10-5-1992		9-10-1993
	1993		1993

The world is taken in darkness. One by one the four elemental crystals have been stolen. Now the trees are dying, the water has frozen, fire has become cold, and the wind blows fiercely. Prophecy says that when the darkness takes the land, a hero will emerge and destroy it. The time has come, and the hero sets out to take back the crystals, and restore the world.

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was released shortly after Final Fantasy II (IV) on the SNES. It was intended to be a game for new players of RPG games, since RPG's were still considered "cliche" genre. It was not that well received by veterans of Final Fantasy, or RPG's. It is actually considered by most to be the worst title in the series.
I was having a hard time writing a review that did not bash this game, for its simplicity, and lack of game time. But a few days ago, I decided to grab me another copy of it, and see why I disliked it so much. (I had not owned/played MQ in almost 12 years) Well, let me just say that my opinion of it has definitely changed. Even if it does not have the grand scope of most Final Fantasy titles, I think to scoff it as a bad game is also wrong.
First the graphics are actually very beautiful. They aren't as good as that of Final Fantasy IV, but there is a lot of bright color. This makes the game seem like a swashbuckling adventure, rather than a dark, foreboding epic. The character sprites are simplistic, but very well done. They are also the same in battle as out, but there is more movement in battle than the sprites of IV. The enemy sprites are large, and detailed very well. As you fight your enemies, they will go through 1-4 changes in sprites showing their damage. This is something that is even cool 15 years later, and i find myself wondering why this has not been done again.
The score is just wonderful. There is no masterpiece music like with the main series, but the scores are beautifully done none the less. It is kind of like finding a great song on the B side of an album.
The battles were also easy to manage. The return of the turn based attacks found in Final Fantasy made it easy for intro gamers to get the hang of. You also had the option of having your second character automatically attack, so you only had to focus on one command.
The battle field was set up differently from other titles in the fact that your character has their back to the screen, while the enemies lumber over you facing the screen. This to me was actually a bit cooler than the side view of I-VI.
There was, however, little in the way of story. It was simplified for the novice players, but they might have over-simplified it. You basically have to save four crystals, before the evil takes the land (and what game series does this remind you of) and you are often accompanied by someone.
Also if you die in battle, you can restart the battle an unlimited amount of times. I think this was done, to keep anyone from getting frustrated at having to start at the last save. (Yes this is Final Fantasy XIII easy to battle) You also had the ability to save ANYWHERE you wished.
The magic was similar to Final Fantasy, in that you had a certain amount of spells, and a certain amount of times you could use them. Items were extremely easy to get. If you went into an area, say Foresta, and cleaned out the chests, all you would have to do is re-enter town, and you could clean them out again. It is not known if that was a glitch in the game or not.
Overall, this game is definitely a good game to play. Though it may only take about ten hours (less than 1/4 the time it takes to play any other title). It is charming, and a breath of freshness, even now.

If you seek a good game to play on a weekend,then this is definitely it. If you are looking for something with the epic scopes of VI, VII, and VIII...perhaps you should stay away from this one.