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1. Under the Radar #8: The King's Field Series
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Jun 18 2009

   This series is one of those that you either love or hate. If you love it, you'll be willing to overlook the linearity of the game and somewat dull combat and be able to enjoy it for what it is; a 1st person adventure/RPG. When I say 1st person RPG, I bet everyone immediately thought "Oblivion", or perhaps "Fallout 3". King's Field is pretty much the same kind of thing, except for one major problem - the series is on the PS1 and PS2 (and I believe PSP). That's not a bad thing at all, except that neither system really has the capability to run an open-world RPG like the Elder Scrolls games, or Fallout 3. Therefore, it's rather linear, like I said before. For the sake of concentrating this review of the series, I will focus on my favorite one - King's Field, the Ancient City on the PS2.
   
   Truth be told, I actually like this game more than Oblivion. The main thing I didn't like about Oblivion was the scaling of enemies and loot to suit your level. It makes it seem like you're never getting any stronger, and as a result, I thought the game felt more like a chore than the epic adventure people claimed it to be. King's Field plays more like a standard RPG. No scaling enemies, set loot locations, leveling through experience, etc.
   
   The difficulty curve of the game starts off near the top. I remember the first time I started the game, I died after taking three steps. No joke. It was due to a lava pit that I didn't see. Traps are a common characteristic of the King's Field games, though they are thankfully toned down a bit in KF:TAC. KFII was probably the most notorious for traps, and I remember getting extremely aggravated by them. Yet I couldn't stop playing it. I don't know if it was out of sheer determination or some strange desire to cause myself considerable emotional trauma, but I eventually got through the game, and found that I had really enjoyed it. That was very surprising since I had gotten it "gifted" to me by a friend that thought it was absolutely horrible.
   
   To compliment the very lethal traps are very lethal enemies. The first enemies you encounter are man-eating flower-things that, while very slow, will kill you in seconds should you charge at them and let them hit you. Instead, the main strategy I've used in all the games is strafing. Basically, all you do for any given enemy is get to their flanks or directly behind them, and continue to stay behind and attack them until they die. It sounds boring, and it is, to a point. I will concede that this is some of the worst combat ever, but it's got a strangely appealing quality to me. It's not like this makes fights any easier though. With single enemies, you will likely never take a hit should you follow the strafing strategy, but with multiple enemies, it's very easy to find yourself stuck in a corner where you will get murdered. Therefore, you must always be aware of your surroundings before attempting any sort of close-range combat.
   
   The size of the world (though I'd consider it one large dungeon instead of a true "world") is fairly large, with plenty of medium-large dungeons within it. The level design is pretty dull is spots, as a lot of the game takes place from a central castle-like area. Therefore, a lot of the connecting dungeons have the same look to them as this central area does. Aside from this one area though, everything else is pretty unique. One of the better aspects of this large world is that there are very few NPCs to hamper your adventuring. You might consider that a bad thing depending on your preferences, but I enjoy not having to perform fetch quests for random douchebags and just continuing the story.
   
   There's also a lot of stuff to find, and lots of well-hidden items to track down. A common theme amongst the series is to hide items in plain sight, yet there is no visible evidence that they're there. For example, if you walk around the area outside the lake temple and spam the X button, you will eventually find one of the best swords in the game. There's no indication that it's there, no "tells" that show you that you should search there, it's just a plain-looking area that holds a rather nice reward.
   
   Finally, this game also has a decent soundtrack, with some very nice melodies in certain parts. The music that plays in the "Mansion of Howling Winds" area is one of my favorite pieces of music in any game. But anyway, I've ranted long enough about this. Like I said at the beginning, you'll either love it or you'll hate it. Definitely try KF:TAC if you can find it anywhere. I got my copy for $3 on eBay about 4-5 years ago, so that may be your best bet. Sorry if that sounded a lot like a rant more than a review. I sort of forgot that today was Wednesday and wrote it during work. :P

   
   

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