Final Fantasy Adventure

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Final Fantasy Adventure (NA) Mystic Quest (EUR)
Developer(s)	Square Co.
Publisher(s)	Square Co. Sunsoft (re-release)
Designer(s)	Koichi Ishii (director) Kenji Ito (composer) Yoshinori Kitase (scenario writer)
Series	Final Fantasy series Mana series World of Mana
Platform(s)	Game Boy, Mobile phone
Release date	JPN June 8, 1991 NA November 1, 1991 EUR 1993[1]
Genre(s)	Action RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Media	2 megabit cartridge

Final Fantasy Adventure, known in Europe as Mystic Quest and originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (聖剣伝説 ～ファイナルファンタジー外伝～, Seiken Densetsu ~Fainaru Fantajī Gaiden~^?), is a Final Fantasy spinoff and the first game in the Mana series. Released in 1991 on the original Game Boy, its gameplay is roughly similar to that of the original Legend of Zelda game, but with the addition of role-playing statistical elements.

The story follows the hero and the young heroine as they attempt to thwart the Dark Lord of Glaive (Shadow Knight in the Japanese version) and his sorcerer assistant Julius from destroying the Tree of Mana and dooming their world. The game was met with generally positive reviews, noting its strong story but faulting its shaky dialogue, possibly due to the English translation.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot and setting 3 Development 4 Audio 5 Reception 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to the original Legend of Zelda for the NES: the world is viewed from a top-down camera angle, it is divided up into many different squares that can fit on the screen, and the main character can move up, down, left, and right across the screen. The player can interact with individuals within towns by gathering information and buying or selling items and equipment. A variety of enemies can be battled on a field screen to gain experience, GP, or items. Within dungeon areas a number of puzzles may be present and required to be solved in order for the player to advance. The player can also save at any point.

In standard role-playing game fare the main character possesses several statistics, including hit points, power, and stamina, which can all increase upon gaining an experience level. Magic spells, which expend the character's MP, can be used to heal oneself or damage enemies. These spells can only be found in certain locations or obtained from other characters at specific plot intervals. In addition the protagonist has a power gauge that affects his attack strength – the higher the gauge, the stronger his attack will be. The speed at which it fills is directly affected by the character's will level.^[2] The gauge will slowly fill up over time but once the main character attacks the gauge is emptied. When the gauge is completely filled up and the main character attacks with a weapon he will perform a special attack. This system is used in many other later Mana titles.

One additional, non-controllable character can accompany the main character at any given time in the story and can perform different activities to aid the main character in his quest.

[edit] Plot and setting

The world is threatened by a "Dark Lord" who conquests for mana to rule supreme over the land. At his side is a mysterious wizard named Julius, who has secret motives. The hero, who is a gladiator whose parents were killed by the Dark Lord, is imprisoned by him and forced to fight daily for the Dark Lord's personal entertainment. One day, the hero escapes and by chance overhears the Dark Lord and Julius in their plans to seize the power of mana. When they discover his escape, they chase and throw him over a waterfall to what they thought was his death.

Having survived the fall, the hero then saves a mysterious young woman from monsters, and attempts to find the magical objects needed to defeat the evil massing against the Mana Tree, the world's source of mana. After defeating Julius and the Dark Lord, the Mana Tree dies. The heroine sacrifices herself to become the Mana Tree and preserve the world. The hero then becomes her Gemma knight and guardian.^[3]

[edit] Development

The name Seiken Densetsu was trademarked as early as 1987, originally intended to be the name for a massive project under the leadership of Kazuhiko Aoki and released on the Famicom Disk System. The project was scrapped in favor of a game with a similar vein, Final Fantasy. Four years later, Squaresoft developed the Game Boy game under the working title Gemma Knights, and then revived the trademarked name and released the game as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden.^[4] Squaresoft later marketed the game in the United States as Final Fantasy Adventure because of the series' growing popularity there. It was later released in Europe as Mystic Quest.

Though released as a Final Fantasy gaiden, or spin-off, and having an artistic style that was very similar to that of the official Final Fantasy series, the game is now considered to be the first game of the Mana series, also known as the "Holy Sword Legend", or "Mana" series. It was similar with Final Fantasy down to the menu screens with the thick, shaded borders; some character designs were even recycled from previous Final Fantasy sprites. Also, the game bore many similarities to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, which led to its western titles, Final Fantasy Adventure and Mystic Quest (which is related to Mystic Quest Legend, the European title of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest).

In 1998, Sunsoft obtained the license for it and re-released it along with the Final Fantasy Legend games, only replacing the title screen.^[5] The game later received a 32-bit remake for the Game Boy Advance called Sword of Mana. Finally, revealed during Square Enix's E3 2006 press conference, the game is to receive an updated port for mobile phones.^[6] The game is more like the original game due to the limited amount of enhancements in comparison to Sword of Mana, which was a fully enhanced remake.

[edit] Audio

The Seiken Densetsu Original Sound Version was released in Japan alongside the game. Most of the tracks were composed by Kenji Ito, while track 16, "Chocobo Tanjou," is credited to noted Squaresoft composer Nobuo Uematsu. Seiken Densetsu: Omoi wa Shirabe ni Nosete (Let Thoughts Ride On Knowledge), a set of arranged tracks was also released the same year. Both albums were compiled into Final Fantasy Gaiden: Seiken Densetsu Sound Collections, originally released in 1995.^[7]

[edit] Reception

Even with its release several years previous, several prominent video game websites still praise the game in retro-reviews.^[8] IGN reviewed it in 2000, giving it a 9.0, or "outstanding," noting its strong story but with feeling it had weak dialogue. It was noted for containing many puzzles to be unlocked, and being a type of hybrid RPG.^[9] Its limited color palette on the Game Boy not withstanding, the game was thought to contain "atmosphere and nuance" in its graphics.^[10] RPGamer reported in July 2004 that Square was polling die-hard customers, testing the feasibility of porting Final Fantasy Adventure to the Nintendo DS.^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Adventure official site
• Final Fantasy Adventure at MobyGames
• Original artwork and manga scans at Metapha.com (German)
• Game overview at RPGClassics.com
• Game manual text at ConsoleClassix.com
• Game screenshots at FantasyAnime.com
• Final Fantasy Adventure at the Seikens.com
• Box Art, Title & Snapshot at Video Game Media Archive

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v • d • e Mana & World of Mana series Final Fantasy Adventure • Secret of Mana • Seiken Densetsu 3 • Dawn of Mana Legend of Mana • Sword of Mana • Children of Mana • Friends of Mana • Heroes of Mana