Sakura Wars news & views thread

[odinfan]

http://www.gamestyle.net/articles/1806/ ... ,_My_Love/

Another small impression....

[perrandy]

definately looking good...i still dont know as for which version to go because i have both systems..yeah the wii version is cheaper but the ps2 version has the goodies.what to do what to do?

[odinfan]

Special announcement on the official website for this Friday.... hmm, I wonder what it could be?

[RedCoKid]

An announcement of an announcement implies that NISA would like its fans to speculate. I'll bite.

- Sakura Wars: Is Paris Burning? preview disk, only available with preorder of SW:SLML
- Sakura Wars: Episode 0, Super Secret Bonus exclusive to the Wii version
- Delay to Q4 2010

[odinfan]

Hehe, I love your theories, always a pleasure to read. As for me, it might be...

• Super secret preview of ST6, I had to steal this idea!(Yeah right, like Red would even consider.... )
• Michie makes a return cameo for the game(unlikely since NISA rarely makes announcements regarding Japanese matters, but I can dream, can't I?).
• Free ticket to Japan packed in with every copy!

[Elysion Zero]

Speculate? Sure, why not. I'm guessing they'll announce plans to localize Sakura Taisen 1 & 2.

[RedCoKid]

Actually I think it won't be a new game announcement, bonus of any sort, or delay. They've done everything except release the game at this point. I'm quite puzzled.

[RedCoKid]

IGN talks about the art book but doesn't show it (unless I missed it)
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/106/1069916p1.html

Also a very lukewarm preview based on the Japanese import version:
http://www.levelfortytwo.com/2010/02/sa ... e-preview/

[odinfan]

This previewer obviously didn't like the move to 3D, which most people felt was a revolution for the series:

Justin Potts of Level Forty Two wrote:
The battle system is by no means unplayable, or even unenjoyable for that matter, but there are a few ingredients which brew frustration, and having experienced the series in its classic, isometric perspective, grid-style format, it’s very clear that the system’s roots lie elsewhere. I won’t waste time outlining battle mechanics, as there are much better sources for such information, but it is worth noting the issues that the system suffers from as a result of the series’ move to 3D, particularly with regards to air battles.

Simply put, a 3D space just doesn’t offer an ideal vantage point for gauging character placement on the battlefield, which becomes very apparent once the mechs take to the sky and the player is then forced to manipulate the Z-axis as well. Given the scale of some of the battles and the necessity for pair and group attacks which require particular character alignments within the 3D space, having to constantly rotate cameras, move and re-move team members, and exit out of the battle screen in order to check non-3D grids for some sense of direction, slip-ups that are difficult to attribute to lack of skill are a bit too frequent, occasionally feeling like unavoidable antecedents of eventual failure. The pressure to transplant these segments into a 3D was likely strong and unavoidable, but it’s interesting to see how, in some cases, “archaic and simple” can often prove to also be ideal.

Now noting this much, he considers the 3D system clunky and unintuitive? How? I don't think he took from the game the fact that moving your characters to exploit movement ranges was the point of the whole perspective change. With the old grid system, you could move freely on any square, as long as it was in your range, that which I felt was a weakness to begin with. Having free movement to go through your allies was something I didn't like(unless you had the ability to, i.e Iris), so the move to a 3 dimensional plane was more or less a natural thing for me.

Fallacy 2:

I should make it clear that Sakura Wars is not a dating sim. While the visual presentation and largely female cast may force the uninitiated to prematurely draw comparisons to the largely ostracized genre, the “goal” is never to date, unclothe, or have one’s way with any of the game’s characters. It is however a game where relationship building lies at its core, as the time that one commits to roaming the Littlelips Theatre (base of operations, and performances) and New York’s various neighborhoods (here is your chance to check out a brilliantly stereotyped version of Harlem) in order to interact with the game’s eclectic cast seems to be where the magic lies. These interactions and the player’s responses within conversations will directly impact how the characters feel about Taiga (the main character), and consequently those characters’ stats during battle sequences, giving decisions made by the player a level of permanence and a direct through-line between all elements of the gameplay.

Dialogue choices in video games are not new, and neither are quick-time events which force the player to think and react under pressure. Sakura Wars combines these and integrates them into nearly every instance of dialogue selection throughout the entire game, which is one of its flagship features. This is nothing revolutionary, but there is something very significant going on here that is worth mentioning: the realistic nature of time-pressured responses.

