
Fight, Magic, Items
The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West
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Narrated by:
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Eric Michael Summerer
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By:
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Aidan Moher
About this listen
The Japanese roleplaying game (JRPG) genre is one that is known for bold, unforgettable characters; rich stories; and some of the most iconic and beloved games in the industry. Inspired by early Western RPGs and introducing technology and artistic styles that pushed the boundaries of what video games could be, this genre is responsible for creating some of the most complex, bold, and beloved games in history. In Fight, Magic, Items, Aidan Moher guides listeners through the history of JRPGs, exploring the technical challenges, distinct narrative and artistic visions, and creative rivalries that fueled the creation of countless iconic games and their quest to become the best.
Moher immerses listeners in the world of JRPGs, following the interconnected history through the lens of their creators and their stories full of hope and risk, from the tiny teams that built the foundations of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises; Reiko Kodama pushing boundaries with Phantasy Star; the team up between Horii and Sakaguchi to create Chrono Trigger; or the mashup of Disney with Final Fantasy in Kingdom Hearts. Filled with firsthand interviews and behind-the-scenes looks into the development, reception, and influence of JRPGs, this book captures the evolution of the genre and why it continues to grab us, decades after those first iconic pixelated games released.
©2022 Aidan Moher (P)2023 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Console Wars
- Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation
- By: Blake J. Harris
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 20 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video-game industry. In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video-game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But all that would change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a former Mattel executive who knew nothing about video games and everything about fighting uphill battles.
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Was hoping for so much more...
- By Rob G. on 11-17-14
By: Blake J. Harris
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Think Like a Game Designer: The Step-by-Step Guide to Unlocking Your Creative Potential
- By: Justin Gary
- Narrated by: Justin Gary
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you love gaming? Do you have ideas for games of your own and want to learn how to produce them professionally? Longtime game designer Justin Gary has the answers you seek. After 20 years in the gaming industry, creating such games as Solforge, Ascension, and the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game, Justin is now sharing all his secrets in Think Like a Game Designer. Best of all, Justin’s secrets are really simple, practical, and common sense steps you can take yourself.
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Do you like quotes?
- By Reaver on 04-05-24
By: Justin Gary
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Video Game Storytelling
- What Every Developer Needs to Know About Narrative Techniques
- By: Evan Skolnick
- Narrated by: D.G. Chichester
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process - by all members of the team.
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Nice but shallow
- By Amazon Customer on 01-14-22
By: Evan Skolnick
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Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
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Behind the Scenes
- By SAMA on 11-27-17
By: Jason Schreier
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The Psychology of Final Fantasy: Surpassing the Limit Break
- By: Anthony M Bean PhD - editor
- Narrated by: Gabriella Pitchford
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Think you know Final Fantasy? The Psychology of Final Fantasy explores how the game resonates with a player's psychological drive toward an emotional sense of wholeness, bonding, and completion as they take part in this epic quest.
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I am glad this exists
- By C. Kenny on 01-25-21
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Sid Meier's Memoir!
- A Life in Computer Games
- By: Sid Meier, Jennifer Lee Noonan - contributor
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry.
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Only the Interesting Stuff
- By R. Squyres on 10-05-21
By: Sid Meier, and others
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Control Freak
- My Epic Adventure Making Video Games
- By: Cliff Bleszinski
- Narrated by: Kurt Kanazawa
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock-star status. In Control Freak, he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business.
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5 star book, but obnoxious
- By Rodney on 06-10-23
By: Cliff Bleszinski
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Pure Invention
- How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World
- By: Matt Alt
- Narrated by: Matt Alt
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Japan is the forge of the world’s fantasies: karaoke and the Walkman, manga and anime, Pac-Man and Pokémon, online imageboards and emojis. But as Japan media veteran Matt Alt proves in this brilliant investigation, these novelties did more than entertain. They paved the way for our perplexing modern lives.
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great book ruined by ending
- By Grant Holder on 06-07-22
By: Matt Alt
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Replay
- The History of Video Games
- By: Tristan Donovan, Richard Garriott
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting account of the birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. From its origins in the research labs of the 1940s to the groundbreaking success of the Wii, Replay sheds new light on gaming's past.
