Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Rankings

The box cover for the Japanese release of MQ, titled "Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest." The game is a rarity in that the Japanese version was released after the US one.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

1992

I feel I've exhausted the Mystic Quest soundtrack, so I'll link to a good history of the game.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest has the dubious distinction of being an (the only?) RPG developed in Japan for a US audience. It was Square's attempt to get the US audience to buy more of their RPGs, which were immensely popular in Japan, but not so much in the US. They surmised that perhaps the games were too complicated to be accessible to a mass audience in the West. FF:MQ was also the first Final Fantasy to be released in Europe. The plan failed, not garnering new players, and leaving most Western fans pissed they got MQ instead of Final Fantasy V. It wouldn't be until Final Fantasy 7, five years later, that the series would become a massive success in the West.

Thankfully, Square chose "Yes" on sending watered down games to the West.

The Director was Kouzi Ide, who was also director of Final Fantasy Legend III. Final Fantasy Legend was part of the SaGa series in Japan. Given that the SaGa series was Akitoshi Kawazu's baby, and that Ide doesn't even have the distinction of having his own Wikipedia page, I assume he was sort of the "C-team" director at Square. Final Fantasy Legend III is another inoffensive game that doesn't live up to its predecessors, so you have to give him credit for at least not taking a dump and ruining these franchises as sometimes happens when they get handed off.

A battle in Final Fantasy Legend III, for the Game Boy.

Two of the writers on Mystic Quest are notable. The first is Chihiro Fujioka, who is probably best known in the West for directing Super Mario RPG. He is also a member of Earthbound Papas, Nobuo Uematsu's prog-rock video game cover band follow up to The Black Mages. Check out one of their shows here.

Super Mario RPG, a surprising classic I haven't played yet.

The other notable writer is actually the translator, Ted Woolsey. While the historical video I linked to above paints him in a positive light, he is not necessarily well liked amongst fans, mainly for the liberties he took with Final Fantasy 6's script. His defense is that the translation, while different than the original, was necessary to convey the same feel in English, and also necessary to appease Nintendo USA's strict censorship policies of the time. I'm surprised this fact isn't mentioned on his Wikipedia page, but a quick 'net search should dig that up for those interested. I found the writing in Final Fantasy 6 a little too "comic booky" for my taste, but I didn't get that feel from Woolsey's other translations.

It says Final Fantasy III, but it was the 6th Final Fantasy. If you're reading my blog, you probably already know what that is all about.

Before we get to the rankings, it's worth mentioning that there was a kickstarter campaign for an HD remake of MQ. It appears the game was completed, however, it was a scam in the sense that the single designer of the remake claimed to have secured the rights to remake the game, but he had not. The law shut down the HD remake before it's release, and unfortunately the backers lost their money.

Let's begin!

Mechanics - Although the Gold Box games have a great engine, I have to give Mystic Quest more credit than Forgotten World and F:NWN because the implementation is so bad in those games. I feel about equal about the gameplay in Mystic Quest and FF13, but give the edge to Quest because I prefer turn-based systems.

5. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

8. Final Fantasy 13

9. Forgotten World

Nothing special, but it'll get 'er done.

Storyline - It's a very basic, no frills fantasy quest. Mystic Quest edges Treasures because of that game's ridiculous ending that is unrelated to the rest of the story.

5. Final Fantasy 13

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

8. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

9. Forgotten World

One important plot point is that... Captain Mac forgot his cap, and it's kind of a big deal.

Atmosphere - Not much to talk about here. It's a light hearted romp that worries little about verisimilitude. 10-2 is also pretty ridiculous, but I give it the edge because it's a much more complex world.

6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

7. Final Fantasy 10-2

8. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

9. Forgotten World

10. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Highbrow stuff.

End Game - Although it's not going to win any awards, I did enjoy climbing the Tower (Castle) of Doom and revisiting the dungeon types I traveled in earlier. 13-2's final dungeons were okay, with it's spinning blocks. Although a trope, in Japanese RPGs especially, I am a big fan of the "boss rush" and multiple formed end boss, therefore, Mystic Quest edges 13-2.

3. Final Fantasy 10-2

4. Final Fantasy 10

5. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

7. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

Neither surprising nor original, but satisfying.

Difficulty - Although it can be annoying at times, overall it's an easy game. The hard parts of Mystic Quest apply more to the next category. It's hard to compare, but I'm putting it above 10.

