Furthermore for the people that cannot deal with looking up and down with L2 and R2. You can use an Emulator like Duckstation to remap the controller so the right joystick will look left, right, up, and down for you. For the old-school players like us I don't think this is an issue but it is worthy of note to younger generations who are having difficulty or even anyone who likes the easier right joystick. But I like to suffer so I keep it old school and don't use emulation either. Though, the options exist.
@@the1ucidoneI have a little stuttering with King's Field 2 on Duckstation, probably just need to adjust some settings. About to try Shadow Tower on it. It's such a great emulator. I love being able to upscale graphics, remove the border to show more of the screen for some games and widescreen hacks that don't stretch everything! It's a love letter to PS1. You're right though it can remove some difficulty so you have to have a little self control. I always say I won't use save states... 😂😂
Took 6 months to get here, but the video is ready. I really enjoyed making it but I fear it may be a bit disconnected at points (it's built on a rewrite of a script I did 6 months ago) Hope you enjoy.
This was definitely worth the wait, looking forward to Abyss in another 6 months. Will you do a UA-cam update when you release the vertical slice? Im definitely keen to check it out
I'm surprised you didn't go into more detail on the game's very unique leveling system. Unlike most RPGs, where you get exp for killings monsters, each specific monster in Shadow Tower gives you specific stat increases. So instead of killing a slime giving you say, 10 exp, it gives you plus 2 to strength. The game has an area percentage system, once each area reaches 100%, no more monsters will spawn, so you can't just power grind like crazy. It's also randomized, one playthough might spawn different amounts of monsters, or they might drop different armor and weapons. It even has a full bestiary, where IIRC, it shows you what stat increase killing each monster will give you, among other things like the monster's stats. So you really want go out of your way to kill every single monster. I've never seen any other game use a leveling system like this, so it's a favorite of mine.
This reminded me a bit of Pokemon. It's true that in the Pokemon games you actually gain experience in a common RPG fashion, but the stats that your Level Up gives are decided by the types of pokemons you fought. So if you fight the enemies that increase certain type of stat (be attack, speed, defense, etc.) you can control more or less the stats that are gonna increase the more. I'm not english native, I hope my explanation is clear enough.
@@elguardallavesdejaal You mean the EVs right? Not something I've ever bothered with. I would assume most haven't as that's really more part of the completive part of the game.
32:40 DS2 was mostly made by some of From's "old guard" (people who were around for KF and ST), directed by a dude who loves King's Field, and seems like a bit of a love letter to the older From games in general at times, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was legit the inspiration
The designer for DS2 (Naotoshi Zin) was actually the designer/director for the King's Field & Shadow Tower series, so it's almost 100% intentional that anything that is very KF/ST like in DS2 is probably a direct callback/reference/insperation.
You don't know how happy it makes me to find someone making detailed videos on these classic PS1 From Soft games. I loved these games so much and I've always felt like no one else I know ever played or even knew about them. King's Field as a series is some of my favorite PS1 memories. I admit I never played Shadow Tower, because I had no idea it existed... which I blame on the weird boxart and the year being 1998.
I always thought that the ending signified that your character became that ruler and was corrupted by the crown, continuing the cycle. Interesting take, seeing that as just a vision.
Yes i think that was the intention, you are just another one in the long cycle, you are no better than your predecessors and you will end in the same sorry position as them
15:05 This is one thing that I really like about Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, you're explicitly not any form of chosen one or hero, just some guy who gets caught up in the events of the story
it's funny that, when I first played this game (After I had played all 3 King's Fields when PS1 was still running) to me this game always felt like the less niche of the bunch. I always felt like King's Field were alternative games while Shadow Tower was a more mainstream game. My friends used to play Shadow Tower and loved it, while no one wanted to get even close to King's Field.
Hey Aesir. i started watching last year with your kings field vids. i just wanted to say. when it comes to game analysis. you are one in a million. i hope you continue for years to come.
Can I just say, I’m massively impressed with the amount of detail and substance put into your videos. Despite this being far from a full time job, you’ve managed some really great work!
I just played this recently, it was my first of this genre, I loved it. It feels like a survival horror game in item economy and aesthetics, great atmosphere. And the start was absolutely brutal, I had to restart many times with the bats and skeleton shredding me. But every item found was a blessing and felt meaningful. Its unfortunate it didnt carry this dire economy through the rest of the game. As with ST Abyss, around the middle of the game I reached a momentum point where I had so many excess items and health pots that it wasnt really a question anymore of if I would make it through. I think I ended the game with 25 ish health pots, 30-something cunes and spare equipment. It still had a decent feeling however since things were still degrading I just wish it kept that fearful feeling at the beginning of the game. Over all though really otherworldly experience and a surprising good play even in modern times. I highly recommend playing on emulator with the mouse injector mod so it controls well.