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Excellent Book
- By Devin on 01-17-18
By: Tristan Donovan, and others
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Masters of Doom
- How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
- By: David Kushner
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
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How it was
- By Ryan on 08-27-13
By: David Kushner
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Norse Myths That Inspired Final Fantasy VII
- By: M.J. Gallagher
- Narrated by: Liam Mulvey
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Final Fantasy is one of the most iconic and beloved video game series in the world. Since its inception, its titles have adopted names, themes, and stories from across global mythology, including the beliefs of the Vikings. This book embarks on a detailed exploration of how Norse lore in particular influenced the writing and design of Final Fantasy VII - arguably the most critically acclaimed of the franchise - and its wider Compilation. This work is presented as a tribute to the metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
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I now see Final Fantasy VII though different eyes!
- By EmperorRambo on 01-21-22
By: M.J. Gallagher
What listeners say about Fight, Magic, Items
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- Wiseguy576
- 08-09-24
A walk down memory lane.
This is an amazing book about the past and present of some of the biggest juggernauts of gaming. It side notes some of the revolutionary smaller games and is a love letter to classics and to what could be next for role playing games.
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- Austin
- 12-01-24
Great 1st person perspective on the "RPG" genre as a whole
While this book could have had the second title of "my life growing up as a final fantasy fan and couldn't have enough of the stuff like it". It does cover a broad strokes perspective of growing alongside the RPG genre as a whole. I really liked how it didn't just focus on LITERAL jrpgs and included the mentality of what constitutes a JRPG (Zelda totally does come at me) but also includes impacts spread wide in the gaming history JRPGS have on fans and the industry.
super good super cool.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-15-25
Quick, snappy history of the JRPG genre
Good:
- Technical knowledge of console hardware and the relationship between business and art
- Focused on tentpoles of genre (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest) and is in depth with the related genre.
- Efficient descriptions of individual games to get readers enticed to play them.
- Comprehensive history of the genre as it was popular.
Bad:
- While focus on business practices is strong at the beginning, tapers off towards modern era
- Not much speculation on hardware history when looking at JRPG MMOs
- Not enough history on how JRPGs changed as Japanese culture changed over the years.
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- Steven
- 03-22-25
what's with the random games and descriptions
the narrator will begin a chapter about Gameboy and then randomly, mid paragraph, start talking about a completely unrelated game like Genshin impact. It throws off the pace greatly.
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-23-24
For JRPG Fans & Those Curious About Them
A nice history of JRPGs and the series that defined the genre. There is some nice behind the scenes information detailed as well as commonly known facts.
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- Austin M.
- 09-07-24
As someone who works in video games…
This was a thoughtful, well researched, and well paced book. The author covered A TON of material and did so with great fluidity.
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- Cyrus
- 08-14-23
Excellent history of the JRPG genre
Fight, Magic, Items is an excellent history of the JRPG genre, taking the listener on a journey from the crude but memorable Dungeons and Dragons simulators of early computers through to the present. If you're an old school hardcore gamer or someone who just picked up their first Final Fantasy, this is for you. I came away with a few titles I have never played that I want to check out now both old and new. I wonder if I can get anywhere in the original Wizardry...
the narration is clear and very good.
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- Spencer Scott Holmes
- 11-29-23
Talking bout' my Generation!
Great full history of the Japanese Role Playing Games in their journey to the West. 100 percent my era and the author sounds to be my age give or take. So, I could relate perfectly to his upbringing. He also talks in a very optimistic way about every major game in the genre with no negative bias. I like that positivity.
Now I know, there's no way to touch on every game in this series. But there are a few that do get the light treatment of just a few sentences or so worth. The major one to me is Lunar on Sega CD. That always seems like one of the big pinnacles of raising the bar all around for the early 90s. Mind blowing if you got to experience it then too on original hardware. But beyond that small qualm, there's so much good history and information going around that I can't complain.
It's a topic that could almost have a two or three book series. Each with the length of this title here. Chronicling the 80s/90s section. Then the 2000s and up to modern. That's just how much good times there was. I really enjoyed this book thoroughly and hope that there can be a part 2 down the line. Even just a bonus book that maybe tackles deeper sections more in depth and covers some of the other games that could use some extra attention.
But still, there's an amazing overview that will get your stack of JRPGs filled to the brim. Whether it's old classics to play again, titles you may have missed over the years, and then some newer ones that sound quite interesting. The best of gaming is all chronicled here. Join the retro party!
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- Jeremy Culver
- 09-26-23
couldn't stop listening
this is such a great dive into the history of Final fantasy and Dragon Quest as well as some other JRPGs. I couldn't stop listening and was only upset that it ended. highly recommend
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- Kace
- 09-20-24
Fantastic history of the genre.
Great book to get to the history of the jrpg genre of games. There’s enough for multiple volumes but this one book will give you a great overview and possibly inspire you to play or revisit some of these games.
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