Final Fantasy - Mystic Quest (SNES)

In 2024 review, I said that I want to review RPG this year. So, I play Square’s Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (1992) that probably diehard fans of Final Fantasy don’t want to talk about.

Right of the bat, there are magic crystals so you know this is legit Final Fantasy game. Maybe. 6 years ago, I had plan to play RPG on SNES: Inindo and this one. I decided the former because it’s more interesting. I mean there’s not many JRPG feature ninja as protagonist. Anyway, once I start new game, the game wants me to name the game save file which also the name of the protagonist.

 

I go with Bartz after Bartz Klauzer from Final Fantasy V. Because the lad looks similar to him. FFV came out in 6 December 1992. While this game came out in October 1992. So, my naming isn’t that far. Anyway, this sage/hermit that ride on a cloud ask me to jump across this gap. JUMPING? IN FINAL FANTASY GAME?  Demoman_sf12_badmagic10.wav

 

The hermit/sage talk about Focus Tower and also 4 crystals are currently conquered by 4 big villains because of course. He also tells me that Bartz is the chosen knight according to prophecy. Suddenly, Behemoth appears thus first battle ensues. Should the enemy for the first battle something easy like giant rat or slime? But at least Bartz has steel sword and not something trash like rusty sword or something like that. All I can do is order Bartz to attack the beast that results in 25 damage on their hitpoints for each attack. Not bad, I guess. Pressing “A” button to confirm highlighted option, by the way.        

 

As the behemoth getting more injury, they look getting worse. I mean you can see that their body is damaged but also, they look angry. Come on, Bartz! Why you miss your attack like that in this crucial moment? Just little bit more! 

Bartz come out as the victor, thankfully. He asks the hermit/sage where he can find the crystals but he replies with “It’s up to you”. What do you mean “It’s up to me”? Be more useful to guide me to the utmost important objective! At least give me map like that old wizard in Legend for God’s sake!

 

The mountain is sinking but luckily Bartz survives. The he regroups with the old man. This time the old fart just points out that we have to save the crystal of earth without giving us further information about its whereabouts. What a useful quest giver. [Final Fantasy crystal-sized sarcasm]

I love to help you, another old man. But the boulder is behind you. Can you stand aside, please? Oh, I see. I can jump over him then I can push the boulder. Jumping over an elder sounds rude but it’s his fault for standing in my way. My reward for pushing the boulder is just dried branch tree. Wow, thanks. [Another Final Fantasy crystal-sized sarcasm]

 

I arrive at the town called Foresta. I meet this girl in the first house I barge into. She sees the bad situation around when I show it the Tree Wither and she joins my party although her mother forbids her.

 

I’m sure Kaeli the girl who newly join my party, doesn’t mind I take these cure potions. She will get the share. I promise.

 

I accidentally press “X” button and it brings me the save menu. A Final Fantasy game where I can save anywhere besides the world map? Soldier_sf12_goodmagic01.wav 

 

On the next house, I find another chest that I can open for more Cure Potions. Then there’s this lady who kind offer her bed for free rest. Kind of suspicious but thanks.

 

Kaeli wields axe that she can cut small tree in this forest level. I thought she’s forest ranger because she cares deeply about the forest. But apparently, she’s a lumberjack. If the forest wither and die, she won’t get lumber for her living. Makes sense, right?

 

Now this is more like it. We fight against low-tier enemies: 2 goblins and a slime. The slime has low chance to poison us, though.

 

After that fight, I decide to go back to Foresta town, unknowing that enemies will respawn as soon as I leave that forest. I find that last old guy in second tree-shaped house. He wants to reward me with the chest in the back. Very funny. How am I supposed to get there with all these stupid barrels? I can’t jump over 2 obstacles and I can’t push 2 objects at once like Sokoban guy. Curse this old bastard!

On the bright news, the potions inside the chest respawn! I feel bad for that guy who works hard to earn these daily cure potions. But I am the chosen knight who have to fight the great evil, and this guy just barely do some work. He can just sit his ass on his bed all day and I do the heavy lifting to save the world.

 

I hoard 14 cure potions and they’re not enough. I wish there’s explanation on items that I kept. And why the heck I still keep the useless branch? Apparently, cure potion will refill amount of health that proportioned to maximum health.

 

Just as Kaeli cut this one tree that block north passage, it turns into minotaur who immediately poisons Kaeli! Thus, first boss fight ensues.

 

Haha! The minotaur misses his attack. But Kaeli also misses her attack. Is this some kind of Final Fantasy’s trope that everyone use axe like to miss their attack?

 

Suddenly the minotaur does roundhouse kick and makes Bartz KO! Luckily, Kaeli can cast life spell to revive him.

