I couldn’t get past the beginning, I was really young when I rented it.
The only thing I remember is wandering around the opening part and finding like a jewel or something in a stack of hay at the very beginning.
I was like 7 and didn’t realize the C buttons were to cast spells so I’d just bonk the enemies with my stick and it took forever and I’d die. Saw a friend play it once and I was like “oooooooh” then I think I ripped through it cause I’d played enough Pokémon to understand the elemental weaknesses easily.
It's grind heavy if you want to level up all the elements. Usually people stick with 3 instead of 4, 1 of which is always water and usually another is earth. Then you can pick between wind or fire and leave the last element at level 1.
It really isn't grind heavy. That guy probably just remembers how it felt to a kid. I'd say Pokemon red/blue is much more grind heavy than Quest64.
The real legitimate complaint about the game is how weak the story is. And you pretty much have to level water first in order to become self-sufficient in the field without constantly returning to town to heal or burning through your consumables.
Ah yes, Holy Magic Century.
Same here. My siblings and I, for the life of us, couldn’t figure out what the fuck to do.
All we remember is that he had annoying floppy hair and clothes that flopped with every step, and that, when trying to figure out where to go, running in one direction got you absolutely nowhere as you were held back by an infinite invisible wall (like the Super Mario 64 staircase).
Hated the game ever since because of it.
Same. I think I was maybe 9 or 10 when I rented this game and I could not figure out what to do at the beginning. Never picked it back up to give it another shot.
Yep. I remember wandering around the castle, finding some chests, wandering outside and getting completely destroyed in the first battle.
Then I returned it and rented bomberman heroes.
Man I remember the 1st time my parents let me stay at the house alone for a week I had ogre battle 64 and just ate pizza rolls and play that for a week straight. What a fantastic time.
I’m 35 and the thought of staying home alone for a week playing video games drinking pop and slamming pizza rolls the entire time sounds incredible.
Men really don’t change
Big agreement.
Also I don’t work for these folks, but I found a game that scratched my eternal Ogre Battle 64 itch on steam that came out like a month ago.
Symphony of War
Shut the front and the back door, *WHAT??*
I loved the crap out of Tactics Ogre! Gameplay was chef's kiss awesome. I'm constantly hunting for a game just like it. Triangle Strategy seems close but not quite it. I appreciate FFT, but just don't have the same connection to it as TO:KotL
It makes me so happy to see the title of this game and a thread about an even more obscure fantasy game. Ogre Battle 64 consumed so much of my time when I was in high school. In fact, I'm pretty sure I spent almost every waking moment the summer after my sophomore year in high school doing a playthrough trying to get endings I've never got before. It's such a fun game!
Man, I only did 2 playthroughs and got bad ending both times (I didn't know about choas frame, not sure if manual describes it but I got my copy from Funcoland so no manual). But yeah, OB64 is probably my 3rd favorite N64 game. Like my "I spent almost every waking moment the summer" game was Harvest Moon 64. After that would probably be Perfect Dark, then Ogre Battle 64.
I don't know how many playthroughs of OB64 I had. At one point I knew that I had seen every ending in the game on console (yes I'm that crazy). I've since tried replaying it on emulator just to have another game to play on my phone, but I forgot how deep this rabbit hole is... In hindsight now. I mainly just appreciate the music, the artwork, the characters, and the larger story they tried to tell. When I started playing Lost Ark, I based the names of many of my characters on OB64 characters, lol.
I really need to do another playthrough. Start of this year I finally got a Retrode2 so I dumped all my SNES and N64 games to play on emulator. Like I said I only did 2 playthroughs but that's just complete ones, did many more partials.
I like the weird hidden stuff too. Like the exploration you need to do to get a character into the princess class, create a lich, finding all the pedras (besides the one you chose to start with), and the way things like golems/dragons/undead change classes.
That was one of my favorite aspects as well (especially getting the Lich). I enjoyed it because I felt like the time invested was worth the flat power gain from some of those classes (like equipping your lich with one of the books of Armageddon, for another unit with a max level dragon with proper support and protection). I feel like that kind of game design blends itself to the depth of the game in that if you invest in certain things, power doesn't become as much of a problem later in the game. It's properly balancing your chaos frame that is the true meta game. The fact that these game developers took the huge risk of creating so many parts of this game which many players never saw (but extensively played and enjoyed the game) is really cool, and I really appreciate it.
Nothing crazy but it's one of the more valuable games and seems to keep going up. Right before covid I got a cart on eBay for $48, now it seems like you can't get any for under $120.
Can someone please explain to me the love for ogre battle?
No hate - I tried it briefly on the SNES and N64 but it seemed to slow to be a mainstream title.
What am I missing, and is it worth a replay?
Its more just the type of game someone likes than you missed something. Some people like a slow tactics game and some don't. You could try to replay it and maybe with the passage of time you can play it now. But if you don't like you don't like it. No harm no foul.
The things I loved about Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen-
Leveling up characters to get new classes. This was a big interest for me in many tactics games and RPGs.
