- F I N A L _ F A N T A S Y : M Y S T I C _ Q U E S T -

The game Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was given to me by a friend when I was young. I played it, quit for two or three years, then played it again. I've gotten farther and farther each time I was willing to spend a few extra hours playing the game, until I got stuck and couldn't move on anymore, no matter what I did. And now I am stuck again. What to do? Give up on the SNES for a while, and play the GCN.
I have not played the game in one heck of a long time, so I can't remember much of the storyline. Here's what I
do remember: You, being the main character, wander up to a tower one day. You've always wanted to visit this tower for some reason. Once you get there, the tower begins shaking. It's an earthquake! An old man walks up to you and tells you there isn't much time left. You question him, but later realize your stupidity after you've nearly been hurled from the top of the now-falling tower. You got lucky. Jumped in time. The old man tells you that there's a great evil behind this earthquake, and you need to go around searching for five magical crystals (or stones... they look like crystals to me...) and use them against the guy that's causing all of this evilness. Of course, being the main character of an RPG, you've got to accept this task.

So begins your magical quest to seek the stones from five different dungeons. Like any other Final Fantasy game, you get different weapons to fight battles with small monsters or dungeon bosses. Weapons can be obtained by finding and opening treasure chests, speaking to certain people, completing a task, or by money (buying them). A person accompanies you in every dungeon so you won't get bored being alone. This person may also have some magic that you don't have that could be used in battle. Speaking of magic, you obtain black "offensive" magic and white "defensive" (or healing) magic through books found in treasure chests. The books in the treasure chests, which are usually located in caves or houses, are EXTREMELY useful, so it's definitely a good idea to occasionally wander off the main path in search of these treasures.
The battle system is the regular FF/RPG turn-based type thing that we're all so familiar with. You've got tons of options: Pick a weapon, use it. Use a healing spell. Party happy and healthy? Try an offensive attack, such as meteor. Use items. We're talking great, usual-style fighting here! Yet this game still has something you'll learn to appreciate - you don't always win on your first try. The newest RPG's spoil you with success. Use a few powerful moves and you've got yourself some extra experience before you can say "Take that!". FFMQ is different in that sort of way. You're required to think each dungeon out thoroughly - much like any Zelda dungeon - and have a battle strategy already planned out before you even begin the battle with the dungeon's boss. Yes, folks, these battles are hard. If you want a game you can simply breeze through, I wouldn't recommend FFMQ.

You can run into enemies that have a team of up to five monsters. The more monsters you fight, the more experience you get. Same goes for the level the monsters are at. Though you can defeat most common enemies fairly simply, the bosses each require their own stragety for defeat. Monsters and bosses don't appear randomly; instead, they're somewhat stationary things dotted along your path that automatically attack if you run into them. You can't miss 'em.
Overall, this game is fun and highly addictive. It requires that you give up lots of time in order to complete it. But isn't every Final Fantasy game like that? Ah, this game also requires lots of thinking - something I don't wanna do at home during the school year O_o... But anyway, FFMQ features lots of monsters and dungeons and an engrossing storyline. The music is great. The battle theme will get stuck in your head and leave you humming it in the shower. Again, if you're a big fan of dungeons and RPG's (which, btw, go hand-in-hand), you should definitely check this game out.