6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

7. Final Fantasy 13-2

8. Lightning Returns: FF13

9. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

10. Final Fantasy 10

Yeah you do, bro!

Balance - Mystic Quest definitely had some balance issues, as battles could turn out to be randomly hard, or even unwinnable, thanks to the ridiculous amount of disabling status effects. Normally this sort of thing is mitigated in Final Fantasy by having a larger party. By simplifying the game down to two members and leaving those status effects in, the game is made more difficult. At most you're losing a few minutes though, not 15 min or even hours, (looking at you 13-2 Gilgamesh...) so I've ranked it relatively high.

2. Lightning Returns: FF13

3. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

4. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

5. Final Fantasy 10-2

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

This sort of thing is not a rare sight in Mystic Quest.

Music - This is the one thing Mystic Quest is routinely praised for, and it deserves it! The metal influenced soundtrack is unique and cool. Although there are two composers for the game, Ryuji Sasai seems to be the one responsible for bringing this unique sound to the SNES. 10-2 also had a rock influenced soundtrack, albeit with more of a pop influence. There are a number of good soundtracks at the top of the pile here, it was a close race. Mystic Quest gets some extra credit because we are talking about the SNES, not the advanced hardware of the PS2.

2. Final Fantasy 13

3. Final Fantasy 10-2

4. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

5. Final Fantasy 10

6. Lightning Returns: FF13

Nobody knows how to rock like Doom Castle knows how to rock!

Art - It's basically just cutesy, super-deformed 16-bit goodness. The standout feature of Mystic Quest's art is how the enemies degrade into worse and worse states as you whack them. That feature is enough to edge Treasures.

5. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

6. Final Fantasy 10-2

7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

8. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

9. Forgotten World

"I said a little off the top!"

Best Villain - There aren't really any options for recurring villains in this game. They basically show up, and then you kill them. I found Pazuzu the most interesting, even disregarding my nostalgia. He interacts with the player the most out of any villain in the game. He's certainly much more interesting than Dark King, who just comes out of nowhere. He beats a lot of villains, but it's hard to take down Gilgamesh.

3. Barthandelus (FF13)

4. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)

5. Pazuzu (FFMQ)

6. Freezefire (TotSF)

7. Shuyin (FF10-2)

Worst Villain - Dark King. He's not offensive, but he's obviously shoehorned in because it's expected. Least offensive on the list.

6. Asshole Soldier (TotSF)

7. Caius Ballad (LR:FF13)

8. Angry Old Pirate (F:NWN)

9. Thieve's Guild Guard (FW)

10. Dark King (FFMQ)

Best Ally - Nobody in this game is super-developed. Kaeli seems nice, and she can talk to trees.

6. Krevish (GttSF)

7. The Angel of Valhalla (LR:FF13)

8. Kaeli (FFMQ)

9. Centaur (FW)

10. Stoned Guy (F:NWN)

Worst Ally - Tristan. He kind of redeemed himself by giving Ben the Dragon Claw, but he's pretty much an asshole. Still not as offensive as Lord Nasher and Bartholomew, who did basically nothing.

6. Jabarkas (TotSF)

7. Jagaerda (GttSF)

8. Father Bartholomew (FW)

9. Lord Nasher (F:NWN)

10. Tristan (FFMQ)

Kaeli is poisoned and dying, and Tristan just wants to make sure he gets his money's worth for the Elixir he swiped right in front of Benjamin.

Best Enemy - Dullahan, because he has a HEADLESS HORSE! I can't think of a monster that particularly stuck out as being interesting to fight. The headless horseman with a headless horse can't quite beat out the wolf in the sheep shearing shop.

6. Jihl Nabaat (FF13-2)

7. Wolf in Sheep's Shop (FW)

8. Dullahan (FFMQ)

9. Zhentil Fighter (GttSF)

10. Crocodile (F:NWN)

Until you see him in battle... it's a little awkward.

Worst Enemy - Any of the stun lock enemies are the worst, but the lamias and their palette swapped relatives were probably the worst in this regard. Getting stun locked is annoying, but not as bad as a mammoth stomping in your whole party's faces. Especially since MQ lets you simply restart a battle you have lost.

6. Mammoth (F:NWN)

7. Lamia (FFMQ)

8. Guado (FF10)

9. Claret Dragon (FF10-2)

10. Tree Man (FW)

Lamias and a headless horse!

