Quest 64 (USA) ROM

This game is one of the only RPG's for the Nintendo 64, but that doesn't make it spectacular. This game was flawed. Terribly.
The graphics are good, as well as the soundtrack. None of that is really lacking. The storyline wasn't terrible, but so unoriginal. The real issues come down to the gameplay.
First off, there is no currency in the game, therefore no shops are present in this game. All inns are free, and all your items are either found in treasure chests or given to you by townsfolk. So either the people of Celtland are the most generous people on earth, or THQ was trying to go too cheap or didn't have the energy to put currency into the game. My guess would probably be the latter.
Also, the battles are immensely difficult. You have to stop and level up A LOT! Also the MP is a bit of a joke. It's almost virtually impossible to ever get your magic strong enough for it to ever be useful. You get several different spells in each element (fire, water, wind and earth) and as you find power-ups, you use them to level up an element. When you do this, the level of your spells increase. BUT it's not as good as it sounds. It touches this very minimally. For instance, there is a cure that you can use under your water element, but I had to have way more water elements than anything else and even then the cure was not very potent at all (out of 35 hp it healed like 5 or 7 or something.). The MP meter also goes down extremely fast. So really the MP is just not worth it unless an enemy has a weakness of some kind to a particular element.
If you're really an RPG fan, then you might want to consider giving Quest 64 a try since it is one of the only RPG's available for Nintendo 64, and it isn't all that bad, but I've definitely seen many better, and this game really isn't all that enjoyable.

This game has been critiscized much too hard, considering it is the one of the only RPG games in the Nintendo 64 library. I enjoyed this game and I still pick it up today to re-play it.

I must say, the music for this game is fantastic. I always found myself humming the toon right when you leave your house and remembering, "Oh yeah, that was Quest 64!" The music is definitely memorable, some of the best for Nintendo 64.

The flaws, I'd say it did get a little ridiculous grinding your way to higher level magic, however they have those secret spots that level up your magic by one for a reason, so that you don't spend too much time grinding and more time playing the game.

Overall, I'd say the game had a lot of great points with a big open 3D world. I'd never had so much fun exploring new places. Many towns, but the grinding is somewhat annoying. The combat gets old, however the boss battles are great. I'd recommend Quest 64 to anybody who wants to play an RPG.

Works well all around and hours of good times to be had.

To be fair, this game isn't perfect. Or easy. Or even, in places, finished. But what it is, is a fantastic concept for an RPG that was new and original.

Story 1/5 You are Brian, a young spirit tamer, off to find your missing father who went off himself to find the stolen 'Eltale Book'. And that's about all you get told for a VERY long time. A few snippets of dialogue here and there help, but for the most part, this RPG doesn't have much in the way of story until the very end where everything kind of happens at once.

Graphic 3/5 By today's standards, this would be a joke, but back in the era of the N64, this was pretty good as an early release. There's some clipping and some... questionable design choices, but you can tell what's what usually, and nothing really looks muddy. The areas themselves usually are impressive, though perhaps not as good as Nintendo's own releases, but decent graphics.

Sound/Music 4/5 The music in this game is amazing. The only real downside to it is how the same themes are used for... pretty much every area, with very few custom pieces. All outside areas have the outside theme, most towns have the town theme, etc. But the music you do have is generally REALLY good for its area/theme, so that's why only 1 point off for it.

Game play 4/5 Oh, how badly I want to give this 5/5. So, the game play itself uses a simple control scheme and doesn't go for complex systems. Your 'level'ing is done through using each stat individually (Taking damage increases Max HP and Def, avoiding attacks and running around increases Agi, Casting magic increases Max MP), but that's never told to you in-game. What is told is the Elemental system, by defeating enemies you gain Element Exp and once you level up, you select which of the four elements to increase. Also, you find wisps of smoke in the field that are wild element spirits that also can instantly increase a element level. A pretty decent system, though it could be better. However, the actual battle system is where it shines. Each element is assigned to a C-button (Up is Fire, Right is Wind, Down is Water, and Left is Earth) and you make spells by using up to three of these elements in combination to cast magic in or outside of battle. The power of each element as well as what spells you have access to is all based on your elemental levels, so at level 1 you have only the base spell (Fire Ball Lv1, Wind Cutter Lv1, Water Pillar Lv1, Rock Lv1) but eventually end up with a lot of different spells to work with. And... That's kind of where the game falls. With all the different magic spells you have access to, it's HORRIBLY unbalanced. Avalanche (Earth Earth Fire) is one of the strongest spells in the game, with a good roll able to do over 1,400 damage to a single opponent. While Water has almost NO good damage spells to its name. (Ice Knife and Walking Water are merely -okay- compared to just about every other element) Not to mention, a couple of enemies (Literally, two, if I remember right) are Omni Element, which means they resist all magic, meaning that unless your magic is OP, AND max level, it's probably not going to do a lot of damage. (See; Avalanche)

Final score 4/5 This game is a gem. Is it incomplete? All the empty houses and lack luster story say yes. Is it unbalanced as all heck? See; Avalanche. Is it difficult? Wyverns and Red Wyverns being what they are, oh hell yes. BUT! Is it a fun game to play as long as you aren't expecting something on par with a big name RPG company? Hell yes.

RIP Brian, it's only sad your GBC Remake didn't get popular.

Also known as Holy Magic Century & Eltale Monsters.