A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games
- Downloads：8642
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2024-04-27 05:20:35
- Update Date：2025-09-08
- Status：finish
- Author：Bitmap Books
- ISBN：1838019146
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Anthony Assaf
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Logged this to test out the Scanning feature on Goodreads， but man this was such an amazing book。 I love JRPGs and this really helped me understand the origins and history。 Absolutely amazing
Dimitris Hall
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There's no way I'm ever going to finish this huge book chock full of all sorts of JRPGs ranging from the famous Pokemon's， Final Fantasy's and Dragon Quest's all the way to obscure Japanese CRPGs from the '80s that were never released in the West。 However， I do think I've read enough of it to offer （just like） my opinion。The writing's superb and carefully crafted and goes in just the right amount of depth， covering the cultural impact of each game， parts of its development and what makes the gam There's no way I'm ever going to finish this huge book chock full of all sorts of JRPGs ranging from the famous Pokemon's， Final Fantasy's and Dragon Quest's all the way to obscure Japanese CRPGs from the '80s that were never released in the West。 However， I do think I've read enough of it to offer （just like） my opinion。The writing's superb and carefully crafted and goes in just the right amount of depth， covering the cultural impact of each game， parts of its development and what makes the gameplay and story unique。 The edition is just beautifully bound and printed， and I can't get enough reading about strange yet somehow familiar-sounding games I'll never play。Having said that， it does make me want to play many of the JRPGs I thought I had decided I don't have the time to try， like the Xeno- series， Tactics Ogre， Suikoden， Mystery Dungeon。。。 the list truly goes on， and the fact that I'm currently learning Japanese and these games would be great practice （one day） makes reading it a bit like reading a cookbook on a diet while training to become a chef or something。At the same time， the book has helped me get the gist of some of these titles and quench some of the thirst I might've had to play them by not idealising the games featured on it and with some pointier remarks。In this sense， reading it feels like a trip to a fascinating museum， and I now realize I miss going to a truly quality museum。 。。。more
Darren Hupke
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This is a HUGE undertaking， and Kurt Kalata and all the contributors did an amazing job。 It is well-researched and professional。 It is very informative， even for a hardcore gaming fan。 You get a history and developmental details on the entire genre of titles from all decades of gaming histoy。 The printing and production values are all high quality。 If you order it directly from Bitmap Books， even the shipping materials are the best-of-the-best。
Ashley
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moving shelves to clear up space。 i genuinely thought this would a cool comprehensive guide into the development of selected jrpgs that would be well researched， but what i found on some game entries were just poorly handled mini-reviews and weird opinions that you can read for free online。 i wish i saved the tweet that had the same criticism because i thought i was insane for being confused at everyone eating this up when some entries are 'i hate this part of my favorite franchise :（' i'm sure moving shelves to clear up space。 i genuinely thought this would a cool comprehensive guide into the development of selected jrpgs that would be well researched， but what i found on some game entries were just poorly handled mini-reviews and weird opinions that you can read for free online。 i wish i saved the tweet that had the same criticism because i thought i was insane for being confused at everyone eating this up when some entries are 'i hate this part of my favorite franchise :（' i'm sure some entries are better to read than others thanks to the individual contributor and i can't remember the game entry i read that made stop reading， but none of the writing or 'insights' in this justifies a purchase。 。。。more
Oliver
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This book was incredibly eye opening for me。 The sheer amount of games covered and the overall inviting design is a perfect starting point to learn about the topic。 I do think this shares some of the flaws of Bitmap's prior "The CRPG book" in the sense that I generally prefer informational retrospectives to outright reviews （the books walk a fine line between the two）， but it was handled better here and to me the positives far outweigh the shortcomings。 This book was incredibly eye opening for me。 The sheer amount of games covered and the overall inviting design is a perfect starting point to learn about the topic。 I do think this shares some of the flaws of Bitmap's prior "The CRPG book" in the sense that I generally prefer informational retrospectives to outright reviews （the books walk a fine line between the two）， but it was handled better here and to me the positives far outweigh the shortcomings。 。。。more
