Is Paladin's Quest Worth Playing Today? - SNESdrunk 

Oh man, this game seems like a 70s prog rock album come to life. I think I need to play it.

I always love hearing about SNES games I didn't know existed before.

The comparison with Earthbound's Magicant is absolutely spot-on lol

Alright you had me sold at Kohei Tanaka. Absolutely my all time favorite composer for anything. Oddly enough, whenever I play or watch something and find out he did music for whatever it is, there's a high chance it ends up becoming a favorite of mine.

The aesthetic is very clearly inspired by famous French sci-fi/fantasy artist Jean Giraud (aka Moebius.). It's the closest any video game has come then and since to featuring his style (except of course this game's sequel _Lennus 2_ ). Although he actually did do the concept art and Japanese cover for _Panzer Dragoon_ , but the game didn't reflect his style very well.

I could never remember this games name even though I beat it as a kid and absolutely loved it more then the Final Fantasy's at the time cause it had the balls to be a bit different and the world felt so real cause no matter where you went or ended up there was always another group of people dealing with their own problems and it made the journey so much more worth it and I loved this game because of it.

I still actually think about this game, I don't know why, it just had an impact on my early RPG gaming. I loved the concept of new mercenaries joining up, and the story could get strangely dark at times. Definitely worth checking out if you're a SNES RPG fan ;)

I actually really like the visual style.

At 2:48 when he talks about the music, that particular sound that plays at the time reminds me of the movie The Goonies for some reason. A movie I love, and a game I love!

Love that game, there was one point when you were on Sophie's spaceship if you didn't go the right way, you will be trapped, restart the whole game or hope you didn't save while in the trapped area.

An extremely unknown and underappreciated game in the sea of SNES RPGs. It's not gonna rock your world or anything and it's definitely not as good as the best on the system, but it's so weird, surreal and unique, surprisingly emotional at times and has a pretty rad soundtrack, I can still safely recommend it. Nice review, as always!

I personally love this game. the look of it and the music makes me think of an 80's fantasy movie on LSD. I played it nearly to the end in 2008 but i lost my save. it's definetely an acquired taste and not for everyone, though. I still need to play Lennus II.

This game clearly set out to be different and it succeeded. Especially the visuals and the unique races. Everything they did in this game stands out from any other RPG. It is absolutely worth playing today because it excels in every way but it is a more traditional style RPG so you do need to grind levels and money like old DQ games, etc.

SNES drunk got 530 GOLD! Gained 98 Experience! This game looks like the full story behind FFVI's Paladin Shield, I'll give it a try.

i have always loved this strange game, i owned it on snes way back. from the in battle controls, the music, the look of it, the hilarious abbreviated names for weapons etc the story , its always one i go back to every once in a while via emulator, and grind out all magic to max with fast forward. Nails was always my fav merc:)

I think I remember reading that the visual style was based off French(?) surrealist art. Great review, im always looking forward to your new vids!

Wow Lennus II looks awesome. I love the trippy ketamine dream looks to the both of them. Thanks for mentioning that PQ had a sequel Mr. SNESD!!!! The SNES was packed to the hilt with game gold.

It's one of my favourite RPGs on the SNES. I prefer it much over FF6 or Chrono Trigger because of his unique Setting and Charakters. The art-style is inspired by the Comic-Artist Moebius and was made by Hiroyuki Kato and Keisuke Goto.

I used to play this game 20 years ago. I was 7

Man I will never understand the hate Lagoon gets, I enjoyed that game.

Keep up the good work dude! This is one of my favorite channels on RU-vid! I got this game around when it came out and had a really hard time getting into it for a while.. I probably put it down for a year or so but when I finally gave it a chance in like 1994 I got really drawn in by it's unique universe, art style and mood. I can't see myself ever playing through the game again due to the sheer time involved (even with a frameskip button) but I'm really glad I did when I was a kid. Maybe I'll give the sequel a shot, I was aware of the translation but I hadn't given it a shot yet! It's nice to see someone out there who has basically the same opinions on games that I do! Thanks for keepin the nostalgia alive, man! I'm gonna get SNEStoned and crack open Lennus 2 later today :D

I’ll be the first to admit, this game was the bane of my existence as a child. I cannot count the number of times I restarted just to get a “little bit farther”, only to finally reach the end and swearing the final boss was impossible. Of course, once you figure out a few of the game's lesser known tricks (remember, this predated online FAQs), the game becomes much more manageable. While PQ won’t win any awards, it’s definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. A decent enough story, great music, a solid challenge, a few plot twists, and it’s actually pretty dark for an SNES RPG (Barsas, Karon, the second time you visit Ratsurk, and the Throne of Immortals).

Kohei Tanaka composed this? That's amazing! He is the main composer for One Piece, Dai Guard, and co-composed the music for Rosario x Vampire with Shiro Hamaguchi!

