Jun. 6th, 2007

spirit_armor: (ZA WAARUDO)
Still cranking away at Sakura Wars V, with the full intent of doing multiple playthroughs. As the last post might have hinted at, Rikaritta Aries was the first character I completed the game with... not that I'd really planned to. Thankfully, Sakura Wars V is a good enough game. Looking at the GameFAQs reviews, the largest complaint I've seen is this: "It's based in New York, but it's obviously not New York! It's New York seen through Japanese eyes, and it's all crazy and stuff! They should've done more research."

... well, yes, and the France-based entry in the series turned the Arc de Triomphe into a revolver cannon capable of firing mecha across the Eurasian landmass with pinpoint accuracy, and mutated the Eiffel Tower into a lightning-shooting twin-headed steel monstrosity, and I don't think anyone complained when reviewing THAT game. Furthermore, the Imperial Capital installed a city-sized blimp launchpad in the busiest street in Ginza, and hid a secret government mecha-carrying train station the size of a skyscraper inside Tokyo's subway system! I THINK THE SERIES REQUIRES SOME SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF.

Ahem. Anyways.

Cut for length. Also, a personal trend. )

Genre weaknesses! )

Having finished Rikaritta's route, I find myself compelled to go through the other characters' stories as well- a feat that I've yet to accomplish with other games in the genre. Thankfully, it's simpler to do in SWV- not only is there a text skip option, but all of the protaginist's stats are carried over between games. Being able to destroy a half-hour-long boss battle in under five minutes is a universally good feeling. Regardless, Gemini's route is next, mainly because she's a Texan samurai cowgirl whose sensei was some freakish synthesis of Obi-Wan, Volcott, and Happosai. How can you NOT win with something like that?

Following that... hmm. I'd initially dismissed Subaru as the token Japanese girl of the game, maybe with a dash of "I'm a genius!" thrown in. However, she's becoming more and more like the game's last boss in my mind ... a pretty interesting, if somewhat frightening, enigma. Not only is her age unknown (my theory is that Subaru's immortal), but her gender is quite literally unknown. It's generally assumed that she's female, with a scattering of evidence to match; however, she's given quite a few subtle AND not-so-subtle clues that could prove otherwise. Heck, even series canon doesn't confirm it one way or the other.

Granted, there's something horribly amusing about reading Japanese fanfic that have to label themselves "Subaru (Female) x Shinjirou" and "Subaru (Male) x Shinjirou), where- for once- BOTH possibilities could very well be canon.

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