Sakura Taisen V episode 0 ~ Arano No Samurai Musume

[Eight Rooks]

Heh, just for a laugh, you understand. But on the offchance there are any Sakura Taisen fanboys in here other than me, what'd you make of it? I put in maybe 90 minutes' play today and... I'm not sure quite what to think.

Story aside, you make your way across the US stage by stage (with a couple of small branching paths here and there). Every stage you just have to kill a set number of enemies and/or take out a boss, sometimes going from point A to point B at the same time.

On the one hand I'm really quite disappointed. This is a PS2 game? Could have fooled me; it looks no better than #3 or #4 on the DC. Blocky, low-poly models, fairly bland textures, levels which are effectively just mazes with a few drab bits of "scenery" pasted in here and there. Ropy animation, non-existent AI, elementary errors in game design (some edges you can fall off, others you can't - stuff like that). The camera's awful, the combat is stilted, jerky and unintuitive - lurch around madly flailing your sword at everything and hope it hits. And they're considering giving this a Western release? I mean, I'd love to see the franchise over here, but... this? Why? It'd get laughed at by every magazine going.

On the other hand...

Stick with it and there is a surprising amount of depth to the combat; it's still a fairly shallow game, but it does have some opportunity for showboating and honing your technique. You can attack forward, backward, jump attack, spread attack, slide, juggle and power attack. Your horse can headbutt, too, and throw some of the smaller enemies. You have a simple DDP-esque combo meter, which is all right for some replay value (bigger chains=higher grades for the level, you know how it goes). There's a simple RPG aspect to it, too - you pick up points to boost your stats with, collect new weapons and new bits of kit for your horse, and also unlock new characters.

Though the graphics are somewhat bleh, the designs are okay - Gemini herself is sooo damn cute, a brilliant wacky Japanese take on the old Roy Rogers' style Calamity Jane ; the villains are interesting enough, and the supporting cast so far are okay. Not the developers' best effort overall, but more than enough to make me smile. The music's not bad, either - the theme's not up to much, but the BGM is pleasant and unobtrusive.

So... All in all it comes off as some kind of strange Dynasty Warriors knockoff, and very much a snack you can eat between #4 and the real Sakura Taisen V. It's... okay; I don't really regret shelling out the money for the LE. But it's just so cheap and cheerful, in a way I wasn't quite expecting - I'm not sure I could recommend it that strongly to anyone who wasn't already into the series. I'm pleased I got it, and I want to give it a good bit more play time, but if Sega think this is going to endear your average Western consumer to the franchise as a whole I think they're going to get a nasty shock.

[DiGiKerot]

Pretty much as you say really. Some of the later stages play significantly better IMHO, which makes me think that the concept generally wasn't completely off. It does play a lot better with practice and some of the extra techniques you get for the different harness set-ups you get later in the game. The flying monsters are pretty painful though, it can be hard to attack them without jumping off the stage for instant-death pain though (or, indeed, it hard to hit them anyway, kind of ruins any pacing in the game).

I've been playing through the Erica Koubu-F2 mode you get for finishing the game and importing Mysterious Paris data, though, and that is a hell of a lot of fun (Machine gun! Yay!).

I think the game may improve with further play, though. The level design looks pretty well considered - the spawning points and the scenery looks to have been placed with good consideration for keeping the chain bar running.

I guess it was pretty fun, really, though I have to admit having gone in with low expectations.

[Eight Rooks]

The flying monsters - oh, Jesus, are they ever a pain in the rear, and yes, it utterly cripples the sensation of grace and fluidity which does come, if sparingly, once you start getting the hang of the techniques. You can't hit them at all, other than by blind luck, unless you stop dead and just... bounce up and down a bit. Then again I still can't chain much anyway, though it's fun trying, so I can see myself going back to the game. Nothing but C's and a couple of B's so far... still, embarassed Gemini (the picture you get for a C) is cute enough to melt sheet metal, so it's not so bad ^^;

Is there a different powerup move for every weapon? They're pretty simple, but fun nonetheless - I haven't seen many, but the bullet-time one's a laugh. Oh, and any chance you could tell us what the three stats actually are? Spare me having to go back to GameFAQs, why don't you?

Wish I had Mysterious Paris and the other one. Bastard. I loved Erica's Koubu, that thing was so much cooler than any of the original casts'; I used to let the boarding CGs play out all the time in 3, they looked that amazing.

I do like it. An action Sakura Wars game with a very cool heroine that I actually can't play through with my eyes shut for once! And it is growing on me; it's great to come back to the series again, it really is one of my favourite franchises around. I still remain very wary of this game's chances in the West, though - it's all too easy to see why Famitsu rated it comparatively lower.

[DiGiKerot]

Is there a different powerup move for every weapon? They're pretty simple, but fun nonetheless - I haven't seen many, but the bullet-time one's a laugh. Oh, and any chance you could tell us what the three stats actually are? Spare me having to go back to GameFAQs, why don't you?

As far as I know there is a different special for each weapon, though I have to admit I didn't generally use them...

The three stats on the Customise screen you mean? They are Life, Speed and Attack, I think, in that order. Thats what they were in the Erica Koubu game, I didn't bother trying to work out what they were before that...

I finished the Erica Koubu game about an hour ago, which gave me Sakuras Koubu to play with (I think you get that one for finishing with any character other than Gemini). I now have Gemini, Oogami on horseback, Sakura on horseback (I think PS2 Sakura Taisen 1 unlocks that), Sakura Koubu and Erica Koubu. Alas, Erica (on Zebra-back, wearing her catsuit, weilding a mallet ) has to be unlocked via a Japanese mobile phone game at the moment. I think both Oogamis Japanese and French Koubus are unlockable from just the main game though, presumably for completing it with third and forth characters. The koubu play-throughs are really ace (much easier to control for one), so are worth unlocking. Sakura-koubu uses her sword, with Square doing quick swipes and Circle doing slower, stronger ones (there is some simple comboing going on too, which is nice).

Don't feel too bad about not having Mysterious Paris or ST1 though - SEGA are going to release a password to release Ericas Koubu and Sakura on horseback on 22/10/04, and Erica will be available in November.

As for the flying nasties, there are some other ways to attack them if you have certain harness set-ups. One of them gives you the Rally-back-flip seen in the cutscene before the first stage, which can make it a bit easier, as you can just run under them and back-flip. I don't think you get that one until later in the game though.