if there’s ever a game that i have zero nostalgic feelings towards it’s final fantasy mystic quest. i remember seeing it in a game store when i was a teenager (or near that age) and being like oh my god a final fantasy game, that’s new, for only $20. somewhere in the back of my mind i should have been wary about that low price. up until that point i had never seen any squaresoft games that debuted at less than $45-50. anyways, i got the game that day and couldn’t wait to get home to play it. getting a new game in a franchise you like as a kid = real excitement. i remember being almost immediately disappointed by the cartoony graphics and RPG for idiots styled gameplay. i remember hoping that the first part was just some type of tutorial and then the rest of the game would be awesome…but no…the whole game was just like it. i eventually finished the game just for completeness and probably killed thousands of brain cells in the process.

i didn’t learn until years later that the game was specifically designed for young kids or that it was a purposely dumbed down release for americans. as i’ve mentioned in other posts i played final fantasy 1 and dragon warrior 1 when i was 8-9 years old and mystic quest was a huge step down compared to those two RPGs. so you can imagine how patronizing the game was to me when i was nearing teenager age. and on the topic of it being a game for young kids i hope they meant for toddlers because that’s the only age group i could imagine enjoying this game.

i have no desire to play the game ever again. at the time i really wanted final fantasy 2 but it became so rare so quickly that i was never able to get my hands on it. luckily, i was able to put this nightmare past me when i finally acquired final fantasy 6 (3).