Hey there, Devil's Advocate. I've decided to summon you from the flaming pits of hell to help me talk about Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest.
|
THAT SOUNDS FUN.
|
First up, the graphics. They're not very good, are they? I mean, check this out:
"Woah, nice graphics! I'd like to get my hands on that game!"
|
YES, BUT IF IT WERE ON THE NES YOU WOULD HAVE SAID THE GRAPHICS WERE GREAT. WHAT WAS TOP OF THE RANGE IN THE TIME YOU HUMANS CALL 1993 HAS BEEN OUTCLASSED BY THREE GENERATIONS OF HARDWARE, SO THERE IS NO REASON TO BE PICKY. THE REAL QUESTION IS WHETHER OR NOT THE GAME IS OBJECTIVELY NICE TO LOOK AT, IGNORING ITS TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS.
|
|
I guess it sort of is. The colour palette is limited, but at least it uses pastels instead of that hideous bright orange that the real NES Final Fantasies were so fond of. But it's still quite bland and uninteresting.
|
WHAT ABOUT THE IN-BATTLE MONSTER SPRITES? THOSE HAVE A LOT OF PERSONALITY TO THEM. THEY ARE NOT QUITE AS CUTE AS THE ONES IN DRAGON WARRIOR, BUT THEY ARE ALSO MUCH BETTER THAN THE EARLY ATTEMPTS TO REPLICATE YOSHITAKA AMANO'S ARTWORK WITH FOUR COLOURS AND A TINY RESOLUTION.
|
|
I suppose. But at least those games were trying; Mystic Quest's designs are all completely generic.
|
YOU KNOW WHAT GAME TRIED TO TAKE SNES GRAPHICS TO THE NEXT LEVEL? RISE OF THE ROBOTS. THERE IS A SPECIAL LAYER OF HELL RESERVED FOR ACCLAIM.
|
|
I imagine they would have gotten one without Rise of the Robots, though.
|
THAT IS CORRECT.
|
|
So, next up: The lack of difficulty. Not only does the combat offer no challenge at all, but if you do somehow manage to lose, you can just hit 'retry' and start again. Being able to trample all over the enemy is only fun if the trampling is in context - if you start out weak and gradually get more powerful, that's one thing, but if you're able to beat everything without even needing to heal right from the start, where's the fun in that?
|
THIS IS AN RPG FOR BEGINNERS. IF IT HAD HAVE BEEN TOO DIFFICULT, IT WOULD HAVE TURNED THEM OFF ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. REMEMBER WHEN YOU ALMOST GAVE UP ON FINAL FANTASY SIX WHEN YOU WERE TEN BECAUSE YOU KEPT LOSING TO WREXSOUL? IT IS THE SAME REASON THAT CHILDREN USE THOSE BOWLING ALLEYS WITH THE BUMPERS.
|
|
But it isn't really like that at all. Alleys with bumpers on the walls are just there to cover you if you screw up. Mystic Quest doesn't let you screw up in the first place. Even the equipment handles itself automatically and there are only two or three items in the game that you ever need to buy. It doesn't teach the player anything about equipment management, money, or strategy. There's also no exploration, since the world map is just a series of linear paths that the game decides when you can go down. It isn't really a 'beginner' RPG at all, because instead of introducing you to the core concepts and teaching you about them, it just ignores them, so there's no way you can actually learn anything from it. It's like a 'beginner' platform game where you don't have to jump.
|
THERE IS AN EMPHASIS ON INTERACTING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT, THOUGH, WHICH MAKES IT MORE INTERESTING THAN A TRADITIONAL RPG WITH THAT LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY. THERE ARE ALSO NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS AND YOU CAN JUMP OVER NPCS THAT BLOCK YOUR PATH, WHICH ARE THE TWO MAIN COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE GENRE. THE FACT THAT MONSTERS GIVE YOU A VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF HOW HEALTHY THEY ARE WAS ALSO A GOOD IDEA.
|
|
Yeah, but those things never happen in other RPGs, which means its status as a 'beginner' game is pretty much null and void. Mystic Quest is like a hybrid of Dragon Warrior and Zelda, except devoid of challenge and imagination. I'll admit the dungeons are kind of fun for a while, but they're just so damn easy and the puzzle solutions so obvious that the whole thing feels totally inconsequential.
|
NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE EPIC AND HEAVY. YOU OF ALL PEOPLE CAN'T STAND GAMES LIKE THAT. IT DOESN'T TAKE ITSELF REMOTELY SERIOUSLY...
...SO WHY NOT ACCEPT THAT IT IS JUST A FUN LITTLE DIVERSION AND LIKE IT FOR WHAT IT IS?
|
|
I probably should, but saying "It isn't meant to be that good..." sounds like a such a lame excuse. It's like when terrible action movies come out and the directors defend them by saying "Oh, it's just cheesy fun!" when they're really just lazy and unimaginative. The Kirby games are just as easy as Mystic Quest, but I love those because they're inventive and there's plenty of stuff to do, despite them being absolute pushovers. Mystic Quest is easy and not terribly interesting, so why bother with it? Even as a ROM, it's barely worth downloading, not to mention that once upon a time people were expected to pay money for this. That's just evil.
|
HA HA, DON'T I KNOW IT! BUT SERIOUSLY, THE SOUNDTRACK WAS PRETTY AWESOME.
|
|
I guess. So that about wraps it up?
|
THE STORYLINE WAS SHIT, BUT THERE WAS NOT A LOT OF DIALOGUE AND IT DID NOT GET IN THE WAY OF THE GAMEPLAY.
|
|
Yeah. Well, seeya.
|
BYE.
|
It is known among those who are sufficiently enlightened that Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was released in Japan under the embarrassing and incorrect moniker "Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest". Alongside the slackers who purchased the dumbed-down American butchering of Final Fantasy IV and the appallingly translated Final Fantasy VI, this gave the Japanese the impression that Americans were incapable of being as intellectual as our cousins in the east. While this may be correct in many cases, true RPG gamers such as myself have been forced to coexist with these simian imbeciles as a result. I drafted a letter explaining this situation to the Prime Minister of Japan, but it was returned unopened with a reply reading "Mr. Junichiro is too busy to answer mail right now". If he had time to write this reply, he could at least have opened it! I find it hard to believe that Emperor Hirohito would have acted in such an arrogant and dismissive way. Oh well.