Every time someone mentions how they want Sakura Taisen to be ported to the States, they always mention how impossible it is because it's a dating sim/strat. RPG mix, blah blah blah. I don't know how the fuck this got started, but I'm guessing it might have something to do with GameFan's review of the first game in the series ten years ago. The tagline to that review (and I still remember it was written by that guy named Takuhi) was "You got a strategy game in my dating sim!" "No, you got a dating sim in my strategy game!" or something like that. "Two great tastes that go great together." The only problem with this theme is that Sakura Taisen is not and has never been a dating sim. Does it have completely over the top animu stylings? Yes. Are most of the protagonists female? Of course. But half of the game's format is that of an adventure game, not all that different from something like Phoenix Wright. Let's make this clear - how can something be a dating sim when there are no dates? THERE IS NOT A SINGLE DATE IN SAKURA TAISEN. "Bubububububu you can score points with the girls by answering their questions and completing dialogues correctly," you will say. Duh. They are your team members and how it works is, you build their confidence in you during the adventure portions which affects their performance on the battlefield during the strategy portions. In later games, this is expanded so that you can score points with NPCs as well (both male and female). "Bububububu you can finish the game with the different girls!" Yes, this is also true. You get a 30 second animation sequence at the end of the game featuring the girl who you built up the most trust with. The only problem is, 4 out of 6 of the endings are completely platonic. This is not Tokimeki Memorial, where the whole point of the game is to build up a relationship with a computer generated female. The main thrust of the story and the gameplay in Sakura Taisen has nothing to do with that.
I love the ST games. They are charming, they have great music, great gameplay, and great characters. They do a pretty good job of mixing two very different styles of play. The series' setting is bizarre and creative (steampunk 1920's Tokyo). There is a definite romantic aspect to the game, which is probably the reason why the series has such a sizeable female fanbase in Japan, but most RPGs have some kind of romantic subplot going on. The ST games are not dating sims, and I think the fact that they've been pigeonholed as being dating sims is one of the main reasons the games have never come out in the US.
So, fuck you, GAF, and the horse you rode in on.
