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79-672: Sakura Wars , known in Japan as New Sakura Wars , is a cross-genre video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 4 . The sixth mainline entry and a soft reboot of the Sakura Wars series, the game was released in 2019 in Asia and 2020 worldwide. It is the first Sakura Wars game not to be developed by Red Entertainment . The gameplay combines overlapping action role-playing , dating sim and visual novel elements. The base campaign

158-401: A knockout . Yie Ar Kung-Fu established health meters as a standard feature in fighting games. Kung-Fu Master (1984), an arcade beat 'em up developed by Irem , uses a health meter to represent player health, with the bar depleting when taking damage. In addition to the player character having a health meter, the bosses also have health meters, which leads to the game temporarily becoming

237-446: A "fresh take" on the designs to serve as the game's "public face". This wish traced back to the recurring protagonist archetype of a young Japanese woman in a kimono, first with Sakura Shinguji and then new female lead Sakura Amamiya. Kubo was contacted when full production began, and ended up not only designing the characters and weapons but made suggestions for the Kubo designs. Kubo described

316-449: A Western release coincided with this, making Sakura Wars only the second Sakura Wars game to be localized at that time. Development at the time was placed at between 50% and 60% complete; all the scenario and basic systems were completed and voice recording was nearly finished, with the next phase being bringing together the various elements and polishing them for release. Speaking in a later statement, Sega said that they hoped to continue

395-515: A caricature of the character roaming around miniature maps, as found in the earlier Sakura Wars games, every area is represented proportionally. A variant of the Kinematron, called the Teletron, is a smartphone that allows Kamiyama to see a map of Ginza and speak with other characters. As with previous entries, the gameplay is split between adventure segments where Kamiyama explores Ginza and talks to

474-471: A cross-genre writer, not a horror writer: "I write cross-genre books-suspense mixed with love story, with humor, sometimes with two tablespoons of science fiction, sometimes with a pinch of horror, sometimes with a sprinkle of paprika..." Examples of hybrid genre films include: Health points In video games, as in tabletop role-playing games, an object usually loses health as a result of being attacked. Protection points or armor help them to reduce

553-452: A final concert performance by the cast of So Long, My Love . Scenario director Takaharu Terada would make yearly pitches to Sega, but these were repeatedly declined. At the 2016 Sega Fes in Tokyo, in response to a fan poll about dormant series, Sakura Wars was voted the most requested revival. While actual development had begun shortly before Sega Fes, the positive fan feedback gave the developers

632-515: A five-disc CD collection containing songs from the main six Sakura Wars games as well as an artbook. Famitsu released a companion book: the Sakura Wars Complete Guide on February 21, 2020. It provides profiles of the characters and areas in Ginza, the complete story of Sakura Wars , details on the adventure and battle scenarios, and details on each location. Kadokawa Game Linkage released

711-473: A health meter) are restored when the character does not move. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) is credited with popularizing the use of regeneration in first-person shooters . However, according to GamesRadar+ 's Jeff Dunn, regeneration in its current form was introduced in The Getaway (2002), as Halo: Combat Evolved only used shield regeneration. Arneson is also credited for the term "armor class" which

790-903: A longstanding element in the fictional process. An early example is William Blake 's Marriage of Heaven and Hell , with its blend of poetry, prose, and engravings. In contemporary literature, Dimitris Lyacos 's trilogy Poena Damni combines fictional prose with drama and poetry in a multilayered narrative developing through the different characters of the work. Many contemporary women of color have published cross-genre works, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha , Giannina Braschi , Guadalupe Nettel , and Bhanu Kapil . Giannina Braschi creates linguistic and structural hybrids of comic fantasy and tragic comedy in Spanish, Spanglish , and English prose and poetry. Carmen Maria Machado mixes psychological realism and science fiction with both humor and elements of gothic horror . Dean Koontz considers himself

869-441: A mechanic known as "life steal" or "life leech", which allows a character to restore health by siphoning it from an enemy. Methods for replenishing health differ from each other and are dependent on the game's genre. In more dynamic action games , it is important to quickly restore a character's health, while role-playing games feature slower-paced methods of health restoration to achieve realism. A number of games incorporate

