Quest 64 - Review

Quest 64

By: Toad_Stool

Review Breakdown
ÊÊÊBattle System	4
ÊÊÊInterface	5
ÊÊÊMusic/Sound	2
ÊÊÊOriginality	5
ÊÊÊPlot	3
ÊÊÊLocalization	N/A
ÊÊÊReplay Value	2
ÊÊÊVisuals	6
ÊÊÊDifficulty	Easy
ÊÊÊTime to Complete	Around 10 hours max.	Ê
Overall
2
Criteria

"Fear my electric staff and blue tights!"

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ÊÊÊThe N64 was missing something, a decent RPG. So imagineer along with THQ whipped up the N64âs first true RPG. You take control of Brian, a young spirit tamer, in his quest to find his father, learning new and more powerful spells along the way. Quest 64 is the first game of a series, and a sequel has been said to be in the process, let's hope it gets better. Well, with that intro done, let me take through the bore-fest that is, Quest 64

ÊÊÊThe battle system in Quest is quite original, using some elements of turn based fighting, and a bit of real-time. When you encounter an enemy (who jumps out of nowhere, of course) you enter the battle arena. This is where you are placed in your own little hexagon, which you can move around freely in. From here you can cast spells, use items, or run in and give them a good 'ol fasioned beating with that club of yours. When you're done, the enemy attacks in a simliar fashion. To escape, you must run and move your own little movement area to the edge of the arena, and jump out. Quite complex and original, but annoying.
When you've beaten the crap out of all the enemys, you gain experience points. These points go towards your Attack, Defence, and Agility meters. You also gain Magic Experience, and when you get enough, you can boost the level of one of your elemental spell skills, Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth.
Which brings me to the specials skills of our friend Brian. Brian is a spirit tamer, so he can control the 4 natural elements of nature. When you get enough magic experience, you can boost the levels of one of these, and gain new spells, or strengthen your current ones. There's not much variety in this, so Final Fantasy players like you and me, will find themselves bored without hundreds of Materia and Espers to play with.

The fearsome blobs attack!	Ê

ÊÊÊQuest 64's interface is indeed poor in many ways. For one thing, Brian runs like a retarded orc wearing 10 pounds of armor - stupidly slow, and he looks wierd too. This can be extremely annoying, when you're trying to run quickly to the next town. There's no 'World Map' interface, so the only way to get from town to town, is running, and Wings. In each town one of the stores will provide you with a pair of wings so you can magically transport back to that particular town. There are plenty of houses in the towns, but most of them are just empty. There are stores, but strangely, you can't buy anything from them - there isn't even a money system in the game. You are given everything. The game itself is mostly running from town to town, to beat a boss, then moving onto another town. Very tedious, and no real plot or character development.

Quest 64's music, in short, is downright bad. Whoever wrote this music really has to get some music lessons. Most of the tunes are very repetitive, and some are even out of tune. Seriously. The sound effects are no better. Running in to club a demon on the head produces a bad scraping sound, which could probably be done better on the Game boy. Put some real music on when playing.

ÊÊÊQuest 64 is not very original. The Battle system is a first for an RPG, but then again, I don't think many people will be imitating it anytime soon. The character's character is familiar, being a wizard and all, and the story ain't so hot, either.

Brian gets excited	Ê

ÊÊÊThe plot is bad, and it doesn't develop at all. Basically, your father has gone on a quest to find some sort of magical book, and he hasn't come back for a while. Brian, being his son, sets off to go and find him. That's about it. During the game only one character you meet plays any real signifigance. Very Poor.

If you plan to finish Quest 64, don't expect to be playing it again. There is really no point in going back - no alternate endings, hidden spells or weapons, and you probably wouldn't play it again for the fun. The Cartridge would probably gather dust on your shelf, or be sitting in a pawn shop somewhere.

Graphics are pretty simple. Brian wears plain, simple clothes, but the way his cape flap around is pretty cool. The enemies are simple, usually consisting of a few polygons and some eyes. The landscape is probably something you could make from some clay in a matter of seconds. No cutscenes whatsoever.

The game is quite easy, but because of the constant running around and tedious battles, with almost zero variety in enemys, this will probably make it seem a lot harder. But if you're looking for a challenge....you're looking in the wrong direction.

I always wonder how those trees can grow in the desert..	Ê

This adventure will not take long at all. If you take the game at a steady pace, exploring every corner of the lands, you'd probably finish it in around 10 hours. If you knew what you were doing, and where to go, it'd take only 6 hours. Not exactly an all-nighter.

Quest 64 has so many things that could be improved. For a first attempt at an N64 RPG, it's failed. It certainly looked good in the previews, but as it turned out, it's a total bomb. If you have PSX, or even a SNES, you'd probably be better off kicking Sephiroth's ass, or cursing at Kefla, but if you only have an N64 and you REALLY need an RPG to play, you may consider it, but you'd be better off with Zelda.