LucidNightmare

I also feel like Ultimate is the pinnacle of the formula. Besides the mods that people are making for it, you just can’t get better than Ultimate in my opinion!

I think part of that is also that KH3 actually sucks compared to KH2, and even KH1 in some areas. Yeah, KH3 is flashy, but the story beats were just awful compared to the previous numerical games. I still haven’t played through the plethora of tie in games, simply because I think the director lost the fucking plot after KH2.

Opera browser? The one that everyone was making a stink about a few years ago? The one owned directly by a Chinese based company, and was supposedly sending telemetry to China?

Why the hell would anyone still be using Opera???

I hope that my previous comment did not come of any way negative! I'd say that I'm rather bad about getting my thoughts across the web, unfortunately. I took no offense to your comment at all, and I apologize if I did come of that way.

See, I'm not even really into it for the story either! I know there is one, and I do digest the hints they've given along the way, interact with every character until they start repeating the same lines, and I always try to make sure to check every nook and cranny I can to not miss anything. I've just gotten past the Forest Golem, and all I know now is that the Wand is in the King's Tomb, and that's what I need to find next. I'm actually about to boot it up right after this comment!

Your opinion on beating it legitimately isn't wrong, by any means, I think you're right. The reason I included the controls snippet is to mention there is still a way to play for the people like me, or to someone with less patience for such a game. I did mention it wasn't the correct way to play, and would put the enemies at a disadvantage. My main goal was to provide a means of entry for those that hear it's so sluggish and has horrible camera controls (for someone in 2024, anyway).

I'm sorry to hear about you and Kira. I have never interacted with a game developer before, so I can't really comment on that too much, unfortunately.

I think they can provide limitations while still making it accessible enough for someone who has never played a King's Field game before, or even someone who can't move their hands/fingers like another person can. I played the original Resident Evil games, and the new remakes even though they are not really my types of games. I thought they were both very good in their own rights. Sometimes the camera angles had more intense moments, and sometimes the over the shoulder view had more intense. While I see your point about changing the core of the game, and what games like Crow County are trying to recreate (on my Steam wishlist already!), it isn't always a bad thing to change the games up. Seeing what they were able to accomplish on the PS1 is impressive, and seeing the same game (albeit refreshed in some ways) through a new lens is also interesting. I guess I just look at them as they are and what they are. They're each their own entity, and I just go off of that. I've never heard of Hollow Body before, so I'll look that up while I boot King's Field up!

I can see that you do, and as a newcomer to the series, I can see why! I have always found that having more people to talk about a game with is more fun than it disappearing into obscurity and only lauded by a few who gave it a chance, even with what most would call some issues! Try to look at it this way, there will always be people like you who want it to be the purest version of a game they love, and that's perfectly good! Allowing others to join in on that fun, and letting the love for the games/series grow is also a good thing. Look at Elden Ring. It is the purest form of Dark Souls mechanics, while also introducing loads of new and exciting things. More people played Elden Ring, thanks to previous games achievements, and the fervent fan base it has garnered. That is awesome! While the combat may not be as hard as Demon's Souls was (it can be, but I feel like the older games were a bit harder, but maybe I just got better?), more people are able to play it thanks to the refinement and additions!

If FromSoftware were to revisit the King's Field games, I know they would only improve upon, not tarnish, the series and allow new comers to play and enjoy it like they did with Elden Ring. :)

In the mean time, there are a few games I have wishlisted that will hopefully scratch that itch when I finish these games. Dead Wells, Mohrta, Verho, and Fiend's Isle were the ones that seemed to get the closest! It's such a niche genre, I hate that it's not more popular!

*** I am doing the same! Again, thank you for your comments! :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!

I haven't gotten to the first or second game just yet, as I will be backtracking from the more refined, and as you said, more accessible games to the older titles as those will play more similar to the games I've found that used the toolkit for their creation! As you said, the website I linked to for the toolkit is the website hosted by the gracious person who took their time and love of the King's Field series and used it to improve the engine!

I understand what you mean by the game being purposefully built for the slow gameplay, but that just isn't how I want to spend my time as someone who doesn't have a lot of free time. That means that if I can, I will increase the walking speed, the combat speed, or whatever else I need to do to make the game more enjoyable for me, such as being able to use the right analog stick to move the camera. I'm not in it for the slow pacedness of it, I am in it for the exploration, level design, and over feel the games provide. I think it is awesome that people choose to play these games as there were meant to be played, and as you said, would even recommend it for those that want that challenge! I know there are others like me though, and that means that if it can help them enjoy the game for themselves, why try to invalidate their enjoyment? We can both play the same game, and talk about the level design, the secrets, and the atmosphere, while still being able to enjoy the game in our own preferred way. That's part of the fun of gaming after all! Some play on easy, others play on the hardest difficulty, and that's just fine!

I am sorry to hear you didn't like Lunacid that much, and while I agree the anime characters are pretty out there (and definitely not something I enjoyed seeing for the first time), you don't see them often enough, or at least I didn't through my entire 30 hour playthrough, where it became such an issue as to quit playing. Lunacid's developer only mentioned it being inspired by King's Field, and I think it took that inspiration very well. Maybe they changed the wording by the time it was fully released, but I never saw anything that said it was supposed to be a successor, only that it was heavily inspired. With that said, I understand what you were wanting, and I am sorry you did not get it. For a casual like myself, however, it was an absolute blast that made me go on to start playing King's Field and Shadow Tower, mainly because there aren't enough games like them!

As for the music, I am enjoying the music on King's Field IV, I enjoyed the music on Lunacid, and I hope that when I get done with King's Field IV, I'll enjoy the music in Shadow Tower!

