YMMV / Sword of Paladin

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Lancelot tries to encourage Nade to be more confident in himself despite the latter's inferiority complex towards Alex and his failure in saving Clifford. While Lancelot was most likely just putting up a front to hide his evil plans, he later turns out to share many of the same flaws as Nade, so it's possible that he wanted Nade to avoid making the same mistakes.
• Complete Monster: Deep Learnist, the main antagonist of the Aggressor side story, is the ruthless AI leader of the aliens. Despite humanity's hospitality towards the aliens, Deep Learnist orders its minions to kidnap and dissect humans for the sake of scientific research. After the aliens are driven off by humanity, Deep Learnist collaborates with Anguis to acquire Miasma Gems, which it uses to convert humans into cyborg slaves. Using its alien and cyborg army, it vengefully wages war on humanity, decimating most of human civilization in the process. When Zash and Brigid infiltrate the alien mothership, Deep Learnist executes its second-in-command for failing it and then detonates the ship upon its defeat, uncaring of any aliens still onboard.
• Fridge Brilliance: It can be jarring that Lancelot failed the Paladin trials, which was most likely a Breather Level for the player. This makes sense when considering that his fall to villainy was caused by his belief that he's the only one who knows what's best for the world. He was unable to form a strong bond of trust with his partner, even though this is one of the major requirements for passing the trial. In contrast, Nade and Sophie trust each and open up about their insecurities during the trial, allowing them to pass easily despite being individually weaker than Lancelot.
• Good Bad Translation: The current state of the translation is absymal, with bad grammar, awkward word choices, and inconsistently translated names. However, there are many unintentionally funny and narmy moments, such as Clifford leaving the party by "breaking up" with Nade, Nade and Chris having a "hot night," Red Rose claiming that she "comes" when sinking ships, and characters yelling "Gosh!" in serious situations.
• Narm Charm: The majority of duels end with Nade on the verge of defeat, only for him to perform an over-the-top finisher while saying hammy lines. While this can get predictable and cheesy, there's something satisfying about Nade winning in such a manner.
• Scrappy Mechanic: In the duel system, the player is expected to use melee against the opponent's ranged attacks. Unfortunately, this results in the Nade guarding the ranged attack before attacking. While this isn't too bad in early duels, later duels on hard mode make it so that even guarded damage to Nade can surpass the melee damage to the enemy. It gets to the point where it's actually more advantageous for the player to cancel the enemy's ranged attack with their own ranged attack rather than take the guarded damage.
• That One Level: The player's first visit to Helheim and Hvergelmir is rough, since they have to control Will, who has yet to receive any story power-ups like the other protagonists. While he has two allies, neither are much stronger than him and the party will struggle even against the regular foes.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The segment where Lancelot frames the party feels rushed, since it doesn't show exactly how Lancelot fabricated the evidence needed to pin the destruction of Bokka Village on them. This could also serve as a way to demonstrate the kind of bureaucratic power that Lancelot has as the commander of the Kingsguard. Having a decent explanation about this Frame-Up also would have made Chris's Face–Heel Turn more believable, since as it stands, she should have no reason to believe such an outlandish claim about the party members without evidence, especially when she should have the same alibi as them.