VGpolyglot's blast to the past: King's Field
Demon's Souls. Dark Souls. BLOODBORNE!! These are all great games from the now legendary studio From Software. However, what would eventually become a world-renowned studio has to have its start somewhere, like every other one. And that start was King's Field.
For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it is an action-RPG, as are the future games that FS would become much better known for. However, there are some key differences. The most obvious one right from the bat is the first-person perspective, unlike the third-person perspective that the Soulsborne games would follow. Another huge difference is the speed of the game: while Dark Souls is already slower paced than Bloodborne, the King's Field games take it to another level! The games are over 20 years old, and their age is definitely apparent. In order to have a world free of loading times, the game streams the areas on the fly, which makes movement slow and clunky. Each swing you take must be carefully thought-out and placed, lest you miss and leave yourself wide open. Overall, it seems to have been heavily-influenced by the earlier game Ultima Underworld, albeit simplified and adapted to be playable on a console.
However, the game still features the trademarks of a From Software game! Right from the get go you'll notice that the games are tough as nails, with many of them having a deathtrap in the opening seconds of the game! There's also the heavy sense of atmosphere and exploration that makes the Souls series loved by so many. You'll get hours of enjoyment exploring the areas, levelling up and finally triumphing after numerous failures. Yes, the games are old and clunky. Yes, they may lack some of the features that the Souls games have. However, if you are willing to get over the hurdle of early 3D gaming, they are neat little packages to check out.
Now, just as what happened with the Final Fantasy games, the numbering system was changed to reflect the lower number of releases in the West. The first King's Field was never released outside of Japan, which means that King's Field II became King's Field and King's Field III became King's Field II. King's Field IV, however, was renamed King's Field: The Ancient City in North America.
Now, with that introduction out of the way, it's time to talk about the time that I played it, and my experiences with the second King's Field game! (Well, the second if we're going by Japanese releases that is).
Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact year it was the I first played it. It was, however, somewhere between 2011 and 2013. I do remember the month though, as I had a week off from school for the March break. As I generally do, I went to Michigan with my brother to stay at our aunt and uncle's house. Now, what we frequently do while going there is visit flea markets, thrift shops and other places of the like, because one of my uncle's jobs is selling items on eBay. So, we went to the flea market that we usually go to while there, and my uncle decided to get two games that he had enjoyed in the past: the King's Field games for the PS1.
So, after raving about how great the games were, and how they were some of his favourite games of all time, we decided to play it. Things went about as smoothly as can be expected: I kept getting my ass kicked! However, I was already sucked in by the dark and dreary atmosphere, and thought that the graphics were actually pretty good, which is kind of funny considering that I later read a Gamespot review of the game, and even back then the graphics werer considered mediocre. Good graphics or not, the atmosphere and the music pulled me in right from the start.
Text link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyIjbs_TPgM
Text link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzDjI2skYk0
So, we played for hours trying to make progress, and little by little, we got further and further into the game. Every leap in progress was met with a huge rish of adrenaline, every save point being met with a similar sigh of relief. Unfortunately, as we were only there for a week, and did numerous other things while there, we never ended up beating the game. The game was great fun while knowing what we did and what to do, but after not playing the game for months, it was very difficult to get back to without remembering what we had been doing.
However, it was still a great experience overall, and I'm still looking for a copy of the game myself to finally complete the experience and see the whole game for what it is. In those mere days, an already at least 16 year old game with outdated and clunky mechanics became one of my favourites. It may be my third favourite RPG of all time, after only Final Fantasy X and Persona 4.
And that's it for the first ever blast to the past! I decided to start with a game that I enjoyed, but that I didn't want to do my dearest games just yet. Please, if you have any suggestions for improvement, don't hesitate to give some advice!
