FromSoftware's final King's Field game is a culmination of all of the strengths of the original trilogy and Shadow Tower — a gorgeously-atmospheric early PS2 title that feels like the missing link between the unrefined PS1 trilogy and the Soulsborne games that would later take the world by storm. The exploration is some of the best that FromSoftware has ever put out; The Ancient City is a bit more linear than King's Field II, but the myriad secrets and shortcuts back to previous areas give each of the map's areas a satisfying density and reason to revisit. This is also the first (and only) King's Field game to run with acceptable performance out-of-the-box, a feat no doubt aided by the stronger PS2 hardware, but all the more impressive given how well the art design and textures have held up. Furthermore, this game would be incomplete without its beautifully melancholic soundtrack full of inorganic wails, strings, harpsichords, and more.
There are a few issues that hold The Ancient City back, mainly stemming from the combat and movement. The player character is slow in this game, not just in their walk speed, but also in their pathetic turn rate. The slower pace of the game fits with the atmosphere, but I found myself wishing that, at the very least, it did not take me several seconds to completely turn around and leave a room when I was done looting it. The combat is also the same simple attack-backstep-repeat dance that the series has had 1994, but strangely, it's lost some of the additional mechanics of Shadow Tower, namely the manual blocking with shields. The combat is never actively detrimental to the experience, but its rote simplicity is out of place when compared with the absolutely excellent atmosphere and exploration.
The Ancient City is certainly the most well-rounded of FromSoftware's first-person dungeon crawlers (though I have not yet played Shadow Tower: Abyss); any fan of the Soulsborne series who doesn't mind a bit of jank should check it out. Quibbles about the combat and movement aside, it's an engrossing RPG that is a worthy conclusion to an oft-overlooked franchise.
There are a few issues that hold The Ancient City back, mainly stemming from the combat and movement. The player character is slow in this game, not just in their walk speed, but also in their pathetic turn rate. The slower pace of the game fits with the atmosphere, but I found myself wishing that, at the very least, it did not take me several seconds to completely turn around and leave a room when I was done looting it. The combat is also the same simple attack-backstep-repeat dance that the series has had 1994, but strangely, it's lost some of the additional mechanics of Shadow Tower, namely the manual blocking with shields. The combat is never actively detrimental to the experience, but its rote simplicity is out of place when compared with the absolutely excellent atmosphere and exploration.
The Ancient City is certainly the most well-rounded of FromSoftware's first-person dungeon crawlers (though I have not yet played Shadow Tower: Abyss); any fan of the Soulsborne series who doesn't mind a bit of jank should check it out. Quibbles about the combat and movement aside, it's an engrossing RPG that is a worthy conclusion to an oft-overlooked franchise.
Probably one of the most engrossing atmospheres in a game ever.
Working backwards through From Soft's catalogue; it's really interesting to see the earlier versions of ideas iterated upon in later From Software games. Also just a solid dungeon crawler borrowing elements from other adventure games like The Legend of Zelda.
This game effortlessly exudes an atmosphere full of darkness and warmth, weaved perfectly with its classical synth soundtrack. At times you can feel the slowness of the game, especially when backtracking or looking for hidden items, but almost every effort taken to explore for items is met with useful rewards. Exploring the cleverly interlinked Ancient City was deeply satisfying, while still keeping that sense of tension and unease that King's Field is known for. A great conclusion to a great series.
King's Field IV is straightforward and fun! It doesn't quite do what I want a King's Field game to do but it looks great, plays pretty well, and has some cool environments.
I love the look of KFIV. The Playstation 2 is the perfect platform for this aesthetic, with enough detail to look great but enough chunky polygons and crunchy sprites to keep the ambiguous King's Field style.
Environments are evocative and interesting and the NPCs approach Dark Souls and King's Field 1 levels of haunting presence and disturbing ambiguity.
There is a ton here that you can see directly referenced by future Dark Souls games, which is awesome. A group of ancient giants, battles against dragons, etc... It is fairly generic fantasy, but I can't help but feel that From is making nods to these games in their current stuff.
The framerate issues that sometimes plague this series are gone, though the movement (especially the turning) is very sluggish and can feel restrictive. I never truly got used to it, but most of the enemies don't stress this flaw too badly.