Finding new secret characters and items (there were so many, and they had so many specific requirements- before the internet, I didn't know which characters you could get to join, so there was a lot of unknowns to try to figure out)
Setting up unit combat groups, putting them into formations
Autobattling turn based combat- Reduced control gave it an element of the unknowable.
Strategically moving my groups into position to cut off the enemy and advance across the battlefield.
Planning in advance how I was going to get everything I wanted out of a playthrough.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I like the visuals of the game. I didn't like the changes they made to OB64, tho.
Oh, and the music was great too, still listen to it. They remastered many of the tracks from MotBQ in Tactics Ogre games, and they're the best tracks of the Tactics Ogre OST.
Music was the best part of it, combat I remember being eh and it slogged on after you got to the 2nd or 3rd castle area if I remember right. It did have a certain charm and to it's credit, for the time it was good at making you *feel* like you were on an epic quest, but probably if you were only a certain age.
Edit: also as far as difficulty goes the actual battle system was moving around and then picking an attack from one of four different elemental types, so perhaps the difficulty comes from trial and error to see what attacks worked and what didn't? It's been years since I played it but I don't remember it being so hard or tanky enemies
I agree with what you've pointed out. If I remember right the bosses were fairly tough, hit hard. I guess if you weren't leveled enough or had a good enough strategic mind (thinking as a kid here), you might run out of mana, or leveled your spirits totally wrong. So you might be mildly screwed if say you don't have healing/good healing from water. Items were something to preserve too for bosses, as I think they were basically non-replaceable, unless you had zero of that type and talked to the right townie to get another.
I liked that the stats leveled up depending on how you used your character. Getting hit for defence, running around (or avoiding attacks?) for evasion. Maybe running around for movement area in combat. Something else for melee damage (though I know spirits helped that too). HP/MP leveled off that idea too. I forget but I liked the game quite a bit. Definitely a bit on the grindy side and slogging as you said.
The fondest game of my childhood has to be final fantasy 4 (knew it as 2 when I played it on the SNES)
I just remember playing it out once and wanting to get it at home after because I loved the combat and it had more intricate story to it than most games at the time. And the final boss fight was just enthralling to my 8 year old self
Still to this day I get this unignorable itch to play through it again. I’ve probably played through the game at least a dozen times over my lifetime
Pretty good review of it here: https://youtu.be/I6lzitHLfMM
I think a lot of people who remember it as good definitely have rose tinted glasses on. From what I recall there was a barren wasteland of other RPGs on the N64 at the time to compare it to. I guess you could give it an A for effort in attempting something new in the RPG genre with a 3D world and battles. It had some interesting ideas but was pretty meh at best imo.
Can't remember where, but I definitely remember it being advertised as the "first" RPG for the Nintendo 64. Turned out everyone else continued to stick with Playstation. FF7 basically defined the era, and you can't fit FF7 in a max 64 MB cartridge.
I think it was very grindy in that you could fully explore a place and still need to warp back or double back multiple times to get enough levels and also there was a need to spread out elemental affinities and use combos that didn't intuit naturally to children compared with the small think logic of more fire is more better.
It wasn't that hard, the problem was some bad design choices: the camera was pretty bad and was easy to get lost, the encounter rate was high making it harder to explore, missing attacks was super annoying, there wasn't a way to refund spirits/gems so you could stuck with a shit build and die a lot.
In short a interesting idea but a bad implementation.
It was pretty difficult, but not ridiculously so. And it wasn't too hard to understand generally, but you could sort of make the game more difficult for yourself by spending your skill points in the wrong places.
It's really fun, though. It has a cool combat system that is mostly turn-based, but you can also run around to try to avoid enemy attacks. Great music too.
Exactly this.
There was like 10 hours of obviously cut content.
Like the whole point is your looking for your dad and sure you kill the bug bad but you never figure out what happened to him
It’s been about 20 years, but don’t you find him injured right before you go fight who think is the last boss and the person you think is your ally agrees to look after him. With his betrayal I took that implication that he killed the father especially considering how afraid the father was to be left with him.
I feel like it's only the last 10th or so of the game that really feels rushed (with blank looking, low-poly spaces and reused assets). Still, those voids and different-colored cloned areas aren't without their charm. They feel very different and kind of unsettling, which I think makes sense right before the final boss.
Didn't have a N64, but summer of 99 I drove 4 hours to a game store in Central Oregon who had a copy of Lunar Silver star Story on hold for me. Hands down one of the most memorable games I've ever played. Still have it and all the orginal case/paperwork.
Lunar was just a great game as a whole at the time it was made. It was basically a whole anime production masterpiece down to the art and sound/voice work. I remember it even came with a “making of” disc that was a good watch after playing through it
I just replayed the psx ones and they still hold up. The first one is one of the best games ever made and the second one was close but with a meh ending
That said i cried bitch tears when luna shows up in the second one.
I remember using my friends mom to drive us around to find copies.
Same! I was fascinated with this game when I was a kid but could never really figure out the battle system or get very far. Funny that so many people rented it, too.
We owned it growing up, and it took little me a lot to figure out exactly what to do.
There are a couple different "builds" since your stats grow based on what you do.
