What are /vr/'s thoughts on the Sakura Wars/Taisen games?

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Are you trying to bait me into letting the other anon call me out for a repost of this pic? In that case the series: a pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard, a belligerent old fart, a worthless pile of cow dung ... figuratively speaking.

Notice how there's no one else responding to this thread regarding to this series. No one played the games. Those that have played it like I don't care enough about it either, and probably feels their time wasted could have better spent on other games.

For a dating game, one would think they'd design likable waifu tier characters, but no, they are variations of bland taken from a "how to design anime character" Japanimation amerimanga book. Sega threw the whole miniscule budget just to get the artist from You're Under Arrest and Aa! My Goddess to draw some characters just because he was hot shit at the time but never going so far as to develop any of them. It would be nice if the SRPG elements had any tactics to them, but they are all relatively straightforward with one solution throwing strategy or tactics out the window. So that throws both the visuals and gameplay out the window for anything worthwhile, so that leaves sound where they wanted inexperienced voice actresses which can sing, so essentially they hired probably the cheapest people they can get to do voice work. Understandable given Sega's shoestring budget, but when the Dreamcast rolled around, they went and blew all of Isao's money on Shenmue and Sakura Taisen 3, and all they had to show for it was a pretty cool non-grid combat system, but what a way to end a guy's life bankrupting him, Isao died so Sega can piss it all away. While the LIPS system was nice to make conversations more naturalistic, in the end it didn't provide a compelling story. I would dare say Walking Dead Season 2 on Xbox 360 is a significantly more compelling video game, so with all the haters of that game, you know where the Sakura Wars/Taisen games stand.

>>3924691
>Is it worth trying to get into with all the untranslated games out there?
Do you read Japanese?

It isn't really strategically/tactically complex at any level at all, so if you can't read the text, that's not going to be much draw to it.

I was interested in the series for the longest time because the premise sounds cool as fuck (Taisho era, waifus + mechs, what could go wrong?). However, as probably everyone already guessed, I never got into it because the games aren't translated. Consulting online translation guides while trying to play isn't my idea of having fun, so that's out as well. The only translated game (5) also sounds like the shittiest, and I have no interest in it.
I was hoping someone would pick the PS2 remake of 1 up for fan translation but that never happened either. Too bad, the opening animation and music of that game is the hypest thing ever.

>>3925003
its not like your dedicated shit posting in every thread matters since no one can play the games anyway.

>>3924691

I hear the other ones are good unfortunately the one we did get was a steaming pile of shit.

>Set in 1920s new york
>no one has shit to say if it's not about how amziballs Japan is

not even fucking subtle

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>>3926630
Just saying I've played the games and it is what I think of them. Here, for non 4-chan humor-speak:

The series is nice, but I wish the characters have more depth to them. The strategy and tactics aren't anything to write home about. They did improve the combat engine appropriately with a hard gamble on the series on its 3rd mainline release. Budget is what the publishers had to struggle with in developing these games. It is unique attempt in a visual novel style to make conversations more naturalistic with the LIPS system. That being said, few outside Japan enjoy the games.

My Japanese level is not strong, but it is enough to get me through the game. I would place it as a couple steps above the childish Japanese of Grandia, but not as difficult as the Japanese used on Xenogears' 2nd disc, where my eyes glazed over from the reading. The visuals and voices do help in providing context clues, but the LIPS system does require some fast reading, as responses can change/disappear/appear over time, and a non-answer is also an answer as well in the game.

It is nice the games are cheap, that's why I got the special editions later, and they are well packaged and presented beautifully. The answer to OP's 2nd question: "If investigating, one of the factors to the Saturn's and Sega's demise as a curiosity, it may be worth exploring the games to gain a better picture."


There, free of the 4-chan humor. Happy?

How rare are the 4-game PC compilation of Sakura Taisen on JP online stores? Do they go for a reasonable price at least? Most of these vintage JP games are decently priced, but I've seen some that go into the 10K yen range.

>>3926696
I think we'll be happiest when you realize how little your shitposting really matters. Do us a favor: go full faggot, get a tripcode, and we'll just block you; then you can shit post all you want.

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>>3924691
This is, like, THE series to play once you've learned a comfortable amount of Japanese.

>>3926841
Expect to spend 40-50k used.

>>3927321
God damned...

Guess I'll stick with my torrented pirate copy then. Thanks scalpers. Or maybe I'll import the PSP 1&2 compilation.