Review #654: 64 Memories - Quest 64

 It's not that bad. It really isn't! I swear!!

 Part 1: The Flashback
 Ah! Yet another of those 'one of the first Nintendo 64 games I owned' games. And yes, it was another Christmas/Birthday game, and clearly remember the morning after I woke up running to try out this new game. I knew what it was, I had picked it out before, and boy, oh boy did it deliver. This is one of the games I finished over and over the most, and it never fails to entertain me. A few years ago when I got into Wii-homebrew, thanks to the Twilight Princess exploit, I installed the Quest 64 wad, to see if the game was as bad as youtubers and people on the net led me to believe... only to spend about 3-4 hours straight playing it. Quest 64 is just one of those games that'll never get old, for me at least. Plus, this game, alongside Final Fantasy VII, were my first JRPGs and they turned me into the RPG nut I am today.

 As for specific memories, I remember the first time playing it, that fateful morning, I thought I was heading back into the monastery... but I wasn't, I got into the field and two hares made quick work out of me. I wasn't ready. But I came back with a vengeance! I can also remember finding the colored wings items amusing and having fun collecting them. On another note, the music is SO good and thanks to this game I learned what 'Dew' meant. Lastly, on this playthrough I think I discovered that you can visit Glencoe Forest just as you start the game. I think I happened upon it a few times when I was younger, through the Blue Cave, but this was the first time I got there so early.

 After finishing the game for the umpteenth time I can safely claim that Quest 64 has a very, very soft spot in my heart and that'll never change. It's got a ton of shortcomings, no doubt about it, but it also has a few fantastic ideas. Whether the good outweighs the bad is up to you, but through my fabulous rose-tinted glasses... it does.

 Part 2: The Review
 One of the things I love the most in any form of media is character development. I like seeing characters grow throughout the story. Quest 64 has none of that. The story is bland and the story telling is terrible, as the story moves forward through lifeless text-bubbles. As a matter of fact, I think you could go through most of the game without talking to any NPC as long as you know where to go next. I'm not kidding about how bland the story telling is, as there's not a single cutscene in the game, things like travelling by boat consists of you entering the cabin and when you go out again you'll have arrived at the next destination. The entire story about Brian searching for his father concludes in much the same way, through a single textbubble once you find him. And I'm pretty sure you can totally ignore him if you want and just go through the door next to him.

 Exploration is pretty barebones as well, there's no equipment, no money and no stores. There are consumables, however, which can be found lying in chests around the world of Quest 64 or after fights. They aren't needed, however, at most you'll use a few during the first few dungeons or if you are handicapping yourself and ignoring the Water element, Every single time I played the game I only amassed a huge stock of consumables that I never, ever touched. Although I'll admit I had to eat a few breads during the first boss since I went for a different strategy than the one I'm used to. But I never touched a consumable afterwards. If you happen to run out of stuff, a few NPCs will gift you a single item of whatever consumable you run out of, so it's not like you can screw yourself completely if you happen to really need the extra help.

 The combat system is where the game really shines however. Whenever you trigger a random encounter, which might be more often than I'd like(A few times it took me a SINGLE step before I triggered a new fight), you and the enemies will get surrounded by a large yellow hexagon. Battles are fought through turns, alternating between you and a single enemy(It goes something like this: You then Enemy A then You then Enemy B then You then Enemy A). How far you can move during your turn is determined by the smaller blue hexagon that surrounds you, while enemies can move as far as their red hexagon allows. These hexagons are determined by your starting position during your turn, so it's not like you are stuck to a single area. If you move outside the yellow hexagon you can escape from battle. Simple. During your turns you can either cast a spell, attack with your staff  or use an item. There's a poorly implemented feature that lets you dodge enemy spells, poorly implemented because you are not allowed to do it for every attack, when they cast them. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind which attacks allow you to move as soon as the enemy casts it, but it's a neat feature. I've seen people claim that battles can be disorienting, since you'll move all over the place, but after battle Brian will jump and spin around to face whichever direction he was facing before the battle triggered. If you run away from battle, however, you are outta luck.

