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There are a large number of mysteries in the world. Does Bigfoot exist?
Why did 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' get cancelled? Who thought the Pet
Rock was a good idea? How is it possible that Richard Nixon was the most
liberal US President in the past 35 years? Even limiting the mysteries of
the world to RPGs leaves much unanswered; what was Capcom THINKING when it
left in the original Breath of Fire II translation for the GBA reissue? Today on the
great mysteries of the RPG world, I will attempt to analyze why
Sakura Wars has never been localized for English-speakers when it deserves
such a status.
To understand this scenario rather better, it would help to first outline
exactly what Sakura Wars is, and what it is NOT. The best analogy I can
give with regard to playing a Sakura Wars title is; interactive anime. The
majority of the game time is spent in conversation and plot detailment, not
combat. One assumes the role of Ichiro Ohgami (I understand someone
different is the player-controlled character in Sakura Wars 5 on PS2), who
is tasked with commanding the Teikokukagekidan. This term means two things
when spoken in Japanese: Imperial Drama Troupe and Imperial Combat Troupe.
A change to the kanji used for writing the term down denotes the change of
the group from acting to fighting, and sadly does not translate into
English. Outside of battle Ohgami generally wanders about the opera house
in which the Teikokukagekidan resides, interacting with the all-female
members of the Troupe. Plot points occur all the time, and Ohgami will be
frequently presented with several choices to make when pressed by one of the
girls. This is almost always timed, with failure to answer in time being
interpreted as silence, which is sometimes the most appropriate answer. In
Sakura Wars 2 answers can change with a little passage of time, and the new
answers may be better or worse than the old. Sakura Wars 2 also introduced
multiple time-limited questions between exposition within an overall time
limit. Answering 'correctly' earns Ohgami good feelings from the girl(s)
asking the questions. Answering 'poorly' will achieve vitriol, although
this can be quite amusing to observe. There are also times when Ohgami must
search around a room via a cursor onscreen; what he looks at and when can
affect dialogue significantly (for some reason the girls don't take well to
having Ohgami stare at their chests...). How each member of the
Teikokukagekidan feels about Ohgami directly translates into battlefield
performance; the more Ohgami is liked, the higher the attack, defense, and
movement of a girl in the Final Fantasy Tactics/Shining Force-like tactical
battles that occur.
One thing Sakura Wars is NOT: hentai. While Ohgami does get certain scenes
with each member depending upon their individual affection levels for him,
and an ending with each member, none of it involves anything explicitly
sexual. The interaction is that of a commander trying to sooth
disagreements and keep everyone in good cheer instead of a hormone-crazed
man seeking excitement (though the player can have Ohgami peep on the ladies
occasionally, but nothing explicit is to be found and Ohgami will be
punished for his ways). Sakura Wars is also NOT for anyone seeking nothing
but challenging strategic encounters; the tactical battles are certainly
entertaining, but when certain members can take down enemies with one hit
while the enemies (even bosses) cannot do the same, challenging battles are
not found here. Yet the games are also NOT strictly Adventure games akin to
older PC titles; not only the tactical battles but the need to decide
quickly when questions are presented, along with each girl having her own
minigame that demands quick reflexes, mean that the games require attention
to be paid. And in their current state, the games are not recommended for
any RPGamer unwilling to be glued to a FAQ: while clicking through reams of
text and blindly guessing answers will bring players to the battles, the
enjoyment attained via doing such is likely to be minimal. Still, some have
done it and enjoyed the games anyway.
For Sega of America to be reluctant to localize any Sakura Wars titles is
regrettable, but somewhat understandable back in the dark days of the Saturn
(although I can still blame it subjectively for screwing up so very much
with that console - and I do!) The first Sakura Wars was released in 1996
after all; at the time even more-or-less standard RPGs were anything but
assured of localization. Sakura Wars 2 came in 1998 - but the Saturn was
essentially dead in North America by that time (dead but not forgotten!)
Sakura Wars 1 and 2 were redone to an extent for the Dreamcast in 2000,
Sakura Wars 3 was released in 2001, Sakura Wars 4 in 2002 - both also on
Dreamcast. Again Sega's console was tanking in the North American market,
making the lack of localization lamentable but understandable. The refusal
to localize any of the games on a Sony machine is puzzling, however. Sakura
Wars 1 was redone for the PS2 in 2003, Sakura Wars 5 was released on the
machine in 2005, and Sakura Wars 1 and 2 have been combined and brought to
the PSP in 2006. North America may not get all the quirky titles Japan
produces, nor even close, but quite a few slip into the English-speaking
world nowadays and meet with enough financial success to encourage further
releases. Sega itself released Seaman for the Dreamcast, which at first
glance is weirder than anything in a Sakura Wars game. Atlus seems to
specialize in quirky titles for localization, and the company meets with
enough success in that vein to allow its furthering. The dating aspect is
probably the most repellent to localizers, but again Atlus titles (Riviera
in particular) have achieved some success while featuring that element
prominently. If one wishes to stretch the point very painfully, a certain
market for PC titles also shows that this sort of thing can sell.
The oddest thing about Sakura Wars' absence from North American markets is
the presence of much spinoff material from the originating games. All but
one of the OVA series based upon the games have been released in North
America, as well as the TV series and movie. Their presence here is
certainly nice, but dubbing this series does not work at all: the characters
are voiced by the same people in every Japanese appearance, and the seiyuu
are very good at their jobs (replicating Li Kohran's distinctive Kansai
accent courtesy of Fuchizaki Yuriko is probably not possible). Dubbing
these characters creates a disconnect for anyone who has actually played the
games; it doesn't work. This disconnect could be ameliorated if the games
had English voice actors to create a different interpretation of the
characters - although bad voice acting would be worse than useless in this
series. The manga is also being released in North America, and while it
does a pretty good job at retelling the story (so far) of the first game, it
must have a far greater effect in Japan where many readers are familiar with
the source material. The fact that these items keep being released shows
that the North American market is buying Sakura Wars products; why not the
games that started the whole thing?
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