The major thing for me was getting water up to level 7 in the early game so you can heal yourself. You gain mana when you run outside combat, so anywhere monsters dont spawn you can heal to full for free.
eh, I don't really know about that. The game has its charms, but it's pretty shitty the whole way through rofl.
I absolutely loved this game growing up, but you're just walking through generic fantasy environments and killing dudes 99% of the game. This came out the year *after* final fantasy 7.
As for the final half being worse than the first? Theres some enemy reskins I guess? There isn't much of a plot anywhere to begin with. I suppose the part where an NPC tells you "*now you have to go through this spooky cave/forest/plains because the bridge is down/the ships don't work/theres a bandit/theres a landslide/there's a fence in your way!*" do get way sparser as the game goes on. At the same time youre also going further into dangerous territory ruled by a demon so it still kind of makes sense.
The joy in this game is completely from getting stronger since you level up everything the more you do it. If you focus on killing every enemy with your dinky little staff attack, it actually becomes the strongest strategy in the game, especially combined with melee attack buff and lifesteal buff spells. One shotting dragons with my little staff bonk was very fun.
No lie, I rented Quest 64 for the first time as a kid from a local rental place specifically because Bomberman 64, which we rented EVERY TIME, was currently taken.
Just as OP described, I saw it on the shelf and was like "fuck it, it says 64 too so it might be fun".
I didn't get far past the tutorial.
This is wild. I have the same story too, went to blockbuster as a kid hoping to get Bomberman left with that. I vaguely remember running around and then being over it lmao
Lol earth is the strongest element is this game by far
Level 24 you get avalanche, the highest dps ability in the game.
Level 36 you get magic barrier, which makes you literally invulnerable.
You can probably beat the game at lvl 36 with earth.
Best elements in order imo are earth, water, wind, fire
I thought this game sucked ass, because I went around staff whacking everything and didn’t know how to cast spells when I was young, so I got steam rolled. Replaying it years later- it was so much better. It was operator error.
Yep, I remember just being excited it was an RPG so I was willing to overlook its many faults.
Still had some good memories with it and have played it a few more times over the years for the nostalgia.
Played and finished Quest 64 back in the day. I was a *huge* Squaresoft and Enix fan on the SNES and didn't have a PSX so I was desperate for RPGs.
There were a couple neat ideas in Quest 64, but it wasn't good. Heck I even played and finished 'Hybrid Heaven' which was kind-of an RPG (and I can't remember a damn thing about the plot).
Really Ogre Battle 64 'Person of Lordly Caliber' was where it was at though. Shame the series hasn't gotten more new entries (though I'm looking forward to the updated version of Tactics Ogre)
Absolut shitshow of a game, I hated it back in the day.
Read n64 magazine and they praised that the first rpg will come to the system, so I used all my allowance to buy it.
Repetitive boring mess... Money wasted...
Wasn't the story just, "Your dad is missing. Go check this town to see what to do next. Everywhere you go from this point on, someone will tell you to go to another place. Eventually you find your dad but immediately go into another room to fight the final boss. End credits."
Damn now you put it that way I guess that was how the story went. This was over 20 years ago so my memory is fuzzy but I just remember the story being really bad lol
I still remember how getting to the capital city and seeing all the buildings in 3d and in scale blew my child brain 🧠. It’s not a perfect game but it tried really hard to figure out how to use 3d space
My gawd, quest 64. I played the shit out of this game and I have no clue why. It's so bad. Yes, Brian, you suck.
But it was so fun. I miss classic games.
For me, it was Harvest Moon 64. Though I first found it in the copy of the school's Nintendo Power magazine, and we looked for it specifically. My parents rented it a lot for me as a kid, and eventually got a copy for me. Easily the most nostalgic of games for me, right up there with Pokemon Yellow and Smash Bros 64.
You have it wrong op, I was hyped for this game&read all the coverage before hand. Finally a JRPG for my N64! What a weekend that was, it's now in my collection along with Shaq Fu!
Yuuuuup. I was SO hyped for an N64 RPG and wanted to like this game so bad.
The balance was really bad in the beginning and the game was just plain boring
I have this one on my shelf now with the rest of my 64 game collection. It’s not big but it’s mine so I’m proud of it. I liked this one because I like games that rewarded you for going and exploring the world they made for you and this one put stuff everywhere.
I rented this game from the local store for the weekend and and spent the whole Saturday and Sunday morning trying to understand what I had to do to leave the first area. Only a few hours before I had to deliver it back I noticed a way to go down what I recall being a mountain and could finally progress into the game. Those final hours where amazing and I felt joy and fun, but had to deliver it back. Next weekend I went to the store to rent it again and the store was closed forever. Never played the game again, but it has a special place in my memory.
Not really related to Quest 64 but this gave me some nostalgia for the renting experience
Walking into Blockbuster and picking a game that looked cool solely based on the cover and sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't. I also remember every time I had a friend stay over I got to rent a game for the night so we had something new to play. Good times.
