A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games

"Welcome to the world of Japanese Role-Playing Games! Video role-playing games, adapted for computers from their pen-and-paper forebears, have been around since the earliest days of digital gaming. Despite initial similarities to Western games, Japan’s output began diverging in dramatic ways, inspired by its own culture and art, producing a style of game that’s often wildly different from its Western counterpart. From Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy, from Megami Tensei to Pokémon, A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games explores the expansive history of Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), beginning on 8-bit microcomputers, and following them all the way up to the heavy hitters of the modern era. Included are reviews of over 600 games, covering a wide range of sub-genres, including strategy RPGs like Fire Emblem, Rogue-likes such as Mystery Dungeon, and first-person dungeon crawlers like Etrian Odyssey, as well as articles on the genre, its music and art. Let the adventure commence!"--Back cover.