Tales of the Drunken Paladin: Version 3 (April 2017)

[Drunken Paladin]

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Hello! This is Tales of the Drunken Paladin, a fantasy-comedy RPG about a universally disliked hero who very suddenly loses absolutely everything--including his identity--and must go on a quest to find out who's responsible. If I'm being 100% honest, it's also largely a game about interacting with thousands of inanimate objects. Literally, I don't think any other game in the history of video games has written interactions for so many inanimate objects.

It started on RPG Maker 2000, moved to XP, then to VX. It has been more than ten years in development and gone through multiple releases and expansions. Now, as of April 2017, it has reached its final and greatest iteration in the form of Version 3. One full playthrough is between 40-60 hours. Once you've beaten the game, hard mode is unlocked.

Version 3 features massive dialogue overhauls, combat rebalances, system improvements and many hours of new content. It also features swear words, so player discretion is advised. As always, the game is free.

Screenshots:

Spoiler

FEATURES:

- 50-60 hours of gameplay
- Fun mini-games
- Hard Mode
- Mining, smelting and crafting weapons
- Herbalism and potion-making
- Literally thousands of events with which to interact, all promising unique and sometimes profitable or hilarious features
- Active Time Battle combat system with strategic engagements
- Hundreds of pieces of equipment and consumable items to deepen combat options
- Stat customization

Current version is 3.0 as of April 1, 2017. Always check here for the latest versions and information!

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Hey, this looks pretty impressive! I'd have to agree with your list of quotes there, the RTP is used well in this. I'll have to give this a try when I get the chance and tell you what I think. :wink:

 

[Drunken Paladin]

Hey, this looks pretty impressive! I'd have to agree with your list of quotes there, the RTP is used well in this. I'll have to give this a try when I get the chance and tell you what I think. :wink:

Thanks Dadevster, I look forward to your response and I hope that you enjoy.

 

[Fustel]

the Drunken Paladin... didn't meet this guy for a loonng time; but it's always a pleasure :lol: :lol:
Book III: is there by any chance a Book I and even a Book II ??

 

[Drunken Paladin]

There is a first book for RM2K (made many moons ago), but you won't need to have played it to understand or enjoy the third one.

Any back-history is either thoroughly explained along the way or ignored completely since I don't intend to publish the first one.

The second one never made it... but it was on XP before being abandoned.

 

[AuraStorm]

This game seems like fun! I want to try it out, but my computer isn't working with Filefront. Could you upload it somewhere else?

 

[Drunken Paladin]

This game seems like fun! I want to try it out, but my computer isn't working with Filefront. Could you upload it somewhere else?

What seems to be the problem with Filefront? Have you tried opening it in a different browser than the one you're using?

I intend to upload it to a multitude of different hosting sites for people to choose from, but I want to wait until the final patch is released before going through with all of that.

 

[Star]

I got to the Eye of the Tiger and got my sweet ass party decimated. This game is harder than it looks. Since it was supposed to be funny I thought I could just breeze through without a care in the world. I guess if I plan to see the rest of the game I'll have to take it more seriously.

SIMMER DOWN THERE BOX. IT'S A BOX MADE OF WOOD! Crazy Lumberjacks Attack! Save Hobo insults you! Speaking of save hobos where is the save hobo in Richmond? So I can get to him next time before I die

 

[Drunken Paladin]

Thanks for playing.

He should be right outside Deemer's house!

 

[Cryranos]

Anebriate? Original, appropriate name. I think I'll try it.

 

[Swordsaint892]

This is one of the most fun RPG Maker games (XP or VX) I've played just through the dialogue alone. Just got to Bowdoin (I believe the spelling is correct) and still having a lot of fun and finding myself laughing out loud from interactions with inanimate objects. I'd never think I'd find hearing about the meaning and use of the word Pouch in depth 4 times in a row so entertaining; frustrating, but Anebriate's reactions are always priceless.

