Sakura Taisen 4 First Playthrough Clear!

 Finally I reached my first milestone for the Final Destination of my Sakura Taisen 4 with the first playthrough cleared! As expected, It wasn't easy to keep pushing through when your wonderful dream spanning over a decade is almost coming to an end which will be met with plenty of farewells. But it is part of the life journey after all.

As expected with many issues riddled with the game production at the time, Sakura Taisen 4 is a very short game which can be finished within 5-6 hours from the start. Regardless of the rushed development hell that this game suffered, Sakura Taisen 4 is a well made Swan Song to wrap up this legendary series providing the conclusion from the journey that players experience in Sakura Taisen 2 & 3. If you seek the conclusion of your Favorite Sakura Taisen maidens, you will get it in Sakura Taisen 4. 

As I finished my first playthrough, Sakura Taisen series truly ended with Sakura Taisen 4. The second wind attempts of the series revival with Sakura Taisen V and Shin Sakura Taisen never really get anywhere just simply because they lack the Idealistic & Grandeur Visions that the original Tetralogy had. If you have been following my Sakura Taisen series articles you will most likely know which Heroine that I aimed for my very first run but I will just leave the evidence below. That particular heroine will definitely get her dedicated Route post in near future.

Starting Sakura Taisen 4 Playthrough

 Having wrapped up my unfinished business with Sakura Taisen 2 last week, It is time for me to move on to the last of Sakura Taisen original Tetralogy with Sakura Taisen 4: Fall in Love Maidens. This is the ultimate Swansong for Sega Dreamcast as Ogami will conclude his journey in the series and settled down with one of the 13 Maidens from Teikoku & Paris Kagekidan. 

If it was not for Sega throwing the towel on the Console race which spells the demise of Dreamcast console, I believe Sakura Taisen 4 could have even reached a greater height that this series deserved. In any case, I have planned out my route playthrough for Sakura Taisen IV and will commit to finish at 80% completion at very least. At some point I might even will backtrack to Sakura Taisen 3 for the completionist sake before aiming for Sakura Taisen 4 100% completion, If I ever reached that point. At the moment I will just savor everything that the final present that Sega bestowed upon Sakura Taisen fans.

Sakura Taisen 3 - Is Paris Burning?

 Ever since i get into Sakura Taisen series, the third installment on Dreamcast always caught my attention with such a gorgeous visual which was no small feat in its time.  So 6 months ago i finally gave Sakura Taisen 3 a go which instantly become my favorite installment in this Dating Sim/Mecha strategy series. And now i decided to write an article about this game after clearing 4 out of 5 heroines route. While Sakura Taisen was not really well known in the west, it is no doubt a legendary series in Japan. However you need to play the game to find out why the series is highly regarded in its homeland. I hope that this post will be helpful for those who want to get into Sakura Taisen.

Sakura Taisen 3 Character CG

• Erica Fontaine
• Glycine Bleumer
• Lobelia Carlini
• Hanabi Kitaoji

Sakura Taisen 3 Character Endings

• Erica Fontaine
• Glycine Bleumer
• Lobelia Carlini
• Hanabi Kitaoji

Sakura Taisen 3 Erica Ending GET!

 It's like 6 months since i finished my first run of Sakura Taisen 3 starting with Hanabi and i suppose my procrastination is terrible. At long last i managed to finish Erica Fontaine's route who is the main heroine of the third game and this makes only Coquelicot left to be done. Since Erica is the Main Heroine, her route is slightly more unique and just like Sakura in the prequels, you will tend to rack up a lot of affection points with her LIPS. In my opinion Erica in the game feels like an unfinished piece of work since i can see the direction the game devs tried to go with her character but for some reason they stopped halfway with her Backstory. Erica would have been an amazing pure maiden archetype but in the end what we got is somewhat Weabooish hyperactive Klutz. But still Noriko Hidaka pull an amazing performance as Erica and her singing voice is just wonderful. I will probably write the Sakura Taisen III article within this month without clearing Coquelicot's ending since it take too long already. I hope Sega does come up with something special for 20th Anniversary of the series which Etrian Odyssey type of game seems to work quite well for Sakura Taisen.

Sakura Taisen 3 Hanabi Ending Get!

Sakura Taisen 3 Hanabi Ending

 Aimed for Lobelia's route at first but got Hanabi's ending due to some stupid mistakes. With this i finished my first playthrough of Sakura Taisen 3. I have to say Sakura Taisen 3 is probably the best overall entry of the series because its production value totally blew out the previous 2 games by far margin. Sakura Taisen series strongest points are always about the heroines and the songs and Sakura Taisen 3 will makes you surprised if you think the previous games are awesome already.

 So back to Hanabi, Hanabi Kitaouji is the last member recruited by Ogami for Paris Kagekidan and in the battle she is proficient with bow. In the Sakura Taisen 3 Hanabi's character portrayed as a very gentle girl yet behind her gentle demeanor lies great sorrow from the grief of losing her first lover in a tragic accident. During her chapter one of the Beastmen exploited Hanabi's the weakness of her heart to satisfy his twisted desire and Ogami with his smooth-talking and some help from Paris Kagekidan able to save Hanabi. In the series Hanabi is the third Yamato Nadeshiko after Sakura and Sumire and her personality is the most gentle one out of three. Being a Japanese raised overseas, she yearns to be Yamato Nadeshiko and looks after Sakura and Sumire and from time to time consult with Ogami as well. If you pick Hanabi as Ogami's partner, her route is all about Ogami helping Hanabi to regain her former self after going through so much sorrow by acting as emotional support to lean on. Kinda feel bad if Ogami had to pick other girl from Paris Kagekidan and unable to support Hanabi with her fragile heart.

 While Hanabi is not my most favorite character, her character theme "Kokoro no Kasa wa" or Umbrella of Heart is probably the best character song in Sakura Taisen 3 in my opinion for portraying great amount of emotion while at the same time not being overly too dramatic. After Hanabi's ending i will definitely try to get Lobelia's ending next and then Glycine's. At some point i will write Full Article for Sakura Taisen 3 since i got enough material for it. I won't be touching Sakura Taisen 4 until i finished all of the characters ending in ST 1,2,3. You can look at the Hanabi's ending CG on the link below the picture and her ending is available too on Youtube. The video below is Hanabi's character song.

Starting Sakura Taisen 3

 Finally Starting to play this game despite some initial setbacks! After playing the first two games, i might as well see the series until its end and the 3rd game is obviously the next game to tackle. Unlike the first two games, Sakura Taisen 3 takes place in Paris with new set of Heroines which are no slouch compared to Hanagumi. So far i have finished three chapters and this game still has the charm and everything you expect from Sakura Taisen game. The battle system in this game had significant improvement from the second game using 3D models now which definitely looked impressive back then and more streamlined battle mechanics akin to Valkyria Chronicles. For a game from 15 years ago, Sakura Taisen 3 doesn't age really much as expected from Sega's Flagship title for Dreamcast back then. From what i heard Sakura Taisen 3 had one of the biggest budget for a VN which still stands until now and certainly its quality is way above average compared to its contemporary. Like other Sakura Taisen i definitely will try to clear all of the heroine routes for this game and i wonder which heroine shall i get the ending first?