I started playing this today and I'm hooked. Granted I'm a 35+ year veteran of the jrpg game. I can see how players that cut their teeth with ff10 would have difficulty enjoying this one. But this is gold for us Dragon Warrior Grognards lol

Wow. I never actually played this one as a kid, even though me and my brother basically rented anything and everything that had swords, knights, dragons, or the word "RPG" on the box. But despite all the negative things some people talk about this game, this looks COMPLETELY up my alley as an adult. This weird pink/green/lavender/pastel colouring and bizarre alien-planet Flash Gordon futurism thing? This is GENIUS art design! And all the RPG gameplay elements sound, at worst, "fine"- at least for my taste. Also that cover art is dope.

I really enjoyed Paladin's Quest! Great game.

I used to play this game all the time. I love it but you def have to grind a lot, especially to get your magic stronger. And this soundtrack sneaks its way into my head every now and then. Also, there's a sequel? I never knew! Must play now.

I kinda like the fever dream aesthetic. Then again I love trippy shit

I love this game! I played this game growing up. It's by no mean a great game. It's a pretty solid game for me.

I actually played and passed this game back in the 90s and liked it. I don't remembered too much about the graphics. The ending plot twist is actually really good.

oh man i absolutely love this game back in the day...storyline was sooo epic!!... gamestyle instead of wondering town recruiting heroes ya get to 'hire' mercenaries to join ya party... and the game style like snes drunk said theres no mana...ya use health to cast spells.. so if you cast too many powerful spell and your health will drop and the enemy can KO you on his/her next move... i'm definitely getting part 2 hopefully 100% translated by now (been waiting since 94) so i'll definitely give this game a revisit after lennus 2 (if its translated) haha

This is personally one of my favorites, I feel it deserves more love.

I used to think Paladin' s Quest was a sequel to Mystic Quest...before the internet and what not.

The name Paladin's Quest doesn't make sense, but the instant I heard it as a 13 year old I had to play it. I still remember walking up my nearly half mile driveway every day for like two weeks hoping to find it in the mail and the excitement when it was finally there and I had the SNES to myself the rest of the day because my family was gone doing, I can't even remember what. I think the atmosphere and story, coupled with the music make it a great play today, but best to have an emulator with a fast forward button to ease that random battle/magic grind weariness.

The original artwork and concept art for Lennus was actually magnificent. Too bad the SNES just didn't manage to translate it fully. Still fantastic.

I just got the remake music album for this game after searching for so long and I couldn't be happier, the soundtrack was always the best part of Lennus and the remake ost is very well done. There's something about it that's just not quite like any other RPG I think in visuals and music it's that unrecognizable "otherworldly" kind of feeling. To anyone who is a fan if this game or the composer who happens to read this, you owe it to yourself to al least find a rip or upload of the music "Lennus ancient machine"

Quite enjoyed this one when it was fresh. Never knew it got a sequel. Felt like everything about the box art and title was chosen specifically to cater to people who liked Final Fantasy II. Worked on me at the time.

I think this game may have inspired the visuals of Space Funeral.

Good stuff, I think this is the first decent review or meaningful coverage I've seen on this game on RU-vid (at least from anyone I sub).

I was born in 1983, so was definitely deep into RPGs in the SNES era. This is the only RPG I never gave a chance. I saw it, I picked up the box many times. It just looked amateur and cheap, which doesn't make sense because I loved Tecmo Secret of the Stars, which looks much worse. Seems like I missed out. Should have tried this game

Just to point some funny things about this game. Lennus isn´t the planet you`re inhabiting but one of the moons of the planet Raiga who was created some 10.000 years ago by the inmortals of Raiga: Sophie, Kormu And Gabnid. It´s also interesting that the fella who wrote the script for the game also wrote a 400 pages book entitled prelude to destruction that is a prequel to all the things that happens in this game. weirdly enough this game was sort of a huge thing in Japan

Finally, someone else who's played Alundra. That game is awesome.

"I wanted to study literature but instead I studied law. I was a pretty big fan of video games - I'd played Dragon Quest a lot - but the roots of my career date back to school, when I translated the Avalon Hill games, saw a bunch of influential movies like Star Wars, and read lots of science-fiction novels. Those novels especially inspired me, in terms of the types of worlds I wanted to create. When I wrote Lennus [released in the West as Paladin's Quest] I was around 28. At that time I was writing all sorts of proposals... When it was published by Asmik I was 30. When people ask what RPGs are like, I always think that the World's Fair is the closest comparison. There are all these pavilions you can visit, and each is like another country, offering a completely different experience... Meanwhile in RPGs you travel the world, visiting a variety of towns and dungeons and having adventures. I was one of the early developers to really prioritise 'sekaikan' or world-building. Mechanically, Lennus has things in common with other RPGs of the time, but I wanted the world to be one that players wouldn't have experienced in any other game. When I'm creating a world, I'm really a stickler for avoiding familiar words and concepts when writing character names or monster names and such like." -- Hidenori Shibao, writer (Paladin's Quest - SNES)

The IT professionals of Lennus could handle building a machine that captures/controls evil, but not basic server security.