The mapping is great as far as VX goes, though the narrow corridors in some areas are VERY frustrating when combined with NPCs taking bad paths and blocking your way- it's especially noticeable at the beach-like city, when passing from the entrance map to the richer neighborhood and if the "Anti-Assassin" decides to walk through the narrow hallway in the thug area.

The battles are pretty balanced, I was also expecting to breeze through everything, but right around where you fight Deemer the difficulty takes a step up and character equipment and stats start coming into play. It's cool to see a funny game that does seem to take itself seriously.

There seems to be so many things to do in the game. I try to interact with everything that looks like it may be interacted with, but I still wonder how much I may have already missed. I haven't seen another RPG Maker game with so many things to just interact with, even if it's dialogue about barrels, sacks, pouches, crates, tea kettles, books, and pretty much anything else the RMVX tileset has to offer.

The main characters are hilarious and likable, even though they can sometimes be terrible, terrible people. Hearing Palmer say "ACCEPTABLE" after hearing the mayor's wife sing had me rolling. Everyone in the party seems to hate everyone else in the party, and the way they talk to each other is always entertaining. It makes me excited to just continue with the story if only to hear the next interactions between the characters.

Characters (Anebriate, specifically) do seem to break the fourth wall every once in a while, just enough to be funny about it, but not so much as to make it irritating. It still feels like the game world is it's own world, and most characters fit into it well- and the characters that don't are clearly different and weird on purpose, and they usually contribute to the games comedic value.

I'd love to write more, but it doesn't feel right to even write this much until I at least finish the story. There seems to be a few things that are still in development (I found a tent on the world map that only gave me a "Coming Soon" message), so I'm excited to see how much more depth this game gets.

Great, great, great game. Keep up the incredible work.

And sorry for my lack of different adjectives.

 

[CrymsenTears]

Did you know that some of the text goes out of the right side of the text box? I can't read some of the dialogue due to this? Is there a fix?

 

[Drunken Paladin]

Did you know that some of the text goes out of the right side of the text box? I can't read some of the dialogue due to this? Is there a fix?

If it's just a "once-in-a-while" thing, it could be just a case of having missed it in the revision process. There are so many objects in the game, that there are inevitably going to be typos and the (hopefully) rare case of missing text. As I release new patches, those should become fewer and fewer.

This is one of the most fun RPG Maker games (XP or VX) I've played just through the dialogue alone. Just got to Bowdoin (I believe the spelling is correct) and still having a lot of fun and finding myself laughing out loud from interactions with inanimate objects. I'd never think I'd find hearing about the meaning and use of the word Pouch in depth 4 times in a row so entertaining; frustrating, but Anebriate's reactions are always priceless.

The mapping is great as far as VX goes, though the narrow corridors in some areas are VERY frustrating when combined with NPCs taking bad paths and blocking your way- it's especially noticeable at the beach-like city, when passing from the entrance map to the richer neighborhood and if the "Anti-Assassin" decides to walk through the narrow hallway in the thug area.

The battles are pretty balanced, I was also expecting to breeze through everything, but right around where you fight Deemer the difficulty takes a step up and character equipment and stats start coming into play. It's cool to see a funny game that does seem to take itself seriously.

There seems to be so many things to do in the game. I try to interact with everything that looks like it may be interacted with, but I still wonder how much I may have already missed. I haven't seen another RPG Maker game with so many things to just interact with, even if it's dialogue about barrels, sacks, pouches, crates, tea kettles, books, and pretty much anything else the RMVX tileset has to offer.

The main characters are hilarious and likable, even though they can sometimes be terrible, terrible people. Hearing Palmer say "ACCEPTABLE" after hearing the mayor's wife sing had me rolling. Everyone in the party seems to hate everyone else in the party, and the way they talk to each other is always entertaining. It makes me excited to just continue with the story if only to hear the next interactions between the characters.

Characters (Anebriate, specifically) do seem to break the fourth wall every once in a while, just enough to be funny about it, but not so much as to make it irritating. It still feels like the game world is it's own world, and most characters fit into it well- and the characters that don't are clearly different and weird on purpose, and they usually contribute to the games comedic value.

