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The Kartia Gallery

One game, two covers, and a world run on written words.

Kartia is a PlayStation strategy RPG from Atlus, released in Japan as Rebus on 26 March 1998 and in North America that August as Kartia: The Word of Fate. In its world, cards called Kartia carry written texts, and whatever is written on them can be made real: weapons, spells, even living monsters. The art is by Yoshitaka Amano, and for once his paintings are not just on the box. They are the faces you play with.

This gallery holds the two retail covers side by side, the full run of editions from 1998 to the 2011 digital reissue, and the shelf of pages that document the game: its card system, its two intertwined campaigns, its guides, and its prices.

THE TWO COVERS

Rebus, 1998 · Kartia, 1998

The Word of Fate, twice

Same artist · different art · different title
Rebus, the Japanese PlayStation cover of Kartia, 1998
Rebus · Japan · 1998The Japanese box: the word REBUS in red over a collage of Kartia cards, disc SLPS 01343.
Kartia: The Word of Fate, the North American PlayStation cover, 1998
Kartia · North America · 1998The American box: Lacryma alone against a blue burst, silver foil title lettering, disc SLUS-00631.

Both covers are Yoshitaka Amano compositions, and they sell two different games at a glance: Japan sold the system, a wall of magic cards; America sold a heroine. The full comparison is on the box art page in the shelf below.

THE EDITIONS

1998 to 2011
Rebus · Japan · 26 March 1998
The original release, developed and published by Atlus for the PlayStation. The cover is the full Amano card collage.
Rebus Best edition · Japan · 4 February 1999
The budget reissue, less than a year later. The easiest way into the Japanese original today.
Kartia · North America · August 1998
A Blockbuster Video rental exclusive from 7 August, then retail on 17 August. The rental copies are a packaging variant of their own; see Collecting Kartia.
Legend of Kartia · Europe · June 1999
The third title for the same game, published in Europe by Konami.
Game Archives · Japan · 12 October 2011
The only re-release: a digital PlayStation Network edition for Japan. No remake or remaster has ever followed.

EXPLORE THE SHELF

The Kartia pages
The History of Kartia
The Megami Tensei studio's one-off, the Blockbuster launch, and the long silence after.
Why Rebus in Japan, Kartia in the West?
Three titles for one game, and a fourth that does not exist.
How Do Kartia Cards Work?
Creation by written words: equipment, spells, and Phantoms from combined characters.
Who Are Toxa and Lacryma?
Two heroes, thirty-six chapters, one story told in interlocking halves.
Who Did the Art for Kartia?
Amano's portraits inside the game, and a young Soejima in the credits.
Are the Covers the Same in Japan and America?
The pair read closely: the deck against the heroine.
Kartia and the Strategy RPG Boom
Third on the shelf in 1998, behind Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics.
How Was Kartia Received?
Famitsu's 31, Dengeki's doubts, and the Western 75 percent.
Why Is Kartia Forgotten?
Outshone, unsequelled, and never re-released in English.
The Kartia Strategy Guides
Two official Japanese books from Atlus itself, and Prima's American guide.
Collecting Kartia
Six editions, the rental variant, and prices as dated history.
The History of KartiaHow the Cards Work
MORE FROM THE KARTIA ARCHIVE →
One shelf of the Library. Browse them all →

THE FIRST WORD

New pages and new pieces, first.