Paladin's Quest

"Kind of like Earthbound but completely different"

''Paladin's Quest'' is a strange game in many aspects. Based on the 1992 Japanese release by Asmik called ''Lennus'' (this name will make more sense later), Enix brought us ''Paladin's Quest'' in 1993. Everything about this game is new, different, and weird. From the use of pastel colors to the equally strange magic system, it is easy to see why this game didn't received much recognition ever. And, despite the fact that this is the easiest RPG I think I have ever played, ''Paladin's Quest'' is a game that I would recommend at least one good play through.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

I can't help but like the way that the graphics were done in this game. Right off the bat you will notice that everything from the slightly pixilated sprites to the battle backgrounds is done in pastels (personally, the only reason I think it is weird is because this is rarely seen). Although this is really cool it does add to the feeling that this is sort of a kiddy game. Most of the monsters look kind of like after-school cartoon characters and only a couple of bosses delivered that menacing feel.

All talk of pastels aside, certain aspects of the graphics were done surprisingly well. Every single battle had a detailed background that fit in with the atmosphere and added a more involving visual experience. Battle animations were the typical 2 frame changes that weren't bad or good. As I mentioned before the sprites and world map images were a little pixilated, but this is semi-early generation SNES so I can't really complain. On the flip side, every one of the some 20 characters had a personalized head shot that was very well drawn. Even characters of the same race looked different in the menu screen.

SOUND: 8/10

The sound for ''Paladin's Quest'' is another mixed bag. On the one hand the music is phenomenal. This game's score could easily stand up against ''Final Fantasy 6'' for symphonic melodies. Each and every track that was played fit in wonderfully with the specific mood or situation. Why, then, was the score an 8/10? The sound effects in battle were just weird. That is the only way I know how to describe them. When a sword slashed an enemy it sounded like you were attacking them with a big fan. Hitting someone with arrows was similar to pounding on a big drum. I really don't know what else to say about the sound effects. They weren't bad, just weird.

CONTROL: 7/10

What started out as awkward control became a little less awkward later. It almost reminded me of a graphically challenged ''Breath of Fire'' in that battle selections are made on a cross-hair menu. Pressing left selects magic, right attacks, up defends, and down runs. But, what makes this a little awkward is that simply pressing in the direction makes the selection without need of confirmation. Simply put, it is very easy to make mistakes in choosing from the menu even up to the end of the game. Aside from this it is a pretty good menu system. This only applies in battle as well and the menus for status and inventory are pretty normal. So, like most of the other game aspects, this isn't so much bad as it is weird.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10

There are a few things that I quickly noticed about this game that were wrong, though I will only say 2 of them now. The first is that the walking is HORRIBLY slow. Remember in ''FF 6'' before you got the sprint shoes? It's a little slower than that. It may just be that I am impatient but this was a constant thorn in my side. The other wrong aspect, and the second kiddy feeling part of the game, was the simplicity of the dungeons. There was actually a dungeon that was 2 floors, and the staircases and treasure chest were on the same screen (this dungeon took about 1.5 minutes). This made the game ridiculously easy to find your way around.

This being said, I loved the rest of the game. I already talked about the basic battle sequence but I will go into it a little bit more. In terms of walking and going into random battles with battle screens, this is just like any other adventure/turn-based RPG. The cool thing that is new is the magic system. This is broken up into 8 spirits that each contribute new spells when bought. Every spirit (ranging from Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Heart, Sph, Sky, Light) has a spell of its own and a spell combination with each other learned spirit. If you have played any other RPG then the spells will all be familiar, but there is a new twist. Instead of using magic points to cast, spells use up HP instead. This causes another extra element of strategy to all battles. In addition to this, there is a meter next to each spirit in the status screen. This meter increases with the casting of a spell attuned to that spirit. The higher the meter, the stronger the spell. However, these meters move up very slowly and have to be leveled up some at every area.

Another really neato aspect of ''Paladin's Quest'' is the mercenary system. There are 2 main characters of the same race, but there are four slots on the team. This leaves room to hire up to 2 mercenaries. These range from male to female among 10 different races. Each one has different strengths and weapons, making for a different gaming experience for every player. In truth, though, most people will finish the game with two specific mercenaries found later, and each new mercenary will usually be traded off upon arrival at a new town.

Besides this everything else is standard. Because there are different sexes, there are different weapons for each sex. This is where my last big problem with the game comes in. All names of everything are limited to 8 characters. This makes it very hard to know what the hell you just picked up or bought at all points of the game. This factor is a constant annoyance that never gets any better. Because of it alone I docked a whole point from the score I gave to this game.

STORY: 9/10

This was another good and weird part of a very good and weird game. Basically, you are a 13 year old boy named Chezni (Chezni?) enrolled at a magic school. One day you go with your friend into a tower in the school grounds, put your hand in an indent on a machine, and unleash unspeakable evil onto the world. Now the director of the school puts the quest on you to fix things. You meet up with a girl named Midia and various other people to help you on you quest. It sounds stupid now and it is, but it gets better as the game progresses. Even so, 13 is too young by far to save the world. When I was 13 the only thing I did was play video games...

In the end there are too many mistakes for this to be considered a great game. I will say that it is a good game and one worth playing once your supply of Final Fantasies and good Enix games is exhausted. Don't buy this. Rent it if you still can, but it isn't exactly a staple of a gamer's library. This game maxed out at around 20-25 hours.

Recap:

GRAPHICS: 9/10
SOUND: 8/10
CONTROL: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
STORY: 9/10
TILT: 5/10

TOTAL: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/03, Updated 03/08/03