Saturn import strategy games

[Iron Draggon]

WOOHOO! Today was a great day, I got 3 new imports in the mail at once!

Godzilla Rettousinnkann
Master of Monsters Neo Generations
GranDread

Godzilla is pretty cool, and I think I've figured out how to play it somewhat. Master of Monsters is pretty cool too, but a little more difficult to figure out. GranDread is pretty cool also, but it seems alot more difficult to figure it out.

So if anyone has any idea where I can get some help with any of these new games in English, I'd really appreciate it. Trial and error has only been a little helpful so far, and I haven't figured out what to do to get them all going.

I guess they're not as bad as an RPG would be, but they're all still very text heavy and most of the commands are in Japanese, so I don't know what does what yet. I didn't think that any of them would be too hard to figure out how to play, but none of them are as easy as I thought they would be.

Also, if you know of any other good import strategy games for the Saturn, please advise me with your suggestions. I prefer non-RPG type games, but I do enjoy some tactical/strategy RPG's too, so if you know of some that I should have to go with these, I don't have any others in my collection yet.

Shining Force 3 parts 1,2,3 + bonus disk, yeah I already know it. Someday!
Dragon Force 2, yeah I already know about this one too, it's on my list too.
Langrisser series, yes I'd have to be an idiot to not want every single one!
Terra Phantastica, I don't know much about this one, I'd like to know more.
Arcana Strikes, I don't know much about this one either, but it looks cool.

Any others or anymore input on these?

PS: I'm also gonna need help with Shin Kaitei Gunkan, I just bought it today.

[Iron Draggon]

Well I sure could use alot of help with all of these new strategy games that I have now! I still have no idea what I'm doing, but they're cool as hell! But I underestimated how much knowledge of Japanese is pretty much required to be able to play them and do well. I knew that it would be very helpful to know some, but I didn't think that they'd all be so hard without knowing any! I'm able to make things happen in most of them, but without knowing what all the commands are, I never know what's gonna happen when I push a button! So I'm not really playing, I'm just kinda watching. But they're still pretty neat though. I just wish that I actually knew what the heck I'm doing!

Godzilla is the easiest one to figure out, but I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing with it. I think I've figured out most of the commands, and I've gotten pretty far with it, but I could get alot farther if I actually knew how to play. I've just been guessing my way through it, and it's pretty obvious that you need to destroy all the monsters as fast as possible before they destroy too much of the city, but that's really all that I'm sure of about it.

Master of Monsters is alot more complicated though. There's just way too many commands and choices to know what you're doing without figuring it all out somehow. But I guess I can always just play Disciples of Gaia on the PSX. I didn't know that it was a translation of this game when I got this. I thought that this was a different game from that one, but it's not, it's just the same game in Japanese instead of English, but there are some slight differences besides that. So I suppose that playing Disciples of Gaia would help me figure out alot of stuff in this one, but it's still alot of stuff to figure out. So I dunno, maybe I just wasted my money on this one, but I didn't pay very much for it, so it doesn't really matter. Master of Monsters is one of my all time favorite games anyway, so it's kinda cool to have a Japanese one.

GranDread looks really cool, from what I've seen of it on the net, but I still can't figure out enough about it to really do very much of anything with it yet. So I think that it's the hardest one to figure out. After the introduction, I get taken to a screen with me and all my fleet members on it, but I can't seem to do anything with it or do anything else after that. I know that I'm supposed to be doing something here, but I have no idea what. And I know that it's a hex-based wargame, so it sure would be nice if I could actually get to the hex-based warfare part, instead of being stuck on this screen. I know that I'm supposed to be fighting some kind of battle in space, so it's a space warfare game, but that's about all that I know. I'm really lost with this one. I've still seen more of it in screenshots than I've seen of it from playing, and that's really sad, because the screenshots that I've seen of it look very cool.

Shin Kaitei Gunkan seems to be the coolest one so far. It's very complicated and it has alot of commands, but I'm doing well enough with it to get pretty far into it without knowing what I'm doing, so I guess it's probably medium difficulty. Real cool story too, something about Atlantis rising and launching war on us, or something like that. So you have your own forces and a bunch of UN forces to help you fight the Atlanteans, and of course their weapons tend to be more advanced than yours, so that's probably why you have so much help. It's kinda strange though, because it mostly seems to play itself. You don't have very many units of your own, and you can't control all the UN forces, so mostly you just watch the Atlanteans and the UN fight each other. They always seem to prefer attacking the UN forces over you too, because your weapons are alot more advanced than the UN's weapons. And you have this really wild flying submarine that can do just about anything, so it's very unusual that it's one of your weapons, but apparently it's your main unit and most of the story seems to revolve around all it's crew members.

So I really wish that I could find a translation of all the manuals for all these games, because that would really help me out alot. I can only get so far with guessing my way through them, and without knowing what I'm doing, I'm probably not gonna win. But I'm still enjoying them all anyway. I just wish that I knew what I was doing, so I could enjoy them more. I hate having such cool looking games that seem so interesting with no idea what I'm doing! This is why I've never imported any RPG's. I'd love to, but it would just drive me crazy trying to guess my way through them with no idea what the story was, and trying to play all these strategy games is pretty much the same thing. I'm as lost as I can be, and only a translation will really help me!

