Tag Archives: exploration

ASCII Corporation, FromSoftware, PlayStation

King’s Field III, PlayStation

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King’s Field III is the second sequel in FromSoftware‘s classic first-person RPG series and was first released in Japan in 1996. It was published in North America by ASCII Entertainment under the title of “King’s Field II” (because the original King’s Field was only released in Japan).

For my money, King’s Field III is the best of the three PlayStation King’s Field games, with larger, more interesting environments, and a bigger scope than the previous two games. The graphics are still borderline laughable, and the controls are still cumbersome, but the gameplay has evolved reasonably well in the space of a couple of years.

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ASCII Corporation, FromSoftware, PlayStation

King’s Field II, PlayStation

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FromSoftware‘s King’s Field II was initially released in Japan in 1995 and it is another first-person RPG with open world exploration, dodgy graphics and challenging combat. It was later published under the title “King’s Field” by ASCII Entertainment in North America and Sony in Europe in 1996, which does cause some confusion as the western titling ignores the actual first game in the series. For clarity: the official English language “King’s Field” is actually King’s Field II – the sequel.

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FromSoftware, PlayStation

King’s Field, PlayStation

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With Elden Ring currently wowing gamers I thought I’d take a look at the series that began FromSoftware‘s journey into the action RPG genre, and that would be King’s Field – released in Japan only in 1994 for the Sony PlayStation – and, to be honest, it couldn’t be any further removed from Elden Ring in terms of presentation…

I’ve played a lot of RPGs in my time, and I would go so far as to say that it’s my favourite genre of video game, but King’s Field came as a bit of a shock to me. Yes, King’s Field was an early 3D RPG on the PlayStation, releasing the same year as the PS1 was launched, but it post-dates Ultima Underworld by two years and is archaic in comparison.

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Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Black Version 2, Nintendo DS

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Pokémon Black Version 2 is a direct sequel to Pokémon Black Version (and White Version 2 is a direct sequel to White Version), and was released for the Nintendo DS in 2012 by The Pokémon Company. It was again developed by Game Freak, and takes place once more in the Unova region.

The story this time is set two years after the events of Black and White and the criminal organisation Team Plasma have returned as ‘Neo Team Plasma‘, and the player must once again thwart their plans to rule the world.

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Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Black Version, Nintendo DS [Part 2]

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What makes this game really special, though, are the new features and the incredible density of content. Few games have the sheer level of detail as Pokémon Black and White do.

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Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Black Version, Nintendo DS [Part 1]

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Released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS, Pokémon Black and White are fifth generation Pokémon games that take place in the Unova region. They were once again developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company. I tossed a coin and chose to play Black Version for this playthrough, which is what these screenshots are from.

I took over twenty thousand grabs while playing this game and whittled them down to a thousand, then to 400 of the best shots. And because I’ve got quite a bit to say about Pokémon Black Version I decided to split this article into two parts.

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Odin Computer Graphics, Thor Computer Software, ZX Spectrum

The Arc of Yesod, ZX Spectrum

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The Arc of Yesod is the sequel to Nodes of Yesod and was actually published the same year as Nodes, in 1985. The game was again developed by Odin Computer Graphics, but this time was published by Thor Computer Software.

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Odin Computer Graphics, ZX Spectrum

Nodes of Yesod, ZX Spectrum

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Nodes of Yesod is a platform exploration game created by Liverpool-based Odin Computer Graphics and first published for the ZX Spectrum in 1985.

At the time it was a critical hit – mostly because the presentation is top notch – but playing the game now you really have to wonder what all the fuss was about, because it really is one of the most frustrating Spectrum games ever made…

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Incentive, Major Developments, Microprose, MS-DOS, PC

Dark Side, PC

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The 1988 MS-DOS version of the classic Freescape game, Dark Side, is arguably the best version of the game available, since it runs fast and the controls are very responsive.

Incentive Software published the game in Europe and Microprose published it in North America.

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