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A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games

Grauken

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Didn't saw a topic on this and since it's such a hefty tome trying to give an overview of the entire genre I thought we needed one

This is a bit fashioned after felipepepe CRPG book, though it doesn't offer the entries chronologically (which I would have preferred) and instead goes for major series first and then sorts the rest of the games by subgenre, which makes for an awkward order and if you need to find a specific game you need the index (with the CRPG book I could just hone in on the time frame)

It has one glaring flaw which is that none of the contributors is mentioned with a byline on any of the articles and reviews which I think was the wrong choice. Personally, I've only read a couple of reviews but expect to see a lot "this is outdated" and "that is outdated and thank you they don't do this anymore" on reviews of older titles. Sadly without bylines, I can't see who is responsible for that

I assume they hide bylines because by and large this is probably written 70% by Kalata (the Hardcore 101 guy) alone and they didn't want to show how much just came from him

Also expect not to see any references, especially the article tracing the roots of jRPGs mention games and how important they were but no mentions where this information is coming from which makes it mostly useless for historical research since you don't know what that is based on. There's also the odd omission of Black Onyx which in its own review just a couple of pages later is mentioned as one of the most important games for jRPGs early on

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-guide-to-japanese-role-playing-games

E5lxpL1XwAA-5H-
 

Grauken

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Grauken Damn I thought you were posting your own guide

I actually got invited by one contributor early on to see whether I could contribute but I told him I didn't have time, though the real reason was how Kalata handled Tom and his translation of Goemon and I wasn't willing to work with such an asshole
 

flyingjohn

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I hope the guide actually covers early jap computer games,else it is a big fail.
 
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Thac0

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Grauken Damn I thought you were posting your own guide

I actually got invited by one contributor early on to see whether I could contribute but I told him I didn't have time, though the real reason was how Kalata handled Tom and his translation of Goemon and I wasn't willing to work with such an asshole

Yeah this particular incident is gonna be a dealbreaker for the book for me. Digging up on that drama it seems that the maker of the book is an opportunistic asshole. Seperate the art from the artist is something I usually practise, but I do not really consider encyclopedic work to be art. So no reason for me to give this Kalata guy any penny.

I probably know 90% of the factoids from extensive 4chan lurking anyway.
 

Grauken

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Grauken Damn I thought you were posting your own guide

I actually got invited by one contributor early on to see whether I could contribute but I told him I didn't have time, though the real reason was how Kalata handled Tom and his translation of Goemon and I wasn't willing to work with such an asshole

Yeah this particular incident is gonna be a dealbreaker for the book for me. Digging up on that drama it seems that the maker of the book is an opportunistic asshole. Seperate the art from the artist is something I usually practise, but I do not really consider encyclopedic work to be art. So no reason for me to give this Kalata guy any penny.

I probably know 90% of the factoids from extensive 4chan lurking anyway.

Which is fair, the book doesn't have a lot of entries I didn't know about before but I think it's a nice reference. It's not a must-read that has a lot of new information if you've played jRPGs for a long time
 

Grauken

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I hope the guide actually covers early jap computer games,else it is a big fail.

It does, starts with Jap PC RPGs from page 29 to 73 and covers a lot of them. I can't tell you how well researched these are as I've played only very few of them
 
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Thac0

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I hope the guide actually covers early jap computer games,else it is a big fail.


