Sakura Taisen V Episode 0: Kouya no Samurai Musume is a prequel to Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love starring one of that game's heroines, Gemini Sunrise. Instead of being an SRPG/visual novel-hybrid like the other games in the series, though, Episode 0 is an action-adventure game. While riding atop her equine companion Larry, Gemini fights evil robots using Japanese sword techniques. The game features experience points and equipment systems that allow the player to upgrade Gemini and Larry's capabilities as they see fit.
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damn! i want a girl with some TEXAS HIPS!!!!!!! YEE HAW!!!! オーマイーゴッド！HAMBURGERS!!! FRENCH FRIES!!!!! ハンバーガー！
First half of the game is generally pretty great. The horseback gameplay has a good sense of weight to it and while taking some getting used to was really fun to play around with. Gemini and the banter she has with Juanita and company were super endearing and really added to the sense of being in this big road trip across the states in a lovely way. Add to this the generally stellar soundtrack and you could've had a recipe for a fantastic, short prequel game.
Unfortunately, the devs didn't know how to work the game around the movement system they created. The best levels tend to be either long hallways or circular in nature which lets you move around on horseback more naturally, fighting on-ground enemies in one continuous go. By the second half of the game more air-borne enemies start to appear which the movement is not catered to making combat very stiff. On top of a few "maze-like" levels with stop on go gameplay, the game-flow ends up becoming awkward and unfun. On top of this, all the bosses are a total pushover and can be beaten in a minutes on normal mode (except for one boss which was more annoying than actually difficult but whatever.)
The writing itself falls apart on almost all fronts too. There's some forced melodrama between two characters that doesn't make sense, the antagonists motivations are a hot mess of writing and some of the character subplots come across as rushed and end with bizarre conclusions. There's also a lot of issues between gameplay and narrative cohesion; for example within the gameplay Gemini would've seen one of the antagonists and should've been able to recognize him later on in game, but she doesn't until he reveals himself. (But I admit this is a bit of a nitpick.)
I'm not a fan of how the game decided to up the stakes to cataclysmic levels either and would've much rather just had a simple adventure with the cowgirl. I still like this game, all the voice actors were great, the music was great, and there still is decent content within the game, it just falls apart too much to recommend to anybody but the most diehard Sakura Taisen fan.
First half of the game is generally pretty great. The horseback gameplay has a good sense of weight to it and while taking some getting used to was really fun to play around with. Gemini and the banter she has with Juanita and company were super endearing and really added to the sense of being in this big road trip across the states in a lovely way. Add to this the generally stellar soundtrack and you could've had a recipe for a fantastic, short prequel game.
Unfortunately, the devs didn't know how to work the game around the movement system they created. The best levels tend to be either long hallways or circular in nature which lets you move around on horseback more naturally, fighting on-ground enemies in one continuous go. By the second half of the game more air-borne enemies start to appear which the movement is not catered to making combat very stiff. On top of a few "maze-like" levels with stop on go gameplay, the game-flow ends up becoming awkward and unfun. On top of this, all the bosses are a total pushover and can be beaten in a minutes on normal mode (except for one boss which was more annoying than actually difficult but whatever.)
The writing itself falls apart on almost all fronts too. There's some forced melodrama between two characters that doesn't make sense, the antagonists motivations are a hot mess of writing and some of the character subplots come across as rushed and end with bizarre conclusions. There's also a lot of issues between gameplay and narrative cohesion; for example within the gameplay Gemini would've seen one of the antagonists and should've been able to recognize him later on in game, but she doesn't until he reveals himself. (But I admit this is a bit of a nitpick.)
I'm not a fan of how the game decided to up the stakes to cataclysmic levels either and would've much rather just had a simple adventure with the cowgirl. I still like this game, all the voice actors were great, the music was great, and there still is decent content within the game, it just falls apart too much to recommend to anybody but the most diehard Sakura Taisen fan.