Taking a quick glance at reviews for Quest 64 will show you that a very vocal minority of players badly want to convince you that this game is unfairly judged, a secret gem you've all been sleeping on because of bad word of mouth. Look, I can kind of understand why people make this argument for Castlevania 64, after all it is a maligned entry in a beloved series, there was always going to be fans lining up to defend it, and occasionally you can see the skeleton of a good game rattling around in there. Making excuses for Quest 64 is like saying you don't think your dog's crap smells that bad, which is why you let it shit indoors. In all fairness, Nintendo 64 fans have like, 20 or so games that are actually worth playing, they have to convince themselves that there's more than that. I ought to know, because I am one. I bought this game. I am no better than those I throw rocks at.

Quest 64 puts you in control of Brian, an aspiring mage who has to save Not Ireland from the evil Mammon. That's uh, all there is to it. There's not much of a story in Quest 64, the wikia for the game barely has more than two sentences of information to provide context to Mammon's backstory and motives. The gameplay is similarly starved for complexity. The battle system relies upon four core elements from which Brian draws his strength, though the pool of spells each element provides you is extremely shallow and never really amounts to much more than "You have a rock spell for damage. You have a rock spell for more damage. You have a rock spell for the MOST damage." I swear to you it's even less involved than Pokemon Red/Blue, a game that was by its creator's own admission meant to be children's first RPG; there is nothing to sink your teeth into here.

There's not even a currency system in the game, any items you obtain are just given to you. Probably the most interesting mechanic in Quest 64 is its experience system, which is essentially a watered-down version of Final Fantasy II's. Brian's stats build the more each stat is relied upon, which basically translates to letting Brian get his ass beat so his defense and health goes up. On paper it sounds ridiculous, but in practice it's just tedious. But then, Quest 64 is tedious by its very nature so I guess that tracks.

Even basic progression through the story amounts to doing the same thing over and over again, and it's never interesting to begin with. Some bad guy steals a spell book or other magic item from the lord of the current town you're in and this has prevented anyone from traveling to the next town, including you. Beat up the area boss and return the item then go to the next village where you will do the same exact thing. The whole game is this. Dungeons are empty and exploration is mindless, there's no interesting gimmicks to keep you invested while battling your way to the boss, and while I have nothing against dungeon crawlers inherently (I like the SNES Shin Megami Tensei games for chrissake), the lackluster battle system and virtually non-existent sense of progression makes the game a total chore.

There exists a mod for this game called Quest 64: Hard Mode which seeks to fix numerous issues with the core game. I am reminded of Project 06, which similarly tries to right some of Sonic 2006's wrongs, and that brings me to a fun little thought experiment I've been mulling around for a while. I call it The Hedgehog of Theseus. At what point do you fix too much of a notoriously bad game that it no longer shares the original's identity? In the case of Sonic 2006 I would argue making even one loading screen last a second less is changing too much of its soul. It is a bad game, it is for some the bad game, and I believe the only way to truly appreciate it is to experience it as it is.

Similarly, by trying to rebalance Quest's stat and experience system, by giving Brian a more varied list of spells, by adding more complexity and making every effort to create a more engaging game, you're straying further and further from what Quest 64 is. It's a bit paradoxical, but Quest 64 is interesting because it's so boring, a version of it that plays better would arguably make it even more banal. I'm not completely against the practice of modding games, good or bad. Streets of Rage 3 has mods that actually make it worthwhile, Contra: Hard Corps is amazing as-is but is improved by restoring hit points, but there are certain games whose identities are so inextricably linked to the state they released in that to assemble them into something better completely misses the point.

Quest 64 is a bad game. Long live Quest 64.

Quest 64 is one of the most flawed games that I've ever loved. I can't deny that it has a lot of frustration points: the battle system is terribly imbalanced, the story is nearly non-existent, and it has some actually miserable dungeons. But despite these flaws, I think some of its design ideas are kind of brilliant.

For one, it's lamentable how few RPGs have copied the idea of hiding "skill points" in the overworld/environment. They're a far more enticing link between the exploration & action phases of the game than your typical random treasure chests. I mean, by this point I've memorized where all of the spirits are, but in my earliest playthroughs I would gasp in excitement whenever I found one.

The element system, while imbalanced in practice, is pretty well-realized from a design sense. The four elements have distinct gameplay incentives and are functionally intuitive (water is the healing element, earth is defensive, etc). By prioritizing specific elements, you're rewarded with early access to far stronger spells, but you'll have more of an issue countering enemies/bosses of those same elements. And for its time, the hybrid turn-based/real-time action battle system was so clever!

It's tragic to me that Quest was rushed to market in the race to be the first RPG on the N64, because there are the foundations of something amazing here. The inspired game design, the unique setting, the period-appropriate instrumentation of its soundtrack, the charming monster designs - I can only feel that Quest deserved better than it got.

Despite the blatantly unfinished nature of the game, there is fun to be had in Quest 64. The battle system is unique and fun to play around with, and the stat building is tuned just right to never necessitate grinding. The music is also rather good, and due to being one of the only N64 RPGs, the game has a unique aesthetic in the genre that has its own charm.
However, the game suffers in most other areas. The dungeons are overlong, and the ones that aren't straight lines can get very confusing due to both a lack of landmarks/puzzles, or the camera confusion following a random encounter. The game's story, while containing the occasional piece of witty dialogue, barely goes past the old "save the four macguffins of the elements" plot, with only a couple interesting wrinkles near the endgame. This leaves the world of Quest 64 feeling very empty and lifeless, despite having some interesting lore buried deep down that one can ascertain from the limited exploration. And while the combat is fun at first, high level spells (which can be gained rather early on) can trivialize most fights, including the final boss.
Quest 64 is by no means a bad game, but it is a bland one. It only runs for about 10 hours (my playthrough was around six and a half), so it comes and goes quickly. I feel bad for it, due to it being rushed out the door and its sequel cancelled, but only glimmers remain of what the game was meant to be, and it should only be played by those curious about the N64's most well known RPG.
EDIT: "Most well known" might be a bit of a stretch, fair. A better way to put it might be most well known 3rd party RPG?

