Sakura Taisen V

[MechDeus]

If you can't read at least some Japanese you probably won't have all that much fun with it unless you get an English faq (some seem to be available on gamefaqs already).

Thanks, I'll just continue to ignore this series. The only real reason I'm interested is because I want to try it out to see what the big deal is.

[1CCOSA]

I'm somewhat interested in trying out the Saturn and then possibly the DC installments. The sakura rose theme and girl samurai in steam powered mechs has had me intrigued for awhile. Are they somewhat easy to get through using online tutorials? Otherwise, unless the stories are decent (are they?) I am guessing a lot of enjoyment is taken out unless you can read what the characters are saying? And how is the anime/OVAs? I'm also guessing the Saturn and DC titles cost a lot now.

[Tsubaki]

Are they easy to get thru via tutorials: Yes, they are.

Is a lot of enjoyment taken out if you can't read what girls are saying: Yes, it is.

Do SS/DC ST games cost a lot: No, actually the games are fairly inexpensive on any system just because it's been rereleased so many times. SS, you can pick up ST1/2 for probably less than 15 bucks each. DC games are a little higher. I'd recommend DC though just because of new convenience features, faster loading, VGA compatibility (through a switch trick for ST1-2), cleaned up visuals (ST2), VMU animations, and VMU save compat between ST1-4. Plus all the games are on the DC so no need to go cross-console. ST5 is a new setting, new cast.

How is the anime: I don't know how any non-ST fan can enjoy the anime. They are generally made assuming you know the main stories of ST1-4. Ouka Kenran (OAV1) is a prequel to ST1 for 3 eps, and then ep 4 is a side story. Gouka Kenran (OAV2) is a collection of character based side stories for ST2. OAV3 is a prequel, collection of side stories to ST3. Movie bridges ST3 and ST4. And TV is an alternate universe retelling of most of ST1. Most fans hated TV, but I loved its dark take of the game. Except... the latter half of the TV series falls apart with its cruddy animation and anticlimactic ending.

I played the first game when I was in my first year of studying Japanese, and it was a learning experience for me, so I enjoyed it through and through. As subsequent games came out, my Japanese was good enough to play without feeling I'm missing something. And Sakura Taisen is very charming because of the dialog, as well as the LIPS system which requires immediate response (and a lot of other things, as the game series is on the whole extremely polished.)

But while I've never used the walkthroughs (I've helped write for one), by far the majority of western ST players do. And there is a definite fanbase in the West that loves the game series. I honestly believe that there is something lost simply because ST's dialog is that engaging. Nevertheless, the fact that many people are still touched by the game via walkthroughs shows the strength of the characterization. Maybe someone who has used a walkthrough can shed a little light on this.

(LIPS = Live Interactive Picture System. Basically it's a dialog system where you must respond within a certain time limit. Maybe a normal duration of time to respond is 10 seconds. If the situation is more urgent, maybe you'll have 2 seconds to retort a response. Not all dialog choice in ST uses LIPS. Only those that require some sort of immediate response, as in real life I suppose. As the series progresses, new types of LIPS have popped up. Double LIPS where one response will lead to another set of responses. Timing LIPS where your dialog choices change after a specified time within time limit. Analog LIPS where your response is set, but you choose with what intensity you say it. etc)

[RedCoKid]

The story isn't understandable in English, it's all Japanese. However they use
lots and lots of (sometimes pretty funny) English words (written in Japanese katakana) in their Japanese speech, since the game is set in America. The menus are mostly English, and the chapter titles are given in Japanese and English. If you can't read at least some Japanese you probably won't have all that much fun with it unless you get an English faq (some seem to be available on gamefaqs already).

I made one of them, and it should help people get all the answers "correct" with a little bit of understanding about the conversations. When I did one of these before, the translation turned out to be very close sometimes and at other times way off. Ironically, the complex sentences are easier to do than the easy ones (such as, "Well, uh, um...").



Rabbits! Rabbits everywhere!

[Yamcha]

I'm about halfway through Chapter 7 at the moment, I want to finish the game once before I write a lot about it, but is it just me or are these two things kind of disturbing?

- A 10 year old bounty hunter who fires her guns indiscriminately
- Gemini's master's training methods which involve...etchi things such as touching her.


It is just a game, but maybe I'm just getting old and that stuff is disturbing to me instead of amusing.

[RedCoKid]

I'm about halfway through Chapter 7 at the moment, I want to finish the game once before I write a lot about it, but is it just me or are these two things kind of disturbing?

- A 10 year old bounty hunter who fires her guns indiscriminately
- Gemini's master's training methods which involves..."etchi" things as she puts it.


It is just a game, but maybe I'm just getting old and that stuff is disturbing to me instead of amusing.

Rika - In chapter 3, doesn't Sunnyside give Rika a camera so she'll shoot pictures instead of bullets? Rika is too young for a game like this, though.
Gemini - As long as Gemini's master wasn't her father, I don't have a problem with that. IIRC, Taiga calls her "ecchi" when she pulls the sheets off him in his room in Ch 7. So I guess she was trained well enough to practice what her master preached. haha

Sakura 3 was worse with its pudding references, sleepovers, cat cosplay, butt shots, and whatnot.

[dog$]

Well I beat this game today. With Sagitta, so I'm not replaying it.

The game has a lot of good touches and attention to detail, and most of the CG work is still Grade A material; it's probably for reasons like these that the problems I have with the storyline and game content became magnified. After playing through Ep0 I was expecting Gemini to have a bit more than 0% to do with the game until the last two chapters, and I'm currently sticking my middle finger up at whichever writer thought it'd be OK for a simple eye-mask to serve as a cover for schizophrenia (over several chapters!). After listening to Diana's whining for 10 minutes I found it very difficult to hear her voice at all - when she stood up against the police and told them to stop firing, all I was thinking was "Yes, she's finally going to die." If Rika has any personality beyond "YAY I LIKE FOOD", the game hid it from me. Shinjiro is the oldest looking 12 year old I've encountered since... the last jrpg I played, lol.

No need to go on about the characters, though. ST5 is a game of wasted potential, particularly because you can tell Sega/Red actively tried to improve both aspects of the game in some respects (battle part with the multi-maps and transformable ships, story part with the dual-analog lips and higher degree of freedom), and because it doesn't suffer from overreliance of previous ST staples (which is fundamentally ST3's largest flaw). In this perspective, though, it becomes evident as to what ST1-3 did right and this didn't; where are the mini-games? where is the evolution of the character's mechs through the story?

So in the end, when I watched the credits roll, I realized that the song they were playing was ok, and there were plenty of ok parts in the game too. But finally reaching this point was not entirely an experience I enjoyed, nor would I recommend it to others. Oh and if there actually will be an ST6 (doubtful, high Famitsu review didn't help it get sales, right?), they need someone to draw the people so that they don't have gigantic cavernous ears.

[RedCoKid]

I've been told it's dead here. Thank you, Sony.

I submitted the final update to my guide this morning, so now I'm done. It's time to get over this series.

Edit: STV's battle system is the best in any strategy-RPG, but in general the game needed mini-games and sexier character designs.

[AaronChance]

While I still haven't played past the first chapter. The story just doesn't interest me, and while other games can get away with that, ST series has always lived or died on its story for me. If I was going to play an ST game, I'd rather replay ST3 or Hanagumi Columns 2.

[dog$]

Thank you, Sony.

Thy blame is misplaced, and you know it.