Henry Skey
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It's probably not the kind of book you're supposed to read cover to cover， but this is an amazing encyclopedia of Japanese Role Playing Games。 I thought I knew about them all and I was beyond mistaken - I've only played about 10% of the games in this book and only heard about maybe 50%。 The discovery of series never brought over to Japan and the history behind them was really interesting。 The artwork and quality of the book is seriously impressive。 Not for everybody， but essential for a weebo ne It's probably not the kind of book you're supposed to read cover to cover， but this is an amazing encyclopedia of Japanese Role Playing Games。 I thought I knew about them all and I was beyond mistaken - I've only played about 10% of the games in this book and only heard about maybe 50%。 The discovery of series never brought over to Japan and the history behind them was really interesting。 The artwork and quality of the book is seriously impressive。 Not for everybody， but essential for a weebo nerd like me。 。。。more
Oliver Bateman
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i read this book from July-February， doing so exclusively while seated on toilet。 it boasts a comprehensive slate of games， great toilet-length write-ups， and wonderful design。 bitmap books can be counted on to deliver excellent bathroom literature; this is far better than i expected （or than it needed to be）
Daniel
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Well what to say？ If you're a fan of jrpg's and are interested in the history of the genre there is no way around this book。 Comprehensive， well written （with soma spelling errors）， nice visuals and a good representation so a full recommendation。Cheers。 Well what to say？ If you're a fan of jrpg's and are interested in the history of the genre there is no way around this book。 Comprehensive， well written （with soma spelling errors）， nice visuals and a good representation so a full recommendation。Cheers。 。。。more
Patrick
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Bitmap Books has produced a gorgeous， extensive volume with this guide to Japanese role-playing games， or JRPGs。 The pages are glossy with nice quality images and lovely cover art by Stephanie Sybydlo。The contributors certainly did their homework in choosing what to include， starting from the era of Japanese PCs in the 1980s all the way up to the Nintendo Switch。 Additionally， there are several essays on JRPG history， localization， soundtracks， motifs， and more。 The early chapters cover some of Bitmap Books has produced a gorgeous， extensive volume with this guide to Japanese role-playing games， or JRPGs。 The pages are glossy with nice quality images and lovely cover art by Stephanie Sybydlo。The contributors certainly did their homework in choosing what to include， starting from the era of Japanese PCs in the 1980s all the way up to the Nintendo Switch。 Additionally， there are several essays on JRPG history， localization， soundtracks， motifs， and more。 The early chapters cover some of the biggest franchises， like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy， before delving into the core of the book， which is a survey of many JRPG releases over approximately four decades。I wish this main section of the book had been arranged a bit differently。 Though the introduction states that it is roughly chronological， I didn't find that to be the case。 In some places， there would be a chunk of Super Famicom （SNES） games from the mid-1990s followed abruptly by several games from 1988-89 （see pages 344-45， for example）。 I feel that a better organizational structure could have given the reader more insight into what was happening in each era， either by arranging the chapter strictly chronologically or by system / handheld。My other complaint is that for such a professionally produced book， there were a shocking number of copy errors， either in the form of misspelled words or repeated or transposed phrases。 I certainly understand that copy editing a 650-page book is no cakewalk， but Bitmap Books seems to have cut corners in this one area while everything else has such a high level of polish。 Perhaps this can be corrected in future editions。In all， A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games is a great volume that is slightly diminished by some layout choices and some unfortunate copy errors。 It would make a great addition to any gamer's library。 。。。more
Óscar López
