Just finished the game today. Platinum.
I think I enjoyed the game little too much than I should have. (obviously) lol...
The whole storyline is very predictable - practically PG level of good vs evil, justice prevails thru teamwork etc, just like previous ones with chock full of cliche'd plot that you can see a mile away - so that was to be expected, and it's part of its "nostalgic" charm... but 1st episode felt practically boring for some reason.
In the end though - it did a decent job of making me liking some characters - I actually liked the more off-beat side characters like HIromi and others than most of the main characters though.
As a Sakura Wars - it did decent enough job, not a masterpiece level - I'm hoping more improved sequel would come out in the future. Each and every main characters had some sort of cringy vocal songs and all, and all of them fit into the whole campy & cringy feel of the game perfectly.
One thing I noticed though - that the game is focused on way too much on the main character Kamiyama. I guess it's because traditionally you don't really get to see your own character (Ogami) in 1st person adventure part unless in a event scene - they all talk to you straightforward - so it felt little bit different. As playing Ogami, I felt more 1st person - while playing as Kamiyama, it felt strangely 3rd person.
Finally, as per the battle system - it's pretty easy enough for me to get S rank on all the battle bots. As you get better playing your character, especially Kamiyama - basically you can build up the moral level to 10 and just smash everything in sight in a few seconds, and lots of cool insta-kills. It felt rather refreshing to play as I get better and better - but the repeated levels in battle bots were little too much. But the biggest issue that I have, is that original Sakura Wars had at least a bit of strategy (although very minimal and easy - as fans want and expect the battles to be easy and quickly done) - you were able to use all your squad members depending on the situations. Using them effectively allowed the battles to be quickly done and over - but in this game, since it's musho style of action -you are only able to play 1 character at a time, although you can switch to one more. (so basically 2 playable characters in battle scenarios). You are supposed to be a "squad leader" - but in this game, you don't even really have to play any other characters (except a couple of particular situations).... so that was little disappointing.
I mean when you defeat the enemy, they all cheer "yay- teamwork" - but no. It was just me doing all the work, while rest of them are not involved in the battle, or sometimes in the way of getting my perfect strings - especially Azami keep launching the enemies up to the air, when time is essence to get the S rank. So yes, the battle system itself is decently enjoyable (asides some annoying lock-on mechanics) - but it got rid of whole strategic portion.
As for the lock-ons... once you assign your target with R3, a slightest move on the right analog stick would change it - most of the time not the ones that I was looking to lock-on. And since the camera is moving around so much, sometimes you have to move the camera with right analog stick - which annoyingly changed the lock on. I wish that they'll fix it in the sequels as well - as I know in original release, lock-on wasn't even in the game I hear, so I can't really complain.
Another thing that I noticed was how little voice acting was present. It would have been great if all the side events were voiced - but I heard the seiyu price was so over-the-top, they really couldn't do it within the budget... which is shame. A game like this needs more voicing. However I was happy to hear original Sumire and Shinguji's voices were used.. although now they really do sound a bit too old...
Koi Koi minigame was also a delightful for me as I'm a big fan of it. I enjoyed almost as much as the main game. Still on easy side though... but can't complain much about it.
As per the translations... I give it 5 out of 10. Even with my limited Japanese - translation wasn't really on par. Often the translator added things are not in the sentence, or sometimes opposite - some things just didn't carry the original's nuance well - although... I should be at least thankful that they translated it at least, and even got the western release. I ended up listening to the actual voices and understanding what they are saying (very entry level Japanese - commonly used in a lot of Anime) - than relying on the translated text.
Also the anime fmvs and in-game illustrations... somehow looks quite low-quality, low-budget. Even the ending animations too - I actually liked 3d models better in the end, although I'm not the biggest fan of Tite Kubo's style particularly - I wished the fmvs and illustrations didn't deter too much from the main design... that looked almost like 90's anime style in some cases.
Sounds like I have much complaint than good things - but that's just me being a bit harsh and critical - I enjoyed the game very much and sometimes got teary-eyed in certain situations. That cringy goosebump you get - it is indeed the charm of the franchise. It just felt strange and out of place to play this type of game, in this woke day and age - this thing is full of a lot of people would call wrong... (unrealistic waifus) that I'm surprised if it wasn't gutted by Sony's censorship. Perhaps this is what getting old feels like. Seeking entertainment from something of old - and they delivered it quite well in this game. I hope to see and find out what happened to the original characters more, hopefully they return to the series at least as cameos or whatnot.
Will now watch the anime series - heard that it has a bit more of characters not present in the game etc - so will see how it goes!