I wonder if the lack of music and cutscenes were due to a low budget? Since playing Pathologic and Sunless Sea I have come to enjoy intentionally unfair and indifferent game worlds. Being able to overcome the game despite the odds being stacked against you is what really makes you feel like a hero, not some contrived ending cutscenes. I really enjoyed the video, thank you!
This is a great dissection of one of my all time favorite games. Glad to see it getting a little recognition. Still miffs me that I was never able to find the last 3 cunes though.
its a clunky game, but in my opinion is the best dungeon crawling experience in videogams. Nothing tops the atmosphere of this game, its the closest thing to tabletop dungeon crawling.
Damn! It haunts me that I never played the Fromsoft games of yesteryear. Every time I check one of your videos on them I end up amazed that they almost did not get any recognition outside of Japan. Thanks for the entertainment M.R. Aesir!
Nice video1 Personally, I find Shadow Tower to be the best of the PS1 era From games. It has the tightest level design, it has the most interconnected mechanics, its use of health as part of its economy is brilliant, and it's just plain weird. I know a lot of people really hate the equipment degradation, but I find it makes you really prepare yourself before you just charge in to new areas and much more rewarding for it. The only thing that makes it a pain is that you often have to backtrack in order to repair your equipment, which can be annoying. Still, central tower connecting all the worlds together is a remarkable achievement in level design and doesn't get enough praise. I wish modern games (even From's games) took more inspiration from it because there hasn't really been anything quite like it since.
21:52 I see you with that little tease considering the next shadow tower game, but great video you really make me want to try this game and the king's fields. Thankfully shadow tower is available on ps3, but I wish some of the kf games where there too. Keep up the great work!
This game's aesthetic and creature design is absolutely off the fucking charts here. I really need to play this some day, I adore Shadow Tower Abyss, but never got around to this or the PS1 Kings Field games. Amazing video as always!
This game is so cool. it's atmospheric as hell, has standout creature designs and is satisfying to just progress through. I loved it back in the day and would not stop comparing Demon's Souls to this game when it dropped and no one knew what the hell i was talking about lol. One of my favorites on the PS1. I was so bummed we never got the sequel here in the states.
I thought the ending cutscene showed Ruus becoming a king with the crown. Also after the credits end and the game sends you back into the game, you can check the bestiary to see the crown labelled as the Demon King. What I think is that the idea is to coerce a human into bringing the crown back to the surface so it can cause calamity again.
It's hard to tell. In undub that I played Ruus isn't voiced and only Apparition is voiced, so when it switches it might still be the ghost talking and warning Ruus to not use the crown.
There is some evidence from really old screenshots that there was going to be a part where you were going to be outside of the tower, at the start, but they cut that part and just had you start in the tower
@@AesirAesthetics the original tower also had a face on it, like a sphinx. "1997 From Software Presents" pamphlet shows these early images. You can also see a beta version of the crown!
I always assumed the ending cutscene was the player's character, having forgotten his intent to rescue the souls of the dead, and that he succumbs to repeating the cycle. Consider that as you progress through the game, you are collecting and consuming soul pods, becoming more and more powerful than any mere man.
Been waiting for this one and it was well worth it! Well done and thanks as always for the great content. Now, I’ll again patiently wait for A Look Back at Shadow Tower Abyss. 🤞
Nice! Glad to see you're getting back to some awesome classic From Soft dungeon crawlers! I still really love the level up system in both these games. I've never seen it in any other RPG.
Fantastic review, I learned a lot! I'm gonna beat this classic wish me luck guys! Also thanks for reminding me that the plot's in the manual, I always forget that with older games haha. I played half way through it a while back and had no clue! 😂😂😂
Just played through this game for the month of October and I have to say - this game's oppressive and creepy atmosphere are what I loved about the Souls games the most. This game delivers that same feeling in spades. At first, I was taken aback by the durability mechanic, but that was more of an issue I had to get over and deal with. When I found out, that there is a Durability Blacksmith quite early on and have the ability to find Soul Rings(these rings are special as they allow one to regen HP back very quickly) I found the game to become much more about patience than difficulty. I love this review series of yours ❤ Happy Halloween 🎃💀👻
I never played this game growing up, but planned on doing it at some point so I made sure to beat it in advance for this video. My experience when playing was that it was honestly just a worse version of King's Field 4, which is a game that I already didn't really like because of how it deviated from the 3rd game. But after watching your video my opinion did change because I realized that most of my negative reaction was because of unfair expectations. One thing you mentioned around 33 minutes was that the player doesn't get penalized for wearing heavy armor, which isn't exactly true. You don't get a benefit from wearing light armor, but if your equipment weight is too heavy you do actually take steady damage. During the game I found myself dumping stat points I didn't really want to waste into strength just so I could raise the limit enough to equip the cool new shield or other equipment I found.