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"A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games" is the companion of "The CRPG Book"， focusing on console and computer Japanese RPGs。 Authored by Kurt Kalata and a few dozen contributors， it's a comprehensive treatise that covers over 600 videogames in the genre released between 1982-2021。The book is structured first by major game series （Dragon Quest， Final Fantasy， etc。） and later by subgenre （action， strategy， dungeon crawlers， etc。） It also has a few articles summarizing the history of the genre and "A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games" is the companion of "The CRPG Book"， focusing on console and computer Japanese RPGs。 Authored by Kurt Kalata and a few dozen contributors， it's a comprehensive treatise that covers over 600 videogames in the genre released between 1982-2021。The book is structured first by major game series （Dragon Quest， Final Fantasy， etc。） and later by subgenre （action， strategy， dungeon crawlers， etc。） It also has a few articles summarizing the history of the genre and its peculiarities。 It's more of a reference volume， many of the games have short descriptions and whole series have been compressed in one or two pages。The reviews are not as interesting as those in the CRPG book， and the way they're structured is quite messy。 A single game series might be split across different sections。 A single section is sometimes structured by series， others by developer， and others by release year， or in a completely random fashion; there's no logic to it and it's confusing。 The bare-bones index doesn't help much， either。The font and the images are quite small， and the pictures sometimes lack a meaningful caption， making it hard to know to what game they're referring to when the review covers multiple games in a series。In spite of its shortcomings， this book does a good job and contains an enormous amount of data encompassing the most popular games and some really obscure titles that never left Japan - the hard work required for collecting all this information is evident and admirable。 Kudos to the authors， and let's hope for a second edition that's better organized。 。。。more
Raymond
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A massive tome featuring a near exhaustive catalogue of JRPG releases including Japan-only titles。 Each game is covered by at least half a page of text with screenshots and cover art as illustrations。 The book opens with a general article on the genre itself and each chapter starts with an article on the particular sub-genre it deals with。Its sheer scope and lavishness means it's safe to assume this will be the definitive book on JRPGs for decades to come and a must buy for anyone with an intere A massive tome featuring a near exhaustive catalogue of JRPG releases including Japan-only titles。 Each game is covered by at least half a page of text with screenshots and cover art as illustrations。 The book opens with a general article on the genre itself and each chapter starts with an article on the particular sub-genre it deals with。Its sheer scope and lavishness means it's safe to assume this will be the definitive book on JRPGs for decades to come and a must buy for anyone with an interest in the genre。 。。。more
Steve Wasling
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Absolutely fantastic。 If you have the slightest interest in JRPGs you owe to yourself to get this wonderful book as it seems to cover all the games I remember and a lot I'd never even heard of。 Absolutely fantastic。 If you have the slightest interest in JRPGs you owe to yourself to get this wonderful book as it seems to cover all the games I remember and a lot I'd never even heard of。 。。。more
Eric Nagurney
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Read this book and thrill your loved ones with factoids about Funky Horror Band， Brain Lord， and Linkle Liver Story！ Wow！
Adan
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This is a fantastic overview of JRPGs from the earliest PC games to some of the latest console exclusives。 The most famous examples of the genre are obviously included （Final Fantasy， Dragon Quest， Phantasy Star， Shin Megami Tensei/Persona， Atelier， Pokémon， etc。）， but where the large tome really shines is in the inclusion of all the lesser known games， especially the many never localized for English-speaking markets。 My various wishlists have grown exponentially after reading this thing， and I This is a fantastic overview of JRPGs from the earliest PC games to some of the latest console exclusives。 The most famous examples of the genre are obviously included （Final Fantasy， Dragon Quest， Phantasy Star， Shin Megami Tensei/Persona， Atelier， Pokémon， etc。）， but where the large tome really shines is in the inclusion of all the lesser known games， especially the many never localized for English-speaking markets。 My various wishlists have grown exponentially after reading this thing， and I can only hope I will one day have the time to play them all。Also， everyone responsible should make all of these games available in perpetuity so that we don’t lose all this wonderful video game history。 It is a travesty that too many of these games simply can’t be played without either doing something legally dubious or hunting down original carts/CDs and the retro hardware to play them on， which can cost hundreds of US dollars。 。。。more
Ryan ArtPunk
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As large and beautiful as it is comprehensive。 Well-worth the over $90 CAD price tag。
Pascal
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