Reviews from

in the past


I get that it's an "entry level RPG," but the combat system itself is simplified to the point of there being almost no fun or creativity. There can only be two people in a party rather than the traditional four, and because of that there's a lot of unfun situations you can get into. Enemies that are able to petrify are a huge annoyance, for example. Party members don't really have a lot of uniqueness to them, they have some spells and a weapon and you're unable to upgrade them yourselves. Equipment is all direct upgrades, no choices to be made.

Story is extremely basic, but vaguely comedic. I'm fine with a simple story, but I wish the comedy was expanded on more.

The music is fantastic, and the overworld sections do have some interesting ideas. There's no random encounters either, which surprised me. Overall not too great, but it's playable and relatively straightforward at least.

日本版ではファイナルファンタジーっぽい画なんだけどそれ以外はファイナルファンタジーかっていうとそうでもないよね? ゲームとしてはちゃんと面白いよ。

this game did not age well At All but it still has some neat moments and features, and the soundtrack absolutely SHREDS

While overall pretty fun and charming in it's own right, like goddamn that music, the amount of battles in the final stretch, plus the easiness of most battle do make this somewhat tedious. At least it's short.


This is one of the most underrated games out there.
This game was never meant to be another mainline FF game. It was meant to be something completely different, and it succeeded in that.
The music is great. The combat is unique and decent. The dungeons are interesting and varied enough to not go stale.
Seriously, people go into this game wanting to hate it, so of course they are going to hate it.

Square thought that western kids were dumb so they made a retarded version of FF so american kids could enjoy.

They didn't.

we stan benjamin mystic quest.

Even average to start with, I recommend starting with 6 or 9

This game is amazingly boring in every way. Boring Story, boring characters, boring gameplay. Good soundtrack though.

Beat this game at least 5 times. My very first game I ever owned. My favorite non mainline FF game.

this game is good! it gets a bad rep because it was made because square thought americans were stupid so they simplified the gameplay a lot. But they are all good changes! you have enemy sprites changing to show how much damage they've taken. you have overworld abilities like a giant axe and a crazy grabbing claw. and the music is just awesome!

A surprisingly great little JRPG. A lot of the Final Fantasy tropes with new spins on combat and presentation. Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, but it is quite simplistic.

Designed to be baby's first JRPG, this was a dumbed down version of many Final Fantasy mechanics introduced in the other contemporary games but was so simplistic that it just turned into an incredibly tedious button masher.

I actually kind of like this game. Sorry, not sorry.

Should be titled Final Fantasy: My First RPG. I don't mean that as a negative either. As the genre wasn't that mainstream when the game was released. At the same time this doesn't hold a candle to it mainline brethren. It's not a terrible game, but it's not good either. It has it's moments and has some good tracks. It's basic and easy to get into and I think that was it's intention.

I'm not entirely certain what I was expecting, but I was pretty confident I was going to be experiencing a bad video game prior to starting up on this one. Mystic Quest is commonly criticized as being one of, if not the worst, Final Fantasy game. And while I get many of the complaints that are thrown around, I'd be lying if I didn't say I found it to be kinda fun. Maybe it's just from playing multiple SaGa games recently, but the concept of a JRPG which has been so automatized and streamlined for the player that it becomes a game for literal babies without having to cheat is pretty cool. There's something viscerally satisfying about not having to think about combat options or equipment or statistical growth. Mystic Quest does all of that for you. If I had played this as a teen, I probably would have said it was the worst Final Fantasy, because I was an idiot, and I had not played Final Fantasy II. The difference now is that I am bad at video games as an older man, so this shit is neat, and also I have played Final Fantasy II. Mystic Quest is certainly nothing spectacular, but the fact that it's drawn so much ire from players is a bit unfair. The game was designed to be simple and it succeeds at that to an unreal degree. The dungeons are just as simple as the combat for the most part, but they do get a bit more complex as they go on. The Final Fantasy series at this point hadn't done anything better regardless, so the use of tools and jumping, as basic as they are, still feels pretty cool. No random battles either, which makes getting lost in some of the bigger areas significantly less frustrating than it would be in the other Final Fantasy games. And it's really cool how the enemy designs will change based on how much health they have left. I'm tempted to give this game a 6/6 solely on the grounds that I would say I like it despite how rude everyone else is about it. But, you know, it's not that good, and I'm never going to recommend anyone actually play this above the age of 4 or under the age of 60. So I guess we'll just give it a 3. Yes, my rating system is quite nuanced, thanks. 3/6

Only Final fantasy game that i played on japanese

Imagine taking a slice of bread, pouring lukewarm water on it, and then putting another slice of bread on top. If that was an RPG, it would be Mystic Quest.

