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Thread: Game of the Day 2/3/2016: Paladin's Quest

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    celerystalker is a poindexter celerystalker's Avatar
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    Default Game of the Day 2/3/2016: Paladin's Quest

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    Paladin's Quest occupies that special lower rung of SNES RPGs, hanging out with Tecmo's Secret of the Stars and trying to get adopted one day by a nice family. I don't know that I'd call it obscure, but it rarely makes the SNES RPG conversation, as it has to wait for Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasies, Breath of Fires, Lufias, and more before it's allowed to have its piece of the pie, but it's not for lack of effort.

    Paladin's Quest actually goes out of its way to try and set itself apart from the crowd. Right off the bat, its pastel color scheme is almost jarringly different, as are the sprites, which are less detailed and more cartoony than the sort of games Square or Enix (though Enix did... publish... this one...) were publishing at the time. Next, the party system offers up a difference with the ability to bring along up to two mercenaries, so long as you can pay them, and there are quite a few out there, many with their own little side stories, which really does add something to the game, which is good, as its main story is pretty humdrum.

    The magic system, though, is where Paladin's Quest truly goes off in its own direction. First off, there's no MP (and no Junction system...), only hit points. Your magic drains your HP. At first, this sounds awful, and doubly so when you realize that your physical attacks are impotent. However, it's actually balanced okay, and you don't have to carry around so many different types of restoratives. Secondly, spells level up their respective elements when used, completely independent of your character level, so using that magic to win fights not only makes you stronger and able to cast more, but makes you a better caster to boot. Thirdly, you can combine spells to make more powerful, even cross-elemental attacks. This is neat, and also gives more of the feeling of actually being a sorcerer.

    While mostly ignored in the west, it was popular enough in Japan to get a sequel, Lennus II. In an age where translation patches, repro carts, and everdrives are common, Paladin's Quest has slid even farther from the limelight. I don't mean to say it's a secret masterpiece, but it is a neat game with some meat to it if you can stick with it, and has a pretty unique look and feel to it.

    Have you played it? Hated its goofy color scheme? Liked its light-hearted script? Have a memory to share about it?

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    ServBot (Level 11) Edmond Dantes's Avatar
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    This is on my "must get" list. I had read about it but I never found it in the wild back when the wild was worth searching and these days I keep forgetting to look for it. But it WILL be mine... dunno about this month tho as I dunno what I want this month.

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    Pac-Man (Level 10) Emperor Megas's Avatar
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    This game brought up a lot of buried emotions.

    I've never played or seem it before. The ONLY thing I know about this game is that I used to have two friends when I was younger who called this game Pa-lad-din's Quest. So much so that I still say it that way in my mind. I figured after hearing them pronounce the title a few times that they probably meant 'Paladin', not "Pa-lad-din".

    Of all of my friends growing up, they were the most into RPGs. They were real RPG fiends; they even used to play through all of those Romance of The Three Kingdoms games that everyone else I knew who knew about them hated.


    In any event, this topic has me thinking of them now. One of them -- the younger who I was closer to -- I lost touch with a few years ago after reconnecting with on facebook after close to a decade of lost contact. He was suffering from depression REALLY BAD, and gave me the most crushing explanation of how he felt about life before saying a lot of really morbid things and deleting his facebook account soon after. I really hope he's alright. In the months before that he'd explained to me that the OTHER friend -- his life long best friend, mind you -- is currently doing a life sentence with no possibility of parole for executing his ex-girlfriend with a bullet to the forehead (which his best friend had to give testimony of in court). Man, SO MANY of my friends from back home are broken now.

    I know that when I eventually find this game I'll either get straight to playing it, or, it'll sit on the shelf, probably forever, unplayed, because of the memories it stirs up.

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    celerystalker is a poindexter celerystalker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Emperor Megas View Post
    This game brought up a lot of buried emotions.

    I've never played or seem it before. The ONLY thing I know about this game is that I used to have two friends when I was younger who called this game Pa-lad-din's Quest. So much so that I still say it that way in my mind. I figured after hearing them pronounce the title a few times that they probably meant 'Paladin', not "Pa-lad-din".

    Of all of my friends growing up, they were the most into RPGs. They were real RPG fiends; they even used to play through all of those Romance of The Three Kingdoms games that everyone else I knew who knew about them hated.


    In any event, this topic has me thinking of them now. One of them -- the younger who I was closer to -- I lost touch with a few years ago after reconnecting with on facebook after close to a decade of lost contact. He was suffering from depression REALLY BAD, and gave me the most crushing explanation of how he felt about life before saying a lot of really morbid things and deleting his facebook account soon after. I really hope he's alright. In the months before that he'd explained to me that the OTHER friend -- his life long best friend, mind you -- is currently doing a life sentence with no possibility of parole for executing his ex-girlfriend with a bullet to the forehead (which his best friend had to give testimony of in court). Man, SO MANY of my friends from back home are broken now.

    I know that when I eventually find this game I'll either get straight to playing it, or, it'll sit on the shelf, probably forever, unplayed, because of the memories it stirs up.
    Wow, that's intense, but thanks so much for sharing the memory! I hope your friend is doing better somewhere... it's pretty crazy how sometimes these games become little signposts in our memories, and Ogre Battle becomes not just a cool SNES game, but it the summer walks I took with my wife about six months after we got married through our old neighborhood.

    If you do pick this one up and play it, I hope there's more fun than sadness in it for you.

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    Emperor, I echo Celery. That was an intense story. Thanks for sharing.

    I enjoyed PQ for what it was, although truth be told, I doubt I'll ever play through it again. It's one of those one and done RPGs for me. My favorite memory of it? When I bought it CIB back in 2010, it came with its original receipt! I love when stuff like that happens.







    I've also beaten the sequel, Lennus II, and it's a far superior effort. Still not good enough to be considered one of the big boys, but it's more than competent and holds its own as a lesser known entry into the genre.

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    Thanks for the short description. I'm a huge RPG fan myself, have played a lot of fairly unknown RPGs that have been good games. I've always heard this one was a bad game so I wrote it off, but your explanation on the magic system makes me want to try it.
    Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.

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