| Revision as of 22:57, 9 August 2020 editFlyer22 Frozen (talk | contribs)365,630 editsm Reverted edits by 141.136.246.89 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)Tag: Rollback← Previous edit | Revision as of 14:47, 25 January 2021 edit undo8.24.109.231 (talk) Removing section of unsubstantiated information which is of very limited importance to the article's subject anywaysTag: section blankingNext edit → | ||
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
| With strong resolve, Devian embarked on his quest to return the cursed idol and return prosperity and vitality to his neighboring kingdom. His adventure though the ancient city would lead him to many discoveries long since lost after the collapse of the Holy Land. He would encounter the last vestiges of Septiego's troupe, and eventually discover their master's fate. Prince Devian would learn about the ancient and wise Forest Folk, the neighboring Earth Folk, and their war against the nightmarish Dark Folk. All of these secrets and more would be revealed to the young Prince, but does he have the strength of heart to harbor such monstrous truths? | With strong resolve, Devian embarked on his quest to return the cursed idol and return prosperity and vitality to his neighboring kingdom. His adventure though the ancient city would lead him to many discoveries long since lost after the collapse of the Holy Land. He would encounter the last vestiges of Septiego's troupe, and eventually discover their master's fate. Prince Devian would learn about the ancient and wise Forest Folk, the neighboring Earth Folk, and their war against the nightmarish Dark Folk. All of these secrets and more would be revealed to the young Prince, but does he have the strength of heart to harbor such monstrous truths? | ||
| ==Character names in the North American localization== | |||
| Before the release of the game as ''King's Field: The Ancient City'' in North America, there were a number of fans of the series using what is now called a ''Yahoo.com'' "Group". Discussing possible plotlines, characterizations, and aspects of gameplay in the upcoming release, they were noticed by a member of the group, who was also an ASCII Entertainment employee, in charge of translation and localization of the Japanese game for the English/N.American market. The group, known on the site as "The Verdite Inn", collaborated on a community-driven storyline based in the world of the first two North American releases. Out of respect for the group's opinions, imaginations, and their support for the games, the actual names or usernames of the contributing members were used as the names of certain NPCs. | |||
| These were often associated with a role they had explored in "The Verdite Inn" community website. For example, the first NPC shopkeeper in the game who attempts to guide and help the Player Character is David Bunch, real name of the only group administrator made aware of the naming before the game's release. He kept the plans to honor the club secret until the day of release, when a member found his character in-game and asked about it on the forum. His dialogue reflects some of his quotes from the website. | |||
| Many other characters, including Jamarc Neely, Duhrin Pathwarden, and Arx Angelos, are known to be derived from usernames of the site, and have dialogue associated with, or appearances similar to, their club personas. | |||
| Lee Maynor is either found wounded near a giant spider, wishing to die, or already dead and possessed. He is the only NPC in the game that can be killed without labeling the Player Character a murderer and limiting shop interactions, due to his eventual enemy status. Lee Maynor (his real name) spoke on the site about suffering from arachnophobia, so his character's poisoning by the spider boss fit in line with the nature of honoring the real people involved with the group. | |||
| Another NPC using a real name is Ramirez Martin, who was the webmaster of the now defunct kings-field.com, which continued to keep the group connected long after changes to the Yahoo.com site made "The Verdite Inn" less accessible. He is also an artist, and contributed a number of images of his related work to the group, which gave further detail to the localizers for tailoring the choice of members' in-game characters. | |||
| ==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||
Revision as of 14:47, 25 January 2021
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "King's Field IV" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| King's Field IV | |
|---|---|
 Japanese packaging | |
| Developer(s) | FromSoftware |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Director(s) | Rintaro Yamada Satoru Yanagi |
| Series | King's Field |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | First person, role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
King's Field IV, released in North America as King's Field: The Ancient City, is a medieval-themed first-person role-playing video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. It is the fourth game in the King's Field series. Agetec published the North America release in 2002, while Metro 3D published the Europe release in 2003.
Plot
In the land of Heladin, something is amiss. Their king, smitten by a strange idol that was given to him as a gift, lies dying. The country was enveloped with a strange sorrow, a certain darkness that stains the soul of man. Ever since the idol was brought into the kingdom, the once prosperous nation fell into a state of corruption and decay. Fearing for the life of his king and home, the sword master Septiego took a battalion of his best men to return the idol which was believed to be the source of this tragedy. Alas, the party was neither seen nor heard from again. The idol was presumed lost forever, but the decay of the nation continued.
Meanwhile, in the adjoining kingdom of Azalin, a shrouded figure appears at the doorstep of Prince Devian. From within his cloak, the dark stranger produced the object of Heladin's corruption: The Idol of Sorrow. The idol was originally taken from the ruined depths of the Holy Land, now known as the Land of Disaster, and given to the unsuspecting king of Heladin. If the idol remained outside of the ancient city, Heladin, and possibly Azalin, was doomed to mirror the twisted metropolis that spanned the vast caverns of the Land of Disaster.
With strong resolve, Devian embarked on his quest to return the cursed idol and return prosperity and vitality to his neighboring kingdom. His adventure though the ancient city would lead him to many discoveries long since lost after the collapse of the Holy Land. He would encounter the last vestiges of Septiego's troupe, and eventually discover their master's fate. Prince Devian would learn about the ancient and wise Forest Folk, the neighboring Earth Folk, and their war against the nightmarish Dark Folk. All of these secrets and more would be revealed to the young Prince, but does he have the strength of heart to harbor such monstrous truths?
Reception
Reception| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 60/100 |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |    |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 3.33/10 |
| Famitsu | 30/40 |
| Game Informer | 6.5/10 |
| GamePro | |
| GameSpot | 6.6/10 |
| GameZone | 8.2/10 |
| IGN | 6.6/10 |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | |
| RPGamer | 6/10 |
The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 30 out of 40.
References
- ^ "プレイステーション2 - KING'S FIELD IV". Famitsu (in Japanese). Vol. 915. Enterbrain. June 30, 2006. p. 89.
- ^ "King's Field: The Ancient City for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive.
- House, Matthew. "King's Field: The Ancient City - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
- EGM staff (May 2002). "King's Field: The Ancient City". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 154. Ziff Davis. p. 107.
- "King's Field: The Ancient City". Game Informer. No. 108. FuncoLand. April 2002. p. 77.
- Star Dingo (March 26, 2002). "King's Field: The Ancient City Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
- Speer, Justin (April 22, 2002). "King's Field: The Ancient City Review [date mislabeled as "May 17, 2006"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
- Tha Wiz (April 9, 2002). "King's Field: The Ancient City Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
- Dunham, Jeremy (March 27, 2002). "King's Field: The Ancient City". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
- "King's Field: The Ancient City". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Ziff Davis. April 2002. p. 103.
- Drury, Martin (November 11, 2004). "King's Field: The Ancient City - Review". RPGamer. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
External links
| FromSoftware | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Another Century's Episode | |||||||
| Armored Core | |||||||
| Echo Night | |||||||
| Evergrace | |||||||
| King's Field | |||||||
| Lost Kingdoms | |||||||
| Otogi | |||||||
| Shadow Tower | |||||||
| Soulslike |
| ||||||
| Other games | |||||||
| Related | |||||||