Best Mini-Game/Puzzle - Not too many to pick from. Pushing the ice pillars was neat.

3. Kraken Code (GttSF)

4. Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (FF10-2)

5. Hold 'Em (FF13-2)

6. Bakti (FF13)

7. Pushin' Pillars (FFMQ)

Worst Mini-Game/Puzzle - Once again, not many to pick from. The switches in Pazuzu's tower didn't seem to do much, so I'll pick them, however, I may just have missed how they work. It's not offensive.

3. Spherebreak (FF10-2)

4. Mirror Map (GttSF)

5. Hide-n-Seek (FF13)

6. Lucky Papers (TotSF)

7. Tower Switches (FFMQ)

Pazuzu waits... in his elevator. He's got wings, why isn't it just a shaft?

Side Quest - There isn't too much in the way of side quests, just a few items you could miss but aren't likely to, since they aren't far off the beaten path. I'm putting it below FF13 because although 13 really only had one type of side quest, I did enjoy doing them. One benefit of FFMQ having so few items is it is the first game I can label as 100% completed; all in the course of finishing the game the first time!

4. Final Fantasy 10

5. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

7. Final Fantasy 13

8. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Full stock of items.

Overall - You've probably noticed a trend as I've been doing these rankings. Mystic Quest is not great, not terrible, mildly entertaining and mostly inoffensive. It's going in slot 6, because the others below it WERE offensive!

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

5. Final Fantasy 13-2

6. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

7. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

8. Final Fantasy 13

As a bonus, here's an Inconsolable style monstage of the bosses in the game getting beat downs.

Master Rankings

Mechanics-

1. Final Fantasy 10
2. Final Fantasy 10-2
3. Lightning Returns: FF13
4. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
5. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
6. Final Fantasy 13-2
7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
8. Final Fantasy 13
9. Forgotten World
10. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Storyline-

1. Final Fantasy 10
2. Lightning Returns: FF13
3. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
4. Final Fantasy 10-2
5. Final Fantasy 13
6. Final Fantasy 13-2
7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
8. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
9. Forgotten World
10. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Atmosphere- 

1. Final Fantasy 10
2. Lightning Returns: FF13
3. Final Fantasy 13
4. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
5. Final Fantasy 13-2
6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
7. Final Fantasy 10-2
8. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
9. Forgotten World
10. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

End Game-

1. Lightning Returns: FF13
2. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
3. Final Fantasy 10-2
4. Final Fantasy 10
5. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
6. Final Fantasy 13-2
7. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
8. Final Fantasy 13

Difficulty-

1. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights
2. Forgotten World
3. Final Fantasy 13
4. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
5. Final Fantasy 10-2
6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
7. Final Fantasy 13-2
8. Lightning Returns: FF13
9. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
10. Final Fantasy 10

Balance-

1. Final Fantasy 10
2. Lightning Returns: FF13
3. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
4. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
5. Final Fantasy 10-2
6. Final Fantasy 13-2
7. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
8. Final Fantasy 13
9. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights
10. Forgotten World

Music-

1. Final Fantasy 13-2
2. Final Fantasy 13
3. Final Fantasy 10-2
4. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
5. Final Fantasy 10
6. Lightning Returns: FF13
7. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights
8. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
9. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Art-

1. Lightning Returns: FF13
2. Final Fantasy 13
3. Final Fantasy 10
4. Final Fantasy 13-2
5. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
6. Final Fantasy 10-2
7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
8. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
9. Forgotten World
10. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Best Villain-

1. Lumina (LR:FF13)
2. Yunalesca (FF10)
3. Barthandelus (FF13)
4. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)
5. Pazuzu (FFMQ)
6. Freezefire (TotSF)
7. Shuyin (FF10-2)
8. Broadhand (GttSF)
9. Evil Necromancer (F:NWN)
10. Kobold (FW)

Worst Villain-

1. Yu Yevon (FF10)
2. Alyssa Zaidelle (FF13-2)
3. Leblanc (FF10-2)
4. Vaalgamon (GttSF)
5. Jihl Nabaat (FF13)
6. Asshole Soldier (TotSF)
7. Caius Ballad (LR:FF13)
8. Angry Old Pirate (F:NWN)
9. Thieve's Guild Guard (FW)
10. Dark King (FFMQ)

