
- 38/100
- Players27 ratings

1998 · Imagineer · Adventure · Role-playing
Quest 64
Nintendo exclusive
Celtland has been cast into chaos by the theft of Eletale's Book. This mystical volume contains the secrets of the Spirit Tamers. Control Brian, a magician's apprentice, as he explores the expansive countryside and villages on his quest. If he does not reclaim the book, the Kingdom of Celtland will be cast into darkness forever.
- Released
- 1 June 1998
- Platforms
- Game BoyNintendo 64
- Genres
- AdventureRole-playing
- Developers
- Imagineer
- Publishers
- THQ
- Modes
- Single-player
- Perspective
- Third personBird view / Isometric
- Themes
- ActionFantasy
- Country
- Japan
- Age ratings
- ESRB E
- Languages
- English, French, German, Japanese
- Composers
- Masamichi Amano
About
Quest 64 (Holy Magic Century in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, Eltale Monsters (エルテイル モンスターズ, Eruteiru Monsutāzu) in Japan) is a role-playing video game (RPG) developed by Imagineer for the Nintendo 64. It was released in North America in June 1998 by THQ, Europe in September 1998 by Konami and Japan in July 1999 by Imagineer. It is the first role-playing video game released for the system in North America.
After Quest 64's moderate financial success, a sequel was in consideration by the developer Imagineer. However, only the sequel's story was revealed before it was ultimately cancelled. Imagineer released two other related games for the Game Boy Color, Quest: Brian's Journey and Quest: Fantasy Challenge (a clone of Mr. Do!).
Keywords
- anime
- magic
- turn-based
- artificial intelligence
- day/night cycle
- boss fight
- polygonal 3d
- potion
- bread
- random encounter
- earth manipulation
- retroachievements
Media
The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
Similarly to Chrono Trigger, when the player character encounters enemies, instead of changing to a separate battle layout the game simply locks the player character into place and the battle proceeds. The player character's spells work through elemental spirits, with each of the Nintendo 64 controller's four C buttons corresponding to one of the four classic elements (wind, earth, water, and fire).
The game differs from most RPGs in that the experience system is not based upon a traditional "level-up" model. Instead, similarly to Final Fantasy II, experience is gained for specific stats based on how the player performs in battle. If the character gets hit a lot, for instance, defense will increase. Also, whenever the player finds a wispy white spirit, they can choose an element of magic to upgrade (from Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind). Leveling up these elements grants the character new attacks and strengthens existing ones.
Story
The game's story is set in Celtland, a fantastic medieval world that resembles Ireland. The playable character is an apprentice mage named Brian. Brian sets off to find his father, who has left the monastery of the mages - the player learns later that his father is looking for a thief who has stolen the "Eletale Book". The player must also collect elemental gems, which have been hoarded by powerful criminals, before confronting the game's final boss.
Development
The game was announced in early 1997, at which point it was to be titled Eltale (エルテイル) in Japan and Holy Magic Century in all other regions. It was exhibited at Space World in 1997.
Quest 64 was developed by Japanese company Imagineer, while THQ both translated it into English and published it in North America. Despite its Japanese origin, the game would not be released in Japan until much later.
Reception
Quest 64 received mixed reviews upon release with GameRankings giving it a score of 54%. Though praised for its high-quality graphics (IGN wrote "Quest proves beyond a doubt that compelling RPG graphics are possible on a cart") and inventive spell system, reviewers criticized it for lacking depth on all fronts: gameplay, storyline, and exploration. GameSpot wrote "Quest 64's individual puzzles and challenges are similarly straightforward. Go to Town #1.
Converse with townspeople. Discover that there's a villain scaring everyone and making it impossible to get through Forest #1 to Town #2. To boot, he's stolen Unique Elemental Magic Item #1 from Lord #1." The general conclusion was the game was competent enough to charm gamers who had never played an RPG before, but too simplistic and trite to interest anyone else.
Releases by platformdates and regions as published
Editions and related releases
- Built on it
- Quest 64: Hard Mode
Games like this
89Tales of Symphonia Chronicles
2003 · GameCube, PlayStation 3 +1
Role-playing · Anime
PlayStation exclusive67Zwei: The Arges Adventure
2001 · PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable +1
Adventure · Role-playing
Nintendo exclusive63Tales of the Tempest
2006 · Nintendo DS
Adventure · Role-playing
59Hyperdimension Neptunia
2010 · Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 3 +3
Adventure · Role-playing
PlayStation exclusive59Hyperdimension Neptunia
2010 · PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 +2
Adventure · Role-playing
PlayStation exclusive75Radiata Stories
2005 · PlayStation 2
Adventure · Role-playing
PlayStation exclusive59Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1
2010 · PlayStation 3, Windows
Adventure · Role-playing
Nintendo exclusiveSquare's Tom Sawyer
1989 · NES
Role-playing · Magic
Collections3 collections
Platform libraries
Development status
Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.
