King's Field

King's Field

Cover art for the first Japanese release of King's Field.

King's Field is the first game in the King's Field RPG series. Like all its successors, the game is played through first person view in a dark and mysterious, medieval fantasy setting.

The game was developed by the Japanese game development company FromSoftware, and released December 16, 1994 in Japan. Since it was never published outside Japan, this game is commonly known as King's Field (Japan) in the U.S. It has been released for the Playstation console and later officially recreated using the Sword of Moonlight toolkit. The game has later received a fan translation in English by John Osborne.

Synopsis

There was a small country called Verdite surrounded by a deep forest, encircled by fog and whirling winds.

In ancient days, when a great battle was fought and many were dying, Verdite was saved by a person who then disappeared into the forest. Only the forest's drifting fog knew who this person was...

The citizens called their savior the Dragon of the Forest and built a sanctuary and honored this person there. Eventually, only a legend remained and the Sanctuary was changed into the Royal Graveyard and all was silent.

But, the legend says, "Someday the Dragon of the Forest shall return, bearing Magical Artifacts." However, the time has not yet come and the Sanctuary sleeps deeply...

Characters

This information has been taken directly from the game, including any grammatical errors. The information has been gathered through the Truth Mirror item in the game. If any information appears twice (sometimes with slight changes), it means that one NPC might be moving around to different areas.

• Level 1
  • Basque Crize - A soldier waiting for the return of his companions, he is the liaison between the suppression force and the Royal Castle.
  • Gill Baccas - A merchant, he does business to hide the fact that he’s an ex-thief.
  • Hans Oarman - No Truth Mirror information.
  • Juedds Kross - A priest, he practices his faith quietly in the graveyard because of oppression from the King.
  • Nicholas Oarman - He calls himself a grave digger and entered the graveyard with his son, but in truth, they are pillaging the graves.
  • Ozzy Ranvalgve - He is the caretaker in charge the graveyard. He learned fencing from Hauser Forrester.
  • Scholar - No Truth Mirror information.
  • Wilfred Light - A merchant coming from the affluent Light Clan. He participated in previous maneuvers as supply-master in charge of combat goods then decided to remain in the graveyard and open a shop.

• Level 2
  • Erik Blair - A soldier who searches for the graveyard’s hidden treasures, he is very knowledgeable about the graveyard.
  • Harbin Horst - No information.
  • Heinz Ruhart - A wandering minstrel, the king ordered him to enter the graveyard with the suppression force so he could write an epic poem about the battle.
  • Miria - The dragon’s fairy, she has served the Dragon line since ancient times and appears to people in order to convey the Dragon’s will.
  • Rally Kelvim - A sage known as the White Wizard of legend, he was originally a magician. However, he dislikes the world so he now lives in the graveyard and pursues the investigation of truth.

• Level 3
  • Erik Blair - A soldier who searches for the graveyard’s hidden treasures, he is very knowledgeable about the graveyard.
  • Randalf VIII - The king before the last king, it is said that he had greater magic ability than any other sovereign. Rumor claims that he was poisoned by his successor because he died soon after he ascended to the throne.

• Level 4
  • Commander Hauser Forrester - No Truth Mirror information.
  • Evil Dark Magician - Right hand man to the former king, he's skillful in earth magic and can revive the dead to do his bidding. He casts the spells Curse and Darkness.
  • Watts Virgil - A soldier who acts as both aide and bodyguard to Commander Hauser Forrester.

• Level 5
  • Forest Dragon - Since ancient times, it has lived in the forest and defended the people. While it is spoken of in legend and many people believe in it, few have ever seen it. This is the dragon who gave the sword to the Forrester family in days of old.
  • Miria - The dragon’s fairy, she has served the Dragon line since ancient times and appears to people in order to convey the Dragon’s will.
  • Reinhardt II - No Truth Mirror information.
  • Reinhardt III - No Truth Mirror information.

Enemies

This information has been taken directly from the game, including any grammatical errors. The information has been gathered through the Truth Mirror item in the game. If any information appears twice(sometimes with slight changes), it means that there are more than one type of that enemy in the game, but with the same name or Truth Mirror information on it.

