Segalization heard that SEGAbits was running a Sakura Taisen-themed week, and we were happy to help commemorate the week by contributing something of our own. Sakura Taisen, or Sakura Wars as it’s known over here, is easily one of the most prominent SEGA franchises to never make it stateside. It is the poster child for what Segalization wants to correct. So please, read on as we go into Sakura Wars’ history, what it means to the Segalization mission and my own personal experience with the only game in the franchise that has been localized.

The Genesis of a Franchise

I recently bought Funimation’s re-relase of Sakura Wars: The Movie and was treated to some great insights into the origins of the franchise. Ouji Hiroi, founder of Red Company, had built a reputation for himself as a writer and was approached by SEGA to create an adventure game. Hiroi and the team he assembled let their ambitions guide them, and created a unique strategy/adventure game hybrid called Sakura Wars.

It might not be apparent, but Sakura Wars is a deeply personal work for Hiroi. When he was young he used to listen to his mother talk of the prominence of theater groups in her own youth. Hiroi’s grandmother was a performer in the Shochiku Revue, the second most prominent musical theater troupe after the Takarazuka Revue, which served as a direct inspiration for the troupe in the original game. He believes that the surge in theater groups during his mother’s time came from Japan’s infatuation with American jazz music during and after the United States’ occupation of Japan following WWII.

The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female performance troupe. The theaters at which they perform house shrines to which actresses offer prayers and the gods bestow their grace in the form of fortune and power. This is a reference to the ritual of kamiori, where maidens called down the gods by dancing and received their power. It’s also the inspiration for the mostly-women Sakura Wars teams, their cover story as a theater troupe, and the concept of using spiritual power to fuel mechanical suits and fight demons.

The Takarazuka Revue came into being during the Taisho era of Japan. When creating Sakura Wars and in particular the world of Tokyo, RED Entertainment’s commitment to detail and research prompted them to visit live musical performances and scout for talented singers to serve as voice actors for the games. They also researched steam locomotives to aid their understanding of designing steam-powered machines and animating their movements. Kousuke Fujishima, the original character designer, was apparently six months late in submitting a design for lead character Sakura Shinguji because he struggled to find just the right look for her. When Hiroi finally saw the final design on New Year’s Eve, he says he almost cried with happiness.

Sakura Wars and the Segalization Mission

Sakura Wars hasn’t had much luck in reaching the West until recently, unfortunately. It wasn’t until 2010 that America and Europe finally recieved a five year late localization of Sakura Wars 5: So Long My Love by NISAmerica. Besides that, there have actually been some opportunities for the franchise’s titles to see localization over time. A NISAmerica interview with Siliconera mentions that a few years ago another publisher attempted to secure the rights for the PSP remakes of Sakura Wars 1 and 2, but they were ultimately turned down by Sony at the time. Were a localization group to consider the PSP remakes, it may be worth thinking of distribution via PSN. The localization of the first Trails in the Sky game on PSP was a success and a pleasant surprise. There are also PC versions of every game in the franchise which would be perfect for Steam. SEGA has been enjoying commercial success on PC as of late, and between the thriving Steam community and the momentum of the PC Ports campaign, there exists a great opportunity for the franchise.

Segalization really believes in Sakura Wars as a part of our mission. In its prime it was a franchise juggernaut in Japan, with live musical performances, a movie, four OVA’s and a TV anime series, various spinoff games, and enviable sales. There was even a Sakura Wars cafe that ran until 2008. But beyond its success, it’s a very unique franchise. Sakura Wars blends SRPG and dating simulation elements, and is a fiercely optimistic series. It unabashedly champions belief in teamwork, an idea built into the collection of colorful personalities that work together to accomplish their goals. Each team even protects a romanticized vision of the city that acts as their home base.

My Experience with Sakura Wars 5

I recently completed Sakura Wars 5: So Long, My Love. When I first heard about the series, I was put off by the concept of playing a dating simulator and worried that the game would be too pandering or unbelievable to be able to genuinely relate to the characters.  Thankfully, I was wrong, as there’s an earnest quality to the games that I appreciate. Romance and idealism are strong parts of the game’s identity. It helps that Sakura Wars features amazing music from Kohei Tanaka, and that the gameplay itself is great, especially in the form that it finally took with Sakura Wars 3. The move away from the isometric grid to a set amount of free movement was a great idea, and was a boon to the strategic aspects of the game.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of Sakura Wars 5 are the dialogue choices. It’s particularly fun to see how the characters you’re talking to react, and sometimes even funny to see them become irritated, but the dialogue choices can be genuinely interesting too. I remember at one point trying to convince Gemini not to be discouraged by being rejected by a snooty high class shop (Gemini is a character who struggles to reconcile all the facets of her personality, including wanting to be ladylike) and being met with skepticism because she thought my response was too enthusiastic to be believable. It was a great moment. It was the sort of moment that I hope everyone has a chance to experience by both playing Sakura Wars 5 and hopefully being able to play the other games some day.

