Ahhh....for a while I was in a beautiful dream where Mystic Quest didn't exist and I was playing one of the Super NES's many superior RPGs...Secret of Evermore, Mario RPG, either of the console's Final Fantasies...sadly, I woke up to horrible reality. Brace yourselves - it's baaaaaaaaaaack!
Last Time, on Mystic Quest[]
Ok, we're exploring the Great Deku Tree or something now. Fight your way left, up and right. The new Live Oak and Leech enemies are helpless before your Giant Axe, and Aero can clean-up the various undead enemies. You'll also meet new Ooze enemies - these guys are a handful of the only enemies in this game resembling a threat, because they reflect your magic back at you. Now if only they had high defense so normal attacks were weakened, we'd have something resembling a real threat here - but they don't, so they aren't. Snipions, Skuldiers and Mad Toads aren't much better, although the toads can Petrify you and Snipions and Skuldiers have Instant Death - that's something I suppose. Is it too much to ask for a non-boss that actually has a shot of killing me, I don't think so. I just want to actually have a challenging fight beyond "White, Cure, White, Cure, White". Really, just one single fight that I have to strategize to win, come on.
In the upper right corner of the room, climb up the wall and use the Hookshot, er, Dragon Claw, to swing around the room clockwise to the top, flying over the heads of your enemies like so many irrelevant Zelda references. Enter the face here and enter the second floor. Here, head right and down into the face to find a cavern. Seriously, blanket note for all games with dungeons like this, how the hell do such caverns end up inside trees? Do they just hollow themselves out and wait for monsters to attack them so they can bestow plot-vital rewards on wandering heroes? In the cave, chop down the mushrooms all the way left to the edge of the room, then up and right to leave the cave. Here is the mighty Meteor spell! Unless an enemy resists earth-elemental attacks, use this in place of White.
Go back into the cave and leave the way you came, having to chop your way out. I just decided I hate the sound the axe makes, just one more thing to add to my ever-growing list of reasons why all existing copies of this game should be buried in a landfill. Come on, E.T. was buried, why can't they bury this game too? In the main dungeon, go left and swing down over the gap, then head to the face and poke it with your sword to open the path up to the third floor.
Kill the left Leech and Dragon Claw left, then follow the path right and up past more Leeches. Poke the face and head inside the caver. Fight left and up at the second-to-last passage up, then down the wall and outside. Kill the frog and down the beanstalk to the second floor. Go up and poke the face back up to the third floor. Go up past yet more Leeches, then climb the wall. This part can actually be tricky, you have to left go of A then hold it as you fall to grab the wall - if you miss, you start over. Work your way left and to the passage up, guarded by, you guessed it - a Leech! Finally, you're on the fourth floor and almost done.
Here, fight your way down and enter the left door. Follow the path clockwise around the mushrooms, eventually climbing up a wall and going outside. Follow this path clockwise as well, up another wall, climb up it and poke the face to go up. On the fifth floor there's no maze, fight your way to the top of the room and climb up the wall to the boss.
Gidrah is yet another pointless boss. Use a couple Aeros to take out his Skuldier guards, then keep using Aero on him for over 1500 damage. Meteor and White aren't too shabby either. Just bombard him with spells. Gidrah isn't as dangerous as previous bosses, his attacks are weak for this point of the game and he's no danger. Once he dies talk to the face. Okay, what the hell is that in the background? "GOON KID"? Is that supposed to be a message? Seriously, if this game was from Japan, you could accept a bad translation or two, but this game was made in the U.S., and thus there is no excuse for Engrish. Oh well, let's file that away under "stupid" and move on.
The Windy City, Now With Extra Wind![]
Leave the tree and head to Windia. Along the way feel free to stop by the Battlefields for loads of Exp. Then head on to Windia.In the house directly left of the entrance, you can buy the Cupid Locket - do so. Then enter the house below the Inn and talk to Otto. His daughter got stranded in the tower to the north when his Rainbow Bridge broke down because of the wind. Thus you have your next destination: Mt. Gale.
High Noon At Mega Mountain[]
Ok, Mt. Gale is pretty confusing with so many stairs, so try and keep up. Start by heading down and all the way right. Up the stairs, if you're all the way right, is a Water Hag. Past it, head up two flights of stairs to fight a Skuldier. Go up past it, and Dragon Claw across the gap up, then hop over the smaller gap to the right. Go down to fight another Water Hag atop another flight of stairs. Go down two flights and stairs and right to a Vampire. Head down two flights of stairs, then right and up another flight guarded by a Skuldier. Head up the long staircase here to find an oversized broken log bridge to the left. Go across it to find another Water Hag. Here, Dragon Claw up over the gap and fight past the Vampire for the Apollo Helmet! I can almost hear the Zelda music playing as the open the chest, can't you?
