Sakura Taisen Atsukichishio ni

[Yamcha]

Got mine today thanks to VGD (I hear NCS' shpiments have been delayed) and played through the first chapter so far.

Overall, it's nicely polished, but still the same game. Intro movie is completely changed and consists of what was in the most recent trailer. Storywise it's pretty much the same so far, with some nice redone FMVs such as Sakura at Ueno Park and the battle preparation scenes. Probably some tweaks to the dialogue too, though I don't remember the original lines well enough to say.

Probably the biggest change is during the free roam and mimawari scenes, you can zoom out and see where events will take place, and you actually get to move Oogami around instead of just pointing a cursor for him to go. Feels kinda surreal. Not sure if this is a good thing yet since it's harder to miss things, but at the same time it cuts down some of the surprise when you encounter someone. Was the reception area in the Teigeki with Yuri always there?

Art and FMV are extremely pleasing to the eye, especially with s-video. One thing is the backgrounds are really, really crappy looking, like Saturn bad. Not sure why this is. Music is remixed is some places and I think there was a new tune or two too.

Also, I watched a bit of the DVD that came with it, it even has an interview with Shoichiro Irimajiri about when ST was first coming out for Saturn. The watch that comes with the LE isn't too bad either, despite a big "Made in China" sticker on it, it feels pretty solid.

Looking forward to playing some more and see what the hell that space battle is.

[AaronChance]

I don't have it yet, thanks to VGD, but at least it's on its way now. I know a couple things about the game from other impressions though.

You can hit one of the buttons to make the possible encounters appear during freeroam so you don't miss anything.

Do you mean the office next to Yonada's? That's where Yuri always was in the original game.

I hear the mini-games were cut from the game, sadly. Actually not cut, but you have to go online with some service to play them... which of course is only in Japan.

[Josh]

Mine hasn't arrived yet...

[Orta]

It sold 130,000+ (combining the limited edition pack) on the 1st day . Mine hasn't arrived yet though

[AaronChance]

Look ma, a Sega game that actually sells.. in Japan even!

They actually threw a huge party for this game in Japan, complete with Jean-Paul pancakes. There were also people lined up like overnight I think to get ahold of the ST sweetness. Odd all this fuss over a remake, but hey I bought a J-PS2 for it so I'm not one to judge. I think I'll stack my ST dreamcast on top of it and just pretend it's a dreamcast game.

[Yamcha]

Forgot about the ARMS battles, they're pretty much what you would expect, no new commands or anything. Models are more detailed than ST4 but not mind-blowing, and of course more dramatic poses and the like.

I think Ammadeau is right about the mini-games. Hanafuda is still in there, but I couldn't get the Sumire swimming game. I fooled around with the password screen, I didn't read it that closely but apparently you can enter a password from the game and get another password if you subscribe to the j-phone ST service and use that to unlock mini-games in the Teito no Ichinichi mode. Dunno if there's any way to access this outside of Japan.

I dunno, considering the installed base of the PS2 and the populartiy of the series, doesn't 130k seem a little low? Of course, this is an old game. Anyone remember how many units the DC versions did?

Old game or not, it still feels like meeting up with old friends again to me. Good times.

[Frogacuda]

Originally posted by Yamcha
I dunno, considering the installed base of the PS2 and the populartiy of the series, doesn't 130k seem a little low? Of course, this is an old game. Anyone remember how many units the DC versions did?

They sold very well as aI recall. This game is coming out at almost the same time as Star Ocean 3, though, so that's a major hit to sales.

[Orta]

It is 130k in the FIRST DAY That is really good, IMO. The DC Sakura's did very well. I think ST4 sold about 500k (If I'm not mistaken)

[Frogacuda]

Originally posted by Orta
It is 130k in the FIRST DAY That is really good, IMO. The DC Sakura's did very well. I think ST4 sold about 500k (If I'm not mistaken)

I was just looking at the dengeki... man, ZoE2 only sold 50,000. Are the reviews bad or something?

[Orta]

Actually, the reviews were VERY good. I guess just a lack of interest.