MasterTaffer on 20/9/2015 at 14:28

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Hey all, I wanted to take some time to make the TTLG community aware of King's Field, Sword of Moonlight, and a fan-made game I've been developing for nearly a year and am close to finishing.

To start, in case you haven't heard of King's Field, it's a budget series of first person dungeon crawlers that got its start in 1994, was made by From Software (the makers of Dark Souls), and is very similar to Ultima Underworld. In fact, I believe Ultima Underworld was a direct inspiration, as they both have a heavy focuses on exploration and environmental storytelling. The main differences between the games however is that King's Field has a much larger focus on what I'd consider to be a clunky, yet ingenious combat system. See, one of the most common criticisms I hear about the series is that the controls are awful, and that the combat and movement is too slow, but really the controls are very manageable and the game is so slow because of how the combat system was designed. Unlike other first person combat systems such as Oblivion, you don't just control like some floaty corpse and hack away carelessly at whatever happens to be in-front of you. You actually have to put effort into gauging where you are in relation to your surroundings and time your attacks correctly, because even the slightest mistake will lead to your death. Unlike Dark Souls however, the difficulty that arises from the combat isn't a barrier to newer players, it's a curve. Because you move rather slowly, your character feels weighty, and your attacks do too since they can stun enemies for a short period, which will interrupt their attacks. In essence, it's a simple but effective system, and there will likely never be another game like it because of how every modern gamer would decry such a thing as "clunky" or "unintuitive".

In 2000 Fromsoft released a King's Field game making software called Sword of Moonlight in Japan that allowed anybody to create their own games. It was later translated to English by a fan in 2008, and around 6 fan games have arisen as a result of it, a few of these include Diadem of Maunstraut, Dark Destiny, Trismegistus, Return to Melanat, and Moratheia.

Anyway, there hasn't been a new King's Field game in the main series since 2001, so I just wanted to share that I've been working on a project for nearly a year now, a fan-made fifth entry to the series simply called King's Field V. My goals with which are to combine all of the good elements of each of the first three games, as well as add a few new things such as readable notes and books to help flesh out the story. Because while I think I've remained faithful to the design of the original games, I've been looking to games like Ultima and Thief for reference, especially when it comes to level design and story telling (which were all implemented pretty well in the King's Field games, but could use some improvment). I plan on releasing the game within a month or two, so I'll be back to update things when that time comes. Below are some screenshots, a full soundtrack download, and some other goodies to look at. Feel free to discuss King's Field, Sword of Moonlight, or any of the fan projects below, and thanks for reading!!

Listen to/download the full soundtrack here: (http://gamejolt.com/games/king-s-field-v/40712)

World Map:

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/neph_zps7m4eqqkj.png

Some (early) in-game screenshots:

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/lh_zpsimq83ead.png

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/or_zpspmvu9zqu.png

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/gr_zpsmplfzatj.png

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/df_zpsg484llpy.png

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/skele_zps5nxvipvt.png

Map of Hythe:

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/Map4_zpshzwvxqqe.png

Map of The Necropolis:

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/Map7_zpsm4vuzo3r.png

Near the beginning of the game you'll likely stumble upon a skeletal corpse called Andre, where you'll
find an interesting note about how he got spooked by a bug, broke his leg, and died a slow painful
death on the shores of Nephrite:

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/read1_zpsps0cez86.png

http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/t568/mastertaffer/read2_zps5ca85of1.png

MasterTaffer on 20/9/2015 at 17:25

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I've found that it's an acquired taste myself. King's Field 2 (King's Field 1 in NA) is actually my favorite in the series because of its intricate level design and soundtrack (though all the games have great soundtracks). You start the game with many paths to take, there are secrets everywhere, and you aren't ever really limited in where you can go and when. I don't know what you mean by quests exactly, as the KF games don't really have quest structures like most traditional RPGs do. You may need to find an item to progress in certain areas of each of the games, but I wouldn't call that a quest. As for the PC remake of the first Japanese game, it is really poor quality to be honest, it was really just a rushed sample game meant to show off what the Sword of Moonlight engine could do (it didn't do its job well). It doesn't help that the original game is actually the worst in the series either. The fan-made games imo are way better, especially Moratheia, which does a great job of pushing the engine to its limits.

Starker on 20/9/2015 at 18:33

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Yeah, I liked the later games in the series a lot more. Wouldn't mind replaying if only I could manage to find some free time.

Speaking of King's Field, last year I picked up a PS2 game that reminded me of King's Field a lot -- a horror game called Hungry Ghosts. Unfortunately, it's in Japanese and I don't know the language all too well yet. Might pick up again when I'm more confident in my skills. If an English version happens to come along, I definitely recommend it for anyone who liked King's Field or Amnesia at all.

Starker on 20/9/2015 at 19:13

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Heh, this game is in small part responsible for me studying Japanese now. Even enrolled in language classes.

MasterTaffer on 21/9/2015 at 16:05

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Yeah, I'm aware of this. I can't change the title though.