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giopep's review against another edition
4.0
I libri della collana Boss Fight Books si incentrano su un approccio critico molto personale e che può cambiare molto da caso a caso. Questo su Chrono Trigger filtra la rilettura del gioco attraverso l'esperienza dell'autore in Giappone, il suo rapporto con la vita da immigrato e - inevitabilmente - il ricordo dell'innamoramento nei confronti di Chrono Trigger ai tempi in cui ci giocò quasi trent'anni fa. Ne viene fuori un'analisi magari non omnicomprensiva ma sicuramente interessante nelle chiavi di lettura che offre su vari aspetti del gioco, dalle scelte di localizzazione all'identità dei personaggi, passando per l'approccio ai paradossi temporali, quello alla sessualità e molto altro.
gabedurham's review against another edition
5.0
Check out an early free sample of the book at Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/what-happens-when-you-study-an-rpg-world-like-it-was-re-1522545991
yuritlv78's review against another edition
3.0
Chrono Trigger es un muy buen ensayo sobre el mítico videojuego de SNES, y es muy bueno porque no se dedica sólo a darnos información sobre el juego, que de todas maneras a estas alturas ya conoceremos, sino que se dedica a analizar el juego bajo distintas perspectivas (genero, raza, cultura, contexto histórico...) y el impacto que tuvo sobre la biografía del autor. Muy recomendable si te gusto Chrono Trigger y sino... casi que también, el único pero, quizás, sería que es un poco corto.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
3.0
I'm going to let anyone interested in on a little secret. I just interviewed Gabe Durham, series editor for Boss Fight Books. The interview will be up at LitReactor.com near the end of the month, but in terms of this book, I should be upfront and say this is the one he felt most assumed the reader had played the game. And I would agree. It's a super-popular game, and it's not unfair to assume that people have played it. I think that, doing it again, I would play the game first. Which is not a criticism of the book whatsoever. I enjoyed big portions of it even without playing the game or really knowing the characters.
Perhaps most fascinating were the portions about translation. It's funny to consider how late in the game translation has come in to the world of video games. I mean, they've always had word-for-word translation, which is why we have things like All Your Base Are Belong To Us or A Winner Is You. But with a game like Chrono Trigger, with so much text, the translation is a lot more involved. In addition, there are a lot of jokes, references, and colloquialisms that have to be changed altogether. Think about it like this: Maybe a Japanese game would have a joke about one of those canned coffee vending machines I hear they have that sound awesome. And maybe the joke about hot cans of coffee wouldn't really fly because, for whatever reason, in America we've decided that the only drink that should come out of vending machines is a liquid that will RELEASE THE GRIME FROM PENNIES.
Anyway, that joke, it can be left in, or it can be localized. Maybe with a hilarious jab about the fact that you could peel the paint off your house with the vended drink. Or a joke that's less hilarious, more thinly-veiled outrage from an American man who wants a goddamn hot can of coffee.
I listened to this great show a while ago (http://jeffrubinjeffrubinshow.com/episode/38-mass-effect-3-with-mike-drucker/) that was mostly about Mass Effect 3, but the guest was Mike Drucker, a comedian who did some localization for the 3DS Kid Icarus game. This was in 2012, and I gathered that this sort of localization, this level of care, was a relatively new thing.
At any rate, food for thought. And Chrono Trigger served the meal.
Perhaps most fascinating were the portions about translation. It's funny to consider how late in the game translation has come in to the world of video games. I mean, they've always had word-for-word translation, which is why we have things like All Your Base Are Belong To Us or A Winner Is You. But with a game like Chrono Trigger, with so much text, the translation is a lot more involved. In addition, there are a lot of jokes, references, and colloquialisms that have to be changed altogether. Think about it like this: Maybe a Japanese game would have a joke about one of those canned coffee vending machines I hear they have that sound awesome. And maybe the joke about hot cans of coffee wouldn't really fly because, for whatever reason, in America we've decided that the only drink that should come out of vending machines is a liquid that will RELEASE THE GRIME FROM PENNIES.
Anyway, that joke, it can be left in, or it can be localized. Maybe with a hilarious jab about the fact that you could peel the paint off your house with the vended drink. Or a joke that's less hilarious, more thinly-veiled outrage from an American man who wants a goddamn hot can of coffee.
I listened to this great show a while ago (http://jeffrubinjeffrubinshow.com/episode/38-mass-effect-3-with-mike-drucker/) that was mostly about Mass Effect 3, but the guest was Mike Drucker, a comedian who did some localization for the 3DS Kid Icarus game. This was in 2012, and I gathered that this sort of localization, this level of care, was a relatively new thing.
