SNES Game Review: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

In a decade that brought to you about the most graphically amazing game (for its time at least) there was the kickstart to a series of RPG's that you NEVER would have expected to make it big after playing the first one.  Okay, I guess the NES version was theoretically the first, if we are being technical.  But the SNES had it's kick starting RPG machine.  Squaresoft also did (and yes, I know that Squaresoft is now Square Enix.)  That game?  Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.  Yes, for all the fanboys of FF7 out there still wanting your remake, the PS One game magically wasn't the start of this.  In a time that saw the Green Bay Packers finally become relevant for the first time in 25 years, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was created in 1992 with the SOLE PURPOSE of bringing RPG's to the America's and elsewhere and make them cool.  Sales though.. spoke otherwise.  This game sold only around 800,000 copies worldwide, and barely close to half of that was in America.  However, it pretty much jump started the Final Fantasy franchise on the SNES and beyond (including the one everyone fawns over today, yes FF7.)  So, with yours truly just beating this game, what did Squaresoft get right, wrong and how does it rank?

Pros:

1. Music: HOLY SCHMOLY THE MUSIC IS INCREDIBLE! Squaresoft HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK WITH THE MUSIC SELECTION!  Hands down, this game's music soundtrack is awesome in every scenario, map, battle, and boss type.  Squaresoft obviously knew what they were doing from there onward with music selection as essentially every Final Fantasy is amazing at this. 
2. Creativity of Levels..of the third and fourth dungeons: There will be more on this in a bit as well.  But I actually found the third and fourth dungeons to be quite creatively done.  They are a bit of a challenge to maneuver but as long as you did that, you were just fine.
3. Quick-paced: This is more so relevant in today's society where you cannot go 9 seconds seemingly without a phone near you.  This game isn't overly taxing on time and if you have a week off of work, you'll be able to complete this RPG in 10-15 hours.  I took about 14 to finish.
4. Setting the stage for future Final Fantasy games: This kick started the legend of Final Fantasy and really jolted the games on the SNES.  The basics were there for Squaresoft in this game for what they had in mind to create and obviously they knocked it out of the park with their last Final Fantasy on Super Nintendo.  

Cons:

1. Way too easy a game: Typically I don't like to harp too much on this given a skill set, but this game to me was way too easy.  In the day, SNES games were a challenge on the whole.  This game isn't one of them.  If you died, it is because the game hated that you were successful all the time so they gave the enemy luck (not saying this is entirely accurate, but it's probably the best explanation.)  I think their way of wanting RPG's to catch on in America led them to be a player-friendly game here.  If you died (and I think in total I died 6 times, only once in a boss) you can just pick up again as you left off on the fight.  And by then the enemy's luck runs out and you win the fight.  Given their goal, it's not an extreme knock but one nonetheless.
2. The battle system: I could not get into this game at all with the battle system.  If not for the music I would have just been on the computer every battle.  There is no strategy, there is no thinking.  Either hit the monster with physical or magic attacks and move on to the next.
3. No randomization of battles: I beat this game at level 39, and that is mainly because of the amount of battles all the dungeons and battlefields have.  The amount of them were varied which is fine.  but the kicker is no random battles.  Everything is pre-determined.  A battlefield has 10, and wherever you go for a dungeon, there'll be enemies moving on the screen as you walk into them.  Obviously this was part of the player friendly atmosphere Square was trying to create but it really wasn't much fun to just walk into an enemy you are already going to beat.
4. Creativity of levels everywhere else: Like I said, I would touch on this again.  So Squaresoft did well with two of the dungeons of this game.  Everything else.. is lackluster at best.  There is maybe one more creative level, which is in the Alive Forest (wacky name eh?) Otherwise, it is very basic at best.  
5. Armor/Weapon system: So they just automatically upgrade your armor and weapons through the game.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, and to keep harping it was for the player friendliness, but it was also very weird to know that you are not in control of what you want to give your player you are taking on the journey.  This obviously got sorted out later on in future games.
6. Boss fights: Okay like I said I only died once in the six or seven times I died during the game.  The boss fights are a bit more challenging but they aren't that overtly great.  Something of a disappointment really.

Neutral:

1. World Map: I was okay with the map, given the way the game was made.  With no random battles, you just pressed the directional pad to where you wanted to go to enter whatever dungeon or town or temple you wanted. 
2. The plot: You'll notice this with a couple of SNES games, a fight for crystals and to maintain the Earth. Oh and that happens on at least one PS One game too.  This was the structure at first that Squaresoft had in mind, and it actually in essence had some other plots to other games (See 7th Saga and runes, and I am sure there are other games as well) but the plot of the game was actually quite alright. 

Final thoughts: Given the mass ado later on about Squaresoft and their games on SNES, this game honestly kick started the franchise.  It also kick started Final Fantasy being cool in the Americas.  I do think this game needs to have more credit for that.  However, this game is with a lot of flaws.  I think it's a bit harsh to call this game as some have reviewed as bad, terrible or trash.  This game to me is average, which Squaresoft probably was hoping for more than that.  I think they were hoping for good to be what the game was and they fell short of that.  I think their drive to make RPG's cool across the world backfired a bit in this game.  There were some significant building blocks they could use going forward however and that showcased itself in the money making machine they built in the mid-90's with the SNES games they brought out and especially the latter three Final Fantasy games for the SNES.

Rating: For the fact there were 721 American SNES games, I would probably rank this one about 325th.  It's average, it's not overly great.  Not overly terrible.  There were things definitely you could see them working on for the future and that is to be warranted with this review.  I think overall, 6.2/10 is a good score for it.  Obviously Squaresoft was on to bigger and better things through the 90's.