backtracking to inns and reloading of saves. Mike Weigand of Electronic Gaming Monthly had a mixed review, but recommended to fans of RPG genre due to its similarities to Soul Blazer. Zy Nicholson reviewed the game as an import in British magazine Super Play. He commented that Paladin's Quest is short and falls within the graphical limitations of the last-generation NES, both things which he found particularly hard to accept given the cart's above-average size and accordingly above-average price. He also described the controls as very awkward. He concluded that fanatics of Japanese RPGs would still find the game enjoyable due to the compelling and sometimes humorous story, but warned that it does not hold up well to contemporary Japanese RPGs such as Secret of Mana. Sequel A sequel to Paladin's Quest, , was released by Asmik Corporation for the Super Famicom in Japan only, on July 28, 1996. Enix had dropped support for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by this time. The plot centers around a hero, Farus, who must find four orbs to avert apocalypse. He is the only character central to the player's party; other members are recruited and may be dismissed if a superior replacement is found. The music was critically acclaimed, and two tracks were recorded by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra for release on the Orchestral Game Concert compilations. Gameplay is fairly similar to the original Lennus / Paladin's Quest: The player can swap out mercenary equipment. There have been some revisions to the magic system. There are eight spirits: Fire, Light, Wind, Gold, Earth, Sky, Water and Void, with one spell for each spirit and each pair of spirits, for 36 spells. Farus starts the game with three of the eight spirits, and can gain the powers of the other five through sidequests. He can only cast spells from the spirits he currently has equipped, and only has a limited number of slots (starting with only a single slot, with three more slots unlockable through sidequests for a maximum of four, allowing up to 10 of the 36 spells to be available at a time), and can only swap spirits outside of combat. Much like in Paladin's Quest, each mercenary has a fixed repertoire of spirits, which are automatically equipped and cannot be swapped out. Instead of building up spirit skill ratings by repeatedly casting associated spells, spirits are powered up by defeating monsters,