Best Ally-

1. Mog (FF13-2)
2. Auron (FF10)
3. Sazh Katzroy (FF13)
4. Rikku (FF10-2)
5. Ougo the Strange (TotSF)
6. Krevish (GttSF)
7. The Angel of Valhalla (LR:FF13)
8. Kaeli (FFMQ)
9. Centaur (FW)
10. Stoned Guy (F:NWN)

Worst Ally-

1. Hope Estheim (FF13)
2. Dona (FF10)
3. Beclam (FF10-2)
4. Chocolina (FF13-2)
5. "Hope Estheim" (LR:FF13)
6. Jabarkas (TotSF)
7. Jagaerda (GttSF)
8. Father Bartholomew (FW)
9. Lord Nasher (F:NWN)
10. Tristan (FFMQ)

Best Enemy-

1. Bhunivelze (LR:FF13)
2. Yojimbo (FF10)
3. Freezefire (TotSF)
4. Dahaka (FF13)
5. Angra Mainyu (FF10-2)
6. Jihl Nabaat (FF13-2)
7. Wolf in Sheep's Shop (FW)
8. Dullahan (FFMQ)
9. Zhentil Fighter (GttSF)
10. Crocodile (F:NWN)

Worst Enemy-

1. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)
2. Mages (TotSF)
3. Cid Raines (FF13)
4. Shambling Mound (GttSF)
5. Meonekton (LR:FF13)
6. Mammoth (F:NWN)
7. Lamia (FFMQ)
8. Guado (FF10)
9. Claret Dragon (FF10-2)
10. Tree Man (FW)

Best Mini-Game/Puzzle-

1. Blitzball (FF10)
2. Falling in Love (TotSF)
3. Kraken Code (GttSF)
4. Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (FF10-2)
5. Hold 'Em (FF13-2)
6. Bakti (FF13)
7. Pushin' Pillars (FFMQ)

Worst Mini-Game/Puzzle-

1. Slot Machine (FF13-2)
2. Lightning Dodging (FF10)
3. Spherebreak (FF10-2)
4. Mirror Map (GttSF)
5. Hide-n-Seek (FF13)
6. Lucky Papers (TotSF)
7. Tower Switches (FFMQ)

Side Quests-

1. Lightning Returns: FF13
2. Final Fantasy 10-2
3. Final Fantasy 13-2
4. Final Fantasy 10
5. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
7. Final Fantasy 13
8. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Overall-

1. Lightning Returns: FF13
2. Final Fantasy 10
3. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
4. Final Fantasy 10-2
5. Final Fantasy 13-2
6. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
7. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
8. Final Fantasy 13
9. Forgotten World
10. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Treasures of the Savage Frontier: Rankings

This box means business... it's real; isn't afraid to get its hand's dirty. 

Treasures of the Savage Frontier
1992

The only real big change staff-wise from Gateway is that Mark Buchignani seems to have been promoted. He was credited as only an encounter author in the first game, but seems to be on the level with Don Daglow for this one.

Each of these games has, wow, FOUR encounter authors? I find this surprising because the encounters are so damn repetitive in both games. Either each person only wrote certain types of encounters, or they all ended up writing the same ideas separately. I almost think the second is more likely. I can imagine the team going "Wait, your climax had the villain being a secret tattooed Kraken spy also? Oh dear..." a week before release. Granted, I've never designed a video game before, but I have designed D&D adventures, and I think this team could have done better.

This was one of the more unique and memorable, if frustrating, battles.

Treasures is the Gold Box game I've had the least amount of experience with previously, having only played it shortly in my childhood before moving on to something else. There has been a pattern throughout my life with these games, I start a series planning to get through it with the same party. Then, I make it to the last game and just get burnt out. Having made my way through the game for this project, finally, I can understand why this happened in my youth. As I've stated numerous times about Treasures, in the later Gold Box games, the combats become such a drag. The rules set these games are based off of was never balanced for high level play, and man does it show. It also seems like the designers compensated for the ability to save and reload by making the combats ridiculously hard; it should not surprise you that I think that was a mistake.

Hordes of pirates are kind of fun... kind of. The hordes of lightning bolt throwing mages that followed them were no fun at all.

All my griping aside, at least it's done. After some 20 years probably since first I had the thought to complete all the Gold Box games, at least one series is down (granted, it's the shortest, but that's not my fault!)

