King's Field II

The very first masterpiece From Software has achieved on its long span. Taking the core elements from their first departure in Wizardry/Ultima Underworld and elevating it to new heighs, and it really makes up for its technical and primal shortcomings.

The even more Metroidvaniac level design is absolutely fantastic this time around; the world building and connected landscape feels more naturalistic, there is tons of secrets, hidden slopes and walls, and the game feels much, much bigger than it actually is by using long hallways smartly. The first King's Field was a claustrophobic yet confusing experience. Here, it remains bleak, but it's actually really damn fluid to get through. And you can run this time! Now you really do want to travel far away.

The teleportation system is more complex this time: rather than acting as mere level entrances, it becomes an exercise in decision making: to know where to put your guide stones is crucial to avoid travelling risky places and getting lost, and minmaxing time. Magic tiers have been modified for the better; you'll end knowing almost all the spells if you find every magic crystal -you have to learn them by "consuming them" now. It does wonders for the exploration aspect of the game: now you want to explore BADLY, as you don't just obtain money, armor and weapons - you get powerful spells too!

The lore is also expanded, taking inspiration from the first game and acting as a sequel, with NPCs telling you their part of the story and with little narrative intervention: you make your own story in your mind. Yes, it's Dark Souls all over again, albeit not as complex to decipher, but rather to grasp and gather. King's Field III had a better conversation system though, and it would carry over to Ancient City.

The game does have problems though, mainly technical: the framerate can be even worse than the first game which is both understandable and a real shame, since sometimes can get really nasty and actually get you killed from time to time. The last quarter of gameplay feels kind of rushed and too confusing compared to the rest; the streamlined, exploratory journey becomes a little too cryptic with the teleportation cubes and multiple corridors' corridor, and the Moonlight Sword being kind of a "secret" to get doesn't stay with me as much as I'd want to; bugging through your final boss to get it AND it's worse than Dark Slayer? Kind of silly if you ask me. Also, the mine cart section of this game sucks hard; I got killed by bad luck while getting on it more times I can remember. It was not fun to get through, at all, nor it was rewarding. There is some picky stuff you have to deal with that come to mind, like when getting the Dark Slayer and having to level up (when I didn't see all the dialog sequence when was clearly the end of it, and had to level up two times when the enemies stopped spawning in the next zones, as I got too strong -that was not a good time).

But yes, it's almost the pinnacle King's Field experience: getting lots of goodies, fighting in the slowest pace possible, becoming a demigod by the end of the game and getting killed the first time by a goddamn skeleton. But NOW, you can be killed by a giant squid too! That's two cheap kills for one. Enjoy!