Paladin
by William Kirk
RPGM2, X-Port
Demo
RPG
Teen-Mature
Future

This is designed to be the final demo of Paladin with everything just as it will be in the final version (but only up to a certain point of course).

Storywise, I put a ton of time into making the cutscenes as good as I can and I don't want to spoil anything. Play it and see for yourself.

Gameplaywise, the demo includes:

8 Classes with 5 abilities to teach. Obtain Classes by meeting a Master's (someone capable of teaching you a certain Class) requirement(s). Train as that Class to learn new abilities.

Chrono Cross-like level system. All party members will level and power-up upon completing a dungeon.

Extreme System. Obtain and use Extremes (Limits basically) with the various party members.

Guardian Summoning. Depending on how you answer the questions at the beginning of the game the party members will have different Guardians they can call upon to help them in battle.

Character Battle Dialogues. Each party member has roughly 45 different messages they can say during battle to make it more interesting. Nick has roughly 120 messages.

All Custom Visual Effects and Enemy Actions made from scratch by me.

Size proportion altering of all character models as well as some objects.

True or False Minigame. You'll see when you play, he he.

9 Custom Songs. These are completely built from scratch and will be used in my game. Listen to them while exploring the World Map.

Custom Inn Song made from scratch by me.

Custom Row System. Depending on which row you put each party member in their stats will be altered. There is a front row, back row, and middle row.

About 50 BGMs that will randomly be selected to play during battle depending upon curtain circumstances (normal battle, goofy battle, spooky battle, boss battle, etc.).

6 BGMS for the dungeon while walking around. I know you're probably thinking this isn't worth mentioning, but it is; you'll see what I mean.

Quick Save Feature. Quick Save will temporarily save your game. You only have to do the painfully slow real Save once at the end before you turn off your console.

Custom Menu System with several helpful features like...

Quick Shop - Shop at any previously visited shop instantly from the menu when not in a dungeon.

Help - Nick will say more specifically where you're supposed to go and why; with this you should never not know where to go.

Class Change - Change party members' current class anywhere.

Row Change - Change party members' current row anywhere. The front row boosts STR but decreases DEF and the back row does the opposite. The middle row doesn't alter anything.

Character Change - Change your current party members' anywhere. Nick must be in the team at all times though.

Map Music - Change the current Custom Music played while on the World Map.

Special Stats - View special stats otherwise not viewable in the default menu.

Save - Quick Save or Save your game when on the World Map or on a Save Point.

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Total, the demo includes all these custom features above as well as:

A lot of cinematic cutscenes.
Two huge interactive cities to explore.
One smaller place to explore.
The first full dungeon of the game.
The World Map to explore.
Tons of items and equipment (you'll see).

So have fun! Tell me what you think!!

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I know this may sound odd, but I want only want Vespuleth to write an official review my games. Everyone may post their opinions here, but I believe that only Vespuleth can write a truly good review (as in the reviewer does a good job, not as in the reviewer gives me a good review). I will be extremely pissed if this request is not adheared to. Thank you.

I advise that you accept opinions from a wide variety of people on your work, or you may never improve.

I've learned this from art experiences.

Not to mention that the only "official" reviews(or previews) at the mag are done by our staff and the pav staff.

http://www.rpgmmag.com/site_faq.php#RQ2

Edit: Game acquired.

I understand that you only want the staff to review games, but after reading the SD Paradise review I further don't want anyone here to review my game, since that SD Paradies is what you use as your staple review. My problems with it are:

You don't address everything, and give illegitimate scores...
Example: Presentation - what about the insanely terrible lag at numerous parts, or the poor camera angle work done during the cutscenes - cutscenes which involved nothing beyond insanely long text with no real relevance to the story nor the game. The Presentation was far from 'perfect'. A big negative in the visual presentation that is also not addressed is how the day-night effects and camera angle don't show properly everytime the player moves from one screen to the next - which you will experience countless times while playing it.
Example: Features - what are these 'numerous engrossing features' and how do they benefit the game? A good reviewer will thoroughly analyze every aspect of game design. Would you consider literary elements otherwise void from most games like theme, mood, atmoshpere, motive, character-understanding, etc. as features? No one knows what you mean unless you discuss it.
Example: Debugging - a fatal bug that permanently ends the game only takes away 1%? No game should have anything like this in it, and the creator should be penalized for their mistake/laziness accordingly. A screw-up this bad doesn't warrant close to a 24/25.
Example: Fun - What about the aforementioned cutscenes which involved nothing beyond insanely long text with no real relevance to the story nor the game. This should be addressed here especially, since it has a seriously detrimental factor the how fun the game is, as well as the insanely terrible lag at numerous parts.

I don't mean to insult the mag nor the reviewers, but perhaps this will shed some light as to why I don't want some random stranger to review my game. A good reviewer does a thorough job of evaluating every aspect of game design, and explicates both the possible positives and possible negatives of everything in the game, even if they particularly are able to look past them. You should make your reviewers do a better job, or you should get rid of them for their incompetency as a reviewer. At the very least, don't let anyone at the mag review my game. Do you and your staff accept?

k. well if u DONT want ur game reviewed by any of our staff after seeing how we work. DONT submit ur game. u should have realized this before u clicked "submit"

This is selfishness.

