Great analysis of the game, all fair points about the strategy and exploration. My very first owned RPG was FF II on SNES (aka 4) which was traded to me on a middle-school playground. I didn't even own a SNES at the time, I let my other friend borrow it, and went over his house for a couple hours every day to play it, and he got to use the other save slots and play it the rest of the time. I bought Mystic Quest game not too long after beating FF2, and *I loved it!* (as a middle-school aged kid) It came with a full color fold out map of the world, and the instruction manual had all the items, weapons and armor, in it. I still have those, as well as the manual and map for FF III, and most of my other SNES games. I liked the story, what there was, and the exploration of levels and the Zelda-like ways you got to move around was a good genre blend. I also already owned "A Link to the Past". One of the things I loved most about FF: MQ was not mentioned in this video, however, and if the rumors are held to be true - was an "accident". Though I'm not sure how that could be true. The fact every single "white magic" spell could be used for *offense* not just defense. Healing spell would hurt undead, the one spell that tried to cure all status effects when cast on your party members, would instead try to *apply* every single status effect in one attack. Life spell, when used on a foe, became a Death spell. And my favorite? "Exit" A spell meant to get you out of combat, instead took a foe out of combat instantly. I had a paranoid fear every time I used the spell that I would one day find "The Land of Exited Monsters" and have to fight every single one in succession. Wouldn't that have been an awesome twist? But alas, it never came. As an adult, I've tried to play through it again, but I get bored. My favorite part of the story was at the end boss where he says that HE was the one to start the rumor about a legendary hero that would come defeat him, and laughs at your foolishness. Only to be defeated of course. If you haven't played Super Mario RPG for SNES, you really should. It's good. OR better yet, play "Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door" on GameCube if you haven't. It's *EASILY* in my top 10 RPG's ever along side "Persona 3 FES" which is a very different game, and "Persona 4" on PS2. 1k year door is a game that was absolutely FUN from start to finish, and more colorfull than being on magic mushrooms.
Thanks for sharing your story, I really enjoyed reading it!! I Tried working in the whole 'white magic as damage spells' thing into the script specifically in regards to the last battle, but I couldn't find a way to make it flow naturally and I felt it wasn't really part of my overall thesis to begin with, that said, it was the hardest element for me to cut from the video, so I'm glad you brought it up here. I haven't played any of the Mario RPGs, and I'm still working my way through the Persona series... I started with Persona 5 and loved it, but unfortunately the randomly generated dungeons make it difficult for me to enjoy the previous titles. Thank you so much for watching and commenting, it is greatly appreciated!!
I still haven't finished a Persona / or other SMT game except for Persona 4 I beat twice, but finishing Persona 3 FES is basically my "bucket list", other than cleaning my room. I'm near the end. Don't quote me on this, but all the other Persona games except 3 & 4 had hand-made maps, not random generated. But those are the 2 best in the series storywise IMO. I haven't played P5. Though I actually own Persona 1, P2: Eternal Punishment (P2 Innocent Sin was the first part, and the US never got part 1 of 2), P3 FES, and P4 (all on PS1 or PS2), and I have the special Persona Q version of the 3DS XL system, and of course the game Persona Q Shadow of the Labrynth, which throws together the cast of P3 & 4 and mixes it with the Etrian Oddysy gameplay (also a good series PQ got me into trying, I like EO IV), plus SMT: Devil Survivor 1 & 2 3DS re-releases, and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (originally on Saturn I think?) 3DS re-release. The latest console I have is PS2 / GameCube, and latest/only handheld is 3DS XL, so can't play P5 sadly. I love the series, and how they meld all myths / religions' creatures & deities and you can either channel them in SMT: Persona games, or summon them (calling them all "demons", even the angels) in the rest of the SMT games. I also really want the 3DS re-release of SMT: Strange Journey despite the above. haha. Oops, wrote a paragraph meant to be a quick sentence.
I was already a veteran of the genera having played not only Final Fantasy 1&4, but also Dragon Warrior 1&3, and yet I still enjoyed Mystic Quest's simplistic charm.
I was 8/9 years old when we got this game when it came out, and both me and my sister enjoyed it. Me personally, I especially loved the music. I had already played FF4, but that game was a lot more frustrating, and I would often get stuck at points. I remember the Baigan battle, the Magus Sisters battle, the Rubicante battle, and the Zeromus battle were especially challenging for me. Mystic Quest was a bit more relaxing to play.
i got mystic quest when i was a kid......i only got it because it said "final fantasy". what amazed me the most about this game is something called fidelity. the quality of the sound is increidble. i wouldnt call it an rpg for dummies....but it's an excellent one for people who have never played an rpg. it keeps exploration super simple. and leveling up, and getting better equipment. if you know someone who has never played an rpg, this is a very good one to start..... unlike might and magic....
