Paladin’s Quest an Excellent but Frustrating RPG

Paladin’s Quest is a game I’ve tried to get into so many times. I attempted to play this game countless times in the 1990s when I was downloading ROMs to play. This time, I played through as much of this game as I could.

It has everything that I would want in an RPG. Paladin’s Quest and looks different from most of the other RPGs on the SNES, and it has a unique take on magic. Paladin’s Quest is one of those games that I feel like I should enjoy.

On an interesting note. You don’t play as a Paladin in this game. Paladins don’t even exist in the game’s world, making the title slightly confusing. I’m sure that none of the people who played this back in 1992 cared about this.

TLDR: A Decent Story that is Held Back by Tedious Gameplay.

Narrative

The story starts with the main character screwing everything up. It is a little funny that everything that happens in the game is your fault. I also feel like this happened in other games, but I can’t think of them now.

Anyway, you’re being bullied by people at magic school. The nameless classmates dare you to climb a tower, and you go there with this kid named Duke. You enter the tower and release Dal Gren, which destroys the magic school.

In a very video game moment, the schoolmaster decides that your character, who is 13 years old, has to set things right. Why can’t he do it, you might ask. Well, he doesn’t feel like it. He doesn’t even give you any advice!

You have to find someone named Daphne. This person explains that you need to find three items to find and stop Dal Gren. You also learn about a general who wants to gain the power of Dal Gren and take over the world. Thankfully, you don’t have to fight this world’s version of God.

The three items you need to find are:

• Sword of Kormu in Naskuot
• Helm of Kormu in Saskuot
• Armor of Kormu at the Throne of the Immortals

The game even tells you to write down these three things and tests you on them immediately. I don’t know why I like this.

Once you have the items, you learn that Zaygos is building Noi Gren. I’m guessing this is more evil than Dal Gren. It’s stupid, but it’s an acceptable level of stupidity as far as video games go.

So, the story has you getting weapons and armor to fight Zaygos and Dal Grin. It isn’t a complicated story, which isn’t a bad thing. I find it hilarious that this world expects a pair of 13-year-old kids to save the world. Most of the adults aren’t going to help you fight unless you pay them.

Frustrating Combat and Horrible UI

This game has a unique system for magic. Instead of having Magic Points, you lose Hit Points when you cast a spell. I don’t like this system, but at the very least, the developers give you a lot of Hit Points to make it a little easier.

Healing in battle was a mystery to me when I started playing. Each character has healing items in the form of bottles. They work well, but I couldn’t figure out how to use them in battle at first.

There are few healing spells in the game. This is annoying, but it makes sense because your Magic Points are tied to your Hit Points. Instead, you’ll be relying on items to do most of your healing.

The magic system in this game is rather interesting. It is divided into six groups, and you can combine them to get more spells. Here is a breakdown:

• Sky
• Light
• Earth
• Fire
• Sphere
• Heart
• Water
• Air

I wouldn’t say that I like this system. You have to level up each group of spells by using them or finding cards. It feels like the progression system in Final Fantasy II, which was one of the worst parts of that game.

You get nine medicine bottles and can refill them at an item shop. It costs five gold to refill one bottle. I’m not a fan of this system, and I don’t like the user interface for combat. Sometimes, being unique doesn’t make for something fun.

You start with nothing in this game. Your character has a knife and a uniform for equipment. It will also take a while to get the money and experience to deal with the challenges ahead. It is a little tricky to get into right away.

The equipment is specific to gender and not class. Since there are no character classes in the game, I guess they had to separate the weapons and armor somehow. It is a little odd to do things this way, but it works for this game.

To equip the weapons and armor is needlessly annoying. You have to cycle through all of the possibilities to equip something. Here is the order it cycles through:

• Head
• Right Arm
• Left Arm
• Body
• Legs
• Belt.

Note: Everything is abbreviated. Helmet is changed to Ht, and Sword is shortened to Sw. Other items get this same treatment. Thankfully, the shopkeeper tells you the weapon or armor is for a male or female. The player isn’t given this warning when you find something in a treasure chest.

Items cannot be used in battles unless you have them equipped to a character’s belt. This is extremely important to remember because of the lack of healing spells in the game. If you don’t have medicine bottles equipped to a character or two, you won’t be able to heal in battles.

