Seven heroes from seven different Worlds. Seven heroes who were brought to a mysterious temple on a remote island and transformed into statues. Seven heroes who are chosen to bring harmony back to the universe: Miriene the witch (wizard), Lux the tetsujin (a race of iron people), Reeshina the grappler (monk), Tokio the ninja, Kamio the ogre, and Mesia the priestess. The seventh hero is you, the protagonist of the game - the knight Remeer or the female warrior Ferris. Your first task will be to release your companions from the statues they are locked in. You must travel to the Cat World and to retrieve an important artifact. But your main objective is to visit all the seven Worlds and to find seven mystic arks - the items that will re-unite those Worlds and bring peace to them. "Mystic Ark" is a RPG closely connected to 7th Saga. You travel on overworld map, visit towns, buy equipment, and descend into dungeons. The combat is turn-based and viewed from a third-person "over-the-shoulder" perspective. The battles are not random: the enemies can be seen as white dots on your radar, and if you don't want to fight, you can sometimes outrun or avoid them. The game also contains elements of pure adventure: often you must investigate objects closely and use items from your inventory on them.
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Produce's Mystic Ark effectively updates an old RPG idea: What used to be the 'Examine' command (a menu-based function that searches for pickups/NPCs in the player's direction, later replaced by the interact button) is now a full-fledged system. Also found in their previous Elnard (from which they also inherited its radar-map encounters), this time the feature is used not only for collecting items, investigating objects and talking, but also for matching the former with the second to make progress. Not surprisingly, their gameplay is more puzzle-oriented than the average JRPG. Its dungeons compose a decent overview of adventure game techniques (push blocks, levers, crumbling-floor traps, etc.), but the quirky levels, the wealth of creative and funny moments, and the equally complex hub world made their method quite unique. Plenty of tasks are just tricky enough to require a bit of experimentation and thinking (or guides), but rarely do they leave the player directionless.
Combat - instead, isn't nearly as brainy nor exciting; turn-based frontview battling that would have felt outdated even in '95, despite improving over Elnard in many ways (notably the addition of modular auto-tactics and a range of skills across both magic and attack commands). Sometimes they lapse into mazes or standard trials, and the pacing & menus resemble that of old-school crawlers. But across its towns, scenarios (check out the brilliant 'haunted-house-with-environmental-puzzles' of act 6), enemy designs, gameplay variety (including monster capture and minigames), QoL (minimizing backtracking burnout by allowing fast travel from virtually anywhere), characters, cutscenes and graphics, Produce shows remarkable progress.
This work, along with the more Zelda-rooted Lufia 2 (and Wild Arms to an extent), were the JRPGs that upheld adventure game traditions in an era that favored storytelling and combat, which - arguably, were much easier ways to inflate the runtime.
Combat - instead, isn't nearly as brainy nor exciting; turn-based frontview battling that would have felt outdated even in '95, despite improving over Elnard in many ways (notably the addition of modular auto-tactics and a range of skills across both magic and attack commands). Sometimes they lapse into mazes or standard trials, and the pacing & menus resemble that of old-school crawlers. But across its towns, scenarios (check out the brilliant 'haunted-house-with-environmental-puzzles' of act 6), enemy designs, gameplay variety (including monster capture and minigames), QoL (minimizing backtracking burnout by allowing fast travel from virtually anywhere), characters, cutscenes and graphics, Produce shows remarkable progress.
This work, along with the more Zelda-rooted Lufia 2 (and Wild Arms to an extent), were the JRPGs that upheld adventure game traditions in an era that favored storytelling and combat, which - arguably, were much easier ways to inflate the runtime.
Game Review - originally written by Red Soul / Wildbill
Mystic Ark is a universe of mysterious doors, a huge multi-scenario RPG by Enix, that story-wise is not connected to The 7th Saga. Although a few of its features and characters have been carried over from the preceeding game, any reference that depicts this work as The 7th Saga-II is erronious. If such localization nomenclature were to be followed, Mystic Ark would more appropriately be called The 8th Saga. Nevertheless, our English patch will leave this game as Mystic Ark.
The tale centers around a single fighter who is captured by an unknown force, turned into a wooden Figurine, and whisked away to a spooky back chamber of a palace-like mansion that has only recently materialized on a desert island. When he or she is awakened by a eerie voice, the fighter encounters many other Figurines throughout the premises, some of which are fellow combatants who must be freed from this curse in order to be reanimated and fight at the hero’s side. In searching for their homes, everyone must confront a number of powerful adversaries along the way that seem determined not to relinquish any of the seven Arks that not only harbor special powers, but hold the keys to opening new doors to other worlds.
