Chou or CC (senshi@IHUG.COM.AU)
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:41:14 +1100
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 14:41:14 +1100 From: Chou or CC <senshi@IHUG.COM.AU> Subject: Re: Miscellaneous Sakura Taisen thoughts (minor ST1 spoilers)
DRX wrote:
> Jose Barragán wrote:
>
> > >I've been wracking my brains for some new topics. How about these?
> > >Sakura Taisen 3 thoughts:
> > >
> > > An idea for ST3: How about a beat-'em-up, in the style of Guardian
> > >Heroes/Streets of Rage/Final Fight? Choice of characters, multiple paths
> > >and stories, special moves, etc. Heck, why not a Street Fighter-esque
> > >Sakura Taisen? I think that would be really cool, if, of course, it's done
> > >right. (It would be really hard to do right...for starters, the koubus look
> > >too similar; maybe they could make new, more personalized designs? Of
> > >course, there would have to be a face window that would show each pilot
> > >during the fight, and they'd wince when they got hit, say things like
> > >"Kanzaki funjinryuu... houou no mai!" when they do their special moves,
> > >taunt opponents, etc. There are enough characters for a fighting game,
> > >anyway.) I know many of you will hate the thought of ST in different
> > >genres, but I think it's fun to think about.
>
> I don't think a SF type game would fly, the only people that would fit the bill
> are Kanna and maybe Oogami (the times he practices with her). I think a koubu
> mech battle would work best as a sub game on a seperate disc or something. The
> other way it might work is if it was changed into a Magicesque type battle
> system dealing out the players cards. This would still retain some form of
> strategy that ST loosely incorporates already.
I agree that SF type of game won't work. There are too many examples ofanime SF
games that were REALLY bad. Sailormoon, Dragonball, Ranma,
Ruruni Kenshin......... The common denominator is that non of the companies that
made these SF/VF type games have any solid experience in making these games, so
all they do is copy the game system from SF/VF and then substitue the characters in
The result are usually a poorly done game which doesn't have any replay value.
(except maybe for otakus) As I don't think Red has any programming experience in
this
field, I don't think they'll want to risk doing this type of game.
> > > Boy, ST3 has some pretty big shoes to fill. I guess we kind of went of
> > >this already, but what makes Sakura Taisen Sakura Taisen? The characters?
> > >The dating? The battles? All of it? Some more than others? What I'm getting
> > >at is, is ST3 locked into the same dating sim + strategy-RPG format?
> >
> > I believe that it is, yes. There might be improvements to the engine and
> > such, but the basic format should remain the same. I mean, imagine if Final
> > Fantasy VII had been a 3-D fighting game instead of an RPG! Can you imagine
> > all the people who would have been extremely pissed off?
IMO, as long as ST3 is still going to be call ST3, it should remain the same.
> > > Are
> > >the lesser sales figures of ST2 indication that the same formula won't
> > >necessarily cut it anymore?
> >
> > No, I think the sales figures just reflect the slow demise of the Saturn.
> > There simply aren't as many people interested in Saturn games as when the
> > first ST game came out (thus, the low sales of the excellent 2-D Capcom
> > fighting game conversions).
IIRC, it wasn't that bad of a sales figure, it was just because Red said their
targetwas 1 million copies and it wasn't meet so it seem bad.
> >> > Is ST running out of
> > >steam? Is the dating-sim genre itself running out of steam? Perhaps it
> > >would be best if it didn't progress past ST3, like others have said?
The dating-sim genre itself is NOT running out of steam at all. If you flip
thruthose japanese game magazines you'll see at least 4 to 5 date sims in
development
and at least 1 being released each month. Perhaps the others aren't doing so well,
but with the strong cast behind ST3, I think it will do very well.
> I will continue to enjoy ST games as long as Red/Sega produces stuff that is
> imaginative, fun, and original. As soon as they start to milk the Sakura Taisen
> title will boring spin-offs that's the day I put in another game. But I don't
> see that ever happening, more than likely Red will start a new series with the
> flavor of ST but will be an enjoyable game in itself. One reason I'm excited
> about To The North:) I think Sakura Taisen has maybe one game left after 3 with
> a majority of new younger characters, but with enough of the ST essence to make
> it a worthwhile title that improves the series instead of just dragging it on w/
> another sequel.
Speaking about To The North, I've read in a magazine that TTN will incorprate a
new system (I forgot the name). It basically allows you to interrupt the dialogue
of
the character you're talking to with your own answers. So it is like as soon as the
girl
starts to speak, choices will start to appear to let you interrupt the dialogue.
For example,
if the girl was talking about the weather and you don't want to talk about it, you
could interrupt
with a choice and change the subject to something else. Does anybody else see this
system to
be included in ST3 besides me?
Later
Chou