King's Field 1 Review

King's Field 1 down, I may be the 2nd in recent memory to share thoughts about it here but I shall regardless. Absolutely legendary to play now. The NPC design alone is striking if you've played any of those PS1 horror demo disc collections. And somehow the limited, stilted animations got across everything they needed to and more. There's also something to be said for the square, straight hallways being only fitting for the setting. Hell, even the PS1's classic warping textures as you walk around kind of fit the theme. If you're the sort who plays the original versions of RPGs, jank and all, there's a lot to appreciate as far as tech and designing within limitations that reminded me very much of NES/Ultima 1 era RPGs. Except for the obviously new 3D world it was trying to step into. I'm just gonna skip over the points about similarities and stepping stones to Dark Souls, and talk about how the game is basically a metroidvania instead. The dungeon levels each have a certain memorable flair to them. And frequently cross over or intersect, both via natural paths and with the various keys and items opening the way. You have reason to revisit old areas while exploring, and thus get the satisfaction of beating up the old enemies that used to murder you endlessly with ease. It also has a very Ys, or perhaps just very "budget japanese RPG" stat system, with a heavy focus on big gear upgrades, not so much on the incremental levelups. Which only adds to the metroidvania feeling of finding a new powerup, or in this case, new sword. And to finish off, I'll reinforce that Ultima/Early RPG comparison by pointing out that ||You can only beat the final boss with a specific weapons specific attacks that requires specific stats that you'll proooobably be grinding for if you get through the game at a good clip without much getting lost. It really is a PC RPG of the time, or even earlier, brought to console||

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