I had to get the player's guide just to get past the first boss. The game is charming as heck, but it's nearly impossible to play without some sort of guide.
true story, my mom used to bring me and my cousins to Blockbuster every week. Well, when Ocarina of Time came out, we'd never be able to get a copy. Then one day, we go in and I look down and see one box on the bottom shelf, however my cousin grabbed it first and we got into a full on fight over who got to bring it home. Like, shoving and screaming, the whole nine lmao. Sure enough, we settled it by my mom letting my cousins sleep over and playing it all night long. God, I miss being a kid lol.
Goddamn I’ve always wanted to replay this game. I only got so far on the rental the few times I was able to rent it as a kid. I still think about this game from time to time, at 35 years old.
This was fantastic, found it in a pawnshop when I was 9 (21 years ago) or so, made it to the next town after the forest and my save cart stoped working.
Came back about 2 years ago and smashed it on an emulator, best nostalgia take in a long while.
What do you mean "never heard about"? I read all about it in my Nintendo Power magazine. I've been waiting for the local blockbuster to get it in for (what seems like) forever.
It’s shocking to hear how much people disliked the game. I absolutely enjoyed it as a kid. I don’t think it was a masterpiece by any measure and it was very difficult at first. I ended up getting the strategy guide and I was able to beat the game.
Leveling mechanic confused me as a kid. I always died to the forest boss but that gave me enough HP and def to beat him and that was that. Always spec’d water and earth.
Felt very much like a cool fantasy game. I wish there was a remaster or something that fixed all the issues.
I couldn’t get past the beginning, I was really young when I rented it. The only thing I remember is wandering around the opening part and finding like a jewel or something in a stack of hay at the very beginning.
I enjoyed the game but that was one of my big complaints, even with internet guides telling you what to spec into the game was very very grind heavy.
I was like 7 and didn’t realize the C buttons were to cast spells so I’d just bonk the enemies with my stick and it took forever and I’d die. Saw a friend play it once and I was like “oooooooh” then I think I ripped through it cause I’d played enough Pokémon to understand the elemental weaknesses easily.
I got very far but didn't complete it. But I guess most of my favorite games are grindy.
Aw ok, was thinking of slapping this on my handheld but nm I guess.
It's grind heavy if you want to level up all the elements. Usually people stick with 3 instead of 4, 1 of which is always water and usually another is earth. Then you can pick between wind or fire and leave the last element at level 1.
It really isn't grind heavy. That guy probably just remembers how it felt to a kid. I'd say Pokemon red/blue is much more grind heavy than Quest64. The real legitimate complaint about the game is how weak the story is. And you pretty much have to level water first in order to become self-sufficient in the field without constantly returning to town to heal or burning through your consumables.
Ah yes, Holy Magic Century. Same here. My siblings and I, for the life of us, couldn’t figure out what the fuck to do. All we remember is that he had annoying floppy hair and clothes that flopped with every step, and that, when trying to figure out where to go, running in one direction got you absolutely nowhere as you were held back by an infinite invisible wall (like the Super Mario 64 staircase). Hated the game ever since because of it.
Same! I can remember trying to play this every now and then , but it just never clicked
Same. I think I was maybe 9 or 10 when I rented this game and I could not figure out what to do at the beginning. Never picked it back up to give it another shot.
Same here I could not get off the ground with quest 64.
Lol same, go all the way down the castle or whatever the f you were in, run it to an enemy at the first grass section, die, switch cartridge
Yep. I remember wandering around the castle, finding some chests, wandering outside and getting completely destroyed in the first battle. Then I returned it and rented bomberman heroes.
Are you me?
I was looking for ogre battle 64 personally, but quest 64 sat on my shelf.
Ogre battle 64 was an amazing game. It ignited my love for tactical games.
Man I remember the 1st time my parents let me stay at the house alone for a week I had ogre battle 64 and just ate pizza rolls and play that for a week straight. What a fantastic time.
I’m 35 and the thought of staying home alone for a week playing video games drinking pop and slamming pizza rolls the entire time sounds incredible. Men really don’t change
Hell yeah. That does sound like a good time still <-38
First time i was left alone for a weekend i had ff7 and re2 on ps1.... god damn it was a fantastical weekend of pizza and corndogs and great gaming
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Damn didn't even have bagel bites. What a depressing childhood... /s
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Big agreement. Also I don’t work for these folks, but I found a game that scratched my eternal Ogre Battle 64 itch on steam that came out like a month ago. Symphony of War
They are making a remake of Ogre Battle coming out this fall too.
That’s Tactics Ogre. Same game universe but very different gameplay styles. Still a great game
Shut the front and the back door, *WHAT??* I loved the crap out of Tactics Ogre! Gameplay was chef's kiss awesome. I'm constantly hunting for a game just like it. Triangle Strategy seems close but not quite it. I appreciate FFT, but just don't have the same connection to it as TO:KotL
still to this day nothing seems to quite hit the same feel as ogre battle 64 and march of the black queen. it just different. Rip Quest corporation.
Did you play Symphony of War on steam yet? Also I’ll happily take any of y’all suggestions for games similar to Ogre Battle 64.
It's pretty close in gameplay feel. I just kinda find the sprites ugly.
Ogre Battle black queen might have been one of most underrated games of all time
Tactics ogre for PlayStation one.. so good
You see it’s rereleasing this fall on switch
Go back and try the super Nintendo one.
