FAQ - Guide for Sakura Taisen 3

Sakura Wars 3 (aka Sakura Taisen Suree)
------------------------------------------
Paris is Burning (No, not that documentary!)
--------------------------------------------

The lowest quality FAQ you never dreamt
By Forrest "DUNOTS" Walker

++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCLAIMER OF SOME SORT
++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a faq for fun but NOT profit. So no one sue me. This FAQ is also
cpoyright: Forrest Walker, 2001. But feel free to put this faq wherever you
like... AS LONG AS YOU ASK ME. Okay? Cuz' I wont say no as long as you
credit me. I just wanna know. That sais, have fun, skippy!
+++++++++++++++
END DISCAIMNER
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Table O' Contents
------------------
1) Updates
2) Explanation
3) History of ST
4) Characters
5) Guide
A) LIPS
B) Battle
C) Bonus game type thing
6) Thoughts
7) Jazz Musician

-------------------
Part One: Updates
-------------------

3/26/01 - v.00
Everything. The game only came out 4 days ago, okay? And it had to be
shipped. From Japan. Sheesh.

3/28/01 - v.01
James dictates a letter / we do our first update. You are the expert
sniper, and the greatest of all Power Stone warriors.

Okay, James... this update contains a bunch of the F2 super attack
names, as well as a bunch of data on the enemies' robots. Various
little things fixed.

----------------------
Part Two: Explanation
----------------------

Okay, my roomate preordered ST3, and it arrived Friday. Right now, it's 3:06
AM on Tuesday, which is really Monday, as far as my clock goes. In fact, I
didn't begin playing it until early Saturday, which was late Frid... oh,
never mind.

We've barely had it very long, and we're up to episode 10, which is the 
start
of disc 3, so this is by no means in-depth. It's just a sort of explanation
for those who have/are going to get/might and should get this game can see
what the holy hell is going on. That, and it's nice to know the names and
such of the various characters, for those of us not graced with knowing
Japanese and/or French.

--------------------------
Part Three: History of ST
--------------------------

ST is Sakura Taisen.
Here's a brief history. For a full timeline, I suggest you head to Ming's
Sakura Wars site (http://pei.physics.sunysb.edu/~ming/anime/sakura.html).
It's rather comprehensive, and a fun place to boot.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
/\/\/\/\/\/\ WARNING! SPOILERS OF ST 1 & 2 AHEAD! /\/\/\/\/\/\/\
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

In 1913 - 1918, there was this thing called the Demon (Or 'Kouma') War. Big
nasty demons came down and attacked Japan, and ostensibly, the world. The
four great heroes of this war were:

Ikki Yoneda, the oldest of them, and a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War.
Great guy, and a drunk to boot.

Ayame Fujieda, a nice and somewhat motherly woman, though still sexy in an
odd sort of way. Last to join.

Shinnosuke Yamazaki, a real Sephiroth type, and as far as I can tell,
Ayame's lover. Second to last to join. He helped design the Oubu with
Kazuma, I think.

Kazuma Shinguuji, who formed the team along with Ikki. He helped design the
original Ryoushi-kachuu (bless you), and is Sakura's father.

Now, these guys were awesome. Seriously. They took out a big nasty demon
alone, just the four of them. You guys have to have the aid of big robots
AND higher numbers. Wowsers.

Anyway, they have the "Ni Ken Ni To," which basically means "Two Swords, Two
Blades." Two plus Two equals four, so each of them had one. This comes into
play later.

So they beat the kouma, but Kazuma dies, and Yamazaki disappears.
Nonetheless, Ikki and Ayame go on to create a countermeasure against future
evil. They get Count Hanagoji to assist on the military side, and the
Kanzuki Heavy Machinery corporation to help on the industrial side.

In 1919, the first successful test drive was made of the Oubu, which is a
type of "Ryoushi kachuu," (gesundheit) or Spirit Armor. Basically, they're
10 foot tall robot suits with tailpipes... Anyway, it was done by Sumira
Kanzaki, the granddaughter of the guy who owns the company.

Her color is Purple.

See, she has the spirit power, and you have to have it to use these things,
for whatever reason. Meanwhile, Ikki has the "Daiteigekijou," I think. The
big imperial theater. It's in Ginza.

So in 1922 the "TeikokuKagekiDan, Hana-gumi" is formed. That is to say,
Imperial Floral Assault Squdron, Flower Division. Yeah. It's pretty silly.
Anyway, They're normally an all-girls theater group, but secretly its the
super-anti-evil-robot pilots. Because, see, there's a homophone for
TeikokuKagekiDan (Henceforth: Teigeki) that means Imperial Floral Teater
Group, though it looks different.

And the bad guys don't get it, somehow...

Anyway, it's led by Ikki and Ayame, and Sumire is in it, of course. Then
there are the other three. First is Maria Tachibana, a half Japanese Russian
who fought in the 1917 revolution.

Her color is Dark Blue/Black

Then there's Iris Chateuxbriand, a little French girl with massive psychic
power.

Her color is Yellow.

And Kanna Kirishima. a 6'6" Okinawan martial art expert. (My favorite)

Her color is Red.

Then they find the daughter of Kazuma, Sakura. She's the main character, and
has in her the power to expel evil, as all of her lineage does. You're
supposed to like her.

Her color is Pink.

And finally, there's the cute purple-haired Chinese girl, Kohran Li, who
invents all manner of fun things and maintains the Koubu, which are better
versions of the Oubu.

Her color is Green.

So then there's you, Ichiro Oogami, a hapless Naval enseign (is that spelled
right?).