I played this game when I was under five, not realizing it was a Final Fantasy game until years later. Mystic Quest completely did its job for me. I soon played Chrono Trigger and FF7, and have been a fan ever since. I never think of Mystic Quest as the "one" game that got me into RPGs, but I enjoyed it. And great video as well, I recently found the channel and enjoy the quality content!
I remember playing this game when I was 15. I had just had surgery on my left hand to fix an injury while playing basketball. It was one of the few games I could play with the SNES controller using one hand as my left hand was isolated to the point I couldn’t do anything for several weeks while healing. I have fond memories of playing it and figuring out like FFIV, you could use healing magic to murder undead. I still have the game and consider it good for what it did for me at a moment of my life that needed it.
Great to see someone approach this game with an understanding of its intended audience. In terms of the save and retry systems there is no reason why you would have to utilize them. Space out your saves to world map or start of dungeons and if you die lose the last save instead of retrying. I played it in this way as a teenager and it never seemed much easier than any other FF game. More simplified for sure, but not necessarily easier.
Wow. I’m really surprised you have so few subscribers/views on this video. I think your analysis is in depth and delivery is natural. Your voice recording quality is also great. I think where you fall down slightly is you cram a lot of information into a short time. I also think your background music could drop a bit so it doesn’t feel like so much is going on.
@@Knux999 Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Constructive criticisim is always welcome! Would you mind explaining what you mean for me though regarding the 'lot of information in a short time'. Do you mean my video overall is too short or that I speak too quickly? Generally my videos are longer, I was attempting to make this one shorter for watch retention, but if it doesn't work well for the audience I'd love to know that! Thank you once again so so much!
Part of the context missing from Square's looking at the performance of Final Fantasy 4 and Final Fantasy USA is this: RPGs already _were_ popular in the West, in fact it was _more complicated_ RPGs _on the PC_ that originally inspired Dragon Quest and thus Square's initial greenlight of the first Final Fantasy. It's not a dumbing down of the console RPG experience that was needed, but a smartening up! One thing I really appreciated about Mystic Quest was the out of battle use of various weapons. This is missing from a lot of games - chopping trees with an axe, blowing open rocks and weak walls with bombs, and so on. This is actually one of my favorite games in the Final Fantasy franchise. I'd have preferred it to have the same simplicity and accessibility, but a slightly higher difficulty.
That is an interesting way to look at it, but i dont think that is entirely the case. Rpgs were popular on computers, butat the time PCs and consoles had entirely dofferent audiences. Consoles were both viewed and marketed as toys for children, while most PC gamers of the time were in their early 20s. This age difference undoubtedly had an effect on RPG sales on consoles.
I was 12 when this game came out and I rented it because I thought it looked like a Zelda game. It wasn't my first RPG, but the only ones I had played up to that point were cryptic early NES and PC RPGs like Ultima, Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, Dungeons of Moria, etc. filled with cryptic nonsense that required you to read the games' huge manuals and hope for the best if you wanted to get anywhere in them. I never got past the first few levels in any of those, but I beat Mystic Quest in a weekend. I was captivated enough that I rented FFIV the following weekend and started a love of the RPG genre that continues to this day. Mystic Quest might not be a great game but it was an excellent gateway drug at a time when most games, especially RPGs, had a very hard time teaching the player through gameplay.
wizardry v for the snes was amazingly good. something happened to one of my characters that i stilldont know if it was a bug or just an effect of one of the many pools. i had a thief that i wanted to become a ninja, so it was evil(and thus my wizard and cleric were evil as well). at some point i noticed the thief had become good. since it was already a high level , i just created a new thief and powerleveled him. and finally got my awesome ninja. and my warriors became samurais(which had to be either neutral or good). and no paladins("lords") as those had to be good.
I personally think that, looking back on it in retrospect, Mystic Quest's biggest problem regarding its reputation are the other Square SNES RPGs that released around it, as it was in the midst of those legendary heavy hitters Square was pumping out at the time -- Final Fantasy IV, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG and Secret of Evermore; even Breath of Fire, which Square published, if you want to count that among the Square SNES games. I became a big RPG fan in this era directly because of these games, where FF VI got its hooks in me to where I craved more like it, and I took note of it being Square and would shortly after devour SoM and CT and FF IV and SoE and BoF; it was in that time that I received MQ as a present, and yeah, it really pales in comparison to those others and being decidedly lesser in nearly all respects. It's not necessarily fair to judge MQ against those other games rather than purely on its own merits, but at that time it was also hard to not judge it against them as it was all Square. I'd say that I wasn't the only one in the world who experienced MQ through that lens; I'm sure some of those people grew up to write online reviews of games, and when they did a retro review of MQ, that old memory of it as being of lesser stock than the greatness around it was still rooted in their minds. It still is for me, in a way. I still own the MQ cart, though I haven't played it in over two decades now. Maybe one day I'll give it another go and see if I like it more than I did back in the day, now that it's nearly 30 years removed from that initial disappointment of me craving after something that MQ wasn't necessarily designed to give.
mystic quest is the first game i bought myself, coming off of ff4, which was HARD to find, i finally was able to buy a used copy of FF4 (well, my parents bought it for me), i bought MQ on releawe day or close and enjoyed it, even if it wasn't great, i enjoyed it and finished it I know it's common knowledge that you can beat the final boss with cure now, but back then, you had to figure it out, and there were parts about it that I did enjoy, lol
mystic quest was the first RPG i ever played. and it is indeed the thing that got me into it. i did enjoy it but i feel that it could have been more complex and i would preferred if there was more Story, that said the sound track was way better then is should have been, as backwards as it sounds the sound track is more enjoyable then many modern games's sound tracks. in that sense its anomalous.