 While smacking enemies with you staff is fun and string, the real meat of the game lies withing its Spirit/Spell system. Brian can use any of the four different elements: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. Each element has its own level(Maxes at 50) and you can raise it by leveling up or by finding spirits hidden throughout the game. There are 98 hidden spirits, which means you can max 2 elements for free, and the other 98 spirits can be gotten by leveling up. It's a great idea, the more you level up an element the stronger it gets and you'll gain access to new spells of said element. There are about 32 different spells. However, like most great ideas of this era, it can be abused. Earth Element breaks the game, at level 24 you get Avalanche, the best spell in the entire game(Although it can be a bit random with its area of effect) and at level 36 you gain Magic Barrier which makes you invincible for three turns. On the other hand, Water is pretty much a necessity since it has Heal, Heal level 2 and Drain magic. When I was younger I would raise Water first, to get Heal 1, the Wind to level 12, so that I could use Wind Cutter level 3 on the first boss(The hardest boss in the entire game!) and then I'd focus on the other three elements for Healing Level 2, Magic Barrier and Fire, to upgrade the strength of my staff. This time around I went for something different: Earth and Water, until I got Magic Barrier and Healing level 2, and then I started level Wind in order to grind Mana Points. I completely ignored fire. In a way, this proves two things: Earth and Water completely break the game... but, since I played in a relatively different way when I was younger, it also allows for slightly different builds and playstyles.

 Oh, grinding for stats, a good idea turned bad. Stats are completely independent from your level ups. You raise your Health and Defense by getting hit or hitting enemies with your staff, you raise your mana by casting spells and you raise your agility(For dodging/landing attacks) by running around or moving the most you can during your turns while in battle. In theory it's a decent idea, but for whatever reason leveling up your mana points takes an absurdly long time. It's based on how many hits you land, so it's a good idea to get Wind up to level 12 early so that you can spam Wind Cutter level 3 on every single fight. On another note, if you die there is no penalty, you'll be back at the last inn you visited and will keep any stat upgrades you got during the fight that killed you. Honestly, I think the rate at which your stats increases is fine except for mana, which kinda sucks since the core of the game is built around using spells. The staff is really strong, and it gets stronger the more spirits/level ups you get, but using it prevents you from getting valuable mana points.

 I'd like to mention that I found out that Japan got an enhanced version of this game. Stats are gained much more easily, you get nifty bonuses if you get all elements to level 50 and the ending gets an upgrade from the boring text-scroll we got. There are also a few aesthetic niceties, like Brian glowing in different colors whenever he get a stat upgrade. Do these enhancements make Quest 64 a better game? Probably not, but having a less steep mana growth rate would've been much appreciated.

 I've seen some complaints leveled against the game's camera, but I think it works just fine. You can hold the B button to turn it around until it sets behind Brian's back, which is about on par with what you'd expect from games out of this era. A few personal gripes of mine would be that there is very little information on your spells. What does 'Magic Rock' do? I don't know. The game won't tell me. There's also no way to know how much mana a spell costs, by rule of thumb the more C buttons you have to press the higher the cost, but I'm not sure if it works exactly like that.

 Look, Quest 64 is not as bad as they say. The game does have a few boring moments here and then, the story is garbage, the characters are as bland as wet paper and having to get hit to level up your health sounds like kind of a drag, but I think it had some truly great ideas behind its combat system. There's also a huge amount of different monsters to fight, some more creative than others, and I just can't help but appreciate how large, if a bit empty, the world of Quest 64 is. I know, I know that my rose-tinted glasses might factor a bit into how much I enjoy this game, but I just can't lie about, there's something I really enjoy about the game that makes me bump the score a bit higher than I should. But I just can't lie and say "I really like it even though it's garbage' in order to join the pack because I really don't think the game is that bad.
 6.0 out of 10