A lot of FPS games on the PSP used the face buttons as a camera dpad, I remember playing a lot of Medal of Honor and Resistance and it working surprisingly well.
Awesome as always! :D Super interesting analysis. I'll have to rewatch it at least once or twice like most of your other videos. :3 Keep it up, whenever i see that you uploaded a video, it's an instant watch for me, thanks for the great content Aesir!
My first video I found of yours was your bloodborne commentary, and it got me hooked on your videos. You have such an interesting perspective on things and got me to look at these games in a slightly different light. Keep up the great work!
I genuinely way prefer shadow tower over kings field. Just something about the unique vibes, cool presentation with no cutscenes and music, and survival horror like resource management, makes this my favorite old fromsoft game by a long shot.
Great video. This is such a great game that nobody talks about. That is probably why the price is shooting up on Ebay for it, just like every other PS1 game. Again awesome video!
I really enjoyed the video thank you for creating what I think is the best deep dive into shadow Tower I have seen so far. You're doing good work for the community god bless you son.
Amazing video! Loved the in depth analysis & look into this gem of a game. I'm curious as to if anyone here in the comments has ever 100% every area in the game? *cough*( Screeching Area) *cough*. I know the spawn rate for the last King Hopper is seemingly impossible, and I've never had the patience. 😂
As a fan of Bloodborne and souls i discovered Shadow Tower Abyss not long ago. Really loved the creepy and weird atmosphere although i didnt finish it, cant wait for the review.
34:55 "fairness gets a lot of hype" made me laugh but it's a really good point. This is why your videos are so good, so few people are making such fresh critiques.
I hope so much to see Evergrace sometime on this channel. It was such a weird experience, but I loved that game so much. Hopefully you will give it some of the love it deserves
I love this game. Even though the economy basically breaks once you have regeneration and access to the healing pool, I still love this gem ❤ the enemy designs and overall opressive atmosphere is amazing - something I miss about the new Fromsoftware games.
The tech limitations of the time added to the scariness. With minimum draw distances it made the enemies pop out very close and you can't see far down the hallways.
Theres actually a ring in the game called ring of Dark Souls! You can find it in a secret room in the monster area :)) Its kinda cool, they gave a referense 12 years before Dark Souls released :P
According to the manual: Strength affects HP. Speed affects movement and weapon speed. Defense affects...defense. xD . Balance is "attack resistance," so I'm guessing poise. Smash, slash, pierce are obvious. Focus affects magic points. Harmony is "magic speed", so it affects the magic "stamina bar." Spirit is magic resistance. Purity is "recovery," which I believe is how long before a status ailment such as paralysis goes away. Particle, Melting and Soul are "magic attributes." I think Particle is strength for both fire and ice spells, because their descriptions talk about gathering particles from the air to make the spell. Melting is damage for acid/poison spells. Which I think leaves Soul as damage for light and dark spells, since they tend to summon "spirits," which is quite counterintuitive when there's already a Spirit stat. xD
9:30 It is mindblowing when you look at any old JRPG in a hex editor, and see literally all the text for the game just there taking up soooooo much real estate, and doing so extremely inefficiently compared to the rest of the code doing what it did. It's like, "really, that was the only solution? damn...".
Finally got to play it. Currently at earth poisonous caves and i'm having fun. I don't think being a kid at it's release I would've been able to play it. Literally dropped the controller a few times as you go into the darkness and fall face to face with some of those monsters lol.
Great video! I've set my eyes on Shadow Tower for some time now but I've never tried really playing it yet - I fear I will feel too stressed or frustrated if I don't manage to beat it. I may play it some time - probably after I beat Demons' Souls, if I ever beat it...
I could never get into King's Field, but Shadow Tower was quite fun. Part of this is probably because I used save states, though. Best part of Shadow Tower were the bizarre monster designs. Even though the gameplay was just basic dungeon crawling, I still wanted to get to the next area just to see the strange creatures. Worst part is the lack of a new game + feature.
True, I wish there was an NG+ feature but most games back I the day never had that mechanic in mind. I hope we see a remake or remaster of these older games someday.
i remember seeing my dad play this when i was a wee lad, i was so confused looking at it, what is going on? or when i tried it : why do i feel so sluggish and weak. I actually like the dark and bleak visual tone back when i was a kid, perhaps that contributed to me liking the depressing air around many things LOL now that i'm older and (none the) wiser i can appreciate that all these jank is more of a thematic type of jank. Like Resident Evil, tank controls back then was the jank that made you feel sort-of powerless until you find the holy grail of guns (it was shotgun for me, i seriously went the route of shotgun as man's best friend). Mechanically this is horrid, thematically this fits so well.
