Could you imagine the shock and hype if, after Elden Ring came out, FROM Software announced their next project was going to be... King's Field V?

Its great to see the origin of the moonlight sword, in all its low-poly glory

The way you described early 3D visuals was perfect. The hallucinogenic feel of early 3D games is what makes them continue to be so appealing today.

Kings Field. One of the most overlooked series ever. One of my first PlayStation games. Their great.

As a fan of Armored Core with my favorites being Project Phantasma and AC3 I remember when I used to get made fun for being a FROM fan and how mocking IGN were of FROM game design in the 90s and 2000s.

Everyone falls over like a 3 stooges character when they die 10/10

Nice, I actually started playing those games recently and am currently on the third game. One thing though, the final boss you show isn't actually the Dark Wizard, that's Reinhardt the Third (the son of the previous king you meet on one of the previous levels that gives you fire magic). The Dark Wizard is that green ghost looking thing that taunts you at the beginning of level four and then you fight him during which fight he changes into a skeleton and defeating him gives you access to the portal to the fifth level.

Thank you for your honest review on one of my favorite games of all time. King's Field is a criminally underated game. Please do an analysis of the Ancient City, it is the pinnacle of King's Field.

Oh lordy here we go.

14:00 that's not the Dual Shock 1 controller. The first one had no special name, just Playstation Controller. Then came the Dual Analog Controller, which had two sticks. After that, came the Dual Shock controller, when they added the rumble feature.

God, I love this series so much. The Ancient City is probably the most intimate experience I've had with a game. I went in blind and it's changed the way I see games as an art form. I really wish we could see a new game to really develop on the first person exploration of KF. Nothing compares to the immersion of playing TAC with music turned off, getting lost and slowly piecing together a bigger world.

Boy do I have two games you'll absolutely love that KZfaq has left neglected: Kingsfield The Ancient City and more importantly SHADOW TOWER ABYSS

Needs to be a King's Field 5. Or at least an HD remaster of the first three games, which uses the right stick for looking around, instead of turning and walking with the same stick/D-pad. I can't believe they never even did that for King's Field 4 on PS2.

On emulator you can play it with sticks. I played it with PS4 controller. Walking forward, backward and strafing on left stick. Turning on right. Couldn't make moving camera up or down on right stick, but you don't use it often, R2 L2 worked nice. And attack and spell buttons on R1 L1. Feels really like Dark Souls.

Can’t wait to sit down with a cup of tea and watch this

Youve gotten me to finaly give this game a shot. Im on the second floor by now and absolutely loving it, thanks :)

One of the best vids on youtube on this old series! Thanks for playing and sharing, as a recent soulsborne convert I loved seeing what Fromsoft was up to during this era!

I wanted to address two things you mentioned in your video (Btw, great video!): 1. The graphics and reviews of the time - Back in the early to mid 90's there was this "interactive multimedia" craze that took over and not many people grasped what was actually going on. Let me elaborate. When CD hit the market (and laserdisc) this gave people the the ability to not only watch movies in higher quality, it also allowed them to skip to the next/previous track, which in comparison to VHS/CASSETTE TAPE which was the current modern audio/video technology. On top of having computers that used "interactive multimedia" (See games like Maddog McCree or Encyclopedia Britannica or the like of that time period), consoles that toted this technology started coming out and everything was about graphics and Full Motion Video (FMV back in the day). When this game launched, the screenshots made the game look bland and very simple in it's 3D presentation (which even if the case, the gameplay and design make up for it). It got critical reviews most likely because the craze of high end graphics and FMV quality screenshots for advertisements that other popular games used (we didn't really know any better at the time). This is why all of the FMVs of those days were way higher in quality, but the gameplay was really blocky and simple (PS1/N64/3DO/etc). People didn't know what they wanted lol. 2. The controls - There wasn't an industry standard for FPS games yet. Back in 1995, Doom and only a few other FPS games had came out. Those all were on PC exclusively, but the ports used similar setups using trigger buttons to strafe. Turok, Goldeneye, and a few other FPS games up until the late 90's/early 2000's tried alternative setups using joysticks and such, but the WASD and dual joystick setup wasn't really put into practice commercially until after the early 2000's when the PS2 launched. Another example would be Halo that started using that dual joystick setup. It's 20/20 hindsight now, but at the time there was no real standard, so-to-speak.

