This game was supposed to be an introduction to RPGs for Western gamers: a "my first RPG" if you will. As such, it needed to be easy and intuitive... and unfortunately is neither of the two.

I had absolutely no idea what to make of any of the menus (the layout for the equipment screen in particular, made absolutely no sense). And while the game was extremely forgiving by simply bringing you back to the beginning of the battle if you died, it was also difficult, and difficult in the worst sense - RNG-based difficulty.

An example: your two-man party fights a party of three enemies, each capable of inflicting paralyze with their attacks. Since you need to use a turn healing paralysis, and there are three of them and two of you, it's very possible that they will stunlock you to death with minimal participation from you. So while the game was generous in letting you respawn infinitely, this seemed to add more to the frustration and tedium of replaying the same battle again and again with the same approach (the gameplay didn't allow for much strategy) and just waiting for the RNG to roll just right.

I will give it this though: the soundtrack was full of bangers, there were no random encounters, and the dungeons had some interesting puzzle elements.

It may be 'Baby's First RPG', but that doesn't make it a bad game in and of itself. It is definitely an easy game, especially compared to a lot of the other grindy RPGs of the time. There isn't much of a story to speak of, especially considering what would follow in the Final Fantasy series. But I really don't remember anything that made it -bad-.

The bosses get visibly weaker as you start to wear them down, a cool touch that I hadn't yet seen at the time. The soundtrack is quite good, with the battle and boss themes certainly being among the best of the SNES.

Overall, this isn't a game to play for any real challenge, or to witness a gripping story, but it has its own charm and isn't one to avoid just because "lol, easy".

Every game was designed with a purpose. What was this games purpose? To be a person's first RPG. It's simple, fairly short, and holds your hand quite a bit. Do I think it did its job? Yes. Does that make it good? Eh. The plot and characters are basic and there's plenty of more modern RPGs that are also easy to get into that have better stories. I will however say I like how monsters were on the overworld (most SNES RPGs are random encounters) and that monster sprites change while getting close to death.

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.

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

Mystic Quest - a Final Fantasy spinoff made for beginners and originally released in north america, is an ultra-brief and ultra-streamlined tour of classic JRPG stereotypes: Somnolent pace, one-note frontview combat, limited magic system, RNG-reliant difficulty, temporary allies, etc. It stands out only for its quick weapon-swapping ability (also available mid-battle) and a basic action-adventure approach to dungeons (utilizing the abovesaid tools plus map-based encounters and a jump button), neither of which were particularly exciting.

I'm currently listening to Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh and I had some pretentious monologue revved up about appreciating the simple things, but honestly, this game is garbage. It is the most braindead simple JRPG you'll ever play, punctuated by a host of frustrating mechanical decisions that twist the game from repetitive into frustrating. I hate that the player character is too weak to ever one-shot monsters the second party member always can. The overworld is a tedious, lifeless TRPG-esque map, so the meat of the game is a one-dimensional dungeon slog with sporadic villages and the most meaningless story beats woven through.

But man, I love that overworld. The artistic direction makes progressing through the game feel like more than it is.

Gameplay and story is shifted every time we move to a new primary location by a rotating cast of characters meant to lead you through new locales, and that establishes this weird sense of camaraderie and excitement that "something new" is around every corner. It makes me wonder that maybe a problem with modern JRPGs is distance, spending too much time with characters I once loved means I grow tired of them and take them for granted.

It's just cozy. I have frankly returned to this game more than any other Final Fantasy title. Yeah, it's so stupidly simple it should only appeal to people who don't play video games, but it's so chill it has a character all its own. Fun as hell to pick back up and binge for 4 or 5 hours while watching a new show -- or just to enjoy one of the best OSTs on the Super Nintendo and in the Final Fantasy franchise -- and shelve for another few years. There's an inexplicable charm to these simple, streamlined JRPGs -- the uncovered block.