 

The minotaur is defeated however Kaeli doesn’t feel good and she’s brought back to her home by her mama. There goes the one and only party member.

 

But on the bright side, I get her axe that I can use to chop down these small trees. Don’t worry, Greenpeace. These small trees will grow up if I leave the forest. Because I can make my way through chopping these trees, I can avoid enemy encounter and get to the chests safely. Wait a second! I need to fight those enemies because I need to level up. This is RPG, afterall.

 

Once I leave the forest through north passage, I can go travel north to desert temple to get Elixir for injured Kaelia. I find this battlefield between the forest and the desert temple yonder. There’s no random encounter in world map, instead we get this battlefield which is optional encounter. So you don’t have to worry about random encounter in world map.

I try my luck in this battlefield and it turns out well because this treant is weak against Kaeli’s axe. I don’t think I ever witness an enemy weak over specific weapon in any Final Fantasy games that I played.

 

I went through this desert cave. Sorry. I mean desert temple without any furniture or altar or shrine. There’s practically nothing inside this -so called- temple. No wonder I mistook it as a cave. There’s one chest but it’s empty and suddenly this guy comes from behind and over me Elixir for 9,000 GP!!! Clearly, we don’t have that many golds so he offers alternative solution: I have to accompany him to bone dungeon for hidden treasure. The guy’s name is Tristam, by the way.

 

I return to Forest to rest and restock cure potions. I jump on top of these logs which leads to  backdoor of the old man's house. The backdoor leads to that chest obstructed by the barrels. The chest contains cure magic! Cure magic heals more than cure potion but it use magic spell stocks which is rare to replenish.

 

I defeat some monster on battlefield as Tristam suggests before entering this bone dungeon. There’s some moving sand behind me, which act like conveyor belt that move me automatically toward. I can’t go backward but on the bright side I can get into the chest very fast.

 

There’s blocked cave and Tristam make it open with bomb. Then he turns to me and offer to buy bomb. Because I don’t have much use for golds that I got, I buy the bombs without any hesitation.

 

One of monster that we fought in bone dungeon is this weird Roc. Roc I know from Heroes of Might and Magic 2 is basically giant eagle but this bastard is looking weird. What’s with loincloth? Don’t tell me you have human genitalia inside of it. Anyway, he’s weak to Tristam’s ninja stars. I’m not sure whether Tristam is ninja class. He looks like generic town guard to me.

 

So far, the strategy is: let Tristam attack with his ninja stars and (most likely) kills one monster. Then I attack the remaining monsters with bomb. It’s unusual weapon in history of Final Fantasy games. It deals damage to all monsters but the damage power is shared among them and it has limited ammo. Speaking of which, Tristam’s ninja stars also limited. I better hurry to the boss fight less Tristam can’t fight at all if his ammo is zero.

 

This skeleton fights us all alone because he has No Body. Scout_laughhappy02.wav  

 

I thought I met a dead end. However, I can blow this ribcage with my bomb since it has some cracks. Duke Nukem 3D teaches me that every wall with cracks can be destroyed to reveal a path.  

 

I found some seeds inside this chest. Once again, I complain about the lack of item’s detail in inventory menu. That’s kind of shame because these seeds look important.

I feel like I want to see what status menu has to offer. These stats are pretty easy to understand. I want to criticize why Bartz has higher attack power but he can’t one-shot kill the enemies around this part unlike Tristam. I blame the overpowered ninja stars.

Aha! I found Quake spellbook. Heavy_sf13_influx_big05.wav

Finally, we find the end of this bone dungeon. I was afraid we were running out of ammo before reaching the boss. Oh Shoot! The boss is one of big villains that conquer the crystal. This is not going to be easy boss fight, is it?

Flamerus Rex is such an excellent name. Humerus is upper arm bone. Flame + Humerus = Flamerus. See? He’s immune to poison attack because how can you poison a living skeleton, huh? Turns out, Tristam’s ninja stars can inflict poison status.

 

Then he attacks me by throwing his rib bone dubbed as Bone Missile. That is…FREAKING AMAZING! Medic_sf12_badmagic07.wav

A dozen of turns later…

 

Flamerus looks ruined but my party is not well either. This is no time to sleep with your legs up, Tristam! Actually, Flamerus casts sleep magic on him.  

 

I was making bad mistake of keep attacking Flamerus instead of healing with potions that I stocked. I though he is one-hit away from defeated. You can restart the boss battle immediately if you choose “No” option in this continue menu. However, your stock of potions is in the same state when you defeated, meaning you don’t get back those potions that you used during the boss fight. Might as well as choosing to give up which will lead you to “load game” menu.  

