Sakura Wars 2 Review:

Under the cherry blossoms, a time of romance and war starts again. Spanning over the course of three discs Sakura Wars 2 absolutely delivered in close to every single imaginable aspect. As a combination of a romance adventure game, and strategy RPG, Sakura Wars is a truly special and rather unique series that manages to combine these different genres into one fascinating experience that has an outstanding and unique identity and manages to stand on its own as something quite special. That being the case, the first Sakura Wars already delivered an as a whole absolute great and memorable experience, but where the previous game already succeeded, this sequel improves on its predecessor even more and succeeds even more as a greater and absolutely excellent game that manages to deliver such a magnificent and beautiful experience in nearly every way that's something truly special. There's a lot that can be said about this game, not only have I honestly pretty much fallen in love with it over the course of my playthrough, but similar to the first Sakura Wars game and the whole series in general there is something so special and unique that truly drew me into this game and the experience it has to offer.

Similar to the first entry to the series Sakura Wars 2 also features every so often some strategy RPG segments within the game that offer some variety from the usual ADV parts and allow the player to directly play and experience the battles throughout the story. While the general gameplay of it remains largely the same compared to the previous game, there are some worth mentioning changes and additions to it, which further enhance the strategy gameplay and give some more depth to it. Notable would be the option to undo movement of your character if you haven't done any other action after moving your character, which is a really welcome and nice tweak to the game. It's along with the newly added mini map that can be used, or the fact that the special attack of Iris now heals herself too in addition to other characters, a really useful change and feature. Compared to the first game it genuinely makes it even more pleasant and enjoyable to play the strategy parts of the game through these overhauls of the strategy gameplay. One other of these notable changes would be related to the Cover feature, through which Ogami can cover another character and completely nullify the damage they and Ogami take when this character gets attacked by an enemy, was reduced so that you can only use it three times instead of the previous eight times. Considering that feature was quite broken in the first game, I think it's an understandable and kind of expected change, and it's regardless still a pretty fun and nice feature to use that can still be quite powerful to guard a character. Still while this aspect of the game was nerfed, there are some new additions to the strategy parts of the game which in return can be quite broken instead. These being mainly the options that you now can at Ogami's turn select a command for a tactic of which you have three options and which can either increase your strength and decrease your defense, increase your movement and decrease your defense, or increase your defense and decrease your movement. Those can be really useful and pretty fun to use, and overall I think it's a pretty good addition to the strategy gameplay which gives those parts of the game some more depth. While it certainly can be a bit broken with how you can use it in every of Ogami's turns, I really like to take advantage of it, and it definitely makes the gameplay quite interesting. But I generally most of the time quite enjoy mechanics which can make you quite broken, so it's probably a given that I enjoyed taking advantage of it. Other than these commands the game now also features different objectives for these strategy segments which you can choose prior to them during the ADV parts. These can vary from like having to defend a building for a certain amount of time or defeating all the enemies that are on the field. I really love these choices, they ultimately bring way more variety into the game and it adds nice replay value, which I definitely appreciate for a game like this. Furthermore the team attacks are still truly a lot of fun too, and I love the animations that play when using them along with the special attacks. It's always absolutely fun to use them, and I love how strong they generally are. Though I wish that you were able to skip the special attack animations, since with some bosses they are being used quite often by them and it definitely can be a bit tiring to have to completely watch them all the time, but that's only a minor nitpick and nothing that took away much of my enjoyment. While the strategy gameplay probably isn't the most outstanding or most challenging thing ever created, I really love it for what it is and probably even for these reasons. I think that it's really enjoyable, and playing them throughout the game can be a nice change of pace.