I ran into a problem while I was playing this game. I had no idea what some of the item abbreviations were, and I didn’t know what each item did. Here is a guide that I compiled from another website (RPGClassics):

Item Name	Full Name	Effects
Air Cd	Air Card	Permanently increases Spirit Level
Earth Cd	Earth Card	Permanently increases Earth Level
Fire Cd	Fire Card	Permanently increases Fire Level
Heart Cd	Heart Card	Permanently increases Heart Level
Light Cd	Light Card	Permanently increases Light Level
Sky Cd	Sky Card	Permanently increases Sky Level
Sph Cd	Sphere Card	Permanently increases Sphere Level
Water Cd	Water Card	Permanently increases Water Level
Fl dor	Flight Door	Teleports you out of a Dungeon
Home dor	Home Door	Teleports you to the most recent town
Medicine	Medicine	Refills your bottles regardless of the type.
G milk	Gubo’s Milk	Increases Power
P fth	Purpbird’s Feathers	Increases Speed
P tears	Preyer’s Tears	Increases Endurance
P water	Pakrat’s Water	Increases Luck
Pro Ball	Protection Ball	Prevents Random Encounters for a short time
S sweat	Slimy’s Sweat	Increases HP
S tavern	Summon Tavern	Allows you to hire mercenaries

Paladin’s quest is very menu-heavy. It reminds me of the Dragon Quest games on the NES. Although this isn’t the worst way to organize a game, it makes for a frustrating user interface.

Party members come and go in this game. It feels like a version of Final Fantasy 4, where you have characters join your party for part of the story and then leave once their goal has been accomplished. It is interesting, but I wouldn’t say I like how it is done.

You can hire mercenaries to fill out your party with a maximum of 4 characters. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I would rather have a group of characters I get to know throughout the game.

You can’t change the mercenary’s equipment. This reminds me of Destiny of an Emperor, where only a select group of generals can level up. Paladin’s Quest isn’t exactly like that game, but only having control over a few characters is similar.

Note: I was wrong. There are some pieces of armor and weapons that can be equipped by mercenaries. This is way more complicated than it needs to be.

Some of the mercenaries have perma death. I wasn’t expecting this to happen because it wasn’t like that for most of the game. It was very odd to have this happen seemingly out of the blue.

The dungeons are very simple. There are very few multi-level dungeons, and they are easy to get through. This was disappointing for me. I expected something different because other RPGs from this period have more complex dungeons.

There isn’t a quick travel vehicle in this game. The Rope Network connects some towns, but it isn’t everywhere. Several temporary quick travel things exist in the game, but you don’t control them, and they’re limited to specific situations.

I don’t like the gameplay that much. The enemies tend to do a ridiculous amount of damage, weaknesses don’t always make sense, and your magic is wildly inconsistent. Not to mention the revolving cast of mercenaries that occasionally end up being helpful. Paladin’s Quest has some good things, but they’re buried under all the bad stuff.

Beautiful Graphics

I really like the graphics in Paladin’s Quest. This game looks like the first Phantasy Star in some ways. Paladin’s Quest is a very colorful game, and it looks like an alien world where something like this would occur.

This game has a pastel color scheme, and the art style looks alien. In some ways, it reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book. The trees look like suckers, and the mountains look like they’re made of metal. It is a great-looking game.

This is minor, but I don’t like how the treasure chests are done. Even after you empty them, they look like you could still find something in them. It is odd, and it would’ve been nice if the developers had left them open.

The enemies look very good and unique to the game. There are some standard and pallet-swapped enemies, but they’re well-detailed and look great. They also have little animations when they attack. The battles look like the battles in the Phantasy Star games.

The cutscenes are done with in-game graphics. They look pretty good for 1992; some are excellent, while others are rather basic. There isn’t anything that will blow you away in terms of visuals.

The graphics look wonderful. I love how the game looks; it stands out from other games on the SNES. If it had a better story, I would say that this game would be as good as one of the Phantasy Star games from a visual standpoint.

7.5/10. There are some good things in Paladin’s Quest. I like the story and the graphics. It reminds me of the first Phantasy Star but with more of a focus on magic. The gameplay is rough. I don’t like the user interface, how you heal party members, and the inconsistent damage from some overpowered enemies.

Pros

• Good Story
• Great Graphics
• Easy game with no Side Quests

Cons

• Overpowered Enemies
• Stupid Magic System
• Bad User Interface

Conclusion

I’m not sure my opinion of Paladin’s Quest has changed too much. I like the game more now than I did in the late 1990s, but I still have problems with it. The combat system is frustrating, and I do not like the user interface.

It is also a very linear game. In 1992, I wouldn’t have a problem with this as I didn’t know much about RPGs. Playing it now, I think it is a straightforward game that goes out of its way to help the player know where to go.

Paladin’s Quest is a decent RPG. If you’re tired of playing the Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, or Breath of Fire, try Paladin’s Quest. It is different from the other games and a decent RPG.