His color is White/Silver

Good god, he's a goober. Really. While he gets better, he's a total boob
most of the time, and can't resist peeping on girls in the shower. Anyway,
he's the ONLY man who seems to have the spirit power.

You have to clip tickets like a little punk.

So there's this guy, Kuroki Satan, and he revives Tenkai, who's some evil
guy who hates the Tokugawa or something. Anyway, he assembles the
"Kuronosukai," or Hive of Darkness. There are five of them, including Satan
and Tenkai.

Tenkai, the leader.

Kuroki Satan, a guy who looks familiar and has ulterior motives.

Kurenai no Miroku, the 'sexy' one.

Rasetsu, a grey guy with a chainsaw and a swastika on his forehead.

Aoki Setsuna, an evil kid with claws.

So they have these dudes called the "MaSouKiHei," Which means something, but
I call them "EvilRobotDivers," because that's what they look like. And they
put wierd looking things in the ground by saying
"UmkirikiribasaraumbattaUmkirikiribasaraumbatta..." They're making the
Patriarchal Cross, which apparently has the effect of breaking lots of
stuff.

You win, great.

Then Satan comes back as Aoi Satan, and has three goons, based on a specific
combination of Hanafuda Cards, Inoshikachou (Which is worth 6 points).

Inoshishi, the boar. He has fire.

Shika, the deer. He has Ice.

Cho, the butterfly. She (I think and hope) has Electricity.

Satan gets the Majinki, the three treasures of Japan, by doing some wierd
long-range seducing of Ayame. She kisses him and becomes... uh, Ayame. Her
name looks different now, and apparently means evil lady.

So he uses these treasures to make a big island and it has a big purple gun
and you have to stop him. So you go, and all of your characters die (I do
mean DIE.), except you and your favorite girl. You fight Ayame, and beat
her. Then Satan's about to kill you, but Ayame saves you and dies. Then you
beat him.

And he turns into Satan, as in, the Devil.

THE DEVIL.

Then Ayame becomes the archangel Michael (!!!!!) and revives all of your
dead teammates and helps you kill THE DEVIL. She says for him to go to
Heaven again, but he says piss off and fades away. And then Ayame

leaves. The end.

You've just beat up THE DEVIL, by the way.

Then, a while later, you get a new member, Soletta Orihime, a half Japanese,
half Italian girl who hates Japanes men because of her father. And she talks
funny.

Her color is Fuschia, or Magenta, I guess.
And you get Leni Milchstrasse, a German boy (!!) who was in experiments to
turn him into Ayanami Rei...

His color is Blue.

He has a cool secret I'm not spoiling. It's too good.
They're both from the "Hoshi-Gumi," or Star-Division, of your group, which
was in Europe. They use Eisenkleid, which means Iron Clothes (basically) in
German. It's like your Koubu, but they look different.

That's about it.

So you have to fight Satan again. It turns out he's Yamazaki. Then a guy
kills him and takes his sword. This is Oni Ou. This means demon king. He's
cool.

Then Ikki gets a secretary, Saki. She's a slut. And there's Kayama, who's an
old buddy of Oogami's and a total badass. And a secret agent.
Some stuff happens, you go on a vacation, you meet the protectors of the
Majinki: The Bara-Gumi (Rose division.) All are male. All are rather...
feminine, let's say. Ayame's sis, Kaede, joins up.

The bad guy in this one turns out to be Kyougoku Keigo, a high-ranking
military man.

Oni Ou is his main goon, and is also Kazuma Shinguuji. Doh!

Kongou is the master of lightning.

Mokujiki has wood.

Kasha is well dressed and has fire.

Tsuchi-Gumo has earth.

Suiko has water, and is Saki. Double Doh!

You seal off the evil with Ni Ken Ni To, the end, life rules.

But you have to go to Paris to Join the PariKagekiDan, which is
headquartered in the "Chatte Noire," which is basically a cabaret. New story
entirely, new characters. How interesting.

Alright, now that that ultra-long section is over, let's move on to...

----------------------
Part Four: Characters
----------------------

Name: Ichirou Oogami
Stage Name (Which I made up): Incompetent Boob
Age: 23
DOB: 1/3/1903
Height: 176cm (5'9")
Weight: 65kg (143lb)
Blood Type: A
From: Japan

He's you. And you are an idiot. But a good leader. Anyway, he just got into
Paris after a MONTH of traveling, and boy is HE tired. He's the hero of
Sakura Taisen. That's really all there is to say, except that ladies LOVE
him. I mean, really. Oh, and his element is lightning, and his color is
White or Silver.

Name: Erica Fontaine
Age: 16
DOB: 8/15/1909
Height: 156cm (5'1")
Weight: 45kg (99lb{!! I could THROW her!}) [Um, don't tell the girls I told
their weights, okay?]
Blod Type: A
From: France

This is the girl to replace Sakura, basically. She's twice as ditzy, and
eight billoin times clutzier. Her color is Red, and she loves her some
Jesus. The call her "Sister" sometimes, and she TELLS you to thank God at
one point. Her, um, element is healing. Anyway, she uses a (Cross shaped...)
machinegun, in her Koubu, and on her TEAMMATES... must be rubber bullets.
She also has this wierd habit of temporarily assuming the accent of whoever
she's talking to, especially if she's just met them. Yes, people get freaked
out by it.