This is a game for literal toddlers so shitting on it doesn't feel great, but this is the toast sandwich of video games.

A painfully mediocre JRPG.

final fantasy for people who havent played rpgs before.

seriously, have you ever played an rpg and thought: "this is way to slow, so boring!" and also "why is this so complex? i dont know what to spec into!", i like the genre by now and i still do this.
you'd imagine that a similar game without the mechanics everyone's complaining about would be better, right?

well, this game is a perfect example showing that gamedesigners actually do kinda know what you as the players want.

theres no party dynamics, since you only control two characters at max, and there are no classes, everyone has strong physical attacks, offensive spells and defensive spells.
the spell variety is non-existent, either "do damage" or "heal damage", no status effects, buffs or anything to add the slightest amount of depth.
this culminates in the two kinds of battles you'll have throughout the 10-ish hours of playtime:
-"random" battles that have you spam the a button to do a basic attack
-boss battles. cast spells instead.

this is what players, who skip every dialogue, must feel like. just gotta keep pressing A to get to the fun part again...

if "being able win every fight by applying one of two combat algorithms" isn't a sign of a bad rpg, then i'd still have a bunch of other problems with final fantasy mystic quest.
like it thinks, being funny is a valid substitude for a story to keep people narratively engaged. no.

i'd rather struggle and complain, than be bored and complain.

the music is ok.

Short short game with alot of hand holding especially for a Final Fantsy game, but i have nothing but good memories beating this game whever i had an hour to spare lol

Um jogo que falha em ser um bom RPG, e falha em sua própria proposta.

Contextualizando primeiramente: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest é um RPG americano. Foi lançado em 1992, nessa época os JRPGs ainda eram bastante inacessíveis, poucos tinham o privilégio de sair do Japão. Mystic Quest é um jogo americano que diz: "Ok, americanos, esses joguinhos japoneses de turnos são bem complexos né? Que tal um bem simples e rápido pra introduzir vocês a esse tipo de jogo?". Com isso, incluiu alguns elementos de ação mas sua base ainda é JRPG.
Então seria injusto analisar esse jogo tendo como base os dias atuais, que JRPGs daquela época já não são considerados complexos, e agora provavelmente todos já jogaram algum Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest... Mas eu digo que FF Mystic Quest falha de uma forma, que nem se colocando no contexto da época esse game funciona.

Inicialmente, já fica clara essa ideia de "JRPG iniciante". Ao invés de um mundo livre, existe um mapa com "estágios" como Super Mario Bros 3. Itens de baús reaparecem após sair e voltar numa área, sendo facilmente farmáveis. Inimigos estão colocados no mapa, não existem encontros aleatórios (ponto positivo). A party é composta apenas pelo jogador, e um personagem que varia de acordo com a história, e é possível fazer com que o controle desse personagem seja feito pelo jogador, ou automaticamente.
Não é uma história complexa, é simples: Você é tem que pegar quatro cristais pra poder derrotar o chefão, cada cristal tá numa dungeon protegida por outro chefão.
Caso você pare de jogar nas primeiras horas, vai assumir que esse game realmente cumpre o que foi prometido, é uma experiência simples. E realmente, os primeiros momentos são até que divertidos, a trilha sonora é ótima, os sprites são bonitinhos...
Algumas dungeons apresentam puzzles como empurrar blocos para criar uma plataforma, usar um gancho para grudar num pilar distante... Esses elementos são apreciados, trazem um ar de Zelda à gameplay.