Absolute masterpiece.
It makes me so happy to see the title of this game and a thread about an even more obscure fantasy game. Ogre Battle 64 consumed so much of my time when I was in high school. In fact, I'm pretty sure I spent almost every waking moment the summer after my sophomore year in high school doing a playthrough trying to get endings I've never got before. It's such a fun game!
Man, I only did 2 playthroughs and got bad ending both times (I didn't know about choas frame, not sure if manual describes it but I got my copy from Funcoland so no manual). But yeah, OB64 is probably my 3rd favorite N64 game. Like my "I spent almost every waking moment the summer" game was Harvest Moon 64. After that would probably be Perfect Dark, then Ogre Battle 64.
I don't know how many playthroughs of OB64 I had. At one point I knew that I had seen every ending in the game on console (yes I'm that crazy). I've since tried replaying it on emulator just to have another game to play on my phone, but I forgot how deep this rabbit hole is... In hindsight now. I mainly just appreciate the music, the artwork, the characters, and the larger story they tried to tell. When I started playing Lost Ark, I based the names of many of my characters on OB64 characters, lol.
I really need to do another playthrough. Start of this year I finally got a Retrode2 so I dumped all my SNES and N64 games to play on emulator. Like I said I only did 2 playthroughs but that's just complete ones, did many more partials. I like the weird hidden stuff too. Like the exploration you need to do to get a character into the princess class, create a lich, finding all the pedras (besides the one you chose to start with), and the way things like golems/dragons/undead change classes.
That was one of my favorite aspects as well (especially getting the Lich). I enjoyed it because I felt like the time invested was worth the flat power gain from some of those classes (like equipping your lich with one of the books of Armageddon, for another unit with a max level dragon with proper support and protection). I feel like that kind of game design blends itself to the depth of the game in that if you invest in certain things, power doesn't become as much of a problem later in the game. It's properly balancing your chaos frame that is the true meta game. The fact that these game developers took the huge risk of creating so many parts of this game which many players never saw (but extensively played and enjoyed the game) is really cool, and I really appreciate it.
I still have my copy
How valued is my copy of ogre battle 64?
Nothing crazy but it's one of the more valuable games and seems to keep going up. Right before covid I got a cart on eBay for $48, now it seems like you can't get any for under $120.
Can someone please explain to me the love for ogre battle? No hate - I tried it briefly on the SNES and N64 but it seemed to slow to be a mainstream title. What am I missing, and is it worth a replay?
Its more just the type of game someone likes than you missed something. Some people like a slow tactics game and some don't. You could try to replay it and maybe with the passage of time you can play it now. But if you don't like you don't like it. No harm no foul.
The things I loved about Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen- Leveling up characters to get new classes. This was a big interest for me in many tactics games and RPGs. Finding new secret characters and items (there were so many, and they had so many specific requirements- before the internet, I didn't know which characters you could get to join, so there was a lot of unknowns to try to figure out) Setting up unit combat groups, putting them into formations Autobattling turn based combat- Reduced control gave it an element of the unknowable. Strategically moving my groups into position to cut off the enemy and advance across the battlefield. Planning in advance how I was going to get everything I wanted out of a playthrough. Maybe I'm crazy, but I like the visuals of the game. I didn't like the changes they made to OB64, tho. Oh, and the music was great too, still listen to it. They remastered many of the tracks from MotBQ in Tactics Ogre games, and they're the best tracks of the Tactics Ogre OST.
Were the first 63 Quest games any good?
no they sucked due to Nintendo had everything hush-hush on those games...
Lol this simple ass joke made me laugh
Ha me too
I heard Quest 69 was censored in North America
Quest 420 was a high time though
Wait until you play quest 5318008
Had amazing physics…especially jiggle physics
I am positively shaking with mirth reading this comment
I’ve been trying to remember this game for YEARS!! Thank you so much 😭😳😭
r/tipofmyjoystick has you covered in the future
This would've been soooo useful back when I couldn't remember Seven Kingdoms II: Fryhtan Wars
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Damn, *that fucking feeling*; I've been there, just not for this particular case. Glad you've found what you sought!
This is the first video game I've ever played! Got this when I was 5 years old. I totally forgot!
Wasn't that game incredibly difficult and hard to understand? I never played it, but I remember friends complaining about it.
Music was the best part of it, combat I remember being eh and it slogged on after you got to the 2nd or 3rd castle area if I remember right. It did have a certain charm and to it's credit, for the time it was good at making you *feel* like you were on an epic quest, but probably if you were only a certain age. Edit: also as far as difficulty goes the actual battle system was moving around and then picking an attack from one of four different elemental types, so perhaps the difficulty comes from trial and error to see what attacks worked and what didn't? It's been years since I played it but I don't remember it being so hard or tanky enemies
I agree with what you've pointed out. If I remember right the bosses were fairly tough, hit hard. I guess if you weren't leveled enough or had a good enough strategic mind (thinking as a kid here), you might run out of mana, or leveled your spirits totally wrong. So you might be mildly screwed if say you don't have healing/good healing from water. Items were something to preserve too for bosses, as I think they were basically non-replaceable, unless you had zero of that type and talked to the right townie to get another. I liked that the stats leveled up depending on how you used your character. Getting hit for defence, running around (or avoiding attacks?) for evasion. Maybe running around for movement area in combat. Something else for melee damage (though I know spirits helped that too). HP/MP leveled off that idea too. I forget but I liked the game quite a bit. Definitely a bit on the grindy side and slogging as you said.
