Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love [ PS2 • Wii ]

[Hive]

:metool

[Jiggy]

While waiting:


Awful 1up review (http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3178588):

Sure, I'll always love Japan, and I'm still generally amused by anime shenanigans (in small doses, at least), but it takes more than giant robots and a cadre of scantily clad, anime babes to get my attention these days. And that's really my biggest concern when it comes to Sakura Wars.Ratchet wears full business attire, Gemini ties off the bottom of her shirt but that sure doesn't qualify her for being "scantily-clad," Sagitta is a lawyer in a suit, Subaru is an androgynous type, Anri is like twelve years old or something and fully-clothed anyway, Rika's eleven years old and in Mexican clothes that cover her from neck to toe, and Diana's wearing a reasonably lengthy dress.

You cannot complain about "scantily-clad anime babes" in Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. The only one remotely close is Plum, but even she's dressed--it's just that her... "design"... severely annoys me. She's a minor character, though.

After all, don't let the bare midriffs and heaving bosoms fool youWith eight female characters, there's exactly one bare midriff (and not even that much of it) and no heaving bosoms. One that's on display about 80400% more often than it should be (and that would be Plum, who I really don't like), but let's at least be factual with any complaints.

Sakura Wars relies heavily on stereotypes, from the character tropes to the oversimplified, idealized interpretation of America. Most depictions are relatively benign and inoffensive, but some players will surely cringe uncomfortably at the game's rendering of Harlem, which takes a few cues from Rumble in the Bronx's infamously outdated take on the Big Apple."Some players" like who? I know people are irrational at times, but we're talking here about a fictional world with transforming robots flying around to battle demons controlling more giant robots in America circa 1928. It's not like an alternate-history story where one or two events are changed and everything else should be assumed as an accurate representation of reality--this is a full-blown completely different world.

Since the majority of each chapter focuses on character interaction, combat comes in one lump sum at the end of each episode. And since you're getting a chapter's worth of fights all at once, this oftentimes results in some extremely......drawn......out......affairs. Thankfully, these epic skirmishes include helpful checkpoints, but expect to spend upwards of three hours (or more!) completing some battles.Well... I haven't been through the whole gameplay portion, but so far battles have only been taking me 60-100 minutes and that's with me usually retrying once or twice per battle when someone gets killed and I can't live with the emotion drop sound effect. ;P Though admittedly the chapter six battle was far longer than the previous ones, so we'll see how the last ones go.

[Jiggy]

I think I'm going to be sick. Stayed up until 4:00 AM trying to take down the final battle sequence even knowing I'd have to be up early today, but it's just so long that I couldn't manage. I'm going to regret these hours tonight, I'm sure. o_o



But what's really crazy in all this is that Capcom put up Mega Man 10's Bass Mode and Special Stage 1 and I downloaded them both, D4 released a Neo Geo shooter I've never played and I bought more Nintendo Points just to download that too, yet all I want to do is go back to Sakura Wars, beat it, and start a new game story experience. XD But I do have videos to put up for tomorrow, so I'll sink at least a little time into IRONCLAD and/or MM10.

[Hive]

:O

you're hardcore, Jiggy!
That's what I like to see! lol

go go go (and play more Sakura Taisen before you lose interest)

[Hive]

Jiggy, check these:

http://forums.ffshrine.org/showpost.php?p=1459867&postcount=2

passwords:
FILE 1 - 1746f8397111b71789dadc30869a0176
FILE 2 - 3eff1fb710ba915b49d7447e3ca0b781

[Jiggy]

Awesome so much. :O This is taking a while to download, so in the meantime here are some YouTube songs--vocal versions not in the game, mind you. I prefer their non-vocals, but hey.



Opening menu theme:

NL30va30ies

The in-game version keeps me stuck on the save menu for two minutes every bloody time it pops up, just so I can hear it. XD

Moving on.


Gemini's theme:

PNLSXdLm3Uw

I love the in-game version more, but that's still really cool.


And this next one for Gemini isn't in the game at all, but I don't care since it's great:

E9up6U12Zow


Subaru's theme:

Zqsyfc6pmeo


Rika's theme is one of my favorites, but it's like eighty-two times better without singing and I can't disgrace it, so let's move on to another one. Here's Sagiitta's theme--I didn't even realize she had one until this pointed it out:

_-dydoFFSCQ

[Hive]

"Downtown Heart" is such a great title for that track.