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948-496: A more mature version of her original self rather than a radically different character. Regular series composer Kohei Tanaka wrote the music. Because of his long association, Tanaka was happy to return and write for a new Sakura Wars game. When conceiving the project, the team decided firmly that the music was something that should not be changed, as it had helped maintain the series' popularity through stage shows and concerts in Japan during its dormancy. The developers aimed to have

1027-670: A new demon invasion and participates in the upcoming tournament with Xiaolong Yang ( Yuichiro Umehara ) and Yui Huang ( Sumire Uesaka ) of the Shanghai Combat Revue, Arthur ( Nobunaga Shimazaki ) and Lancelot ( Manami Numakura ) of the London Combat Revue, and Elise ( Nana Mizuki ) and Margarete ( Rie Kugimiya ) of the Berlin Combat Revue–while trying to keep their home at the Imperial Theater open. However, as

1106-485: A nonlinear health bar, where earlier hits take off more damage than later ones, in order to make the game appear more exciting. The indicator can be combined with other elements of the game interface. Doom uses a character portrait located at the bottom of the screen as such an indicator, in addition to a numerical health percentage display. If the hero takes damage, his face will appear increasingly pained and blood-covered. The health point indicator can also be part of

1185-470: A number of games do without such an indicator. In the Super Mario series, the player character initially only has one health point, and the character's appearance is used to signify the number of health points; if the character collects a Super Mushroom , they grow in size and gain an additional health point. In a number of first-person shooters , such as Call of Duty or Halo , the numerical value of

1264-514: A one-on-one fighting game during boss battles. Kung-Fu Master established health meters as a standard feature in side-scrolling action games such as beat 'em ups. Health meters also began being used to represent hit points in role-playing video games , starting with The Black Onyx (1984), developed by Bullet-Proof Software . This inspired the use of a health bar in Hydlide (1984), an action role-playing game by T&E Soft , which took it

1343-516: A proprietary first-party engine created by Sega for the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The cutscenes were crafted using techniques perfected for Sega's Yakuza series. Alongside the 3D conversion, the team worked to make transitions between different areas and between gameplay and cutscenes as seamless as possible. During production, internal staff who were fans of classic Sakura Wars would often be critical of

1422-503: A regeneration system that automatically replenishes health if the character does not take damage. This makes the game easier to play by giving the player the opportunity to restore the character's health after a difficult battle. This system may allow the player to safely run through dangerous parts of the game without consequence. Tag team games often regenerate part of the health of a resting character. In some role-playing games, armor class (abbreviated AC ; also known as defense )

1501-486: A step further with a regenerating health bar. Namco 's arcade action role-playing title Dragon Buster (1984) further popularized the use of a health bar in role-playing games. The 1982 Apple II platform game Crisis Mountain displays health as a number from 3 (full) to 0 (dead), and health gradually regenerates over time. In Hydlide (1984) and the Ys series, the character's health (represented as both hit points and

1580-637: A vocal collection album was published by Wave Master under the Sega Music brand on April 29, 2020. A new Sakura Wars title was first announced in April 2018 under the title New Sakura Wars , also known in the west as Project Sakura Wars . The announcement stated that the game would "inherit the DNA" of the series. Its first public appearance was at Sega Fes 2019 in March of that year, to a positive fan response. The announcement of

1659-492: A worldwide tournament of Combat Revues and fight the demons once again. Development of Sakura Wars began in 2016 after a positive fan response at that year's Sega Fes convention. A combination of new and returning staff were involved in development; these include veteran Sega producer Tetsu Katano, director Tetsuya Otsubo, scenario director Takaharu Terada, music composer Kohei Tanaka , story writer Jiro Ishii , and scenario writer Takaaki Suzuki. Manga artist Tite Kubo designed

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1738-487: Is "Analog LIPS", in which the player can move the camera around and highlight objects or people to trigger more dialogue. In one-on-one conversation segments, the player can move the cursor over background elements or the characters to trigger internal monologues and varying responses from the characters. Players may save their game automatically at the start of the adventure and battle parts of each chapter and manually during intermissions and while exploring, which also includes

1817-669: Is a derived statistic that indicates how difficult it is to land a successful blow on a character with an attack; it can also indicate damage reduction to a character's health. AC is typically a representation of a character's physical defenses such as their ability to dodge attacks and their protective equipment. Armor class is a mechanic that can be used as part of health and combat game balancing . AC "is roughly equivalent to defensive dodging in war games". The health indicator can be represented in various ways. The most basic forms are fractions and health bars, as well as various icons such as hearts or shields. More recent games can use

