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Sakura Wars |OT| The Mecha Action Game Anime Samurai Girls Are Made Of

Does the western version of this allow you to select the language (especially Chinese)?
The North American release, which should be the same as Europe, does not have an in-game subtitle toggle. The in-game text is tied to the PS4's language setting, with English, German, French, and Spanish being the supported languages on offer. I tried setting my system's language to Japanese and both Chinese options and in all cases the game defaulted to English.
 
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D.Final

Banned
The North American release, which should be the same as Europe, does not have an in-game subtitle toggle. The in-game text is tied to the PS4's language setting, with English, German, French, and Spanish being the supported languages on offer. I tried setting my system's language to Japanese and both Chinese options and in all cases the game defaulted to English.

At least there are some options
 
even thou I don't play the game, I had been listening to the theme song a lot. and the newest one really grown on me. here's the theme from all the Sakura Wars so far I think.




edit: while going down the rabbit hole on Youtube, found this little video on the history of the series, pretty interesting

 
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I informed Amazon UK that the US is doing a deal as to whether they could replicate it.

I really want to support the game but my current funds mean i cannot really pay full price. 😭😭😭 Even at £35 I will pay.
 

lachesis

Member
Just finished the game today. Platinum.
I think I enjoyed the game little too much than I should have. (obviously) lol...

The whole storyline is very predictable - practically PG level of good vs evil, justice prevails thru teamwork etc, just like previous ones with chock full of cliche'd plot that you can see a mile away - so that was to be expected, and it's part of its "nostalgic" charm... but 1st episode felt practically boring for some reason.

In the end though - it did a decent job of making me liking some characters - I actually liked the more off-beat side characters like HIromi and others than most of the main characters though.

As a Sakura Wars - it did decent enough job, not a masterpiece level - I'm hoping more improved sequel would come out in the future. Each and every main characters had some sort of cringy vocal songs and all, and all of them fit into the whole campy & cringy feel of the game perfectly.

One thing I noticed though - that the game is focused on way too much on the main character Kamiyama. I guess it's because traditionally you don't really get to see your own character (Ogami) in 1st person adventure part unless in a event scene - they all talk to you straightforward - so it felt little bit different. As playing Ogami, I felt more 1st person - while playing as Kamiyama, it felt strangely 3rd person.

Finally, as per the battle system - it's pretty easy enough for me to get S rank on all the battle bots. As you get better playing your character, especially Kamiyama - basically you can build up the moral level to 10 and just smash everything in sight in a few seconds, and lots of cool insta-kills. It felt rather refreshing to play as I get better and better - but the repeated levels in battle bots were little too much. But the biggest issue that I have, is that original Sakura Wars had at least a bit of strategy (although very minimal and easy - as fans want and expect the battles to be easy and quickly done) - you were able to use all your squad members depending on the situations. Using them effectively allowed the battles to be quickly done and over - but in this game, since it's musho style of action -you are only able to play 1 character at a time, although you can switch to one more. (so basically 2 playable characters in battle scenarios). You are supposed to be a "squad leader" - but in this game, you don't even really have to play any other characters (except a couple of particular situations).... so that was little disappointing.

I mean when you defeat the enemy, they all cheer "yay- teamwork" - but no. It was just me doing all the work, while rest of them are not involved in the battle, or sometimes in the way of getting my perfect strings - especially Azami keep launching the enemies up to the air, when time is essence to get the S rank. So yes, the battle system itself is decently enjoyable (asides some annoying lock-on mechanics) - but it got rid of whole strategic portion.

As for the lock-ons... once you assign your target with R3, a slightest move on the right analog stick would change it - most of the time not the ones that I was looking to lock-on. And since the camera is moving around so much, sometimes you have to move the camera with right analog stick - which annoyingly changed the lock on. I wish that they'll fix it in the sequels as well - as I know in original release, lock-on wasn't even in the game I hear, so I can't really complain.

Another thing that I noticed was how little voice acting was present. It would have been great if all the side events were voiced - but I heard the seiyu price was so over-the-top, they really couldn't do it within the budget... which is shame. A game like this needs more voicing. However I was happy to hear original Sumire and Shinguji's voices were used.. although now they really do sound a bit too old...

Koi Koi minigame was also a delightful for me as I'm a big fan of it. I enjoyed almost as much as the main game. Still on easy side though... but can't complain much about it.

As per the translations... I give it 5 out of 10. Even with my limited Japanese - translation wasn't really on par. Often the translator added things are not in the sentence, or sometimes opposite - some things just didn't carry the original's nuance well - although... I should be at least thankful that they translated it at least, and even got the western release. I ended up listening to the actual voices and understanding what they are saying (very entry level Japanese - commonly used in a lot of Anime) - than relying on the translated text.