Thank god we have great creators like you making content to fill the time during this whole thing

Before I was born, my mom tells me that my dad used to play a lot of video games. I hardly ever saw my dad playing video games as I grew up though, and I tended to play a lot of role-playing games. One day my dad mentioned to me almost in passing that when he was younger he would play a role playing game called Kings Field. I had never heard of it. As I got older one of my brothers and I started to play a lot of the Monster Hunter games, which are similar to the Dark Souls games. My youngest brother is actually a huge fan of dark souls and has played and beaten all three of them, and even dabbles in speed running them. Watching this video now and hearing the history of Kings Field, I feel like so many things in my life are falling into place and starting to make sense. I never knew From Software made King’s Field! I feel like my preference towards souls-like games runs in the family haha. I can’t wait to tell my youngest brother and my dad about this connection and see their reaction

I like your hot take about the healing grass I tend to agree

Great video, I was thinking a lot about this saga and it's spin off Shadow Tower lately.

Always use strafing left and right along with my movement to get around!

I would absolutely love it if you cover King's field The Ancient City.

There's something I've noticed among a large sect of gamers, a trait that keeps them from trying to understand various different systems and pine for what they already understand which is often times comparitvely simpler than what is being presented to them. They'll see a power bar for example, and think "why can't I just keep swinging?", and put the game down or slander it instead of adapting to what the game is wanting them to do. They'd prefer every game be the same experience and that perplexes me. If every game played like Skyrim I would be distraught. If every game played like dark souls it would also sadden me, despite my near infinite love for the series and its systems. I think that's why I love from soft so much, they like to play around with their formula more than most other game developers and aren't afraid of alienating people.

This is the King's Field of Dark Souls videos

Just found your channel. This is exactly the kind of video game analysis content I've been looking for. Great stuff, man! Love it.

Kings Field (US) was one of those games that randomly came to me in the ps1 era. A friend of mine bought it without even knowing what it was and kept asking me to translate the text (he was not very good at English) and we became obsessed lol. I remember my friend, his brothers and I trying to beat the game in their room, which was pretty dim lighted and that just added to the eerie atmosphere the game had. We spent a lot of hours looking for secrets and how to get better and beat it, nice memories.

Secret of Mana is another game with the ability to attack as much as you want but with a power meter, though I'm curious to know if that's where it originated

This was a thoroughly entertaining watch. Thanks for putting into words what I loved about the game! I'm working on a challenge-run video/supercut myself, you're definitely an inspiration.

You did such an AMAZING JOB! I love it so much and thank you so much for doing this Video!

Man I loved these games. Me and my childhood friend would play them together, mapping out the areas and looking for secrets.

Hilarious how the most consistent thing between 1994 and today are games journalists not understanding the games they're playing.

Amazing video! I played trough the trilogy about a year ago and also thought that they actually hold up pretty well if you go in with right mindset. What blew my mind thou is moonlight sword...optional is right word because I totally missed it. I was watching this video nodding along till you mentioned it. I remember it vividly from second game but thought it's simply not a thing in this one. I tried my best to discover everything on my own but obviously I missed some stuff anyway. So thanks for this video! It made me pretty hyped for replaying this game somewhere down the line. Honestly this is why I never watch alternate endings and stuff like that. To learn much later on that what I got in my playtrough of the game was just one of many possible ways of going trough the game is dope as heck and makes my second playtrough that much different.

I loved KF 1 and 2. I miss the days of these kinds of games and the likes of early Wizardry and Might & Magic.

11:38 "It gives you a real sense of growth when you go from reading about a legendary dragon on the upper levels to receiving its blessings on the bottom." 😳

Ive grown out of favor with rpg games. (Got older and no patients to play for hour upon hour.) With that said the Kings Field games to this day are my favorite games hands down. The way the atmosphere pulled me in has never been duplicated. Thank you for this retrospective. BTW, I loved the games of that era. Tobal 1 and 2. (Best fighting games with a dungeon adventure mode thrown in.) And Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. (No sequel to that is a crime.)

Worth giving to your patreon to see this video before this upload, look forward to King's Field II!

I love listening to you talk about stuff like this! :D Keep it up!

Listening to this on my way home from working night shift, thanks for the company!

What a wonderful video you did such a good job!! Will you be covering the sequels?!

Aesir's essays are just the ticket sometimes. I keep finding myself going through them all. Thx mate! 😊

I loved the realization I had when I first played this game that the final boss in lore and aesthetic is just the Bed of Chaos.

This was an awesome video man. Can't wait until you cover the rest of the franchise.

hey aesir just wanna say i fuckin love your analyses. your notes on how refreshing it is just diving head-on into straight-played fantasy tropes resonated super strongly.

The slow movement was there to allow the game to load in new areas, game loads new zones as you play only really loading when you first start or load a file.