1896-517: Is losing health. In his book Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design , game designer Scott Rogers wrote that "health should deplete in an obvious manner, because with every hit, a player is closer to losing their life". As examples of visualizing health loss, Rogers cited Arthur of Ghosts 'n Goblins , who loses a piece of armor with each sustained hit, as well as the cars in the Grand Theft Auto series, in which smoke begins to flow from

1975-524: The Sakura Wars Story Setting Collections on March 30, 2020. It included interviews with the developers, detailed character profiles, storyboards and a collection of artworks and illustrations. Cosmetic and audio-based downloadable content (DLC) were released from December 2019 to January 2020 in Japan. Sakura Wars received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to Metacritic . Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave

2054-430: The tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Gary Gygax based on the latter's previous game Chainmail , Arneson felt that it was more interesting for players to manage small squads than a large army. This also allowed them to act out the role of each squad member. However, this approach had one drawback: according to the rules of Chainmail , the player rolls the dice during each battle, and depending on

2133-420: The "American equivalent of the middle finger in some regions of Europe." The developers adjusted the animation accordingly. Two notable returning actors were Chisa Yokoyama who voiced the character Yaksha and returning character Sakura, and Michie Tomizawa voicing returning character Sumire. Due to changes in their portrayal, recording for the two characters lasted longer than the other staff members. Yokoyama

2212-513: The Berlin Combat Revue (Elise & Margarethe), Noizi Ito ( Haruhi Suzumiya ) for Itsuki Saijo, and Shigenori Soejima ( Persona ) for Hakushu Murasame. While previous titles had used near-silent protagonists, as the 3D model would have more presence in player minds, it was decided that he should voice all his lines. Kamiyama's role was hard for Azakami, as due to the different LIPS responses he had five times more dialogue than any of

2291-530: The Combat Revue World Games. Dubbed a "dramatic 3D action adventure" game, the player explores a fully 3-D version of Ginza , Tokyo usually through a third-person perspective on foot and talks to various characters to trigger main story events and side objectives. As in Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love , the world of Sakura Wars is rendered to scale relative to the characters in it; instead of

2370-643: The Great Demon War. With the Imperial Sword now in his possession, Genan begins to use it to weaken the barrier between Tokyo and Shadow Tokyo so that he may revive the Archdemon and destroy the world. The Imperial, Shanghai, London, and Berlin Combat Revues work together to take back the Imperial Sword. With assistance from Sakura Shinguji ( Chisa Yokoyama ), Kamiyama is able to kill Genan while Sakura Amamiya uses

2449-495: The Imperial Sword to seal away Shadow Tokyo. With the threat finally over, the Combat Revues prepare for the World Pageant to celebrate peace. The Sakura Wars series had been mostly inactive since the last mainline release, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love , in 2005 (2010 internationally). Franchise owner Sega had decided to end the series in 2008, following the release of the spin-off title Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars and

Sakura Wars (2019 video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2528-743: The Imperial and Paris Combat Revue's Flower Divisions and the New York Combat Revue's Star Division. With Earth at peace and the revues' actions becoming public, the World Luxury Operatic Federation (WLOF) is formed with several international divisions; a biennial Combat Revue World Games tournament has been organized. Ten years later in 1940, the Combat Revue's commander Sumire Kanzaki ( Michie Tomizawa ) recruits Imperial Japanese Navy ensign Seijuro Kamiyama ( Yōhei Azakami ) to become

2607-428: The arcade DECO Cassette System , a scrolling action game based on the manga and anime series Astro Boy (1952–1968), has an energy bar that gradually depletes over time and some of which can be sacrificed for temporary invincibility. Punch-Out!! (1983), an arcade boxing game developed by Nintendo , has a stamina meter that replenishes every time the player successfully strikes the opponent and decreases if

2686-470: The basic setting and scenario concept, the scenario draft was written by Jiro Ishii , while the main script was handled by Takaaki Suzuki. Ishii was contacted in 2016 by Sega. Ishii was initially sceptical about his adequacy to manage the project due to the Sakura Wars franchise's prestige. He accepted as the one who approached him was 428: Shibuya Scramble producer Koichi Nakamura ; Ishii recognized that

