In the late 1990s, the first generation of next-generation consoles, represented by Sega Saturn and Sony PS, gradually became popular among Chinese players. Sakura Wars was originally an exclusive game of the Saturn camp. With its outstanding character design, harmonious gameplay of AVG and SLG, and its famous song, “檄! Imperial Kazekidan”, which has a moving and beautiful melody, it became the dream lover of players at that time.
In the middle school where I was at that time, students would record their favorite songs on a dual-cassette recorder and make personal selections to share with each other. I used the microphone of the recorder to point to the speakers of the TV at home, and played the live version of “檄! Imperial Kagetsudan” “ripped” from the game opening, which became one of the two most popular game hits in the school (the other one was “Eyes on me” sung by Faye Wong in “Final Fantasy 8”).
Later, in the audio-visual discs attached to some game magazines, whenever the theme of “Golden Years of Classic Game CG” was mentioned, “檄! Imperial Kagetsudan” would become a model worker. In addition, “Sakura Wars” continued to be popular on the PS2 platform, and the PC version of “1+2” was introduced in my country. Until the “national arcade” PSP era, new players could still easily obtain resources, and gradually established the impression that “Sakura Wars = the industry’s (outdated) masterpiece”, and by the way, they thought about having the opportunity to be connected with the series in the ever-changing console generations and step into the season when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.
1. The same high and low character setting, 3D is as good as paper – character setting and 3D presentation
Before “New Sakura Wars”, Fujishima Kosuke had a highly binding relationship with this series. Although “New Sakura Wars” has the sentimental halo of “just the announcement of a legitimate new work is enough to make old players fall in love with it again”, its initial appearance after the change of character designer was not satisfactory. Kubo Tite, who was originally famous in the two-dimensional world with “Bleach”, does not seem to be a better choice than Fujishima Kosuke, who has been much more low-key due to his personal life (marrying a sexy Coser of a different age, and being caught up in the gossip of public opinion about “who used whom and who took advantage of whom”).
This is certainly partly due to the players’ preconceived emotional inertia towards classic characters, but from a technical point of view, in the most classic “Sakura Wars 1+2” period, in order to reflect the 2D expressiveness of the Saturn console that is stronger than the PS, the game entrusted the visual expressiveness of the characters to Kousuke Fujishima’s painting skills to the maximum extent through exquisite character standing drawings like illustrations. After “Tokimeki Memorial”, players have interacted with female characters with more delicate painting styles, more vivid expressions, and most importantly – their appearances are more restored to the settings. The sense of luxury is self-evident.
From the actual game performance, in order to allow old players to smoothly accept the technological progress brought by the change of times, “New Sakura Wars” also creates a high-end galgame experience under the unique AVG type branch for new players. The delicate modeling of 3D technology is definitely a correct decision to restore the character settings (from the interview of the development team, we know that they had a fierce internal debate on this, and it was finally decided by Nagoshi Toshihiro). If it is said that who is praised and who is criticized between Fujishima Kosuke and Kubo Tite is related to subjective aesthetics and there is no difference between high and low, then “New Sakura Wars” almost completely abandons “paper people” in the interactive part of the game, and uses 3D modeling to present the characters in a dynamic way throughout the whole process. This is definitely an improvement in the series and a benchmark for the next generation of galgame (please don’t talk about the mods with high-quality materials on your hard drive).
If we do not consider the differences in genres and simply extract the performance of the interaction between characters to simply summarize the most successful “3D wives” in recent years, “The Witcher 3” has technology and large scale, “Xenoblade Chronicles 2” has a cup size proportional to the price of the game, “NieR: Automata” and “Atelier Ryza” are unconventional, and “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” is of guaranteed quality and quantity. Compared with them, “New Sakura Wars”, which is an orthodox AVG, brings the most obvious experience to players through the advantages of genre and the upgrade of expressiveness, which is a real communication feeling that is about to emerge. Specifically, many dialogue scenes will switch to the first-person perspective, and the UI of the dialog box is deliberately diluted to retain only the basic information transmission. The player and the protagonist Seijuro Kamiyama are combined into one, making the virtual image and communication intuitiveness of the female characters in front of them particularly strong.
In certain dialogue situations, characters will walk and chat with players from a first-person perspective, and when it comes to the “heartbeat” stage, which greatly increases favorability and allows female characters to launch close-range flirting offensives, the dynamic advantages of the 3D image are brought to full play.
Whether it is intentional or unintentional teasing in the eyes, the ebb and flow of the blush on the face, or the small gestures of intimacy, they will be infinitely close to the players in front of the screen as the camera zooms in (especially when the 50-inch beautiful girl’s big face on the big screen is looking at you coquettishly, it is very shocking. When I was playing in the store, many people were watching. Some male customers who were shopping with their female companions would take the initiative to approach me and confirm the current game content under the cover of consulting NS-related matters. It’s a pity that his acting skills were even more amateur than Huang Xiaoming, so he was quickly pulled away by his female companion). From the perspective of expression and technical application itself, “New Sakura Wars” can undoubtedly represent the highest level of official galgame materials in the industry. The only regret is that, perhaps in order to ensure the sales of clothing DLC, the female characters sacrificed some space for individual dressing, similar to the pink dress with a girlish atmosphere that Shinguji Sakura wore in the first generation in addition to the kimono, which could not be made into a corresponding style in the regular time of this game.
