On Fri, 1 Aug 1997, Lord Raphael von Matsch wrote:

> I've often heard you speak about "Sakura Taisen". All the knowledge I've
> gained about it is that it's a video game and Fujishima-sensei made the
> chara design for it. But... What kind of game is it?

 SHAME ON YOU!!! (You must buy it (Sakura Taisen)!!! along with Tales of 
Phantasia, for the Super Famicon...) I bought a Sega Saturn, JUST TO PLAY 
Sakura Taisen! (It's that good! It's good enough to make you "wna to pay 
about 30000yen (about $290US or so) just for a game. ^o^)

> I myself own a PC, a Super Famicom and a Sega Saturn and I'm a great fan of
> RPGs, especially Japanese ones like Final Fantasy and anything by Square.

 Forget Final Fantasy... it all polygon... (unless you lov polygon over 
2-D Gals... (I never liked polygon gals... ^_^;)

> But I know that *sigh* a lot of interesting Japanese games are never
> translated into English, and also Japanese computers use different OSs than
> Western ones, etc. ;_; Is Sakura Taisen an RPG, or other sort of adventure
> (plot based) game?

 It's a Bishojo-Roman, action-romance, adventure RPG simluation, with 
mini-games....... (everything... it's a new kind of game. That's why most 
games looked like Sh*t after I played Sakura taisen... (a very dangerous 
game... I thin I played it and cleared it more than 12 times... who in 
the world would play RPG 12 times??? (well, I know that most people 
played at least 6 times ^_^;)

> What I like the most in Japanese games is the attention
> they pay to their story and plot, while Western games are often based on
> just action and display of superior technical features, with plots like
> "save Earth from the Nth invasion from outer space". BLAAAAAH! ;_;

 .....^_^; Sakura Taisen might be a bit similar to that ^_^;;; (but a 
VERY GOOD PLOT... the Staff is incredible!) (I've got that song stuck in 
my head again... "Hasre, Kousokuno, Teikoku Kagekidan---......" ^_^;

> But the surprising thing is that RPGs seem to be best-sellers in the Rising
> Sun Islands! (here in Italy, it's hard to meet someone who knows what the
> term "RPG" means T_T)

 What was that strange show again?... Non Elai ra??? or somehting like 
that??? (Italian version of Onyanko club...) all they need now are lots 
of Otaku games ^_^;

					Kenji Shimizu

PS. Someone, please tell this guy how wonderful Sakura Taisen is, and 
that he should get the game, no matter what the cost ^_^;