The plot twist at the end blew my mind. And those alien brothers = best party members ever

Nice video, man. Cheers from Brazil.

Wow, I've never even heard of this game before! I'm always excited to hear about a new SNES RPG, especially one that actually got localized :D

this is one of the most under appreciated games on SNES along with Shadowrun.

one of my first rpgs on the snes. i love this game

Looks like an interesting one, never hear about this one at all. Good vid!

Woa! This is awesome looking. I can't believe I never heard of this game. I'm loving the art style. It really makes you feel like you're from another universe. The strange looking tree's are so cool & the vibrant pastel colors is really right up my style. I've played Phantasy Star 2 which is a complete grind fest so I think I can manage this.

Loved this game as a kid, tried to play it again and its just so slow and way too many random battles. I found a copy of Lennus 2 for pretty cheap but havent been able to get it to patch on the retron :( too bad because it looks like a much better version of the first game. Great review, as always!

the art style is actually pretty cool looking imo. like a fully realized coloring book filled with the paint bucket feature on MS paint. maybe I've just lost it

I got this game recently at a decent price, but I grinded for maybe an hour before getting Midia and started having buyer's remorse. I just got so god damn bored and regretted not checking this video out first. Though now that I have checked this video out I feel more optimistic about getting the game and playing more of it, so that's a plus! I'll probably take your advice and play just about everything else first, but once I'm done with all of my unplayed JRPGs I'll be sure to come back to this one in about a decade or so. (I have a lot of unplayed JRPGs)

Awesome! Thanks for uploading this one!

Dude your vids rock!!! Honest and st8 fwd. Wifey and I get a kick out of your real sense of humor my SNES collection has improved 10 fold thanks to your vids....I even bought Robo Trek after watching your vids...Keep up the damn Good fight Snes drunk...your a try Historian of the fine classics :)

This is so much better than Lufia. I've never had the patience to finish Lufia, but PQ is what I play when I want to relax.

Maybe I should give it a try. The art style and story looks interesting, but I also feel it looks kind of like a late era Nes game, with almost everything having a black outline and not much detail.

0:46 Lennus is technically not a planet, Lennus is one of the satellites that orbits Raiga, and Raiga (an actual planet) orbits a star. The blue trees, the purple mountains, the houses made out of giant eggs, it's all very intentional and helps establish the setting. This is an alien world populated by many alien species; it's purposely not an Earth like world.

The SNES has a very diverse set of jrpgs, maybe even more so than the PS1.

This is one of the best games ever. Played it so many years ago, and then again everytime I remember it. Here I am; looking for this old game again. So yes, worth to play.

By the time I had played this back in the SNES days. I had already played CT, FF4 and 6, BoF1 and 2, Earthbound, and Lufia 2 and god knows what else. Paladin's Quest was a trip and I couldn't enjoy it as much as the others. But these days, for me, it's an ok RPG from an age when RPGs ruled.

Holy shit you actually reviewed it..right on man !

Buildings and overall weirdness reminds me of Morrowind. It even looks to have the Ministry of Truth floating above the city.

How abbreviated everything is is rough, and makes it hard to figure out what you’re using or equipping. What is Mgt, or R Crag, or Com bt?

I'm surprised that you didn't mention the bizarre combat system that involves your head and feet.

I Remember playing this game. I've enjoyed this game.

As a child, I rented this game and I distinctly remember deciding I was burnt out on menu battle games, while playing it. The same thing happened later, with Septerra Core.

One thing is that some of the mercenaries have absurd conditions to them. Like Destry, who will steal your money as soon as you leave town with him. MeanMa, with enough codependency issues so that you literally cannot get rid of her unless it is at a couple very specific points in the game where a party member is forced out. Or Lilie, who you have to pretty much buy the whole dang store for to get her to join you.

Beat this game a long time. Honestly wasn't that bad I enjoyed it.

Always tried to like this game but the lack of MP and magic using HP was the reason always ended up playing another game...i have to replay it again, atfer all those years maybe now its the time to finally beat it.

It's got that Master System palette and the Phantasy Star feel. I'm intrigued.

I'm surprised you refer to the visual style as bizarre & weird I'm a negative way. I love the bright vivid colors and otherworldliness. Granted the flatness of the colors does make parts of it (characters, some backgrounds) look more like a GREAT looking NES title than a SNES title. Still it looks worth checking out just for the surrealness.

you didn't say to have a good rest of my day T__T

I wanna thank you for watching and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

I love the boss song in that game. And talking about 7th saga what do you think about ''Mystic Ark'' =D ?

