 It's not a charm. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is an interesting case. The knee-jerk reaction to this game is that it's mostly a waste of time, because it presents very little depth and almost zero challenge. Now that's a little unfair to think of the game in that light, because Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was designed for a specific purpose and a specific audience, and if you're not part of it, then there's not really any reason for you to play this game. Like if you've already played through Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 5 and 6, or Ogre Battle or the Breath of Fire games, and you wanted to play Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, that's like asking a guy with a PhD in nuclear physics to get a job at 7-Eleven. You'd be overqualified. This game was made, rather cleverly I might add, as a way to get people of all ages into the RPG genre very slowly and gently. That's really what I like about this game. Most people immediately think, oh, it's for little kids. No, it's for anyone who's never played an RPG, like if my 70-year-old dad who's never played a video game, if he asked me out of the blue one day what RPG to play, I'd point him to this game. And really, I can't fault the game for that, just like I don't fault Street Fighter 2 for not being more realistic, or faulting NBA Jam for being able to jump 20 feet into the air. Again, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was designed for a distinct intent and a clear cut market in mind, and it accomplishes that. This game is not nearly as ambitious as other RPGs, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, having said all that, and all the circumstances being accounted for, I really do need to point out that this game is so freaking easy. It can't be overstated how easy this game is. Seriously, you can beat this game blindfolded, so if you're an RPG completist and you feel the need to check this game out, be prepared. The gameplay here is as simple as it gets, so you might be pretty bored, because you're rarely under the threat of death at any point. Yeah, a lot of the usual Final Fantasy stuff is here, like equipment, the party system, and semi-random battles and all that. But there's next to zero nuance here, and nothing in the way of strategy. There's like 12 spells, a total of four usable items. Yeah. You don't even get to explore the world map, as you're shuttled from one area, or one icon, rather, to the next. There's some puzzles here and there, but they're all very obvious. What I do like about the gameplay is that the enemies show deterioration and damage as you fight them, and that's a nice touch. The enemies all look nice, but the bosses are all lacking personality and are pretty generic, especially the final boss. The story is also very simple. This Benjamin guy has to save the world by rescuing and restoring these crystals that represent the four elemental powers of the Earth. He finds other people along the way who join his party, but overall the story is very generic. You know, I get that they wanted the gameplay here to be as accessible as possible for anyone to play, but I wish they'd at least spiced up the story with a little something more interesting. Oh well. Now there's one surprising aspect about Final Fantasy Mystic Quest that really stands out. Similar to Lagoon, the game itself might be lackluster by objective standards, but the music, holy crap, it is awesome! This soundtrack took a cue from the Mega Man X series. They weren't really going for the majestic sounding orchestral arrangements that you've grown used to, so this music is really good in a way that's unique to role-playing games. I mean, just listen to this. Seriously, that sounds like old-school Iron Maiden. This really would have sounded even better on the Genesis, too. Anyway, I still think Final Fantasy Mystic Quest serves as a perfectly functional introduction to 16-bit role-playing games if you're totally unfamiliar with them. It might be a bit boring, but it's a game designed to get your feet wet. However, if you've already played through some of the classics, then you're definitely not missing anything here, with the only exception being the kick-ass soundtrack.