is an

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

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developed by

FromSoftware FromSoftware, Inc. is a Japanese video game development and publishing company based in Tokyo. Founded by Naotoshi Zin in November 1986, the company developed business software before releasing their first video game, ''King's Field (video game) ...

for the

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. It is the third entry in the ''

King's Field is an action role-playing video game series developed by FromSoftware. Titles in this series have been released for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows, and various mobile phone platforms. ''King's Field'' wa ...

'' series and the last one for the original PlayStation. The game was released on June 21, 1996 in Japan by FromSoftware and November 20, 1996 in North America by

ASCII Entertainment was a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, becoming ASCII Media Works. The company published '' ...

. It was not released in PAL territories. The English language version was renumbered and retitled ''King's Field II'', because the original ''

'' was not released outside Japan.

Plot

The player takes the role of Verdite prince Lyle (ライル・ウォリシス・フォレスター) as he struggles to uncover the reasons behind his father Jean's sudden descent into madness and restore his kingdom.

Gameplay

As in previous King's Field series titles, Gameplay mostly involves first-person battles, puzzle solving and exploration. The game takes place mostly in significant stretches of land above the ground, with the exception of some dungeons. Players can teleport between the different cities from the map screen.

Reception

Reviews for ''King's Field III'' widely praised the massive size of the game world and the resulting longevity, and criticized the slowness of the character movement and combat. Otherwise, however, critics were divided about the game. Of the four reviewers of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'', Shawn Smith praised several of the game's elements but found its gameplay too tedious, Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer recommended it for its first person approach and various improvements over the previous installment, and Sushi-X criticized that the game is ahead of its time, using a design which would make a good future for RPGs but runs much too slow on contemporary hardware. A ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' critic noted the improvements over ''King's Field II'' but judged that the slow, unbalanced combat remained a crippling flaw, remarking that "everything onscreen looks like it's moving underwater. A melee round against a low-level creature can take up to five minutes to complete." He concluded by expressing hope that there would be no further games in the series. Greg Kasavin of ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' also felt the improvements over ''King's Field II'' were insufficient, but primarily because they added up to more of a refinement of the original formula than a new direction. He concluded, "The first ''King's Field'' was an excellent game, and its like-minded sequel is even better. This is an exciting, non-linear journey filled to the brim with swords, sorcery, and secrets." '' Next Generation'' said that the combination of the action and RPG genres results in the game being shallow and dull by the standards of both genres, though they felt it could still be worthwhile for players who don't mind its slow pace.

References

External links

Agetec 'King's Field II (U.S.)' listing
{{FromSoftware games 1996 video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Role-playing video games King's Field Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games