest does include one legendary feature: the main character's SHRUG OF HEROISM~~!. :)

[kupomogli]

The reason why Mystic Quest is such a hated game among RPG fans is because most RPG fans are wannabe hardcore fans who started at FF7 and hate the game through word of mouth and even after playing it still hate it.

So yeah. You're honestly not cool unless you hate FF Mystic Quest.

However. Coming from a person who has started at the original Dragon Warrior, owns all the DQ games and FF as well as some others on the NES then continuously played SNES and Genesis RPGs onward, it was actually a pretty good game. The music, graphics, and style of gameplay are all pretty good, especially since the dungeons early on are pretty awesome, however the game itself is easy and the later dungeons aren't nearly as good as the earlier dungeons and it's nothing but battle after battle mainly later on.

It's nothing spectacular but it's nothing terrible either. The game is above being atleast playable, because at times it's actually quite enjoyable.

[Timstuff]

I remember watching my older and younger brothers playing this game when I was young, and thinking it looked pretty boring. I tried it once or twice, but I really couldn't get into it. It simply lacked the immersion and presentation of Square's other games, and that's usually a large chunk of what sucks you into FF. It was about as primitive as story-driven RPGs get, and it wasn't really enough to keep my attention.

[Daria]

I too really liked Mystic Quest.


...So I pop in Mystic Quest, one thing I immediately notice is that the script's actually pretty good. Huge contrast to Final Fantasy 4. The characters sound very natural when they talk, you don't see that often in comercial 16 bit games. The game's also uses a lot of bold bright colors, but I rather like them. The world map navigation's odd to say the least, like Super Mario World, but it's not the first game I've played to use that system (see Crusader of Centy). Combat system is more Dragon Warrior like then Final Fantasy but hey I like Dragon Warrior.

The difficulty level at first seems "broken" the game likes to give you these partners that are at a higher level then you are and consequently do a lot more damage, but around the time they join your party the monsters tend to become stronger so I find it actaully evens it's self out and I've found a couple battles where I died a few times.

Money's kind of a joke I'll admit, you can raid chests in town and they "refill" as soon as you leave. Needless to say I never have less then 99 of bombs or cure potions.

I really like the Zelda elements. Your character can "jump", push blocks, use bombs, pull switchs, climb walls.

I guess I could say the game's really built around all these different little features (when you die in battle you can immediately restart the battle minus any items you used before you died) some of which pan out (you can search out optional "monster lairs", complete 10 battles and gain additional magic, exp, items and money) and some of which don't (while I hate random battles, monsters apoear on the screen and are stationary, once you kill them they're gone and the dungeon is empty.) But I wouldn't go as far as to say the game's terrible. It's different, and I'm sure if Square hadn't experimented on titles like one the games most people do love probably wouldn't have been the same.


http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43472&highlight=mystic+quest

[carlcarlson]

I really enjoyed the game at first, but after 5 or 6 hours it started to get repetitive and I ended up putting it back on the shelf. It's a fine game, just not a blockbuster.

[Kitsune Sniper]

It was my first RPG, so I like it.

[robo2]

yeah my first non action rpg too, what Rpg would you recommend for me to tackle next for the snes

[Steven]

yeah my first non action rpg too, what Rpg would you recommend for me to tackle next for the snes


You can go for an easy one like Super Mario RPG, but I think Final Fantasy II is a logical extension. Very similar graphics, but of course gameplay much more intense. Well worth it though.

[Aussie2B]

Mystic Quest is a victim of RPG fans that lack perspective. The usual reasoning as to why it's supposedly so awful is that "it's a beginner's RPG and too easy". First off, you can't fault a game for succeeding at what it set out to be. But the "too easy" comment is what gets me. These are the same fans that worship Final Fantasy VII, which is certainly just as easy. Most RPGs in general are too easy. At least this game was SUPPOSED to be easy.

Anyway, it's so short and fast-paced I think it's rather fun to blow through now and then. Beats playing a really long easy RPG that gets boring after awhile if you're playing for more than just to see the next cutscene.

And the soundtrack is magnificent. They were really smart in dividing up the soundtrack between two people - one who's strong point is rockin' battle themes and another for the softer town themes and such. I love the soundtrack so much that it's my main reason for playing the game, and I blew 40 bucks on the soundtrack, which is about 4 times more than I spent on the game itself. Worth every penny, especially for the arrangements. The sound effects in the game are really satisfying too.

[tomaitheous]

It's funny. Funny that haters totally miss the point in that the game wasn't intended for hardcore RPG fans, it was for the people who hadn't been drawn into traditional RPGs at the time. Back in the day, I skipped over it knowing full well what it was - as I had already played lots of other RPGs (even importing Japanese RPGs and having little to no understanding of the language). I know some people were pissed at the time as to the fact that square put time and effort into bringing out Mystic Quest and not some other Square RPG - those selfish bastard gamers...

I did get a chance to play it a few years back after picking it up cheap at a used game shop for my son. It has its charm and was perfect for my son. I for one am glad they brought it to the US region.