Kartia: Worlds of Fate is a tactical RPG on the PS1. This is one of my favorite games on the system. While it isn’t as good as games like Tactics Ogre or Final Fantasy Tactics, I enjoy the game as much as Saiyuki and Vandal Hearts.
It is a pretty unique game, and uses a monster-summoning mechanic that makes the combat a lot of fun. Besides that, the game has a fun story and setting. There was a lot in this game that kept me coming back to it over the years.
This was a rental title. I don’t remember many of the games I rented on the PS1, so this one really stands out to me. After renting the game, I knew it was a game that I wanted to buy. If my memory is right, I bought this game alongside a few other Atlus RPGs on the PS1 from a GameStop back in the day.
TLDR: A wonderful game for people who enjoyed Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Vandal Hearts.
Narrative
The story is divided into two points of view (POV). This gives the play a good reason to play the game a second time, which is always a fun idea. Plenty of other games did this back in the day, and it is a good way to add more story to the game.
The story starts off with a rebellion. You play as either a knight or a woman with a mysterious past. In this game’s world are things called Kartia. They’re used for everything, as you can make just about whatever you want as long as you have the right card. These are also used in battle to summon monsters, known as Shadows.
As the game progresses, you learn more about all of the characters. Your main characters, Toxa and Mona, play a much larger role in the game’s lore. Eventually, it gets revealed that there are two rare Kartia, those of Life and Death. These are the main things that the bad guys are after.
Overall, I like the story. There are themes of balance needing to be restored, which feels like a theme in many RPGs from the 1990s. Eden’s resources have been depleted because the people of Rebus have been using Kartia too much. At the end of the game, things are put right. Since there isn’t a sequel, I guess that worked for this.
Gameplay
The gameplay isn’t too different from other Tactical/Strategy RPGs. Kartia does have some unique combat mechanics, but the core of the gameplay is familiar if you’ve played other games like this. Winning battles isn’t too different from other games, such as Vandal Hearts, Tactics Ogre, or Final Fantasy Tactics.
This game uses a simple Rock, Paper, Scissors mechanic for combat. There are three types of Shadows for you to summon. You’ll need all three to be successful in battle. You can also create weapons and armor for them. Here are the three types:
- Normal
- Shadow
- Doll
There are also magical attacks. Each of the human characters has some magical ability or skill. Just like other RPGs, you’ll gain more powerful spells as you go through the game.
Like many other RPGs in this sub-genre, you move through the game on a linear map and fight battles to advance the plot. There are some choices you can make, but they don’t play a huge factor in the outcome of the game. This is a step back from what happened in Tactics Ogre.
Each battle has a win condition. The game doesn’t throw anything crazy at you with these:
- Defeat all Enemies
- Reach a specific location
- Defeat a Specific Enemy
- Survive X number of turns
- Defeat all Enemies in X number of turns
Kartia is a very good game, but it is a little too ambitious for its own good. It has unique gameplay for the genre, and there is a lot of strategy that goes into it. There are a few little things that keep it from being as good as Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics. Namely, the battles are a little too big for their own good.
Visuals
The graphics in this game are very good. The pixel art on the sprites is excellent, the CGI is very good, and I like how the magic and attack animations look. The battlefields and world map look decent in retrospect.
There are a lot of sprites in this game. Aside from the humans that we follow, there are a lot of Shadows, and each of them has three variations. They each look different enough from each other to tell what kind they are simply by looking at them.
For the time this game was released, the CGI looks pretty good. It isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it looks better than other games released around the same time. It helps that these scenes aren’t as involved as others.
The magic and battle animations look good. Because the game uses pixel art, there is a cartoonish look to the battles. It resembles those in Tactics Ogre, which is something that I like quite a bit.
The maps are a little too big for their own good. You can summon a good number of Phantoms, so it feels like there is a huge battle going on, but this can cause some confusion. While visually impressive to see that many sprites moving on the screen, it might not have been the best choice.
Overall, I love the graphics. They look as good as they did when I first played this game. The pixel art did age better than the CGI, but that is normally the case when you look at games like this.
Reviews at the Time
Kartia received scores between 6 and 8.5/10 when it was released. At the time, this meant the reviewers felt it was an above average to great game. This isn’t true for all publications, but in the 1990s, a 5 was usually an average score. I’m going to highlight four publications for this.
CNET GameCenter gave the game a 7/10. They said that the game doesn’t “advance the genre” but is a good RPG. The gameplay was listed as being a positive, but they didn’t like how the terrain limited visibility.
GameSpot gave the game a 7.7/10. They called the game “good” and pointed out that it was released at a good time, as RPGs were becoming more popular after Final Fantasy VII was released. They did point out that the game is “quite linear” and the gameplay can be “repetitive.”
IGN gave the game an 8/10. This is a very short review, and there isn’t much rationale behind the score. They compare it to other Tactical/Strategy RPGs like Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Ogre Battle.
NextGen gave the game 4/5. They liked just about everything about the game. The reviewer said that there were some “unique and innovative” features in the game. As I was reading this, they seemed not to realize that Atlus had released other RPGs by 1998.
As I read through these old reviews, I’m finding more things that are odd. There is the obsession with 3D graphics in the late 1990s and 2000s, and this strange line of criticism about a game not “advancing the genre.” I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. I’m sure that I’ll come across more as I keep doing this.
8/10. While there are some problems with the game’s crafting system, I still enjoy it. I have a lot of memories of this game, and it is one of the many games that I enjoy coming back to. I love the graphics, cutscenes, and the gameplay.
Pros
- Unique combat
- Good Story
- Great graphics
Cons
- Too many monsters
- A little repetitive
- It is easy to run out of key materials
- Too ambitious for its own good
Conclusion
Kartia is one of my favorite PS1 games. There is something about it that stands out to me. Probably because the game is a little weird, and it is a unique take on a genre that I enjoy quite a bit. The story is also a lot of fun as well.
I don’t remember hearing anyone talk about this game when I was a kid. That isn’t too unusual for me, because I only had one friend who was really into RPGs, and he was a bit of a snob about it. He wasn’t really a fan of games like Tactics Ogre or Kartia.
This game did come out at the right time for RPGs. Final Fantasy VII had brought the genre into the mainstream for console players, and Atlus was trying to capitalize on that. There were plenty of people who played RPGs before 1998, but it seemed like more fans came out of the woodwork in the late 1990s.
This game has largely been forgotten by Atlus. They seem to be focusing on the Persona series, which I can understand. I’m not sure who owns the rights to the game, or if it is still with Atlus. I would like to see a sequel to this, but I’m most likely in the minority.
If you liked this post, check out some of my other posts about PS1 RPGs. Such as Vanguard Bandits or Saiyuki: Journey West.