Mechanics - It's the tried and true gold box engine. They added some bells and whistles like weather and love. These didn't add much for me, and in many cases detracted from my experience. Weather would have been good if it reduced visibility, but it only reduced movement, increasing the power of spells, which is the last thing this game needs. I'll put it just below Gateway, because the designers put in those questionable things, but still didn't figure out the importance of being able to "center" while manually aiming, or being able to load without quitting to DOS.

3. Lightning Returns: FF13

4. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

5. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

7. Final Fantasy 13

Storyline - It's average, sometimes a bit repetitive. I was probably giving it more credit than it deserved while playing for story, when I was really thinking about atmosphere. The events often seem random, and the ending doesn't tie in well to the rest of the game. It's a long game; they could have cut a fair amount, and the game would have been better off for it.

5. Final Fantasy 13

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

7. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

8. Forgotten World

9. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

It's... another pointless revelation!

Atmosphere - I think they immersed the player better than in Gateway. This is a strength, but is ruined by what happens in between the good stuff. I think it's rare that a game simply needed to be cut down to make it significantly better, but that's exactly what Treasures is. I guess they felt it needed to be 40 hours of gameplay to be marketable, because man, that extra 20 hours really ruins the game. It's still good enough to come in at number 4 in my rankings.

2. Lightning Returns: FF13

3. Final Fantasy 13

4. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

5. Final Fantasy 13-2

6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

End Game - Besides getting tired of encounters, I found the actual end game at Fireshear and Ice Peak to be a lot of fun. It's odd that the ending didn't tie in to the game's main plot at all, but wound up being the most fun part. What does that tell you about the rest of the game?

1. Lightning Returns: FF13

2. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

3. Final Fantasy 10-2

4. Final Fantasy 10

5. Final Fantasy 13-2

They really enjoyed showing off their text color capabilities... I really wish that time would have been put toward the "center" command!

Difficulty - Treasures was crazy hard, for me at least. Probably not as bad as FF13, but close.

2. Forgotten World
3. Final Fantasy 13
4. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
5. Final Fantasy 10-2
6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

They lifted this beast that was created for Pools of Darkness, where the party is about ten levels higher, then had the nerve to have reinforcements appear!

Balance - Nah... barely better than FF13.

4. Final Fantasy 10-2
5. Final Fantasy 13-2
6. Treasures of the Savage Frontier
7. Final Fantasy 13
8. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Music - Treasures's single tune is eerie and minimalist, even here they forgot to make the game interesting.

4. Final Fantasy 10
5. Lightning Returns: FF13
6. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights
7. Gateway to the Savage Frontier
8. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Art - Treasures has some good stuff, but  it re-used a lot of assets from Gateway and Pools of Darkness, as opposed to the all fresh Gateway. There wasn't much that stuck out to me, besides the cool snow wall sets at the end.

5. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

6. Final Fantasy 10-2

7. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

8. Forgotten World

9. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Here's another guy from FRUA I was happy to find. Jake was nowhere to be found.

Best Villain - Freezefire? Geildarr, Cortona... I realized while writing my notes that the lack of named villains in the game was a big detractor to getting invested in it. 99% of the time, you are fighting faceless organizations; not very interesting. I'll have to go with Freezefire. Wait, you're saying a dragon who isn't introduced until the end of the game and doesn't say a word is better than Shuyin? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

3. Barthandelus (FF13)

4. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)

5. Freezefire (TotSF)

6. Shuyin (FF10-2)

7. Broadhand (GttSF)

Augustar makes his impassioned speech after suddenly recovering from his greed for The Gem.

Worst Villain - That asshole soldier who drugged us. Although really, we're the assholes for falling for the same trick.

4. Vaalgamon (GttSF)

5. Jihl Nabaat (FF13)

6. Asshole Soldier (TotSF)

7. Caius Ballad (LR:FF13)

8. Angry Old Pirate (F:NWN)

You...

Best Ally - It's close between Siulajia and Ougo, but Ougo deserves it because he is also linked to one of the few quests that is interesting.

3. Sazh Katzroy (FF13)

4. Rikku (FF10-2)

5. Ougo the Strange (TotSF)

6. Krevish (GttSF)

7. The Angel of Valhalla (LR:FF13)

That may be, but you seem to have lost your marbles.

Worst Ally - Jabarkas, he is an alternate love interest who comes in to play if your lead character is female, but why introduce him if he is going to mean nothing?

4. Chocolina (FF13-2)

5. "Hope Estheim" (LR:FF13)

6. Jabarkas (TotSF)

7. Jagaerda (GttSF)

8. Father Bartholomew (FW)

And that's pretty much all he does...