Hero Remeer or Heroine Ferris, whoever a player chooses to become at the start of gameplay - with an option to choose a new name up to 8-letters long - will explore the whole remote island chain and eight strange worlds before confronting the truth about the perpetrator that is turning almost everthing that exists into Figurines. For the most part, each world stands as a self-contained quest, much like the chapters of Dragon Quest-IV, and each new scenario appears stranger than the one that preceeded it. In the end, the hero must confront an unlikely villain in a situation that seems to defy rationality!
Mystic Ark is not an average RPG. It plays old school, but it’s much deeper than “A hero goes off to save the world” plot. The main character may have no defined background, but its safe to assume the author intended it that way. In literature, this phenomenon is called the “everyman character” which means Remeer could be any male, Ferris could be any female. The desired effect is to have a player assume the main character’s role.
Each world in Mystic Ark is so varied, a player winds up learning new concepts and growing in character, Of course, this happens to the main character in the game as well, as the story inveigles us to ponder our own virtues and ask questions such as, “Who are we? Do we have what it takes to be truly good people? Just how much does our own darkness rule us? Are we ready to change our world for the better?”
So take the plunge and find your own answers as you enjoy this fine masterpiece that is Mystic Ark.
Mystic Ark is a universe of mysterious doors, a huge multi-scenario RPG by Enix, that story-wise is not connected to The 7th Saga. Although a few of its features and characters have been carried over from the preceeding game, any reference that depicts this work as The 7th Saga-II is erronious. If such localization nomenclature were to be followed, Mystic Ark would more appropriately be called The 8th Saga. Nevertheless, our English patch will leave this game as Mystic Ark.
The tale centers around a single fighter who is captured by an unknown force, turned into a wooden Figurine, and whisked away to a spooky back chamber of a palace-like mansion that has only recently materialized on a desert island. When he or she is awakened by a eerie voice, the fighter encounters many other Figurines throughout the premises, some of which are fellow combatants who must be freed from this curse in order to be reanimated and fight at the hero’s side. In searching for their homes, everyone must confront a number of powerful adversaries along the way that seem determined not to relinquish any of the seven Arks that not only harbor special powers, but hold the keys to opening new doors to other worlds.
Hero Remeer or Heroine Ferris, whoever a player chooses to become at the start of gameplay - with an option to choose a new name up to 8-letters long - will explore the whole remote island chain and eight strange worlds before confronting the truth about the perpetrator that is turning almost everthing that exists into Figurines. For the most part, each world stands as a self-contained quest, much like the chapters of Dragon Quest-IV, and each new scenario appears stranger than the one that preceeded it. In the end, the hero must confront an unlikely villain in a situation that seems to defy rationality!
Mystic Ark is not an average RPG. It plays old school, but it’s much deeper than “A hero goes off to save the world” plot. The main character may have no defined background, but its safe to assume the author intended it that way. In literature, this phenomenon is called the “everyman character” which means Remeer could be any male, Ferris could be any female. The desired effect is to have a player assume the main character’s role.
Each world in Mystic Ark is so varied, a player winds up learning new concepts and growing in character, Of course, this happens to the main character in the game as well, as the story inveigles us to ponder our own virtues and ask questions such as, “Who are we? Do we have what it takes to be truly good people? Just how much does our own darkness rule us? Are we ready to change our world for the better?”
So take the plunge and find your own answers as you enjoy this fine masterpiece that is Mystic Ark.
I dunno, normally I bounce off an rpg that makes you talk to every townperson for the first hour, but here they’re all cat pirates so it kinda rules. Combat seems super dumb so far but everything looks nice.
Highly, HIGHLY underrated gem of the genre. I wish more people talked about this game.
I don't have a lot to say about this one, mostly because I picked it up on a whim and there was something about it that was interesting enough to keep playing...but the game itself was simultaneously...lazy?
The basic premise is that there is some force that turns you into a little wooden statue, and you have enough willpower to break out. As you continue through the game, you get McGuffins (the Arks) that do different things, kind of like HMs from Pokemon. There's an Ark of Wisdom that if you use it whenever looking at a language you don't understand, it'll translate it, or provide insight into how something functions. Ark of Strength lets you perform a feat of strength, etc etc.
You eventually find other statues that you can instill these Arks into to create party members, and so you can kind of customize your party and switch them at any point, and while each has a very specific role and their own skills, it never really feels too different using one from another.
