Not much of a "Quest"...
US RELEASE DATE: October 5, 1992
EUROPEAN RELEASE DATE: "Mystic Quest Legend," 1993
JAPANESE RELEASE DATE: "Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest," September 10, 1993
Story (From Wikipedia): "The fictional events of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest take place on a single continent of an unnamed world, which is divided into four distinct regions: Foresta, Aquaria, Fireburg, and Windia. The welfare of each region is determined by the state of one of four shining crystals: earth, water, fire, and wind, respectively.
For centuries the Focus Tower had stood at the heart of the world. It had been a center for trade and knowledge, and the world's people met there to peacefully settle their differences. But on one warm summer day, powerful monsters stormed the Tower, stole the four crystals, and then took off with the magical coins that kept the Tower's doors unlocked. The monsters began consuming the power of the crystals; they grew in strength while the world, conversely, began to decay. An old prophecy tells that at the time the "vile four" steal the power and divide the world behind four doors, a knight will appear to vanquish the darkness. A fifth crystal, the Crystal of Light, ventures out in search of the prophecy's knight."
Essentially, Square set out to make a game for the "Western" nations that would be a simple RPG. One must realize that in 1992 the RPG market had not exploded to the level that it had by the time of the release of "Final Fantasy VII" (1997). Thus, Square wanted to make an RPG that was approachable by gamers of all skill levels. The question is: did they achieve their goal?
The game is set up so that there is essentially no overworld. Players travel from location to location via set paths and, between locations, come across "Battlefields" (that have up to 10 monster fights), where they can accumulate experience. Players can never have more than 2 people in their party (themselves and one other member) and they never can buy new equipment (they only receive "upgrades" as they go along. Spells essentially work like they do in "Final Fantasy" and "Final Fantasy II" where they can be used a set number of times before being depleted. Finally, players can see their opponents while in dungeons, but unlike games such as "Lufia and the Fortress of Doom" and "Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals," these monsters are stationary and do not move.
In the end, this provides for a game that, in my opinion, is too simplistic (even for those who are not hard-core RPG fans).
If you are a collector who wants to own all of the games in the "Final Fantasy"/"Mana" series, this is definitely one to pick up. However, if you are looking for an excellent RPG to pick up and play, this may not be the one for you...I give it a 3/5, or an "average" score.Read full review
