7 posts tagged “sakura taisen”

If I spend too long in Kinokuniya or at game sites, I actually get anxious about this stuff. Reminders to myself:

1. You don’t have to follow forever.

For a couple of years, I was actually pretty up to speed with Japanese console gaming (and comics, and popular music). I lived in Japan, I had lots of free time and curiosity and spendable money. So I walked around game shops all the time. I saw what was getting attention, I bought a lot of the stuff that interested me, and I participated in the culture: Sakura Taisen, Xenosaga, Shenmue, various shooting and fighting games, the post-death Dreamcast, and weird stuff like The Chikyuuboueigun. When I got back to the USA, I spent a lot of my time keeping up with what I’d left behind, and a lot of my income importing stuff I’d missed: visual novels (Kita e, some Yokota Mamoru games, even Sentimental Graffiti on Saturn), Cave games, Nippon Ichi games, and so much more. But not a lot of people can indefinitely prolong that phase of their life, where they’ve got the circumstances and resources available to sustain such hobbies at such an intense level.

So when I get worried that I’m not keeping up with all of the goings-on in the console gaming world, I need to remember that I already put a huge amount of attention and money into that system, and I got out a lot of enjoyment, memories, and hooks for future enjoyment. Now instead of voraciously seeking out everything new, I can branch out from what I already have. As new Sakura Taisen games come out, I play them. If a company or an individual I like works on a new project, I check it out. If something gets praise from people whose opinions I trust because of our gaming connections (like Sendai Tom or Julian), then I look into it. These things appear in front of me without very much effort on my part at all, and they are more than enough to fill all of my free time with gaming enjoyment. So I shouldn’t feel like I have to try so hard to keep up with everything that come out. Even if I’m missing some things, I wouldn’t be able to play it all anyway.

2. You don’t have to follow everything.

I am actually quite deeply absorbed in the game company Gust. I could probably pay attention to nothing but Gust games for the remainder of that company’s career, and never lack for gaming enjoyment. I buy everything they make, I am a member of their special online fan club, I read their newsletters, I participate in their intricate online promotions, and I’m ready to buy whichever next-generation system they decide to develop for. So in a way, I am still following the hobby very closely; it’s just a tiny subset of the whole hobby.

So when I get worried that I’m not keeping up with all of the goings-on in the console gaming world, I need to remember that I still put a large amount of attention and money into a small part of that system, and I’m still getting out a lot of enjoyment, memories, and hooks for future enjoyment. Even if I were to keep up with everything that comes out, and find another place to put this amount of devotion, I’d have to give up my devotion to Gust in order to afford it in time and money. I should be glad that I have Gust, and lots of side dishes from other companies, to keep me satisfied.

3. You aren’t the only one following.

I actually get a vague worry that if I don’t seek out and support all the great stuff that suits my taste, nobody will. As if I’m the key member of these creators’ target audience (even though I’m not even from the right country!) and their success and happiness depend on my commitment. Of course, that’s preposterous. As I said in items 1 and 2, I can’t follow everything forever. I paid tribute to lots of creators in the past, and I’m still paying tribute to a few creators now. Right now there are millions of people at the stage of life I was at in 2002 in Japan, and they are keeping up with everything, and supporting lots of creators. When their discovery phase is over, they’ll probably settle on a few creators (different from the ones I’ve settled on) and continue to offer their support like I’m doing now. Oh yeah, and there are also millions of people (most of them actually born and raised in the country where all of this is going on) who never do leave that stage. The whole system isn’t resting on my shoulders. I have done, and am still doing, my part. I have a steady stream of new things to try from my friends and my connections and my news sources, and I can continue to enjoy this hobby indefinitely. It’s even okay to go back and play old, old games that I missed when they were the hot new thing, even years after the game’s inital gambit in the market, when my support is not going to be apparent to the people who created it anymore, and my posting about the game on the web isn’t going to help it succeed.

This is all so obvious, but I have to remind myself of it sometimes.

I have reached a time in my life when I need to buy video games that I will play, and play the video games that I buy.

Traditionally, I have gotten worked up about games and I have buzzed with excitement until I could somehow get my hands on them. The procurement of the game often superseded the enjoyment of the game. If a game was part of a series I considered myself a fan of, or had a particularly attractive package, or showed up at a Shinjuku used-game shop for cheap, I couldn't be satisfied until I had it on my shelf. Sometimes these games became lastingly memorable life experiences. Sometimes they became nothing.