Okay, from the chest, go left, kill the Water Hag and Dragon Claw and jump back to the mountain. Go to the bride, around over it, and fight the Vampire. Go left and up to reach the mountain summit, where you can find...something...that looks like a pale green dick with stubby arms. WTF is this thing? Nevermind what it is, it's in this game and thus deserves to die!
Oh, it's Dullahan. He can put you to sleep, uses Instant Death, hits one of you for 500+ damage with Thunderbeam or Rapier, or hit both of you for 300+ with Headboomerang. How is it the bosses keep getting tougher but the normal enemies don't? Do you really need me to tell you what to do at this point? Use Cure and Life when needed and spam White, Meteor and Kaeli's Giant Axe. Dust your hands off and use Exit afterwards.
Back in Windia, rest and talk to Otto. He'll fix the Rainbow Bridge to the northern tower. Now it's on to save the final crystal. Remember how the saying goes "save the best for last"? Well, this game's final stretch *is* actually enjoyable. Enjoyable is relative - mediocre is more apt, but in this game you learn to take what you can get and not complain. Except for me, I complain all I like. Why? Because I'm a jackass. Duh. Let's move ahead.
A *Good* Dungeon? In This Game?[]
Yes, for the record the last few dungeons in this game are enjoyable. Pazuzu's Tower is pretty cool, and the man himself is awesome, but we'll get to him soon. As a rule of thumb, most of the monsters in this dungeon are weak to wind, so spam group-casts of Aero every battle unless you're fighting a Beholder, they reflect magic. First, talk to Norma to rescue her and send her back to Windia. Then head up and talk to the thing at the back of the room. It vanishes into the elevator! Guess we have to track him down. And that, kiddies, is going to take a while. Go right of where Norma was, kill the Beholder and go up the long flight of stairs to the third floor. Up here, head left. The path down turns right and up to some Explosives, the left path leads to the stairs to the fifth floor, so take that route. Up here, follow the linear path to another staircase, and go up the long stairs to the seventh floor.
Here, go left and Dragon Claw up over the gap. Go up and right, then down and down the stairs to the sixth floor. Blow up the cracked wall and go through it. Hit the switch with your axe. Go back to the stairs and go left to the red chest. Could it be? Is it really? Yes, it's Flare, the Big Daddy of Black Magic and the strongest spell in the game! Now go right from the stairs and up to the ledge, then fight your way down and left to the stairs. It's another long flight down to the fourth floor. Confused yet? Honestly, me too, which is why I'm using a map from GameFAQs. Sue me.
On the fourth floor, head up past the Chimera (Gidrah's reincarnation, FYI) to find another switch. Flick with your axe then head down and right. Go through the lower doorway and right to a door guarded by a Sorcerer. In the room behind it are several enemies guarding a red chest holding the mighty Excalibur, the strongest weapon in the game! Alright! Head back to the switch now and go down the stairs nearby. It's all the way to the second floor. Head right and up the narrow path to the switch, which obviously you flick.
A Decent Boss Too? Incredible![]
Alright, now all three switches are off, limiting the elevator's movement, so we can track down the boss. Now it's merely a matter of chasing him around until he fights you. I believe his movements to floor to floor are random, so here's how to get to the boss on whichever floor he happens to be on. Note that the top floor does not have an elevator area. These locations are in relation to the "long staircases", so use the above guide to find the path to the appropriate staircase, and work your way from there. Every time you find him, save before approaching him, as he may run or fight you depending on which floor he's on.
Floor 1: Right at the top of the screen.
Floor 2: From the long staircase from the fourth floor, go down, right and up a narrow path on the left onto the ledge.
Floor 3: Take the long staircase from the first floor. He's just a few steps left.
Floor 4: From the long staircase to the second floor, go down, right and blow up the wall. Go up through the hole.
Floor 5: From the long staircase to the seventh floor, follow the path right and up.