This is combat you recognize from past games and it doesn't mix things up too much. Getting down the cadence of attacking, dodging and shooting spells is satisfying and like past games, you are extremely powerful by the end. As usual I was able to brute force my way through the end game without too much trouble.
KFIV takes the crystal gathering from King's Field II, where each crystal offers a spell for you to use, and applies the advancement directly to the spells (rather than the general magic type as in KFIII). I like this system the most out of all the King's Fields. I am encouraged to explore to gain power and encouraged to use the spells I like to power them up. It can be a bit grindy for some of them, but it isn't a huge issue.
This usage advancement also applies to weapons, but it doesn't work as well because the curve is much too steep and you are likely to switch weapons throughout the game. I never got one to level 3 (the max) and so I also, unfortunately never got to use Sword Magic, which is locked behind this leveling system. This is just a strictly worse system, especially in a game where most new weapons are straight upgrades. This could have been something like a weapon-type (swords, maces, greatswords, etc...) leveling and it would have worked much better.
This is all on top of your advancement in base level, physical power, and magical power, that just happens as you kill things. Though it isn't super compelling, it is fun to see stats go up.
The narrative here didn't do a ton for me. It takes more from Shadow Tower than the previous trilogy of King's Field, unfortunately. There is a strange idol you receive in the opening cutscene and you are to take it into the Ancient City for some unexplained reason. As you play, there are a number of factions and species you learn about that have been living and dying in this dungeon, but it doesn't feel very connected to your journey or anything outside of the Ancient City's walls. I did like the different environments each group has built up and it is a cool reason for these different architectural styles and varied visuals.
The level design is almost understandable, with a central tower piercing downwards through the city, which you open paths through and explore outwards from -- returning again and again to deeper portions of it as you go. This is very much like Shadow tower, though the multitude of entrances and exits and the general sameyness of the tower itself meant I found navigation and orienting myself basically impossible. I never had a clear idea of where I was or where things were in relation to each other and the central tower itself. The idea is cool, it just stumbled very hard in the execution for me. We need an elevator to easily travel between levels and motifs on each of the four coordinate directions of the tower to allow them to organize themselves thematically.
There are a couple of cool sidequests and optional areas, with the Moonlight Sword being the largest reward for pursuing a satisfying key collection and a cool extra area with some evocative environments.
I like this game, but it definitely doesn't reach the heights of King's Field II for me. It plays well and looks great though, so you could definitely do worse as a starting point for this series if you are interested.
I love the look of KFIV. The Playstation 2 is the perfect platform for this aesthetic, with enough detail to look great but enough chunky polygons and crunchy sprites to keep the ambiguous King's Field style.
Environments are evocative and interesting and the NPCs approach Dark Souls and King's Field 1 levels of haunting presence and disturbing ambiguity.
There is a ton here that you can see directly referenced by future Dark Souls games, which is awesome. A group of ancient giants, battles against dragons, etc... It is fairly generic fantasy, but I can't help but feel that From is making nods to these games in their current stuff.
The framerate issues that sometimes plague this series are gone, though the movement (especially the turning) is very sluggish and can feel restrictive. I never truly got used to it, but most of the enemies don't stress this flaw too badly.
This is combat you recognize from past games and it doesn't mix things up too much. Getting down the cadence of attacking, dodging and shooting spells is satisfying and like past games, you are extremely powerful by the end. As usual I was able to brute force my way through the end game without too much trouble.
KFIV takes the crystal gathering from King's Field II, where each crystal offers a spell for you to use, and applies the advancement directly to the spells (rather than the general magic type as in KFIII). I like this system the most out of all the King's Fields. I am encouraged to explore to gain power and encouraged to use the spells I like to power them up. It can be a bit grindy for some of them, but it isn't a huge issue.
This usage advancement also applies to weapons, but it doesn't work as well because the curve is much too steep and you are likely to switch weapons throughout the game. I never got one to level 3 (the max) and so I also, unfortunately never got to use Sword Magic, which is locked behind this leveling system. This is just a strictly worse system, especially in a game where most new weapons are straight upgrades. This could have been something like a weapon-type (swords, maces, greatswords, etc...) leveling and it would have worked much better.