Draikin and I recently had the pleasure of being a part of SEGAbits’ podcast series – the Swingin’ Report Show! In this episode, we talk about the humble origins of this campaign, go over a little bit of SEGA strategy as far as how some of their IP’s are handled, and spend some time goofing around.

Barry the Nomad and George of SEGAbits hosted us in this episode and were great company. You can check out SEGAbits’ own posting for this episode on SEGAbits at this link.

Gaming media contributor Kat Bailey recently published a list of her top ten JRPG stories through IGN. Among that esteemed group are a variety of titles, including: classics like Suikoden II and Chrono Trigger, the recently re-released for Vita social sim RPG Persona 4 (as Persona 4: Golden), and cult success The World Ends With You.

Valkyria Chronicles also made the list. Here’s what Bailey had to say about the game:

Nothing too complicated about Valkyria Chronicles’ story — it’s just fun retelling of World War II with a dash of sci-fi and magic powers. Normally, it wouldn’t be anything but special, but the close knit chemistry between Welkin’s Squad 7 helps to elevate it. Several of the characters have picked up significant fanbases over the years, even without any significant screentime to speak of — humorous combat dialogue and memorable character designs manage to tell a story of their own. The rest of the story moves at a brisk pace, rarely getting caught up in the sort of angst that drags down other anime-inspired games. It’s refreshing, fun, and well-written — a breath of fresh air for the genre.

It’s quite an honor for the game to be recognized for its story. The game is often praised for its visual presentation, character charm, soundtrack, and its mechanical uniqueness as a strategy RPG, but it is thought provoking to see someone praise the game for its story. What do you think of the list, and of Valkyria Chronicles‘ inclusion? Any titles you feel are missing?

To see the rest of the list, check out Kat Bailey’s post!

Good news! Mostly.

Owing perhaps to the franchise’s relative slumber, Sega’s Sakura Wars website was actually shut down for a brief period not too long ago. Dualshockers picked up on something interesting: were you to visit sakura-taisen.com on the 29th of December, you would have been greeted with this:

The website remained expired for what appears to be at least a couple of days initially being taken down. Thankfully, since then the site was reclaimed by Sega and is now restored. The site even features recent news posts.

It’s perhaps an interesting take on the state of the Sakura Wars franchise in Japan. While it retains a strong and prominent legacy in Japan and manages to endure in the form of a to-be-released mobile game and musical performances featuring the voice actors still continuing (the Paris Kagekidan/Flower Division is active right now until the middle of January!), it would seem there’s not much else going on that seems to keep Sakura Wars on Sega’s mind right now.

Source: Dualshockers’ original post

Eggman plots to take over social media, probably wants Mean Bean Machine port

Earlier today, NeoGAF member Grief.exe sent out a call to arms for Sega fans on PC. In recent years, Sega has built up their PC portfolio with the acquisition of Relic Entertainment and The Creative Assembly. Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed on PC received plenty of updates and sales discounts through Steam.

However, with the exception of Phantasy Star Online 2 plenty of Sega offerings remain outside of PC, and with such strong titles as Valkyria Chronicles out this generation, Sega fans on PC may find themselves hoping to build up fan demand and franchise presence outside of where it traditionally exists.

If you have a twitter, this serves as a great opportunity to build up both PC Sega support and support for various franchises! The topic starter came up with his/her own format:

@SEGA Release [Insert games you want here] on PC! #SegaPCPorts

Of course, you’re not restricted to this past console generation. The #SegaPCPorts hashtag has been pretty busy since the topic’s creation, with all sorts of titles like Vanquish, Bayonetta, Resonance of Fate as far as recent offerings go, while Skies of Arcadia and Genesis Sonic remasters speak for some of the more classic titles.

Group photo of the Nameless, the unit played as in Valkyria Chronicles 3.

The blog for the Valkyria Chronicles 3 Translation Project has been stirring as of late, happy to announce for those anxiously following them that their translation efforts will soon be playable. Do note though: the team will be releasing what they are calling the first version of the translation patch. In an effort to get their work out to eager fans sooner, they will be releasing a first patch within approximately two weeks.

This is kind of like an beta-version of the game. It will NOT include extra DLC (despite the FAQ), it will originally cover just the VC3-E2 edition as there will need to be massive editing to shrink the text to fit in the original version of VC3. The entire script may not be translated (say about 90% will be) in this first release of the patch.

The team mentions that there are some stray pieces currently untranslated, but essentials including menu interface and story events will be translated, alongside more than 178 mission objectives!

The team prefers to keep publicity on their project at a minimum, but with the humble niche-ness of Segalization’s blog, we hope to post this news serving as a reminder for those already interested. Also, the localization team asks for patience in both their release schedule and with the patches as they are released.