Absolutely gorgeous is once again like with the previous game the beautiful sprite work featured throughout the entire game. Genuinely this game looks astoundingly beautiful and through my entire playthrough of the game I could truly feel just simply how much effort and quality went into all the various art that is featured throughout it. Over the entire playtime of Sakura Wars 2 there are simply so many gorgeous characters sprite works, CGs, and in general animations that looks fabulous, especially with having in mind that this is a game that originally released on the Sega Saturn. There were many moments where I was genuinely impressed with the sheer amount of all the different graphics featured throughout the game, particularly with there being many that are even optional and can only be seen by choosing certain choices. There's so much variety throughout the game, and visually speaking the game absolutely has to offer quite a lot along with the really nice looking backgrounds. Honestly for the most part there's probably nothing but praise I could give the game in that regard, and like with the first game I'm once again impressed by the mouth movements of the characters. In general all of them in this series are lip sync, and it must have taken a huge amount of different sprite works of all the various different characters that are featured throughout the game. I think it's really remarkable how much work and effort the developers put into this whole aspect of the game, and while it might be a rather subtle detail, it makes the whole characters and their lips movement feel so natural along with the voice acting and is most definitely an aspect that makes the experience the game has to offer even more immersive. It's really amazing to see how much work went into all of this while playing the game, and it's definitely something that I appreciate quite a lot. In general I really love the artstyle of the game, and I think it manages to capture the vibe and feeling of the setting in such a nice way and it truly feels like as if you were in this steampunk world of the 1920s in Japan. And that's without even mentioning the absolutely gorgeous animated cutscenes that are featured over the course of the game. Like the previous game there's quite some amount of fully animated cutscenes that are of such high quality and simply look amazing. They truly feel like as if they could come right out of an anime and with that they look fantastic. Especially the CG in some cutscenes genuinely looks rather impressive considering the time the game originally released and to this date pretty much holds up for the most part. Sure the resolution might not be the best and covers up some of the rough edges, but it still, despite that, looks absolutely fantastic, and similar to the first game Sakura Wars quite managed to impress me with them and watching all of these cutscenes which are sprinkled throughout the game in general is just always an absolute joy and while playing I'm definitely always looking forward to seeing them. Aside from the general graphics the entire soundtrack is, in addition to them, really magnificent as well. Personally I totally love all the tracks that are featured throughout the game and there are some absolute bangers that really sound great with being very fitting to the general setting of the game and the various scenes. Notable would especially be the absolutely outstanding theme song, which is simply sooo iconic and incredible. I could honestly listen to it forever, and in general the whole opening of the game is excellent. Accompanied by this excellent song, the whole opening animation is really great, and I would definitely classify it as an absolute masterpiece. So yeah that being said visually speaking and regarding the soundtrack the game is exceptional and I don't think there's anything too big I could complain about.

Romance is once more an essential and focal aspect of Sakura Wars 2 and one of my favorite parts about this whole series in general. Coming from the first game the sequel allows you to use your old save data, which in return decides which main heroine of the first game Ogami has special feelings for depending on which romance option you went for in the previous game. Since Sakura Shinguji was already the romantic option I chose for the first game, I once again opted to choose her with my save file of the first game, and I particularly love how this game as a sequel allows to continue the relationship between Ogami and whichever character you previously chose as a romantic option. Instead of completely starting from zero as if nothing at all had happened between them in the previous game or anything like that, the game finds a fairly nice way to continue with it while still offering the option to go for a different character if you really want to. There are some incredibly cute moments over the entire span of the game, and as someone who absolutely loves romances and love stories in general, there were some really great romantic and sweet moments that honestly made my heart flutter quite a bit. All of these moments were absolutely great and honestly one of my favorite parts about the game. I really appreciate and love how much romance there is in this game, and having some kind of progression or continuation of the romance options from the first game is really nice and sweet to see. Worth mentioning would also be the last team attack animations, which are really sweet and great in that regard as well. It's very nice to see the romance being presented in the strategy parts of the game like that and it never gets boring to watch these team attack animations. Having these themes of love and romance throughout the game and the series in general is something I absolutely love, and whereas the first game already had quite some fantastic and pretty romantic, sweet moments with the characters and various dating options, the second game has even more of them, and I absolutely loved them. As a whole there are some incredibly cute and sweet moments throughout the game that were absolutely great to experience, and romance in general is just awesome!

Concerning the cast of the game, I totally love most of the characters even more than I did before in the previous game and I definitely came to love and appreciate the characters even more. While I already really loved the cast from playing the first game, this sequel offered so many further great moments with them and managed to make most characters even more likable than before. All of the previous main characters are fantastic with all of them having some pretty nice moments throughout the game, and I once again really like characters like Sakura, Sumire, Kanna, Maria, Kohran, and so on. In addition to that not only the returning characters are great, but also most of the new characters are a welcome and really nice addition. While it took me some time to really like a character like Orihime, she really grew on me over the course of the game and I really like her whole character arc. So that I think she's a great addition to the cast with her whole personality, and while she may seem a bit similar to Sumire on the surface regarding her personality, there's beneath that still a lot that differentiates them and makes both of them separate and equally great characters. With that I really like Orihime and the dynamic she has with the rest of the cast is quite interesting and allows for some pretty interesting moments and interactions throughout the game. Along with Orihime, Reni is another character who is pretty good too and is a pretty nice addition to the cast as well. Generally speaking I really enjoyed both of their character arcs and I think that both of their backstories are pretty good too. Aside from the main cast, while one character kind of feels like a copy of a previous character, I liked most of the other new characters as well, though this certainly is where one problem I have with the game comes across. This primarily being how the game handles some queer characters. While they get a more important role during the story, it unfortunately feels like they were partly more so written to make fun of these characters because they are gay, which I don't like. There are gladly some characters of the cast who treat them completely normally, but with others they more so treat them in the best case with incredulity, with Ogami himself being seemingly rather uncomfortable around them. I'm really not the biggest fan of how the game handles them and how they are written and depicted in that regard. It's definitely a product of it's time and one particular aspect about this otherwise absolutely great game that I don't like. But aside from that aspect I generally really love the characters and how they are written in this game and there are so many great moments with them throughout the entire game which I really appreciate. Sakura Wars 2 is filled with both wonderful light hearted, slice of life scenes and moments, but also some rather dark and emotional scenes. The game allows and really manages to show both sides in a pretty beautiful way, and I think that especially the more heavy and dark scenes truly hit when they are shown with how the game includes them along with the general placement of them and the fact that we get so much time to spend with the characters in really wonderful light hearted scenes that truly manage to make the characters really likable and interesting. Spending time with these characters in general is just so much fun and interacting with them through Ogami, who is also a pretty good protagonist, is really enjoyable and a primary aspect I absolutely love and appreciate about this game and the Sakura Wars series in general. The entire cast of this game has such a great dynamic with how diverse they are and the different cultures and countries some of them come from, and we fortunately get so much time to spend with them, and they are for the most part soo charming so that I really like them.