Name: Glycine Bleumer
Stage Name: Blue Eye
Age 16 (WHAT?!? ..... )
DOB: 4/18/1909
Height: 161cm (5'3")
Weight: 46kg (101lb) [God, they're light!]
Blood Type: B
From: France

See, her color is Blue. And Mer means Sea. And she uses water as her
element. ....
Anyway, the Bleumer family is apparently pretty prestigious, and so she has
to keep up the name. And there's an old lady named Trebel (To Re Bu...) at
her house. Basically, she's all business, and gets angry easily. And she
hates Japanese, though her friend Hanabi is Japanese... She chooses to fight
with an Axe. And a shield.

Name: Coquelicot (Ko Ku Ri Ko, Japanesified)
Stage Name: Magical Angel Coquelicot
Age: 11
DOB: 10/10/1914
Height: 142cm (4'8")
Weight: 36kg (79lb) [She has an excuse: She's a kid.]
Blood Type: A
From: Vietnam

Aww, the cute little girl of this game. SHe lives in a cricus, and is much
cooler than Iris. Anyway, her color is Pink, and she has the element of
magic, I guess. She calls herself "Magic Angel Coquelicot." She is also the
only character who EVER calls Oogami by his first name, Ichiro.
Unbelievable. Oh, and she fights with, uh, cat... missles...

Name: Lobelia Carlini
Stage Name: Saphiel
Age: 20, though she claims otherwise
DOB: 11/13/1905 (Two days after mine... go Scorpios!)
Height: 179cm (5'10")
Weight: 64kg (141lb) [Must be all muscle...]
Blood Type: AB
From: Transylvania (!!!!!!!!)

Holy crap. Okay, first off, she's a wanted FELON. As in, ruthless criminal.
Then there's the way she looks... And then you find they kept her in a 15
meter deep PIT, so she couldn't escape. And then she THROWS FIRE... with her
MIND. And then she claims to be over 1000 years old.
Holy geez. Anyway, her color is green, and she fights with claws.

Name: Hanabi Kitaoji
Age: 17 (Ack! This meant she was getting married at 16!)
DOB: 5/22/1908
Height: 158cm (5'2")
Weight: 46kg (101lb)
Blood Type: O
From: Japan
She's really quite depressed. You see, her fiancee, Philip, died the day
they were to be married. That's terrible. Anyway, she's an old friend of
Glycine's and she even lives at the Bleumer estate. She's the quiet type,
and Oogami saves her from commiting suicide. Her color is Black. She uses
Arrows. She can apparently freeze time.

**********************
*Secondary Characters*
**********************

Name: Grand Mere
Job: PariGeki commander/Owner of Les Chatte Noires

The fat, blonde lady with a cat. She's pretty cool. At first I thought her
name was GrandMa (Gu Ra N - Ma), but then I looked in the booklet... Anyway,
she is your boss, plain and simple. And she carries that cat all over the
place. Well, whatever. Listen to her, and do it well.

Name: Norimichi Sakomizu
Job: Head of the Japanese Embassy

That pretty much sums it up. He's one of the first guys you meet. He has a
mustache and a funny haircut. He, um... does stuff. Yeah.

Name: Mell Raison
Job: Grand Mere's Secretary

She takes care of business around Les Chattes Noire, along with Ci. They're
kind of inseparable. ANyway, Mell does more of the waiting and paperwork ind
of stuff, I think. SHe's classier, and very intense. She's the one with blue
hair in a sort of duck tail, and intense eyes.

Name: Ci Caprice
Job: Grand Mere's Secretary

She has lots and lots of orange hair, and is ultra friendly. She even calls
you Mr. Samurai, because you're from Japan... Anyway, she sells you bromides
and such. That's her end of the deal.

Name: Jean (or John)
Job: Mechanic

He's John Goodman. Anyway, you can tell who he is by the wrench he's always
carrying. He loves to drink, too. He takes care of your stuff, and is a
great guy. He also invents things, like the spirit-power-ometer in Episode
Five.

Name: Evian
Job: Detective

He's the fat guy in the trechcoat who's always on the lookout for Lobelia.
He's also an idiot.

Name: Trebel (I think)
Job: Old Hag

She seems to be the head of the Bleumer family or something. She makes you
dress up like a maid and can't tell when you're making fun of her.

Name: Father Renault
Job: Priest

He's the local priest at the convent/monastery where Erica lives. He says
"Hai" at the end of his sentences. James called him "pensive."

**********
*Villians*
**********

These guys are odd, to say the least. They are all based on some sort of
animal, and it almost seems as if they leapt out of Alice in Wonderland.
Some of them look human at times. The scorpion girl always does. They also
have wierd psychoses, and none of them seem to have any bearing on any of
the others. But they all have robots and the same kind of goons...

Name: Ciseaux (Shi-zo), or Scissors, but you guys call him Mr. Rabbit
Animal: Rabbit
Psychosis: Hates when people are happy.
Robot: Prelude

He ends his sentences with "pion." Apparently this is French for "pawn," but 
that
really makes no sense... Anyway, he has a pink suit, though he ruins it with 
an ugly
yellow vest. He also carries around giant pruning shears. I guess he liked
Clock Tower.

Name: Python (Pi-tan), Coquelicot calls her Mama
Animal: Snake
Psychosis: Likes to eat gems. (!!)
Robot: Berceuse

You can tell who she is from a mile away, so I'm not spoiling anything...
Anyway, she likes to eat jewels for some unbeknownst reason, and she can
apparently turn people into them somehow. When she looks like a snake, it
mostly just makes her face freaking vile looking.