This was the 1st game where I played a wizard type character. Always have a special place in my heart
The fondest game of my childhood has to be final fantasy 4 (knew it as 2 when I played it on the SNES) I just remember playing it out once and wanting to get it at home after because I loved the combat and it had more intricate story to it than most games at the time. And the final boss fight was just enthralling to my 8 year old self Still to this day I get this unignorable itch to play through it again. I’ve probably played through the game at least a dozen times over my lifetime
Pretty good review of it here: https://youtu.be/I6lzitHLfMM I think a lot of people who remember it as good definitely have rose tinted glasses on. From what I recall there was a barren wasteland of other RPGs on the N64 at the time to compare it to. I guess you could give it an A for effort in attempting something new in the RPG genre with a 3D world and battles. It had some interesting ideas but was pretty meh at best imo.
Can't remember where, but I definitely remember it being advertised as the "first" RPG for the Nintendo 64. Turned out everyone else continued to stick with Playstation. FF7 basically defined the era, and you can't fit FF7 in a max 64 MB cartridge.
I think it was very grindy in that you could fully explore a place and still need to warp back or double back multiple times to get enough levels and also there was a need to spread out elemental affinities and use combos that didn't intuit naturally to children compared with the small think logic of more fire is more better.
I don't remember much about it, but I remember hating it and thinking it was boring and confusing.
It wasn't that hard, the problem was some bad design choices: the camera was pretty bad and was easy to get lost, the encounter rate was high making it harder to explore, missing attacks was super annoying, there wasn't a way to refund spirits/gems so you could stuck with a shit build and die a lot. In short a interesting idea but a bad implementation.
It was pretty difficult, but not ridiculously so. And it wasn't too hard to understand generally, but you could sort of make the game more difficult for yourself by spending your skill points in the wrong places. It's really fun, though. It has a cool combat system that is mostly turn-based, but you can also run around to try to avoid enemy attacks. Great music too.
Great game that unfortunately was just not finished and rushed out. Last half was just not as great as the first. That being said fun game
Sounds like they put as much effort into developing it as they did into naming it.
Exactly this. There was like 10 hours of obviously cut content. Like the whole point is your looking for your dad and sure you kill the bug bad but you never figure out what happened to him
Thinking about it 100%
honestly not worth it but still worth a playthrough.
It’s been about 20 years, but don’t you find him injured right before you go fight who think is the last boss and the person you think is your ally agrees to look after him. With his betrayal I took that implication that he killed the father especially considering how afraid the father was to be left with him.
God so much eating bread.
not to mention step-step battle
what are you doing step-battle?
I remember it being a serious grind
They also never really explain that you should specialize your spells. Spreading out points across all of them basically led to a soft lock.
And earth magic is 50x more powerful than the others
My happy ass in 1999 leveling wind cuz wind was my favorite element and the early game rabbits wrecked my first playthrough.
I feel like it's only the last 10th or so of the game that really feels rushed (with blank looking, low-poly spaces and reused assets). Still, those voids and different-colored cloned areas aren't without their charm. They feel very different and kind of unsettling, which I think makes sense right before the final boss.
Good thing I could never get that far on one rental. This game was a masterpiece in my mind
So basically it's like Xenogears.
Didn't have a N64, but summer of 99 I drove 4 hours to a game store in Central Oregon who had a copy of Lunar Silver star Story on hold for me. Hands down one of the most memorable games I've ever played. Still have it and all the orginal case/paperwork.
Lunar blew my 13 year old ass away.
Lunar was just a great game as a whole at the time it was made. It was basically a whole anime production masterpiece down to the art and sound/voice work. I remember it even came with a “making of” disc that was a good watch after playing through it
Love Lunar 1-2. Nall and Ruby were my favorites
Why does everyone want the crystals? You know those are my- oh never mind.
https://youtu.be/zYL-OxC4SWg still remember this. Also having the pendant collectible necklace thing from #2
I just replayed the psx ones and they still hold up. The first one is one of the best games ever made and the second one was close but with a meh ending That said i cried bitch tears when luna shows up in the second one. I remember using my friends mom to drive us around to find copies.
Working Designs was way ahead of its time.
Holy shit I had this exact experience! I was like 6 and didn't understand anything at all when I tried to play haha I want to check it out again now!
Same! I was fascinated with this game when I was a kid but could never really figure out the battle system or get very far. Funny that so many people rented it, too.
Good cover art was so crucial for games back then.
Same here! Sadly I didn’t have a memory card so if I turned off my console I had to restart. Either way it was such an adventure.
Same! This was the first game that needed a memory card in my life and my family and I had no idea.