I'd love to write more, but it doesn't feel right to even write this much until I at least finish the story. There seems to be a few things that are still in development (I found a tent on the world map that only gave me a "Coming Soon" message), so I'm excited to see how much more depth this game gets.

Great, great, great game. Keep up the incredible work.

And sorry for my lack of different adjectives.

Thank you for the very kind words, I'm always glad to hear positive responses to the game. I hope the end does not let down your expectations.

The "coming soon" areas are something to look forward to in the form of "expansion packs"-- I hope to have a full expansion to the game released by Christmas!

 

[CrymsenTears]

If it's just a "once-in-a-while" thing, it could be just a case of having missed it in the revision process. There are so many objects in the game, that there are inevitably going to be typos and the (hopefully) rare case of missing text. As I release new patches, those should become fewer and fewer.

Actually, as I was playing, every line of dialogue went over the limit into the right side of the box. I simply opened up the .rvproj file and added a script to shrink the font and it ended up fine.

But after i did this, I have to say that I am enjoying the game very much.

 

[Brickman]

Wow, this is an awesome game. Absolutely hilarious in every respect, and the combat system is good enough to not be a drag. Reminds me of the Barkley game, only without tying itself to a theme in order to derive its humor (unless you count "parodying stereotypical RPG heroes" a theme). There's jokes absolutely everywhere you look, and they're all good. There's plenty, plenty, PLENTY of rewards for exploration; not only are items hidden in the most unexpected places and numerous sidequests, but nearly every box, barrel and cupboard you search has its own joke, different from all the others.

Few bugs though; I'll list them. The most problematic bug is that the lantern item doesn't seem to work, either in the swamp or the mines; this is a problem because navigating the swamp without it is a pain in the butt. And yes, I did try equipping it.

After that, the most obvious bug is that the "menu" button on the party member selection screen doesn't work. No biggie.

I noticed that occasionally after fleeing you'll start the next battle with all party members' action bars full--you'll get to input a command for all four of them and then they'll all attack in order, giving you a boost. As I said, as far as I can tell it only happens after fleeing, but not every time.

The bridge can be accessed before fighting Deemer (you can head towards it as soon as you're allowed to enter the lumberjack woods) and if you do, he'll talk in the cutscene when you reach it despite not being in the party yet. Speaking of the bridge, for some reason that area's laggy as hell; I can't imagine what could cause that since everything's static.

A few of the ladders in the mines you can step off of horizontally onto solid ground rather than climbing all the way down; if you do this, you won't trip whatever flag tells the game to return your walking speed to normal so you'll move at a crawl until you get back on the ladder and depart it properly. A bit of tweaking the map would solve this.

Finally, the world map to the left of the bridge seems to get screwed up once you've finished the events in the third town's mine. Exiting the bridge places you next to the second town and the south end of the forest, and there's no way to get from there to the first town without going through the woods, wheras when you first approached the bridge you do so by going around the woods and approaching the bridge from the north. I'm pretty sure you could get back to town if you left the bridge right away after first entering its area, so I'm pretty sure the map actually changes. Anyways, this isn't nearly as obscure as it would sound because anyone who wants to complete the potato quest will be going back to the second town from the third. Not to mention people wanting to cash in their flowers for potions.

 

[Drunken Paladin]

Wow, this is an awesome game. Absolutely hilarious in every respect, and the combat system is good enough to not be a drag. Reminds me of the Barkley game, only without tying itself to a theme in order to derive its humor (unless you count "parodying stereotypical RPG heroes" a theme). There's jokes absolutely everywhere you look, and they're all good. There's plenty, plenty, PLENTY of rewards for exploration; not only are items hidden in the most unexpected places and numerous sidequests, but nearly every box, barrel and cupboard you search has its own joke, different from all the others.

Few bugs though; I'll list them. The most problematic bug is that the lantern item doesn't seem to work, either in the swamp or the mines; this is a problem because navigating the swamp without it is a pain in the butt. And yes, I did try equipping it.