9:55 "That terrible gaze which snuffed out the Kingdom of Eclipse in one night." You know, methinks this sounds just a bit like the dark beast that beset Astora in Dark Souls.
everything you said about speed is a placebo effect. Speed only effects how fast you can attack, which is bar regen I guess. I say i guess because even with my post game Ruus who killed all 630 enemies in the tower and swaps between different endgame gear, speed doesnt even seem to work. You dont move faster at all and power bar always seems to take just under 2 seconds, and the difference in speed between me using no armor and a slow weapon to swift gear and a fast weapon is about 400 stat points
First time ever seeing Shadow Tower and just from Aesthetics alone looks like a big jump in quality over the King's Field games. Like if you told me King's Field 94 was the first 3D game ever made i'd probably believe you. Animation work looks like those experimental 3D animation films from the early 80's. Shadow Tower actually looks like a real game in comparison and no just a Tech demo.
I seriously dislike.98 % of people who analyze games but you, you do something to me. You make me lose myself in thought over these games and I love it
just finished the japanese version of this game, started a new game for my second run through but noticed that pretty much all the enemies are gone and not spawning anymore. do the enemies not respawn for new game+? :(
You mention how the game could have done a better job of making the player care more about the upheavel and chaos in the world, but honestly I REALLY like that id didn´t. Here you are a mercenary with no allegiance "Making his way trough strength" chaos between kingdoms means lots of jobs for a mercenary, since you have no allegiance you don´t care if a given kingdom fall or not. But the tower took your GRANNY. That is personal, you can´t mess with someone´s dear granny and not expect retribution. I absolutely love that the word is facing ruin but if it is saved it will be just the byproduct of a guy trying to help his granny, big picture be dammned
I probably coudl've phrased that better, but what I meant was, I think it'd be better if the game gave us a feeling of a world existing outside of the tower for us to contrast the tower to. Grandma and her village would be my ideal pitch for how to give us that feeling, walk through the empty houses and maybe find grandma's house ransacked or something.
I'm a big doofus.
There is an option to remap buttons.
If you play it on the Vita you can map the buttons to basically play just like "souls".
@@serfillustrated4018 that's what I do! I'm mapped like an fps with L as shield and R as sword.
Furthermore for the people that cannot deal with looking up and down with L2 and R2. You can use an Emulator like Duckstation to remap the controller so the right joystick will look left, right, up, and down for you. For the old-school players like us I don't think this is an issue but it is worthy of note to younger generations who are having difficulty or even anyone who likes the easier right joystick. But I like to suffer so I keep it old school and don't use emulation either. Though, the options exist.
@@the1ucidoneI have a little stuttering with King's Field 2 on Duckstation, probably just need to adjust some settings. About to try Shadow Tower on it. It's such a great emulator. I love being able to upscale graphics, remove the border to show more of the screen for some games and widescreen hacks that don't stretch everything! It's a love letter to PS1. You're right though it can remove some difficulty so you have to have a little self control. I always say I won't use save states... 😂😂
21:50 "...and I don't just mean in the sense that there aren't machine guns here - that'd be ridiculous, right?"
I sense some foreshadowing here.
😏
Took 6 months to get here, but the video is ready.
I really enjoyed making it but I fear it may be a bit disconnected at points (it's built on a rewrite of a script I did 6 months ago)
Hope you enjoy.
This was definitely worth the wait, looking forward to Abyss in another 6 months. Will you do a UA-cam update when you release the vertical slice? Im definitely keen to check it out
@@oliverjoel5870 Abyss comes end of July.
Vertical Slice comes end of June and YES, there will be a video following it's release.
I'm surprised you didn't go into more detail on the game's very unique leveling system. Unlike most RPGs, where you get exp for killings monsters, each specific monster in Shadow Tower gives you specific stat increases. So instead of killing a slime giving you say, 10 exp, it gives you plus 2 to strength. The game has an area percentage system, once each area reaches 100%, no more monsters will spawn, so you can't just power grind like crazy. It's also randomized, one playthough might spawn different amounts of monsters, or they might drop different armor and weapons. It even has a full bestiary, where IIRC, it shows you what stat increase killing each monster will give you, among other things like the monster's stats. So you really want go out of your way to kill every single monster.
I've never seen any other game use a leveling system like this, so it's a favorite of mine.
Been playing it and was impressed to see quick select for potions and actual blocking too
This reminded me a bit of Pokemon. It's true that in the Pokemon games you actually gain experience in a common RPG fashion, but the stats that your Level Up gives are decided by the types of pokemons you fought. So if you fight the enemies that increase certain type of stat (be attack, speed, defense, etc.) you can control more or less the stats that are gonna increase the more. I'm not english native, I hope my explanation is clear enough.
@@elguardallavesdejaal You mean the EVs right? Not something I've ever bothered with. I would assume most haven't as that's really more part of the completive part of the game.
@@wind2536 I think King's field has had the quick select slot for items at least since the second game, which was nice.