 

I was stupid. I should use the Quake magic that I got. It deals more damage than the bomb although it has much smaller magic stock than the bomb ammo. Flamerus can also cast “Earth Rip” which pretty much quake magic too. Fight fire with fire then. I mean fight earth shake with other earth shake.  

 

Although we have less cure potions because I choose to retry the boss fight, we end up winning thanks to quake magic. Look at that greedy git that focus on the treasure chest instead of the iconic magic crystal! What he gets from the chest is grappling hook. While the rescued crystal gives me…NOTHING! What the heck is this Final Fantasy game? The crystal should give me special power or ability to change class or anything! Now, I envy Tristam with his grappling hook. At least, he gives me the elixir as his deal.

 

Let’s see what other treasure chest hold. It’s dusty sand coin! How am I supposed to do with this useless coin? Once again, I complain that there’s no explanation about item in inventory menu. By the way, Tristam immediately leaves as we have crossed water in this room.

 

I return to Foresta to give the elixir to Kaeli. Then I notice the town becomes green! Oh, I see. Since we defeated the big bad who conquered the earth crystal, Foresta becomes lush green like it’s supposed to be. 

 

Kaeli becomes healthier as Bartz gives her the elixir. Out of kindness, he scouts ahead to meet Spencer that Kaeli want to visit. Who’s this Spencer, anyway?

 

I clear one of the battlefields and the game rewards me with a charm, which boost Bartz’s defense power by 1 point. Better than nothing, I guess. Clearing a battlefield usually yields bonus experiences or GP. But with so few things that I can buy, gold seems not so worth it.

After fighting more monsters, go through focus tower, and then visit Libra temple…

 

Everyone. Meet Phoebe who is Spencer’s granddaughter or so she claims. I skip lots of potential screenshots between this moment and previous ones because I’m clumsy. I remember having hard time fighting this Minotaur Zombie back in bone dungeon because he likes to give us “confused” state with his stare. However, Phoebe shows me the way of dealing with this undead bastard. She simply cast cure magic at him and he takes fatal damage. I forgot that undead is weak to healing magic in Final Fantasy games.

Aquaria…

 

Everything is frozen in Aquaria. But the inn is still functional. 95 GP for sleeping? I think I prefer the free bed in Foresta. It’s very long way to go there but there’s no random encounter in world map. But then again, I don’t know what else should I spend my GP for.

 

Speaking of spending gold, this bloke sells some bomb. Although so far the bomb feels little weak, it’s the strongest weapon in my arsenal.

 

Then I’m stumbled upon this ice cave in Aquaria and I find Ness from Earthbound! What are you doing in Final Fantasy game, kiddo? By the way, I accidentally press shoulder button and it cycle my weapon! So, I can conserve bomb ammo whenever I feel like it.

 

We arrive at Phoebo’s home and she tells me the situation. Her grandfather, Spencer is currently trapped in frozen cave and the way to melt it is to use wakewater from the Spring of Life. The place is connected to Libra temple via teleport. However, it requires Libra crest to activate it and the crest is stolen by a monster in wintry cave. I get déjà vu from Dragon View about this teleport thing in ice region.

Phoebo also teaches me that fire magic can be casted on multiple enemies. I’m very impressed with the auto battle in this game. In most JRPG, auto battle only makes every party member attack enemy automatically. But in this game, the auto battle can make my companion does the best besides just attacking. Be it casting magic spells, and using item. However, the auto battle only applies to my companion. I still have to control my main character manually though. To avoid using cure potion inefficiently or attacking enemy inefficiently, you should set the companion control to manual. To do that, either you use the menu before the action menu or press “Y” button.

 

I clean another battlefield with help from Phoebe. This time my reward is magic ring that increases my defense power by 3 and gives me “silence” status resistance. Spy_mvm_loot_rare03.wav

Wintry Cave…

 

I was about to question why Phoebe the spellcaster character, wields claw weapon. But she hands it over to me so I can claw certain type of wall in this cave. Spy_thanks02.wav

 

Now I can climb back up where I fell. Never thought there’s Final Fantasy game that features wall climbing but here we are. The claw itself as weapon is not great. It's weaker than axe or even the steel sword but the claw has a chance to inflict "blind" and "paralyze" status.

Delve further into the Wintry cave later…

I hate these Centaurs. They like to make us confused with their riddle ability. When you and your friend are confused, there’s big chance that you will hit yourself. So, I’m forced to escape the battle which thankfully pretty easy to do. Also notice that Phoebe now wield bow and arrow which is 1) Stronger weapon than the claw 2) Weapon with limited ammo *concerned*

 

I find this soda drink within this chest. Probably Voca Cola tm. Again, I don’t know what it does.

