We have seen many SRPGs in our time. Some were extraordinary and some were not so great. Though most SRPGs make you grind through their battle system to power up your characters, Sakura Wars revolutionizes this by combining Sim elements into the SRPG. No longer shall the game dictate what the player should experience. Instead, Sakura Wars allows the player to choose their own destiny. The player’s human interactions affect the story and power up the characters.
Sakura Wars: So Long My Love is a single player strategy role-playing game (SRPG) and the first game in the popular Japanese Sakura Wars franchise to be released in North America. The game features both an exciting and fast-paced mech/air battle system and a unique, sim-based storyline. This in-depth storyline allows for character interaction that plays a major role in the progression of game action as interactions with various characters in the game can ultimately change the story content and even the final outcome.
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Fight to save NYC as Shinjiro Taiga.
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Story
New York City has always been the focal point of the American experiment. Since colonial times it has served as a melting pot, but recently more than just the “huddled masses yearning to breath free” have established a foothold in the Big Apple. Along with peoples and influences from all over the world it has also accumulated masses of relics and artifacts not meant to exist in proximity to each other, resulting in malignant energies from the past. But New Yorkers are not alone in the coming struggle. The Star Division has long battled such forces around the world, and now they have come to the New World. Officially titled the New York Combat Revue, Star Division, this diverse group of covert operatives uses their front as an all female troupe of Broadway performers headquartered at the Littlelip Theater as a front to protect the people of the city. The latest member to join the team from the Tokyo branch is Shinjiro Taiga. Being a young man, he is not quite what the other members of Stars Division expected and as such must prove himself, but filled with hopes and dreams he is determined to fight for justice. To be successful he will have to build relationships within his new team and learn to fight with them.
Gameplay
Sakura Wars: So Long My Love is a strategy RPG. Gameplay is split between two modes: Adventure Mode and Battle Mode. In Adventure Mode Shinjiro explores the Littlelip Theater and greater New York City, interacting with other members of the Star Division and various other characters in a variety of ways, including timed and untimed dialog and action selections and on-screen manipulations using controller analog sticks. In addition, players take part in events such as Broadway shows. Depending on your interactions with team members, their “Trust” in you will change. If this change is positive the player will form “Bonds” with the respective team member, which will affect skills, abilities and possibilities in battle.
Battle Mode features a strategic real-time RPG battle system in which players control up to six team members in ground and aerial combat with the goal of destroying enemies. Ground combat takes place using mechanized suits referred to as STARS (Super Telekinetic Assault Robots). Every STARS unit in the game can transform from a battle mech into a jet fighter during combat, depending on the situation. Once transformed, weapons and movement methods will change accordingly. For example, the hero’s ground mode utilizes a sword as his main weapon, but in jet mode he will use long-range missiles. In coordinating attacks with team members players can adopt differing strategies which utilize fluctuating amounts of mobility, hit points and healing abilities. Each character also has access to unique Super Attacks that can be unleashed. Focused joint attacks can also be enacted by two or more characters which have built sufficient bonds between them in Adventure Mode. Additional features available include the ability to take, save and collect in-game photos, hidden secret events and a quiz game.
Key Game Features
- Anime-style storytelling featuring tons of anime movie scenes.
- Adventure Mode allowing the player to explore New York City and build relationship with in-game AI teammates.
- A strategy RPG battle system allowing for coordinated control of a team of diverse female fighters, each operating mechanized battlesuits that can fight both on the ground and in the air.
- High replay value through the various different endings possible, each of which hinges on the bonds created between characters in-game.
- Additional in-game activities and functionality including Broadway performances with AI Stars teammates., in-game photo functionality, secret events and a quiz game.
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Additional Screenshots:
Build bonds with teammates.
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Ground-based combat.
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And battles in the air.
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Character specific mechs
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- Additional in-game activities and functionality including Broadway performances with AI Stars teammates, in-game photo functionality, secret events and a quiz game.
- Anime-style storytelling featuring tons of anime movie scenes.
- Adventure Mode allowing the player to explore New York City and build relationship with in-game AI teammates.
