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Josh7289
Posts: 1252 |
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So, is this the first time a Sakura Taisen game will be released outside Japan?
Is the series any good, really? |
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KabaKabaFruit
 Posts: 1883 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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The Valis series shined the most when it was on the Turbo CD (or PC-ENGINE CD SYSTEM). All of its other ports on other systems ranged from average to mediocre.
Those old Megaman(Rockman) commercials from Japan were just awesome!  I swear, Nintendo or CAPCOM had absolutely no taste back then when it came to making video game commercials. If I saw such animated commercials like that when I was a kid, I would've begged my parents to get me the Megaman games!
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uragayduck
 Posts: 21 |
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yup, it's the first time it will see it stateside. it really depends what your preference in games are that'll determine if it's good or not. if you've played dating sim type games before it's more or less the same with the exception of being timed in your choices and the option of not answering at all. the strategy part is pretty unique but simple so it won't be too complicated. it's not strategy heavy thinking like Disgaea or something like that, but pushes more of the flashy attacks aspect which are REALLY slick and cool looking. supers have short animated sequences and are real eye candy. main story is quirky and odd especially with the 1920s setting, but character stories/routes i believe are better. check out some videos of it to get a basic idea of how it's like. and i'll stress it as many times as i must: famitsu gave it a 38/40. that's pretty darn high for a dating sim game. think of other games that got ratings above (even more so below) which were maintstream/popular games. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Regardless of the games, anyone else think Valis could make for a cool anime? Even if the concept's been done to death.
Also, I wonder if the new SW game will get an anime...but, they're smart to choose a game that wipes the slate clean since no one here'd be familiar with the previous story anyway. Wonder if the game sells, they'll consider porting I-IV. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6172 Location: USA |
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I've heard of 'Valis', never seen it. But glad to hear once again about 'PS IV'. I actually own the 'Genesis Collection'. I bought it solely for playing the 'PS' series. Since 'PS IV' is the better of the 3, not to mention seeing it reviewed in old game mags, I decided it's time to give it a look. Glad to hear another recommendation.
Ah, 'BOF'. The only other series I ever served aside from 'FF'. I love the 'BOF' serires and 3 was a lot of fun. I hope that 'Capcom' won't let this series die it's time we had a new one. Great CMs, never saw those before. So 'SW5' making it over here? Ok, we'll see. I'll be shocked if it happens since they put that off for like years now. |
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Henry Jones
 Posts: 97 Location: Nebraska |
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Obviously, Phantasy Star IV is one of my favorites. It's a very under-appreciated series (At least until it became an Online RPG, to which I stopped paying attention, because me and online RPGs have never really gotten along).
Here's a series of detailed articles on Phantasy Stars I-III: http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/psc/psc2.html It's really impressive what they did before everyone else. When Dragon Warrior/Quest II was being developed and being touted with being able to fight with THREE characters and Final Fantasy just being released with four customizable-but-generic people, Phantasy Star had four individuals placed in a lengthy (For its time) narrative story that involved space travel, three planets, and 3-D mazes, which have since lost their luster but were very impressive at the time. Then Phantasy Star II came out, and years before Final Fantasy IV came along with its developed characters, PS II was offering a game as a form of artistic expression. Not to mention PS II had the nerve to get DARK with its story. They were both very ahead of their time. That said, the gameplay dragged both of them down to where yeah, their vision was lofty and innovative, but actually playing the things is a bit of a chore. The goals were occasionally very unclear (Crappy translations don't help), the mazes were aggravating in their difficulty, and the awesome story parts were far between trying to find your way through confusingly complex space ports and islands where everything looks too much alike to know where you're going half the time. There is one correct path, and it's usually hidden within 20 paths. There's a point is PS II where you have to get certain weapons in three insanely designed towers and the game will not continue until you collect them ALL, even if the only things left are the stuff for the characters you never use. It took me from when I was a Freshman in high school to when I was a Freshman in college to get through that part of the game. The ending's worth it, though. Not one of those grand Square curtain closers, but certainly worth getting through the whole thing. Phantasy Star IV is truly the great game of the bunch. It doesn't have as high of ambitions, but every part comes together to make an awesome whole. The characters are likable and easy to attach to. They're anime archetypes, but there's the very few of the annoying kind. The graphics are great and still stand up today. I'd say if it were a new release on the DS today, people would still have very kind words to say about the look of the whole thing. The battle system is a mix of old and new. It's enough familiar stuff to jump right in, but enough new things like combo spells and macros to keep it interesting with a little vehicle combat thrown in for good measure. There are no slow points in the story. Everything flows well without making the adventure seem too short, and the story throws in enough interesting twists (and rewarding for the people who slugged through PS I and II). The settings are unique and a pleasure to travel through whether it's an organic tower, a phantom planet, or a castle hidden within an asteroid field. It's good stuff and it's replayable not because of extra gameplay options or branching paths or stuff like that, but because the experience is so pleasurable. There are reasons I gifted PS IV to two of my Wii friends this Christmas. For the thrifty gamer who still has their PS 2, you can get the Sega Genesis Collection that includes PS II-IV and a slew of other games of varying quality for 20 bucks: http://www.amazon.com/Sega-Genesis-Collection-Playstation-2/dp/B000HQBZOM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1230231007&sr=8-3 It's better than back in the day where the original price of PS IV was a cool 100 clams (Thankfully, I found my copy for a much more reasonable 60). |
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ZeetherKID77
 Posts: 982 |
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I think Unlimited Codes has a chance here. Like Uthred said it's not typical anime fighter shovelware. I've seen a ton of combo vids on Youtube.