2765-411: The boost they needed to begin full production. The staff included producer Tetsu Katano of Sonic the Hedgehog series fame and director Tetsuya Ohtsubo. Katano was a newcomer to the series, but Ohtsubo had previously worked with the series on Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning? . Because much time had passed between So Long, My Love and the production of this new game, and both the platform and most of

2844-549: The captain of the new Imperial Combat Revue's Flower Division in Tokyo , which consists of: Sakura Amamiya ( Ayane Sakura ), a swordswoman; Hatsuho Shinonome ( Maaya Uchida ), a shrine maiden; Anastasia Palma ( Ayaka Fukuhara ), a newly transferred Greek actress; Azami Mochizuki ( Hibiku Yamamura ), a ninja prodigy from the Mochizuki clan; and Clarissa "Claris" Snowflake ( Saori Hayami ), a Luxembourger noblewoman. The division once again faces

2923-408: The cast's performances. Kemps finds that the story compensates for the gameplay, saying "fun character interactions, and high-stakes melodrama help it overcome mediocre action sequences". In Japan, Sakura Wars was ranked second place during its first-week sales behind Pokémon Sword and Shield , selling over 140,376 units. It was the highest-selling new release of the week. Second week sales in

3002-473: The challenge of Sakura Wars was equivalent to the relationship between 428: Shibuya Scramble and its predecessor Machi . During his work on the scenario, Suzuki offered suggestions to keep the game as historically accurate as possible. When devising a new battle system for the game, Sega dispensed with the turn-based battle system used in the previous five Sakura Wars games in favor of an action-based system, as they found it to be "the most compatible with

3081-449: The character designs as difficult and fun as they did not follow his usual style. The characters were turned into 3D gameplay models by animator Masashi Kudou, who worked on the Bleach anime adaptation. Kubo vouched for Kudou originally, believing only he could carry over the character designs. The Kobu designs were made by regular series mecha designer Mika Akitaka. Other guest artists designed

3160-669: The character to survive several hits from an enemy. Some of the first home computer games to use hit points are Rogue (1980), in which health is represented by a fraction, and Dungeons of Daggorath (1982), which includes an audible heartbeat influenced by the player character 's condition. Action games also began moving away from one-hit deaths to health systems allowing players to take multiple hits, such as SNK 's arcade shoot 'em up game Ozma Wars (1979) numerically representing an energy supply that depletes when taking hits and Mattel 's Intellivision game Tron: Deadly Discs (1982) allowing players to take multiple hits at

3239-463: The character's health points is hidden from the player. However, when the player character receives a large amount of damage, the game screen (or the part of the screen to which damage was dealt) is painted red, often including drops of blood, which simulates the effect of real-life injury. As health is restored, these effects gradually disappear. The term "hit points" was coined by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson . While developing

Sakura Wars (2019 video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3318-442: The character. In Dead Space , it is located on the main character's costume. In Trespasser , it is represented as a tattoo on the main character's chest. In Half-Life: Alyx , a VR game, the indicator is located on the back of the player's non-dominant hand, requiring the player to physically look at their tracked hand to check their health. The character's condition can be conveyed through sound. In Dungeons of Daggorath ,

3397-497: The characters; and battle segments. A returning gameplay element is the traditional "Live & Interactive Picture System" (LIPS); during conversations, the player is presented with multiple choices to select within a time limit. What response the player selects directly affects Kamiyama's relationship with the protagonists and impacts their later performance in battle segments; Kamiyama's responses also affect supporting non-playable characters (NPCs). The version introduced in this game

3476-469: The cost of reducing maneuverability. Before the introduction of health meters, action video games typically used a lives system in which the player could only take damage once, but could continue the game at the expense of a life. The introduction of health meters granted players the right to make mistakes and allowed game developers to influence a game's difficulty by adjusting the damage an enemy character inflicts. Data East 's Flash Boy (1981) for

3555-431: The current team's work, putting pressure on them to create a product worthy of the series. The game features over 40 minutes of CGI cinematics produced by Sanzigen . All other cutscenes were created in real-time using the game's engine. While there were a new cast and development team, the series' romanticized steampunk setting remained intact. The narrative was described as a " Sakura Wars -esque fantasy". Terada created