Now I'm not in charge of my own budget anymore. I need to feed, clothe, and shelter two adult human beings. The lady controls our money because she knows better than to let me spend $200 on a Limited Edition game that might end up as a disappointment, or $75 on a game I might not play for more than five hours, or $30 on a game that might never find its way onto the disc tray at all.

Yesterday I was freaking out a bit about how my hobby is kind of passing me by. If I finally get around to playing a game, it's often well after everyone else has already discovered it, chattered about it online, drawn their fanart, and moved on to the next thing. Part of the fun of games for me is participating in the culture and exploring the game along with hundreds of other people around the world. Recently there was a Dengeki poll asking gamers about the best game they played in 2007; it kind of spooked me to think that some games I'm still meaning to pick up and play (particularly Etrian Odyssey and Fate/stay night [Realta Nua]) are now officially last year's news. Of course, that's because I spent the last five months playing Ar tonelico 2, which is also on the list. (Not to mention that I still mean to play their all-time favorite #9, Gensousuikoden II, but haven't partially because I was busy playing #4, Xenogears, at the time.) But I'd like to keep up better than I am.

I mentioned to the lady that I worried when I'd even be able to buy another video game. She hit me with the eminently sensible notion that it's fine to buy a new game if I have finished the ones I already own. This is a completely alien concept to me, but it's clear that with our current resources it's the only reasonable way to proceed. Of course, this means I can't employ my old shotgun method of game collection and then sort through the loot when it's time to start a new game. I'll have to carefully weigh which of the games on my wishlist I really want to play next, then buy it and play it. I won't be playing fewer games, I'll just be spending less money on games that are bound to become shelf decorations... Though I am proud of my shelf decorations.

Of course, the first stage of this discipline will be finishing (or rejecting) the 20 or so games in my queue. To that end, I dove back into Ar tonelico 2 last night and finished Croche's path this morning before work. Next I'll go back and finish the secret character's path. Then I'll choose a game I already own and get through that. When I truly own no video games that I still want to get through, then I'll take a look around at the landscape and see which game I truly want to play next.

The site for Sakura Taisen ~Kimi Aru Ga Tame~ went up five days ago and I didn't even hear about it until today! This could be a pretty monumental release for me... We'll see how much of the magic translates over to the small screens... next year some time.

Sakura Taisen DS

My intarbuddy Scott sent me a heads-up about the new Sakura Taisen that Hiroi Ouji recently announced for the DS. My ST mailing list was already abuzz about it, but his message got me to put into writing some things I’ve been thinking about lately. Here’s my response to him:

I have already done my wiggly dance about this one, but thanks for the heads-up! It has gotten me thinking about portable games versus home games, and how much more likely I am to play a DS game than a PS2 game these days.

Portable game pros:

• Much easier to work into a busy schedule (this is the big one)
• Games tend to be lighter on excess technological flash and heavier on content
• Hand-drawn 2D art ftw
• Cheaper
• Easier to evangelize because there is ~1 relevant portable system right now

Home game pros:

• More cinematic
• Feasible to make an event out of it and go through game with a friend
• Voice-acting & music
• Higher fidelity graphics, which is good when the game has hand-drawn 2D art

Come to think of it, if the next-generation DS retains its charm but adds tech specs comparable to the PSP, many of the home game’s advantages would go away. Give me VGA, CD-quality sound, and a way to hook it up to the TV, and I may never need to buy a home system again.

Okay, now I’m worrying about how ST, a game that’s all about voices, music, and high-quality art, will get away with being on the DS, a system that doesn’t really excel at any of those things…

I found another good, tangible example of The Difference today: No matter what happens in this crazy universe, not Sakura Taisen, nor Ar tonelico, nor Atelier Iris will ever be promoted by the exhibition of a freshly decapitated goat. Do I have any reason left to like Sony? My mental list of the awful things they've done has gotten out of control.

I'm listening to the Sakura Taisen Complete Song Box; it's summoning up sentimental memories and giving me chills and goose bumps. Maybe this is not the right kind of thing to listen to while trying to work. @_@

サクラ大戦 全曲集 COMPLETE SONG BOX

ゲーム・ミュージック

Dag, I need to check the QotD more often; just a few days ago they asked for our top 5 video games. It's not in the QotD queue anymore, but I'm answering it anyway:

1. Xenogears
2. Sakura Taisen (all five)
   
3. Ar tonelico
4. Shenmue (both)
   
5. Street Fighter (including Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Capcom vs. SNK 2)

I don't think I can go a day without one of these games at least coming to mind, if not occupying my mind for a good while.