Name: Leon (Le-awn)
Animal: Lion (duh)
Psychosis: He's a jerk.
Robot: Marche

That's pretty much his deal. he almost hits Coquelicot, and he wants to take
the Bleumer fortune. He looks like a regular guy most of the time, albiet
with an eyepatch. Again, I haven't spoiled anything, because its dreadfully
obvious who he is, if you watch the opening sequence.

Name: Nadelle (Na-de-ru)
Animal: Scorpion
Psychosis: Loves to destroy paintings
Robot: Nocturne

What the hell? What a strange lady... So, the only thing that makes her look
like a scorpion is the red scorpion tattoo on her chest, and the big clawy
thing sticking up off her clothes. She holds the "Mosa Lina" (.... no
comment on that one, guys) hostage, but then Lobelia burns it up!

It turns out it was a fake. They ask Lobelia how she knew it was fake.

She didn't...

Name: Masque de Corbeu, or Mask of the Crow
Animal: Crow, obviously
Psychosis: Loves Hanabi's deep, dark depression and pathos.
Robot: Serenade

Well, maybe he loves it in general, but he goes after her. And he's a
wierdo. He makes her think he's Philip. Then he makes you fight him on a
ship. I think it's the Titanic, but it's just a stage. He also likes Opera,
and can apparently manipulate illusion. (To the point at which it can KILL
you.)

Name: Calmar
Animal: Squid... though shouldn't he be a caterpillar?
Psychosis: Megalomania
Robot: Symphonie

He's bad. He's the leader of the other animal people, and they think that
they should be ruling Paris, not regular people. To accomplish this, he
awakens some awful thing called Obscure, which burns and freezes Paris.

There's also a little jester girl who I assume will play some role. As in,
final boss...

-----------------
Part Five: Guide
-----------------

Here's where I explain how you're supposed to play this game. If I don't
explain it, that means one of three things:
1) I thought it was too obvious.
2) I don't know, either.
3) I forgot.

Anyway, let's begin. First, you have the title screen. Once you hit start,
you are presented with a funny little screen. Pick a VMU that has a data, or
if it's your first time, pick one with enough room. Then, it gives you some
choices.
1) Begin Game: Move on to the main screen with this system file.
2) Copy System File: Duh.
3) Delete System File: Yeah, you probably oughtta hold back on this one.
4) Sakura Taisen 1 File Import: Apparently what you did in One has some
effect on Three. You can bring Won-With-Character data from whatever card.
That is, if you have the DC version... you DO, don't you?
5) Sakura Taisen 2 File Import: Same deal, yo.
6) Cancel

There. Here, I'll list them.
1) New Game: I refuse to explain this.
2) Continue: You pick a save file to load.
3) It's still grey. Get back to me later.
4) Options
5) A Long Day in Paris: The bonusgame thing. I'll get back to it later.

What's in options? This is in options:

OPTIONS

1) Cursor speed, I think.
2) Sound: Stereo or Mono.
3) VMU... sound, I guess.
4) I dunno.
5) It's grey.

SYSTEM

1) System File Load
2) ST 1 & 2 data import

QUIT

Great. Now we can move on to other things.

---------
A) LIPS
---------

LIPS is an acronym. It stands for.... um.... something. Basically, this is
how you play most of the game. You stand around, listening as people yammer
on, then you get to pick what to do. You get to move on the map, too, but I
don't know if that counts as LIPS...

Anyway, there are many different kinds of LIPS, and I will atempt to
describe all of them. Of course, I won't tell you what to pick and when, as
I don't even really know myself most of the time... You know, not fluent in
Japanese...

What good are LIPS? Well, they alter the outcome of the game. Sometimes
directly, but usually indirectly. That is to say, what you say and do will
affect how easy the battles are. Getting points with the girls in the
PariGeki will make them better in combat, (losing points does the opposite)
and sometimes change what they do or say. Getting points with everyone else
makes YOU better in combat, which is a new feature for 3. They dropped,
however, what I call the "Oogameter," which judged how playful/serious you
were and affected what you could say...

Also, the girl you are "winning with" is determined by who has the most
points, and sometimes by which Epsode you're in.

***********
Normal LIPS
***********

You have a limited amount of time in which to choose one of 1 to 3 things.
Doing nothing is also (but usually a wrong) an option. Sometimes you're
picking what to do, but usually you're picking what to say. The timer will
be different on different ones. Usually when it's very fast, you need to do
something. If it's very slow, you should probably do nothing, though these
are hardly rules...

***********
Untimed LIPS
***********

See the difference? Anyway, this is usually for when you're thinking to
yourself and want to decide where to go/what to do, or when you're getting
briefed before a battle. Usually, if you keep picking the top one, you'll
get to them all eventually. The bottom one is almost always "No thanks,"
"I'm done," or something to that effect.

**********
Double LIPS
**********

They first appeared in 2, and they're still around. Basically, a big LIPS
counter appears around the edge of the screen and you've got to do stuff
before it runs out. What you do varies.

*********
Click LIPS
*********

These are never timed unless it's part of a double LIPS. Basically, there's
your field of vision, and you can click on stuff to do things. Sometimes
this sparks a LIPS, or leaving. Usually it just causes either you or someone
else to say something.

Closed Eyes Cat: Nothing Here.
Looking Cat: You can click on this to take a look.
Yawning Cat: You can talk to someone.
Walking Cat: At the edge of the screen, you can leave, sometimes.
Grasping Claw: You can take something.
Knocking Cat: You can knock on a door (That's pretty specific, huh?)
Blushing Cat: You can look at some boobies. (Even more specific!) People
usually get pissed if you do this... too much.