Em geral, acabaram as coisas boas para dizer. Quando mais tempo você joga o jogo, mais suas falhas começam a aparecer. E uma das mais perceptíveis é: Seu parceiro é sempre mais forte que você. Não, não é uma questão de farmar ou criar uma boa build, eu fiz quase 100% desse game, eu abri quase todos baús, eu completei todas arenas de batalha, eu peguei a melhor armadura, a melhor arma... Mas sempre, o parceiro será mais forte. E isso criará um padrão óbvio: Ele mata inimigos em 1 hit, e você em 2. Você seguirá esse padrão o jogo todo, de uma forma que chega a ser monótono. Você sempre conseguirá matar o inimigo médio com 1 hit (parceiro) ou 2 hits (jogador).
Sim, entendo, é pra ser um jogo fácil, mas o problema é: Não é NADA fácil. Esse jogo é absurdamente difícil (as batalhas são, o game em si nem tanto, já falo sobre), e parece contraditório, baseado no que acabei de dizer, porém é esse o problema. Chega a ser muito difícil, mas nunca é porque os inimigos passam a ter bastante vida, ou dar bastante dano, não, isso nunca acontece, você sempre irá matá-los em 1-2 hits e eles sempre darão uma porcentagem semelhante de dano. Porém primeiramente, errar um golpe é MUITO comum. A taxa é alta demais, você vai errar milhares de golpes o jogo todo. Para compensar, a taxa de crítico também é relativamente alta, porém o mesmo se aplica aos golpes do inimigo.
Segundamente, mais pro late game, cada inimigo tem de dois a três golpes diferentes que todos aplicam um status diferente: Dormir, paralisia, petrificação, veneno, cegueira... Tudo que leva é um inimigo petrificar ambos seus bonecos, e é game over. Você pode iniciar uma batalha com dois inimigos, eles pegam o primeiro turno, e imediatamente petrificam ambos membros da party, sem o jogador nunca ter tido nenhuma opção ou chance de fazer qualquer coisa. Você talvez pode iniciar uma batalha, atacar o inimigo, mas seu golpe errar por causa da taxa absurda já mencionada, e os inimigos aplicam petrificação, ou confusão, ou paralisia...
Você vai morrer bastante, e TODAS suas mortes serão por falta de controle. Não é por você ter errado, mas sim porque o dado disse que os inimigos vão aplicar confusão em ambos personagens, e os dois irão se matar. E irei repetir que eu completei todas arenas de batalha, peguei todos os melhores itens... Ou seja, era pra meu personagem estar muito bom.
Mas o mais estranho é que não há punição real quando morre, apenas reinicia a mesma batalha do início. Não há nenhuma perda. O que faz o jogo falhar em tudo: Não tem como dizer que é um jogo desafiador, porque não há perda alguma quando morre. E não tem como dizer que é um jogo justo, porque toda morte é injusta e aleatória. O resultado então é apenas tempo perdido, é irritante morrer, voltar do início da batalha, e isso acontecer diversas vezes.

A história é simples, o que é apreciado, porém além de simples é bem ~vazia~. Os personagens apenas existem para ditar o lugar que o jogador deve ir. Certos eventos acontecem rápido demais, de uma forma que nem dá pra entender o que aconteceu, e por qual motivo aconteceu daquela forma.

As dungeons são extensas e tem um layout confuso, são muitos caminhos, muitos desses caminhos tem dezenas de inimigos, e apenas levam a um baú que dão algum consumível qualquer. O sistema de XP e nível é estranho, você pode ficar muito tempo sem upar, e as vezes upar dois níveis de uma vez (é , tipo, acabou a batalha e você vai do 27 ao 29).

E por último, é beeem demorado. Mesmo tendo aproximadamente 15 horas de duração, o que é pouco para um JRPG, parece que demora muito mais. E por isso eu agradeço à opção de acelerar o emulador, eu teria desistido sem isso.


SaGa 3, but with even less interesting going on

Very chill introduction to JRPGs. The RNG can get crazy though.

This was the first Final Fantasy game I ever beat. It is definitely a departure from the other classic Final Fantasy, but that was done purposefully. This was designed to be an introduction to the genre to help popularize it in western civilization.

The story is really basic. The world is plummeting into chaos because the Crystals need saving. Go do the hero thing.

You only ever have one party member accompanying you at a time to help keep battles simple. And it can be even more beginner friendly by setting their battle mode to Auto.

As I said enemy RNG can get kind of ridiculous and they love to spam status effects, but that's okay. As I said, it's very beginner friendly so you can retry after every game over. Also if you fully explore dungeons and beat all of the battle arenas along the way, you will get equipment that makes you immune to status effects.

The battles can get really repetitive, but I still really find this game charming. It's a fairly short adventure. The art style is very cute. The monster designs are kind of funky and I love them (the shocked Medusa sprite when she is at low HP is my favorite).

The music in this game was really fun, although it doesn't feel anything like the other Final Fantasy games at the time. This isn't a super complex JRPG so if you are looking for a big challenge and super bosses, this isn't really it. This was totally designed to be accessible to people who had never touched a JRPG before. I think they accomplished that goal.

It'd be cool to see this one remade like the Pixel Remasters one day, but I don't think enough people liked this one for Square Enix to want to invest in that.

This game is a neat little part in gaming history. If you are interested in trying it out, I say go for it. But remember it is kind of it's own thing and brace yourself for repetitive battles.

Weird one, just from the way it shows the battles