This review's gonna be different, since I'm really just gonna recollect on this instead of getting into the nitty-gritty of the plot and mechanical workings of Sakura Wars 1. I do have a replay in-progress, but stopped around Chapter 5 since I was still focusing on other stuff at the time, so once I get off my ass and finish it, I'll make a(n actual) review talking about all that. Also there'll be some slight endgame spoilers, nothing major but I'll describe a few events that're isolated from context as much as possible.

Anyway, Sakura Wars. Originally one of my Gaming White Whales, I learned about it in 2016 when Sega revealed and got feedback on the large amount of people wanting a revival of the series, which it did 3 (4 for international release) years later in the form of a PS4 soft reboot. An adventure format? With VN and dating elements? Even containing SRPG combat sequences? Sounds like my thing! Only, there was one problem: Japan-only, no English translation available outside of guides. Hence why I referred to it as a white whale, there was no way I, someone still in their Junior year of high school, was gonna comfortably learn Japanese alongside other studies, and having to follow a guide for a text-heavy game is ludicrous to me. Granted, there was the anime OVAs of the games that had English subs, an alternate retelling of the first game via a Madhouse-produced TV series that aired overseas, as well as Sakura Wars 5 becoming available for PS2 and Wii versions thanks to NISA, but the OVAs are more or less continuations of the games so doing that would mean having little context, the TV series is a retelling like I said and I'd rather have gone through the original first, and the 5th game... I actually did pick up and put some amount of time into, but at the time of writing I've yet to finish it cause I keep getting distracted.

Then, in mid-December 2019, it happened. A group of people were able to finally translate the game, start to finish. Not even kidding when I say that was one of the biggest pieces of joy I've gotten in recent years. Sure, it meant having to figure out Saturn emulation, configuring Mednafen and (at the time, I don't use this anymore) Retroarch, all at once, but man I didn't care, as long as it meant I could finally play the first entry in a series I've had my eyes on for so long, going through it on-and-off for other games, as well as to avoid burnout.

As you can tell from the score, it lived up to my expectations pretty comfortably. There were some drawbacks and questionable decisions that bog it down that, again, I'll get into when I finish my replay, but for the most part I got exactly what I was hoping: Great adventure walk-arounds with a soothing and fantastic atmosphere, blending nicely with the VN and dating elements of talking to crew within the Imperial Combat Revue, and the SRPG element that, while very simple (it cannot be stressed that combat sequences are not the main focus, the stuff pertaining to the crew and adventure/VN format is), was still pretty fun and hilariously easy to break.

What really stood out to me - and really, the series in general - was how earnest and sincere it was in telling its tale. Amongst all the banter, fun, and the of-the-times anime tropes and such, laid a story about trust, forgiveness, and standing together despite the differences and difficulties that lay face as it goes along. We're talking about a story that doesn't shy away from the fact that the (initial) Big Bad is just a Conservative mad about the fact Japan has been taking influences from the Western side of the world, wanting to isolate it from those they deem unholy. We're talking about a story that contains two individual moments practically resembling a Goku Spirit Bomb attack, purely because they believe and have the heart to stand above the evil. We're talking about literal, actual angels and demons getting involved in order to loop these themings and threads back around in a full manner. I won't act like sincerity is lost or whatever, but in the recent years where creators and even normal individuals have taken the route of irony, cynicism, and just never taking things as what they are and judging them for what they aren't, coupled with the fact that, to reiterate, I was finally playing this within the timeframe of early 2020, seeing something like this unfold, was pretty refreshing and breathtaking. It may not be exactly for everyone, but you can't deny there's a ton of heart and soul that goes into each entry, even the spinoffs, as time went on.

The only other games available in English are the aforementioned PS4 game, which I already finished and also like (though not to the same degree as this), 5, which as I said I need to get back to, and some spinoffs like the sequel to a previous Columns game, and a Game Boy title, which I also played and rather enjoyed nicely, with another translation being done for the third game, which I should mention finally being that 1, 3, 5, and the SR are standalone and can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of either game. I dunno when I'll sign back on, but since I already waited three years to delve into the series' roots, I don't mind waiting that much, maybe even more, for the title everyone beholds as one of Sega's all-timers.

shoutouts to titillation but yeah very weirdly one of the smartest and most enjoyable rpg experiences I've ever played???