As for one other essential and prominent aspect of the Sakura Wars series, the whole LIPS system, which are time limited dialogue options throughout the game and especially the ADV parts that are similar to the previous game once again present in this sequel, is genuinely great and a pretty interesting system. Compared to the first game there are some differences and new aspects to the LIPS system, like having a certain task to do in a limited amount of time or a newly added tiny bar at the bottom of the screen under the text box that shows Ogami's attitude, whether serious or soft, on a scale, which can have a slight impact on the conversations Ogami can have. Though regarding the latter in the grand scheme of things it doesn't make that much of a difference and can pretty much be ignored, at least from my experience. As a whole I once again found the whole LIPS system with the newly added aspects to be pretty nice and enjoyable and they most definitely make especially the ADV parts of the game even more interesting, interactive and immersive which I quite appreciate, and the whole system feels more refined. In addition to that there's a newly added clock telling the time added to the ADV parts of the game when you are controlling Ogami in the theater. It allows you to know how many actions you have left until you get to the next main event of the game, which I find to be a pretty practical and nice feature compared to the first game where you were left in the dark for the most part and didn't know how many actions you could make until the next main event. One other aspect of the game that was pretty nice and definitely a step up from the previous game are the minigames, which are for the most part definitely better and I quite liked and quite enjoyed most of them, and I think that they are a pretty fun and decent addition to the game. As a whole these mechanics make the entire ADV parts of the game even more enjoyable, and I really enjoyed the dating sim elements too. Aside from that I also really love the general structure of the game. It's at least in my view great how the game is divided into several episodes, similar to an anime, and in general partly really has the feeling of an anime with the great animated cutscenes throughout the game. It's presented in such a beautiful way which I really appreciate and in general there's just something special and quite unique about the presentation of the game and the series. With how Sakura Wars combines all of its different elements and genres this series is something truly special, and you can feel this even more in this game. This uniqueness is something that makes Sakura Wars so special, and I really love this about the whole series. There's in general also so much polish with all the mechanics of the game compared to the first game which I really appreciate, the whole game feels really polished in more or less every way. Along with that I found the story of the game to be pretty good and quite engaging. There are many great moments throughout the story, of which some can be quite unexpected, while some others at the same time can be a bit predictable. But as a whole the story is really great and features many great moments. While in the first game the villains didn't have that much interaction with each other, their dynamic with each other definitely feels more fleshed out in this game, and I think that they are generally also quite interesting for the most part. The main villain at the end might have been a bit weaker compared to the one from the previous game, but I still think that they are pretty decent. But aside from that especially the ending was really good and there were some really great and in general the whole pacing of the story is great, and the game in general feels really polished.

This is simply a phenomenal game and honestly everything I could've wished for in a sequel to the previous game, which already was such a fantastic and unique game. I love romances, I love mechs, and I truly love this game and this whole series to bits, it simply has so many aspects I absolutely love and appreciate. Sakura Wars is something absolutely special and Sakura Wars 2 cements this even further. It improves on basically everything from the first game and delivers an even better and greater experience with the Flower Division. I can hardly put into words how much fun I had over the course of my playthrough with the game, and it's amazing to finally be able to play the game in English through the absolutely fantastic English patch which is of such high quality. Thanks to not only everyone who has originally worked on this game, but also all the people who have worked on the English fan patch and managed to make this possible! This game, like the whole Sakura Wars series in general, is simply incredible and hopefully more people will get around to play this masterpiece of a Sega Saturn game that delivers such a pleasant, warm, and great experience.

This truly is the continuation of the Dream!!