1: How far back does your experience with Quest 64 go?
2: What would you want to see most in a potential Quest 64 sequel?
3: Considering how many username changes you've made since I first joined the website, why do you enjoy changing your username as much as you do?
1. I didn't really play it till after OOT, oddly enough. I rented it and beat it within 3 days(with my n64 on). I eventually bought it some years down the line for 3 dollars(for only the cartridge, and considering it was a flop at the time, that's reasonable. It's however not printed often like some Wrestling or Sports games, so 3 dollars made sense. Worth noting that it goes for 8-10 dollars on average these days, unless it's E-Bay where 8-15 is more common). Otherwise, I really didn't get into the nitty gritty stuff till way later on, thanks to GameFAQs and meeting a person called Fire_Embliem. Thanks to his help, I learned a lot more about how the game really works. I had nothing but coding guesswork at best. In fact, GameFAQs also helped dispelled a poor observation I made about a supposed glitch. The site isn't great everywhere, but it does have a cool Quest 64 forum(albeit, some people can be unnecessarily mean even then, so use caution).
2. Oh, where to start...
- The item drops should be 3 per item at least. Key Items would be better in their own menu. Especially something that Quest (RPG): Brian's Journey did.
- Sortable items. This is solely presents on Jack no Daibouken, the last released core game in the series(Japanese version of Brian's Journey, but notable that they were made at the same time. They share everything but a few extra features).
- While I'm for party members, for lord's sake, this only works with multiplayer. The enemy A.I. is terrible enough alone. The partner A.I. wouldn't dodge well enough like you can. Even if they were smart A.I. It's not really designed where it would make sense for them to either. A lot of it isn't about A.I., it's about the 3D factor and the right spot to move/stand in to avoid an enemy attack. So keep it human players only. I do like the idea of more characters, but switching among them is a necessity.
- Upgrades should be in like the Gameboy remake(s). Nothing special. A staff, cape, is reasonable enough. By the time you get high agility, most attacks miss and you have a huge enough battlefield. Your MP doesn't go down that fast even with that in mind.
- Speaking of MP, one thing to take from the Gameboy games is ending your turn gives you an MP back. Of course, if you miss a physical attack, you should not gain one. That's fair too.
- Stats should go up at a better rate, besides HP. Defense goes up quick enough, based upon number of hits. The idea of how much damage taken is worth noting too. Both are valid methods, but I think with one game having "number of hits" but no game overs, it works better in that regard. Damage taken plus game overs actually keeps you on your toes and you need to heal/use strategy.
- Magic needs to be stronger overall. Not too overpowered like the remake(s), but a boost.
- Either new spells(this might not work with the C-Button set up though) from Light and Dark, or just give the extra slots an extra spell. To clarify, Fire > Water > Wind and Fire > Wind > Water give the same spell, respectively, being Extinction. Now imagine if one of them had another spell. Since you can have up to 3 buttons used at once, you could create a few extra spells that way(I forget the number). That's my goal, to increase the spell count.
- Critical Hits and Double Attacks are part of the Japanese N64 game, Eltale Monsters. This should be a thing.
- I wouldn't mind continuing to use what their plan was for Quest 64 II. They had two new characters, who appear to be Brian and Princess Scottford's children. The boy is the mage, and the girl is the sword user, just like their parents
- There needs to be less restrictions on teleport stuff. Using a pair of Wings should let you get out of big areas like Blue Cave. In addition, that spot should have a legitimate teleport spot back after you arrive the first time. Alternatively, you could have the spot in Glencoe Forest arrive near the end of Blue Cave, not the beginning(making it the most useless shortcut in the game. And there's only two! One is worthwhile).
- Like Eltale Monsters, you should your User Interface always active, but make it toggable. That way you could take screenshots if you wanted without issues. Maybe it could affect Battle too?
- When your stat goes up, it also includes a colored aura(Eltale Monsters only). It's worth keeping.
- Language switch. In fact, a quick collector's edition could have Quest 64(US), Quest 64(Spanish), and the three Holy Magic Centuries(UK English, French, German) all in one game with a literal "select language" at the start. Just gave it more slots. This would fix a lot. This is solely done in Holy Magic Century for the Gameboy, which is a UK port of Quest Fantasy Challenge, a Puzzle game(a redeco of Mr. Do!... but had way more unique assets on its own, as in number of enemies, etc).
- Ridable horses like planned. Maybe it could make it so you aren't in battle while on, or severely reduce the encounter rate. It could even also boost your starting agility so you went first a lot(maybe double Agility?).
- The battle rings are best like Eltale Monsters, round, not an octagon. But that doesn't matter much.
- NPC's need to have other Item Drops. Though them having the "max item" for HP and MP might be a bit op. But there is still besides those that they could give, after all. Like the Giant's Boots, while maxes out your space in battle(like max agility, but does not affect your dodge rate).
- Items need to be better for some. The MP healing items are too weak, being 10, 20, and 50, with the final one officially being coded as 9999. It should be 50, 100, 250 like the HP healing items. Maybe 150 for MP, since it's not as often used.