**********
Analog LIPS
**********

NEW FOR 2K1!! ... Anyway, this is one of my favorite new features. It's
called Analog LIPS for a reason, and it's the same reason you couldn't have
it in ST1/2. You have to pick an amount. Usually it's volume of yelling or
whispering, but it can be shaking hands, or toucing glasses together, or any
number of things. It says what you're doing, and the big window around it is
blue on the bottom, white on top. Using the Analog stick (Or the D-Pad, but
it's really hard), you adjust how much you want to do. Up is more, down is
less. It just depends. At one point you shake Erica's hand. Shake it
lightly!
Well... you get the point.

*********
Battle LIPS
*********

It's basically just Untimed LIPS, but it's between two battle plans that
you've been presented with. Don't worry, you'll be able to know when you
have this kind, because it looks totally different from other LIPS. See, it
looks kinda like your Koubu. If you've seen them, you'll know when you hit
these. Nice part is, THERE'S NO WRONG ANSWER! Yay.

*********
Map Events
*********

It's not really LIPS, but sometimes, on the external map, you'll suddenly
see someone standing there, with a word balloon. You have a limited amount
of time in which to hit A before you pass them up. Usually you want these,
as it gives you a chance to get more points. I think that on a few rare
occasions, though, these will mess you up, so be careful.

********
The Clock
********

Sometimes, you have a limited amount of time in which to do things. There
will be a clock to tell you what tim it is. Every thing you do takes five
minutes, and moving around takes no time whatsoever. (o_O) Keep this in
mind, as you have to make it places on time sometimes (good luck... you'll
need it.)

*********
Tea Parties
*********

These really deserve their own category. It's basically a Click LIPS
A) But only with Yawning Cat
B) With a Clock. Not a timer, a clock.
C) With girls sitting around drinking tea....
These are goofy. You have to talk to the girls in such a way that they don't
get mad at you. Perhaps they want you to talk to them evenly. Perhaps they
want you to do it in a specific order. Perhaps you have to talk to the
correct one last. I really don't know. Figure it out on your own... or
should I say, lose points on your own. Oh, well. I just have to learn
Japanese.
Well, that's it for LIPS and such. Now, we move on to....

---------
B) Battle
---------

Alright! Fighting! Frankly, this is the bit I most actively enjoy, but I'm
an SRPG fan...

Okay, here's how the battles work. It's totally different, and dare I say,
better, than ST1 & 2. All the fighting happens on a rather large map, and
you have to get around and kill all the enemies. It shows the action from
something like overhead, and you can adjust the angle by hitting up or down
on the D-Pad, and rotate it with L and R.

So you have this big bar at the bottom that's all green and segmented and
pretty. Now, if you're a veteran of ST, you go, "Hey, how do I pull up the
actions menu? Where are the squares on the ground?" The answers: "You don't"
and "Gone" respectively. Now, you have a big action bar with the different
actions taking up varying costs. This is awesome.

Okay, here's the lowdown. On the far right is your status bar. Blue is
Health, Red is Super charge. With a full bar of red, you can do it. But when
you do it, you lose all the bar. This bar, however, fills back up as you get
hit. You can also charge it. Along the segmented bar (Whih can be of varying
amounts of segments, depending on how well you've done) are buttons. however
many blocks away from the left it is is how much doing that action costs.
Attacking always takes one for each button press, and this includes supers.

You can also charge Super, defend, and heal. All of these can only be done
once per turn. Charging super is self-explanatory. Defending works until
that person's next turn, as always. Healing hits you OR any character(s)
immediately in front of you. Any lifebars you see will be healed. Note that
unlike in ST 1 & 2, you can now heal as many times as you want (as far as I
know); it just takes a lot of action.

Moving is done by moving the Analog Pad. Simple enough. You can also move at
any time, so you can attack, move, attack, and possibly even move again.
However, instead of spaces, you have distance. Everyone has their own ratio
of distance/action bar. Some people, like Glycine, are slow. Coquelicot, on
the other hand, can move farther for each bit. An interesting fact, however,
is that you can get movement back by going closer to the point of your
origin. This is because it treats distance moved as a simple distance from
your starting point. This makes sense, so that you can shuffle around and
see where the best place is. Unlike ST 1 & 2, however, you can use this to
effectively cheat. If there's a wall in front of you, you can walk real far
to get to the hole in it, then go back to where you were, getting movement
back. But on the other side of the wall! This is excellent for obstacles of
any kind.

Which brings me to another point. You can't go through each other anymore.
That pretty much balances the goofy helpfulness of the movement measuring,
so be careful. Another thing to remember is that sometimes jostling about
can get you through tight squeezes, or move that vase you desperately need
to.

Attacking is also redone. You still have ranges, but now they're treated
like movement. Basically, you've got this little grey upside-down cone with
rainbow sides that precedes you. With some, like Oogami, it's right in front
of him, so you have to get up on them. People like Hanbi, on the other hand,
have a very large range, and so the targeting cone hags way out in front.
You can also hit anything closer than the maximum range, of course.

You target things by facing them. When you get the cone on or past an enemy,
it immediately goes "Beep" and sits ovrtop them. (Tip: If you play with
getting JUST into range, you can save valuable action meter tis way.) This
activates your hit area. This is also handled very well. A patch of ground
will begin to glow yellow, and lines at the edge will float upwards. It's
hard to describe, but you'll see what I mean.
Anyway, anything inside this area will be hit. How do you know if sometihing
is inside it, other than your taget? Simple. A ball floats over their head.
If it's green, they're healthy. Yellow means they're in danger, and red
means its potentially possible to kill them.