Whatever he wants to call it, and whatever you may think Rose, its a dating simulation to me. The problem I have with most Western views is what they're bound to say about the genre. It's a mystery why they always automatically think about "bedding" the girl when they hear the term. That's completely missing the point.

Recognizing this is part of what makes “conversing” in Sakura Wars so satisfying. Not only does the sound of a rising meter convey a clear sense of pressure and impatience, but the speed at which time runs out between dialogue selections changes depending on the situation. Better still, adding further believability to the nature of the differences between the characters’ disposition and personality, it is actually often quite difficult to determine the “best” response from the given list of choices. I’ve run into many situations where I was sure that I had offered the most sought after response, only to be left standing by my lonesome before I even had a chance to grasp the situation, and vice-versa, where I was sure that I was in for a smack in the face, only to be awarded with smiles and praise. Sure, dialogue trees may have arguably come a long way, but it doesn’t mean that something meaningful which was conjured up nearly a decade and a half ago is any less relevant today.

Ok, so would you try a pick-up line from the 90s on someone today? Right...., so the comparison is moot. This proves he didn't get a full playthrough of a route before writing this up.

I felt this previewer was expecting a little too much out of the game at this point. The whole concept of the series is from 1996, what else do you want out of it? I understand some of his frustrations but others are simply absurd. At it's very core, the game mechanics can't change, because if they did, fans would cry foul at the inclusion of something that isn't familiar to them. RED Entertainment did a good job of keeping the series consistent, which not many developers can do, that's the series' greatest strength in my opinion.

[RedCoKid]

I just skimmed it. Complaining about ARMS... well, it's been around since 2001, so not really anything new. As I said in another thread, it's fun to twitch the analog sticks juuuuust right to target 1, maybe 2 extra enemies. Plus isometric takes out the fun of moving around your mechs, and let's face it, the battle system is all about movement.

I don't consider Sakura Wars a dating sim. Calling it only that is reducing it to something less than it is. I was fine with him saying it wasn't, too.

[odinfan]

Haha, I knew you were going to say that. Anyway, the reason I feel so strongly about it is because I don't really feel like the SRPG section really added much to the meat of the game. A simple distraction from the courting. The difficulty level is clearly lacking. What I would have considered to be the last boss was nothing more than an excuse for an extended health bar, offering nary a challenge.

Like my ST3 example, which I feel is paramount to my quirk. The end battle ended up being nothing more than a series of smaller stages with the big baddie, with no notice-able change in attack patterns. In all honesty, I was expecting an epic final fight(read: ONE BATTLE) with it, but that ended up being a pretty poor substitute. So from my experiences, that would definitely take a back seat to the real allure of the game.

I guess we'll agree to disagree from this point forward. We can still argue on Gamefaqs, anyway.

[RedCoKid]

The one NISA is publishing ups the difficulty a bit, though I don't think difficulty is really the point. Actually, I don't like difficult games at all. I play everything on easy given the chance.

[odinfan]

I guess that really depends on the person and what kinds of games they grew up with.... but honestly, I don't even think a complete newbie would find the game difficult. Maybe they had the Japanese in mind when they developed the game, but that really isn't going to fly with most Western gamers, if they've played anything in the past few years. There's just no hint of it here.

I wouldn't try to use that as an argument though, unless it's on a Persona level of difficulty(and even then that would be considered "normal" at best). I feel like that's going to be a real turn off. I'm not scared for the fans, but the big review sites and magazines. They might not share the same view as I do.

[RedCoKid]

Yeah, sorry, I'm not gonna agree with you on this. Life is difficult enough, especially when you have a job like mine, to want to come home and see game over after game over screen. Hours down the drain. I don't care for it.

As I said, I don't think difficulty is the point in Sakura Wars, and lack of said difficulty doesn't reduce it to a pure dating sim. If any reviewer wants to make challenge THE issue, then I will gladly reply with a nice letter.

Edit: see next post

[odinfan]

I'm not talking about a punishing level of difficulty. There's NO difficulty whatsoever. It's like they created the maps and just put your overpowered units inside and disregarded the enemy intelligence. If you were going to do it that way, then you might as well not play the game to begin with, right? Those sections wouldn't have any meaning outside of being a simple break from the other portion.

If they wanted to make it a decent balance between the two, they could have at least upped the difficulty, if even a little.