King's Field IV: The Ancient City

Even though there is a 4 in the title, King's Field IV: The Ancient City was the first game in the series that I actually owned. This was a fairly early PlayStation 2 game and even to this day, it is a bit of a hidden gem. When this was released in the early 00s there were very few if any first-person action RPGs like this for the PlayStation 2. It never quite caught on as I think it was perhaps a bit too ahead of its time. I recently dug it out and decided to give it a try after all these years and I was pleasantly surprised at how it held up.

Returning A Cursed Idol

There is not exactly an amazing story that runs through King's Field IV: The Ancient City. The basics are that there was this nation that gave another nation this statue as a gift. The statue is actually a cursed idol and it brought destruction to the kingdom. We play as a hero that is tasked with returning this cursed idol to where it came from and that will hopefully bring an end to the curse. Look, games released back in 2002 were not as story driven as they are now so I kind of get it, but I get that some might have a hard time dealing with it.

A Contender For Its Time

I know you may look at some video footage of King's Field IV: The Ancient City and think “Buzz, your girlfriend woof!” however, I think that at the time this was released, it was actually a very solid looking game. The monsters that you fight all are designed very well and I think that even now they have a nice amount of style to them. The environments are not all that detailed and can be quite dark, but that is really just because this game is a product of its time. Still, I think that visually this holds up fairly well.

Battling With The Meters

As King's Field IV: The Ancient City is an action-RPG, I am sure you know what to expect. If you think this is going to be something like Skyrim, you might want to lower your expectations quite a bit. I am not saying the gameplay is bad, but it is rather basic in comparison to the types of games that would follow. It is all played from the first-person, but the real twist here is that you cannot just run around hacking and slashing. Your weapons cause you to get tired and you have to watch this meter as if it depletes, you cannot attack and you are left vulnerable to attack. The game overall can be fun, but I must admit, I did not play all the way through it when I fired it back up after many years.

Talking about a game like King's Field IV: The Ancient City is kind of hard. You see, I like this game, but I played it shortly after it was released and I was very impressed by it and thought it was very different from the other games that were out at the time and that is why it stood out so much for me.

Pros:

• This is a bit of a hidden gem on the console
• It was unlike most other early PS2 games
• I like the dark fantasy style of the game
• It is a game that not too many people talk about

Cons:

• The game is very dated in pretty much every way
• The story is not all that strong which can be an issue as it can take up to 50 hours to get through the game