Sakura Taisen

[Chakan]

Ahh... I finally have it. Sakura Taisen (also labelled as Sakura Wars in English on the package and referred to as such by many) for the Japanese Sega Saturn. Snagged it complete and in spiffy condition for the sweet small sum of $5. May whatever gods that exist bless the kind soul who practically gave it to me...

He also sold me Strikers 1945 (I loved the sequel Strikers 1945 II), a red label title that's not so hot, and Gun Griffon. All Japanese Sega Saturn titles. All complete for $5 each.

But the topic of this thread is Sakura Taisen, so I'll get back to it. So far, I'm rather enjoying the game. Is anyone here a fan of the series? I'd love to know of some improvements, additions, or declines in later installment of the series.

Poor video games forum... you seem so empty...

[midnitestar7]

Hey there.. I haven't played Sakura Taisen though I've heard a lot about it. What kind of game is it? My speciality where gaming is concerned is RPG's as I tend to suck at everything else! <laughs>

And yes.. the video games forum is always so empty.. I'd post like a mad woman if there was every anything to post about!

[Chakan]

Sakura Taisen is a Dating/Strategy game hybrid. You spend the first part of each episode interacting with your female crew (you're their commander), assisting them and asking them questions and such. You'll earn brownie points which make them perform better on the battlefied. To me, it seems much less like a Dating game and more about the relationships between a leader and his crew.

Eventually, the enemy attacks and you're forced to haul out into an alternate universe's early 20th century Japan, where steam-powered mechs called "kohbu" are the ultimate weapon against robots, demons, machines, and whatever else you'll run into. This section of the game plays out similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts, and Hoshigami. You can do standard attacks, special attacks, build up for another special attack, defend, and use a curative item. Ohgami (you) can also choose to defend one of the girls from damage 8 times per battle. When you do so, you score brownie points with that girl.

All of the text and voices in the game are in Japanese. However, it may be a good idea to download the translation guides that are available, as the questions are timed and you don't have enough time to consule your J->E dictionary to figure out what a specific responce or question is.

It's pretty cool. I like it.

[MHtrStevie]

Greetings!

Sorry to respond to this thread so late... hope people are still around. I am a HUGE Sakura Taisen fan, following the series from the Saturn onto the Dreamcast... and now preparing myself for the new games to be released on the PS2.

Is the Saturn version of ST your first exposure to the series? Aside from plotline, there isn't any significant differences between the games on the Saturn... ST2 introduces two more Hanagumi members and a new cast of villians. The real change in the game system came with the switch to the Dreamcast, especially in the titles made specifically for DC (ST3 and ST4)... there, the entire battle system was overhauled to more of an "action points" system, i.e. all of the choices for actions is the same, but now you can perform as many as you want up to your action point limit. Obviously you still need to build your energy to reach your special attacks, but you could potentially attack, defend and build your energy in one round.

The Dreamcast remakes of the first two games are pretty much direct ports of the Saturn games, with more vibrant colors and crisper animation. The PS2 games, however, will be complete retoolings of the original games, updating to the new ARMS battle system I described above...

This is definitely one of my favorite games series, and I'd highly recommend them to anyone.

[MShingen]

Some heads up of the game Sakura Wars for PS2 in 2004








Hope that the pictures are of some good use.

[MHtrStevie]

Very interesting...

Besides ST5, is the game with Erica some sort of side-story? I'm assuming Erica isn't showing up in ST5... I thought they were making a clean break character-wise with ST5's American story, except for Rachette from the movie.

Cowgirl with katana and six-shooter... trippy!

[MShingen]

Originally posted by MHtrStevie
Very interesting...

Besides ST5, is the game with Erica some sort of side-story? I'm assuming Erica isn't showing up in ST5... I thought they were making a clean break character-wise with ST5's American story, except for Rachette from the movie.

Cowgirl with katana and six-shooter... trippy!

Please do not misunderstand, Actually there are 2 seperate games to be released on PS2 for Sakura Taisen. 1 of which is Sakura Taisen 5 which is the one with the cowgirl. Another one will be Sakura Taisen Mysterious Paris which will be scheduled on March this year. 2 seperate games.