Sakura Taisen 3 ~Pari wa Moeteiru ka~ (alternatively known as Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?) is the third entry in Sega's long-running Sakura Taisen series released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2001. Sakura Taisen 3 also happens to be my favorite entry in the series and for good reason! Sakura Taisen 3 is a fun, refreshing tactical RPG featuring a blend of overlapping visual novel/dating sim gameplay elements, mecha, french art inspirations, and time management aspects all wrapped up in an anime and musical theatre dressing.

From its opening sequence, Sakura Taisen 3 welcomes you with a vibrant opening track scored by the talented and prolific, Kohei Tanaka (best known for his work on One Piece) paired with the beautifully animated cutscenes by Production I.G setting the stage for a hell of a first impression as it eases you into the romantic backdrop of the streets of Paris filled with flashy intros of the game's central cast. While Sakura Taisen 1 laid the groundwork for the series' battle system and setting with Sakura Taisen 2 providing a deeper look into the world itself in addition to sporting some of the best writing in the series, Sakura Taisen 3 takes all of these ideas and not only refines them but continues to build upon and strengthen what makes the series so great. Keeping the series' staple systems, Sakura Taisen 3 represented a new direction for the development team as the engine and gameplay were rebuilt entirely in order to utilize the full power of the Dreamcast.

Following the events of Sakura Taisen 2, once again, you are placed into the shoes of series protagonist, Ichiro Ogami as he joins the recently established Paris Assault Force and is tasked with training their all-female "Paris Division" modeled on Ogami's original group from Tokyo, dedicated to the act of protecting the city from supernatural threats all while maintaining their cover as a cabaret act at the Les Chatte Noir nightclub. In typical series fashion, these girls are also extremely talented mech pilots, each girl sporting a unique and likable personality as well. With previous entries having 2d combat, Sakura Taisen 3 features a combat system fully realized in 3d with crisp new animations, making each of the game's combat segments spread over its eleven chapters run more invigorating than the last. Sakura Taisen 3 also adapts the series philosophy of mixing visual novel and turn-based strategy exceptionally well. For a major portion of the game, you'll be introduced to new characters, each with their own individual problems in which you aim to help solve their problems as part of their training. Most of these issues are often solved through the game's gameplay segments, a neat parallel with the gameplay often working in favor of the story as the group overcomes these troubles through teamwork often resulting in either flashy skirmishes or a satisfying boss battle. While formulaic in structure, this gameplay dynamic serves to help paint a more intimate portrait into the lives of each crew member while also helping to close each subplot satisfyingly as you begin to become invested in your fellow crew member's growth.

Sakura Taisen 3 also marks the return of the series iconic LIPS system. Simply put, the LIPS system involves Ogami making dialogue choices in a short manner of time that affects the outcome in a variety of events even extending to some combat scenarios. The true beauty of the LIPS system lies in its creativity in its implementation. With a quick tilt of the analog stick, the intensity of Ogami's responses can be heightened or lowered making simple actions like raising a toast much more engaging and as a result, adds a lot of personality to the dialogue. However, the LIPS system wouldn't quite work as well if Sakura Taisen 3's writing wasn't so fun and enjoyable. While the game does a great job at humanizing its cast through exploring their personal troubles, the main strength in its writing comes from its disassembling the notion that its cast is no more than a motley crew of anime tropes in human form. It's surprising when Sakura Taisen 3's main girl, Erica Fontaine, a clumsy, submachine gun-toting nun, has a subplot that heavily focuses on her motivations for maintaining her overbrimming enthusiasm in the face of a situation that's largely been filled with desperation and despair, shared as a common sentiment among her fellow crew members. While Erica's clumsiness does result in several personality clashes within the group, the group begrudgingly learns to work towards their common goals, and Erica's presence as an entertaining heroine throughout the game is only further cemented by her future interactions that mark her growth as a person and as a member of the Paris Assault Force.

All in all, Sakura Taisen 3 is a masterclass in character writing and an overall refinement of what makes the series so great. Sometimes moody and sometimes campy, Sakura Taisen revels in developing its cast through meaningful gameplay interactions that actively build upon the foundation of previous gameplay systems of its predecessors. With an extremely memorable narrative oozing with charm, Sakura Taisen 3 is a game that at times made me smile, laugh, tug at my heartstrings, and had me extremely emotional by the time the credits rolled as its ending theme "Future (Voyage)" played despite its cheesy lyrics. With a beautiful score and well-animated cutscenes accompanying its innovative hybrid gameplay, Sakura Taisen 3 is without a doubt the definitive Sakura Taisen game and possibly one of the best jrpgs on the Dreamcast. While it's a shame the game is largely tucked away from the public view due to the language barrier, in my eyes, Sakura Taisen 3 is a JRPG classic near and dear to my heart that will remain one of my personal favorites and a game I'll continue to talk about for years to come.

LA Noire is a game that I really hoped would be more interesting than it ended up being. It is entertaining enough, it has that typical Rockstar charm (and Rockstar's tendency to burn money on the screen for the most minute things) but it really feels like a missed opportunity.

The game takes place immediately after WW2, which is a great setting, but it feels like the devs were so enamoured with it that they forgot to put any substance in any part of the game.

The gameplay itself is so simplistic and scripted that it may as well not even be there, the investigation segments are really basic and the interrogations are sort of interesting but really badly handled (and it never matters how well you do in any of them). Same can be said for the open world, which was a complete waste of money and time to even have, it looks great but it serves so little purpose that I ended up just skipping the car rides every time.

So all we're really left with is the story, but I felt like it was paced all wrong. The game introduces its characters in the first hour, then everything stops for a solid 10 hours, and at the very last couple hours a story starts to materialize. And even then you're not given much to care for considering that by then the game is scrambling to get some kind of structure back, but it all feels very hollow, especially the very anti-climactic ending.

What I will say about the game though is that the creators really cared for what they were making, and it shows on every aspect of it. Too bad that it didn't really translate to a compelling experience.

Bloodborne was a Bloodbore.

Not really, I just wanted to make the dumb joke. What the game was though was underwhelming. You have your typical staples of the Souls series: the checkpoints, the oppressive atmosphere, the simplistic combat, the awful camera, you know, the usual. It all feels very been there done that.

The game constantly feels like it's missing that something else to really make it stand out, there's attempts to make the combat system more interesting but a lot of that came at the cost of removing any variety that the previous games, while not great themselves, at least had. Outside of very specific parts, a lot of this is a repetitive game of guessing which elevator will bring you to the boss fight the quickest, running away from the very slow enemies, and engaging with the next mediocre boss fight.

There's more I could say perhaps, but this is a game that really left me with not much to think about. A couple of interesting layouts, a couple of interesting moments, a few interesting-looking locations, but all in all this is just kind of a mediocre action game in a series that really needs some kind of new tricks.

Or at least a game that isn't about humans getting corrupted and transforming into feral creatures, I'd even take that