Floor 6: He's right behind the switch on this floor.
| Boss | |||||
| Pazuzu | |||||
| |||||
| HP | MP | Dangerous Attack | |||
| 25,000 | N/A | Psychshield | |||
| Steal | Morph | Drops | |||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| Weakness | Resistance | Difficulty | |||
| Shoot, Wind | None | 2/5 | |||
Well the dungeon is Pazuzu's Tower, so it makes sense for the boss to be called Pazuzu, right? First off, kudos for the Exorcist reference. Second, the guy looks good, like a bird pimp. It doesn't matter how crappy a villain you are, I always give bonus marks if you have a good costume (see: Exdeath). In fact, you'll notice that Pazuzu just barely skids by the coolness bar and is the only enemy in the game to deserve a boss template. He's also the only enemy who scores more than a "1" on my difficulty rating. Congrats, bird-man!
Anyway, now for the actual fight. Pazuzu is weak to wind, so use Aero and Seeds when you run out of MP. Pazuzu can hit for 500+ damage to a single person, or 450+ to both, so as always, Cure when needed. He can also petrify you. But his deadliest move is PsychShield - he'll cover himself with his wings, and from then on, any magic attack against him is reflected, but not before doing the double damage for hitting a weakness. Thus, if you use Aero after he uses PsychShield, you're gonna be hit for 1500+ damage and that is an instant KO to either party member. Eventually PsychShield will go down, allowing your magical bombardment to continue, until then use normal attacks.
After you win, you'll board the elevator to the top floor, where the Wind Crystal is restored, yay! It's amazing, but that single instance of a respectable boss that actually required a strategy has made me care about this game. Let's see how long it lasts. Take the Sky Coin from the chest, and Exit. Head back to Windia
Running Around The World[]
Okay, talk to Otto, and Reuben will show up. After he fell off the bridge, he found a secret entrance to the Focus Tower. Otto thinks blowing a hole in Spencer's Place will allow water from Aquaria to fill the dried lake, allowing Captain Mac's ship to doc. They need Thunder Rock to power up the Rainbow Bridge to reach Spencer's Place, so Kaeli stays behind while you and Reuben go visit Reuben's dad.
See? More plot dumps and pointless interludes. You knew the good stuff wouldn't last. Oh well. With Reuben in tow, head to Fireburg. It's a long journey, makes me wish for an airship. In Fireburg, talk to Reuben's dad in the upper-left house - he just happens to have Thunder Rock on him. Do you believe that? I didn't think so. Head back to Windia and talk to Otto. He'll power up the Rainbow Bridge to reach Spencer's Place. BTW, that name make anyone else think of Mario Kart? Yeah, I know it's technically Rainbow Road, but still. Leave Windia and head to Spencer's Place.
At Spencer's Place, Reuben uses a grenade to open a path for the water to floor and fill the lake. I personally would find it much more believable, and entertaining, if he caused a cave in, drowning the party in the water, burying Mac's ship under the rubble, and causing a massive sinkhole that caused Aquaria to also be destroyed and draining the lake depriving the survivors of water. Doesn't that sound fun? Is it wrong to find the idea of death and destruction amusing? Not when they concern this game.
Before we leave, go up and climb into the water. Go left and up, out of the water, and blow up the wall above you. Now go back the entrance and hop left, blowing up the wall and stepping on the teleporter. Go through the cave here to find a red chest with the Mobius Crest. Use the nearby teleporter to get back to the entrance. Back in Windia, talk to Kaeli to get the Captain's Cap, then go to the upper-right house. The woman outside sells Seeds, so stock up. Then enter the house, go downstairs and use the warp to get to the ship dock. Go up and press A to board Mac's Ship. Unfortunately it's just a normal ship, not an airship. Come on guys, would it have killed you to put a propeller on the thing?
One Final Plotdump[]
On the ship, go up and left and fight the Naga enemy near the mast, then kill the Thantos (Dullahan wannabe) behind it. Push the barrel aside and climb up the mast. Climb up, right and go up over the robe, then climb down between two Thantos. Go down the stairs here to a small room, and go down the other flight of stairs. Go straight down from here and up the stairs. Take the left path to more stairs down, and go down against to some more stairs. Here you'll find a red chest containing Gaia Gear, the game's resident strongest armor. And just below here is Captain Mac. Wasn't that easy? I'm not complaining, I want to get to the final dungeon already.
Kaeli takes Mac away, and you leave the dock for a ten-second meeting with Tristam and Spencer. Head to Windia and enter the Inn, where Reuben goes to rest and Phoebe joins you for the final leg of the game. Rest, then talk to Mac upstairs. So, the Dark King is our true enemy. Alright, off to the Focus Tower. Go to Mac's Ship, go down and left to the steering wheel, and press A to sail to Doom Castle.
Next time, the final dungeon!