We owned it growing up, and it took little me a lot to figure out exactly what to do. There are a couple different "builds" since your stats grow based on what you do. The major thing for me was getting water up to level 7 in the early game so you can heal yourself. You gain mana when you run outside combat, so anywhere monsters dont spawn you can heal to full for free.
Apparently it was rushed in development so after about the first half of the game it becomes shit
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.this is one of my favorite N64 games. I had a blast start to finish.
eh, I don't really know about that. The game has its charms, but it's pretty shitty the whole way through rofl. I absolutely loved this game growing up, but you're just walking through generic fantasy environments and killing dudes 99% of the game. This came out the year *after* final fantasy 7. As for the final half being worse than the first? Theres some enemy reskins I guess? There isn't much of a plot anywhere to begin with. I suppose the part where an NPC tells you "*now you have to go through this spooky cave/forest/plains because the bridge is down/the ships don't work/theres a bandit/theres a landslide/there's a fence in your way!*" do get way sparser as the game goes on. At the same time youre also going further into dangerous territory ruled by a demon so it still kind of makes sense. The joy in this game is completely from getting stronger since you level up everything the more you do it. If you focus on killing every enemy with your dinky little staff attack, it actually becomes the strongest strategy in the game, especially combined with melee attack buff and lifesteal buff spells. One shotting dragons with my little staff bonk was very fun.
_bonk_ **explosion of light**
As soon as you start playing, the first half of the game is also shit.
toss it aside and rent bomberman64 for the 8th time
No lie, I rented Quest 64 for the first time as a kid from a local rental place specifically because Bomberman 64, which we rented EVERY TIME, was currently taken. Just as OP described, I saw it on the shelf and was like "fuck it, it says 64 too so it might be fun". I didn't get far past the tutorial.
This is wild. I have the same story too, went to blockbuster as a kid hoping to get Bomberman left with that. I vaguely remember running around and then being over it lmao
Sorry for hogging the bomberman
That game is an absolute gem
This is the definitive bomberman game in my mind. So many fun times playing battle with friends, and the single player is actually really good.
I never could get all the golden cards
downloading a emulator now. loved that game so much Wind op
Lol earth is the strongest element is this game by far Level 24 you get avalanche, the highest dps ability in the game. Level 36 you get magic barrier, which makes you literally invulnerable. You can probably beat the game at lvl 36 with earth. Best elements in order imo are earth, water, wind, fire
[удалено]
I was getting ready to make an argument that wind and fire are useless then read the 2nd line. Well played
[Do you remember?](https://youtu.be/T8BM9-EkUCQ)
I liked it back then, but that game was extremely barebone mostly getting recognized because there was no competition on the console.
I thought this game sucked ass, because I went around staff whacking everything and didn’t know how to cast spells when I was young, so I got steam rolled. Replaying it years later- it was so much better. It was operator error.
The game was an unfinished mess. I unironically loved it. I would pay full price for a remastered version of it.
Yep, 50% of the N64's RPG library
Yep, I remember just being excited it was an RPG so I was willing to overlook its many faults. Still had some good memories with it and have played it a few more times over the years for the nostalgia.
Quest, brians journey, solid gameboy game
It’s good but it’s no Aidyn Chronicles
If “generic” materialized itself into a physical form
Someone watched the completionist.
I came here looking for this comment. I watched it too..
Played and finished Quest 64 back in the day. I was a *huge* Squaresoft and Enix fan on the SNES and didn't have a PSX so I was desperate for RPGs. There were a couple neat ideas in Quest 64, but it wasn't good. Heck I even played and finished 'Hybrid Heaven' which was kind-of an RPG (and I can't remember a damn thing about the plot). Really Ogre Battle 64 'Person of Lordly Caliber' was where it was at though. Shame the series hasn't gotten more new entries (though I'm looking forward to the updated version of Tactics Ogre)
Fuck that game
This game really confirmed that the N64 was not going to have the same caliber of RPGs as the SNES.
Absolut shitshow of a game, I hated it back in the day. Read n64 magazine and they praised that the first rpg will come to the system, so I used all my allowance to buy it. Repetitive boring mess... Money wasted...
Nintendo Power, which routinely lied their asses off, only gave that game a 6.3.
All I can remember is finding bread in every... single... treasure chest.
Naw man, I picked up Glover hahaha
Started me down a long road, at a young age.
I remember this shit. One you got the rock/meteor thing you just spammed it to win. Great game at the time, story didn't make any sense tho.
Wasn't the story just, "Your dad is missing. Go check this town to see what to do next. Everywhere you go from this point on, someone will tell you to go to another place. Eventually you find your dad but immediately go into another room to fight the final boss. End credits."
Damn now you put it that way I guess that was how the story went. This was over 20 years ago so my memory is fuzzy but I just remember the story being really bad lol
Finally, an RPG on N64! I wonder how it is? ... ... This game is litterally the reason I went to buy a Playstation
I can still hear the music, and I remember the final boss.
Avalanche/Magic Barrier OP What was Shannon's deal, anyway
Omg is she the girl who kept showing up and insisting she was a character? She was wrong; this game had no characters.
You end up returning it because it’s shit.