This game was not bad in terms of functioning. It's very well polished, it has a fun soundtrack, it's jump function should have been in every old-school rpg so npcs can't block your way, and being able to interact with the environment like in Zelda was neat. But it was boring. God it was so fucking boring! The story was so basic that it made the likes of FF1 or even DQ2 blush, the characters were about as 1-demensional as possible, and for most of the game you can just hold down the A button to win. That's probably why it got middling review scores, it was too easy and boring, but it was a really well made boring game with even a neat idea or two.
I would argue that Mystic Quest fails at the goal it sets out to accomplish. Yes, it succeeds at being "baby's first RPG" in the fact that it's simple, easy to pick up, and play. But that completely ignores the point of why they wanted to make such a game in the first place. They weren't trying to target a new audience of people who would enjoy a simple game halfway between Zelda 1 and Final Fantasy 1, rather, they were trying to introduce people to RPGs so that they would buy more RPGs in the future. What do you know, RPGs are a type of game that Square sells! "Simple, easy to pick up, and play" are good aspects of a beginner game. **But they aren't the entire formula.** A good beginner game also needs to show you why you'd want to play more games similiar to itself, and that is where Mystic Quest falls short. Mystic Quest teaches a beginner that RPGs are boring button mashers with minimal stratgey and that everything they've heard about the genre having compelling stories is wrong. **Mystic Quest should entice a player to play more RPGs**, but instead it makes them want to go back to Sonic the Hedgehog or NBA Jam. The story should have been top priority. Making the game have a compelling story could encourage a player to pick up more RPGs for the story alone even if they didn't enjoy the game. Again, thier ultimate goal was SELLING MORE RPGS, via conversion of existing gamers into RPG fans. Story is something that was lacking very much in most non RPG genres at the time and would be a main reason to hook gamers into RPGs. They also focused far too much on making the gameplay "Simple" and almost none on making it "fun". Stratgey doesn't have to be complex; if they'd taken the gameplay elements they'd already had and came up with creative ways to use them (which I'd argue they did decently with the Pazuzu boss battle), they could have made the game a lot more fun to play and a lot more engaging than "press A to win".
Maybe it was because I had played from the NES games, but I quickly was invested in the story. Yes, the battles were simple for me as a veteran player, but it was beautiful, the music was good, it was part of a damn hard to find genre, and was different from the other games out at the time. I wish it would be released again. It was enjoyable, and I'd love to play it, again.
Complexity is overrated I think the fact that Video Game critics when discussing a Game's Story still treat "Simple" and "Not compelling" as synonymous with not good shows how insecure fans of the medium still are. I like Mystic Quest specifically for the Story, I don't care that it isn't, I don't care that doesn't have some super deep message to it. The character made an impact on me. In film criticism more and more people are realizing that the reasons modern films so often fall apart is because they're trying too hard to be complex. Raiders of The Lost Arc is an incredibly simple story and that's why it works. I've seen so many ALttP videos make part of their "isn't hasn't aged all that well" argument tied to the lack of "Sophistication" compared to later Zelda games. But frankly in the full 3D Zelda is Games exactly the obsession with making them more complex that leads to them not holding up under scrutiny.
There's a lot to think about here. I both agree and disagree. In terms of 'complexity' itself, the more moving parts something has, the more likely it is for one of those parts to break. It is easier to make a 'simple' game polished because of this. On the other hand, critics, hobbyists etc often crave complexity because they are often more well versed in the medium. It becomes difficult to be enthralled by something simple once you've become proficient enough in it or oversaturated by it. So I see both sides and have often fallen on both sides.
The music is great. And yeah, I think it gets beat down worse than it deserves for what it was as well. On a side note though, many people DID know about Japan-Only RPGs at that time. Because magazines tended to cover the ones that were popular over there as "potentially" coming stateside, even though few ever did. I remember after Shining Force was doing well here, magazines showed previews of fire emblem as a "mature take on the fire emblem formula" and covered each game as they came out, but none ever came state side for many years. Final Fantasy 5 WAS announced as well (they called it "Final Fantasy Extreme" and I even had it pre-ordered, but the game was canceled over here. I actually called the main customer support office in dissapointment to ask why, and was told they just didnt think it was a worthwhile follow up to Final Fantasy 3 (yes, they called it "Extreme" to avoid confusion, as it was announced AFTER FF6 (called 3. Your right they can't name worth a damn) became very popular.
