Quest 64/Magic

Brian cannot learn all the spells in a single game, therefore the player should choose two (or three) elements and focus on those. Choosing Wind and Fire alone would be a challenge, because they have no healing/protection spells.

The first spell of each element has a casting cost of 1 MP. Every other spell has a casting cost of either 2 or 3 MP.

Field spells

 * Healing Lv1-2 (7-25 spirits; 2-3 MP): restores Brian's health points; they can be used both during and outside battle; probably the most useful spells in the video game.
 * Exit & Return (19-24 spirits; 2-3 MP): the first one teleports Brian back to the entrance of current dungeon, the second one teleports him back to the last visited town; therefore, Return is useful only if Brian runs out of magic wings.

Support spells

 * Escape (23 spirits; 3 MP): allows Brian to escape battle.
 * Invalidity (46 spirits; 3 MP): cures Brian's status ailments.

Debuff spells

 * Soul searcher Lv1-2 (10-33 spirits; 2-3 MP): shows the attributes of the enemies; Lv.2 has a higher success rate; extremely useful for beginners.
 * Drain magic (40 spirits; 3 MP): lowers enemy Magic Points and restores Brian's MP.

Attack spells

 * Water pillar Lv1-2-3 (1-4-13 spirits; 1-2-3 MP): short ranged but very powerful.
 * Ice wall (15 spirits; 3 MP): short ranged; it hits all enemies surrounding Brian and inflicts "freeze".
 * Ice knife (17 spirits; 3 MP): homing; it hits one enemy and inflicts "freeze".
 * Walking water (40 spirits; 3 MP): long ranged; less useful than the two ice spells.

Support spells

 * Evade Lv1-2 (8-24 spirits; 2-3 MP): increases Brian's agility, i.e. the probability that enemy attacks miss.
 * Wind walk (37 spirits; 3 MP): increases Brian's movement area; useful to keep distance from fast enemies or to escape from a fight.

Debuff spells

 * Restriction Lv1-2 (6-16 spirits; 2-3 MP): enemies skip a few turns, but often misses.
 * Silence Lv1-2 (10-42 spirits; 2-3 MP): enemies can move but not attack; it misses very often.
 * Slow enemy (32 spirits; 3 MP): enemies will move less; nice to combine with Wind Walk.

Attack spells

 * Wind cutter Lv1-2-3 (1-4-12 spirits; 1-2-3 MP): homing but weak.
 * Large cutter (13 spirits; 3 MP): long ranged and quite strong.
 * Wind bomb (20 spirits; 3 MP): hits all enemies surrounding Brian and often decreases their agility; nice to combine with Evade.
 * Cyclone (28 spirits; 3 MP): similar to Large Cutter, but more effective on slopes.
 * Ultimate wind (47 spirits; 3 MP): weak, but always hits all enemies.

Support spells

 * Spirit armor Lv1-2 (7-21 spirits; 2-3 MP): increases Brians' defense, i.e. lowers damage suffered.
 * Confusion (27 spirits; 3 MP): restores Brian's Magic Points whenever he's attacked; extremely useful, especially if paired with Water's Healing spells.
 * Magic barrier (36 spirits; 3 MP): Brian becomes invulnerable for a few turns; not to be combined with Confusion.

Debuff spells

 * Weakness Lv1-2 (13-31 spirits; 2-3 MP): lowers defense of one enemy.
 * Weaken all (43 spirits; 3 MP): lowers defense of all enemies; great if combined with Fire's Power Staff.

Attack spells

 * Rock Lv1-2-3  (1-4-16 spirits; 1-2-3 MP): mid-ranged but strong
 * Rolling rock Lv1-2 (10-39 spirits; 2-3 MP): attacks several enemies at a fixed range; requires some practice to aim effectively; the second level rock is bigger, therefore easier to aim.
 * Magnet rock (19 spirits; 3 MP): homing, but sometimes misses; becomes more effective at higher levels.
 * Avalanche (24 spirits; 3 MP): attacks several enemies, but sometimes misses; it also misses enemies that are too close or too far from Brian.
 * Rock shower (34 spirits; 3 MP): weak, but always hits all enemies.

Support spells

 * Power staff Lv1-2 (7-22 spirits; 2-3 MP): increases Brian's staff attack strength.
 * Vampire's touch (32 spirits; 3 MP): restores Brian's Health Points whenever he attacks using his staff; good to be combined with Power Staff.

Debuff spells

 * Compression (19 spirits; 3 MP): reduces attack power of one enemy; result is similar to Earth's Spirit Armor; useful in fights against one enemy.

Attack spells

 * Fire ball Lv1-2-3 (1-4-16 spirits; 1-2-3 MP): casts one, two or three ranged fire balls.
 * Homing arrow Lv1-2 (10-28 spirits; 2-3 MP): homing but weak; similar to Air's Wind Cutters.
 * Hot steam Lv1-2 (13-44 spirits; 2-3 MP): short-ranged but strong; similar to Water's Water Pillars.
 * Fire pillar (24 spirits; 3 MP): short-ranged but strong; similar to Water's Water Pillars.
 * Fire bomb (30 spirits; 3 MP): hits several enemies at a mid-range; similar to Earth's Rocks.
 * Magma ball (36 spirits; 3 MP): shoots three magma balls in three directions; useful either at short range or against two-three enemies;
 * Extinction (40 spirits; 3 MP): either instantly defeats one enemy, or misses.

Spells analysis
Each element has one three-level spell and three two-level spells. A comparison of these gives good orientation for the choice of elements.

The table shows that the main attacks of the four elements have a balance between range and strength. Remember that every enemy receives less damage if attacked with its same element, e.g. a fire attack will deal considerably less damage than usual to fire enemies.

From this second table it can be seen that Water is a mostly defensive element, while fire is mostly offensive. Wind and earth are in between.

Suggested strategies
Water magic features two extremely useful spells: Healing and Soul Searcher. Earth magic features another useful one: Spirit Shield. The player may want to obtain the first level of all these spells first (L10 in Water and L7 in Earth), then abandon one or both of these two elements in favor of Wind or Fire.

Beginners should choose Water as one of their elements, because the two Soul Searcher spells allow Brian to analyze the enemies.

In order to see every available spell in the video game, the player might decide to play it twice, focusing each time on two different elements.
 * Water & Fire; Earth & Wind: two balanced games, where all the different spell types would be equally distributed.
 * Water & Wind; Earth & Fire: Water & Wind would display the widest array of different effects; combining Earth & Fire debuff and support spells Brian would get the ultimate attack and defense;
 * Water & Earth; Wind & Fire: the first game would be very easy, the second one very challenging, because all the defensive spells would be concentrated in the first one.