- A change to Confusion to be like the Gameboy game. In Quest 64 and the other 64 versions, you gain MP back equal to the damage. in Brian's Journey/Jack no Daibouken, it's based upon the number of hits taken, so it gets back fast. This is reasonable enough.
- Avalanche kind of feels fair, but it needs to be given out later. Switch with the Weakness spells so it's the last one, maybe? It's the most effective and the giant final boss, as well as the lackey to what sounds like the final boss in the normal lore(till the secret lore is told to you). Only hits bit targets effectively, for massive damage.
- Homing Arrow Lv 1 and Lv 2 just need a slight boost in damage. It works out cause you can train MP better due to not immediately defeating an enemy.
- Extinction could hit a tiny bit more, but should have a threshold of what it can't hit HP-wise, since it'd be too op if it could auto-kill some of the highest stat monsters in the game with ease if lucky.
- Solvaring's attack should be nerfed a bit like Eltale Monsters.
- More items that act like other spells would be a good idea(for instance, one to activate Vampire's Touch).
- Ultimate Wind needs a major damage boost. It has a fairly high hit rate and hits all, but does barely enough damage to sometimes hit 100 at somewhat lower level Earth monsters.
- I've always liked the idea of some party members being recruitable monsters. My thought is that if they're above a certain amount of HP, they have 5% of it instead, with their MP being perhaps a bit less. This is base upon Brian's stats. He's 50/500 HP and 15/500 MP. Similar percentages to Defense and Agility, but I'd have to do some math to say them. The idea is a few could get nerfs so they're more reasonable in combat. With this in mind, this could also make spells better by allowing you to target your own allies, but pay a bit more MP to use it, making your "massive MP" actually reasonable to have. You rarely have a need for a giant amount since most battles end fast, and your Stick is massively overpowered(which isn't a problem either since you need a way to restore MP too).
- Speaking of, enemy variety. If an enemy has a Physical hit, they should be able to sometimes use Vampire's Touch(to drain your HP based upon damage they do) and the Power Staff spells(which increases their Physical damage). Likewise, more Physical hits. Any enemy with a Weapon should be able to, and some can otherwise. The Gameboy version has a ton of enemies with new Physical attacks(nearly every weapon user too).
- Bring out the new bosses from the remake, same with the story. There's a lot you can do this way.
- The Eltale Book is solely a key. Getting it should give you a somewhat increase in your magical effectiveness and damage given. Nothing like double damage/double hit rate, but a bit better. It's a book that exceeds the spirits, after all.
- Other than monsters, the core team should already be Kiliac, Flora, and Leonardo. Anybody after that is dubious and should depend upon a new theme. In order of their magical abilities, they're Water, Earth, and Wind. You have the most powerful weapon, and more or less fall under Fire to some degree. Alternatively, Lavaar could join as the de facto fire user. I won't say more about him, but know that he has a lot of spoilers in the Gameboy game.
- For playable enemies, their magic should focus on their element first, but also have auxillary spells based upon what they're like. Were Hare is a druidic rabbit(you're a druid for the most part too as Brian), so learning a few extra spells doesn't hurt. Healing Lv 1, for instance. Obviously they should have all spells/abilities from every version of the game available, though clearly not at the start.
- More or less, the actual Elements a Monster has can be somewhat changed up. Not all, but some. It should depends upon multiple factors. Blue Man and Ogre are powerful Fire elements who strike using weapons to channel their magic. Fire makes more sense. Being blue-colored shouldn't make you Water. There may be reasons beyond that, but more or less a bit more work should be done into making things make sense.
- Readable Signs, cause it just makes sense.
- I talked about items before, but how to make the inventory work is the hardest part. It might be best to take a Final Fantasy approach. A nice long list, that while you would need to scroll through, including a lot of items. It could easily be sorted(basically left to right, then next line, left to right, repeat) that way, but you could also sort it alphabetically(a to z, z to a), by item type(effectively the same as bytes), or its own personal system that could be power-based. Fresh Bread is the weakest healing item, so you have all the healing items from weakest to strongest, then the same with the magic healing items, and finally the status inducing items. Key Items are best in their own section, or just tacked on at the end. Wings would be before Key Items in the case of "power".
- Music/sound and graphical improvements are a given.
- Puzzles, somehow?
- Possibly alternate weapons, with different unique effects. One that could get back 2 MP per hit, but deal less damage, for instance.
3. I always enjoy changing things up. I do admit it's confusing, even to my friends. Cyndane, who I talk to a lot, goes "I don't know who you are anymore" at times. It's all in good fun. Most sites don't allow for this, so I have fun with it.
I may have more ideas for Answer 2, but that's enough to chew on for a month, probably.
Also, goes without saying that I could see a sequel workable as having the new characters, or a new story still related to the old characters. Hence the answers also fit a remake more or less. Sorry for any confusion.
Verde Coeden Scalesworth
, it's all yours
