HomerSimpson-Man said:
So uh, what are these games, I see the names but Sega really never brought them over like ever for how many generations?
Premise:
You take the role of Oogami Ichirou, a just-graduated naval ensign. When you begin Sakura Taisen, you are transferred to be the commander of the Teikokukagekidan Hanagumi. That phrase can be translated in two ways, depending on the characters used: Imperial Floral Assault Team, Flower Division, or Imperial Opera Team, Flower Division. This pun is the subject of the game in the beginning, but I'll just leave it at that. It turns out that the Hanagumi is full of females, which is a bit of a disappointment to you, since you're a soldier type of person. But alas, throughout the game, you bond with them, making friendships and earning their respect, and you may even develop feelings for them. Of course, what's a Dramatic Adventure without an enemy trying to destroy Japan?
Gameplay:
There are basically 3 elements of any Sakura Taisen game: Adventure, Battles, Minigames.
The adventure mode is basically you walking around and talking to people. And usually there are only so many opportunities to do so. For instance, you may have one hour to walk around, and every location you go to takes 10 minutes. The unique thing about ST is the LIPS system, where basically some of your responses are timed. That is, if someone is asking you an urgent question, you need to pick your answer within a specified time frame. Not picking a choice is also a choice. There are elements from dating sims in this game, because if you answer a question "correctly", your teammate's opinion of you rises and consequently, they are more powerful in battle. Conversely, say the wrong thing, and they may be weak in battle. You will also get a different ending (well, part of the ending) depending on which character has the highest opinion of you by the end of the game.
When you have to fight enemies, usually once or twice per episode, it becomes like an SRPG, where you fight enemies on an isometric 3/4 overhead view, not unlike games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Ogre Battle. There's no experience points, and there's some things unique to ST. You will generally have the option of Attack, Hissatsu(it's like a "super" that can be performed when your "super" meter is filled), Defend, and Heal. You as commander, also have a limited amount of "Protects" where you will take the hit for one of your teammates causing neither of you to take any damage. The battles tend to be on the easy side, and depending on which game you're talking about, the specifics of the battles are different.
Finally, there's minigames. Generally there are minigames for each teammate of yours that you have to "find" in the main game in order to play. There is also generally a main minigame in each game. The character specific minigames tend to be very simple and focused games. For instance, Sakura's minigame in ST has forced vertical scrolling where you must dodge all obstacles and reach the end. So shooter skills pay off here. But the "main minigame" of ST is Koi Koi Taisen, a variant of the Japanese card game, Hanafuda. I've spent countless hours on most of the minigames.
For a beginner, I recommend starting at the first game. The graphics may be a bit dated (It came out in 1996), but it's among my top 3 games of all time. Sakura Taisen 3 is another decent starting point, revamps the graphics and the game engine, and is the best game in the series. Also among my top 3 games of all time. ST3 is a decent starting point because it takes place in France, so most of it is a new cast anyway. However, it would help if you knew about the events of the previous two games.
If you're a graphic whore though, and want to check out the series, perhaps ST3 is the best place to start. ST4 is the worst place to start out and I would heavily recommend not bothering with it at all unless you've played ST 1-3.
The Sakura games are pretty deep though... I've played Sakura Taisen 13x through now and I'm still having a blast. There are so many events, so many extras and details, and of course different endings, that you can play it again and again and find new things each time.
