Quest 64

Imagineer coined a uniquely minimal (level-less, item-limited, currency-less and party-less) form of JRPG with Quest 64, whose light storytelling, vast 3D areas and day/night cycles brought them closer to computer-RPGs than to its console-born siblings. What is undoubtedly CRPG-like - however, is their flexible upgrade system. Stat-leveling in the vein of FFII (i.e. earned from various parts of combat) is joined by collectible skill points distributed between 4 elements (which unlock new spells of that type and increase their power). Their combinations - from balanced spreads to a dual-type hyperfocus, governs the player's build with their own merits and limits. That sense of freedom well-complements their turn-based battles; seamless, responsive on-map gameplay with confined movement/dodging that's heavy on the spellcasting, reined in a little by elemental weaknesses and resistance. These two features rescue a work that otherwise would be dull and clumsy, as its lengthy overworld & dungeons plus a general dearth of content (other than a handful of pickups) make for some patience-testing trips. As a result, gameplay oscillates between moments of snappy, entertaining semi-action and sheer torture.

This brief project is many things at once, and - depending on taste, some conclusions are more prominent than others: A few great ideas placed on weak foundations. A half-baked mess. An interesting compromise between action & tactical gameplay. A novel fusion of Western/J-RPG languages, or even a grim omen of their genre's future; of the overscaled, empty worlds that progressively defined the next generation onwards. At the very least - though, a fascinating artifact of its era.

The only reason anybody remembers this game is because Nintendo had absolutely no RPGs on their system. In that sense, it really is nostalgic for that era. It's a terrible game and not worth playing at all. The best part of it I suppose is that the battles take place in the actual field map, and the spells and abilities take up actual physical space. So the combat feels a little more visceral and strategic, but emphasis on "little more", because it's really not much. The game is unbelievably generic - just look at the title and box art! It's literally called it "Quest", appended with the generic "64" suffix. The whole game is like that. It's like they were designing it with a template, but simply forgot to fill out any specifics and just left in all the placeholders.

It's not terrible, but it's boring, barren and isn't ageing well at all.

It's time to party like it's 1998. A young video game stud, yours truly, is on the playground and slowly transitioning to middle school. The long and bloody conflict between Sega and Nintendo has ended. Now the kids speak of and talk about the merits of Sony's Playstation, but the loyalists for Nintendo didn't just evaporate they too wish to tell you about their system and it's merits. Bards sing of a 64 bit console. Amidst the hubub and shuffle a state of the art RPG comes out and takes the industry by storm. That game is... Final Fantasy 7 and amidst a slew of other RPG titles coming out for Nintendo's competition the fanboys start to get self conscious maybe even a bit embarrassed that they picked the wrong system possibly making a wrong choice that could result in irrationality, irritable bowel syndrome and suicide. Fret not my friend and turn thy head towards the clouds because amongst the pantheon of classic RPG titles comes a whisper of a dream, Quest "Mother Fucking" 64.

Well all jokes aside, I mostly remember this game as a defense for the N64's distinct lack of RPG titles. Not that I cared as I owned both a PS1 and N64 but if you were about the same age as me at the time you had to hear numerous Cheeto and Caprisun induced rants that proclaimed this game as being as good as any RPG current or ever before. Lets just say those claims were desperate and laughable then and have only gotten funnier in hindsight.

It's not really worth examining in detail suffice to say it has the most generic story I can remember an RPG having. It was mediocre on pretty much every level imaginable and it was so poorly designed that it was one of those games that was far easier at end game than it was at the start. I guess the one positive about it was the graphics were great for the time and have probably aged better than some games far more likely to be considered classics than this from that era. The difference between those games and Quest 64 though is we're asking for and clamoring for a remake or rerelease of those games and nobody and I mean nobody even cares enough to remember Quest 64. Except me of course because it makes me laugh in hindsight. That is probably the largest amount of enjoyment anyone ever got from this game.