@@EarthboundX for one item, shadow tower has multiple
32:40 DS2 was mostly made by some of From's "old guard" (people who were around for KF and ST), directed by a dude who loves King's Field, and seems like a bit of a love letter to the older From games in general at times, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was legit the inspiration
The designer for DS2 (Naotoshi Zin) was actually the designer/director for the King's Field & Shadow Tower series, so it's almost 100% intentional that anything that is very KF/ST like in DS2 is probably a direct callback/reference/insperation.
huh...... so it's literally "From the guys that made KS/ST"
We need another game like DS2 or KF/ST. But only after Armored Core, of course.
You don't know how happy it makes me to find someone making detailed videos on these classic PS1 From Soft games. I loved these games so much and I've always felt like no one else I know ever played or even knew about them. King's Field as a series is some of my favorite PS1 memories. I admit I never played Shadow Tower, because I had no idea it existed... which I blame on the weird boxart and the year being 1998.
Happy to hear these videos make people happy :)
I always thought that the ending signified that your character became that ruler and was corrupted by the crown, continuing the cycle. Interesting take, seeing that as just a vision.
Yes i think that was the intention, you are just another one in the long cycle, you are no better than your predecessors and you will end in the same sorry position as them
Been waiting months for this one. Really appreciate how you cover this niche most people on UA-cam don’t
Yeah, there's an extra joy in shining a spotlight on this than bigger games.
15:05 This is one thing that I really like about Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, you're explicitly not any form of chosen one or hero, just some guy who gets caught up in the events of the story
Agreed.
it's funny that, when I first played this game (After I had played all 3 King's Fields when PS1 was still running) to me this game always felt like the less niche of the bunch. I always felt like King's Field were alternative games while Shadow Tower was a more mainstream game. My friends used to play Shadow Tower and loved it, while no one wanted to get even close to King's Field.
Hey Aesir. i started watching last year with your kings field vids. i just wanted to say. when it comes to game analysis. you are one in a million. i hope you continue for years to come.
:)
Can I just say, I’m massively impressed with the amount of detail and substance put into your videos. Despite this being far from a full time job, you’ve managed some really great work!
Thank you :)
I just played this recently, it was my first of this genre, I loved it. It feels like a survival horror game in item economy and aesthetics, great atmosphere. And the start was absolutely brutal, I had to restart many times with the bats and skeleton shredding me. But every item found was a blessing and felt meaningful. Its unfortunate it didnt carry this dire economy through the rest of the game. As with ST Abyss, around the middle of the game I reached a momentum point where I had so many excess items and health pots that it wasnt really a question anymore of if I would make it through. I think I ended the game with 25 ish health pots, 30-something cunes and spare equipment. It still had a decent feeling however since things were still degrading I just wish it kept that fearful feeling at the beginning of the game.
Over all though really otherworldly experience and a surprising good play even in modern times. I highly recommend playing on emulator with the mouse injector mod so it controls well.
I wonder if the lack of music and cutscenes were due to a low budget? Since playing Pathologic and Sunless Sea I have come to enjoy intentionally unfair and indifferent game worlds. Being able to overcome the game despite the odds being stacked against you is what really makes you feel like a hero, not some contrived ending cutscenes. I really enjoyed the video, thank you!
You should absolutely play Vangers.
@@mynameisozymandias7150or Stalker Gamma blyat
Try "Rain World" if you like feeling vulnerable to the world around you.
This is a great dissection of one of my all time favorite games. Glad to see it getting a little recognition. Still miffs me that I was never able to find the last 3 cunes though.
its a clunky game, but in my opinion is the best dungeon crawling experience in videogams. Nothing tops the atmosphere of this game, its the closest thing to tabletop dungeon crawling.
Damn! It haunts me that I never played the Fromsoft games of yesteryear. Every time I check one of your videos on them I end up amazed that they almost did not get any recognition outside of Japan. Thanks for the entertainment M.R. Aesir!
:)
God I freaking LOVE Shadow Tower, been dying to play it again lately
Nice video1 Personally, I find Shadow Tower to be the best of the PS1 era From games. It has the tightest level design, it has the most interconnected mechanics, its use of health as part of its economy is brilliant, and it's just plain weird. I know a lot of people really hate the equipment degradation, but I find it makes you really prepare yourself before you just charge in to new areas and much more rewarding for it. The only thing that makes it a pain is that you often have to backtrack in order to repair your equipment, which can be annoying.
Still, central tower connecting all the worlds together is a remarkable achievement in level design and doesn't get enough praise. I wish modern games (even From's games) took more inspiration from it because there hasn't really been anything quite like it since.
I'm working on something atm - a spiritual successor of sorts. 😊
Yess this is going to make my weekend awesome.
Perfect!
Ave, true to caesar!
21:52 I see you with that little tease considering the next shadow tower game, but great video you really make me want to try this game and the king's fields. Thankfully shadow tower is available on ps3, but I wish some of the kf games where there too. Keep up the great work!
