King's Field II: Two times as fun and two times as awesome!

U.S. Game Front

An Advertisement Of ASCII Products.

ASCII Entertainment Gave U.S.
Gamers A Chance To Play KF.

KFI Didn't Even Have A From Software
Logo Like This One Shown Above.

That Guy Is You.

King's Field I was a good effort by From Software to show gamers what the company was capable of as well as showing consumers of the time the potential that the Playstation had. King's Field I sold very well in Japan despite how the game seemed more like a western-style game and in 1995, From Software soon released King's Field II. King's Field I was only released in Japan, but due to its success, the people at ASCII Entertainment decided to take it upon themselves to give King's Field II a U.S. release. To avoid confusing the general public, ASCII Entertainment just dubbed the game "King's Field". Does this sort of scenario sound familiar? If you love all things Squaresoft, then it should. ASCII Entertainment did the same thing that Squaresoft did back in 1991 and 1994 when they renamed Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI on the SNES with the names of Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III. It's a good thing that we received this game...because it is SO much better than King's Field I.

King's Field II story line starts with King Alfred explaining the fall of Verdite to our new hero named Alexander, the King's best friend. The great Moonlight Sword, the sword which has the power to fight off even the greatest of evil, has mysteriously dissappeared. King Alfred states that it may have been taken to the island of Melanat and that he has sent many soldiers to the island to retrieve the sword, but none have returned. Since Alexander is SUCH a good friend to King Alfred, he decides that he will set sail to the island of Melanat to retrieve the sword himself. As Alexander begins to approach the island in his ship, monsters rise out of the ocean depths and completely destroy his ship. While Alexander manages to survive and wakes up on the island, his crew members that were on the ship are gone and he has nothing but a dagger and his courage. With those two things, you start the game surrounded by the starlit sky and water in every direction. You must try to find people to talk to as soon as possible to help you survive the dangers of the island as well as unlock its mysteries and find its valuable treasures.

Wait a minute...water? Starlit SKY!? Could it be that you are no longer in a boring underground labyrinth like KFI!? You better believe it. The visuals of the game are an enormous leap ahead of the previous game. The textures are smoother and the game runs even faster and smoother than KFI...but that's not all. The area design is a whole hell of a lot more varied than From Software's previous game. They figured out what was wrong with the previous game and sought out to correct those problems. Enemies are more detailed, the NPCs are a little more detailed (though they still have no face), the game uses more colors so everything doesn't look so similar (while still keeping the dark tone of the game in check), and the spells look better than ever. As you run around the island, you can see monsters make waves as they speed around on the surface of the water and you now possess more attack animations than in the previous game. This is what the original King's Field should have been. Of course, the game looks dated as hell from today's standards, but if you can appreciate a game for what it may have been back then and not compare it to what exists today, it's pretty easy to see why people were impressed.

From Software truly outdid themselves back in 1995 with King's Field II and KFII puts you in an alternate universe where you must explore and take in all the sights and sounds. Speaking of sounds, the enemies are even creepier in this game! You will still hear sounds in the distance, but thanks to the enhanced graphics of KFII, it's even scarier when you turn around to discover that the monster has been next to you the whole time! The music is eerie (bone-chilling at times) and suits the new world perfectly. The sound is very good overall and I found the tunes to be very appropriate for the areas that they are used in. Very well done indeed.

Much has changed from KFI in terms of gameplay...though it's strange because the games are still very much alike. The game still maintains its slow pace (and you still turn slowly, though faster than in KFI) and its first-person action, but the world is even BIGGER. One would think that you would have to add a lot of new content into the game in order for the game to remain playable without becoming boring. Well, KFII does have new enemies, items, weapons, and magic, but the gameplay mechanics are mostly the same. You gain experience points and levels like you did in the previous game, but there is no longer a "class" system. In KFI, you automatically changed in class when certain conditions were met. There were classes like Soldier, High Soldier, Mage Soldier, etc. You needed to become a special class in order to use the Moonlight Sword in KFI, but other than a few small things, the class system wasn't too important. You can still gain strength and magic by using melee attacks and magic repeatedly.

Alexander also attacks differently with different kinds of weapons and while you had different attacks in KFI, you have even more in KFII. The game also has more elements besides light magic, fire magic, one wind spell, and two water spells (neither being offensive). You can now use more wind and water magic as well as new earth spells too. KFII has over twice as many spells and you will need them to deal with the new dangerous creatures on the island of Melanat. To learn magic, you must use elemental crystals that you find around the island. There are more hidden rooms, traps, and locked treasure chests too.

You have gates that allow you to teleport to save points that you previously visited by putting a "key" into the guidepost that is by the save point. For example, you will find a Star Gate item and a Star Key item. When you put the Star Key into the guidepost, you can use the Star Gate (with a small MP cost) to teleport to whatever guidepost you put the Star Key in. This is very convenient for getting around the island and you will obtain several gates and several keys. The enemies are faster and attack fiercely in this game, so you must time your attacks carefully. One false move can cause you to suffer severe damage.

King's Field II is more of the same in the best way possible. I loved this game to death when I first played it and I still do now. If you crave mystery and adventure, you should definitely give this game a try. It should be cheap and pretty easy to find. If you don't want to spoil yourself though, you might want to track down a copy of King's Field I before playing King's Field II. I'd find it pretty difficult to go back to King's Field I otherwise. Like King's Field I and King's Field III, the controls of this game take some getting used to, but thankfully, the controls are a pretty easy obstacle to overcome.

- Written by Vyse the determined -