Everyone has different areas of effect. Oogami's is just a little tiny
circle that can only POSSIBLY hit one thing. Coqulicot's extends out from
her in a circle. So on, so forth. When you switch to Super (Only when your
bar is full), You have the same thing, but with a different pattern, and
instead of yellow, it's red. Erica's super heals, so you have to target your
friends. And if you are in Super mode at the end of your turn, you'll be in
it until you go back. This is important to know.
So you attack by hitting the attack button. If it's a super, just wait for
it to be done. A regular attack, however, is very VERY different.

In this game, you can keep hitting the button to chain more attacks on. You
can go up to five. Now, this is extremely useful. While a five-part attack
costs a whopping five sections of action, it's also much, MUCH more powerful
that attacking five times. If at all possible, do as many hits as you can.
There are exceptions, though. After a while you'll get a feel for how many
hits will do so much damage. So when you see the monster's bar, evaluate how
many attacks you think it will take. Of course, you won't know exactly, so
if you think that it'll take 3 or 4, do 3. If it doesn't die, do another,
and it will. That way, if you've underestimated your power, you save a
section you would've wasted.

Make sense?

Oh, and the team supers are still around. That is to say, if yor favorite
girl, or the one whose episode it is stands next to you, or you stand next
to her, and both of you are in super mode, you can do a team super. They
always have a huge circular attack pattern, and it's colored purple. It's
very powerful, too. Very very very. Oh, and it drains both of your bars, but
I strongly suggest you do them, both for the strategic and amusement values.

And here are benefiets of teamwork:

Sometimes, as soon as a combo reaches its third hit, the attacking character
will call another character who is withing (their own) range to attack the
enemy for an assist. It's pretty cool, and does high damage, but usually
only characters who like each other do it. Lobelia, for example, barely ever
does them, as she is a jerk. (heh) Usually it goes about like this:

Glycine: Hanabi! [Glycine's picture appears before whooshing lines]
Hanabi: Wakarimashita! (Understood) [Her picure appears next to or below
Glycine's]

But sometimes you get this:

Coquelicot: Kochi kochi! (A taunting or cute sort of way of saying "here,
here!")
Erica: Dochi dochi? (She applies the same attitude to "Where, where?" That
is silly.)

Also, you can save each other. For example, Lobelia may be about to get hit.
Suddenly, there's a blue flash, and the screen gets capped by words, and
someone's picture appears while they shout something. Whatever character it
was will suddenly smack the offending enemy, saving Lobelia from all damage.
It also takes away all their action meter. The same conditions apply to this
as to the assists, and I've never seen it happen on a boss, and never before
disc 2, for that matter...

Also note that the VMU shows the map normally, and shows status and damage
during atacks, and the name of the super when they shout it. Cool!

*******
Controls
*******

Analog Pad: Move. Pushing in harder makes you move faster.
Left/Right: Cycle through targetable things. This is very useful
Up/Down: Change camera angle
Up, Up: Go to Camera mode. here you can hit left and right to cycle between
objects, A to see their range, X to see their Attack area, and Y to see
their Super area. B or down take you back.
L/R: Rotate the camera.
A Button: Attack
B Button: Charge super bar/switch between normal and super mode once the bar
is full. Switch as much as you like...
X Button: Defend
Y Button: Heal

Start: Pull up your secondary menu. Here, you can do some interesting
things. I'll describe Oogami's menu, from left to right.

Take Back: You take back what you did. You can only do this as long as the
used action is still red.
Pass: Next!
Status: You can look at the status of various people by pushing different
directions.
Map Info: Mel tells you stuff about the map.
The Protects: Oogami Only. You can protect one girl of your choosing up to
three time. You can switch it on your turn.
Taichou: Oogami Only. You get to pick various modes for your characters to
fight in. However, these modes don't do quite the same thing they did in
2...

Wind: Good for movement. Healing and Charging are cheaper, I beilieve. You
lose defending.

Grass: Normal.

Fire: Attack! Charging is dirt-cheap, but defense is much more expensive.
You lose healing.

Mountain: Heavy D! Defending is much cheaper and healing is at its cheapest.
But you can't charge.
(Note: You can change this as much as you want on Oogami's turn. Utilize
this. For example: Mountain, Defend, Fire, charge, Grass, finish turn. It's
like cheating!)

System: Option, Save and Quit

******
Koubu
******

Ah, Koubu! Bane of evil robots everywhere!

Ahem. Anyway, each of your characters has thei own Koubu, which is a suit of
robot armor that stands about ten or twelve feet tall and has a pair of
funny sensor eye things. In this game, you have Koubu F's. I think the F
stands for France. Later, they get upgraded to Koubu F2.
(Oh no! No F3!) Also, when they become F2, they each become very different
from each other, which is a first for Sakura Taisen, as all times
previously, each Koubu just had a different weapon and color.

Also, not that they have interesting paint jobs. For example, Erica has a
yellow cross, like on her (goofy) outfit. Everyone else has a stripe down
the left side, and Lobelia has evil eyes, and upon upgrade, a scary mouth
painted on her Koubu.

Here's the data on your Koubu. I don't have the name of the supers right
now, as they're almost all in French and I find them hard to remember, but
I'll put them up eventually.

