Game Debate #110: Quest 64

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

I played it because after Chrono, earthbound, secret of evermore, ff3, super mario rpg etc I was absolutely dying for an RPG on the Nintendo 64. Man it wasnt great but it was all i could get. 
 

I was also salivating for earthbound 64 and got salty when they didn’t end up putting it out

[Reed Rothchild | 9,579]

I've always wanted to try it.  Not because I expect it to be any good, but because I wanted to see what the infamy was all about.

Coming out on the heels of Square's PS1 output, during the JRPGs biggest heydey, certainly didn't help it's case.

[Tanooki | 4,950]

The eyeroll was the troll line I've seen since 20 years back, one of the top 5 N64 RPGs...even saying it had 5 was a stretch.

While I think a 4 is harsh, it is a middle of the road game for sure, at least as said, if you keep it in the bubble of the N64 it's the best of what's there, but is it a best, no...it's not.  But where they did well was breaking the wall of the JRPG in various ways with people respecting you for your efforts with inns and goods, and greatly so with a new system of combat, and one that smartly works, and works well.  It's worthy of a play, at least once, though I don't think it really is a 15 hour game, it's not long, but it's not that short either unless I just really took my time because I wanted to not miss any of those wisps for magic power and didn't want to be underleveled.

[Webhead123 | 687]

"Quest 64 was an RPG on the N64".

...And thus concludes the positive things I have to say about Quest 64. Grindy, ugly, slow, uninspired, story beyond cliche. This game was the electronic equivalent of getting a lump of coal in your stocking on Christmas morning.

3/10

Edited July 15, 2022 by Webhead123

[Tanooki | 4,950]

Y'all are making me want to middle finger the hate and buy another copy of it, guide included, and actually play it again as it has been years. (10+)

[AstralSoul | 502]

Objectively I'd probably give this game about a 3. But there's a lot of nostalgia at play here. I grew with NES/SNES/N64 and didn't have access to Playstation til the 2000s. I wasn't well-versed in RPGs at the time but I knew I liked them based on Mario RPG, Lufia 2 and Final Fantasy 6. Quest 64 was, as many people know, the first of like 3 or 4 total RPGs on N64. So regardless of its quality, I loved it at the time. Loved, as in, it was one of my favorite games for quite a while. My 15 year old self from 1998 would've given it a 9. Obviously it's nowhere near that. As the years went on, I played more and more RPGs and realized how bad the game actually is. And for a while I refused to replay it, until i finally did play it a second time some 7 or 8 years ago and actually liked it. Of course I went into it expecting it to be the worst game ever, which it wasn't. So the years spent apart actually softened my view on it, and that's where I land today - at a 6/10. Definitely not a great game, but one that I enjoy regardless of quality.

[RH | 4,965]

14 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

Objectively I'd probably give this game about a 3. But there's a lot of nostalgia at play here. I grew with NES/SNES/N64 and didn't have access to Playstation til the 2000s. I wasn't well-versed in RPGs at the time but I knew I liked them based on Mario RPG, Lufia 2 and Final Fantasy 6. Quest 64 was, as many people know, the first of like 3 or 4 total RPGs on N64. So regardless of its quality, I loved it at the time. Loved, as in, it was one of my favorite games for quite a while. My 15 year old self from 1998 would've given it a 9. Obviously it's nowhere near that. As the years went on, I played more and more RPGs and realized how bad the game actually is. And for a while I refused to replay it, until i finally did play it a second time some 7 or 8 years ago and actually liked it. Of course I went into it expecting it to be the worst game ever, which it wasn't. So the years spent apart actually softened my view on it, and that's where I land today - at a 6/10. Definitely not a great game, but one that I enjoy regardless of quality.

I think this is perfectly reasonable.  If I had never played an RPG before and this was my introduction, I might have given it a 7-8 back then when it was new.  But, I also had games like OoT.  Though not an RPG, there are general similarities since this is adventure-like in some respects.  Zelda was a 10 in my book, so putting this at a 7-8, and ignoring my entire RPG history to that point could make sense of rating this well.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,579]

 

 

[MagusSmurf | 577]

It’s so close you can’t see what’s coming next until just before huh

that sounds like vectorman alright

[Tanooki | 4,950]

