I thought that this was a pretty fun RPG when I was a kid. It was easy to get into, and is great for starters!
Generally, RPGs have epic stories of some sort. None here though, you're just looking for your father meeting seemingly unimportant people along the way. There is no real story here to tie everything together, and the plot is very predictable. Go from town to town, fighting the thing in the forest and getting the missing item, then returning it to the king. It's like that over and over again.
So, the best part of the gameplay here, since the story is pointless, is upgrading your magic for more powerful spells. I guess this appeals to a younger crowd though, because it wowed me when I was a kid. The camera can be horrible at times too, which sucks. The controls are pretty decent though. The graphics are good enough. Nothing too great, but there are a lot of colors in the backgrounds, and everything feels lively except for the fact that they're aren't a lot of people in the towns. The game looks like it has a lot of depth, but it ends up being more like running along a path that is set for you, but you just can't see it. The sounds is okay, but nothing really memorable or anything. The replay value isn't that high either. It's gets some points though because you may want to build up another type of magic first or something, but once you finish the game, there isn't much incentive to go back through it.
Overall, I would say that this is a great RPG for introducing people to RPGs, because it's not too heavy on the story aspect, and it's pretty fun to play through and really linear so that you won't be really lost. Definately for a younger crowd though. Try this game out or rent it or something. It's not that bad, but not that grea either.