Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Publisher: Square Soft
Developer: Square
Release Date: October 1992

Before Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997, Japanese-style RPGs were almost non-existent in North America. The Super Famicom had possibly the most prolific RPG lineup in gaming history, yet only a tiny fraction of them made it out of Japan. Being a rabid fan of the genre when I was a kid, it was a frustrating task to find games, and when you did, you developed an appreciation for them no matter how terrible they were. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is the kind of game which tests the boundaries of even that fanaticism.

Mystic Quest is a beginner's RPG in every sense of the word, designed specifically with "dumb" western players in mind. Everything about it is agonizingly simplistic, from the linear map screen, to the battle system, to the item management, to the primitive graphics and sound. It holds your hand throughout and altogether reeks of being a low-rent production. Not that the game isn't still soundly assembled, but for the serious RPG fan it is nothing more than a forgettable diversion.

After being hooked on the groundbreaking Final Fantasy II, I was excited to discover Mystic Quest, but was very disappointed once I actually got to play it. Beyond residing in the same genre, the game overall bears minimal resemblance to the franchise it's named for. Of course this was back when Square used to slap the Final Fantasy name on just about everything they released in the US, whether it was a Seiken Densetsu game or a SaGa game, so one shouldn't have been surprised.

Mystic Quest does hold a distinction as being one of the few, if not the only, Japanese-produced, turn-based RPG ever to be released in America first-- it would come to Japan about a year afterward as Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest. This was back when it was considered experimental to bring J-RPGs to the US, and Square probably felt they needed a tool to help ease American gamers into the genre. From that point of view, the game does what it sets out to accomplish. As to whether those new RPG gamers ever actually wanted to play another RPG again afterward is another matter entirely.

B