Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Final Thoughts

Oh yeah! Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was a short-y, but it was a goody! I've taken longer than I should have to finish it, but that's not important. What is important is my quick review of what I truly thought of it.
So let's...

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Final Thoughts

Now... Let's begin with the usual details here.

Game Stats

Time Played - 13-1/2 Hours.
Final Party Levels

• Keeper - Level 37
• Phoebe - Level 34

Screenshots Album - Imgur.

Battlefields Cleared - 20 of 20.
Game Overs - More than I'd care to list... (Also I didn't keep count. Was just throwing in a few more sections to expand this part.)

Game Review

Now it's time for the ever-popular and totally self-opinionated REVIEW!
As per the usual rules, we'll take a look at the...

• Aesthetics
• Gameplay
• Story

Being how the game goes, I don't feel it necessary to have a character category. I'll briefly go over it, but there's really not much to say or add. Anyways! Let's begin with aesthetics because looks are everything!

I don't honestly believe that of course (seeing as I've played all these older games), but the looks can easily effect if someone will or won't play a game. An older 8-bit or 16-bit game can look quite unappealing next to our modern day graphics for some. Personally, I greatly enjoy the old style of look, and as the blog has proven, I'm more than okay with playing older games. (True, I did play remakes of most of the games, but that was to allow access to easier saving methods.)

Now, in judging Mystic Quest fairly, it's not too bad of a SNES game, but it fails in comparison to another title that was released on the very same year... IN THE VERY SAME SERIES!

A typical battle in Mystic Quest.
Doesn't look too bad, but a bit simplistic.

A typical battle in Final Fantasy V.
The background isn't too complex in this shot, but the characters are more detailed.

Here's the Level Forest from Mystic Quest. This is the "dying" version, so it's all brown'd up, but it's really not super detailed if you ask me. Lots of similar tiles spread throughout.

Here's a clip from the opening sequence of Final Fantasy V. Not the most detailed area, but it at least has a varying look and differing tiles throughout. Much better in comparison.

So what I'm basically saying here is that the graphics aren't really anything to go crazy about. They aren't bad at all, but they could have been better. The graphics are passable for aesthetics, but I'd say the REAL gold mine for this portion of the review is the fantastic and awesome soundtrack for the game.

The music is all really catchy and enjoyable. Being as small as the game is, there isn't a huge amount of variety, but the regular battle and boss battle themes alone are just awesome! 

BATTLE THEME

BOSS BATTLE

Do you hear that? It's pretty dang rocking if you ask me. Apart from those, the music is pretty enjoyable overall and always appropriate for the location you are at. (If you like those, you should check out the following album as well! LINK) Overall though, this game isn't really the best sounding or the best looking in the series or even classic RPGs in general. It's not bad persay, but it could be a lot better. It's enough to enjoy what goes down though, so I'm going to let this section pass through. Aesthetics aren't over the top, but they're enjoyable for a classic RPG. Now let's get to the gameplay!

For RPGs, the gameplay is usually about the levels and stats alongside epic turn-based and/or real time battles. For Mystic Quest, there was a different plan in mind. Now, I'm not going to go into a fully explained history, but here's the simplified version. Back in the day, apparently Americans weren't sold on the idea of your classic turn-based RPGs or... at least the majority wasn't. Action RPGs were doing well enough, but Square wanted to get more people into it. Thus they created Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. It was to be a simplified, easy-to-play entry RPG for newbies. 

Overall, it really hits this mark, but that's really about it. The game is most enjoyable to people who have played it before and those who enjoy a good RPG, but it's really lacking beyond that. The overly simplified gameplay is going to turn off most hardcore gamers, and RPG fans will probably prefer different titles in the Final Fantasy series. Don't get me wrong! I enjoyed Mystic Quest as I played through it, but it wasn't the most powerful Final Fantasy experience for me.

To go more into details about this, the gameplay has been greatly simplified in comparison to previous games. Leveling up does increase your stats, but the weapon and equipment selection is limited. Rather than choosing your current equipment, your character is auto-equipped with the latest type of each item. This kills any customization, but at the same time, there's really only a single line of equipment as you progress through. There's nothing to change up to create a specific kind of character. Different kinds of weapons and all that, but you're generally just best off using the most powerful one at the time regardless. 

Spells aren't too far off either. There's only a handful of spells in total. I wish there were a few more spells to choose from, or at least some way of improving old spells. The game was less than 15 hours overall though, so I guess having fewer spells doesn't really hurt anything. I'm cool with the "number of casts" system over the MP one though. It's nice being able to cast pretty much whatever you want whenever you want rather than worrying about a budget. 

Going beyond stats, the game also features a fun but sometimes broken battling system. Battles are generally pretty simple in that you just attack all straightforwardly or take advantage of enemy weaknesses via specific weapons or spells. However, when statuses get involved, having a two-person party can quickly become a problem. If one person is petrified or confused, you either have to hurry and defeat the enemy or waste a turn healing him. During that time, you just pray that the healthy character isn't status-ified himself. It's really only a complaint because I died to this exact condition several times near the latter half of the game. You do gain a lot of status resistances from armor and such, but it's very annoying and game ruining until you hit that point. This would all be solved by a regular three-person party. 