'Many people' is relative. Certainly enthusiasts knew, but not your average consumer. Even now most people don't follow gaming news and such very closely, fans like you and I are used to being in our bubbles, especially with the internet, and assume that the dedicated audience is the majority when it isn't. That said, I knew about FFV Extreme (talk about it in my FFV video) but I had no idea that games were pre-orderable back then. Makes me wonder when that started. Not many items use that business model, so I'm curious to know when/why Video Games started that up.
@@StilesReviews Pre orders were something you could do at places in the malls such as "Electronics Boutique", small "Mom and Pop" gamestores that were sprinkled about, ect. I don't think we had a Gamestop till much later. But I remember pre-orders being a thing as far back as Final Fantasy 3 (6) Shining Force, and Phantasy Star 4.
Honestly, a good “beginner rpg” that I don’t think gets its dues is Dragon Quest 1. No I’m not high, let me explain. It’s very good at introducing the barest of basics of an rpg. MP management, grinding, enemy weaknesses, strategizing for your equipment purchases, interacting with townspeople, the works. Will it necessarily keep the attention of a child? Not really (my first play through was incomplete and I wouldn’t finish the game for a few years afterward), but it didn’t have to be. Lemme put it like this. I played OG Dragon Warrior on the NES, decades after its release, having tried games like Earthbound beforehand, and I was still drawn in and finally convinced about how fun RPGs could be by it. Maybe I’m just weird, but I’d like to think it speaks to the quality of that game.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I actually have played the original Dragon Quest and I enjoy it to a point... I prefer the GBC re-release because of how it cuts out pointless grinding, but I do think it is decent.
Its decent at what it is trying to do but I would say its more for old school gamers and the type of gamer that loves dragon quest style games where you have to imagine the game to be more than what it shows. It was a game that was one step away from computer RPGs trying to simplify and streamline the experience. However, I would not recommend this game to modern gamers or any gamer that grew up in the snes era and beyond. FFIV, Chrono Trigger, FFVI, and many others would be better because the story is one of the most often cited things that hook people.
Yeah I've been saying this for a long time. Mystic Quest is babies first RPG. Always has been always will be. Usually my go to if I ever wanna get anyone into RPGs.
I'm not sure what my go to would be to get people into RPGs. I'd probably just suggest they play whatever looks interesting to them, or take the game that looks interesting to them and suggest something similar but easier.
Depends on your definition. I Enjoy Anthromorphic art and animals are adorable. I've had Anthromorphic characters in the past, and my Thumbnail was drawn by a furry artist. I have many friends who are pridefully part of the Furry fandom and I think that's awesome. I'm most definitely 'Furry Friendly' as people tend to put it, at the very least. That said I don't suit and I don't go to cons. I don't spend time on furry forums or really take part in the fandom in any meaningful way except by proximity, so I'll let others who are more informed than I decide if I am a Furry or not. That said... those who insult the fandom overall are idiots... it's an artistic movement/hobby like any other.. and the vitriol towards it is no different than that of the D&D scares that happened in the 80s, and while I don't think that your intention was rudeness, any rude comments made in that direction will result in being blocked from commenting on my channel, just as hate speech against any other group would be handled. Once again, not saying that was your goal, but I knew this question would come up eventually, and I want anyone who does read this comment to know where I stand on the 'issue'. Most importantly of all, Thank you for watching and commenting! Never be afraid to ask questions on my channel!
Mystic Quest was my 3rd Final Fantasy game at the age of 10. I'd already had the joy of playing FF 1 and 4, as well as Dragon Quest 1-4 Even at 10, Mystic Quest felt insulting to my intelligence, because I'd already played several games in the genre that were better in almost every way. MQ was very newbie and child friendly, but it was so easy, that losing took effort.
Great analysis of the game, all fair points about the strategy and exploration.
My very first owned RPG was FF II on SNES (aka 4) which was traded to me on a middle-school playground. I didn't even own a SNES at the time, I let my other friend borrow it, and went over his house for a couple hours every day to play it, and he got to use the other save slots and play it the rest of the time.
I bought Mystic Quest game not too long after beating FF2, and *I loved it!* (as a middle-school aged kid)
It came with a full color fold out map of the world, and the instruction manual had all the items, weapons and armor, in it. I still have those, as well as the manual and map for FF III, and most of my other SNES games. I liked the story, what there was, and the exploration of levels and the Zelda-like ways you got to move around was a good genre blend. I also already owned "A Link to the Past".
One of the things I loved most about FF: MQ was not mentioned in this video, however, and if the rumors are held to be true - was an "accident". Though I'm not sure how that could be true.
The fact every single "white magic" spell could be used for *offense* not just defense. Healing spell would hurt undead, the one spell that tried to cure all status effects when cast on your party members, would instead try to *apply* every single status effect in one attack. Life spell, when used on a foe, became a Death spell.