• Blue Demon - It has the attribute of wind and casts Wind Cutter in addition to attacking with its tail and sharp steel claws.

• Clay Golem - Someone blew life into earth to make this giant. Because it is powerful, it does a lot of damage but its attack is repetitive. Piercing attacks work well to destroy it and return it to the earth.

• Death Fighter - The armor of a soldier who was killed by a black knight, it uses a sword to attack anyone nearby with a nimble movement. Because it is armor, its defense is high.

• Demon Lord - It casts the spells Darkness and Lightning Bolt in addition to attacking with its tail and sharp steel claws.

• Evil Dark Magician - Right hand man to the former king, he's skillful in earth magic and can revive the dead to do his bidding. He casts the spells Curse and Darkness.

• Gold Golem - A golem made of metal, its body shines golden and has very high defense. It casts a stone spell.

• Head Eater - A huge variety of Mantrap, it swallows its prey head first as its name suggests. It is poisonous.

• Hedge Spider - A spider that has become huge, it has a habit of collecting shiny things from around the graveyard.

• Living Statue - A Living Statue that has been made, enormous, it has very high attack and defense, but because it's huge and made of stone, it moves slowly.

• Living Statue - A statue that has had life blown into it, it acts as a guard.

• Lizard Man - A beast man who is a combination of a skink and a human, it attacks with a poisoned sword and casts the spell Fire Ball.

• Mantrap - Though outwardly it looks like a flytrap plant, it is a living animal of flesh. It has a strong biting attack but it can be defeated easily if it is caught off guard because it has low defense.

• Mummy - A mummified man, it absorbs its opponent's life force if they get too close and has high defense because it's covered with thick bandages.

• Phantom - The spirit of a person who died in the graveyard, it doesn't go out of its way to attack but it has fairly high defense.

• Reaper - A thing of living flesh that looks like a withered tree, they attack with thrusting tentacles. Reapers tend to swallow victims, so gold and other valuables can often be found in them.

• Red Demon - It has the attribute of fire and casts Fire Ball in addition to attacking with its tail and sharp steel claws.

• Reinhardt III - Former King Reinhardt the Second's own child, he manipulated magic at a very young age and showed great magical prowess. More than any other king, he has emphasized the search for the Magical Artifacts, even occasionally coming and going to the graveyard himself.

• Scorpion - A scorpion that has become huge, it has a hard exoskeleton and attacks with a needle like jab. It is poisonous.

• Skeleton - A skeleton that has temporarily had life blown into it, they have no fear and rush forward single-mindedly, attacking quickly. It is best to immobilize one by shattering it. They are strong against attacks from a regular sword.

• Skull Demon - It attacks earnestly, tearing with the tip of its sharp sickle like bones and also casts the spell Curse which inflicts the cursed status.

• Stone Golem - A stone that someone has blown life into, its power and high defense make it a formidable enemy although, because its intelligence is low, it just attacks one way repeatedly.

• Viper - A big snake, its thrusting bite is hard to avoid. Though it does little damage, it is poisonous.

• Viper - A Viper that has become enormous, it has extraordinary power, but its poison was lost when it became huge.

Credits

Names acquired from the original manual of the game. Need more information and references on positions.

• Executive Producer
  • Natoshi Zin

• Main Programmer
  • Elichi Hasegawa

• Programmer
  • Toshio Simada
  • Hiroyuki Arai

• Animation Supervisor
  • Yasuyoshi Karasawa

• Animation designer
  • Mitsuhiro Okamura

• Character designer
  • Sakumi Watanabe

• Scenario writer
  • Toshyiya Kimura
  • Shinichiro Nishida

• Other staff
  • Myuki Wake
  • Shinichi Komai
  • Masashi Moriya
  • Junji Izaki
  • Yuko Takahashi
  • Toshiki Hirota
  • Taku Ichinose
  • Noriaki Yoshikawa
  • Nobuo Takemasa

• Music and sound effects
  • SOUND KID'S Corp.

• Music composer
  • Kōji Endō
  • Kaoru Kono

• Sound Effect Programmer
  • Yasushi Kawakami

• Production Companies
  • FromSoftware

External links

• King's Field fansite