A Look Back At • Shadow Tower (Analysis) • The History of From Software.
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2021
- LORE! ANALYSIS! From Software?
Did you know Shadow Tower used to be a thing?
It's true and in this video we talk about that story.
If you've ever wondered what the game's Lore was, what the experience meant and how the first game played this is your video.
Everything Shadow Tower! (also some King's Field)
Special Thanks to:
*From Software.
*Casitive / Theomeny
*meauxdal.
*Lotus Prince
*World of Longplays.
*SnazzyAI
*Deskawa.
*Naotoshi Jin.
*MatthewMatosis.
*Noah Caldwell-Gervais
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Footage from:
*meauxdal:
/ composerzane
*WorldofLongplays (Deskawa):
/ cubex55
*Lotus Prince:
/ valgaav19
*SnazzyAI:
/ @snazzyai
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Patreon: / medievalmegaman
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/aesiraesthetics
Essays&Espresso:
/ @essaysespresso8637
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A Look Back At King's Field 1: • A Look Back At • King'...
A Look Back At King's Field 2: • A Look Back At • King'...
A Look Back At King's Field 3: • A Look Back At • King'...
A Look Back At King's Field 4: • A Look Back At • King'... - Hry
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.
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.
😏
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
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
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 CZcams 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.
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 :)
Been waiting months for this one. Really appreciate how you cover this niche most people on CZcams 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.
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 :)
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.
:)
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.
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!
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.
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!
:)
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. 🤞
I’ve been waiting waiting waiting! Thanks as always for giving me something new to rewatch over and over again!
I had been eagerly awaiting this video for quite some time and it did not disappoint!
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.
Hell yeah, loved your Kings Field videos so this was an awesome surprise to see in my feed.
Glad to hear it!
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.
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
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
Ayeee thanks again for this treat!
God I freaking LOVE Shadow Tower, been dying to play it again lately
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.
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.
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 upload just made my day
great vid as usual and really interested in playing your game !
Awesome, thank you!
Man what a great friggin video! You made my day !
Glad to hear it!
I loved your king's field videos so this is nice to see
:D
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
Love your content, please keep it up!
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
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!
Great content, currently going through many of your retrospectives 👍
Thank you :)
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.
Thanks for covering these games!!
No problem!
Excellent video! Love your use of King's Field IV music since Shadow Tower has none.
yeah, lol.
The models and texture work in this game is some of my all time favorite, this, kf4, and shadow tower abyss are some of my all time favorite games.
Thank you for this! I love Shadow Tower! 😁 will you do Eternal Ring after Shadow Tower Abyss?
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.
Great video, as always
Glad you enjoyed it
Literally found this on the KF reddit, and immediately brewed a tea to watch lol
I LOVE THE KF SUBREDDIT!
@@AesirAesthetics nice me too
I love all the From software videos.
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!
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'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 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.
My Friday just turned a 1000000% better
That was an amazing review. I hope you talk about the sequel
I will
Some good after work watching in a few hours.
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.
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!
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
1998 , What a stacked year in gaming.
great stuff, and cant wait for the last of the Ico trilogy
Amazing!
Thank you! Cheers!
Fantastic!
:D
great stuff
yeyyyyy got here fast. gonna grab myself that always necessary cup of coffee :D
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 :(
Awesome!
Thanks!
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.
:)
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.
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 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!
Didn't need a map.
I have a pretty good memory when it comes to games!
:O
Back at it.
Hope your game demo went well.
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 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.
What gives you the right to reach into my memories like this?
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.
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
ngl Shadow Tower one feels as though it has a better more..sympathetic plot then most or even all Kingsfield games.
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.
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
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.
TFW you go down a hellhole to punch satan in the face just because you miss granny's food.
when he said "pen and paper your way through" i had to change my shorts
Beautiful analysis, super complete. I've been playing that game last month in my cellphone haha. Hey in the 15:00 minute you use a beautiful version of "Paranoid Android". Can you name the id?
Can't wait for the video about Abyss. Couldn't enjoy the original, but the PS2 sequel is great!
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.
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. 👻🎃
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...".
Oh man, I'm really glad you made an analysis of this game. I really liked the game myself, more than any King's Field game tbh, even Ancient City. The resource managment made the gameplay a lot more intesting as you mentioned, but personally I just loved how weird the world is. The moment when you get a cryptic exposition dump from a talking hamster I knew this was going to be my kind of game (reminded me of Alvina from Dark Souls). On top of this one thing I don't think you mentioned but really makes the game stand out imo is the enemy variety. They just went all out in this regard, many times you'll have specific monsters that you meeet in just one or two locations. In other cases you'll even just find one and they won't be treated as bosses, just random critters that occupy this specific space.
Hope you get to make a video on Shadow Tower: Abyss some day. It's honestly one of my favorite FromSoft games ever, if it came out today with some of their more modern sensibilities it would probably be my favorite. It's got by far the most original setting among all their games and some interesting mechanics that haven't been present in neither their previous nor later games.
For anyone who never got to play the game here's a gallery of all the monsters in it. A quick look can tell you how vast, weird and original the bestiary is:
imgur.com/gallery/Ngt1XPw
Glad you liked the video, and yes, I'll make a Shadow Tower Abyss video in July
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
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
By the way, you should do a video on Eternal Ring and the Evergrace series!
I probably will down the track.
I'm playing it now (using savestates) and absolute love t
Played it on PS3(no save states lol) and still love it dearly 👻 it's so atsmopheric and grim.
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.
You really make my day every single time, my dude. Would you consider doing Drakengard/Drag-on Dragoon and its Nier spinoffs in the future? I've recently sold my soul to the devil to buy the entire collection (among other gems like Kuon and Tenchu 1, 2 and 3) and I think they would be a great fit for your channel.
Thanks again for your hard work. Kudos, my man~
I have a Drakengard video planned :)
It's not the next one I make but it should be up in a few months,
@@AesirAesthetics great! Can't wait :) also, you should really give both Tenchu and Vagrant Story a play. Both games are absolutely astounding.
@@VtheWanderer have you played Onimusha? For some reason i think you’d like the series
@@DaRoachDoggJrr sorry, completely forgot about this thread! I have, just one. Onimusha - Dawn of Dreams on PS2. I remember thinking it was good, but I barely recall the gameplay or story. I'll boot up my PS2 this weekend to give it a whirl ☺️ do you have any other recommendations?
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.
Of course 1998 was a huge year but its NTSC retail release was Q4 of '99, and North America is the largest gaming market
Next talk about Vigil: Longest Night! Please?
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.