'weird'? is it weird? Is it really that uncommon for a ‘porno’ game like this to be so mechanically dense and thought provoking? Maybe, maybe not! Perhaps I just have a lot left to wise up on if an experience like this can be so engrossing despite also owning what I assumed to be nothing more than a smutty subject matter. Had a bit of an awakening with this one! Silly as it sounds~

The sexual theming just made for so many engaging gameplay opportunities! The management game and sheer number of variables to play around were dizzying... I must admit I was stunned. Granted you may need to be a biiiit of a degenerate to overcome the aesthetics behind this anime "battlefuck" experience. But I’d say if you’ve got the (FORE)skin for it, you’ll be surprised witnessing just how deep and weirdly wholesome(???????) this shit can go.......

IT DOES KINDA SUCK THO that optimal play in the day planning/ability-tree fuckery can devolve into LIL CRAZY a grind. There's a looot of potential repeats of the same battles and mini-games over and over if you happen to fall into a bad rut. BUT EVEN SOOOO... the decision-making fun you still end up with... those resource limits and many GAME ENDING situations to overcome... MAN, fighting against that REAL pressure of failure and working towards the goals you want is still just SO damn ENGAGING and EMPOWERING! I can’t help but look past some of the wrinkles... And hey - provided you don't let your girl Karryn get too horny in combat and aren't always getting horribly FUCKED every turn, YA KNOW IT AIN'T ALL TOO BAD DEALING WITH THE EXTREME GRIND POTENTIAL BULLSHIT. The DIAMOND I can occasionally see in this one is just too great to let be obscured, man!!!!!!!!

tldr sometimes you just wanna give an orc fucker a handjob to stop his spread of buffs to the enemy party....... Ya gotta understand!!!

not enough dom shit tho. that does kinda hurt it tho truly

I am fully aware how ridiculous this may sound, but I am being 100% serious when I tell you that this game's cutscenes, seemingly driven mostly by "hm, what would look the coolest here?", are better—and more thoughtfully—shot and edited than most other games I've played.

"But what about [prestige game]" especially better than that.

Despite the average shot length being too short for my taste, the cutscene where the Ronin attempt to ambush Johnny Gat and the player was when I realized "oh, someone DIRECTED this." Beyond the flashier stuff like the derivative-but-still-great katana flower-cutting discretion shot, there's a real sense of rhythm to the scene and thoughtfulness to the blocking (to say nothing of the physical comedy) that persists across all the other story cutscenes, once I started paying attention.

(Of particular note is the long take late in the Brotherhood arc, which I bring up not because long takes are inherently good or something—they're frequently misused pretentiously by people who don't understand what they're for—but because it's specifically there to create a vulnerable, scrambling feeling that underlines both the larger theme of the arc of powerful people feeling powerless and lashing out in petty destructive ways, and the immediate theme of Maero Is Bigger And Stronger Than Me Oh No.)

The fact that these cutscenes come out of an era in gaming that was still pretty dominated by "just vaguely point the camera at the action" is nuts.

Oh also the rest of the game's alright. It's extremely 2008 in good and bad ways. It's better than the HD GTAs by a country mile. It's hard for me not to compare its controls negatively to its sequel, since I played it first—jumping on cars to get in them without the animation is a salve, but doesn't compare to jumping directly into the driver's seat in SRTT—but obviously the tradeoff is that Stilwater is a better sandbox than Steelport.

(p.s. the female player character is sorta-canonically trans, which is fun)

A glorious and genuine example of video game camp. So earnestly proud of its narrative self-seriousness, technical innovation, and dedication to a grim atmosphere that it balloons into parody. It couldn't have gone any other way with how the medium was at the time and in ways its cult status is entirely attributed to its dated ridiculousness. Always captivating even if the Norman Jayden chapters grind the pacing to a screeching halt almost every goddamn time. Shame about how the majority of the game plays out because for the first two or so hours there is a touching dynamic between Shaun and Ethan that I found palpable and frankly real. There's a mundanity to how Cage expresses the grief here that moved me. All the button prompts to drink orange juice and prepare weirdly animated pizza dinner for your son felt properly laborious in these sections and accentuated the deep sadness that underscores the game's tone (also in part due to the gorgeously varied score). And then the rest of the game happens and the entire thing devolves into trashy B-movie pulp territory. I like it that way though! There's not many other neo-noir games out there with such passion to be this wholly unbalanced and narratively ill-fated with a straight face.