Best Enemy - Freezefire, he was badass, even if he did disintegrate one of my guys. Actually, that kind of makes him more badass. Like Bhunivelze, he is the best this game has to offer in two categories.

1. Bhunivelze (LR:FF13)

2. Yojimbo (FF10)

3. Freezefire (TotSF)

4. Dahaka (FF13)

5. Angra Mainyu (FF10-2)

Worst Enemy - Magic-users... F! It was unreal what these Bs did to me in the course of this game.

1. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)

2. Mages (TotSF)

3. Cid Raines (FF13)

4. Shambling Mound (GttSF)

5. Meonekton (LR:FF13)

Oh Hosttower mages, how I hate you, let me count the ways...

Best Mini-Game/Puzzle - Falling in love. It would have been a neat feature, if it weren't for potentially losing control of the character in combat. The game deserves credit for implementing a relationship mechanic way back in 1992.

1. Blitzball (FF10)

2. Falling in Love (TotSF)

3. Kraken Code (GttSF)

4. Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (FF10-2)

5. Hold 'Em (FF13-2)

Worst Mini-Game/Puzzle - The lucky papers, because; all that work for nothing... Amanitas's crown makes them redundant, excepting their use as MacGuffins.

2. Lightning Dodging (FF10)

3. Spherebreak (FF10-2)

4. Mirror Map (GttSF)

5. Hide-n-Seek (FF13)

6. Lucky Papers (TotSF)

Side Quests - Farr Winward was very cool, the secret dwarf dungeons not so much.

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 10

5. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

6. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

7. Final Fantasy 13

This guy and some dwarves point you to secret dungeons. I'm not sure I even mentioned them in my posts, because there isn't much to talk about.

Overall - Given this was the "last" of the GB games, I had high hopes that they would have ironed out all the kinks, and pulled out all the stops. Of course, the end of a long running series often means something else... that it didn't do well. I had a very FF13esque feeling about half-way through, here was this game from a beloved franchise, and I thought "This feeling... OMG... I think... this game might blow!"

Treasures isn't quite as big a shame as FF13, but almost there.

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

5. Final Fantasy 13-2

6. Treasures of the Savage Frontier

7. Final Fantasy 13

8. Forgotten World

As the Heroes of Ascore, and now of all the North, return to the Tired Traveller, I'm happy to see the door shut on this one. I'm also curious about others' impressions of Treasures, since I do feel like it's the least talked about of all the Gold Box games.

Comment to gain Gil and influence my playlist!

FRUA: Neverwinter Nights and Forgotten World: Rankings

The box cover of oNWN. Like many of today's games, you had the choice to buy a physical copy, or to download it painfully slowly on your dial-up. Source.

FRUA: Neverwinter Nights
2012 based on a 1991 game
Forgotten World
1998 based on a 1991 game

I'm not sure exactly when Forgotten World first went live, but its development is listed as starting in 1998, which was the year after AOL cancelled Neverwinter Nights.

I was pretty determined to make it through F:NWN, I really was, but after putting in about 100 hours on the two games combined, I'm not seeing enough that it is worth continuing. The original game itself was probably pretty cool in its day, I'll give it that. Forgotten World suffers from not having an active community anymore. As far as the other, the mechanics of the original didn't transfer too well to FRUA, and the port also suffers from numerous bugs. In the interest of wrapping them up and moving on down my list, here are their rankings.

The credits for oNWN. It is credited to Stormfront Studios, and has the same core design team as Gateway to the Savage Frontier. The FRUA port was done by the appropriately named GoldBoxFan. Source.

The startup screen for FW. We can see it was developed by Electronic Concepts; beyond that the designers don't seem to care to toot their horns too much.

Both games, as you probably already know, are meant to be resurrections of the first MMORPG, AOL's Neverwinter Nights. It was a wildly popular online game using the AD&D rules and SSI's Gold Box engine. The game launched in 1991, and lasted until 1997. It's reasons for being cancelled still seem to be a bit of a mystery, as the game was very popular, perhaps the busiest it had ever been, at the time of it's cancellation. This sudden end set a community adrift who wanted something to fill the void left behind.