Games featured include:
.hack / 3D Dot Game Heroes / 46 Okunen Monogatari / 7th Dragon / The 7th Saga / Albert Odyssey / Alcahest / The Alliance Alive / Alshark / Alundra / American Dream / Anachronox / Ancient Roman / Ar tonelico / Arabian Nights / Arc Rise Fantasia / Arc the Lad / Arcana / Arcus / Aretha / Arfgaldt / Argo / Ash: Archaic Sealed Heat / Aspic / Atelier / Avalon Code / Azure Dreams / Bahamut Lagoon / Barkley, Shut Up and Jam / Baroque / Baten Kaitos / Battle Chasers / The Battle of Olympus / Bealphareth / Beyond Oasis / Beyond the Beyond / Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon / The Black Onyx / Black Sigil / Black/Matrix / Blue Dragon / Blue Reflection / Bodycon Quest / Boktai / Borfes to 5-jin no Akuma / Boundary Gate / Brain Lord / Brandish / Brave Fencer Musashi / Brave Prove / Brave Story / Bravely Default / Breath of Fire / Brigandine / Burai / Bushi Seiryuuden / Cadash / The Caligula Effect / Captain Tsubasa / Castlevania / Cave Noire / Chaos Rings / Children of Mana / Chikyuu Senshi Rayieza / Chitei Tanken / Chou Mahou Tairiku Wozz / Chrono Cross / Chrono Trigger / CIMA / Cladun / Cleopatra no Mahou / Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. / Conception / Contact / Cosmic Fantasy / Cosmic Soldier / Cosmic Star Heroine / Courageous Perseus / Criminal Girls / Crimson Shroud / CrossCode / Cruise Chaser Blassty / Crusader of Centy / Crystal Warriors / Crystalis / Crystar / Curse of Babylon / Danchizuma no Yuuwaku / Dark Cloud / Dark Half / Dark Kingdom / Dark Lord / Dark Rose Valkyrie / Dark Savior / The Dark Spire / Dark Wizard / Dawn of Mana / Death Bringer / Death end re;Quest / Deep Dungeon / Defenders of Oasis / Demikids / DeSpiria / Destiny of an Emperor / Devil Children / Devil Survivor / Devil Summoner / Digan no Maseki / Digital Devil Monogatari / Digimon Story / Dinosaur / Disgaea / Dokapon Kingdom / Doraemon / Double Dungeons / The Dragon & Princess / Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Buster / Dragon Crystal / Dragon Force / Dragon Knight / Dragon Lair / Dragon Master Silk / Dragon Quest / Dragon Slayer / Dragon Star Varnir / Dragon View / Dream Master / Dungeon / Dungeon Kid / Dungeon Travelers / Dungeons and Dragons / Earthbound / El Dorado’s Gate / Elder Gate / Elfaria / Elminage / Emerald Dragon / Enchanted Arms / Energy Breaker / Ephemeral Fantasia / Esper Dream / Eternal Poison / Eternal Ring / Eternal Sonata / Etrian Odyssey / Ever Oasis / Evergrace / Evolution / Exist Archive / Fairy Fencer F / Fantasian / Fantasy Life / Faria / Farland Story / Fatal Labyrinth / Faxanadu / Feda / Fell Seal / Final Fantasy / Fire Emblem / Front Mission / Funky Horror Band / Gage / Ganbare Goemon Gaiden / Ganso Saiyuuki: Super Monkey Daibouken / Gandhara: Buddha no Seisen / Gdleen / Genesis / Genma Taisen / Genso Suikoden / Giten Megami Tensei / God Wars / GOD / Gokinjo Boukentai / Golden Axe Warrior / Golden Sun / Golvellius / Gran Historia / Grand Knights History / Grand Master / Grandia / The Granstream Saga / Great Greed / Growlanser / The Guardian Legend / Guardian’s Crusade / The Guided Fate Paradox / Gungnir / Gunman’s Proof / Half-Minute Hero / Hanjuku Hero / Heracles no Eikou / Hero Must Die / Hexyz Force / Hi-Leg Fantasy / Hiouden / Hoshi wo Miru Hito / Hoshigami / Hourai Gakuen no Bouken! / Hydlide / Hyperdimension Neptunia / I am Setsuna / Idea no Hi / Illusion City / Illusion of Gaia / Inazuma Eleven / Infinite Space / Infinite Undiscovery / Izuna / Jade Cocoon / Jaseiken Necromancer / Jeanne D’Arc / Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass / JoJo no Fushigina Bouken / Just Breed / Kabuki Rocks / Kaijuu Monogatari / Kaleidoscope / Kartia / Kasei Monogatari / Kemco JRPGs / Ken to Mahou / Keru Naguuru / Khufu-Ou no Himitsu / Kimi no Yuusha / Kingdom Hearts / King’s Field / Knights in the Nightmare / Koudelka / Kowloon Island / Kumdor no Ken / Kuro no Ken / Kuusou Kagaku Sekai Gulliver Boy / La Pucelle: Tactics / Labyrinth no Kanata / Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk / Lady Sword / Ladystalker / Lagoon / Lagrange Point / Landstalker / Langrisser / Lapis x Labyrinth / Laplace no Ma / LaSalle Ishii no Childs Quest / Last Armageddon / Last Bible / Last Ranker / Last Rebellion / The Last Remnant / The Last Story / Legacy of the Wizard / Legaia / The Legend of Dragoon / The Legend of Heroes / The Legend of Legacy / Legend of Mana / Legend of Oasis / Legend of the Ghost Lion / The Legend of Valkyrie / The Legend of Xanadu / The Legend of Zelda / Lennus II / Libros de Chilam Balam / Linda3 / Linkle Liver Story / Live-A-Live / Lizard / London Seirei Tanteidan / Lord of the Rings: The Third Age / Lost Dimension / Lost Heroes / Lost Kingdoms / Lost Odyssey / Lost Power / Lost Sphear / Love Quest / Lucienne’s Quest / Lufia / Lunar / Lunatic Dawn / Madou Monogatari / Magic Knight Rayearth / The Magic of Scheherazade / Magical Starsign / Magical Vacation / Majin Tensei / Maka Maka / Makai Kingdom / Märchen Veil / Marica / Mario & Luigi / Marl Kingdom / Mary Skelter / Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden / Maten Densetsu / Medabots / Mega Man Battle Network/Star Force / Mega Man X: Command Mission / Metal Max / Minelvaton / Miracle Warriors / Moldorian / Momotarou Densetsu / Monster Hunter Stories / Monster Kingdom / Monster Maker / Monster Rancher / Monster World / Moon: Remix RPG Adventure / Mother / Mouryou Senki Madara / Mugen no Shinzou / My World My Way / Mystaria: The Realms of Lore / Mystery Dungeon / Mystic Ark / Nakayoshi to Issho / Nanashi no Game / Nayuta no Kiseki / Nemuru Mayu / Neutopia / Ni no Kuni / Nier / Nier Automata / Nights of Azure / Ningyo no Rakuin / Nostalgia / Octopath Traveler / Odin Sphere / Ogre Battle / Okage: Shadow King / Okami / Omega Quintet / One Way Heroics / Oni / Oninaki / Operation Darkness / Opoona / Oranda Tsuma wa Denki Unagi no Yume o Miru ka? / Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke / Otaku no Seiza / Paladin / Paladin’s Quest / Pandora’s Tower / Panorama Tou / Panzer Dragoon Saga / Paper Mario / Parasite Eve / Persona / Phantasy Star / Phantom Brave / Pier Solar and the Great Architects / Poibos / Pokémon / Pokémon Conquest / Popful Mail / Popolocrois / Princess Crown / Princess Minerva / Project X Zone / Psychic City / Psychic War / Quest 64 / Racing Lagoon / Radia Senki: Reimeihen / Radiant Historia / Radiata Stories / Rance / Recettear / Record of Agarest War / Record of Lodoss War / Relics / Rent-a-Hero No. 1 / Resonance of Fate / Riglas / Riviera: The Promised Land / Robopon / Robotrek / Rogue Galaxy / Romancia / Romancing SaGa / Rondo of Swords / Royal Stone / Rudra no Hihou / Rune Factory / Rune Worth / Ryuuki Heidan Danzarb / SaGa / Saiyuki / Sakura Wars / Samurai Mech / Sands of Destruction / Samsara Naga / Satomi no Nazo / The Screamer / SD Snatcher / Secret of Evermore / Secret of Mana / Secret of the Stars / Seiken Densetsu / Seiya Monogatari / Septerra Core / Shadow Brain / Shadow Hearts / Shadow Madness / Shadowrun / Shanghai / Shin Megami Tensei / Shining / Shining Force / Shining in the Darkness / Shining the Holy Ark / Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits Bushidou Retsuden / Sigma Harmonics / Silva Saga / Silver / Silver Ghost / Silviana / Skies of Arcadia / Slayers / Sol Trigger / Solid Runner / Soma Bringer / Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood / Sorcerian / Soul Blazer / Soul Nomad & the World Eaters / SoulsBorne / Spy Daisakusen / Square’s Tom Sawyer / Star Ocean / Star Odyssey / Stella Deus / Stella Glow / Stranger of Sword City / Sudeki / Suikoden / Suiryuushi / Summon Night / Super Chinese / Super Mario RPG / Super Robot Wars / Super Robot Taisen OG Saga / Surging Aura / Susano Oh Densetsu / Sweet Home / The Sword of Hope / Sword of Vermilion / Sword World / Sylvan Tale / Tactics Ogre / Tales of Berseria / Tales of Destiny / Tales of Eternia / Tales of Graces / Tales of Legendia / Tales of Phantasia / Tales of (Portable Entries) / Tales of Rebirth / Tales of Symphonia / Tales of the Abyss / Tales of Vesperia / Tales of Xillia / Tales of Zestiria / Tao: The Way / Tengai Makyou / Tenshi no Uta / Terra Phantastica / Terranigma / Thousand Arms / Threads of Fate / Time and Eternity / Time Stalkers / Tir na Nog / Tokyo / Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE / Tokyo Xanadu / Toushin Toshi / The Tower of Druaga / Treasure Hunter G / Trials of Mana / Tritorn / Tsugunai / TwinBee RPG / The Twisted Adventures of Spike McFang / Undertale / Unlimited SaGa / Utawarerumono / Vagrant Story / Valkyria Chronicles / Valkyrie no Bouken / Valkyrie Profile / Vandal Hearts / Vanguard Bandits / Vay / Virtual Hydlide / Volfoss / Wachenröder / War of the Dead / White Knight Chronicles / Wild Arms / Willow / Wind’s Seed / A Witch’s Tale / The Wizard of Oz / Wizardry / Words Worth / World Court Tennis / The World Ends with You / World of Final Fantasy / Xak / Xanadu / Xanadu Next / Xenoblade Chronicles / Xenogears / Xenosaga / Xerd no Densetsu / Yakuza / Yggdra Union / Yo-kai Watch / Ys / Yume Meikyuu / Zanki Zero / Zavas / Zeliard / Z.H.P. / Zill O’ll / Zwei.
 