Also, praise NIS for STV. I hope we get the rest as well.
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Ramune
 Posts: 34 Location: CT. of Neo England |
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The Star Division had an OVA of their own released last year in fact. This and the 4th OVA featuring the Paris Flower Division have yet to be licensed here though. 
I can see them do the PSP Sakura Wars 1 & 2. That would be excellent. 3 & 4 already have PS2 ports released, so it's possible, though it WOULD be weird going from 5 on backwards. But even then, I wouldn't complain.
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houkoholic
Posts: 83 Location: Japan |
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No. At the very least Chinese and Korean versions were made of the PC port of the first game, if I recall correctly they actually translated all 3 PC ports into Chinese.
It's a classic, but probably a little dated by today's gaming standards. It's worth noting that the recent highly praised Valkyrie Chronicles' gridless battle system has its roots in Sakura Taisen's ARMS system which was introduced in Sakura Taisen 3. Plus the charm is the universe more than just the game itself. The music and the seiyuu of the universe also plays a huge part in its appeal. |
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ZeetherKID77
Posts: 982 |
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I heard SW was also released in Russia...lol
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Uthred
Posts: 79 |
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I'd love to see a translation of the psp versions.
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Zippydsm
Exempt from Grammar Rules
Posts: 134 |
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BOF unheard of untill 3 or 4? 3 sucked, I hated just about everything about it, 4 was godly but to damn short, 1 was good 2 had a off ending I did not care for it. I won't touch 5 its just stupid.
Phantasy star 3 is a mostly polarizing game like FF9 you either love it or hate it, I enjoyed it to a point it was much deeper than the others but the pacing was blag, 4 is the ebst, I wish they would release the PS2 remakes as DLC since they wont port them over on disc.... Its a shame sega went to the dogs all their games pretty much suck now antiquated or shovleware deigns killed them off, PSO is not so bad but they really need to go more in the DMC direction add in more combos,jumping hell take DMC(action based adventure) to zelda/monster hunter land (adventure/rpg based action). Then for the sake of watering it down add a AI mode akin to FF12 so crappy players can let teh AI fight for them and they jsut have to heal and move the character, its not that hard to think up how to make PSO good for everyone the trouble is they focus on to broad a aduicance which makes quality suffer. Speaking of FF its been dead to me since X, I didn't care for half of the design elements I did love the sphere grid but everythign else felt off..... FF12 is worse broken skill system, super generic limit breaks, lacking equipment system system with mind numbly boring equipment..is this a FF or a generic MMO I can't tell.... The charatcers are good(god I kept having dreams of Balimre using Edgers tool skill from FF6), the story is fair the level design great albeit for the random loot but good god the core elements are near broken..... Then again most Jrpgs have fallen into the generic lack luster trap... |
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sfried
Posts: 266 |
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"Let's Tap, Let's Tap. Future Tapping Game."
I cannot get the song out of my head. |
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fates
Posts: 5 |
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It's not too nonsensical to get 5 first. It's seperated from the prior entries and can be played on it's own. Additionally, it's set in New York, so that's an added edge for it in terms of appeal.
Sakura Taisen 5 is a very charming game, IMO the New York setting really lends itself to this. I also really like the Star Division girls, they're... different, in a good way. NIS hinted that they may have had a game of this franchise back in July when they teased about Ar Tonelico 2. Sakura Taisen V was probably the mystery game. I am very thrilled about this and will preorder day 1. I may even end up buying two to give one away as a gift and make another fan out of someone. |
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