After that, the most obvious bug is that the "menu" button on the party member selection screen doesn't work. No biggie.

I noticed that occasionally after fleeing you'll start the next battle with all party members' action bars full--you'll get to input a command for all four of them and then they'll all attack in order, giving you a boost. As I said, as far as I can tell it only happens after fleeing, but not every time.

The bridge can be accessed before fighting Deemer (you can head towards it as soon as you're allowed to enter the lumberjack woods) and if you do, he'll talk in the cutscene when you reach it despite not being in the party yet. Speaking of the bridge, for some reason that area's laggy as hell; I can't imagine what could cause that since everything's static.

A few of the ladders in the mines you can step off of horizontally onto solid ground rather than climbing all the way down; if you do this, you won't trip whatever flag tells the game to return your walking speed to normal so you'll move at a crawl until you get back on the ladder and depart it properly. A bit of tweaking the map would solve this.

Finally, the world map to the left of the bridge seems to get screwed up once you've finished the events in the third town's mine. Exiting the bridge places you next to the second town and the south end of the forest, and there's no way to get from there to the first town without going through the woods, wheras when you first approached the bridge you do so by going around the woods and approaching the bridge from the north. I'm pretty sure you could get back to town if you left the bridge right away after first entering its area, so I'm pretty sure the map actually changes. Anyways, this isn't nearly as obscure as it would sound because anyone who wants to complete the potato quest will be going back to the second town from the third. Not to mention people wanting to cash in their flowers for potions.

Thank you for the kind words and the thorough report; I have fixed all the simple things and am working on the swamp situation. The problem is that the pictures do not change until the screen is refreshed (i.e., after a transfer event), whereas the day/night scripting will change on its own.) The challenging part is creating an event that refreshes the screen and leaves the player in the same place!

EDIT: As a side-note, being able to access the bridge originally from the north was a bug! You were supposed to go through the forest originally, which means the transfer event in the bridge map is correct. Also, the bridge's lag is attributed to the time-dependent shadows. They are not there if you enter the map at night.

 

[Brickman]

So I'm a little confused about what you need to do to advance the plot with the Diablos vs Jets in Boidin. I spied on the Diablos meeting like the guy said, and he said they were going to attack at 0500 tomorrow. I reported and was told to go rest up, even though it was only a little before 0500 by then. I waited until 0500, and nothing changed. I continued waiting, checking with the leader guy every few hours, until 01700, aka 5 pm, and still nothing. What gives? Also, waiting on the day/night cycle to advance sidequests or reach shops was fun, but waiting on it to advance the main plot is a drag.

 

[Drunken Paladin]

So I'm a little confused about what you need to do to advance the plot with the Diablos vs Jets in Boidin. I spied on the Diablos meeting like the guy said, and he said they were going to attack at 0500 tomorrow. I reported and was told to go rest up, even though it was only a little before 0500 by then. I waited until 0500, and nothing changed. I continued waiting, checking with the leader guy every few hours, until 01700, aka 5 pm, and still nothing. What gives? Also, waiting on the day/night cycle to advance sidequests or reach shops was fun, but waiting on it to advance the main plot is a drag.

When he says to go rest up, actually go rest up at the Inn.

Also, generally speaking, sleeping in an Inn or any bed progresses the game 6 hours forward instantly if you're tired of waiting.

 

[Brickman]

Speaking of inns, your inkeepers in the middle of the ocean and in Boidin don't ever tell you the price they charge. It's chump change by that point, but still something they ought to say. Oh, and if you enter Boidin's castle and go left, the screen transition deposits you in a wall rather than on the floor--luckily a piece of the wall that's touching floor so you can easily get off.

I have a question: Does stealing MP from enemies actually stop them from casting spells, or does it just give you more juice? Obviously one use doesn't totally sap a caster's mana, but would repeated uses actually affect them or not?

 

[Drunken Paladin]

They have a limited supply of mana, so yes, if you steal all their mana they won't be able to cast. Bosses tend to have enough mana so that it is not a very effective strategy, however.