And my favorite?
"Exit"
A spell meant to get you out of combat, instead took a foe out of combat instantly.
I had a paranoid fear every time I used the spell that I would one day find "The Land of Exited Monsters" and have to fight every single one in succession.
Wouldn't that have been an awesome twist? But alas, it never came.
As an adult, I've tried to play through it again, but I get bored.
My favorite part of the story was at the end boss where he says that HE was the one to start the rumor about a legendary hero that would come defeat him, and laughs at your foolishness. Only to be defeated of course.
If you haven't played Super Mario RPG for SNES, you really should. It's good.
OR better yet, play "Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door" on GameCube if you haven't. It's *EASILY* in my top 10 RPG's ever along side "Persona 3 FES" which is a very different game, and "Persona 4" on PS2. 1k year door is a game that was absolutely FUN from start to finish, and more colorfull than being on magic mushrooms.
Thanks for sharing your story, I really enjoyed reading it!! I Tried working in the whole 'white magic as damage spells' thing into the script specifically in regards to the last battle, but I couldn't find a way to make it flow naturally and I felt it wasn't really part of my overall thesis to begin with, that said, it was the hardest element for me to cut from the video, so I'm glad you brought it up here.
I haven't played any of the Mario RPGs, and I'm still working my way through the Persona series... I started with Persona 5 and loved it, but unfortunately the randomly generated dungeons make it difficult for me to enjoy the previous titles.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting, it is greatly appreciated!!
I still haven't finished a Persona / or other SMT game except for Persona 4 I beat twice, but finishing Persona 3 FES is basically my "bucket list", other than cleaning my room. I'm near the end. Don't quote me on this, but all the other Persona games except 3 & 4 had hand-made maps, not random generated. But those are the 2 best in the series storywise IMO. I haven't played P5.
Though I actually own Persona 1, P2: Eternal Punishment (P2 Innocent Sin was the first part, and the US never got part 1 of 2), P3 FES, and P4 (all on PS1 or PS2), and I have the special Persona Q version of the 3DS XL system, and of course the game Persona Q Shadow of the Labrynth, which throws together the cast of P3 & 4 and mixes it with the Etrian Oddysy gameplay (also a good series PQ got me into trying, I like EO IV), plus SMT: Devil Survivor 1 & 2 3DS re-releases, and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (originally on Saturn I think?) 3DS re-release. The latest console I have is PS2 / GameCube, and latest/only handheld is 3DS XL, so can't play P5 sadly. I love the series, and how they meld all myths / religions' creatures & deities and you can either channel them in SMT: Persona games, or summon them (calling them all "demons", even the angels) in the rest of the SMT games. I also really want the 3DS re-release of SMT: Strange Journey despite the above. haha.
Oops, wrote a paragraph meant to be a quick sentence.
When I said "I'm near the end" after mentioning a bucket list, I meant near the end of Persona 3. Just... thought I should clarify.
I was already a veteran of the genera having played not only Final Fantasy 1&4, but also Dragon Warrior 1&3, and yet I still enjoyed Mystic Quest's simplistic charm.
I was 8/9 years old when we got this game when it came out, and both me and my sister enjoyed it. Me personally, I especially loved the music. I had already played FF4, but that game was a lot more frustrating, and I would often get stuck at points. I remember the Baigan battle, the Magus Sisters battle, the Rubicante battle, and the Zeromus battle were especially challenging for me. Mystic Quest was a bit more relaxing to play.
i got mystic quest when i was a kid......i only got it because it said "final fantasy".
what amazed me the most about this game is something called fidelity. the quality of the sound is increidble.
i wouldnt call it an rpg for dummies....but it's an excellent one for people who have never played an rpg.
it keeps exploration super simple. and leveling up, and getting better equipment.
if you know someone who has never played an rpg, this is a very good one to start.....
unlike might and magic....
I played this game when I was under five, not realizing it was a Final Fantasy game until years later.
Mystic Quest completely did its job for me. I soon played Chrono Trigger and FF7, and have been a fan ever since. I never think of Mystic Quest as the "one" game that got me into RPGs, but I enjoyed it.
And great video as well, I recently found the channel and enjoy the quality content!
Thanks so much for watching and commenting. Im loving hearing all the anecdotes about whether or not Mystic Quest did its job for people.
How did I miss this video? Darn RUclips!
I loved this game. The music alone makes this game worth while!
Edit: That blooper at the end! ROFL
I remember playing this game when I was 15. I had just had surgery on my left hand to fix an injury while playing basketball. It was one of the few games I could play with the SNES controller using one hand as my left hand was isolated to the point I couldn’t do anything for several weeks while healing.
I have fond memories of playing it and figuring out like FFIV, you could use healing magic to murder undead. I still have the game and consider it good for what it did for me at a moment of my life that needed it.
