Chapter 387: Mystic Quest
Mystic Quest.
Mystic. Quite mystical, in a sense. Relating to mysteries, mysticism, the mystic, the occult, and of esoteric rites.
It's rather obscure, enigmatic, and mysterious enough to induce a feeling of awe and wonder. Especially with magic involved.
Then there's quest. An adventure and the act of seeking it out. Or a rather chivalrous enterprise in medieval romance usually involving quite an adventurous journey.
Put two and two together and you've got something.
And with Creed Entertainment being a multi-faceted business...
Instead of dwelling too much on animation release, ratings, and the many episodic factors to come... why not work on other avenues as well?
After all, despite the apparent focus on animation that this September has been in... it is important to remember what this whole year has always been about.
Video games.
Or in this case...
Mystic Quest.
Yet it isn't exactly what people were expecting, is it?
Where's the side-scrolling, beat 'em up, ninja action? Courtesy of four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Where's the action platformer of martial artsy gameplay? Courtesy of little Goku and the search for Dragonballs.
This Mystic Quest thing seems to have come from nowhere and has no relation to currently talked about comic-turned-cartoon properties at all.
Except perhaps the popular Dragonball opening theme song... Mystical Adventure.
Mystic Quest. Mystical Adventure. It's quite close but also feels like quite a stretch.
Then again, people weren't too complaining and were just curious.
This was still the one that filled the 8/8 slot in the Creed Games, after all.
More than anything, their curiosity about it just drove them to the nearest comic book store...
Ask around...
Get in line to check it out...
And go home with 30 dollars no more.
It's this no-nonsense mentality that really gets people wondering how influential Creed has become and how much money they're making.
At the very least, when it came to the revived video game industry, they've got so much sway that there's really not much to say.
Creed fans just want to play!
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Unintentional rhyme scheming aside...
Mystic Quest.
Taking place on a single continent of an unnamed world, which is divided into four distinct regions: Foresta, Aquaria, Fireburg, and Windia.
The welfare of each region is determined by the state of one of four shining crystals: earth, water, fire, and wind, respectively.
For centuries the Focus Tower had stood at the heart of the world. It had been a center for trade and knowledge, and the world's people met there to peacefully settle their differences.
But on one warm summer day, powerful monsters stormed the Tower, stole the four crystals, and took off with the magical coins that kept the Tower's doors unlocked.
The monsters began consuming the power of the crystals; they grew in strength while the world began to decay.
An old prophecy tells that at the time the "vile four" steal the power and divide the world behind four doors, a knight will appear to vanquish the darkness.
This is where Benjamin comes along...
With allies like the axe-wielding Kaeli from Forestia...
Shuriken-throwing mercenary Tristam from the undisclosed...
Archer Phoebe from Aquaria...
And morning starrer Reuben from Fireburg...
Together they will embark on quite the Mystic Quest!
Of course, with a player in the helm.
Exposing this new video game for what it truly is...
A digital version of tabletop fantasy.
Challenging the likes of the DnD...
For it's a new form of RPG!
But in all actuality...
It's going to be the gateway to Final freakin Fantasy!
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Before it devolves to another rhyme scheming again...
Mystic Quest.
An entry-level role-playing game designed to feature simplified in-game options, storyline, and player control.
In a time when video games are still getting themselves together... and the RPG video gaming genre being a truly true niche... this was the way to go.
It's not going to be piss poor attempt to broaden the genre's appeal. It's actually just going to introduce it.
With such a goal, the gameplay is as simple as there are no random encounters.
Enemies appear on the map and a battle with an enemy party is initiated when they are approached.
Travel on the world map is restricted to direct paths between nodes with bits of exploration, and the only enemies fought on the overworld are restricted to Battlefields.
Equipment cannot be purchased from shops, save for a handful of NPCs that sell single pieces, and the strongest equipment the player has is always used, as previous equipment pieces are universally rendered obsolete with inferior stats.
Combat is turn-based, and the player has the option to set their ally to AI control or manual.
Magic is divided into three schools and uses the usual RPG system; each school has a separate MP count, and casting a spell from that school consumes one MP.
Status ailments and elemental attacks with appropriate weaknesses and resistances remain.
If the player falls in battle they have the option to start the fight over in the same status as when it began.
In spite of all that, the game actually has a heavy action influence and numerous platform elements.
Benjamin can jump to leap over obstacles and gaps and push some obstacles around to open new paths.
Weapons can be used in the field to various effects: swords are used to hit switches, axes chop down trees, claws allow Benjamin to climb walls, and bombs can be used to blow up obstacles.
The strongest claw, the Dragon Claw, also allows Benjamin to throw the claw across wide gaps to latch onto hooks and pull himself across, and the Mega Grenade allows him to blow up obstacles from a distance.
While experience points and levels are earned as per usual, the player's level cannot be maxed out at level 99 or 100, but only to level 41.
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There are a few changes here and there, of course.
But it's all satisfactory enough in Alexander's opinion.
After all, they weren't in it for a full-on Final Fantasy gaming experience.
Just like how this game is an introductory product for future RPG gamers, this also happens to be a tester for the game developers.
Creed Games was something but they were a bit stretched out to truly be akin to Square or Enix or the Square Enix that it will come to be.
Despite Mystic Quest's incredibly bad reputation, it's actually more than satisfactory enough to fill its role.
Like the role-playing game that it is.
It has redeeming qualities and is even considered a cult classic to many with its musical scores and whatnot.
In Alexander's case, it locked the great Final Fantasy in stone...
Come to think of it... maybe he's locked in Dragon Quest too.
For some reason, Enix has yet to publish that magnum opus of theirs.
Perhaps they weren't able to approach Akira Toriyama.
Poor Toriyama...
Dragonball and Dragon Quest, back to back.
Alexander could only blame his plundering fingers... but oh well...
Maybe the guy is somewhere out there... incredibly miffed at these turn of events.
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Toriyama actually is out there... somewhere... in the Land of the Rising Sun...
Not just miffed.
Akira Toriyama was indignant, irritated, angry, put out, and annoyed. But it's all the same, isn't it?
Although America was quite far away, Toriyama was quite updated on specific news.
And it was news that really got him down in the dumps.
So down in the dumps that his editor had to step in.
But what can he do?
Translated Dragonball 'takonbon' volumes are getting popular in Japan, Dragonball is said to have successfully become an 'animeshon' in the States, and weirdly enough... the video game company that wanted to work with Toriyama pulled out because a major competitor had done something worrying.
Said major competitor just happens to be related to Dragonball as well.
Poor Toriyama. Maybe they should have fought for the man but why does it feel too little too late?
Editor Torishima can't help but sigh and advise. "Toriyama-san, why don't you just move on and get out of this slump of yours?"
"Slump, huh?" Toriyama thought about it... felt bitter... and just drank 'sake' to double it down. "You just want me to work on more Dr. Slump, right?"
Editor Torishima didn't deny... so poor Toriyama, indeed.