This game's aesthetic and creature design is absolutely off the fucking charts here. I really need to play this some day, I adore Shadow Tower Abyss, but never got around to this or the PS1 Kings Field games. Amazing video as always!
Of course 1998 was a huge year but its NTSC retail release was Q4 of '99, and North America is the largest gaming market
This game is so cool. it's atmospheric as hell, has standout creature designs and is satisfying to just progress through. I loved it back in the day and would not stop comparing Demon's Souls to this game when it dropped and no one knew what the hell i was talking about lol. One of my favorites on the PS1. I was so bummed we never got the sequel here in the states.
I thought the ending cutscene showed Ruus becoming a king with the crown.
Also after the credits end and the game sends you back into the game, you can check the bestiary to see the crown labelled as the Demon King.
What I think is that the idea is to coerce a human into bringing the crown back to the surface so it can cause calamity again.
It's hard to tell. In undub that I played Ruus isn't voiced and only Apparition is voiced, so when it switches it might still be the ghost talking and warning Ruus to not use the crown.
Love this channel. That said, this video contains some of the wildest takes on any fromsoft game ever.
What takes in question are you referring to - mind adding some context? I am genuinely curious.
There is some evidence from really old screenshots that there was going to be a part where you were going to be outside of the tower, at the start, but they cut that part and just had you start in the tower
:(
@@AesirAesthetics the original tower also had a face on it, like a sphinx.
"1997 From Software Presents" pamphlet shows these early images. You can also see a beta version of the crown!
@@DonnyKirkMusic I need to check that out then!
Thanks :)
Omg, that would have been so sick! I am loving this game and wish there was more stuff to explore. 👻🎃
I always assumed the ending cutscene was the player's character, having forgotten his intent to rescue the souls of the dead, and that he succumbs to repeating the cycle. Consider that as you progress through the game, you are collecting and consuming soul pods, becoming more and more powerful than any mere man.
And the fact that the crown corrupts the wearer. It kinda makes sense
Been waiting for this one and it was well worth it! Well done and thanks as always for the great content. Now, I’ll again patiently wait for A Look Back at Shadow Tower Abyss. 🤞
Literally found this on the KF reddit, and immediately brewed a tea to watch lol
I LOVE THE KF SUBREDDIT!
@@AesirAesthetics nice me too
Excellent video! Love your use of King's Field IV music since Shadow Tower has none.
yeah, lol.
Hell yeah, loved your Kings Field videos so this was an awesome surprise to see in my feed.
Glad to hear it!
I’ve been waiting waiting waiting! Thanks as always for giving me something new to rewatch over and over again!
Thank you for this! I love Shadow Tower! 😁 will you do Eternal Ring after Shadow Tower Abyss?
Nice! Glad to see you're getting back to some awesome classic From Soft dungeon crawlers! I still really love the level up system in both these games. I've never seen it in any other RPG.
Fantastic review, I learned a lot! I'm gonna beat this classic wish me luck guys! Also thanks for reminding me that the plot's in the manual, I always forget that with older games haha. I played half way through it a while back and had no clue! 😂😂😂
Just played through this game for the month of October and I have to say - this game's oppressive and creepy atmosphere are what I loved about the Souls games the most. This game delivers that same feeling in spades.
At first, I was taken aback by the durability mechanic, but that was more of an issue I had to get over and deal with.
When I found out, that there is a Durability Blacksmith quite early on and have the ability to find Soul Rings(these rings are special as they allow one to regen HP back very quickly) I found the game to become much more about patience than difficulty. I love this review series of yours ❤
Happy Halloween 🎃💀👻
I never played this game growing up, but planned on doing it at some point so I made sure to beat it in advance for this video. My experience when playing was that it was honestly just a worse version of King's Field 4, which is a game that I already didn't really like because of how it deviated from the 3rd game. But after watching your video my opinion did change because I realized that most of my negative reaction was because of unfair expectations.
One thing you mentioned around 33 minutes was that the player doesn't get penalized for wearing heavy armor, which isn't exactly true. You don't get a benefit from wearing light armor, but if your equipment weight is too heavy you do actually take steady damage. During the game I found myself dumping stat points I didn't really want to waste into strength just so I could raise the limit enough to equip the cool new shield or other equipment I found.
I had been eagerly awaiting this video for quite some time and it did not disappoint!
I'm currently playing through this one. It's pretty great. I think I still prefer King's Field IV, but it's good fun.
It really is!
I think it was when I finally came across the second or third repair gravestone thing, that I almost actually teared up... I was so relieved.
A lot of FPS games on the PSP used the face buttons as a camera dpad, I remember playing a lot of Medal of Honor and Resistance and it working surprisingly well.