Great to see someone approach this game with an understanding of its intended audience. In terms of the save and retry systems there is no reason why you would have to utilize them. Space out your saves to world map or start of dungeons and if you die lose the last save instead of retrying. I played it in this way as a teenager and it never seemed much easier than any other FF game. More simplified for sure, but not necessarily easier.
How have you not got at least 1000 subscribers or even 1000 views on this video, honestly you deserve so much more, I feel genuinely bad...
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! It is taking sometime but im getting closer to 1000 eveey day
Stiles' Reviews Just a little sad how much effort you put in and still do not get the attention you deserve
Wow. I’m really surprised you have so few subscribers/views on this video. I think your analysis is in depth and delivery is natural. Your voice recording quality is also great. I think where you fall down slightly is you cram a lot of information into a short time. I also think your background music could drop a bit so it doesn’t feel like so much is going on.
Good stuff though! Thought I’d just be constructive! :-)
@@Knux999 Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Constructive criticisim is always welcome! Would you mind explaining what you mean for me though regarding the 'lot of information in a short time'. Do you mean my video overall is too short or that I speak too quickly? Generally my videos are longer, I was attempting to make this one shorter for watch retention, but if it doesn't work well for the audience I'd love to know that! Thank you once again so so much!
Worked for me. Was my first RPG on my super nintendo. Got the game when I was 6, hooked on Rpgs ever since
Part of the context missing from Square's looking at the performance of Final Fantasy 4 and Final Fantasy USA is this:
RPGs already _were_ popular in the West, in fact it was _more complicated_ RPGs _on the PC_ that originally inspired Dragon Quest and thus Square's initial greenlight of the first Final Fantasy. It's not a dumbing down of the console RPG experience that was needed, but a smartening up!
One thing I really appreciated about Mystic Quest was the out of battle use of various weapons. This is missing from a lot of games - chopping trees with an axe, blowing open rocks and weak walls with bombs, and so on.
This is actually one of my favorite games in the Final Fantasy franchise. I'd have preferred it to have the same simplicity and accessibility, but a slightly higher difficulty.
Don't call me kid, my name's Nathan!
Hahaha, and it was basically a coin toss when I was born whether I was going to be named Nathan or Benjamin.
That is an interesting way to look at it, but i dont think that is entirely the case. Rpgs were popular on computers, butat the time PCs and consoles had entirely dofferent audiences. Consoles were both viewed and marketed as toys for children, while most PC gamers of the time were in their early 20s. This age difference undoubtedly had an effect on RPG sales on consoles.
I was 12 when this game came out and I rented it because I thought it looked like a Zelda game. It wasn't my first RPG, but the only ones I had played up to that point were cryptic early NES and PC RPGs like Ultima, Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, Dungeons of Moria, etc. filled with cryptic nonsense that required you to read the games' huge manuals and hope for the best if you wanted to get anywhere in them. I never got past the first few levels in any of those, but I beat Mystic Quest in a weekend. I was captivated enough that I rented FFIV the following weekend and started a love of the RPG genre that continues to this day. Mystic Quest might not be a great game but it was an excellent gateway drug at a time when most games, especially RPGs, had a very hard time teaching the player through gameplay.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
wizardry v for the snes was amazingly good.
something happened to one of my characters that i stilldont know if it was a bug or just an effect of one of the many pools.
i had a thief that i wanted to become a ninja, so it was evil(and thus my wizard and cleric were evil as well). at some point i noticed the thief had become good.
since it was already a high level , i just created a new thief and powerleveled him. and finally got my awesome ninja. and my warriors became samurais(which had to be either neutral or good). and no paladins("lords") as those had to be good.
Super glad to see you back, good sir!
Thank you, it's good to be back!
I personally think that, looking back on it in retrospect, Mystic Quest's biggest problem regarding its reputation are the other Square SNES RPGs that released around it, as it was in the midst of those legendary heavy hitters Square was pumping out at the time -- Final Fantasy IV, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG and Secret of Evermore; even Breath of Fire, which Square published, if you want to count that among the Square SNES games.
I became a big RPG fan in this era directly because of these games, where FF VI got its hooks in me to where I craved more like it, and I took note of it being Square and would shortly after devour SoM and CT and FF IV and SoE and BoF; it was in that time that I received MQ as a present, and yeah, it really pales in comparison to those others and being decidedly lesser in nearly all respects. It's not necessarily fair to judge MQ against those other games rather than purely on its own merits, but at that time it was also hard to not judge it against them as it was all Square.
I'd say that I wasn't the only one in the world who experienced MQ through that lens; I'm sure some of those people grew up to write online reviews of games, and when they did a retro review of MQ, that old memory of it as being of lesser stock than the greatness around it was still rooted in their minds. It still is for me, in a way. I still own the MQ cart, though I haven't played it in over two decades now. Maybe one day I'll give it another go and see if I like it more than I did back in the day, now that it's nearly 30 years removed from that initial disappointment of me craving after something that MQ wasn't necessarily designed to give.
