Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a starter RPG that was supposed to help introduce the genre to North America. At the time it was released, RPGs weren’t as popular as they are now. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what the reviews in the 1990s were like.
It was an odd choice for Square to make a game like this. It came out after Final Fantasy IV and was the first game in the series to be released in Europe. I think the Final Fantasy name hurt this game, because people naturally associate it with the other games in the series. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest doesn’t play like the other games in the series.
I remember playing this game on an emulator and being very confused by it. Much like other people at the time, I thought this was going to be like the other Final Fantasy games on the SNES. I’m going to give this game another chance, and maybe it will be better than I remember, or than what the internet has told me I’m supposed to think of it.
TLDR: A decent RPG with good graphics and simple gameplay.
Narrative
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest has a simple story that matches the gameplay. There are a few tropes that are common in the early Final Fantasy games. It has to do with the four elemental crystals and you trying to restore their power.
Over the course of the game, you fight four creatures that are stealing the power of the crystals. There is a prophecy about a hero coming to restore the power to the crystals, and that is where the main character comes in. In many ways, this feels like a simpler version of the first game’s story.
Much like the first Final Fantasy, once you restore the four crystals, you go and fight an evil king. This evil king was behind all the events of the game, including the prophecy. I have no idea why he did this because it feels counterproductive to his goals. I’m probably overanalyzing this.
I don’t have any problems with this game’s story. It felt like I was playing the first game, but with training wheels. There isn’t anything wrong with the story. The game does have a few problems, but the story isn’t one of them.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is fairly simple. You have a party of one, and sometimes you get an overpowered character to help you. This often results in you getting a new weapon.
Final Fantasy has some action-platformer elements to its gameplay. It is similar to how Super Mario RPG incorporates jumping into the game. While I don’t like this, I’m sure other people do enjoy it.
You’ll get a lot of weapons in this game, and you can easily swap between them. They have a secondary function outside of combat. Each new companion you have will give you a new weapon, at least it feels that way at the beginning.
There are no random encounters in this game. You can see and avoid the enemies. This works for the type of game that this is trying to be. This changes as you get further into the game. In some ways, this reminds me of a Pokémon game, which also works as a starter RPG.
You can replay battles as often as you need to, and you can save the game anywhere. These are fun ideas, and I think the game does a decent job with them. I do wish you had more party members and control over what was going on in the combat.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a competently made RPG. The gameplay is good enough to keep you playing. While I don’t like everything in this game from a gameplay standpoint, it is good enough for a starter RPG.
Visuals
I like the graphics in this game. The character sprites look good, enemies are big and well detailed, and I like how the world map looks. I was surprised by how good the dungeons were. They were more complex than I was expecting.
The character and enemy sprites look very good. Enemy sprites look more cartoonish than those in the other two Final Fantasy games on the SNES. It goes along with the more relaxed vibe of the game.
Animations on the attacks and magic spells are very good. You also get some indication of how well you’re doing in a battle. The enemy sprites change appearance as they lose health. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest also changed the perspective in battle to have the camera behind your characters.
The dungeons look very good. You can see where the enemies are and avoid the ones that you don’t need to fight. The level design isn’t as complex as Final Fantasy IV or other RPGs from 1992. The dungeons are better looking and more complex than I was expecting.
The graphics in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest are better than I remembered. While not on par with Final Fantasy II, they are better than the NES games. This is what you should expect from an SNES game released early in the system’s life.
Reviews at the Time
This game got decent reviews at the time it was released. The reviewers seemed to understand what this game was and the intended audience. Both of the reviews I can see knew this was a game for “kids” or for people who wanted to get into RPGs. I looked at three publications for this.
EGM had four people review this game. It got three 7/10s and an 8/10. The reviewers like the game well enough. They mentioned it was an easier game and that they felt it was for kids. None of the four bashed this game or unfairly criticized it.
GamePro gave the game around a 4/5. They called it “the easiest RPG to get into ever.” The reviewer mentions that it gets harder after you find the first crystal, which is explained in the manual. I’m glad they pointed this out because it reminds me of how some of Nintendo’s NES games used the manual as a way to get you started.
Nintendo Power gave this game a full review in the November 1992 issue of the magazine. Four people reviewed the game, and it got three 3.8/5s and a 3.5/5. They thought this was an above average game and pointed out that it was an easy RPG.
I really like going back to see what people thought about games like this. It wasn’t seen as a bad game at the time by the gaming media. I can only guess that people were disappointed because they thought it was a new installment in the series, when it is more of a spin-off.
Score/Verdict
Pros
- Easy-to-play
- Decent Graphics
- Good Gameplay
Cons
- Starter RPG
- Maybe too easy for some
Conclusion
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is much better than I remembered, and I can see why I dismissed the game all those years ago. It is a perfectly fine RPG, but it doesn’t offer the challenge or story that I normally like.
It is an average game that has some interesting gameplay mechanics. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest doesn’t stand out from a graphics or gameplay standpoint. This game is okay, but it isn’t all that special.
I do think it is better than some of the other RPGs on the SNES. This is a competently made game, which is why I like it more than Secret of the Stars and Paladin’s Quest. It isn’t as good as games like Robotrek and 7th Saga. This isn’t the worst RPG on the SNES; it simply dares to be an average game.
If you liked this post, please check out my other reviews of RPGs. Such as Robotrek and Thousand Arms.
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