2. In the world of love, every question is a free point – LIPS system and smooth story rhythm
Compared to the dramatic change in style from 2D to 3D, the effective system design in the AVG part of the first two generations of works in the series was successfully inherited by “New Sakura Wars”.
The LIPS system, the full name of which is “live & interactive picture system”, means that in the character question-and-answer session that often appears in AVG games, players have to make a choice from the alternative answers in a short time, just like in a real dialogue scenario. In addition, they do not make any option operations and remain silent until the time bar runs out. This is also a “hidden option” that is common to most questions. “New Sakura Wars” still has a large number of LIPS dialogues for players. The conversation partners are not limited to the five heroines, but include other administrative staff of the Flower Group, members of the allied Flower Group, and some major NPC characters in society. Depending on the type of question, different answers will trigger different feedback from the conversation partners, which in turn affects the crucial favorability. For the five female characters that players want to “attack”, the LIPS system is the core step to accumulate favorability and trigger key events. Moreover, because each character has a different personality and likes and dislikes, the simple kingly love is not suitable for everyone, which also adds greater difficulty and more fun to the player’s choice.
For example, when facing emotional problems, the player’s alternative answers will be set at three levels according to the intensity of the emotions, such as “I love you”, “I don’t love you” and “Do what you should do”, so as to tilt the relationship between the characters. In addition to having a serious and vigorous love affair, players can also be straight men or trolls just to see how the girls react, which is also a manifestation of the fun of playing this system (this fun may be a bit distorted compared to the theme). However, the main process of this game does not set a rigid threshold for favorability. Even if I deliberately make some options that go against common sense, it will not affect the great cause of love and peace in the main story, while triggering some funny scenes. It can also be seen that “New Sakura Wars” as a kingly game with a long-term business plan and excellent series traditions still maintains the necessary adherence to core values.
In terms of plot advancement, “New Sakura Wars” has made more process optimizations that are in line with the habits of contemporary players. For example, the main story and side plots are specially marked on the map, which makes it easier for players to get straight to the point. Although this game has the concept of time passing, it is not like the AVG part of games such as “Persona 5” that requires pre-calculating the time allocation. Before the player actively triggers the main storyline, there is plenty of time to slow down and step on the flowers one by one, and it can also be targeted to quickly achieve the trophy conditions in multiple rounds. In short, the initiative of the game rhythm is given to the players to adjust by themselves, avoiding the sluggish feeling that the traditional slow-paced AVG mode may cause to some players.
A closer example is the school exploration part of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which was criticized as “lengthy and slow” by players who were neutral about AVG gameplay. A similar situation absolutely does not exist in New Sakura Wars. Players who are attracted by the title and want to give it a try but are concerned about their ability to tolerate the AVG part can give it a try.
3. It’s a blessing not to fail – a combat system that meets the passing line
When the first PS3 game Valkyria Chronicles was first released, some veteran gamers considered it to be the spiritual successor to Sakura Wars (similar to the relationship between Yakuza and Shenmue, both are examples of “I don’t care what the manufacturer thinks, I care what I think”). In particular, the SLG part of Sakura Wars 3 made a series of constructive developments in its battle system that broke away from the traditional “grid-like” framework. Now, it makes sense to use the company’s resources to feed back the new Sakura Wars game, which already contains SLG elements.
Just like the Shinguji Sakura back then, the protagonist of this work also came to the imperial capital by train.
Like the scene, the design of the jumping mechanism also has a certain sense of repetition.
However, “New Sakura Wars” completely abandoned the SLG system that has been used in the series’ battle part, and replaced it with the “Musou mowing” action gameplay. Players control the Guangwu robot to directly launch general attacks, combos, jumps, dodges, special moves and other attack actions. Compared with those traditional SLG games, the battle part of the “Sakura Wars” series occupies a larger narrative proportion. While players are arranging their troops, they also have to accept information feedback from the plot. In particular, the frequent appearance of “plot kills” will indeed make strategic deployment less important, not to mention that as the favorability (trust) between the characters increases, the difficulty of the battle will further decrease. This is also the reason why the “Sakura Wars” series does not have a body strengthening system. After all, there is no difficulty that “love” cannot overcome.
While “New Sakura Wars” adopts the ACT battle mode, it retains a large proportion of battle performances and the “mixed doubles combination skills” with more gorgeous performance effects, but the actual gameplay feels slightly “degraded”.