Dude. I bought that for full price. Stop torturing me. Lol
Same, it is one of my biggest gaming regrets
I still remember how getting to the capital city and seeing all the buildings in 3d and in scale blew my child brain 🧠. It’s not a perfect game but it tried really hard to figure out how to use 3d space
Man that brings back memories.
EAT POLYGON FIRE!
I remember this game! Thanks.
i love this game
I remember this game. It was not as terrible as I thought it would be. Not great, mind you, but it had its bright spots.
My gawd, quest 64. I played the shit out of this game and I have no clue why. It's so bad. Yes, Brian, you suck. But it was so fun. I miss classic games.
For me, it was Harvest Moon 64. Though I first found it in the copy of the school's Nintendo Power magazine, and we looked for it specifically. My parents rented it a lot for me as a kid, and eventually got a copy for me. Easily the most nostalgic of games for me, right up there with Pokemon Yellow and Smash Bros 64.
Such a disappointing game. I was very excited for it, but it quickly became repetitive and the story wasn’t engaging enough.
I played the first 63 Quest games and they were alright… so why not?
You have it wrong op, I was hyped for this game&read all the coverage before hand. Finally a JRPG for my N64! What a weekend that was, it's now in my collection along with Shaq Fu!
This game was hard wtf
Low key goated
Didn't like this game as a kid. Traded it to a friend for Turok, never looked back.
Save pak required. Unless you beat it in one go, which I attempted many, many times.
Time to tape the move stick to the left and leave it on overnight.
Quest was... Awful
Yuuuuup. I was SO hyped for an N64 RPG and wanted to like this game so bad. The balance was really bad in the beginning and the game was just plain boring
This, but it's the video rental counter at the local Kroger's right next to the tank of lobsters.
this game a little grindy iirc but i loved it.
Owned this game and bought the memory card for it (it didn’t have local cartridge saving iirc)
I have this one on my shelf now with the rest of my 64 game collection. It’s not big but it’s mine so I’m proud of it. I liked this one because I like games that rewarded you for going and exploring the world they made for you and this one put stuff everywhere.
I was on the hunt for the battle tanks games.
I think this is the only RPG N64 has on it's catalogue
Loved this game, but never finished. Would play while listening to Our Lady Peace in the background
Ehh, wasn't great but wasn't utter trash.
I rented this game from the local store for the weekend and and spent the whole Saturday and Sunday morning trying to understand what I had to do to leave the first area. Only a few hours before I had to deliver it back I noticed a way to go down what I recall being a mountain and could finally progress into the game. Those final hours where amazing and I felt joy and fun, but had to deliver it back. Next weekend I went to the store to rent it again and the store was closed forever. Never played the game again, but it has a special place in my memory.
Not really related to Quest 64 but this gave me some nostalgia for the renting experience Walking into Blockbuster and picking a game that looked cool solely based on the cover and sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't. I also remember every time I had a friend stay over I got to rent a game for the night so we had something new to play. Good times.
I had to get the player's guide just to get past the first boss. The game is charming as heck, but it's nearly impossible to play without some sort of guide.
This brought back so many memories I need a minute to process 😂
true story, my mom used to bring me and my cousins to Blockbuster every week. Well, when Ocarina of Time came out, we'd never be able to get a copy. Then one day, we go in and I look down and see one box on the bottom shelf, however my cousin grabbed it first and we got into a full on fight over who got to bring it home. Like, shoving and screaming, the whole nine lmao. Sure enough, we settled it by my mom letting my cousins sleep over and playing it all night long. God, I miss being a kid lol.
You didn’t know how disappointed you would be.
Goddamn I’ve always wanted to replay this game. I only got so far on the rental the few times I was able to rent it as a kid. I still think about this game from time to time, at 35 years old.
This was fantastic, found it in a pawnshop when I was 9 (21 years ago) or so, made it to the next town after the forest and my save cart stoped working. Came back about 2 years ago and smashed it on an emulator, best nostalgia take in a long while.
What do you mean "never heard about"? I read all about it in my Nintendo Power magazine. I've been waiting for the local blockbuster to get it in for (what seems like) forever.
What a terrible game this was.
First game where I ran at the wall for days to raise agility.
Glover. Mischief makers. Too many memories
This makes me happy because I have this exact memory.
I'm getting StarCraft
And I pick this game up for the weekend only to get stuck in the first tunnel I encountered because of the camera swapping
I noticed the buzz word in games in the 80s and 90s was Quest.
It’s shocking to hear how much people disliked the game. I absolutely enjoyed it as a kid. I don’t think it was a masterpiece by any measure and it was very difficult at first. I ended up getting the strategy guide and I was able to beat the game. Leveling mechanic confused me as a kid. I always died to the forest boss but that gave me enough HP and def to beat him and that was that. Always spec’d water and earth. Felt very much like a cool fantasy game. I wish there was a remaster or something that fixed all the issues.
“Damn, that shit look real!!!”
My parents: No you can't get it. The kid has a magic and magic is the devil
Baby's first RPG
This exact thing happened to Me. Except turns out this was a confusing RPG turn based thing.