Thanks for watching and for writing such an in depth comment in response. I really appreciated reading about your experience with the game
EGM ran a small report on 5, but claimed it was a direct sequel to 2 (4)
I was so happy to see Mystic Quest being represented in Final Barline!!
mystic quest is the first game i bought myself, coming off of ff4, which was HARD to find, i finally was able to buy a used copy of FF4 (well, my parents bought it for me), i bought MQ on releawe day or close and enjoyed it, even if it wasn't great, i enjoyed it and finished it
I know it's common knowledge that you can beat the final boss with cure now, but back then, you had to figure it out, and there were parts about it that I did enjoy, lol
I was gonna play this with my son when he is old enough to read.
Not a terrible way to start, at least in my opinion lol. I hope you both enjoy it!
I played this game as a teenager on my SNES I liked it. Also thanks for mentioning Golden Sun!
mystic quest was the first RPG i ever played. and it is indeed the thing that got me into it. i did enjoy it but i feel that it could have been more complex and i would preferred if there was more Story, that said the sound track was way better then is should have been, as backwards as it sounds the sound track is more enjoyable then many modern games's sound tracks. in that sense its anomalous.
Is the KH game shown at the end the PS4 version of Birth By Sleep?
It is indeed.
This game was not bad in terms of functioning. It's very well polished, it has a fun soundtrack, it's jump function should have been in every old-school rpg so npcs can't block your way, and being able to interact with the environment like in Zelda was neat. But it was boring. God it was so fucking boring! The story was so basic that it made the likes of FF1 or even DQ2 blush, the characters were about as 1-demensional as possible, and for most of the game you can just hold down the A button to win. That's probably why it got middling review scores, it was too easy and boring, but it was a really well made boring game with even a neat idea or two.
Awesome video!
Thank you very much for taking the time to watch and comment!
I would argue that Mystic Quest fails at the goal it sets out to accomplish.
Yes, it succeeds at being "baby's first RPG" in the fact that it's simple, easy to pick up, and play. But that completely ignores the point of why they wanted to make such a game in the first place. They weren't trying to target a new audience of people who would enjoy a simple game halfway between Zelda 1 and Final Fantasy 1, rather, they were trying to introduce people to RPGs so that they would buy more RPGs in the future. What do you know, RPGs are a type of game that Square sells!
"Simple, easy to pick up, and play" are good aspects of a beginner game. **But they aren't the entire formula.** A good beginner game also needs to show you why you'd want to play more games similiar to itself, and that is where Mystic Quest falls short. Mystic Quest teaches a beginner that RPGs are boring button mashers with minimal stratgey and that everything they've heard about the genre having compelling stories is wrong. **Mystic Quest should entice a player to play more RPGs**, but instead it makes them want to go back to Sonic the Hedgehog or NBA Jam.
The story should have been top priority. Making the game have a compelling story could encourage a player to pick up more RPGs for the story alone even if they didn't enjoy the game. Again, thier ultimate goal was SELLING MORE RPGS, via conversion of existing gamers into RPG fans. Story is something that was lacking very much in most non RPG genres at the time and would be a main reason to hook gamers into RPGs.
They also focused far too much on making the gameplay "Simple" and almost none on making it "fun". Stratgey doesn't have to be complex; if they'd taken the gameplay elements they'd already had and came up with creative ways to use them (which I'd argue they did decently with the Pazuzu boss battle), they could have made the game a lot more fun to play and a lot more engaging than "press A to win".
Interesting thoughts on the matter, in that case no one succeeded before FFVII
Maybe it was because I had played from the NES games, but I quickly was invested in the story. Yes, the battles were simple for me as a veteran player, but it was beautiful, the music was good, it was part of a damn hard to find genre, and was different from the other games out at the time.
I wish it would be released again. It was enjoyable, and I'd love to play it, again.
Complexity is overrated I think the fact that Video Game critics when discussing a Game's Story still treat "Simple" and "Not compelling" as synonymous with not good shows how insecure fans of the medium still are. I like Mystic Quest specifically for the Story, I don't care that it isn't, I don't care that doesn't have some super deep message to it. The character made an impact on me.
In film criticism more and more people are realizing that the reasons modern films so often fall apart is because they're trying too hard to be complex. Raiders of The Lost Arc is an incredibly simple story and that's why it works.
I've seen so many ALttP videos make part of their "isn't hasn't aged all that well" argument tied to the lack of "Sophistication" compared to later Zelda games. But frankly in the full 3D Zelda is Games exactly the obsession with making them more complex that leads to them not holding up under scrutiny.
There's a lot to think about here. I both agree and disagree. In terms of 'complexity' itself, the more moving parts something has, the more likely it is for one of those parts to break. It is easier to make a 'simple' game polished because of this. On the other hand, critics, hobbyists etc often crave complexity because they are often more well versed in the medium. It becomes difficult to be enthralled by something simple once you've become proficient enough in it or oversaturated by it.
So I see both sides and have often fallen on both sides.