3634-448: The damage taken. Characters acting as tanks usually have more health and armor. In many games, particularly role-playing video games, the player starts with a small number of health and defense points, but can increase them by gaining the required number of experience points and raising the character's level. In game design , it is considered important to clearly show that the player's character (or other object that they control)

3713-457: The development team more time to finalize their scripts." The process also gave CS2 R&D the chance to "consult with [Sega of America] and other global offices." A demo of Sakura Wars was released on November 21, 2019. The English localization was handled by Inbound Games and the French, German and Spanish localizations were handled by Keywords Studio; this was the first time a Sakura Wars title

3792-410: The enemy's body, which affects gameplay. For example, if a leg is injured, the character can get a fracture , which will reduce their movement speed, and if their arm is injured, the character can drop their weapon. Health can also serve as a plot element. In Assassin's Creed , if the protagonist takes too much damage, thus departing from the "correct" route, the game ends and returns the player to

3871-515: The frequency of the player character's audible heartbeat is dependent on how much damage has been received. Silent Hill uses a similar system, but transmits the heartbeat via vibrations from the DualShock controller. The player character's health point indicator often occupies a significant position in the game's heads-up display . In The Legend of Zelda , it occupies one third of the HUD. However,

3950-432: The game a score of 33 points out of 40. GameSpot ' s Heidi Kemps praised the game's episodic format. Josh Torres of RPGFan felt that the tête-à-tête feature was "misplaced or implemented in a slipshod fashion". Chris Moyse of Destructoid called the conversations "almost always a pleasure, rarely a chore" and the writing "very funny". Kimberly Wallace of Game Informer called the plot "outlandish", but praised

4029-565: The game for being welcoming to new players as well as for its mix of tactical and story-based gameplay, but criticised it for its combat and some story elements. Sakura Wars is a cross-genre video game set in Tokyo during a fictionalized version of the Taishō period. The player controls the main protagonist Seijuro Kamiyama and the all-female members of the Imperial Combat Revue's Flower Division, who must fight demons while participating in

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4108-466: The game for four awards; period influenced art direction, franchise based role playing game, costume design and original light mix score for a franchise title. A manga adaptation of the game's main story started in Weekly Young Jump on September 12, 2019. The manga finished on June 25, 2020. The series follows the events of the story from the perspective of Sakura Amamiya with minor variations from

4187-677: The game. The series was illustrated by Koyuri Noguchi, with three tankōbon volumes released from December 19, 2019, to July 17, 2020. A light novel prequel, titled Sakura Wars the Novel: Hizakura Season ( 新サクラ大戦 the Novel ~緋桜のころ~ , Shin Sakura Taisen Ji Noberu: Hizakura no Koro , lit. "New Sakura Wars the Novel: Hizakura Season") was written by Ayumu Mugi and released on December 19, 2019. Set in 1939,

4266-419: The heroines. Sakura's role mirrored earlier principle heroines such as Sakura Shinguji and Gemini Sunrise, but with personality difference that would show her individuality despite emulating Shinguji's clothing and manners. Some characters, such as Sakura and Hatsuho, hearkened back to earlier Sakura Wars heroines while having altered personalities. Azami's loud clothing tied into both her personality and role in

4345-619: The hood after the car takes a significant amount of damage. The use of health points simplifies the game development process (since developers do not need to create complex damage systems), allows computers to simplify calculations associated with the game, and makes it easier for the player to understand the game. However, more complex and realistic damage systems are used in a number of games. In Dwarf Fortress , instead of health points, dwarves have separate body parts, each of which can be damaged. The Fallout games use health points, but allow characters to inflict damage to different parts of

4424-515: The largest number of vocal themes of any Sakura Wars game, ranging between 70 and 80. These included ensemble pieces and solo songs. The main theme was a reworked version of the series' recurring theme "Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan", titled "Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan <Shinshō>" and performed by Ayane Sakura, Maaya Uchida, Hibiku Yamamura, Ayaka Fukuhara and Saori Hayami. The theme was composed by Tanaka and arranged by Takayuki Negishi, with lyrics by series creator Oji Hiroi . The ending song, "Aratanaru",

