Introduction:

This is a not so often heard of N64 game. I think this game was supposed to rekindle the great classic NES RPG style. When I play this game I do feel that I am playing one of those old NES RPG's, just in 3-D. I recently bought this game for $10, and this is what I think of it.

Story:

Even the story is of an old style RPG, there is this ancient island, and there are 3 kingdoms on this island, each kingdom has its own unique way of life. There is a treaty among these 3 kingdoms, so everyone lives in peace, but an ancient book has been stolen, and if it's not recovered, then the island will be in chaos!!! When I say Island, I don't mean a small Island, it's quite big, maybe a small continent.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is very unique. It is turn based such as a classic RPG game, but it's not the same, its very different. When you encounter an enemy or enemies, you will be surrounded by this Octagon shape. (8 Sides.) Your enemy or enemies will be surrounded by an octagon shape as well. There will also be a BIG shape around both you and your enemy. Now, when the battle starts your octagon's won't be close together, so you will move to a point in the octagon and press the A-Button, then it will be your enemy's turn, now when it goes back to your turn your octagon shape will have moved in the direction you pressed in your previous turn. You can run away from a battle by moving your octagon outside the BIG shape that surrounds you and your enemies. But this usually will take a couple of turns. There are attacks that you can use that will go outside your octagon into the enemies octagon. and vise versa. A neat thing about the battles is, that sometimes when an enemy will attack you, lets say the enemy shoots some fire at you, you can actually run around in your octagon and avoid the fire. You will have a Magic and a Basic Attack. You will have a HP and FP gauge, (HP=Health, FP=Magic.) You will also have items to replenish this. I find the attack style in this game very different then most RPG's. You will go through many areas in this game to complete your quest. You will go to towns and talk to people. A part of it that is a little different, is that you get items for free. When you go into an item shop, the worker/owner will just give you bread for free. You won't have to give him/her gold or anything. It's about time, when I play Zelda and I want to buy a Sword to SAVE THE WORLD!!!, I have to pay for it, that is ridiculous, I'm saving the world, I should get my supplies for free. I feel I must mention this, the camera views are horrible in this game. You don't use the C-Buttons to rotate the camera, you hold the B button and then sort of move the control stick, I'm just saying that I didn't like that. I feel they could have at least game  L and R a rotating feature. Well, I find the battles in this game very unique, they are unlike any game I've played. I feel that this game was trying to recapture the old NES RPG style, I think they could have made this game for the NES. Well, of course not the graphics, but everything else. Just have an above view of the characters and the fighting style, and story could stay the same. This game does use a memory card to save.

I give the gameplay: 6.5/10---It gets 6.5 because of its original battle style.

Graphics:

The graphics are ok. The characters look quite good. The enemies look good for what there supposed to be, but I just didn't like what they are supposed to be, one of the enemies looks like some weird hippo. The environment is good.

I give the graphics: 7/10

Sound:

The sound was horrible, I'm sorry but I didn't like it. The background sound was way to obvious, it didn't sound original at all, they could have given it more of a rich feeling for the game. The sound FX are terrible, I hate the sounds of a door opening and closing, they sound nothing like they should. The walking sounds are dreadful, they sound as if your wearing garbage bags for shoes that are filled with some water.

I give the sound: 4/10

Replayability:

The Replayability is a little better than most RPG's, simply because the battles have a bit of action. But I wouldn't replay this game, I just didn't have much fun playing it the first time.

I give the replayability: 5/10

Challenge:

The challenge is ok, you will have to really perfect your actions in battle, what direction to move, what attack to use.

I give the challenge: 6.5/10

Value:

The value is ok. I paid $10, and that's an ok price for this game.

Overall:

Overall this game has an incredibly unique battle style. The graphics are ok. The sound is horrible. The replayability is decent, for the type of game it is. The Challenge and value are ok. This game had a very unique battle style, but unfortunately, I have to knock it down some points because of the flaws in the mechanics of the game, the camera angles, graphics, sound.

I give Quest 64: 6/10

Conclusion:

This was one of those games that come out and get played by some, but not really loved. It's an OK game to play. The game just has to many flaws in its design, the battle style was great though. I would have liked to see a sequel for it on the Gamecube, they could have worked out the flaws in the game. Such as the camera angles. The game just had to many flaws. My next sentence has nothing to do with the game, but, Quest 64, I wonder how long it took them come up with that name, like 10 seconds. They are making a Quest game for the Nintendo 64, WOW, what an interesting and hard title. Well, if you get by the flaws its not that bad of a game for the N64.

Written By: Joey Anderson

Date Written: April 16th, 2004