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Thac0

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Battle Chasers

Anachronox

CrossCode

Cosmic Star Heroine

On a first glance that is a really lax definition of JRPG. I thought I already employed the most lenient definition of JRPG, and I still wouldn't call Anachronox one.
Are these JRPGs made in the rest of the world gated off in their own subsection? I feel mixed about including them in the main text, since while they are descended from the Japanese market they do not influence the market back in turn. They are complete dead ends basically.

Everyone should play Crosscode tho, imo it is the best of those western JRPGs, even beating out real hammers like Voidspire Tactics.

 

newtmonkey

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I received a copy of this just the other day, and it's somewhat disappointing. As opposed to the similar CRPG Book, which was written by people who have a great love and understanding of the genre, this book seems to have been written by people (or probably in many cases "a person") without any particular interest in the genre. It's written like your typical HG101 article, which often means a somewhat extensive summary of story/characters and then a brief discussion of how the game plays without really getting into why a game works (or doesn't). I also think that, like many HG101 articles, the author probably did not play many of these games in any depth—though of course I have no way of proving this.

[Edit] Just so my comment is not completely negative, it's a fun coffee table/toilet book to flip through whenever you have a spare 5 minutes or so.
 
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Grauken

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I hope the guide actually covers early jap computer games,else it is a big fail.


Games featured include:
.hack / 3D Dot Game Heroes / 4....

That's not that helpful, so here

1984 - Mugen no Shinzou (series) [2 pages]
1984 - The Tower of Druage (series) [2 pages]
1984 - The Black Onyx [2 pages]
1984 - Hydline [2 pages]
1995 - Virtual Hydline [1/2 page]
1990 - Rune Worth (series) [1/2 page]
1987 - Tir Na Nog (series) [1 page]
1986 - Cruise Chaser Blassty [1 page]
1985 - Chikyuu Senshi Rayieza [1 page]
1986 - Miracle Warriors [1 page]
1985 - Cosmic Soldier / Psychic War [1 page]
1988 - Last Armageddon [1 page]
1990 - 46 Okunen Monogatari (series) [that's E.V.O. on the SNES] [1 page]
1989 - Arcus (series) [1 page]
1988 - Exiles (series) [1 page]
1989 - Xak (series) [1 page]
1990 - SD Snatcher [1 page]
1989 - Emerald Dragon [1 page]
1988 - Zavas [1/2 page]
1991 - Alshark [1/2 page]
1982 - Chitei Tanken [1/2 page]
1982 - Spy Daisakusen [1/2 page]
1982 - The Dragon & Princess [1/2 page]
1983 - Khufu-Ou no Himitsu [1/2 page]
1983 - Seiken Densetsu (different game than the Square one) [1/2 page]
1983 - Dungeon [1/2 page]
1983 - Ken to Mahou [1/2 page]
1983 - Arfgaldt [1/2 page]
1983 - Genma Taisen [1/2 page]
1983 - Poibos [1/2 page]
1983 - Dragon Lair [1/2 page]
1984 - Courageous Perseus [1/2 page]
1985 - The Screamer [1/2 page]
1984 - Lizard / Aspic [1/2 page]
1987 - Gandhara: Buddha no Seisen [1/2 page]
1989 - Illusion City [1/2 page]
1984 - Psychic City / Kaleidoscope [1/2 page]
1987 - Genesis: Beyond the Revelation [1/2 page]
1989 - Suiryuushi (series) [1/2 page]
1988 - Record of Lodoss War (series) [1/2 page]
1983 - Danchizuma no Yuuwaku [1/2 page]
1984 - Oranda Tsuma was Denki Unagi no Yume o Miru ka? [1/2 page]
1986 - Lost Power [1/2 page]
1988 - Digan no Maseki [1/2 page]
1986 - Curse of Babylone [1/2 page]
1987 - Zeliard [1/2 page]
1987 - War of the Dead (series) [1/2 page]
1992 - Hiouden (series) [1/2 page]
1985 - Tritorn (series) [1/2 page]
1987 - Laplace no Ma [1/2 page]
1985 - Märchen Veil (series) [1/2 page]
1985 - Tokyo / Shanghai / Kowloon Island [1/2 page]
1985 - Paladin [1/2 page]
1986 - Riglas [1/2 page]
1989 - Burai (series) [1/2 page]
1991 - Kumdoor no Ken [1/2 page]
1992 - Gage [1/2 page]
1992 - Libros de Chilam Balam [1/2 page]
1995 - Kuro no Ken [1/2 page]
1992 - Sword World (series) [1/2 page]
1992 - Princess Minerva [1/2 page]
1995 - Wind's Seed [1/2 page]
1992 - Samurai Mech [1/2 page]
1993 - Lunatic Dawn (series) [1/2 page]

and then it starts with the Falcom section
 

Grauken

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Battle Chasers

Anachronox

CrossCode

Cosmic Star Heroine

On a first glance that is a really lax definition of JRPG. I thought I already employed the most lenient definition of JRPG, and I still wouldn't call Anachronox one.
Are these JRPGs made in the rest of the world gated off in their own subsection? I feel mixed about including them in the main text, since while they are descended from the Japanese market they do not influence the market back in turn. They are complete dead ends basically.

