Sakura Taisen games on the Saturn

[shaddow085]

The announcement of the new Sakura Wars game on the PS4  fueled my intersted in this series I have never have heard before. As far as I know there is also at least one entry in the series on the Saturn. They are all in  Japanese   I think but thanks to the Internet it should not be impossible to find a guide to  play it at least.

Are here any Sakura Wars fan on board and could recommend the the Saturn Sakura Wars  or not.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

[martiniii]

There are two main series Sakura Wars games on the Saturn, a Columns-style spin off, and a few multimedia discs. I got the original Sakura Wars and was underwhelmed - partly because it's so primitive compared to Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, partly because the mouse control is terrible (despite Sega bundling the Saturn Mouse with the game!), but mainly because it's really not very accessible to non-Japanese speakers. Yes, there are guides and translations online, but from what I've seen all of them only cover one of the possible choices for each of the game's many dialogue branches. Even if there were a guide which covered every possible choice, playing off of a translation would sap all the fun out of the adventuring portions, since the game's LIPS system is all about making tough decisions at the spur of the moment, with the real-time timer pushing you to make decisions based on your gut rather than cold objective analysis.

Yes, you can easily push through the adventuring portions, even without using a guide, and just enjoy the turn-based strategy segments, but that means missing out on 80% of the game. Besides, the turn-based strategy segments are stupidly easy; most of their value comes from playing out dramas involving characters that you've built a connection to, not their raw gameplay.

I haven't played Sakura Wars 2, but from everything I've heard it's just more of the same - same characters, same graphics engine, same gameplay. If these games ever get full translation patches they'll likely be worth a spin for non-Japanese speakers, but at the moment their primary appeal is beyond our reach.

It also bears mention that Sakura Wars 1 and 2 both got enhanced ports on the Dreamcast, so if you're a Dreamcast owner the Saturn installments are obsolete.

[shaddow085]

Thanks a lot for the answer. And yes I am a Dreamcast owner too, in that case I will checck both games out on the DC instead of the Saturn.

[manticore]

If you don't know much Japanese they're unplayable. The (limited) guides don't go into much detail on the game. They're cool collector's items though so that's why I got 'em.  The first two came out on both the Saturn and Dreamcast. They're cheaper on the Saturn, although they're cheap on either system, so either system would be a good choice.

[shaddow085]

Ok thanks for the info. In that case I will reconsider my purchase. After all I do not want to purchase Sakura Wars as a collectors item only, I want to play it extensively and get into the Sakura Wars lore to be prepared for the New Sakura Wars Story wise that Comes out next year.