The music is great. And yeah, I think it gets beat down worse than it deserves for what it was as well.
On a side note though, many people DID know about Japan-Only RPGs at that time. Because magazines tended to cover the ones that were popular over there as "potentially" coming stateside, even though few ever did. I remember after Shining Force was doing well here, magazines showed previews of fire emblem as a "mature take on the fire emblem formula" and covered each game as they came out, but none ever came state side for many years. Final Fantasy 5 WAS announced as well (they called it "Final Fantasy Extreme" and I even had it pre-ordered, but the game was canceled over here. I actually called the main customer support office in dissapointment to ask why, and was told they just didnt think it was a worthwhile follow up to Final Fantasy 3 (yes, they called it "Extreme" to avoid confusion, as it was announced AFTER FF6 (called 3. Your right they can't name worth a damn) became very popular.
'Many people' is relative. Certainly enthusiasts knew, but not your average consumer. Even now most people don't follow gaming news and such very closely, fans like you and I are used to being in our bubbles, especially with the internet, and assume that the dedicated audience is the majority when it isn't.
That said, I knew about FFV Extreme (talk about it in my FFV video) but I had no idea that games were pre-orderable back then. Makes me wonder when that started. Not many items use that business model, so I'm curious to know when/why Video Games started that up.
@@StilesReviews Pre orders were something you could do at places in the malls such as "Electronics Boutique", small "Mom and Pop" gamestores that were sprinkled about, ect. I don't think we had a Gamestop till much later. But I remember pre-orders being a thing as far back as Final Fantasy 3 (6) Shining Force, and Phantasy Star 4.
What did he say at 5:00 minute mark ..sounded like pal territories
Yeah, that is what i said. PAL territories, as in areas that used the PAL standard as opposed to NTSC.
Honestly, a good “beginner rpg” that I don’t think gets its dues is Dragon Quest 1.
No I’m not high, let me explain.
It’s very good at introducing the barest of basics of an rpg. MP management, grinding, enemy weaknesses, strategizing for your equipment purchases, interacting with townspeople, the works. Will it necessarily keep the attention of a child? Not really (my first play through was incomplete and I wouldn’t finish the game for a few years afterward), but it didn’t have to be.
Lemme put it like this. I played OG Dragon Warrior on the NES, decades after its release, having tried games like Earthbound beforehand, and I was still drawn in and finally convinced about how fun RPGs could be by it. Maybe I’m just weird, but I’d like to think it speaks to the quality of that game.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I actually have played the original Dragon Quest and I enjoy it to a point... I prefer the GBC re-release because of how it cuts out pointless grinding, but I do think it is decent.
Its decent at what it is trying to do but I would say its more for old school gamers and the type of gamer that loves dragon quest style games where you have to imagine the game to be more than what it shows. It was a game that was one step away from computer RPGs trying to simplify and streamline the experience. However, I would not recommend this game to modern gamers or any gamer that grew up in the snes era and beyond. FFIV, Chrono Trigger, FFVI, and many others would be better because the story is one of the most often cited things that hook people.
Yeah I've been saying this for a long time. Mystic Quest is babies first RPG. Always has been always will be. Usually my go to if I ever wanna get anyone into RPGs.
I'm not sure what my go to would be to get people into RPGs. I'd probably just suggest they play whatever looks interesting to them, or take the game that looks interesting to them and suggest something similar but easier.
Are you whatever a furrie is?
Depends on your definition. I Enjoy Anthromorphic art and animals are adorable. I've had Anthromorphic characters in the past, and my Thumbnail was drawn by a furry artist. I have many friends who are pridefully part of the Furry fandom and I think that's awesome. I'm most definitely 'Furry Friendly' as people tend to put it, at the very least.
That said I don't suit and I don't go to cons. I don't spend time on furry forums or really take part in the fandom in any meaningful way except by proximity, so I'll let others who are more informed than I decide if I am a Furry or not.
That said... those who insult the fandom overall are idiots... it's an artistic movement/hobby like any other.. and the vitriol towards it is no different than that of the D&D scares that happened in the 80s, and while I don't think that your intention was rudeness, any rude comments made in that direction will result in being blocked from commenting on my channel, just as hate speech against any other group would be handled. Once again, not saying that was your goal, but I knew this question would come up eventually, and I want anyone who does read this comment to know where I stand on the 'issue'.
Most importantly of all, Thank you for watching and commenting! Never be afraid to ask questions on my channel!
Ah ok great review.
@@Thefury06484 Thank you once again, and thank you for being open to discussion!
I'm furry neutral
Shaadddup Tihadaru lol
Mystic Quest was my 3rd Final Fantasy game at the age of 10.
I'd already had the joy of playing FF 1 and 4, as well as Dragon Quest 1-4
Even at 10, Mystic Quest felt insulting to my intelligence, because I'd already played several games in the genre that were better in almost every way.
MQ was very newbie and child friendly, but it was so easy, that losing took effort.
I appreciate you commenting on your experience with the game!