King's Field: The Ancient City

"A steal at 20 bucks !"

This is my first review ever so I doubt it will be any good, but I actually work in a game store and have sold this game several times.

Story [10] - The story in this game is actually pretty original, and the best part is, maybe you don't care about a story line, well this is one of the few RPGs out there that gives you the option to get next to nothing in story line and play it purely as a hack and slash. Talk to people more, you get more story and hints as well. Don't talk to people and you wont get any story. So if you're wondering why a 10 its because not everyone wants a story, but what is there is pretty in-depth, and having the choice is a godsend sometimes.

Gameplay [9] - This is the beef of the game in my opinion, and it should be. This game is hands down the best King's Field yet, while the pacing is slow at first you will get used to it and those with a brain will figure out that you're a puny guy with not even a weapon not some Herculean character so you're not going to move that fast. Speed aside, as in other reviews have stated this game pulls no punches, you will get your butt kicked, enemies will gang up on you in some annoying ways, but that's only because they've actually got some decent AI, in most real RPGs the AI is complete crud, they will actually vary their attacks to keep you from spamming, though a good backstab 'nearly' always works.

Ok.. well the combat is very deep, I don't think it could much deeper or realistic, you've got bars for your weapon and magic, which recharge based on your aptitude and weapon/spell you've got selected. Moving steals energy from both bars, so unless you've got a quick weapon, charge attacks are a little tough, but very possible, but you try running at someone with a weapon and landing it full force and you'll see the logic to it.

The magic is very well done, could of been done better and more spectacular, but I'm guessing other things would of had to suffer, so I'm pretty happy. Spells become your usual ranged attack in the game and will keep you alot safer then the melee combat will, which I guarantee you'll take a decent beating in until you learn the enemies habits. Spells level up twice to a 3rd level based on how much you use them. So use a spell more, you'll get its 3rd level sooner. There are some just purely useless or ridiculous spells that I have no idea why they added them, so that if anything is why gameplay is a 9 and not a 10. The total amount of spells 30, which isn't too bad at all, 5 to each discipline of magic; Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Light and Dark. Out of those 30 spells a fair chunk are purely for support, healing, anti-poison, etc. Magic energy doesn't recharge over time, instead you need to find items or later a well to recharge your 'tired mind'. So you wont be able to blow out spells like a madman early in the game.

On to the weapons and wow, what a selection, it doesn't take long because you actually have a choice between brute strength and speed of attack. Weapons unlike magic have hitpoints and will weaken when you pound on sturdy enemies or decide its a good idea to whack your sword against a wall/door/something that doesn't want to break. As your weapon's hitpoints go down it becomes less useful at which time simply switch weapons, because they are very plentiful. The weapons all have a good selection of attack animations, only weapons in the same group will look the same, so a rapier will look like another rapier type, but it will look and attack differently from a longsword or a broadsword. Which does change the the way you attack indefinitely, a rapier is very precise, where as the heavier weapons will use more of a slash, allowing a larger area of attack. You even get bows to compliment your regular melee weapons and they become invaluable.

Armor is at least as expansive as the weapons, but I wont make another huge paragraph explaining why, just try to outline it. As opposed to alot of rpgs, one armor is not indefinitely better then another, because there are 3 different areas of damage; Hit, Stab and Slash. Each armor will be rated in those 3 areas and certain armor excels in one area and is poor in another, armor will also have weight and can slow you down hugely if you're over-encumbered. But basically you'll be changing your armor quite a bit throughout the game.

Control [8] - The controls are responsive, it'll just take you a while to get used to them, especially if you're like me and you mostly play computer FPS, you will miss having a mouse to look around. Shooting your bows will most likely provide the largest challenge to you, other than that nothing is really too difficult that it will hamper you down.

Graphics [10] - Maybe I'm being over enthusiastic, but damn the environments look so fantastic you can easily lose yourself in the game. Your stats are minimal and take up a tiny part of the screen leaving the rest to be your view. The graphics in this game are a benchmark for sure and other developers should take note on how quality textures are done. Very few games still look good when you're standing inches away from a wall, this one does.

Sound [10] - Everything sounds like it should and is very well done in my humble opinion.

Music [9] - Maybe, and this a big maybe, could of been done a little better, but it fits the game like a glove and each section of the game has its own music and mood to it.

Replayability [8] - Ok its not that this game doesn't have replay value, it does, you can definitely replay it through and do things differently, its just the game is very long, you cannot beat this game in a week without losing mass amounts of sleep, its just that long and some areas are downright tough and you'll need a break.

Overall [10] - ok so its a bit slow, but the game has NO load times unless you're actually loading a game, so it evens itself out pretty well, what you have here is a very immersive, long game and for only 20 bucks ! You're missing out on a great Action/RPG if you don't at least check this out.

Buy or Rent - I've seen this in other reviews alot so I'll include it.

While I believe 20 bucks is a damn good bargain for this game, you penny pinchers out there should rent this game first to make sure it wont frustrate you too much because it IS NOT easy, and you will die frequently, especially when you do something stupid or simply don't think something through. Big huge nasty, and you charge at him with your sword, yeah you're going to die.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/03, Updated 07/30/03