Name: Ichiro Oogami
Koubu F
Weapon: Two Swords
Range: Close
Pattern: One enemy
Super: Shimpuu Jinrai
S. Pattern: A small circle around him
Koubu F2
Weapon: Two swords... and more fury!
Range: Close
Pattern: One enemy
Super: Kokoun Butou
S. Pattern: A medium sized circle around him

Name: Erica Fontaine
Koubu F
Weapon: Cross-shaped machine gun.
Range: Long
Pattern: Circle around target
Super: Sacre de Lumiere, or consecration of Light (Healing)
S. Pattern: Big cross extending back towards her
Koubu F2
Special Thing: Wings (!!)
Weapon: Gatling gun
Range: Long
Pattern: Big circle around target
Super: Grace Au Ciel
S.Pattern: Really big cross extending back towards her

Name: Glycine Bleumer
Koubu F
Weapon: Hand axe and shield
Range: Mid
Pattern: 2 or 3 space deep line in front of her
Super: (Wave of water)
S. Pattern: Wave extending out in front of her
Koubu F2
Weapon: Axe and buckler
Range: Mid
Pattern: 2 or 3 space deep line in front of her
Super: Furie Neptune
S. Pattern: Bigger wave extending out in front of her

Name: Coquelicot
Koubu F
Weapon: ..... Cat missles.
Range: Long
Pattern: A big circle around her
Super: Magique BonBon (I think)
S. Pattern: .... A big cat head around the target. (sigh)
Koubu F2
Weapon: More cat missles
Range: Long
Pattern: A bigger circle around her
Super: Magique Petit Chat
S. Pattern: A bigger cat head...

Name: Lobelia Carlini
Koubu F
Weapon: Claws
Range: Close
Pattern: A wide triange extending from her
Super: Flamme Unglia
S. Pattern: A big spiky thing around her
Koubu F2
Weapon: Two sets of claws
Range: Close
Pattern: A bigger triangle extending from her
Super: Demune Falce
S. Pattern: A bigger spiky thing around her
Team Super: Combustione
Note: When she moves, she doesn't walk, but her whole Koubu becomes a black
blob on the ground with claws sticking out. Wierd.
Note 2: After upgrade, "Massacre" is written on the left shoulder...
in BLOOD!

Name: Hanabi Kitaoji
Koubu F
Weapon: Crossbow
Range: Long
Pattern: One enemy
Super: (Shoots a flower)
S. Pattern: A fan extending behind the enemy. (sigh)
Koubu F2
Weapon: Longbow
Range: Longer
Pattern: One enemy
Super: Rakka Teichou
S. Pattern: A bigger fan extending behind the enemy

Okay, your standard enemy is the Pawn, which is a little crappy robot. Of
course, they come in different colors and have different abilities, but I'll
let you see all those on your own. Personally, I find it odd that you guys
have to have spirit power to use the Koubu, but these inanimate robots can
walk around just fine.... Oh, well.

Name: Ciseaux
Evil Robot: Prelude
Weapon: Guns, spiky balls and scissor ears
Range: Close
Pattern: A few spaces in front of him
Super: (He cuts you to ribbons)
S. Pattern: I forget

Name: Python
Evil Robot: Berceuse
Weapon: A detatchable snake... arms... thing
Range: Close
Pattern: All around her, I think.
Super: (She poisons you)
S. Pattern: All around her

Name: Leon
Evil Robot: Marche
Weapon: Clawlionheadthings
Range: Middle
Pattern: Circle directly in front of him
Super: Royal Rage
S. Pattern: Endless line in front of him

Name: Nadelle
Evil Robot: Nocturne
Weapon: Claws (guns) and stinger
Range: close
Pattern: A few spaces ahead, behind, left, and right of her
Super: (She paralyzes you)
S. Pattern: A circle around her target

Name: Masque de Corbeau
Evil Robot: Serenade
Weapon: Pecking, Kicking and Yelling
Range: Mid
Pattern: A circle in front of him
Super: Les Destines
S. Pattern: A big triangle in front of him

Name: Calmar
Evil Robot: Symphonie
Weapon: Tentacles
Range: Long
Pattern: A wide, straight path in front of him
Super: Chatiment de Dieu
S. Pattern: A large blob in front of him

Now go win some battles!

----------------------------
C) Bonus Game Type Thing
----------------------------

Ah, a long day in Paris! Unlike Saturn ST1, you can access this as soon as
you've completed an Episode. So go for it whenever you want!
Anyway, you begin in your room. Mel and Ci may talk to you on the
Kinematron. Then you get a menu. Your options are:

1) Quit.
2) Kinematron
3) Go outside

If you pick Kinematron, you can do three things.
1) Homepage: You can download dramas here.
2) Load drama: It's like a little tiny episode!
3) Tutorial: Uh... have fun, but why are you reading this, if you're gonna
pick that?

Hit B to exit this.

Once you leave, you have various things you can do. Basically, you go places
and do stuff. Here's what you can do.


*********
Dramas!
*********

On the Kinematron, when you pick Load drama, it'll bring up the VMU list, 
and
look like it's loading a game file (as if you were about to continue from a
saved game), but it'll have drama files listed. How to get said drama files,
you say? You have to use ST3 to go to the homepage, which means going to the
first option, connecting, and clicking on the drama download button on the
Sakura Taisen 3 homepage. I'll provide more detailed instructions on how to
wade through the Japanese text to get to the actual downloads. Anyways, for
the time being, there are three available, two of which us mortals can get.

The first has Ci and Mel telling you about dramas, and how to buy and
download them. Blah. It takes up 8 blocks.

The second is the girls coming to Oogami's apartment to celebrate his
birthday. You get a nice picture at the end of all the girls standing around
the table, which has a cake on it, and they wish Oogami a happy birthday.
As Arina would say, "Yaaaaay." This one takes up 6 blocks.