At any rate, food for thought. And Chrono Trigger served the meal.
obnorthrup's review against another edition
3.0
Some interesting perspectives on the game, mixed with a more personal memoir. The potion about localization (including interviews with both English translators) was the most unique section. Otherwise, Holleman's Reverse Design book wins out in terms of scope, novelty of analysis, and argumentation.
gengelcox's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I never played this game, either. Williams covers it here in enough detail that I don’t feel the urge to do so, although I do appreciate his extensive rumination on the subject of nostalgia, the physics of time travel, an exegesis on the subject of so-called strategy guides, and an insight into the challenges of translating video games, especially those steeped in a cultural riffs. The latter is probably the most useful aspect of this book for those who aren’t interested in analyzing video game plots, as it underscores some of the real dangers still inherent in machine translation. This really resonates with me at this moment as I write this in the middle of a ten-week stay in Fukuoka, Japan where I’m having to rely heavily on computer translation and discovering that there are many, many ways for it to break down. For example, you don’t think about how the names and descriptions of food often lack information about the ingredients, the actual flavor, the method of cooking, or even whether it is served hot or cold. And while it seems every restaurant in the world has a caesar salad, it’s always a little different wherever you are due to local tastes. (The caesar salad is the one western dish I would eat in Japan; otherwise, I’m sticking to sushi and the other regional specialties.)
joshuanovalis's review against another edition
When my oldest brother left for college, he left at home his SNES and a small collection of games for it. Super Metroid. Donkey Kong Country. Mario Kart. Super Mario World. And, of course, Chrono Trigger. While all of these games certainly got their share of attention, nothing captured 6-year-old me so completely as the latter.
Looking at my life trajectory since then, I can honestly say Chrono Trigger played an irreplaceable role in making me the person I am today. It ignited and stoked the fires of my imagination, priming me for many more years of science fiction and fantasy, time travel, airships, JRPGs, character-driven stories, and an unhealthy obsession with the musical artistry of Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and others. This game wasn’t just a part of my childhood; it was my childhood, purified and distilled into one cultural artifact.
All that to say: there’s no way I could give this book a fair review, without my love for the game spilling over at every moment. Nevertheless, I can comfortably say that Michael P. Williams did a commendable job of capturing so many of the reasons Chrono Trigger is an enduring classic to this day. Williams covers the many joys experienced upon discovering the game and diving into its world. Chapters on the difficulties of translating the game into English, the various genre-bending worlds found within the game, the inherent paradoxes of time travel stories, as well as others, are fun to read and well-researched, and clearly come from someone who loves the game as much as I do.
If I had one complaint, it would be that some chapters felt rather unstructured and aimless. The chapter on representations of gender and race in the game was a fantastic idea, but it felt unclear in its thesis or direction, opting instead to work through each woman in the game one-by-one and decide if it was a fair and healthy representation of a female character. I would have loved to see a piece of criticism more grounded in the narrative thrust of the game.
However, for any fan of Chrono Trigger, it’s a worthy trip through the many beautiful aspects of the game they know and love. Greatly recommended!
Looking at my life trajectory since then, I can honestly say Chrono Trigger played an irreplaceable role in making me the person I am today. It ignited and stoked the fires of my imagination, priming me for many more years of science fiction and fantasy, time travel, airships, JRPGs, character-driven stories, and an unhealthy obsession with the musical artistry of Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and others. This game wasn’t just a part of my childhood; it was my childhood, purified and distilled into one cultural artifact.
All that to say: there’s no way I could give this book a fair review, without my love for the game spilling over at every moment. Nevertheless, I can comfortably say that Michael P. Williams did a commendable job of capturing so many of the reasons Chrono Trigger is an enduring classic to this day. Williams covers the many joys experienced upon discovering the game and diving into its world. Chapters on the difficulties of translating the game into English, the various genre-bending worlds found within the game, the inherent paradoxes of time travel stories, as well as others, are fun to read and well-researched, and clearly come from someone who loves the game as much as I do.
If I had one complaint, it would be that some chapters felt rather unstructured and aimless. The chapter on representations of gender and race in the game was a fantastic idea, but it felt unclear in its thesis or direction, opting instead to work through each woman in the game one-by-one and decide if it was a fair and healthy representation of a female character. I would have loved to see a piece of criticism more grounded in the narrative thrust of the game.
However, for any fan of Chrono Trigger, it’s a worthy trip through the many beautiful aspects of the game they know and love. Greatly recommended!
thirtytwobirds's review against another edition
3.0
Nothing ground breaking here, but the nostalgia will overwhelm you if you grew up with CT like I did.