Paladin of Avalon – Review by Anon

By: Anon
Originally posted: 10.08.2016
For clarity's sake: this is a review of a translation of a quest
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I'm an idiot.
I don’t think I would’ve read this if I had realized how long each chapter was. Also I lied when said I wouldn’t talk about language; I wasn't expecting this.


Paladin of Avalon
5 chapters read out of 26. Mild spoilers ahead.

>Synopsis
Wielding the Holy Light, you are a knight sent to an evil island to kill a traitor. You better buckle up.

>Setting
The island that the quest takes place on is one filled with monsters. Trolls, ratmen, and succubi inhabit this landscape. Borrowing from a great variety of sources, the world is a delightful blend of fantasy; greek mythology, Warcraft, and demons are some of many. It wasn’t until the third picture from Monster Girl Encyclopedia was pulled up did I realize something was awry, and even then I had doubts for some reason.

“What heresy can come to a mind not shaded by the Holy Light!”

Despite odd word choices like “shaded,” the beginning was strong. It was hilarious while being extremely flavorful, opting to narrate with the thoughts of a naïve and noble knight that packed every sentence with a punch. Not only was it exciting, but it drew me into the world. As par the course with every energetic idea, it proceeded to wither away as other elements are introduced. But that’s fine, as the story onward is equally exciting.

“The first thing you felt when approaching the swamps was the smell. The terrible odor of rotten eggs.”

There are a number of times where the landscape was vividly described through detail or senses, though not all. Still, this is good.

>Characters
The main character ends up travelling with three nonhumans. They’re all girls.

[Heinrich Osborne Vaylor von Baskerville]
The protagonist who is most certainly a character and not a blank slate. From his words to his actions, every second spent with Heinrich oozes decisiveness from the writer. It’s incredible. Not only does he grow, he does so gradually through player choices. He is a wonderful character and no doubt one of the best aspects of this quest.

[Marishka]
A cunning catgirl. Not only does she have meaningful things to say, her words have weight. It’s refreshing to see a capable character who isn’t muddled in hesitation. There’s also a surprising amount of excellent character development with her.

[Aella]
She’s the ditzy harpy that serves as comedy relief. There was an attempt at going further in depth with her character, but it felt really unremarkable.

[Alice]
Underage succubus. I don’t judge, but the story sometimes takes things a bit too far.

The interactions between the cast is cute and heartwarming. There’s lows and highs, providing a charming variety that never fails to bring forth a smile. They all have their special, distinct voices much like Heinrich. While I feel speech tics wouldn’t fix every leak, it gets the job done.


>Chapter 3
I won’t go too far into this, as relatively short as it is. There was a momentary lapse in judgement where the author had forgotten to take his hand off of his dick before he began writing. A certain picture especially stood out. Maybe I had missed the author’s intentions, but everything felt oddly out of place compared to the first two chapters.

When it was thought that lewd hour was over, out comes an incredible prompt which basically goes, “Who do you want to suck the poison out of someone’s asscheeks?”

The votes ended in favor of the main character, leaving me in hysterics.

There was also a bit of combat going on. It was descriptive enough to be followed smoothly and had enough substance to make the action interesting. It was pretty good.

>Mechanics
There are no dice rolling. Instead there is a morality point system depending on your choices which is tied to your paladin powers. This was fascinating as the QM could make players do something they normally wouldn’t or punish them for being inconsistent. Sadly, it was quickly forgotten about until it later returned out of the blue.

In the beginning, the player character was killed and the quest was reset to prove there were actually consequences. I have mixed feelings about this, but it did work to some extent. As the story went on, however, stupid decisions get much less severe.

Prompts vary. More often than not they are separated by humongous chunks of text in which quite a lot happens. Sometimes these prompts heavily decide your future, while at other times they do almost nothing. The good takeaway is that it is for certain the plot will move forward. Only once did the author render a decisive choice useless for the sake of the plot.

For the translation, there’s general grammar problems that gets much better. It’s somewhat noticeable, but it’s mitigated with the stylish narrative. The localization, on the other hand, is fantastic.

>Final Thoughts
Despite my blinding stupidity, it’s clear that the second picture reveals what this quest is about. Thus, I must bestow this quest with the virtuous rating of:

MONSTERGIRLS/10

The cast is wonderful and the world is rich; the story runs deeper than you’d expect and the “plot” is there too. There might be few bumps in the road, but it’s still one hell of a ride. And now, my favorite quote.

“Uncle lizard preferred saving his balls to saving his soul.”