The Forgotten World website was created as a place for this community to stay connected, and plans seemingly started immediately to recreate the game. The updated game, utilizing name changes to avoid lawsuits, launched in the early to mid 2000's. My understanding is that it was also very popular! Unfortunately, with so many more online-game opportunities available these days, the hype had died down to almost non-existent when I discovered Forgotten World in 2014. After playing for 40 or more hours, I had only encountered other players online twice.

Forgotten World: All are welcome!

The difficulty of the encounters seems to assume that most of the time you will have traveling companions to help you out. Enter FRUA; what seems like a perfect answer to the lack of players. The FRUA port allows the player to create a full party of six characters and experience the same encounters the online game had to offer! It turned out to be an imperfect solution however, as an important dynamic in the original is that if you wander into an area that is too difficult, when you are defeated, you awaken closer to the safe-haven of Neverwinter. In FRUA, you can get stuck in an area that is too tough to get out of (Like I did... where beholders were guarding an exit, and I didn't have a chance against them.)

Toast... toast...

In addition, the port, because of the design constraints of FRUA, also leaves out the element of random treasure, which was probably why I constantly seemed short of magic items and coins. Lastly, it's swimming with bugs. This isn't uncommon for fan made modules. In this case, it's pretty frustrating though, as most of the things I encountered would have been obvious on a SINGLE playthrough. All the author had to do was check their work, and most of these things would have been fixed. If you're going to put in hours and hours to port this massive game, why not put in the time to make sure it works?

I'm not talking about this type of bug.

These games by their nature don't stand to do too well in my rankings. I'm sure the original online NWN was a hoot, and if FW ever get's it's player base back, it will probably be a great experience as well. For now, they are not so much. 

That being said, while the straight port to FRUA didn't work, I feel it does have the potential for a good re-make. If it was overhauled with the single player experience in mind, as opposed to directly recreating the online one, I think it could be pretty cool.

Mechanics - Although at its heart it is the same engine that Gateway had, it's implementation is not quite as great here. I won't get into the minutiae; the interface isn't as smooth is all. FRUA is a bit of struggle-bus trying to recreate certain elements of the online game.

4. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

5. Final Fantasy 13-2

6. Final Fantasy 13

7. Forgotten World

8. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

This moment is still satisfying in any of these games.

Storyline - Since quests needed to be repeatable, and have an open world, by nature there isn't an overarching storyline. Well, I guess the invasion of the Luskans is sort of a story, but not like you'd get in a single player game. There are little individual stories for quests that can be charming. FW ranks higher because content was added to the original.

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

5. Final Fantasy 13

6. Final Fantasy 13-2

7. Forgotten World

8. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Atmosphere - There were some decent attempts at atmosphere with phrases like "You feel the presence of old magic," and, "You smell fire in the distance." Luskan had even been built up so much that I was nervous as I entered and saw it's strange skies; almost like there was a volcano in the distance or something. I was soon let down by yet another hack-n-slash dungeon slog though.

4. Final Fantasy 13-2

5. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

6. Final Fantasy 10-2

7. Forgotten World

8. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

They had me for a second.

End Game - Not applicable here, as I both didn't finish the games, and they probably don't have an end game!

Difficulty - Now here's a category these two can sink their teeth into. These games are hard, no bones about it. Forgotten World is a little easier because of the aforementioned mechanic of transporting your hero closer to safety upon their death.

1. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

2. Forgotten World

3. Final Fantasy 13

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

5. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

Balance - These two are the anti-champions in the balance category. One second you're fighting wild boars, and then next square it's dracoliches. I really don't know what they were going for with how the encounters were set up. Surprise? Horror? Killing the will to live? Forgotten World has the distinction of being at the bottom because of its addition of randomized enemy hit points.

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

5. Final Fantasy 13-2

6. Final Fantasy 13

7. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

8. Forgotten World

At my level? Not a chance!

Music - Like most Gold Box games NWN has only one piece of music, and since FW has none, it's between NWN and Gateway. Gateway's tune has a mysterious quality I like, but Neverwinter's overtakes it with sheer epicness. Yes, I take this very seriously.

3. Final Fantasy 10-2

4. Final Fantasy 10

5. Lightning Returns: FF13

6. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

7. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

Art - Both games have functional artwork. Forgotten World's has been retouched in higher resolution and with more colors.

3. Final Fantasy 10

4. Final Fantasy 13-2

5. Gateway to the Savage Frontier

6. Final Fantasy 10-2

7. Forgotten World

8. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

Best Villain - I had yet to encounter many, if any, characters that could qualify as villains, so I'm reaching here. In F:NWN I encountered an evil wizard who had captured Willow Clovyr, the North's most skilled metal worker. I think I liked him just because he looked a little ridiculous. It's a unique look, he stands out.