Everyone should play Crosscode tho, imo it is the best of those western JRPGs, even beating out real hammers like Voidspire Tactics.

They are in the section for miscellaneous at the end where they show stuff like some MMORPGs and also some western developed jRPGs
 

Grauken

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I received a copy of this just the other day, and it's somewhat disappointing. As opposed to the similar CRPG Book, which was written by people who have a great love and understanding of the genre, this book seems to have been written by people (or probably in many cases "a person") without any particular interest in the genre. It's written like your typical HG101 article, which often means a somewhat extensive summary of story/characters and then a brief discussion of how the game plays without really getting into why a game works (or doesn't). I also think that, like many HG101 articles, the author probably did not play many of these games in any depth—though of course I have no way of proving this.

Totally agree, I think there's a definite slant towards modern jRPGs and lots of older stuff is there and is covered but there's not a lot of love lost on them
 
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Thac0

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Bit of a shame that this product is both mediocre and made by an asshat. I would love for there to be a proper JRPG book. But once one version on the market it is unlikely that there will ever be a concurring product in the west. Well maybe there is a better book in Japanese, but I can't read that yet.

I'll just buy the crpg book for now, as that seems to be all around superior and hope for a better JRPG book one day.
 

Falksi

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How did Anachronox make it in there?

Bit of a shame that this product is both mediocre and made by an asshat. I would love for there to be a proper JRPG book. But once one version on the market it is unlikely that there will ever be a concurring product in the west. Well maybe there is a better book in Japanese, but I can't read that yet.

I'll just buy the crpg book for now, as that seems to be all around superior and hope for a better JRPG book one day.

Can you post us a link to the CRPG one please chap? I'd be very interested in purchasing that misen.
 
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Thac0

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How did Anachronox make it in there?

Bit of a shame that this product is both mediocre and made by an asshat. I would love for there to be a proper JRPG book. But once one version on the market it is unlikely that there will ever be a concurring product in the west. Well maybe there is a better book in Japanese, but I can't read that yet.

I'll just buy the crpg book for now, as that seems to be all around superior and hope for a better JRPG book one day.

Can you post us a link to the CRPG one please chap? I'd be very interested in purchasing that misen.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1999353307/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2O0NLZPCZ5AO5&psc=1
The one by felipepepe , idk if he has a better link
 

Grauken

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Directly from Bitmap Books
https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/the-crpg-book-a-guide-to-computer-role-playing-games

Amazon Uk (not in stock)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CRPG-Book-Guide-Computer-Role-Playing/dp/1999353307/

Amazon US
https://www.amazon.com/CRPG-Book-Guide-Computer-Role-Playing/dp/1999353307

And if you just want the digital version free of charge
https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/ (https://crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/crpg_book_2.0-1.pdf)

One word of warning about digital versions, since Bitmap Books is quite anal about them

In the beginning, Bitmap Books sold digital versions of their books, they've stopped doing that and only provide you with a digital copy if you buy the physical version from them. It's limited to 5 downloads and since 1 or 2 years ago they've started to copy the email and the name of the buyer on each goddamn-fucking page of each digital version of their books (basic Adobe PDF DRM I think), making the digital versions utterly useless (not useless because it's DRM, but useless because nothing looks better on some nice pixel pages with your own email address plastered all over the bottom). You also can't modify the digital versions anymore, delete a page or anything you expect in non-DRM-versions
 
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zwanzig_zwoelf

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I'll just buy the crpg book for now, as that seems to be all around superior and hope for a better JRPG book one day.
CRPG Book is very nice, since it has a wide variety of contributors, including RPG devs/writers (Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, VD...), quite a few legends (e.g. Scorpia) and monocled Codexers (ghostdog and others).

I'm going to pass on the JRPG Book since I don't want to give my money to HG101 + not crediting your contributors properly is a dick move on top of that.

