What is Eternal Ring?

Eternal Ring was released in Japan on 4 March 2000, a launch title for the PlayStation 2, and again at the North American launch on 26 October 2000, published by Agetec. The catalogue site MobyGames lists it under the alternate title King’s Field Gaiden, and that is precisely what it is: the series’ first-person swordplay with its magic system torn out and rebuilt. Young magician Cain Morgan is sent to investigate the Island of No Return, and the game is his descent through it.

The rebuilding is the ring forge. Gems of six elements, fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness, at levels 1 to 5, are set into rings to create working magic: attribution rings, magical attack rings, summon rings, and assist rings. A summon ring demands six gems of a single element whose levels total between 24 and 30, so the best spells in the game are planned at the workbench, not found. Famitsu praised the ring creation and the graphics, judged the game rushed, and scored it 25 out of 40; Western reviews split from GamePro’s 4.5 out of 5 to Next Generation’s 2 out of 5, for a Metacritic average of 62. The score is by Keiichiro Segawa and Tsukasa Saitoh.