I still remember the day I bought Paladin’s Quest. I think it was 1994, and K-Mart was starting to sell used video games. This was a big deal for me because I didn’t have a Funcoland or EB in my area. When I wanted a cheap, used or old video game, I had to go to Flea Markets, Pawn Shops and Yard Sales. So K-Mart jumping into the used video game market was important.
I had a wad of cash that I needed to spend. I had a choice between buying one new video game or buying a bunch of used ones. I went with the used ones. That day I bought Paladin’s Quest, 7th Saga, Star Tropics 2 and a game I bought at completely random, Saint Sword. I had nothing but a cartridge to judge Saint Sword on, but the title and cover intrigued me enough. I was expecting an obscure Genesis RPG, but what I got was a dime a doze Sidescroller Hack’em Up. That was pretty disappointing.
However, I was happy with the rest of my purchases. Especially Paladin’s Quest. I was a big Dragon Warrior fan at the time. When I plopped in Paladin’s Quest, it reminded me of Dragon Warrior, but in a sci-fi setting and 16 Bit graphics. Little did I know at the time is that Dragon Warrior’s proper name was Dragon Quest in Japan. Paladin’s Quest was also an Enix game, so I didn’t really make those connections until way later.
While I would consider myself an experienced RPG fan by 1994, there was plenty of "firsts" moments in Paladin’s Quest. It was the first time I played a game where you could build a massive army of characters. Later games like Suikoden and Radiata Stories use a similar idea later on. In Paladin’s Quest, there was only 2 real main characters in your group, but you could hire mercenaries to join your group. Most of the time you could just hire them with money, but there were a couple that followed a storyline. Sure, later Suikoden games were much deeper than this, but Paladin’s Quest was my first with this idea.
It was also the first game I remember playing where the town you start off in is destroyed. While I won’t claim this is th first RPG to ever do this, but it was the first one I remember playing. This is a tactic has became a RPG stable ever since. Even Bioware games like Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire do this.
There was even a scene towards the end of the game that involes time travel! This is long before Chrono Trigger ever came out. Sure, you can’t travel between time points, and I’m pretty sure nothing is effected by doing it, but it was a neat idea.
The battle system was hit or miss with people. I didn’t mind it, but it was a difficult game. The random encounter rate was extremely high. The battles were designed in a First Person View like old Dragon Warrior games. You had to flip through the menus with the D-Pad. That was pretty different for the time.
One thing about Paladin’s Quest that everyone seems to hate is how the magic system works. You don’t have a Magic Meter in this game. To use magic, you have to spend your own HP. That might sound crazy, but it didn’t bother me that much. One thing I did love about the Magic system is each time you used a spell, that spell type would gain experience. So the more you use your magic, the more powerful they eventually get.
Overall, the story is nothing special, and the graphics are kinda dull. The last time I played Paladin’s Quest was nearly 7 years ago, so I’m not 100% sure how it holds up today, but I did enjoy it during my last playthrough.
Would I consider Paladin’s Quest an essential SNES RPG? Probably not, but I still had blast with it. That just might be nostalgia talking though.