Oh, I tried this one some time ago, and although there were very interesting concepts, some things about the gameplay felt way too archaic to me and I couldn't stomach going any further than the first few hours. I still moved it back to the bottom of my list, though, so I might give it another shot in the future...

Looks almost like they were trying to design an RPG set in the world of Fantasy Zone.

Have you ever played Inindo: Way of the Ninja for SNES? I would be interested to see your take on that game.

I burned my toast watching this

I remember being told that this was an awesome game. I guess it’s true. Same with 7th Saga

Loved this game.

I love Lagoon, and don't understand at all the hate it always gets. It is extremely hard at times, but the music is great...and the visuals aren't bad.

Love your channel. I noticed you havnt reviewed Super Double Dragon. Unless I missed it.

Great RPG with an exciting story and interesting (if flawed) visuals. Every town and village has a different look that gives them their own identity. The highlight is the soundtrack by Kohei Tanaka (Gunbuster, Sakura Wars) that stretches from moody, almost horror like pieces to serene village melodies and big orchestral themes. The overworld music is still one of the best.

The poor man's Phantasy Star.

I loved this game as a kid lmao

I still have this game. I got it from my brother for Christmas when I was a kid. I still have never really gotten in to it though.

very informative

I got it a year or two after it came out, and I still play it in 2018. It is so hard to describe but it has a real weird charm to it that compels me to want to play it again every 2-3 years. But I think it takes a certain kind of interest, most people cannot deal with grind heavy games like this. It's nearly as bad as 7th Saga.

You forgot to mention how HARD this game is towards the end. The challenge really starts to ramp up, and Heart magic is MISSABLE and if you missed it, it is GONE FOREVER. If you try to fight the last boss without one of the spells Ht gives you (AtBack), you are..... not going to win unless you are way overleveled. Like, Lv75+. The Last Boss does not pull any punches and he will drive you into the ground if you don't have AtBack. Even with it, he puts out a lot of damage and you will need to be good to beat him. The Music as you said is quite good, and especially there are some heart-wrenching moments where the theme in your video plays (that quiet/sad one that is playing while you talk about the music... you picked THAT of all themes to drive your point home, lol. Nice touch). Overall, I think it is a good game. It offers challenge, it offers a slightly new spin on the turn-based J-RPG... but yeah, some people will be turned off by the graphics. But if you can get through the graphics, though... you will have a unique game that stands out away from the rest of them. My best memories of this game, were seeing the ending with someone else's save file. I used to have to rent this from a rental shop, and nobody was willing to delete Save #3 because it had a Lv78 party saved right near the end of the game... which takes a Lot of work to do. I dunno who did it, but nobody would touch that save file. I rented it multiple times over the course of a year or two and that save file was always still there.

Ok I haven't watched this video yet, I wanted to get this out first so I can see if I was close lol. Paladins Quest, wasn't even really worth playing at the time. How of all the RPGs that didn't get released this one did is beyond me. That said, as someone who owned it as a kid, I really took a deep dive into this world, and I really enjoyed it. Also, I'm going to be playing it again probably this year as it's on my list of games to play. So I'm pretty excited to hear you're opinion on if it's worth my time lol.

This games "weird artstyle" is more to that of a 60s/70s acid trip.

Completely slept-on.

Paladin's Quest looks like what I imagine the artist Moebius would have done if he designed a game world.

Looks awesome

Just saying but i beat Paladin's quest with Bean in my party from start to finish, i needed Alt reality Piccolo with me at all times.

legend of legaia creator!

I remember how the mud boss of this game could only be damaged by Kermu's Sword that only Chasini could use, then there's like three bosses at the end that can only be harmed by Chasini casting the spell Spirit, a spell costing a whopping 300 HP, and was only truly effective on those bosses and no one else. I still found it hard to believe that on the last boss Chasini and the two mercenaries died, and was like, "Great... what is this, wipe 100? Might as well go out with a bang." So I had Midia attack physically with Sophia's Sword; 1 damage THEN DEAD! I was dumbfounded and immediately called over a friend to see the ending as we had been trying for a couple months straight to beat this one. I never seen someone drive half way across town as fast as he did that day. XD Back then I was so desensitized by all my failed runs I didn't pay too much attention to how the game ended; only that I barely succeeded. But looking back now, it felt kinda lackluster. Still, never knew there was a second game, so I'll be getting that ROM soon. Hopefully they don't have more bosses that only one person can fight with a specific weapon or spell. That was annoying enough.

finished this game in my elementary school years, its tough game but story is not bad. The final battle though.......