Playing this after Quest 64 is an interesting experience.
I'll start by saying that all issues and advantages with the N64 version are still present in this version, with two exceptions that I'll get into. The combat is still an interesting idea, but not executed the best, the story's still rather barebones, etc. I've said my peace on that game before. The games run for roughly the same length, though this one might take a shorter time still (and the leveling system is sped up to compensate as far as I can tell).
The first major difference, though the less notable of the two, is the dungeons. Quest 64 already didn't have the best dungeons (none of them had any puzzles or gimmicks, just being sightseeing tours with random encounters), but here the game's format makes them worse by virtue of not even having the quaint N64 visuals to minorly distract the player. It makes an already rather tedious game even less interesting.
The bigger difference, however, is the story. Quest 64 rather infamously is devoid of story for the most part (apparently due to development constraints), with its only actual cutscene being exclusive to the Japanese version's ending. Quest: Brian's Journey, however, makes use of cutscenes much more frequently, and as a result actually fleshes out the world of Celtland and the characters from the original game. There are new bosses as well, and even an entire new story section near the end between what used to be the penultimate and final dungeon. Said section even incorporates the original games (apparent) cut party members as travel companions and cutscene participants, as they'd been reduced to NPC status in the N64 version. It's rather interesting to see some of the things they'd planned for Quest 64 here, even if the story still isn't anything particularly special.
Overall, Quest: Brian's Journey is an alright distraction of a Game Boy RPG, and if nothing else is a nice companion piece to the N64 version. However, if the N64 version didn't interest you, this won't change your mind, new story content or not.
(Also, I think I'm the first person to make a proper review of this game on this website. Don't know if that's an honor or not.)
I'll start by saying that all issues and advantages with the N64 version are still present in this version, with two exceptions that I'll get into. The combat is still an interesting idea, but not executed the best, the story's still rather barebones, etc. I've said my peace on that game before. The games run for roughly the same length, though this one might take a shorter time still (and the leveling system is sped up to compensate as far as I can tell).
The first major difference, though the less notable of the two, is the dungeons. Quest 64 already didn't have the best dungeons (none of them had any puzzles or gimmicks, just being sightseeing tours with random encounters), but here the game's format makes them worse by virtue of not even having the quaint N64 visuals to minorly distract the player. It makes an already rather tedious game even less interesting.
The bigger difference, however, is the story. Quest 64 rather infamously is devoid of story for the most part (apparently due to development constraints), with its only actual cutscene being exclusive to the Japanese version's ending. Quest: Brian's Journey, however, makes use of cutscenes much more frequently, and as a result actually fleshes out the world of Celtland and the characters from the original game. There are new bosses as well, and even an entire new story section near the end between what used to be the penultimate and final dungeon. Said section even incorporates the original games (apparent) cut party members as travel companions and cutscene participants, as they'd been reduced to NPC status in the N64 version. It's rather interesting to see some of the things they'd planned for Quest 64 here, even if the story still isn't anything particularly special.
Overall, Quest: Brian's Journey is an alright distraction of a Game Boy RPG, and if nothing else is a nice companion piece to the N64 version. However, if the N64 version didn't interest you, this won't change your mind, new story content or not.
(Also, I think I'm the first person to make a proper review of this game on this website. Don't know if that's an honor or not.)