Felipe Pepeさんのイラストまとめ

So far, the main takeaway from my Korean RPGs thread is that Hyung-Tae Kim's art made people become artists and/or horny and/or bi-sexual lol

Post IMF Crisis, Sonnori partnered with Studio Mantra devs to make their dream mega-RPG: Acturus: The Curse and Loss of Divinity.

While buggy, it was very well received. But its true legacy would be its engine, later used to create Ragnarök Online, the ultra-popular MMORPG.

But the jewel of Korean RPGs is the War of Genesis series by Softstar.
War of Genesis I was rushed out, but the devs then used the profits to create War of Genesis II, remaking the original alongside a new plot, with a deeply emotional ending. It's a really amazing Tactical RPG!

People liked the thread on Chinese/Taiwanese RPGs, so let me tell you about another overlooked region: South Korea!

Yes, Korea is a gaming powerhouse, the land of MMOs, e-sports and mobile. But during the 90s they also had a huge PC RPG scene! Let's talk about those! 🧵

Only a handful of single-player RPG survived during the late 2000s and most of the 2010s - usually big series like Chinese Paladin, Xuan-Yuan Sword, Fantasia Sango and GuJian.

They got many praises for their stories, but were often considered outdated next to foreign RPGs. :/

Some of these are truly amazing and it's a shame they never got translated.

I can legit say stuff like Dance of the Maple Leaves, Beyond the Clouds and Mountains, Legend of Wulin Heroes and Castle: The Forbidden Divines would be worldwide classics if we had played them back then

What follows is a golden age of RPGs that would last until the early 2000s, with over 200 DOS & Windows games.

Yes, a lot of them are wuxia/xianxia inspired, often adapting famous novels, but you also had sci-fi, military and modern-day RPGs, as well as some Tolkien-esque ones.

Things would really get going in 1995, with Legend of Sword & Fairy / Chinese Paladin (仙劍奇俠傳)

A polished & emotional RPG about a man who marries a mysterious young girl but loses his memory, it's a landmark that set the standard for Chinese RPGs - their Ultima/Dragon Quest

By the early 90s they had already many MS-DOS RPGs like Xuan-Yuan Sword (軒轅劍), Legend of the Chivalrous Hero (俠客英雄傳) and Book of the Sword Saint (天外劍聖錄). These mixed mixing traditional JRPG gameplay with Wuxia & Xianxia, inspired by novels from authors like Jin Yong.

Of all the research I did, the history of Chinese RPGs is my favorite. It blew my mind how over 200 PC RPGs were created in the 90s and early 2000s, an output rivalled only by Japan and the US!

And yet, we never talk about these games... So let me give a very brief overview🧵