[Jiggy]

I love the mastery of so many different musical styles in Sakura Wars, though it doesn't come across in full with just the small selection here. <3


Edit: Also, Sakura Wars' story is a lot like that of The World Ends With You or (to a lesser extent) Mother 3 in the sense that it builds up the strength of a single town community through a reasonably large sampling of memorable NPCs--though in TWEWY and Mother 3 they were memorable for their personalities while here they're memorable mostly for their looks--to the point where you're not sure precisely when they all wormed their way into your heart, but they sure did.


Edit 2: Thinking about it, I know why I didn't realize Sagiitta had a theme. She's the only major character who never walked around town with me at any point.

[Ramune]

sorry for what?
Hey, is there no roman numeral 'V' in the US title??

Nope. Because it may just be the first and last game in the series to see a release outside Japan. Calling it V would have people assume the other games were already released or have them pick up their brains from off the floor from confusion.

[Jiggy]

Nope. Because it may just be the first and last game in the series to see a release outside Japan.I suspect it will be, and that makes me sad. :(



I kind of want to stick a quasi-review on the main page, but I'm apparently not good at promoting games I like, so not happening...

[Jiggy]

Nah, you're certainly not the first to offer those kinds of sentiments anyway. It's fine, I've already quit.





Anyway, back to the game the story Sakura Wars, it's really amazing just how much you can get me with pure cheese. I mean, in the final chapter:

Your team of six sentai robots is trying to protect your damaged battleship through an army of enemy robots summoned by the demon reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga from his flying sky castle guarded by a force field. Prospects for reaching him aren't looking very good until your superior busts into a secret US military base under Liberty Island, then delivers a miniature dance routine while giving a command for the Statue of Liberty to raise her arm, which launches a flurry of anti-air missiles painted to look like koi fish into Nobunaga's castle.

It's amazing like I can't comprehend, especially with the chosen music. [Edit: Give me twenty minutes or so and I can start uploading some samples to YouTube...] If only every game-with-a-story had a story like this (or Rhythm Heaven or Elite Beat Agents, for that matter), I'd be a so much more active buyer of games-with-stories.

I demand Akai's impressions when he starts experiencing this!

[Hive]

Nah, you're certainly not the first to offer those kinds of sentiments anyway. It's fine, I've already quit.





Anyway, back to the game the story Sakura Wars, it's really amazing just how much you can get me with pure cheese. I mean, in the final chapter:

Your team of six sentai robots is trying to protect your damaged battleship through an army of enemy robots summoned by the demon reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga from his flying sky castle guarded by a force field. Prospects for reaching him aren't looking very good until your superior busts into a secret US military base under Liberty Island, then delivers a miniature dance routine while giving a command for the Statue of Liberty to raise her arm, which launches a flurry of anti-air missiles painted to look like koi fish into Nobunaga's castle.

It's amazing like I can't comprehend, especially with the chosen music. [Edit: Give me twenty minutes or so and I can start uploading some samples to YouTube...] If only every game-with-a-story had a story like this (or Rhythm Heaven or Elite Beat Agents, for that matter), I'd be a so much more active buyer of games-with-stories.

I demand Akai's impressions when he starts experiencing this!

Nice! This game has a Nobunaga cameo??? SOLD SOLD SOLD

[Jiggy]

15 themes of wondrous quality:

B4DD2E1FBF733C07

In order:

Earth Warriors (best save screen music anywhere ever)
Welcome to Broadway! (title screen music)
Hello, New York! (going out for a happy day on town)
Go Go NYCR! (the most lighthearted of this game's battle themes)
It's Showtime! (general heroic theme)
My Dream (Gemini's theme)
Downtown Heart (Sagiitta's theme)
Bounty Hunter Rikaritta (Rika's theme)
This is Paradise (Little Lip Theater theme)
Mainland Anti-aircraft Machine [C.A.R.P.] (plays during the epic scene I mentioned above)
Earth Warriors vocal version
My Dream vocal version
Downtown Heart vocal version
Samurai Spirit (another theme for Gemini, though it never plays in-game)
This is Paradise vocal version

[Hive]

Diehard GameFAN review: (http://diehardgamefan.com/2010/04/12/review-sakura-wars-so-long-my-love-wii/)

"The Sakura Taisen series is considered to be one of, if not THE best, RPG series of all time
when it comes to consistent levels of excellence and nothing showcases that aspect more
than when Nippon Ichi can take a five year old PS2 game, port it to the Wii and
have it outclass every other RPG for that system."

The Scores
Story: Great
Graphics: Above Average
Sound: Classic
Control and Gameplay: Good
Replayability: Great
Balance: Unparalleled
Originality: Unparalleled
Addictiveness: Good
Appeal Factor: Great
Miscellaneous: Unparalleled
FINAL SCORE: INCREDIBLE GAME!

