No paladins, no fun!

I have saved the worst for the end, haven't I? 

So... Paladin's Quest. I'm about halfway through the game, and I am overwhelmed with boredom. The gameplay is repetitive, the story is tertiary early '90s fluff, and the characterization is nonexistent. I've seen enough. I'm done.

Which is unfortunate because there are some interesting things here. The presentation is unlike any other. The buildings look like if late stage Earthbound had a fever dream. They're wildly unique, and I want to see if there's more stuff out there. The music has also been pretty rad. Nothing's jumped out at me, but it's been solid so far. The battle system is something worth experiencing. 

The idea that casting spells requires HP instead of MP is novel. It can kill you to cast that fire spell, so you have to balance your needs against what the opponent might do and the current situation. There are no healing spells to go alongside that mechanic, but there are healing bottles to fill that role. They can be refilled at seemingly random NPCs... It makes every battle feel like a high tense situation. The problem with that is that it makes every battle feel high tense. Mobs have plenty of HP, are in high quantity, and appear frequently! Running into six to eight enemies that take three or more turns to wipe out is far from uncommon. Random world map battles don't need to feel this tough. Dungeons are quick, and towns are plentiful, so the rest of the gameplay feels like it's at breakneck speed, while the battles slow you down. It got to the point where I realized the bosses are easier than the fodder. It's a game of attrition elsewhere, while the few bosses are simply "don't die." It's backwards RPG mechanics. Whether that's a cool thing or not is up to you. 

I'm also not high on the mercenaries. There are only two main characters in Paladin's Quest, but the party can be up to four. You fill out the other two by hiring mercenaries. Most of them are unique, but none of them have personalities or a reason to hunt the bad guys. There are so many that most guides suggest switching (most of) them out as soon as you find a new one. I like getting attached to my companions, but there's always a stronger paid friend in the next town. 

Besides that, the story is pointless. You being a cause of the destruction of the world is a new one, but the rest of the game is Dragon Quest "monster of the day" style, and that type of questing doesn't work for me. All the typical '90s nonsense is here. The years between now and then are unreasonable, you're related to a god, and none of that matters. It is what it is. And what is there is difficult to follow because the devs/translators choose a random string of letters as names. It's like the Diehard episode of Rick and Morty, when Roy's daughter/Morty's understanding of Judaism is gibberish. The brain kinda shuts off at some point in Lennus.

And none of it is vibing enough with me to want to keep playing. It's tedious, and I'm not rewarded so far. Maybe it'll get better, but that's for you to find out. I know my next game in my USaga has a negative reputation, so I want to get this misery out of the way. In my estimation, Paladin's Quest, AKA Lennus, gets 21 points out of 50. I can see this being a cult classic, but I'm joining this one.