4503-561: The main cast, while guest artists handled the supporting cast. The cinematics were produced by Sanzigen . The game was announced at Sega Fes 2018. It is the first mainline entry in the series since Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (2005). A manga adaptation is running in Young Jump . An anime television series sequel produced by Sanzigen premiered on April 3, 2020. Gameplay-based DLC was released between 2019 and 2020. Upon release, Sakura Wars received mixed reviews from critics, who praised

4582-407: The matches. During battle, each character has health points (HP) and magic points (MP). HP is depleted whenever a character is attacked. The game ends when all of the characters' HP levels reach zero, although the player can continue from the beginning of the battle or the last checkpoint. In 1930, two years after the events of So Long, My Love , the Great Demon War results in the annihilation of

4661-463: The modern PS4 userbase." On being asked about the switch between battle systems, Ohtsubo said that the action genre was "more accessible" as opposed to the simulation genre in Japan. The main characters and their weapons were designed by Tite Kubo , a manga artist best known for the shonen manga Bleach . Kubo had been suggested at an early stage, as the team wanted someone skilled at drawing traditional Japanese clothing for their characters as well as

4740-533: The music. Mika Pikazo, Masashi Kudo, Takuya Chanohara, and Tatsuya Fukushima are designing the characters. The main cast reprised their roles from the game. The series is licensed in North America by Funimation for a simulcast release, and in Southeast Asia and South Asia by Medialink . A stage adaptation of the game ran from November 19–23, 2020, at Sogetsu Hall, with Yuna Sekine starring as Sakura Amamiya. It

4819-428: The narrative. Anastasia was intended to represent a mature and "sexy" archetype. Claris was included at Terada's insistence to fill the recurring "gentlewoman" archetype. At one point, the development team and Sega's North American branch asked their European branches to review certain gestures for each character. For example, Sega of Europe's found one of Hatsuho's poses which symbolizes her brash and confident nature as

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4898-475: The nearest checkpoint. In some games such as The Legend of Zelda and Monster Hunter , only the player's health points are visible. This is done so that the player does not know how many blows still need to be delivered, which makes the game less predictable. Contrariwise, other games such as the Street Fighter series have both the player's and the opponent's health meters clearly visible, which allows

4977-400: The novel focuses on the early lives of Sakura, Hatsuho, Claris, Azami and Anastasia during the formation of the new Flower Division. An anime television series set one year after the game premiered on April 3, 2020, on Tokyo MX and BS11 . The series is animated by Sanzigen and directed by Manabu Ono, with Ono and Tatsuhiko Urahata handling series composition, and Kohei Tanaka composing

5056-480: The number rolled, the character either kills the enemy or is killed. Because players did not want to lose the characters they had become accustomed to, Arneson created a "hit point" system based on similar mechanics previously used in the wargames Don't Give Up the Ship and Ironclads . According to this system, each character has a certain number of hit points, which decreases with each blow dealt to them. This allows

5135-416: The player fails to dodge the opponent's blow; if the meter is fully depleted, the player character loses consciousness. Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1984), an arcade fighting game developed by Konami , replaced the point-scoring system of Karate Champ (1984) with a health meter system. Each fighter has a health meter, which depletes as they take hits; once a fighter's health meter is fully depleted, it leads to

5214-405: The player to understand how successful their combat strategy is and how many remaining blows need to be inflicted on the enemy. Players can often restore a character's health by using various items such as potions, food or first-aid kits. In role-playing video games, the player often can also restore a character's health by visiting a doctor or resting at an inn . A number of games incorporate

5293-419: The region were 13,532, causing the game to drop to 15th place. As of January 2020, the game has sold 178,426 physical units at retail in Japan. It has also sold an estimated 24,577 digital units in the country, for an estimated total of 203,003 units sold in Japan. At the 2019 Japan Game Awards , Sakura Wars won the "Future Division" award. The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) nominated

5372-494: The series beyond Sakura Wars . During the localization process, associate producer Andrew Davis said that the game was the "perfect chance to give Western players a fresh launching point" and to "reboot the inconsistent English terms from previous localizations throughout the decades." He felt that the trickiest aspects was "coordinating localization on a moving target" and, at one point, the teams "paused [their] translations (and extended [their] production schedule) in order to give

