Sakura Taisen V

[Yoshi]

That puts the pink in pinkos.

[Hero]

I've only ever heard of Sakura Taisen games and outside a day watching a friend play Thousand Arms, I've never really experienced a viz novel/date sim/RPG mashup.

Perhaps that makes me the worst person to write about STV. Maybe the best, considering I'm in the majority of Wii/PS2 owners who've never played ST games but liked the price and read a lot of good stuff about the series in general.

I dig the combat a lot. I like that how Shinjiro is perceived by his teammates alters stats in battles. I just really wish there were more of them - the 'grind' through the story parts just to get one battle at the end of a chapter (3 chapters in, maybe it changes) is a bit of a letdown.

Granted, they keep the story stuff busy at least. The response/Lips minigame stuff keeps it from being too passive and it's interesting to see others react to your choices. Although I don't know how it affects supporting characters in the long run...maybe that's a sign of good writing, that it never feels like my actions get a 'reaction' and then the game shifts back to the predetermined script. I wish I cared a bit more about the characters though - at this point everyone feels like the generic anime stereotypes.

Overall it's fun and definitely different from other SRPGs out there. My complaints are more about minor things (characters, lack of battles, a period-piece of fiction that doesn't take advantage of the time its in), but the good stuff more than makes up for it.

[RedCoKid]

That puts the pink in pinkos.

Ah, good times...

[bVork]

People are going to hate this game if they go in expecting a TRPG with visual novel elements. It would be like calling Snatcher a lightgun game with visual novel elements. It's pretty much the other way around: Sakura Wars is a visual novel with some TRPG-style battles. If you're going in to Sakura Wars expecting a lot of battles, you'll be massively disappointed. I've had a grand total of two battles in four hours of play so far.

If you can't stand games like Fate/Stay Night or Katawa Shoujo, then stay the hell away from Sakura Wars.

At any rate, I'm enjoying this quite a bit. The story, despite being pretty pedestrian so far, is holding my interest, and the game does a good job of keeping it just interactive enough that I don't feel like I'd be better off just reading a book. The one thing I'm worried about, which Hero alluded to, is if all the interactions you do don't affect anything. It's hard to tell at this point, but it will make subsequent playthroughs (and clearly the game wants you to do them, obviously ending up with each of the girls) much less interesting if it is the case.

[Shooting Love]

In other news, I discovered that the first two Sakura Wars games have already been localized. In Russian. Could somebody please explain to me how that is profitable

There are a lot more fags in Russia?
You've gotta be pretty queer to play these freakin games.

[kingoffighters]

I bought this because I have always wanted to play an English ST. I remember buying the import ST1 LE for the Saturn.

So far, I am not impressed.

[Beefy Hits]

I picked it up, but haven't played it yet.

[Anal Kaboom]

Didn't like it. I might give it another chance but the characters were so annoying.

[kingoffighters]

Didn't like it. I might give it another chance but the characters were so annoying.

I guess we have to hand our fchan badge in.

[Anal Kaboom]

But I like mine.

I've been watching alot of really good anime lately and then I played this. It's so boring when you see the same tired character archetypes doing the same boring shit they always do. Not to mention I have a deep seated loathing for harem anime.

I could go on forever about this but here's the bottom line: If you're on the fence don't play it. All the guys that are playing and liking this game now knew they were gonna like it going in.