Damn, this game needs a remake.

Nice commentary. The next king’s field (2) is my absolute favorite. Can’t wait for the next video.

I bought into the narrative that these are old janky RPGs not worth playing and avoided, until recently and now I'm in love with King's Field II (USA). You do a great job summing up what makes these games so enjoyable to this day. I love these games for the same reason I love Souls: They do a great job of making you feel lost, giving just enough signposts/markers, and eventually feel like an experienced explorer who has a mental map of the entire game world. It's an awesome feeling that I don't get from other dungeon crawlers.

You explained it to a T! Kings field trilogy will always be my favorite. I have all of them.

I just found this channel, but the way you talk about Kingsfield at the beginning reminds me a lot of Cruelty Squad. If you haven’t heard of it, you should definitely check it out, best way I can describe it is a Kingsfield immersive sim with the modern hitman level structure and progression. It breaks almost all of the rules of what you would call “good design” and is one of my favorite games I’ve played because of that.

Very refreshing video after seeing all the "this game sucks" reviews that plague youtube. Only played kings field 2 but was always compelled to keep playing even though the game put me in a weird melancholy mood.

You sold me on this. I love all old school rpgs in the style of Elder Scrolls with real time combat.

This first person mod for Demon's Souls is really nostalgic

11:33 that's one thicc lizard man

A very good video of Kings Field 1. I fell in love with Kings Field game watching my cousin play it. I have loved the series ever since. Kings Field 2 USA is probably my favorite. It’s a shame this didn’t make its way over. I have played it though. I just recently got me an android gaming tablet. The 1st game I put on it was Kings Field The Ancient City. A game I do own but haven’t fully played in a very long time. I’m glad I found you video it was very enjoyable. The gameplay and mechanics are what makes it so fun. I love the clunky combat and controls. It challenging and yes it grindy at times but I love doing that. I don’t mind killing the respawning enemies over and over again. It just makes it fun farming exp and gold.

Yes!!! Kings field content! give us more!

Loving this review. Thanks man. From someone who only played King's Field 2, but adored it.

Because of this video I actually recently beat kings field and really enjoyed it thanks for getting me interested enough to play it :)

Great video. They should release this games in a collection. The music of Kings Field is something really special, I dare to say I like it more than the OSTs of Bloodborne and Dark Souls. Atmospheric and haunting but in a more subtle way than the modern games. I feel like with each new game the music of the Soul series got more grandiose and 'Hollywood' like while Kings Field and Demon Souls tunes are more of an intimate experience.

The dragon tree leaf looks just like a weed leaf lol

While Moonlight Sword is a great sword, I wrote a guide about how another weapon you pick up in this video is actually the most effective to level up your magic. That guide is actually about how some game mechanics you didn't explain in this video. How to improve stats and what the class stuff even is.

Are u going to play the shadow tower gaames too? The second one is one of my favourites pre demon souls game

I think the contrasts between Kings Field 1&2 are very interesting. You can really see the influence of earlier games like Wizardry and Gauntlet in the design of the first game. Particularly in the level design and monsters. The highly linear nature of the first game stands out so starkly for what would become one of the defining games in open world exploration. I think my greatest regret of the entire series is that MoonLight Sword (a community modding, level edit, and launching tool) never got the love it deserved and the it's capabilities never got brought out much past the first game.

3:02 I'm subbing for that joke, well played.

I find your videos once in a while by chance, and I always love them. I'm doing my first playthrough of King's Field 2 right now, and I just wanted to watch a bit of content in between sessions. You always put out great stuff!! i subbed you

Good stuff. I only managed to beat King’s Field 2 and 3 (Saw a Let’s Play on the first one, barely played The Ancient City), but it’s nice to hear someone else’s thoughts on this franchise.

I’m from the future and still come back to this video every while in a while.

I come back to this video time to time as a soulsfan !

The wizard is like the baby brother of the Witch of Izalith.

I think King's Field for you was the Quest for Glory games for me. Great series if you haven't played it! I wish it was easier to be able to play King's Field. I'd definitely give it a go.

Great game wish I could play a remaster of it.

I am so amazed by the quality of this analysis. Love it! Keep up the good work my man! You deserve soo many more views and subs.

never played the game but after this vid it felt like I did, great analysis. Great channel btw, subscribed :)

did you ever think to look at Eternal Ring on the PS2? It was actually the first FromSoft game I played, and because it didn't use the analogue sticks I didn't give it a fair shake. It seemed really cool though and I wish I had my PS2 with me to try it again.