I definitely remember this game coming out but didn’t hear much about it. Looks interesting for sure. Thanks for enlightening me about it my friend
Awesome as always! :D Super interesting analysis. I'll have to rewatch it at least once or twice like most of your other videos. :3 Keep it up, whenever i see that you uploaded a video, it's an instant watch for me, thanks for the great content Aesir!
:D glad you liked it :D
10:10 Ah good ol Engrish the phrase is supposed to be "This Crown is what gave ME power and made ME a conquerer" source the channel DeadNFurious
My first video I found of yours was your bloodborne commentary, and it got me hooked on your videos. You have such an interesting perspective on things and got me to look at these games in a slightly different light. Keep up the great work!
:D
1998 , What a stacked year in gaming.
I genuinely way prefer shadow tower over kings field. Just something about the unique vibes, cool presentation with no cutscenes and music, and survival horror like resource management, makes this my favorite old fromsoft game by a long shot.
Same! It's like proto-dark souls.
I love the use of King's Field IV music throughout the video. That game has such an excellent soundtrack.
yes it does, but I mainly used it because Shadow Tower doesn't have a really beefy soundtrack
Great content, currently going through many of your retrospectives 👍
Thank you :)
Great video. This is such a great game that nobody talks about. That is probably why the price is shooting up on Ebay for it, just like every other PS1 game. Again awesome video!
Ayeee thanks again for this treat!
I really enjoyed the video thank you for creating what I think is the best deep dive into shadow Tower I have seen so far. You're doing good work for the community god bless you son.
:D
ngl Shadow Tower one feels as though it has a better more..sympathetic plot then most or even all Kingsfield games.
Agreed. It feels more humble and real ❤
Amazing video! Loved the in depth analysis & look into this gem of a game. I'm curious as to if anyone here in the comments has ever 100% every area in the game? *cough*( Screeching Area) *cough*. I know the spawn rate for the last King Hopper is seemingly impossible, and I've never had the patience. 😂
great stuff, and cant wait for the last of the Ico trilogy
As a fan of Bloodborne and souls i discovered Shadow Tower Abyss not long ago. Really loved the creepy and weird atmosphere although i didnt finish it, cant wait for the review.
My Friday just turned a 1000000% better
34:55 "fairness gets a lot of hype" made me laugh but it's a really good point. This is why your videos are so good, so few people are making such fresh critiques.
:)
I loved your king's field videos so this is nice to see
:D
I love all the From software videos.
I hope so much to see Evergrace sometime on this channel. It was such a weird experience, but I loved that game so much. Hopefully you will give it some of the love it deserves
maybe one day.
I'm still going through early from soft so unless I lose interest I'll probably cover it down the line
@@AesirAesthetics If that time comes, I'll be there :D Thank you for your awesome work regardless!
Didn't need a map.
I have a pretty good memory when it comes to games!
:O
I love this game. Even though the economy basically breaks once you have regeneration and access to the healing pool, I still love this gem ❤ the enemy designs and overall opressive atmosphere is amazing - something I miss about the new Fromsoftware games.
The tech limitations of the time added to the scariness. With minimum draw distances it made the enemies pop out very close and you can't see far down the hallways.
Some good after work watching in a few hours.
What gives you the right to reach into my memories like this?
Theres actually a ring in the game called ring of Dark Souls! You can find it in a secret room in the monster area :)) Its kinda cool, they gave a referense 12 years before Dark Souls released :P
It is not really a 'reference,' per say, but it is more of a coincidence.
great vid as usual and really interested in playing your game !
Awesome, thank you!
TFW you go down a hellhole to punch satan in the face just because you miss granny's food.
Man what a great friggin video! You made my day !
Glad to hear it!
According to the manual:
Strength affects HP. Speed affects movement and weapon speed. Defense affects...defense. xD . Balance is "attack resistance," so I'm guessing poise. Smash, slash, pierce are obvious. Focus affects magic points. Harmony is "magic speed", so it affects the magic "stamina bar." Spirit is magic resistance. Purity is "recovery," which I believe is how long before a status ailment such as paralysis goes away.
Particle, Melting and Soul are "magic attributes." I think Particle is strength for both fire and ice spells, because their descriptions talk about gathering particles from the air to make the spell. Melting is damage for acid/poison spells. Which I think leaves Soul as damage for light and dark spells, since they tend to summon "spirits," which is quite counterintuitive when there's already a Spirit stat. xD
Since we're doing a lot of From games, maybe you could visit the Otogi games? Very unusual and interesting games!
I might!
currently working on the armored core series, but I might get around the Otogi
Thanks for covering these games!!
No problem!
9:30 It is mindblowing when you look at any old JRPG in a hex editor, and see literally all the text for the game just there taking up soooooo much real estate, and doing so extremely inefficiently compared to the rest of the code doing what it did. It's like, "really, that was the only solution? damn...".
