Sakura Wars 3
Most of the original staff returned, including series creator and general producer Oji Hiroi, writer Satoru Akahori, artists Kōsuke Fujishima and Hidenori Matsubara, and composer Kohei Tanaka.Dubbed a "dramatic adventure" game and taking place across 11 episodes, the gameplay segments incorporate tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel elements.[1] Gameplay is divided between adventure segments where Ogami explores Montmartre, and combat sequences governed by a turn-based battle system across a three-dimensional (3D) area allowing full range of movement.[2][3] During the adventure segments, Ogami navigates Montmartre and the Paris Division's base at the club Le Chatte Noir starting from his apartment.[4] When in his apartment, Ogami can access a device called the Kimenotron, allowing audio communication with characters from earlier Sakura Wars games.A portable version of this called the Mobile Kimenotron is also available for players who connected the Dreamcast console's Visual Memory Unit, which relays text messages at random intervals.[2][13][14] In 1926, Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Ichiro Ogami arrives in Paris to train a new fighting unit established by the government to combat supernatural threats.In his efforts to build the group, Ogami helps recruit three more members—Coquelicot, a Vietnamese traveling circus performer; French-Japanese widow Hanabi Kitaoji; and Romanian master thief Lobelia Carlini.The Kinematron communication device—first introduced in Thou Shalt Not Die—was redesigned to take advantage of the Dreamcast controller, in addition to playing a larger role in the story and potential romances by keeping Ogami in contact with the Flower Division in Tokyo.[22] Producing the cutscenes was an exhaustive process, requiring 200 different cuts, storyboards equivalent to a half-hour original video animation (OVA), and 4000 sheets of character movements.The phrase made reference to the instructions given by Adolf Hitler to Dietrich von Choltitz to destroy Paris before the Allies of World War II arrived.[28] The two ending themes, "Hana no Paris" and "Mirai", was performed by the lead actresses Noriko Hidaka, Saeko Shimazu, Etsuko Kozakura, Kikuko Inoue and Yoshino Takamori.Teikoku Kagekidan III", performed by original cast members Chisa Yokoyama, Urara Takano, Michie Tomizawa, Kumiko Nishihara, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Mayumi Tanaka, Maya Okamoto and Kazue Ikura.While mostly identical to the Dreamcast original, gameplay was adjusted to fit the console's DualShock controller, Dreamcast-exclusive functions were reworked for the PlayStation 2 hardware, and all fifteen audio dramas were included behind a password system.[1] Wider localization efforts were prevented due to Sega's uncertainty as to whether the game's blend of genres would find a profitable audience outside Japan.The RPGFan reviewer cited the redesigned battle system as their favorite part of the game, with praise going to the real-time action and strategic options.[54][55][56] Funimation also issued cease and desist orders to fan subtitle versions of Le Nouveau Paris alongside other titles later confirmed for Western release, but nothing further was announced.[57] In a Famitsu reader vote for the top 100 Japanese games of all time in 2006, Sakura Wars 3 was ranked in eighteenth place, being the second most popular in the series up to that point.