Pretty sure I'll have a better experience if I play each one of these games myself and scour the web / magazines for additional info.
 

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I got my copy of the book today - I will give it a proper read and commentary at some point but on just flicking through as mentioned above the articles are quite short with many of the lesser games getting a single picture and about four or five paragraphs. Having said that they have covered a lot of games; a lot more than the CRPG book; but at the same time some things are still lumped as a single category (it looks like Japanese Wizardries for example get a single page to cover everything), the Eliminages a single page etc. The most popular ones though tend to get a page per game (eg. Ys, Final Fantasy etc.) but even then the Kiseki games get a page or two per arc.

I also agree the order of the games is a bit odd, but roughly understandable.

If we are throwing in other books as potential alternate reading, I really enjoyed the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers:

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition eBook : Szczepaniak, S.M.G: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store
 

Grauken

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If we are throwing in other books as potential alternate reading, I really enjoyed the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers:

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition eBook : Szczepaniak, S.M.G: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Really? REALLY??

That book was an utter mess to read with no clear driving vision and came across like a hundred random interviews by a guy who had no clue how to properly interview or pull all the interviews into a sensible order. What I expected going into this was to get a sense of history of Jap game dev instead halfway into this I was wondering why I still bothered to read, there was no rhyme and reason to any of it. Despite its flaws, the JRPG book is ten times more useful or coherent than this was
 

Ysaye

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If we are throwing in other books as potential alternate reading, I really enjoyed the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers:

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition eBook : Szczepaniak, S.M.G: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Really? REALLY??

That book was an utter mess to read with no clear driving vision and came across like a hundred random interviews by a guy who had no clue how to properly interview or pull all the interviews into a sensible order. What I expected going into this was to get a sense of history of Jap game dev instead halfway into this I was wondering why I still bothered to read, there was no rhyme and reason to any of it. Despite its flaws, the JRPG book is ten times more useful or coherent than this was

Fair enough - I will admit the first time I read it I thought it was incoherent and struggled to follow / find a line of thought, but after reading it a few times I got into it and felt I learnt some stuff. I don't know - it was kind of like the Anthony Bourdain of japanese games...struggled with it for a while but it had something..maybe? :P
 

Grauken

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Mar 22, 2013
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12,787
If we are throwing in other books as potential alternate reading, I really enjoyed the Untold History of Japanese Game Developers:

The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition eBook : Szczepaniak, S.M.G: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Really? REALLY??

That book was an utter mess to read with no clear driving vision and came across like a hundred random interviews by a guy who had no clue how to properly interview or pull all the interviews into a sensible order. What I expected going into this was to get a sense of history of Jap game dev instead halfway into this I was wondering why I still bothered to read, there was no rhyme and reason to any of it. Despite its flaws, the JRPG book is ten times more useful or coherent than this was

Fair enough - I will admit the first time I read it I thought it was incoherent and struggled to follow / find a line of thought, but after reading it a few times I got into it and felt I learnt some stuff. I don't know - it was kind of like the Anthony Bourdain of japanese games...struggled with it for a while but it had something..maybe? :P

Did you read part 2 and 3? I never bothered after the first one. If you did, did they improve?
 

gerey

Arcane
Zionist Agent
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
3,472
I assume they hide bylines because by and large this is probably written 70% by Kalata (the Hardcore 101 guy) alone and they didn't want to show how much just came from him
Isn't he that vile, disgusting leftist vermin that has been banning anyone right of Mao from the forums, and has been going through articles on the site and injecting them with pozz, removing "problematic" art and soapboxing about the evils of toxic masculinity and the white race?

The irony of him profiting from discussing Japanese games and Japanese gaming culture he so obviously despises is so typical for a liberal. The hypocrisy on display is breathtaking.

I wouldn't piss on that subuhman piece of shit if he was on fire, let alone pay for whatever garbage he peddles.
 

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