The ending also comes completely out of nowhere (the big bad is introduced in the dungeon before the last) and just kind of feels empty when you complete it. Nothing was particularly hard or difficult and so after beating it, it just kind of feels like 'okay.'
The basic premise is that there is some force that turns you into a little wooden statue, and you have enough willpower to break out. As you continue through the game, you get McGuffins (the Arks) that do different things, kind of like HMs from Pokemon. There's an Ark of Wisdom that if you use it whenever looking at a language you don't understand, it'll translate it, or provide insight into how something functions. Ark of Strength lets you perform a feat of strength, etc etc.
You eventually find other statues that you can instill these Arks into to create party members, and so you can kind of customize your party and switch them at any point, and while each has a very specific role and their own skills, it never really feels too different using one from another.
The ending also comes completely out of nowhere (the big bad is introduced in the dungeon before the last) and just kind of feels empty when you complete it. Nothing was particularly hard or difficult and so after beating it, it just kind of feels like 'okay.'
Somehow better and worse than The 7th Saga at the same time. The worlds you go to each have a fun quirk you have to solve, like one overrun by weird machines where one half has no color and the other no sound, or a desert where cat pirates fight each other on ships stranded in sand. I struggle to remember any place I ever went to in 7th, meanwhile.
But in this game the hero and your characters are just there, and it’s hard to figure out why until the very end when the game sort of tells you. 7th Saga was interesting because each character had different strengths and alignments, and you also interacted with whoever you didn’t pick on your journey. It’s hard not to know in that game you’re collecting the magical objects because so is everyone else, and they’ll fight you for them too! Alas, there is little to no background for any of the characters who join you here. You just have action figures of a ninja, wizard, monk, healer, etc, that you can make come alive any time you want and put away when you’re done.
They both have one thing in common, though: both games are way too fuckin hard and not worth playing without either some kind of patch or codes.
I’m also taking a half star off because I’m actually talking about the game in my review. Usually I can come up with a silly little non-sequitur that only tangentially has to do with the game but is really just a vehicle to self-aggrandize me and my huge brain dick. And usually I can’t stand it when people just talk about the game. “Impressive graphics but I have to knock it a little bit for the awkward controls.” Like no shit, man, we all know it has good graphics and bad play control because we all played it, that’s why we’re on here! Why don’t you say something like funny or interesting about it instead. Or even worse, just a link to some wheezy asshole’s YouTube channel. Yeah my guy, I’m on letterboxd for games to procrastinate for a minute before I have to make my rent payment, but I’m definitely going to give you a click and put up with your nasal upper-register weird as hell Norgwegian-if-I-had-to-guess accent while you talk about how Dragon Quest V is overrated for an hour and a half. But anyway, you can see I’ve thought a lot about this and in most other cases I’m careful to avoid this pitfall but no, not this time, just straight up game commentary for Mystic Ark out of me. I have to consider the real possibility that it’s the game’s fault for this and not mine this time, so half star off.
But in this game the hero and your characters are just there, and it’s hard to figure out why until the very end when the game sort of tells you. 7th Saga was interesting because each character had different strengths and alignments, and you also interacted with whoever you didn’t pick on your journey. It’s hard not to know in that game you’re collecting the magical objects because so is everyone else, and they’ll fight you for them too! Alas, there is little to no background for any of the characters who join you here. You just have action figures of a ninja, wizard, monk, healer, etc, that you can make come alive any time you want and put away when you’re done.
They both have one thing in common, though: both games are way too fuckin hard and not worth playing without either some kind of patch or codes.
I’m also taking a half star off because I’m actually talking about the game in my review. Usually I can come up with a silly little non-sequitur that only tangentially has to do with the game but is really just a vehicle to self-aggrandize me and my huge brain dick. And usually I can’t stand it when people just talk about the game. “Impressive graphics but I have to knock it a little bit for the awkward controls.” Like no shit, man, we all know it has good graphics and bad play control because we all played it, that’s why we’re on here! Why don’t you say something like funny or interesting about it instead. Or even worse, just a link to some wheezy asshole’s YouTube channel. Yeah my guy, I’m on letterboxd for games to procrastinate for a minute before I have to make my rent payment, but I’m definitely going to give you a click and put up with your nasal upper-register weird as hell Norgwegian-if-I-had-to-guess accent while you talk about how Dragon Quest V is overrated for an hour and a half. But anyway, you can see I’ve thought a lot about this and in most other cases I’m careful to avoid this pitfall but no, not this time, just straight up game commentary for Mystic Ark out of me. I have to consider the real possibility that it’s the game’s fault for this and not mine this time, so half star off.