 

How nice of them to look at me as I take this screenshot. No, wait! This happens because they got “blind” status which is weird way to visualize that they’re blinded.

After killing more monsters (including the awful centaurs) …

 

You look like different than these lesser monsters. You must be the boss around this part. It was rough time to get this far. The problem is not the health that we sacrificed along the way, because we have cure potion and magic. The real problem is the magic stock that we have to burn to kill those centaurs immediately and they’re in the way to the boss. So, they’re pretty much mandatory enemies to defeat to reach the boss fight.   

 

There’s no MP system in this game. What a huge shock because MP system is common in any Final Fantasy game. So, the magic system uses stock system with ammo number from each magic school: Black, White, and Wizard? I’m not sure what count as Wizard magic. Perhaps it’s stronger than black magic. Phoebe has one wizard magic and that is thunder magic. To restore these magic ammos, you have to rest at inn which is very far from this point in the cave. Besides, enemies will respawn if you leave the cave. Luckily, there’s one more solution to refill the magic ammo. That’s using seeds. Remember that rare seeds that I found in bone dungeon? Those are the one. I can -or rather- I’m strongly advised to stock up these seeds before entering this Wintry cave because we really need to use those magic spells to kill the centaurs quickly. I thought the magic stock refill item is refresher soda that we found in this very cave but turns out I can’t use it at all for some reason. Maybe it’s full-health resurrection item. By the way, why the FREAK we still keep the DAMN tree branch?

 

So, the boss is giant squid accompanied by 2 stronger Rocs. Luckily, the damn creepy bird is weak to Phoebe’s arrows. Oh, no! The squid boss electrocutes Phoebe which lower her magic stat. Reducing magic power on our spellcaster is good play by the enemy. I like the electrocuted animation.      

 

Aw look at that squid being shy! So adorable. Honestly, compared to fighting Flamerus Rex. This squid is quite push over. Perhaps because he’s not empowered by one of the magic crystals.

 

Demoman_cheers04.wav. We have acquired the libra crest! I think I stop here. Actually, I play a little bit more and I get softlocked by block-pushing puzzle a la sokoban. It’s too embarrassing to show.

Look at that poor git getting riddled with ninja stars. That must be huge hurt.

Square’s Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (1992) is strangely different than classic Final Fantasy game. My theory is Square made this game to introduce westerner to Final Fantasy franchise and they don’t want to remake the first Final Fantasy game for that purpose because it’s deemed too difficult to play. I think. That probably explains why there are somethings that unusual for classic Final Fantasy game such as no random encounter, visible enemy encounter, respawning item on chest, saving game can be done practically anywhere, different battle layout. There’s no usual victory tune, even! Which is huge flaw for a Final Fantasy game! I like the battle layout that consists of enemy on back and our party on the front because it has symmetric feeling. It’s like Phantasy Star, I believe. I also like how variety the attack is. Some attack has limited ammo. Axe can be used to chop tree. Claw can be used to climb. Projectile weapon is strong against flying enemy. Bomb can be used to destroy wall. The jumping is useful to jump over obstructing NPC. Sadly, enemies can’t be jumped over. Another thing that I like in the battle is the enemy's condition looks worse as they take damage so you don't have to know exactly how much hitpoints that they have. On the other hand, i hate the health bar that our characters have. I can't tell how much hitpoints that they have in detail and it's very important information. It's about life and death situation. Quite literally. I know that the smaller health bar on upper part is hitpoints in small units/detail whereas the bigger health bar on lower part is hitpoints in bigger units. Reading those health bar is pretty convoluting. I prefer hitpoints in numbers like in other Final Fantasy game. Probably the biggest problem of this game besides the lack of item detail: is the lack of what gold can buy. I wish there are some buyable upgrades that may lead to branch in character building. As in the game as it is, the upgrades you can only get is from rare treasure chest or clearing some battlefield. The small size of party also problem to me. Why I can’t have both Kaeli and Phoebe at my party on the same time? Leave aside Tristam who only join my party for business reason although he’s strong ninja star thrower. I think I can understand why there’s only 1 companion for each occasion and that is to optimize the auto battle. If there are more than 1 companion, the auto battle probably just simple order them to just attack enemy. I hope I can change my companion in future. Being stuck with Phoebe for very long time feels boring and monotonous to me. The music is not so good although I like the town’s ost that may be produced with synthesizer. The sound effect is average. The story is pretty typical Final Fantasy that involves magic crystals.

With all that said, I think Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (1992) is pretty fun spin-off (?) Final Fantasy RPG. I may want to continue play this for Retroachievement. But do I recommend this RPG to you, reader? If you like to play Final Fantasy game where your character can jump around like that Italian plumber, well go for it!