That was an amazing review. I hope you talk about the sequel
I will
when he said "pen and paper your way through" i had to change my shorts
Finally got to play it. Currently at earth poisonous caves and i'm having fun. I don't think being a kid at it's release I would've been able to play it. Literally dropped the controller a few times as you go into the darkness and fall face to face with some of those monsters lol.
By the way, you should do a video on Eternal Ring and the Evergrace series!
I probably will down the track.
Great video!
I've set my eyes on Shadow Tower for some time now but I've never tried really playing it yet - I fear I will feel too stressed or frustrated if I don't manage to beat it. I may play it some time - probably after I beat Demons' Souls, if I ever beat it...
If you ever go for Shadow Tower, remember that I believe in you!
I could never get into King's Field, but Shadow Tower was quite fun. Part of this is probably because I used save states, though.
Best part of Shadow Tower were the bizarre monster designs. Even though the gameplay was just basic dungeon crawling, I still wanted to get to the next area just to see the strange creatures.
Worst part is the lack of a new game + feature.
True, I wish there was an NG+ feature but most games back I the day never had that mechanic in mind.
I hope we see a remake or remaster of these older games someday.
Can't wait for the video about Abyss. Couldn't enjoy the original, but the PS2 sequel is great!
Just started playing this, already want to tear my hair out.
Keep going through. I played it a few months ago and it’s incredibly stressful but feels great to finish
i remember seeing my dad play this when i was a wee lad, i was so confused looking at it, what is going on? or when i tried it : why do i feel so sluggish and weak. I actually like the dark and bleak visual tone back when i was a kid, perhaps that contributed to me liking the depressing air around many things LOL
now that i'm older and (none the) wiser i can appreciate that all these jank is more of a thematic type of jank. Like Resident Evil, tank controls back then was the jank that made you feel sort-of powerless until you find the holy grail of guns (it was shotgun for me, i seriously went the route of shotgun as man's best friend).
Mechanically this is horrid, thematically this fits so well.
9:55 "That terrible gaze which snuffed out the Kingdom of Eclipse in one night."
You know, methinks this sounds just a bit like the dark beast that beset Astora in Dark Souls.
could be
Love your content, please keep it up!
This upload just made my day
everything you said about speed is a placebo effect. Speed only effects how fast you can attack, which is bar regen I guess.
I say i guess because even with my post game Ruus who killed all 630 enemies in the tower and swaps between different endgame gear, speed doesnt even seem to work. You dont move faster at all and power bar always seems to take just under 2 seconds, and the difference in speed between me using no armor and a slow weapon to swift gear and a fast weapon is about 400 stat points
First time ever seeing Shadow Tower and just from Aesthetics alone looks like a big jump in quality over the King's Field games. Like if you told me King's Field 94 was the first 3D game ever made i'd probably believe you. Animation work looks like those experimental 3D animation films from the early 80's. Shadow Tower actually looks like a real game in comparison and no just a Tech demo.
I seriously dislike.98 % of people who analyze games but you, you do something to me. You make me lose myself in thought over these games and I love it
I feel like one of the few people to not like King's Field 3. I can't wait to give this game a go.
Own King's Field. Master status. Also own Shadow Tower. Never beat/really played it. Wish I had.maybe will. . . .
Hey aesir i was wondering if you will ever do a video on koudelka for the ps1
just finished the japanese version of this game, started a new game for my second run through but noticed that pretty much all the enemies are gone and not spawning anymore. do the enemies not respawn for new game+? :(
Damn, with tweaks and nowadays graphics, this would be the most wicked spooky dungeon crawler
Next talk about Vigil: Longest Night! Please?
amazing stuff!
Glad you think so dude, very nice!
@@AesirAesthetics I was being sarcastic.
AAAAHHH!
Why do you come here to ruin my mood!?!?!?!
@@AesirAesthetics It's called tough love!
@@SinclairLore :(
You mention how the game could have done a better job of making the player care more about the upheavel and chaos in the world, but honestly I REALLY like that id didn´t. Here you are a mercenary with no allegiance "Making his way trough strength" chaos between kingdoms means lots of jobs for a mercenary, since you have no allegiance you don´t care if a given kingdom fall or not. But the tower took your GRANNY. That is personal, you can´t mess with someone´s dear granny and not expect retribution.
I absolutely love that the word is facing ruin but if it is saved it will be just the byproduct of a guy trying to help his granny, big picture be dammned
I probably coudl've phrased that better, but what I meant was, I think it'd be better if the game gave us a feeling of a world existing outside of the tower for us to contrast the tower to.
Grandma and her village would be my ideal pitch for how to give us that feeling, walk through the empty houses and maybe find grandma's house ransacked or something.
Hope your game demo went well.
Have you heard anymore of the game? I haven’t seen anything on his UA-cam channel anymore?
Back at it.