 Another change to the usual system was the removal of random encounters and placing monsters on the map instead. This lets you control what battles you do and don't fight. I'd advise you fight as many as you can though because otherwise you'll find yourself under-leveled. There were many battles where I was probably closer to the line of "just leveled enough" to really defeat the various bosses and enemies. (For those who don't know, the maximum level in the game is Level 41. I didn't quite make it there, but I was close!) Overall, the battles aren't too shabby, but the lack of a third person can really change things up where a single round spells doom out of NOWHERE. 

However, if I am excited for one portion of this game, it's the exploration and action-style elements. Outside of the battles, you have to maneuver each field using your weapons and jumping ability. This usually only results in quick-and-easy puzzles or just running to hit a switch, but it's a good mixture with the rest of the game. ALSO JUMPING IS ALWAYS POWERFUL! (It's better than FFXIII's jumping...) Seriously! The clever use of the sword, axe, and claw are just great as you travel through the game. Chopping trees, hitting switches, climbing walls, and then that's just some of the early stuff! Eventually your claw becomes a grapple hook and the sword is... just fun to stab with. SCHWING SCHWUNG! Love that sound~

Now, how do I see Gameplay overall? For what it is, it's a nice and quick game. You'll only spend around 15 hours at most, so it's good for a short RPG. It's also a great entry RPG for anybody who wants a taste without getting all serious-like. The lack of random encounters further helps this since I know many people hate the idea of being interrupted constantly. The action and exploration help mix it up a bit as you explore the world. Battles play pretty well, but the two party system tends to mess things up when a third person would really help out. I still had fun with the game, but it's not quite perfect. All we need now is to wrap things up with the story and a dash of characters.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest brings in a simple story of a "chosen boy" to save the world from a great evil. You have to adventure throughout the land and restore the four elemental crystals to power. For Final Fantasy, that's pretty much 101-style story. There are four crystals, they're elemental, and they're integral to the world's survival. 

The story isn't a very deep or consistent thing at times though. You often find yourself going from one place to another without any real events. I'm fairly happy with this since Final Fantasy XIII and others felt the need to make every accomplishment into some sort of event or scene. Seriously, climbing a set of stairs shouldn't immediately thrust me into a scene about how I climbed a set of stairs.

If you are wanting a deep and emotional story about characters that grow into heroes... You won't find that here. However, once again, I greatly enjoy a simplified and easy going story. The characters often make small jokes throughout, and your guy (the one I named Keeper) does his little "WTF" shrugging arm movement all the time. Most of the story goes pretty simple-like. Go to this location to restore the crystal. Go there to retrieve an item. Open this path. Save this person. It's all simple and such.

However, there were a few times where the situation turned into "...what?" for me. The old man, who (SPOILER ALERT) turns out to be the Light Crystal, tends to drop in and out at very random moments and spouts off your next objective. He does it really fast though, so if you aren't careful, you end up missing the entire message. Then later on, there were entire conversations that flew by fairly fast and then I was just left wondering "What am I supposed to do next again!?" The game does sometimes leave you high and dry if you missed a few lines, but it's generally easy to get back on track. 

As for the characters in the story, they're really nothing to go crazy about. You've got your main person, Keeper in my case, along with a few sidekicks that help you throughout the game. Each character has a bit of story behind them, and they help you multiple times throughout. However, beyond their attachments to the story, they don't really evolve or grow. They generally go along with you to help defeat the evil ahead or to secure some goal of their own. Even when you leave a person behind and meet with them later, they don't really change very much. They're an interesting enough bunch, but they feel less like people and more like just characters. Therefore... nothing to sink your feelings into. 

What does this mean for my thoughts on story and character? You kinda have to just take it as it is. You can't expect a big thing that's like a metaphor for anything. It's just a guy working with other people to save the world. It's simple and clean and not bad overall. There's silly points littered throughout, and it never goes overly serious or deep just to be like that. I liked it.

And thus we finally come to the finale of my review. What did I think about Mystic Quest when you add it all up? It's a good and highly overlooked game, but it's not really something I'd give my life to defend. I enjoyed my time through it, but I can't see myself wanting to play it again even remotely soon. It doesn't really hold a cup of tea to some of the greater Final Fantasy titles, but I still feel that it does hold a place. I liked it more than FFII, and it's got about the same depth as FFIII. So really... I'd say it gets a pass overall. It's not a game for everybody, but it still has its moments. 

Worst case scenario? It's only like 12-15 hours worth of gameplay, and that's more than many modern games. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is an off-title in the series for a reason, but that doesn't make it any less of a Final Fantasy title in my book. You should give it a chance and play some! Give it an hour or two, and if you still don't like it, that's fine. You're missing out on a good game though. /end review

And with this review done... Final Fantasy is coming to a close. You might be wondering about Final Fantasy XIV or Final Fantasy XV. I'll post up a quick News Post about that here soon, and I'll explain what my plans are involving them. Ahead of me now is Dragon Warrior/Quest, and it's about time to get crackin'!

Side Note - Thanks for reading my humble and unorganized review! It might not be much, but it's truly how I felt. Stay tuned for a News Post coming very very soon.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~