Backlog Game Reviews 34: Sakura Wars (Sega Saturn)

 

Hey there, and welcome to Backlog Game Reviews.

 

And welcome to the first review of Sega Saturn month. This month will be dedicated to the Sega Saturn, and the first game we’ll be taking a look at is Sakura Taisen. It was released only in Japan on September 27^th, 1996. It received very positive reviews upon its release and sold out in stores around Japan within only a few hours after going on sale. It ended up selling around 205,270 copies. With all that said let's take a look at this Japan-only hit.

 

A scene from the opening cutscene.

  

   The game takes place in Japan during the year 1923. A member of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Ogami Ichiro, is transferred over to a secret combat unit in Tokyo known as the Imperial Combat Revue. Ogami is also ordered to go to Ueno park and rendezvous with a member of the Imperial Combat Revue. At Ueno park he meets with Sakura Shinguji, a new recruit for the Combat Revue.

 

Ogami meets Sakura.

   Sakura takes Ogami to the Grand Imperial Theater, he then meets with some of the other members of the Combat Revue. Ogami also meets his commanding officer, Ikki Yoneda, who also works as the theater's manager. Yoneda goes on to tell Ogami that he has been assigned to be the theater's usher. Ogami at first isn't too thrilled about his assignment, but he soon learns that the Imperial Combat Revue only operates as a theater troupe as a cover up.

 

The youngest member of the Combat Revue, Iris.

 

   Behind the scenes, they're a secret combat unit known as the Imperial Combat Revue, Flower Division, which protects Japan from supernatural threats. Ogami becomes the commanding officer of the Flower Division and soon finds himself leading them in a battle against a terrorist organization called the Hive of Darkness.

 

Each member of the Flower Division pilots a Kobu. A giant robot capable to defeating monsters.

 

   This game being part visual novel is very heavy on story, and overall, it's pretty good. The story is split into episodes and in each of them, we learn about the members of the Flower Division, who they are as individuals, and watch them overcome their weaknesses while battling the Hive of Darkness. The story never gets too deep or complicated, but the story this game has to tell is an enjoyable one. 

 

The four generals of the Hive of Darkness.

 

   The only complaint I have about the story is that early episodes can feel a bit formulaic as they're mainly used to introduce members of the Flower Division and usually end with a battle against the Hive. But even with this problem the story never gets boring, and it does become less formulaic and a bit more intense in later episodes.

 

The first battle in the game.

 

   As for the gameplay, it's a strategy RPG mixed with a visual novel mixed with a dating simulator. It's split into two modes, adventure mode, and battle mode. During the adventure mode you read through the story, and there will be times where you have to make a decision or choose what Ogami will say to whoever it is he's talking to. 

One of the many animated cutscenes.

 

   When making a choice during a conversation, the character you're talking with will either have a positive reaction or a negative one. Getting a positive reaction will increase your trust stat with that character. This is a pretty important stat that I’ll touch up on later.

 

Decisions are timed. Not picking anything will result in Ogami saying nothing and the conversation moving on.

 

When you’re not talking with someone, you’ll be exploring the theater. There will be times when you’re allowed to walk around and talk to the Flower Division member of your choosing. This gives you the chance to build up your trust with that character. You can only wander around so much before the next story event triggers so choose who you visit wisely.

 

Walking around the theater.

When the adventure section is over, you'll transition into a battle. There's usually one battle per episode, and they're not that exciting. It's a very basic strategy RPG. Besides choosing between attacking or defending there is very little you can do in terms of strategizing. Every character is allowed two actions per turn, but you can't do the same action twice. Every party member has their own strengths that you have to keep in mind. Ogami for example can only attack at close range but he has good mobility and offense.

 

Sakura's special attack.

During battles is when the trust that you built up during the adventure mode comes into play. Party members don’t level up or gain experience points in this game. But you can get stat buffs by having a high trust stat. Depending on how much you raised a character's trust during the adventure phase will determine how many stat increases they'll receive. But don't worry too much if you didn't do very well during the adventure mode, as the battles are not that challenging.

 

Each characters stats before the start of a battle.

Overall, this is a pretty good game. Sakura Taisen really stands out as a retro visual novel. The story is fun and engaging. It's nothing incredibly deep, but it keeps you wanting to know what will happen next. The characters are all very likable, and you're bound to have a favorite or two. They all have somewhat complex personalities and get a good amount of character development throughout the game. If this game was just a visual novel, I could easily recommend it.

 

During the adventure phase you often get the chance to examine a character.

 

While the visual novel sections are really good, the battles are this game's biggest weakness. They’re very bare-bones, all you can do is attack, defend, and heal. You can’t customize your characters in anyway. Battles also drag on for a long time. Most fights took me over an hour to finish. If you can look past the somewhat boring battle system then you'll have fun with this game.

 

Ogami's special attack.

One other thing to keep in mind if you plan on playing this game is how it handles saving. It only lets you save at certain halfway points; you can’t save whenever you want. I understand this is to discourage players from resetting the game after messing up a conversation or to prevent people from going back to a previous save if they mess up during a battle. The problem with this save system is that it takes way too long to get to a save point. It can take up to an hour or two to reach a save point during the adventure phase, and battles as stated before can last up to two hours. You can't make a temporary quick save and come back later either, so if you don't have at least two hours of free time then this game is almost impossible to play.

 

You can only save at these intermission screens.

Moving on to the presentation, the music doesn't stand out too much. It sounds good but every song besides the opening theme song is pretty forgettable.

 

 The graphics stand out way more than the music. All of the graphics in the adventure mode are hand-drawn and look like it's straight from an anime. During battles, the sprites look good but, because of the overhead view you don't get to look at things up close. The special attacks on the other hand use 3D animations that look great.

 

Ogami vs the first boss.

That's all I have to say about Sakura Taisen. It's a great visual novel but a so-so strategy RPG. If the battle system doesn't bother you then this is definitely worth playing.

  

Thank you for reading! Next week we’ll continue Sega Saturn month with another Sega Saturn game. I hope to see you again here at Backlog Game Reviews.