Kartia Word of Fate

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Box, manual and game — all original, all in the photos. Game condition guide →

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Item Condition

Complete in box: the disc, the manual and the original case, all original; anything beyond that is included only if you can see it in the photos. Look over the photos for condition, packaging and details. Discs are professionally resurfaced when they need it and tested before listing. It ships in a collector's bag or a hard plastic case.

Item Description

In August 1998, the only way to play Kartia in North America was to rent it: Atlus USA debuted the game as a Blockbuster Video exclusive before it reached store shelves about ten days later. That quiet arrival suits a tactical RPG that has always felt like a secret passed between strategy fans. It was built by Atlus's internal R&D1 team, with Megami Tensei veterans such as producer Kouji Okada and scenarist Kazunori Sakai on staff, and it pairs the studio's taste for dark, grown-up storytelling with the unmistakable art of Yoshitaka Amano, whose flowing, ethereal character designs had defined the look of Final Fantasy.

The idea at the center of everything is the Kartia itself. In the world of Rebus, these cards create whatever is written on them, so a card inscribed with Fire or Water can become a spell, a forged weapon for one of your human fighters, or a summoned phantom ready to take the field. Combining cards yields stronger magic and tougher phantoms, which turns resource management into the real strategic puzzle: every Kartia spent on a sword is one you will not have for a summon later. Phantoms are expendable soldiers you can throw at the enemy, but if a human party member falls, the chapter is lost, and that single rule gives every grid battle a tense, protective edge.

The story is split into two volumes of 18 chapters each. One follows Toxa Classico, a free knight; the other follows Lacryma Christi, a member of the Vigilance and the blood daughter of the hero Kainas. Their paths cross the regions of Cross Land, Idorus, Nordia and Pentagram before converging on a single plot involving the Akueldo rebels, their leader Saradiart and his dream of a floating paradise called Eden, and a forbidden original Kartia with the power to undo all existence. Playing both campaigns fills in motives and scenes the other only hints at.

Reviewers at the time singled out the presentation, a competent translation and the soundtrack by Kenichi Tsuchiya and Masaki Kurokawa, while noting how linear the campaign is, and Kartia was nominated for Best Strategy at the 1998 OPM Editors' Awards, losing out to Final Fantasy Tactics. It is also a fascinating early credit for Shigenori Soejima, who drew item graphics here years before becoming the lead artist behind Persona. Next to the better-known PlayStation tactics games, Kartia is the stranger, more literary cousin, and Amano's artwork makes it one of the most striking-looking strategy RPGs of its era.

Fast factsgame data via IGDB

Released: 1998
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Atlus
Genre: RPG, Strategy
Players: Single player

About the game

Kartia: The Word of Fate (or simply Kartia), known as Legend of Kartia in Europe and Rebus in Japan, is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation video game console in 1998. It is best known for the work of its art designer, Yoshitaka Amano, who had previously worked on the Final Fantasy series. Shigenori Soejima, another artist who would later be known for his work on the Persona series, also contributed to the game as an item graphics artist. The game was re-released on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2011. Story: After numerous wars, peace was brought to the land by the power of Kartia... Yet, in this peaceful land, evil desires lived within the hearts of the people. This is the story of a boy and girl who courageously lived through this chaotic era...

Summary from the IGDB community database — the condition and contents of this listing are described above and in the photos.

Watch gameplayKartia Word of Fate on PlayStation

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