Quest 64
Reviewed by Scott McCall
Nearly two years after the system's release in the U.S., the N64
finally has its first full-blown role-playing game. Surprisingly,
it didn't come from anyone you'd expect. Quest 64, as the game
is known in the U.S., was produced by THQ and developed by
Imagineer. Imagineer is the same company that produced
Multi-Racing Championship and Fighters Destiny, but a
different development team made this game, so it definitely
doesn't have the same "look" as those two. Unfortunately,
Quest 64 isn't geared toward the same audience, either.
Much to many gamers' dismay, Quest 64 is an RPG/adventure
on the simplistic side. You won't find members to add to your
party, you won't find hundreds of items, you won't find complex
Materia systems, you won't find weapon or armor upgrades,
and you won't even find any money. Of the items that are in the
game, they are either given to you or you might find them in treasure
chests throughout the game. Furthermore, the story is also
quite straightforward, with zero drama and no side plots. I
would like to think that the game can be likened to Dragon
Warrior on the NES, except Dragon Warrior was even more
complicated than this game.
The most unique and different aspect of Quest 64 is its battle
system. The battles are turn-based, but that's pretty much
where the similarities end. First, there are hexagonal "force
fields" during each battle. The larger force field is the battle
area. You must get outside this if you want to escape. The
smaller force field is for you to move around in. By moving
around your force field, you can get closer to do battle, you can
get farther away to try to escape, or you can sometimes
dodge an enemy's attack if you move before or after they attack.
Yes, the battle system may be intuitive, but it's confusing
and clumsy. You'll often find yourself missing an enemy
because you hastily pressed the A button before realizing
the staff icon disappeared from the screen. Also, you'll frequently
be disoriented after coming out of battle because it's not clear
as to what direction you're heading, even with the on-screen
compass. The main problem, however, is that battles occur way
too frequently. You can't see the enemies; they just pop out of
nowhere. It would have been better if they were visible so you
could avoid them and so you could fully explore the vast frontier
without getting frustrated.
Not so fast, though, because you'll soon realize that you need to
fight many battles. Quest 64 is a chance to hark back to the
old-school RPGs in which you had to build up your levels over
and over, and you'll certainly be spending hours and hours
building up your levels because the game can get quite difficult.
This also makes Quest 64 kind of repetitive as you go along,
because you basically go to a town, fight something in a forest,
go through the main world to a cave that is very long, get through
it, end up in a town, go into a forest, head back out into the main
world to another area to do the same thing, and so on.
The control in Quest 64 is fairly basic. The Control Stick is used
for movement and feels much like Super Mario 64, though it
might seem a little odd at first that there isn't any jumping.
The A button is used for talking, opening treasure chests, using
items, casting a selected spell, and attacking with your staff
in battle. The B button is used to rotate the camera (face what
you want to see and hold it down) and to cancel selections. The
C buttons are used for magic and are explained below. The L
button enables you to change the camera zoom distance in the
overworld and rotates the view in battle. The R button brings
up the item screen. Finally, the start button has several screens
underneath it. You can view your status, look at information about
your magic, and, most importantly, view a large-scale map that
will help you if you get lost.
During battle, when you get close enough to a monster, a
staff icon appears over its head. You can then press A or Z
to use your staff for an attack. Your staff attack remains
your strongest attack throughout the game and will be used
about as often as magic. If you're trying to escape, you must
turn and run away from the enemy and press A once you're at
the edge of your personal force field. That will give the enemy
its next turn. Then your force field will move closer to the
edge of the larger one. So you must run to the edge again and
press the A button. Once Brian, the young lad you control, is
outside of the larger force field, then it will say "Escape!" and
you can move on.
Besides your staff attack, there is also plenty of (albeit
unimpressive) magic in the game. You increase your magical
prowess by using existing magic to build up levels and by
finding hidden "spirits" in the game. There are 50 spirits for
each of the four types of magic, and when you're near a place
that has a spirit, a question mark appears on-screen. Originally
enough, the magic in Quest 64 is activated by pressing one of
the C buttons to bring up the magic list for that element. Left C
is earth, Top C is fire, Right C is wind, and Bottom C is water.
Then you just select a magic spell and press the A button.
As you defeat enemies in battle, you will gain experience points.
(You don't have to defeat everyone in battle; you can defeat only
some of the enemies to gain some experience.) You start out
with 50 hit points and 15 magic points, and you will, of course,
raise those levels as you battle more and more. Hit points are
replenished by staying at hotels, which also save your game; by
casting your healing spell; and by using items that could come
in the form of bread or portions. Magic points are restored by
using an item, staying at a hotel, and, somewhat surprisingly,
just walking around.
Graphically, Quest 64 looks sweet. Everything is large, bright,
and colorful. There is an impressive number of textures, and
there's a lot of detail in the areas compared to the likes of
first-generation games such as Super Mario 64. I love how the
towns and buildings were pretty much built just like the RPGs
back in the 16-bit days, with different minute details in each room.
In the rooms, towns, and castles, you'll also find pre-programmed
camera angles that get the job done. But you'll probably still need
to tweak the camera every now and then to see everything in a
room. Sadly, there aren't any real-time introductions or cut-scenes,
which is something sorely needed in a game like this.
Quest 64 also moves much like Super Mario 64, with smooth
scrolling and vast areas. In fact, the areas are often quite
impressive in size with distant horizons and awesome towns,
but there is too much clipping and the game occasionally slows
down. You will, however, find an impressive number of enemies
and non-playable characters in the game. The modeling of them
is nice. Moreover, Quest 64 has a polished, smooth, and clear
look to it, not to mention that everything is perspective
corrected. My guess is that it looks so nice because nearly every
graphical feature of the N64 is turned on, which is obviously
possible with the lack of action in RPGs.
The sound department doesn't disappoint in Quest 64, either. If
I'm not mistaken, this is the first epic/orchestrated soundtrack
on the N64. OK, so it's not exactly as good as the music in the
SNES Final Fantasy games, but it does get the job done. Basically,
it seems to follow the Celtic theme of the game. You'll probably
realize that there aren't many instruments (maybe four to six)
in any one musical piece. Well, you can blame the N64 for that,
since the graphics and the sound are handled by the same chip.
Because the graphics are so nice, there must not have been many
cycles left for the sound. When it comes to the sound effects,
there isn't any voice, but there are sound effects for the various
situations that fit well, except for the annoying footsteps. As a
final note, I'm happy to report that the music is in stereo.
Despite the gameplay being on the simplistic side and getting
repetitive, I've found that Quest 64 is a pretty enjoyable gaming
experience that's long and challenging. You should realize this is
coming from a casual RPG fan, though. If you're a die-hard RPG
fan who has played many PlayStation RPGs, then I don't see how
you can go back to a simplistic RPG like this. But if you really
haven't played any RPGs since the Super NES days, then you just
might enjoy Quest 64. Let's just hope Imagineer, THQ, or someone
else uses the very same engine to make an involving, complicated RPG.
Graphics: 4.2 out of 5
Sound: 3.7 out of 5
Control: 3.8 out of 5
Gameplay: 3.3 out of 5
Lastability: 2.8 out of 5
Overall: 3.4 out of 5