Also the anime fmvs and in-game illustrations... somehow looks quite low-quality, low-budget. Even the ending animations too - I actually liked 3d models better in the end, although I'm not the biggest fan of Tite Kubo's style particularly - I wished the fmvs and illustrations didn't deter too much from the main design... that looked almost like 90's anime style in some cases.

Sounds like I have much complaint than good things - but that's just me being a bit harsh and critical - I enjoyed the game very much and sometimes got teary-eyed in certain situations. That cringy goosebump you get - it is indeed the charm of the franchise. It just felt strange and out of place to play this type of game, in this woke day and age - this thing is full of a lot of people would call wrong... (unrealistic waifus) that I'm surprised if it wasn't gutted by Sony's censorship. Perhaps this is what getting old feels like. Seeking entertainment from something of old - and they delivered it quite well in this game. I hope to see and find out what happened to the original characters more, hopefully they return to the series at least as cameos or whatnot.

Will now watch the anime series - heard that it has a bit more of characters not present in the game etc - so will see how it goes!
 

lachesis

Member
Also just finished watching Anime series. To be honest, I thought it would be a repeat of the game story, but it's more of continuation. Explains bunch of stuff that was left out and possible future game plot too. It looked like some sort of 3d animation - and I am a bit shocked that 3d animation has improved quite a bit. Loved some of the dancing scene, as well as the action sequences of the mechs were quite impressive.

Story wise, it follows pretty standard typical PG level stuff too - quite corny and all, but I enjoyed it. Honestly, the whole thing could have been 3-4 episodes shorter, as there were some character building fillers here and there - but mostly I enjoyed it. There were some unexpected genuinely funny bits too. I do have a bit of concern on the new Kagekidan member, Clara - will she remain in the series on the next game as the new character, perhaps along with another one like Sakura Wars 2 added..? Also wasn't too happy that Anastasia's character was pretty much left out throughout the anime - Clara and Azami's roll were pretty minimal, and Hatsuho's character was always rush-in-get-beaten-up-first character. Azami's ninja skills didn't seem to match what was portrayed in the game too... a bit too comedic.

Good seeing some of the other Kageki-dan cameos - but only few joins in (mostly female ones only). While Kamiyama's involvement was pretty minimal - assuming they were trying to appeal the female cast - but would have been nicer if he had more central role in the final battle.

I hope in the next game, they can flesh out each characters more. As it seems, the tale of Shadow Tokyo isn't over.. so maybe we may see the original cast coming back in some form, or find out what happened to them? The whole kouma race living among humans, or true nature of Hakushu... it's really getting more interesting.

If anyone else enjoyed the game, I highly recommend to give a watch.
 

YukiOnna

Member
At last went back to finish this after tackling other games.

Definitely a title where the characters carried the story rather than the overarching plot, similar to previous games. It had the feel of an anime action series from beginning to end... even when it rushed the "last episode." Everything up to that point in the story was okay with me till the brought out several plot developments without explaining anything. But even then, I didn't care much, I had a lot of fun and was invested in the cast and the final battle cutscene was cool af.

It's a shame the battle portion of the game was so basic. There were a number of things they could have done to add at least some strategy and make it less of a musou clone, but it is what it is, I guess. I honestly would have been happy if they just made this entire portion cutscenes while keeping the combat gameplay solely for the World Revue games because Chapter 3 with all the other combat revues was my favourite (Lancelot is best girl.) The SOL portion of the game was perfect though, LIPS dialogue choices, fun scenarios, exploring, dates. Always made me laugh and they nailed it.

Looking forward to the sequel given the various foreshadowing and I hope they can make improvements in some aspects here since I wanted to see more plays and songs...
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
The combat system is basic but I feel it never were that long, so to me they are fun and flashy but don’t overstay their welcome, the visuals novel section is core of this game and I would say did pretty damn good job with it.
 

Evangelion Unit-01

Master Chief
I would like to get into this series but want to play the older titles first. The 90's anime aesthetic is great. Wish they would localize the games.
 

YukiOnna

Member
The combat system is basic but I feel it never were that long, so to me they are fun and flashy but don’t overstay their welcome, the visuals novel section is core of this game and I would say did pretty damn good job with it.
I think it's just my incompatibility with musou games lmao. It's not a sub-genre I'm into at all, but it's pretty inoffensive here. They can easily do a lot in the sequel to build on what they have.
 
Anyone new to this series and started this with this game? Is it worth it for 60% off?
I wouldn't worry about being unfamiliar with past Sakura War titles. This most recent series entry serves as a soft reboot and provides new players enough context of the franchise's world, keeping self-referential material mostly at the level of fan service. The game works best as a visually handsome but simplistic romance sim, whereas combat segments feature lackluster mechanics spread across repetitive levels. Ultimately, it's a rather mid-tier affair, whose main draw is the charming, though routine, material involving the main female leads. If you're in the market for a simplistic and tame romance adventure with pretty 3D graphics, the game's current price makes it a somewhat attractive option.
 
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