This is all it takes to get best villain here at This Bard's Tales. Is that a turtleneck?

I really hadn't encountered any true villains in FW, so I'm going with a classic, the kobold! Kobolds are my favorite D&D monster. The only thing better than beating up on kobolds is when they surprise you with their cunning (ala Pool of Radiance). Kobolds are awesome; I'll try not to be biased here.

4. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)
5. Shuyin (FF10-2)
6. Broadhand (GttSF)
7. Evil Necromancer (F:NWN)
8. Kobold (FW)

Oh Kobold, you stole my heart... and my cat.

Worst Villain - In Forgotten World, there was some added content that was not in the original game. There was what, to me, appeared to be a Thieve's Guild you could enter with the right password. A man starts to say it, "Dra...", then is cut off by a dagger to the throat. I tried about thirty different words starting with dra, including doing them backwards because it was written on a mirror. No success; bummer.

In Luskan, I ran into this awesome curmudgeon of a pirate who just goes on a rant about how it aint like the ol' days anymore. I loved it.

4. Vaalgamon (GttSF)
5. Jihl Nabaat (FF13)
6. Caius Ballad (LR:FF13)
7. Angry Old Pirate (F:NWN)
8. Thieve's Guild Guard (FW)

"You kids don't understand what it's like to make a good, honest, living; killing and robbin' others!"

Best Ally - This one is easy for Forgotten World. The centaur who joins you in a fight is very majestic looking, and helps you out with tips as well. He's not so majestic in F:NWN. The sailor who was slowly being turned to stone, and perished dramatically, made an impression on me in that game.

4. Rikku (FF10-2)
5. Krevish (GttSF)
6. The Angel of Valhalla (LR:FF13)
7. Centaur (FW)
8. Stoned Guy (F:NWN)

Centaur: A Side by Side Comparison, FRUA: Neverwinter Nights.

Centaur: A Side by Side Comparison, Forgotten World.

Worst Ally - The worst ally winners are the men who you are likely to meet first in each game, the City's respective leaders; Lord Nasher and Father Bartholomew. Supposedly they offer quests, of which I didn't receive any. The rewards they offer of a few hundred coins or a couple gems are a pittance compared to the dangers you will have faced to recover such items as the're looking for.

4. Chocolina (FF13-2)
5. "Hope Estheim" (LR:FF13)
6. Jagaerda (GttSF)
7. Father Bartholomew (FW)
8. Lord Nasher (F:NWN)

Bart is ranked higher, because he actually gets a portrait in-game.

Best Enemy - There is a sheep shearing shop in both games. Upon entering, you are attacked by a wolf! I sort of fell in love with this guy. To keep things interesting, I'm going with the crocodiles in F: NWN. They were scary one-on-one, but funny with a party.

4. Angra Mainyu (FF10-2)
5. Jihl Nabaat (FF13-2)
6. Wolf in Sheep's Shop (FW)
7. Zhentil Fighter (GttSF)
8. Crocodile (F:NWN)

Worst Enemy - In F:NWN I dreaded fighting mammoths of all things. In the other Gold Box games I've encountered them, they weren't that threatening (Secret of the Silver Blades), but man did they beat the crap out of me in this one. If it was one, I would be okay, but they kept on coming! In larger numbers!

In Forgotten World, I'm giving the nod to the tree man. The're not all that threatening; more so annoying. They have a load of attacks from their branches and can grab on to you. They were so annoying because I fought a particular random battle with trees and thieves probably a hundred times or more.

4. Meonekton (LR:FF13)
5. Mammoth (F:NWN)
6. Guado (FF10)
7. Claret Dragon (FF10-2)
8. Tree Man (FW)

Just seeing a picture of this battle gets me on edge.

I really don't think I saw enough of these games to place them in the categories of mini-games and side quests, so I'm leaving those N/A for now.

Overall - Neither of these games is a hot prospect right now. Forgotten World just needs players, so it rates higher. F:NWN needs a complete bug check, and maybe more.

4. Final Fantasy 10-2
5. Final Fantasy 13-2
6. FInal Fantasy 13
7. Forgotten World
8. FRUA: Neverwinter Nights

I felt like I'd been hit by a feeblemind more than once while playing these games.

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