This is all on top of your advancement in base level, physical power, and magical power, that just happens as you kill things. Though it isn't super compelling, it is fun to see stats go up.
The narrative here didn't do a ton for me. It takes more from Shadow Tower than the previous trilogy of King's Field, unfortunately. There is a strange idol you receive in the opening cutscene and you are to take it into the Ancient City for some unexplained reason. As you play, there are a number of factions and species you learn about that have been living and dying in this dungeon, but it doesn't feel very connected to your journey or anything outside of the Ancient City's walls. I did like the different environments each group has built up and it is a cool reason for these different architectural styles and varied visuals.
The level design is almost understandable, with a central tower piercing downwards through the city, which you open paths through and explore outwards from -- returning again and again to deeper portions of it as you go. This is very much like Shadow tower, though the multitude of entrances and exits and the general sameyness of the tower itself meant I found navigation and orienting myself basically impossible. I never had a clear idea of where I was or where things were in relation to each other and the central tower itself. The idea is cool, it just stumbled very hard in the execution for me. We need an elevator to easily travel between levels and motifs on each of the four coordinate directions of the tower to allow them to organize themselves thematically.
There are a couple of cool sidequests and optional areas, with the Moonlight Sword being the largest reward for pursuing a satisfying key collection and a cool extra area with some evocative environments.
I like this game, but it definitely doesn't reach the heights of King's Field II for me. It plays well and looks great though, so you could definitely do worse as a starting point for this series if you are interested.
Are you searching for the Darkness, too?
The most immersive and rewarding medieval fantasy experience I've ever had. This game is a joy to explore, please play it :)
The most immersive and rewarding medieval fantasy experience I've ever had. This game is a joy to explore, please play it :)
ooh skeleton
King's Field IV has made me question the idea that FromSoftware only started being great from Demon's Souls onwards. Hidetaka Miyazaki has become the head figure for this now beloved style of oppressive, dark fantasy RPG, but the roots of it can be traced to a point far before his involvement.
King's Field IV is unmistakably a progenitor of Souls, from its surreal, dreamlike environments to the bizarre and often terrifying creatures that lurk throughout its dead world. Everything from NPC interactions (and their disturbing quest lines) to the little stones you use at a blacksmith to upgrade weapons has convinced me that Miyazaki’s contributions to FromSoftware do not come from the same places I thought they did.
Yes, the excellence of Demon’s Souls and the first Dark Souls were never the sole result of Miyazaki. FromSoftware has been doing this years and years before he was even an employee, and although I always knew Demon’s Souls was meant to be a King’s Field successor, I never realized that the thing I truly love this series for—its thick, unforgettable atmosphere—can contributed to the brilliance of the development team as a whole.
Yet no one remembers King’s Field IV. How could a game that features a world on par with what FromSoftware is acclaimed for receive no love from critics? It’s likely that the crux of its mediocre reception is the result of an audience that wasn't quite ready to make heads or tails of its abstract, dreamlike nature. It could also be due to its unforgiving gameplay or difficult controls.
No one believed in Miyazaki’s project when Demon’s Souls was in development, not even its publisher (Sony). Its launch in Japan was met coldly, and in an alternate timeline, it would have never been brought to the states. If it wasn’t for Atlus publishing Demon’s Souls due to its understanding of the game’s brilliance—effectively forcing it into the West’s hands with admirable enthusiasm—it would have been forgotten.
This is exactly what King’s Field IV is: FromSoftware’s forgotten masterpiece. If you’re a fan of early Souls, particularly the worlds of Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls, and can bear a fair bit of mechanical jank, do yourself a service and experience it for yourself. You will not regret it.
King's Field IV is unmistakably a progenitor of Souls, from its surreal, dreamlike environments to the bizarre and often terrifying creatures that lurk throughout its dead world. Everything from NPC interactions (and their disturbing quest lines) to the little stones you use at a blacksmith to upgrade weapons has convinced me that Miyazaki’s contributions to FromSoftware do not come from the same places I thought they did.
Yes, the excellence of Demon’s Souls and the first Dark Souls were never the sole result of Miyazaki. FromSoftware has been doing this years and years before he was even an employee, and although I always knew Demon’s Souls was meant to be a King’s Field successor, I never realized that the thing I truly love this series for—its thick, unforgettable atmosphere—can contributed to the brilliance of the development team as a whole.