I didn't have a PS1 either, was a little salty over the crap Square pulled after the N64 FF cocktease CGI demo they ran with before bailing, but I also did get the game, once it immediately came out on PC I grabbed it.  I had a nice solid video (3D) card a matrox mystique so I could run it in higher resolution better frame rate than PS1 could do, and running the full sample package of the Yamaha Soundsynth they licensed to use the audio reasonably in more tracks than not were better than the PS1 redbook stuff which was nuts (given the core was MIDI.)  I knew there was a gulf between Quest 64 and what I could have had, just didn't care, I still had access to a litany of SNES/NES era games (RPG, adventures) I didn't get in the day so I didn't suffer finally visiting stuff like dragon warrior for one and other RPG-ish stuff on PC too.  I knew Quest wasn't a 8-10 level game, but for what it was I knew it also wasn't just some 5 and under turd, there were worse, lots worse.    @AstralSoul he said it best, got into having a PS1 after 2000, but I wasn't blind to things so I can be a bit more objective and not just gush or hate on it.  It just is what it is.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,579]

This is where I tease @Tanooki about giving Final Fantasy VII a 4 and Quest 64 a 7  

[Tanooki | 4,950]

Well that's fine, I'd rather play Quest than FF7, FF7 just never grabbed me, never finished it either, Quest I have, twice, so I would feel a need to score it higher since it kept my attention.  FF7 was a kick in the nuts after what 4-6 did (yes I played 5 in the 90s, original translation I did before I did FF7.)

[G-type | 2,520]

The opinion I remember hearing about it back in the day, was that it was not too bad. Better than nothing and helped n64 fill out a severely neglected RPG category. Looks generic as hell to me. 

[Sumez | 2,989]

Looks pretty boring. No one ever talks about it, and I'm sure even fewer did if the N64 had any other RPGs.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

My copy from ebay has shipped

this weekend is gonna be a blast!

[cj_robot | 546]

I just love that they called it "Quest 64" like they couldn't bother to come up with anything creative at all.

Check out this hot, new video game for the Nintendo GameConsole-64! It's called Third-Party RPG 64! Created by Game Developer and published by American Toy Company.

[RH | 4,965]

14 minutes ago, cj_robot said:

I just love that they called it "Quest 64" like they couldn't bother to come up with anything creative at all.

Check out this hot, new video game for the Nintendo GameConsole-64! It's called Third-Party RPG 64! Created by Game Developer and published by American Toy Company.

I don't mind the "64" bit because for whatever reason that's what a lot of studios did was throw "64" at the end of every title.  "Quest", however, is terrible.  Who would simply name a game Quest and think that's appealing?

I mean that's a fine name if it's 1979 and this is an Atari 2600 title, but in the 90s where there's plenty of pure competition for gamer dollars, that's just lazy. The name is apt to the bland nature of the game though.  If you got this and didn't like it (I'm looking at myself too on this accusation) it's not like they didn't soft warn you with a name like that.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,017]

I had this as one of my 10 or so N64 games and I always loved it. However, it's not that good of a game without my nostalgia glasses. I gave it a 6/10 as it's pretty good and I'll enjoy occasionally playing it. 

[LostLevel83 | 86]

I’ve probably spent more time using this game to test memory cards than actually playing it.

[Link | 2,726]

So I haven't played it. Only heard about it relatively recently. I've never cared much for straight RPGs, so I am interested to try it. That said, 

On 7/14/2022 at 7:16 AM, spacepup said:

It felt very uninspired and generic, and it just never grasped me.  I definitely didn't finish the game, and probably didn't get very far at all to be honest.  Maybe it got a little better as you went on?  

Look at the title they went with. I'm gonna say the first impression here is correct. (Edit: fuck, beaten) I still want to check it out, though. 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Link

[mbd39 | 2,029]

4 hours ago, cj_robot said:

I just love that they called it "Quest 64" like they couldn't bother to come up with anything creative at all.

Check out this hot, new video game for the Nintendo GameConsole-64! It's called Third-Party RPG 64! Created by Game Developer and published by American Toy Company.

 

Playstation had Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Grandia, Vagrant Story, etc.

N64 had Quest 64. It's like the generic store brand RPG.

 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

38 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

 

 

N64 had Quest 64. It's like the generic store brand RPG.

 

By far the best way to describe it. 

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

Feels harsh to give it 4/10, but the description there matches my feelings.

 

Quest 64 would have been considered brilliant if it was released as a 3DO title.

[Tanooki | 4,950]

@cj_robot no doubt.  I question the stupidity with that because it had a decent name easily translated from Japan that would have worked in the US 'Eltale Monsters' which is far better than generic title 64.

[RH | 4,965]

12 hours ago, mbd39 said:

It's like the generic store brand RPG.