Getting psyched for Sakura Wars ~So Long, My Love~

[CDFN]

Very interesting review:

"Granted, decades of being the go-to reviews guy for all manner of quirky and oft-times downright embarrassing games from Japan (admittedly a generous portion coming from NIS America itself) has given me a cast-iron gullet for the kind of saccharine sweetness and government-quality cheese that emanates from a lot of these games, but I never rolled my eyes or sighed with that "oh, Japan" sort of feeling so many of these games with anime-rich presentations encourage. These are real, interesting characters, and they lose much of their outward appearance the more you get to know them, which is a real testament to the quality of characterization and indeed NISA's localization that they popped like more than cardboard cutouts. Suffice it to say that if you could put up with the last two Persona games' more annoying characters, it's relatively smooth sailing here."

This is good to hear.

[Kevadu]

So when is this game supposed to be out?  I thought it was by now but I've had it preordered at rosenqueen for a long time and they haven't shipped yet.

[Cyril]

It seems Roseqneueen messed up some orders.  A few people on multiple  boards I visit have been complaining about this.

Typically they would have shipped by now, but some people haven't gotten the notification.   I'd go to Rosequeen and check your "Order Status" to see if it "Failed" or "Completed."  Mine was "Failed", something that had nothing to do with money, typos, or my credit card being bad, and then I gave a quick call (3 minutes) and everything was fixed.

[bigdeath]

wow, I want this game! thank you IGN.

[Kevadu]

It seems Roseqneueen messed up some orders.  A few people on multiple  boards I visit have been complaining about this.

Typically they would have shipped by now, but some people haven't gotten the notification.   I'd go to Rosequeen and check your "Order Status" to see if it "Failed" or "Completed."  Mine was "Failed", something that had nothing to do with money, typos, or my credit card being bad, and then I gave a quick call (3 minutes) and everything was fixed.

My order status is just "preordered" still.  When did you place your order?  I ordered mine back in December!

[Eusis]

Andrew Fitch's review might be the most relevant to me.

[Eusis]

I hear the Wii version's only 480i afterall. I half expected that since even major games like MadWorld don't support progressive scan, and it'd figure that people put too much hope on it being supported only to look like fools in the end.

[Sagacious-T]

Im buying this game just for the flavor text

AI SHITERUYO, SARABADA!

[Fei]

I hear the Wii version's only 480i afterall. I half expected that since even major games like MadWorld don't support progressive scan, and it'd figure that people put too much hope on it being supported only to look like fools in the end.

I can see the 480i'ness of the game when text is appearing... horizontal strips are visible for a fraction of a second.  I've finally given up on widescreen with Wii games too... 16:9 support only draws a picture that is designed to stretch, using the same number of pixels.  Stick with 4:3 and set your LCD to standard and things will look better. 

This game has a lot of circles (which appeared oval) so I was able to tell that there was no widescreen support.  blah blah

Amazingly fun, funny, stimulating game.  I came to that conclusion in the two hours before the first battle, which was also great.  This game reminds me of how I felt playing Lunar for the first time, thanks to the atmosphere, attitude, and presentation.  I'm loving it.

[Eusis]

This game has a lot of circles (which appeared oval) so I was able to tell that there was no widescreen support.  blah blah

Well, some games are kind of in between there, with some visual elements properly accommodated for and some aren't. Then there's Crystal Bearers, being a freak example where the menu and circles are definitely squished in 4:3. I've noticed the logo was stretched on the PS2 for some weird reason, maybe they accomodated for how it'd look on a widescreen TV only to ignore how it'd look on a standard one?

Anyways, I've heard the game actually IS 480p, though I've noticed odd horizontal lines in other Wii games like Twilight Princess with 480p on, like when steam is blowing.

[ZeronHitaro]

Been playing off and on since this came out on PS2 and I'm up to Chapter 6. Tis pretty good but I think the IGN reviewer cherry glossed it a bit. There are plenty of eye rolling "Ah, Japan." moments. XD I haven't seen this much talk of friendship with the power of love, sparkles, and birds since Tokyo Mew Mew. >.<;

Aside from that I'd say it's definitely worth the money I spent. I especially enjoyed the little Ar Tonelico reference they snuck into Chapter 5.

[Cyril]

I think the "Oh, Japan!" moments are lessened because you aren't supposed to take the game seriously.

For example, in something like Star Ocean 4 when they're talking about friendship it makes me want to hit my head against a wall because it's so serious yet sounds ridiculous.  Here, on the other hand, it's not meant to be taken seriously and it ends up part of the charm.

[WildArms]

God, i cant with the answers with time, I JUST CANT, IM LIKE OMFG GOTTA READ, AHH BUT TIME, and i always end up choosing a fugly answer... *sigh*, damnit, im a man who took 2 hours to decide wich girl's route to take in Ar tonelico 2 (even if i knew i could just save and load)

[Ramza]

God, i cant with the answers with time, I JUST CANT, IM LIKE OMFG GOTTA READ, AHH BUT TIME, and i always end up choosing a fugly answer... *sigh*, damnit, im a man who took 2 hours to decide wich girl's route to take in Ar tonelico 2 (even if i knew i could just save and load)

I highly recommend using the picture on the left as a guide if reading too quickly is a challenge. These are often situations where the presentation of the statement has at least as much sway as the content of the statement.

Review coming shortly. Like, within the hour. Sorry for the lateness, y'all. :)

[Cyril]

Nice review, Ramza.  I'm glad that I'm not the only one who felt that Gemini's voice actually felt more "in-character," so to speak, in English.  I don't understand the hate her voice gets.  It's supposed to sound somewhat "tacky."  She's meant to sound like a "hick!"  I was also particularly impressed by Subaru's actress, who probably does the best "androgynous" voice I've heard in English.  It actually makes me a bit sad that Atlus didn't hire her for Persona 4.

NISA did a lovely job, yet I still see all these people (various sites) commenting about how NISA doesn't know how to localize games. Idon't understand it.

Edit:  Unless I missed it, you seem to neglect to mention that the original names (Sagitta/Rika) were kept in the Japanese disk.  That's why the artbooks have both the Japanese and English names in them.