- A strategy RPG battle system allowing for coordinated control of a team of diverse female fighters, each operating Mech battlesuits that can fight both on the ground and in the air.
- High replay value through the various different endings possible, each of which hinges on the bonds created between characters in-game.
List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 24.67
Great game!,
Its more about your relationships with the other characters, but this is a great Japanese strategy/dating sim. Im glad they decided to port this to the Wii. The art is wonderful, the characters likable, and the game in entertaining for the most part. Note that action isnt the focus of this game so much as character interaction.
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|Review for Wii version,
This review is pertaining to the wii version of the game and I’ll keep it short and to the point:
Story is pretty good. It doesn’t seem too serious, sort of in the same vein as Sailor Moon. The graphics are bright and colorful, mostly consisting of anime sequences interspersed between static 2D backgrounds with anime portraits laid out on top and a lot of spoken and unspoken dialog.
Gameplay consists of fighting 3D battles SRPG-style at the end of each Episode (8 Episodes total) and each episode probably ranged, on average, 2 hours in length (keep that in mind when playing the game–doesn’t really go well in short bursts). On the bright side, you can save your game at predetermined checkpoints at certain points during each episode.
**Despite what people think, the game is not in 480p in the wii version. It is 480i and in 4:3 mode (non-widescreen) just to clarify that bit.
Music can get a little repetitive at times, but the overall composition of the tracks are done fairy well and fit the mood perfectly.
Controls, at least on the wii version, when doing quick-time-events during dialog scenes can be frustrating. You have to move the analog (nunchuck) stick and on the wii remote, the dpad arrows a certain way in order to pass the little events. It can be frustrating because the remote dpad doesn’t really move well on a smooth axis, if anyone can understand what I mean.
Help support NISA and this game. It’s really unique. I bought this version with the hardbound artbook from RosenQueen’s website (NISA’s official page), and don’t regret it. If you can’t find the wii version, then get the ps2 version, but the definitive version to get, if you must (and if you own both consoles) is to get the ps2 version because it is in a box set with a poster, and two language track discs (english and japanese).
**The wii version only has the english language track.
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|Lights! Curtains! MECHA Action!,
What really makes Sakura Wars special is the Live Interactive Picture System (LIPS). LIPS lets you pick what you say and ultimately change the course of the game to one of six different endings. I know that might not seem so unique now that gamers have been spoiled by BioWare, but since there are no BioWare RPGs on the Wii I think more than just anime fans could find this campy game highly enjoyable.
Of course being an anime fan doesn’t hurt. Voltron fans in particular will appreciate the premise but be warned the “MECHA Action!” does take a back seat to the drama. The flow of the game feels reminiscent of Snatcher or Policenauts, except Sakura Wars follows a formula. You’ll deal with a new dilemma in each chapter that will end in a tactical battle. But you’ll have to navigate over an hour of dialogue before you see any action. (That is, unless you stumble into the hot tub area.)
Although, I found most of the girls in this game scary! (How’s that for realism?) I spent my time trying not to say or do anything that would give them the wrong idea (no “hadaka no tsukiai”). I did have a lot of fun dodging them, though. This could be a whole new direction for the series, “Sakura Wars 6: Let’s Just Stay Friends.”
The combat has been compared to a bare bones Valkyria Chronicles. It’s simple enough but if you don’t pay attention you can die quickly. Not to worry though, you can simply restart not far from where you failed. Battles can take about 30-45 minutes. So show up to play!
I enjoyed the game with the classic controller. It worked great except I still had to use the Wiimote to point at the screen from time to time (same deal with Monster Hunter Tri). I’m not wild about switching back and forth.
At first I didn’t know what to think of Sakura Wars, but after I finished one chapter I was hooked. The next sixteen hours went by too fast for me. It’s a good thing this game encourages multiple play-throughs. In fact, there’s no way to see everything the first time around. If you’re into RPGs or anime and looking for something to enjoy until Last Story gets here, don’t miss out on Sakura Wars–it’s already becoming harder to find. You have got to experience this awesome game!
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