Yet no one remembers King’s Field IV. How could a game that features a world on par with what FromSoftware is acclaimed for receive no love from critics? It’s likely that the crux of its mediocre reception is the result of an audience that wasn't quite ready to make heads or tails of its abstract, dreamlike nature. It could also be due to its unforgiving gameplay or difficult controls.
No one believed in Miyazaki’s project when Demon’s Souls was in development, not even its publisher (Sony). Its launch in Japan was met coldly, and in an alternate timeline, it would have never been brought to the states. If it wasn’t for Atlus publishing Demon’s Souls due to its understanding of the game’s brilliance—effectively forcing it into the West’s hands with admirable enthusiasm—it would have been forgotten.
This is exactly what King’s Field IV is: FromSoftware’s forgotten masterpiece. If you’re a fan of early Souls, particularly the worlds of Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls, and can bear a fair bit of mechanical jank, do yourself a service and experience it for yourself. You will not regret it.
simply hypnotic
comfy doom and gloom. while its early parts feel small and a little oppressive, i still find it really easy to get into the tempo of king's field 4 and its slow-dance combat. and this one's even sludgier than the first 3 — which, if anything, might be attributed to the dreamlike, harpsichord-laden, sometimes even giallo-esque atmosphere i tend to associate with fromsoft's unique dungeon crawling action rpgs preceding demon's souls. of course, metaphysical dark fantasy mythopoeia remains the soul (forgive me) of their work, but king's field 4 distinguishes itself. being a game with some gnarly ps2 interlacing didn't hurt, if you ask me. if you can get used to the controls, this game is frankly quite refreshingly low-key (and i enjoy revisiting it).
This review contains spoilers
with gratitude and respect to our dear friend.
may you slumber in peace amidst the flames.
may you slumber in peace amidst the flames.
Hand's down the best dungeon crawler out there. Thankfully this game went back to the interconnected world design from the 2nd game, but this time with the benefit of being developed for more powerful hardware. I still prefer King's Field II (1995) but this is probably the best place to start if you want to check out From Softwares older "pre-souls" titles that aren't Armored Core. I could do without the durability system, weapon leveling and magic leveling though.
Slowest game ever made
easily the peak of old From's RPG lineup, takes everything 1-3 did and perfects it while also expanding on the atmospheric exploration of the series much more, while also having the best soundtrack of the series
i tried....
Played this the first time a few years ago and after a tough opening it became one of my favorite games ever made. The progression of player speed makes combat is sorta fun, and no other dungeon focused game does exploration anywehre near as well as kings field. Finding locations, enemies, items, and weapons with meaningful differences tucked into 3d environemnts is a seemingly obvious hook for a fantasy game that I've never seen effectively repeated. Great music too. I haven't successfully been able to get into the ps1 kings fields but this is a must play.
Suprisingly enjoyable. The atmosphere entirely carries it and I found it very nice.
Fuck the dwarf
The PlayStation can produce mind-boggling effects.
As much as it is a clunky, unpalatable piece of shit, I fucking love this game. King's Field IV is an old school dungeon crawler where you fight so very many skeletons (there's a lot of skeletons). It also has possibly the best vibes of any game I've played, rivaled only by Dark Souls perhaps.
King's Field is oppressive, its world dying, but you can bet your ass off some banger tune will be going off in the background at all times. Albeit quite slow (your turn speed is literally 5 rpm, unless of course you walk through a spiderweb, halving it), the exploration is also legitimately very satisfying. There are a myriad of fun, optional illusory walls and hidden items, and the levels are surprisingly well realized and interconnected. It's always incredibly relieving to stumble upon a save point after delving through a crypt for 30 minutes, and at -1 mph no less.
I particularly remember when I finally emerged in one of the game's central hubs after hours of tense spelunking. The area is a lush, colorful forest, one of King's Field's few above-ground locales, and completely unlike anywhere else in the game. It too, has fallen from its former glory, yet it is the first real reprieve in what has thus far been quite a grueling experience. It's beautiful— in all its crunchy, early PS2 game grace.
King's Field IV is certainly not for everyone, but it is unique and ethereal, truly a charming little game if you can stomach it.