5451-425: The statuses of the main heroines as well as supporting NPCs. Sakura Wars is the first entry in the main Sakura Wars series to use an action-based battle system. Instead of using a menu interface, the player selects commands directly mapped to the buttons on the controller. The Combat Revue World Games can be played for up to a maximum of three rounds. The player can select up to two characters to assist Kamiyama in

5530-487: The supporting cast, with different anime artists for different Combat Revue teams and supporting characters. The artists included Yukiko Horiguchi ( K-On! ) for the Shanghai Combat Revue (Xiaolong Yang & Yui Huang), BUNBUN ( Sword Art Online (as abec)) for the London Combat Revue (Arthur & Lancelot), Ken Sugimori ( Pokémon ) for the Grand Imperial Peanut, Fumikane Shimada ( Girls und Panzer ) for

5609-463: The team were different, it was decided that Sakura Wars would be a soft reboot. The game was developed by a team within Sega's CS Research & Development No. 2 division, which also includes Sonic Team . The basic gameplay was carried over, but extensively reworked and the world built entirely in 3D due to the greater hardware specs of the PlayStation 4 . The game's engine was based on Hedgehog Engine 2,

5688-533: The tournament progresses, it is later revealed that the leader of the Federation, President G ( Ryotaro Okiayu ), is actually the demon Sotetsu Genan in disguise. Using his position, Genan steals the Imperial Sword, which is a special artifact Sakura Amamiya's mother Hinata ( Mariko Kouda ) sacrificed herself to create, which the previous Combat Revues used to seal themselves and the Archdemon away in Shadow Tokyo to end

5767-411: Was also composed by Tanaka, arranged by Negishi, written by Jiro Ishii and performed by Sakura, Uchida, Yamamura, Fukuhara, Hayami, Sumire Uesaka, Nana Mizuki and Manami Numakura. The 2020 soundtrack album, Sakura Wars: Original Soundtrack , contains 87 tracks of music from the game over a span of three discs. It was published by Wave Master on June 24, 2020. In addition to the original soundtrack album,

5846-433: Was contacted during early 2018 by Sega about taking part in the game, and was surprised at being asked to voice a new character. She originally refused as she felt the new Yasha could be played by another actress, as while physically identical to her character Sakura Shinguji she had a very different personality. Yokoyama eventually accepted, and worked with Sega to make the character more like the original Sakura. Sumire's role

5925-478: Was later expanded with downloadable content (DLC), adding further gameplay options such as additional costumes. The game takes place in a fictionalised version of the Taishō period in 1940, where the World Luxury Operatic Federation fights against those who threaten peace around the world. Naval captain Seijuro Kamiyama is transferred to Tokyo , where he must lead the struggling Imperial Combat Revue through

6004-475: Was localized in these languages. The game was released in Asia on December 12, 2019, and worldwide on April 28, 2020. Additional fixes to the game were made through a patch released on March 18, 2020, in Japan and concurrently with the worldwide release; it also included a tie-in to Sakura Wars the Animation . The Japanese release of the game was published in standard and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition included

6083-877: Was originally planned to run from March 5–8, but on February 26, Sega announced that the event would be delayed to November because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Cross-genre A hybrid genre is a literary or film genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Works in hybrid genres are also referred to as cross-genre , multi-genre , mixed genre , or fusion genre . The Dictionary of Media and Communication describes hybrid genre as "the combination of two or more genres", which may combine elements of more than one genre and/or which may "cut across categories such as fact and fiction". Some such sub-genres have acquired their own specialised names, such as comedy drama ("dramedy"), romantic comedy ("rom-com"), horror Western , and docudrama . Hybrid genres are

6162-423: Was originally written as being similar to Ayame Fujieda, a severe leader character from the first game, but as voice recording took place the characterization shifted. Tomizawa was initially anxious about reprising her role after reading the story outline, feeling almost like a traitor at being the only original member reprising a role, but was cheered up by Yokoyama's support. Due to input from Tomizawa, Sumire became

6241-540: Was used in Chainmail and then Dungeons & Dragons ; "although armor class might have been inspired by the rules in Don't Give Up the Ship! , there is not an explicit attribute with that name in the game's rules. [...] It seems more likely that Arneson's house rules for armor class never made it into the final published version of the wargame". However, many role-playing games that followed Dungeons & Dragons moved away from

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