Please do a Shadow Tower video too!

Amazing. I love your work and attention to detail.

There was a PC remake of King's field made in 2001 when From released the 'Sword Of Moonlight' tool kit. It fixes a lot of the game's Issues such as Remappable controls, Updated textures, Models, & Animations and it can run natively on Windows 10 at 1080p 60fps. There wasn't an English release, but it has a fan translation that can be downloaded from the Sword of Moonlight forum.(You'll have to make an account on the Forum to access the downloads)

great video man. totally worth the hype i had for it. you made me really want to play King's Field, too! i've been on a retro RPG kick lately. really enjoying the old AD&D CRPGs and the first Elder Scrolls games, too. maybe i'll have to do King's Field next!

Earned my sub. This game was such a mystery and difficult for me. Never beat the first area.

Loving this series so far! Watching King's Field 2 next

That combat syatem actually seems super similar to how Minecraft does it nowadays.

You are mistaken, you are not the only person who prefers demon's souls healing over dark. I prefer almost everything about demon's over dark, hilariously because it feels more like king's field.

Highly recommend this game on the steam deck with the "Modern Controls" community button preset.

17:20 I just realized, this is basically what post 1.9 minecraft combat is. Wild.

Thank you for your work! scouring for meta-lore in from's historical development so this was a perfect gem of a find! Also, impressed and grateful you denied the pay-to-play sponsorship lol I absolutely hate this parasitic quality of current games.

Got it in it’s original long cardboard box in all its glory.Love it still.

If only KZfaq did not give me three other commercials for Raid Shadow Blah Blah while watching 🤪

King's Field 1 is beautiful! I especially loved the first dungeon's atmosphere when you are first getting your bearings: you will probably stumble into that hidden passage with the skeleton and the shield which is great because the games later-on call back to that darkly-humorous moment. Later, you find a small graveyard where everything is mostly normal...you return to that same area and one of the graves is knocked over (a detail I have seen no-one cover) and a mummy appears that spawns a knight-sword (a detail that EVERYONE covers). You go to the church and the priest wants you to find his cross...like the one right next to him? No, its a specific one that can only be found on a merchant but the game doesn't tell you this. Its like back-to-back charming, classic gaming moments. Oh yeah, and the two shopkeeps that are setup pretty damn far from one-another, but have varying buy/sell prices so if you don't write shit down you'd be painstakingly comparing, and they actually don't have much of a rhyme-or-reason to their prices: one of them seems to buy your items for more gold if you sell him enchanted/magical stuff, but sometimes he doesn't give you more for that type of item.

Don't mind me I just watched the "Exploring the King's Field Games" video and am putting the relevant info from that under each video 6:48 The main artifact the king was looking for was the Moonlight Greatsword

Gosh I really enjoyed this! Thank you!

Everything in Kings Field: sucks Aesir: but it works for me

I just farmed spiders at their infinite spawn for 2-3 hours when i first started the game, grinded till i had 20k gold (bonus was leveling and strength increase) then went and bought all the good stuff from the vendors. The rest of the game was a cake walk besides re running each floor over and over to refind locked chests.

Just finished this game for the first time. Surprisingly fun and challenging.

my favorite part of the wizard is that it's not nonsense, in fact it jumped right out at me that it's a foreign ego that's taken root in somebody else's grave. It's so cool.

The thing I love most about Kings Field is the way they dropped you in the middle of a bunch of shit with a helicopter and said "Figure it out fucker." Then you walked into some water and died. The game grabbed me immediately :D Took me forever to actually make any progress but it was rewarding every time you make it to a new area. I still own the first two games! Something else I love about the games is that they didn't compromise on detail. Some areas framerate gets pretty bad but it's because they put more detail than a lot of other games at the time in some of the scenes. Sometimes there are actual polygons making up a tree instead of just a sprite for example.

King's Field DOES use it's fantasy world for social commentary, but it's not in scenes or dialogue, it's in the premise. The king is filling graves with his own people in pursuit of unnatural power to the point where there's not really much of a kingdom left. The Souls series also have social commentary explored via the metaphysics of their worlds and premises of their stories. So, it doesn't preach for one second, but it's there.

Great video; I really enjoyed it. Think I might give this series a shot when I get the time. Would love to scratch the souls itch with something new.

Morrowind has a neat fatigue system where it also works like the power bar. You will do far less damage when it's low. One thing I dislike about the system is it's complex and not something a regular player would know or ever notice

My first ever playstation game .... man...ive been trying to figure out what this was called for the last 15 years man.😭 I can die in peace now.