Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Review by Evan G

Well, here it is. The game that many people call the worst RPG on the Snes. For certain, it is not anywhere close to any of Square's other great RPGs like Final Fantasy II and Chrono Trigger. First off, the graphics. They obviously tried to make it look sort of like Final Fantasy II, but for the most part they look like they were from a decent NES game. The monsters certainly lack variety, as I only saw about 20 different types of monsters. They did change form when they were low on hits, but that is not really impressive. The character graphics are far too small, and the spells are quite bland. Sure, this game was released early in the Snes's life, but Final Fantasy II, which was essentially a launch title did far better in this catagory.

The sound effects also sound like they were from an NES game, and get old quickly. However, the music is surprisingly good. If it weren't for the fact that the tracks are small and loop a lot, I would even go as far as to say that the music is better than Final Fantasy II.

The controls are simple, but are definitely not perfect. An example is when you are jumping on the map and you sometimes can't stop.

The thing that hurts this game the most are the battles. You can see the enemies on the map, so you can avoid them. When you do fight, it is an excercise in monotany. Also, if you perish in battles, you can simply just start from the beginning of it over again until you beat the enemies. The story, which is a large part of any RPG, is dumb and full of unnecessary twists. The character you play as continuously gets abandoned.

All in all, the factor that makes this game bad is boredom. It is not a large rpg, but it is made longer by the unending battles which have no strategy to them. I know this was labelled as a beginner's rpg, but it is more likely to turn people off from rpgs, rather than get them into them. However, the most painful part of this game is that it was released rather than Final Fantasy V.

Graphics: 30

Control: 60

Sound: 65

Overall Rating: 40