Quest 64 traz um sistema de combate e um gameplay com mecânicas bem características para um RPG, com ausência de transição entre combate e exploração e simplificação de menus, tornando mais acessível pra novatos no gênero, além de um combate que se aproxima de action, mas ainda se mantém em turnos, próximo de algo como Final Fantasy XII.

Apesar da abordagem diferenciada para o gênero, possui um ritmo com muita repetitividade nos combates, exploração com corredores vazios sem muitas recompensas e uma história bem fraca, quase inexistente, o que é incomum pro gênero, que já está acostumado com tramas mais elaboradas, personagens carismáticos e toneladas de diálogos.

Nem o gameplay nem a história me cativaram o suficiente pra continuar nesse "RPG light".

i feel like this is a game most people i know have played via renting at blockbuster back in the day, but never actually finished or enjoyed

oh boy, what a mess. i love the game's art style and some of its music, but ultimately a lot got lost in the translation to the NA version. for those unaware, the leveling up system in the JP version works much better and actually increases your stats as the developers intended. for whatever reason, this is broken in the NA and EU versions, leaving your character drastically underpowered by the end of the game.

speaking of the end of the game, they just cut out the ending cutscenes from the non-JP versions and replaced them with a screen of text! wow, i sure wish i spoke japanese and had a JP copy of this game so maybe i could experience what it was actually supposed to be like. oh well!

This game is my most guilty pleasure.
I like it despite I know is VERY flawed.


...Damn...

...I really like it.

An odd RPG game that took several questionable risks. Some were interesting, while some fell flat, but it certainly stood out within the 64 catalog. For disclosures sake I played this as a kid without the manual, which made it exceptionally obtuse, but thus more interesting and involved than it may have otherwise been. This leads me to admit I have a positive bias in my perspective, and I do enjoy returning to it in pieces. Playing it afterward as an adult with proper knowledge made it more manageable, but accentuated the strange tradeoffs this game made. While I can't make an honest recommendation about this game, I can say Its unique and memorable on the gameplay side, but admittedly forgettable in all else save for what nostalgia has burned into me like the soundtrack and vistas of the first few expanses you explore. At the very least I think its a worthwhile experience as an interesting case study in playing with conventions if approached with an open mind.

The first thing to note is this game's composer, Masamichi Amano, was an actual orchestral, film and anime composer! This was his first stint in games. The music is generally excellent - a lot of times in games, classical-influenced music gets stuck in cliche (think of your typical mediocre town song from a JRPG). You can tell he's drawing on a wide range of experience and that makes it a fun listen

What's neat about Quest 64 is how it's sort of prototypically 'open world', its world an imaginative mix of MMORPG open-ness, 3D towns, dungeons translated from their 2D counterparts. Is it repetitive with its endless battles? Yes. Is it tense in uninteresting and interesting ways? Yes! There is sooo little relief going through long areas like boil hole or blue cave, where one fuck-up means redoing it...

I think the hiding level-ups around the world and towns is really neat still. Also, the game not being hampered by an equipment system helps bring the battles into focus, as does the limited inventory and items in the game creating a unique texture. There's the sense of being a young, underprepared magician.

Sure, you can also use skill points in the wrong element and get stuck with bad builds! That's kind of the fun... and everyone just does the earth avalanche + magic barrier build in the end, so...

The battle system isn't executed perfectly (lining up attacks is tough, dodging is sometimes counterintuitive), but it was experimental and pretty fun most of the time! Not to mention 'seamless'..that buzzword.

I actually think the game is quite beautiful at times, using the low-poly and texture limitations to its advantage. The beanstalk at the end of Cull Hazard, the blues of Nepty's HIdeout, the expansive caverns of Blue Caves. They have an imaginative painterly quality that would be replaced by realistic lighting half the time nowadays...

On top of it all, there's such a quietness to how you progress in this game - only getting a few lines of dialogue from bosses, kings of towns, and the game being quiet otherwise. There isn't much going on in the story, but the point of Quest 64 is the quiet, difficult adventure, and I think the bare story works well in that way.

Quest 64 is the most hated game nobody played.

The gameplay is almost entirely about positioning yourself around monsters so you can survive the game but some broken mechanics also mean letting yourself be hit by weak monsters over and over again to build HP levels.

It's not great, but the last few chapters of this game are actually really interesting and do some really neat stuff.

This game is far more notorious for being bad, and that reputation is largely overstated. It has framerate issues (especially in the final two towns) and is a bit aimless at times, but the music is great, and the character/creature designs are actually really neat.

The game had a rocky development, and it shows, especially at the end of the game, but this isn't even in the bottom half of N64 games quality wise.

An RPG where absolutely none of the systems were properly thought out. It has some cool ideas but falls flat on its face in execution. The encounter rate is absurd and combat is both shallow and slow. The tedium is made even worse by how grindy the game ultimately reveals itself to be. Total lack of balance means that character building is a series of non-decisions. The structure of the plot from town to town is completely formulaic and predictable, and the story is almost nonexistent, so there's no salvation there either. This was pretty much the only RPG available on the N64, but even with that massive advantage, this was never worth anyone's time.