First of all, the combat in this game feels a bit “plastic”. The samurai’s hacking and slashing only results in the superposition of light and shadow particles without a real sense of collision. The ranged weapons are more erratic. On the contrary, the light warriors who use hammers and fists and feet to attack are more “comfortable”. The combo design follows the “C1C2” routine similar to “Dynasty Warriors”.
Secondly, the battle scenes clearly put budget saving as their top priority. The materials are repeatedly combined and constructed between the levels, seemingly to provide some fresh changes in cost control. The development team also deliberately designed some platform jumping mechanisms and flying soldiers while the players are mowing the grass, which requires players to use some experience in playing “Super Mario” and “Devil May Cry” air combat. However, this part of the content almost turned over due to the lack of enemy locking function and accurate jump judgment. Jumping up and swinging for a long time without hitting the enemy or falling back and forth between platforms affected the originally refreshing battle experience, which also confirmed the old saying “don’t take on porcelain work if you don’t have the diamond drill”;
Finally, since the development team did not intend to use the “Musou” template, they probably don’t care about including the “Witch Time” in the package. Therefore, the dodge action of “New Sakura Wars” also includes the operation of “dodge at the right time will trigger the slowdown of time and space”. Imagine if the characters in the mowing game mastered the “witch time” with loose judgment, what the players would think. The enemy soldiers’ experience must be worse than Ralph who complained about the workplace environment in “Wreck-It Ralph”.
Here is an explanation for new players who are interested in getting started. Although “Persona 5” and “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” have received a lot of attention in the AVG section, their core competitiveness is still turn-based RPG and SLG. Similarly, “New Sakura Wars” follows the tradition of the “Sakura Wars” series. On top of the solid and distinctive AVG system, it also adds an ACT section to enrich the gaming experience, show the heroic charm of the characters, and sell assembly models. Therefore, players should distinguish their primary and secondary needs before deciding whether to buy this game.
“Witch Time” makes the player almost invincible, with the only enemy left being the perspective.
4. Those Flowers: Comparison and Relationship between the New and Old Generations
The reason why we introduce the topic of comparing the new with the old in the review of the new work is because “New Sakura Wars” has many inheritances and tributes to the previous works in the series, especially the first and second generations. Simply listing them would seem boring, and would make players who have not played “Sakura Wars” completely indifferent. It is better to start from the outside and from the relevant details to see whether the new work has reached the previous heights of the series.
On the one hand, the new game’s establishment of a “steampunk” worldview and the presentation of the social outlook of the Taisho era under fictional history have not reached the heights of the first two “Sakura Wars” games. At the beginning of the game, the protagonist Kamiyama’s experience of traveling by train is the same as that of the first Shinguji Sakura. “New Sakura Wars” has even changed the entire game map from the original flat map to a real 3D model, but the creation of the game atmosphere still lacks the proper sense of the times, mainly reflected in the fact that the “steam” power technology tree has been greatly elevated or even climbed.
The lingering industrial colors in classic steampunk works such as “Difference Engine”, “Steam Boy”, and the first “Sakura Wars” have been replaced by a more sleek and bright new environment (it must also be admitted that the graininess of the old-fashioned cathode ray tube TV did play a role in expressing the atmosphere of the first “Sakura Wars”). The original sense of weight of the Koubu robot wearing “armor” and heavily armed has also become the high-speed movement effect brought by the turbine engine in ACT mode, and the original motivation for the Koubu robot is steam representing science + the spiritual power symbolizing traditional Japanese culture.
On the other hand, “New Sakura Wars” still strives to echo the series through a series of intuitive or hidden content to evoke the precious memories of old players. For example, the song “檄! Imperial Flower Dance” by composer Tanaka Kohei throughout the whole game can be called the real protagonist of this work. Various remix versions are seamlessly applied to almost all scenes including the opening CG, daily exploration and plot climax, and it is really a piece of music that you never get tired of listening to. It ignites emotions and links the stage girls of two generations who have dedicated their youth to love and justice. If you have heard “The Song of the Wind Fish” in “The Legend of Zelda: Dream Island Remake” before, you will definitely have a more intuitive experience. In terms of the presentation of some other content, the character photos collected by players include the protagonists of all generations and classic scenes, and the cutscene illustrations with gear decorative frames correspond to the same form of expression used in previous works, giving “New Sakura Wars” a retro flavor in addition to 3D.
Conclusion: Taisho cherry blossoms bloom!
This time, “New Sakura Wars” is not an isolated revival of a masterpiece. After the game is released, related animations, comics and stage plays will also open new chapters. If we look at the satisfactory completion of “New Sakura Wars”, the amount of content currently displayed in the game and the foreshadowing that appears from time to time in the process, it should not be a problem to launch at least one sequel in the next two or three years. Even the evolutionary model from “Sakura Wars” to “Sakura Wars 2” can be used as a reliable reference for future sequels. I hope this cherry blossom can continue to bloom.