There's a third one available, but you have to pay 200 Dream Dollars or
whatever silly currency they have set up, and I believe it took up 65 blocks
of VMU space. I have no idea how much that equates to in real money, and I
also have no idea how to get them.

*********
Minigames!
*********

To play a minigame, go to the girl you want to play the game of, then pick
the first option. You can get pictures of them by beating the top score in
their respective games.

--------

Erica: Top room in the Church.
Machinegun Sister: help a nun by blowing things away!
D-Pad/Analog Pad: Move
A Button: Shoot. You can hold it down.
B Button: Reload
X Button: Super
Y Button: Useless
L/R: Shoot.

The idea here is to blow away all the little pawns who go by. Hitting Erica
loses points, but saving her gets some. If you get touched, you die. That's
really about it. I'm awful at it.

--------

Glycine: Left room at the big mansion.
Don't have it yet.

--------

Coqueliqot: Cicrus
Crazy Rally: Badminton?!?
D-Pad/Analog: Useless
A: Low/Red
B: Right/Blue
X: Left/Yellow
Y: Top/Green
L/R: Useless

Hit the birdie with the corresponding colored button. If you hit it right as
it goes in the circle, it's a lot better. You get back misses after a while.

--------

Lobelia: Bar (Directly left of the Chatte Noires)
Tomorrow's Lock: Lockpicking... sort of.
D-Pad/Analog: Move... your balls.
A: Dash
Everything else: Useless

There are three little balls of varying sives which you have to naviget
through this maze. Touch, um, anything, and you die temporarily, wasting
valuable time. Collect coins and get back some time, and get points. Have 
fun!

---------

Hanabi: Right roon at the big mansion.
Don't have this one, yet, either.

---------

Ci and Mell: Restaurant. A little bit southwest of the Chatte Noires.
Casino Taisen! (In the tradition of Koi Koi Taisen and Kakumei Taisen...)
If you've played ST1, you'll recognize this screen...
Anyway, you go in a casino.
You should be able to tell what's what, here.
HAVE FUN!

***************************************
TESTS! (As in, sound test, movie test and the like.)
***************************************

Movie Test: Park directly above the Chatte Noires.
It's a movie test. Watch the movies Mell shows you. Have fun.
Picture Test: Library. It's on the bottom left, to the right of the
government building.
Look at pretty pictures. Ci is cute. Yay.
Sound Test: Is there one? There oughtta be...

**************
Hints! (Useless...)
**************

Minigame Hints: Cemetary
Grand Mere gives you hints. Can you read Japanese? ... Then why bother?
Battle Hints: Flower shop. Next to Cemetary
Thank you for nothing, Mell.
Long Day Hints: Market
ACK! A self-referential hint guide thing! It's META-HINTS! Ci tells you
stuff like that Owner (Mere) is at the Cafe, or Mell being at the Terutoru
(where the Movie Test is...) Meh.

****************
Other/unknown stuff
****************

Bleumer Mansion (Center arrow): Here's Trebel! Joy.

Japanese Embassy (Just south of Bleumer mansion): It's Norimichi. Yay.

Church: Guess what? It's Father Renault.

Cafe: Hi, Grand Mere.

Park (with the monument): Jean hangs out here. What's up, Mr. Goodman?

Government Building (Southwest corner): Seeing as how Evian works for
the government, he oughtta be here...

Bridge: A whole lotta nothing, thus far. Sound test, perhaps?

Les Chattes Noires: Grand Mere, again. Then there's nobody. What the?

**************
Go Home to leave.
**************

Well?

------------------
Part Six: Thoughts
------------------

My main thought about this game is that it is awesome. It's not just more of
the same, like ST2 was. That's not bas, mind you. But ST1 and 2 were really
one big storyline, and I think they should be viewed as such. ST3, on the
other hand, is a wholly new one with an almost entirely new cast. The ST 1
and 2 characters DO make quest appearances, but Oogami's the only one who
hangs around. I like this. The ironic thing is that there's a year or so
between the first two games, and only a month between 2 and 3.

Kayama is clearly the coolest man alive. In case you don't know who he is,
the guy who appears while playing a guitar, then breaks his teeth on bread.
Just watch the stuff he does. If you haven't seen him in ST2, go get it.

NOW!

Also, I really, really like the battle system. It's just pretty. I really
would like to see Shining Force 4 using something similar. Please? Can you
hear me, Sonic and Camelot?

And I'm sleepy.

-----------------------
Part Seven: Jazz Musician
-----------------------

Of course, by 'Jazz Musician,' I mean 'thanks.'

James "Ponta-Kun" Crawford: for buying the damn game and paying half the
rent. Also, for remembering stuff I didn't and being able to understand some
Japanese. I'd be lost without ya, buddy! James adds a note: I also added the
stuff about dramas, and a couple of stage names (Oogami's was not my idea,
though, don't hurt me! >_<) I like Kohran.

Fred Seguin  for the help on French words, like Calmar
and Pion. Merci!

The Postal System: for getting the game to us.

Gamefaqs.com: For A) hosting this POS, and B) For inspiring me to make it.

Red Company! (Hee hee hee...): For making these games, not to mention Air
Zonk.

Kanna: For being so cool.

The Academy: For nothing, you big jerks!

------------------------------------------
==========================================
This FAQ by Forrest "DUNOTS" Walker
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://DUNOTS.tripod.com
Wooga wooga.
==========================================
------------------------------------------