Take your reviews like a man. Please

Yes I played video games that had bad reviews and these games were good.

If you want your game reviewed by a certain person, I'd not post it here or at the Pav... why didn't you just contact Ves via IM...

I can tell from the title it needs work. Paladin is cliche.

If you can't take the bad with the good, stop participating in the arts.

Another thing, Ixz wrote the staple review most likely, and last time I checked he isn't everyone.

Alright, the mag no longer has permission to put my games on ythe site. Please either take them (Paladin AND Ocarina Tunes) off or don't put them up, Ixzion. I'll leave the mag and mag forums alone once you agree to this, and it's clear that's what everyone here wants, so at least do this for your followers if you don't wish to do it for me. Do you accept, Ixzion?

Fayore - Never judge a book by its title.

Please, WilliamKirk, allow me to put up your games on the Mag! I don't know if we'd ever recover if we couldn't have games the calibur of Paladin and Ocarina Tunes on it.

But, alas, if we can't change your mind, then:

1. We will respect your wishes and not put any of your games up now or in the future. We will really regret missing out on your future masterpieces, such as Paladin 2.

2. At our discretion, we will review your games. We may even gang-rate your games.

3. Feel free to create your own site where only Vespuleth reviews games.

You do have some points, though. It's a good thing I've been working on a review system revamp for oh...3 days now. We'll let the users have the final say on all games. How's that for progress?

Thank you very much!! Feel free to delete any posts you dislike from me or even my account if you wish.

Thank you for giving me the choice of not having it reviewed and/or posted at the mag. I knew you were a good guy!! :)

It's not necessarily just Vespuleth that I think could write a good review, but when everyone hastily writes X reviews so that every game can have a review they usually turn out rather uninformative and unhelpful since the reviewers goal was to finish rather than to do a good job (I think everyone here can understand that).

Anyways, my recommendations for an ideal reviewing system would be this:

(please no more flames, I am only trying to help, if you don't like me or my posts, just don't read or respond to them)

Discuss all possible positives of the game, how they improve the game experience, and how they work together to make an enjoyable experience for the player.
Discuss all possible negatives of the game, how they are detrimental to the game experience, and how they counter-act the possible positives of the game.
Give a non-biased statement stating the type of people you would recommend the game to, the type of people you would advise to avoid the game, and overall whether it is a game worth checking out for yourself or not.

This will give someone who knows nothing about the game a very good idea of whether they'll like the game or not, and whether the reader specifically should try the game for himself or pass on it. Basically, instead of just saying it's good or it's okay you're explaining how it's good, how it's bad, and who you think will enjoy and not enjoy the game.

For example, tons of people love mind-boggling puzzles like that of the Zelda games, but I for one don't, because I usually get stuck for a long time on a few of them and get very frustrated with the game. Tons of other people enjoy this in a game though. So, if I was writing a review for a game like this, I would make sure to say, 'The puzzles are tough and really require a lot of thought and trial and error, and I think any fan of games filled with tough puzzles like the Zelda games will thoroughly enjoy this game. If you don't like puzzle games for whatever reason however, I would advise you pass on this game since it will most likely frustrate you at numerous parts.' That's WAY more informative than just saying the game's good and giving it a high score, or saying it's not good and giving it a low score. Having a score at the end is the worst thing to do for any review since you're not explaining how it's good/bad and who would enjoy/not enjoy it, but rather whether you enjoyed it, and as I think I've shown here, everyone has different tastes when it comes to videogames. This is what I mean by 'possible positives' and 'possible negatives', you, the reviewer may be able to look past a serious lack of story or the game being full of cliches, but not everyone that reads your review will.

Does this make sense to you Ixzion? Again, I don't mean to insult anyone, only to help make the mag. I'd be perfectly okay with it being on the mag if it didn't get tainted by a poorly done review; that's what this was all about.

<wonders if the guy saw the heavy sarcasm...>

Eh, I've decided for sure I don't want them nor any reviews about them on the mag. I'm sorry I ever posted here. I won't do it again, unless I find my game(s) or review(s) about them on the mag.

You have some points, like I said, that I may consider. But, you simply can't tell us what and what not to review. I, for one, have never seen a gaming company telling a gaming site what they can and cannot review, and the same applies here. Yes, we will not put your game up, as you requested, because that's your property and you can do whatever you want with it. However, reviews are our property, so you can't stop us from making and posting them to the site.

I appreciate that you cared enough to give us suggestions (which we DO read and take into consideration), but you came in, brand-new, and basically told everyone on staff that they suck. I'm not really surprised that everyone is a bit ticked off at you, no matter if you meant it or not.

Then, you demanded that only one person (not registered to the staff or even the forums, for crying out loud) give your game an official review? And to top that off, you said that you'd be pissed if we reviewed your game?

We simply don't work with demands and threats.

-Ix

P.S. Vespuleth, if you get him, can send in a Reader Review. It's been a feature on the Mag for 2+ years, but no one's sent in a review yet.

He obviously cannot stand not getting his way... people who play your game even get a 1-5 rating system now, and reader reviews... wow...