[Jiggy]

Akai, I know from chat that you're playing this game and at least on chapter 3. Where are your impressions of Sakura Wars: In Which Japan Does America Better Than America Does America, duder? :octokitty

Mostly I just want to hear your hilarious logistics point again. XD

[Akai]

Okay, I'm through two chapters so far, so I'll just post my impressions of everything so far, technical, artistic, and mechanic...

First I turn on the game, and playing the game on a widescreen TV, I'm met with the fake widescreen that most third-party games use. Unfortunately, it's not only that but all the art is stretched out. Ew...

But whatever, I'm not a graphics whore, so I can live with that. However, I AM a voice-acting whore. That's where I'm met with the HORROR that is Americans trying to say Japanese names. THE HORROR.

As I cringed my way through the intro, Taiga is shipped off to New York. As Jiggy was mentioning, this is where logic/continuity come into play, as they are my absolute, most-despised pet peeves ever. I don't care how unrealistic a scenario is: I'll take all the magic, giant mechs, pretty boys, traps, stereotypes, and other bizarre concepts that are thrown at me, but IT SURE AS HELL BETTER MAKE SENSE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE GAME!

Where am I going with this? As stated, Taiga leaves Japan by boat. In the next scene he appears off the coast of New York City. HOW!? Back in the early days of immigration, YOU WOULD REALISTICALLY LEAVE JAPAN GOING EAST, THUS HITTING THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA! Japanese immigrants ALWAYS went through the immigration offices of San Francisco. Unless Taiga was sent on some ridiculous pleasure cruise ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD to get to New York, it makes absolutely no sense when it would be MUCH FASTER to go east to San Francisco, and then take a train to New York. (And no, Jiggy, it makes no sense for there to be giant mechs and giant crossbow mech-firing mechanisms (more on this asinine concept later) and no train system, especially when THERE IS A SUBWAY SYSTEM ALREADY IN NEW YORK AS OF CHAPTER 2!) Anyway, I spent too much text on that ridiculous piece of poo, though it's a piece of flawed storytelling that was entirely avoidable.

Thankfully things were fixed up once I hit the streets, and I ran into Gemini, or rather, the MYSTERIOUS MASKED RIDER that no one can figure out the identity of, even though she's only wearing a bloody tiny mask as a disguise. Even after Taiga meets Gemini and her horse (WHO DOESN'T HAVE A DISGUISE), he can't piece this together. Ugh, the logic in this game.

Gemini is awesome. How awesome? SO AWESOME! I'm absolutely in love with her voice actress' accent, and every time she speaks I can't help but laugh with joy. I think a tear came out last night... ='D

I really like the LIPS system that is involved in the ADV portion of the game, as it really adds to the intensity of the scenarios, and forces you to make choices out of gut instinct instead of taking time to think about it. Apparently I'm really good at making good gut decisions, because I only "flubbed up" one response, but I don't count that one. It was one with Cheiron during battle where she chastized Taiga for "breaking the laws" of the team and I said "Friends are more important!" But even if I knew she'd be upset at that I wouldn't have changed my answer, so screw you Cheiron! (Even though she was thankful that I saved Ratchet anyway...Make up your mind!)

Oh yeah, ANOTHER stupid piece of logic continuity. The New York Revue is some secret organization that protects the city, yet the game likes to pimp this idea that no one knows their identities. Yet at the start of every battle segment there's some ridiculous scene of THE LITTLE LIP THEATER RISING UP OUT OF THE GROUND AND TURNING INTO A GIANT CROSSBOW MECHANISM THAT SHOOTS OUT A GIANT AIRSHIP! You'd think that this would be perhaps noticed BY ANYONE HEARING THE SOUND OF GRINDING ROCK/FEELING THE GROUND SHAKING/LOOKING OUT THEIR FREAKING APARTMENT WINDOWS at this stuff happening, but NO, everyone becomes completely oblivious to this for some reason. "What reason?" you may ask. That reason, of course, is that the developers wanted to completely skirt the idea that the bad guys would attack the theater if they knew where they were. Which is, of course, rather sound logic. BUT IT'S NOT AN EXCUSE TO MAKE SHIT UP OFF THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD! IF YOU MAKE THE TEAM CLANDESTINE THEN YOU CANNOT GIVE THEM A STUPIDLY FLASHY ENTRANCE! UGH!

I'm not even really going to comment on the battle system, as I don't think it'd be fair with me not being an SRPG player to begin with. It makes do even though I suck at it.

Overall, it's a fun game with great characters, dialogue, and scenarios, with some hit-or-miss voice acting (UGH JAPANESE NAMES), tolerable SRPG mechanics, and really terrible story logic...