All in all, the limitations of the past are gone. I understand they were working with the technology of the time, and I love what they were able to accomplish. No loading screens on a PS2 game, let alone PS1, was such an amazing feat that I don't think they get enough credit for! But, these limitations do not have to exist any longer, and I think people should be able to play any game, no matter if the developers are targeting a hardcore market or not, because I think limiting people from playing games is kind of sad. Video games are supposed to be an outlet, a hobby, something you can do to take your mind off of things or have a little escapism. If that means allowing them to play a game with more modern controls, as I have done for King's Field IV, why should that bother anyone else? You can still play the game the way it was intended to, while I play it in a way that is more satisfying for me.

Again, thank you for the time and effort you put into your comment. I just want others to try these gems out too. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!

I haven't gotten to the first or second game just yet, as I will be backtracking from the more refined, and as you said, more accessible games to the older titles as those will play more similar to the games I've found that used the toolkit for their creation! As you said, the website I linked to for the toolkit is the website hosted by the gracious person who took their time and love of the King's Field series and used it to improve the engine!

I understand what you mean by the game being purposefully built for the slow gameplay, but that just isn't how I want to spend my time as someone who doesn't have a lot of free time. That means that if I can, I will increase the walking speed, the combat speed, or whatever else I need to do to make the game more enjoyable for me, such as being able to use the right analog stick to move the camera. I'm not in it for the slow pacedness of it, I am in it for the exploration, level design, and over feel the games provide. I think it is awesome that people choose to play these games as there were meant to be played, and as you said, would even recommend it for those that want that challenge! I know there are others like me though, and that means that if it can help them enjoy the game for themselves, why try to invalidate their enjoyment? We can both play the same game, and talk about the level design, the secrets, and the atmosphere, while still being able to enjoy the game in our own preferred way. That's part of the fun of gaming after all! Some play on easy, others play on the hardest difficulty, and that's just fine!

I am sorry to hear you didn't like Lunacid that much, and while I agree the anime characters are pretty out there (and definitely not something I enjoyed seeing for the first time), you don't see them often enough, or at least I didn't through my entire 30 hour playthrough, where it became such an issue as to quit playing. Lunacid's developer only mentioned it being inspired by King's Field, and I think it took that inspiration very well. Maybe they changed the wording by the time it was fully released, but I never saw anything that said it was supposed to be a successor, only that it was heavily inspired. With that said, I understand what you were wanting, and I am sorry you did not get it. For a casual like myself, however, it was an absolute blast that made me go on to start playing King's Field and Shadow Tower, mainly because there aren't enough games like them!

As for the music, I am enjoying the music on King's Field IV, I enjoyed the music on Lunacid, and I hope that when I get done with King's Field IV, I'll enjoy the music in Shadow Tower!

All in all, the limitations of the past are gone. I understand they were working with the technology of the time, and I love what they were able to accomplish. No loading screens on a PS2 game, let alone PS1, was such an amazing feat that I don't think they get enough credit for! But, these limitations do not have to exist any longer, and I think people should be able to play any game, no matter if the developers are targeting a hardcore market or not, because I think limiting people from playing games is kind of sad. Video games are supposed to be an outlet, a hobby, something you can do to take your mind off of things or have a little escapism. If that means allowing them to play a game with more modern controls, as I have done for King's Field IV, why should that bother anyone else? You can still play the game the way it was intended to, while I play it in a way that is more satisfying for me.

Again, thank you for the time and effort you put into your comment. I just want others to try these gems out too. :)

I was thinking the same! That’s pretty good all things considered!

I understand your frustration, but that was due to people becoming complacent, running a candidate that really had no personality and basically came off as "I don't have to try so hard, look at this fool. I've got this in the bag!" which in turn left a lot of potential voters at home, because they may have also felt like she "had it in the bag", or turned off potential voters because her personality dripped with "I deserve this term!". Our system is broken, don't get me wrong. I know this. That's why I tried my hardest to provide people with information, show them the way that Trump uses language that sounds smart but isn't anywhere near so, and how that can be used to manipulate emotions to overwhelm logic.

Needless to say, there were a lot of reasons we got Trump in the first place. The best we can do now is educate people, call out traitors who support him and/or his ilk, and try to get others to see logic instead of headlines and fake polls or statistics.

They also said a "red wave" would happen in 2022, and it did not. Don't lose hope just because the news wants you to think it can't be anyone but Trump, as that's what the billionaires that own those stations want you to think so you lose out on hope! Hope is dangerous to authoritarian governments!

To provide a different view, it's actually reassuring to know that a lot of people who never voted before or cared to vote in the first place are out voting for her now because their rights were taken away (Women). At my early voting location, it was PACKED. I assume a lot were Trump, but I felt good seeing so many women there, alone. It might be that their rights and autonomy being taken away were good enough reason to get them out there to help bolster her campaign. They could've also voted for Trump, but that goes to show they're either malicious (against women, even if they think they're not), or they didn't bother to pay attention to the world around them for the last 8 years now. Those types of people will never be converted or helped, so they're a lost cause. It's good to feel hopeful though, and I am hopeful.

As a side note, I got two of my friends to vote for the first time in their lives, and it was good to see them get excited. All of us don't want another Trump presidency, because unlike most people here in my state around us, they actually remember how fucking terrible it was under his awful "administration".

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I've got Insurgence, and Reborn ready to go as soon as I get through Unbound! I'm glad you've been able to enjoy these so much! As soon as Did You Know Gaming released a video about Nintendo taking down fan games and rom hacks, I immediately went and got as many of the more polished and lauded ones as soon as I possibly could! :)

I tried finding the Harris interview on Fox there, and just like you, there were so many videos uploaded by randos that could have easily been manipulated, so I just went to the actual Faux website to watch it. Google wants Trump to win so they can buy their way to total dominance.