As much as it is a clunky, unpalatable piece of shit, I fucking love this game. King's Field IV is an old school dungeon crawler where you fight so very many skeletons (there's a lot of skeletons). It also has possibly the best vibes of any game I've played, rivaled only by Dark Souls perhaps.
King's Field is oppressive, its world dying, but you can bet your ass off some banger tune will be going off in the background at all times. Albeit quite slow (your turn speed is literally 5 rpm, unless of course you walk through a spiderweb, halving it), the exploration is also legitimately very satisfying. There are a myriad of fun, optional illusory walls and hidden items, and the levels are surprisingly well realized and interconnected. It's always incredibly relieving to stumble upon a save point after delving through a crypt for 30 minutes, and at -1 mph no less.
I particularly remember when I finally emerged in one of the game's central hubs after hours of tense spelunking. The area is a lush, colorful forest, one of King's Field's few above-ground locales, and completely unlike anywhere else in the game. It too, has fallen from its former glory, yet it is the first real reprieve in what has thus far been quite a grueling experience. It's beautiful— in all its crunchy, early PS2 game grace.
King's Field IV is certainly not for everyone, but it is unique and ethereal, truly a charming little game if you can stomach it.
Quero a falencia da fromsoft
painfully slow, but the vibe is oh so right
So happy to have finally had a chance to play this after like, two decades of wistful searching. Moody, enthralling, and accurately simulates the experience of playing myself in a fantasy game (slow, easily killed, screams a lot)
What to even say about this, I played this two years ago and still dream of the ancient city. Playing this after Demon souls and Dark souls 2 really made me appreciate what those games where trying to do. Both were an attempt to make something like this a 3rd person adventure game. The weapon system isn't perfect and once I got the moonlight blade I felt like god, basically killing everything with no chance of dying. Much like shadow tower, the slow build from peasant who can't even kill a slime to battle mage that can kill even a hell hound within seconds is great! I hope Fromsoft leaves this series in the past as I don't think they know how to make games like this anymore. The closet we've gotten is Sekiro but that's not an rpg nor does it have great level design
Stunning musical atmosphere and sense of world, but a truly exhausting and tedious world to interact and move around. I feel like one could argue all they want about the jank making the atmosphere but I think KF4 goes a few steps too far off the deep end.
Software by and for idiot savants
This game definitely has some of that FromSoft exploration goodness to it but the game is just way to damn slow to get any sort of enjoyment out of. For what it takes any other game 10 mins to do it'll take you an hour in this.
real adventure
Terrible controls yet I still love this game. Besides all the clunkiness this is definitely a step up from the first 3 games both graphically and in terms of good level design. To top it all off, this game has a brilliant atmosphere and the interconnected world is really really good along with the soundtrack.
just a normal day in britain
Urgh....this one feels hard because I feel like a lot of this is my own preferences holding me back, but so much of this feels almost needlessly clunky.
There's a ton of things I like, mostly aesthetically. I like how there's essentially no prompts for anything; the game assumes you know how video games work and that the setting is familiar enough that'll you'll know generally what to do (herbs heal you, you may need keys for chests, how to attack, etc) and this really does feel like the Souls experience stripped down to amoeba level: the spooky, desolate and hopeless environment except here mixed in a stew with really traditional and cliche fantasy elements.
It's just inherently so...clunky. The tank controls (literally, with the inverted look which I hate with a burning passion), the slow slow combat and movement; if I needed to play for more hours just to get into the groove of it I just can't. Great music though, and I praise every single one of the King's Field games for their look, I'm just too weak to continue.
There's a ton of things I like, mostly aesthetically. I like how there's essentially no prompts for anything; the game assumes you know how video games work and that the setting is familiar enough that'll you'll know generally what to do (herbs heal you, you may need keys for chests, how to attack, etc) and this really does feel like the Souls experience stripped down to amoeba level: the spooky, desolate and hopeless environment except here mixed in a stew with really traditional and cliche fantasy elements.
It's just inherently so...clunky. The tank controls (literally, with the inverted look which I hate with a burning passion), the slow slow combat and movement; if I needed to play for more hours just to get into the groove of it I just can't. Great music though, and I praise every single one of the King's Field games for their look, I'm just too weak to continue.