[Azazel]

In terms of pure stretegy games the Saturn doesn't have much to offer. There's 2 Daisenryaku games, Command and Conquer, Warcraft 2, as well as some games made by Koei. The first Daisenryaku game was released as Iron Storm in the US. other than that I can't think of anything else on the system.

If you like Dragon Force Soldnerschild kind of looks samliar to it. If you really like Dragon Force you might like it. I personally don't like the Dragon Force games myself so I can't recommend it.

Arcana is one of those card kind of RPG games. Never really played it so I can't say more than that.

For the Langrisser games Langrisser 4 is the best one in the series. Langrisser 3 is the worst of the series and you might want to stay away from it. Dramatic Edition has Langrisser 1 and 2 and part 2 has one new ending as well as a whole new light route. Langrisser 5 is kind of a love it or hate it game with people.

Terra Phantastica
From the few people I've talked to they said they didn't like it. I only played the first level of it. It looked like it used a kind triangle/rock, paper, scissors like Langrisser and Fire Emblem use. Each kind of attack used a certain number of points. There were healing spots on the battle fields that if you stand on them you would recover 100 points each round.

The Saturn has a pretty big library of stretegy/RPGs

Mysteria
This is the only other kind of Shining Force games that was released in the US. It's pretty short less than 10 hours to beat and pretty easy. It does have a lot of skills and stuff to learn as well as having a bonus dungeon if you want to play it.

Riglordsaga 2
Sequel to the above game. It's much longer about 35 to 40 hours to finish and feature new skills like a person can turn into a dragon and pick up a teammate and carry them across a bottomless pit. There's some translation for this game but I really don't know of to what extent. If you like the first game in the series I would recommend this one.

Black Matrix
This is probably one of the best stretegy/RPG for the system. There's one really good faq for it.

Wachenroder
There's at least a translation for this game.

Some other stretegy/RPGs that I really haven't played.

Farland Story/Saga 3 in all
Super Robot Wars 2 of them
Shadow of the Tusk
Sakura Wars part stretegy
Ronde Shin Megami Tensei stretegy/RPG
Funky Fantasy

Also the Saturn had a fair amount of games that appeared on other systems like Master Of Monsters with US versions but got ported to the Saturn later with import only versions.

Feda There's a translation for this one.
Ogre Battle
Vandal Hearts
Tactics Ogre

[Iron Draggon]

COOL! Thanks for all the info! From what I've been able to gather though, there's FOUR Daisenryaku games for the Saturn. World Advanced, World Advanced 2, World Advanced 3, & Strong Style. But I think that the World Advanced 2 & 3 are actually just add-on mission disks for World Advanced, and Strong Sytle may just be an add-on mission disk too. So I dunno, I'd like to get all of them, but there's too many and it's too hard to tell one from the other without knowing the exact product numbers of each one, so you can verify that you aren't just buying another copy of one you already have.

I just bought a copy of Ginga Eiyu Densetsu (Legend of Galactic Heroes) today, but I understand that there's also a Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus that was released about a year later, so I'm trying to find out what the difference is between the two, and of course I'm trying to locate the other one. I'm not even sure if I'm gonna like it, or exactly what it is, but I know that it's a sci-fi strategy game based on an anime series, so I'll probably enjoy it at least as much as I'm enjoying the Shin Kaitei Gunkan (New Undersea Battleship) which is proving to be well worth what I had to pay for it and then some.

I'm also very interested in Quo Vadis & Quo Vadis 2, but I really don't know anything about them, other than they are strategy games, but that's about it. I wouldn't mind picking up Gotha, Gotha 2, & Gotha World sometime also, but I already have Gotha 2 in the form of Heir of Zendor, so I guess that I don't really need that one, unless I just wanna have it to go with the other two which were never translated for us. There's quite a few others that I'm interested in also, but I still don't know enough about them yet to know if I really want them. There's actually a ton of import strategy games for Saturn.

But like you said, most of them are strategy RPG's, not really pure strategy games, and I'm more interested in hex-based wargames and other stuff like that than I am in any of the tactical RPG's. I like the strategy RPG's too, but they're even heavier on all the Japanese text, and if you can't read any of the dialogue, you're missing out on half the game, not to mention what may be some valuable information that you need to know to win all the battles! So for now, I'm still steering clear of them, but all the ones you mentioned do sound very interesting, and there's still at least that many more that you didn't mention too, so I could go broke trying to collect all the strategy RPG's.

So for now, I'm just looking forward to Ginga Eiyu Densetsu, and finding out what it and Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus are all about, while I try to learn my way around Shin Kaitei Gunkan in the meantime. And I've really gotta figure out how to get past that fleet setup screen in GranDread too, so I can check out the actual warfare! I know that I'm supposed to be setting up my ship, or the flight formation of my fleet, or something on that screen, but I haven't guessed the right combination of buttons to actually do it yet. So it really sucks, because I wanna see what the rest of the game looks like!

Oh yeah, and I just got a copy of Tactics Formula in the mail recently that I still haven't checked out yet also. I think that I'm really gonna enjoy that one alot too, because it's a Formula 1 racing board game, kinda like Speed Circuit from Avalon Hill, if you've ever heard of that old classic. I used to play it alot, and I was told that this is pretty much the same thing in video game form, complete with multiple tracks to race on, just like Speed Circuit had, and it's for up to 4 players also, again just like Speed Circuit was, so I know that it's gonna rock! But I guess I'll have to play all 4 sides of it by myself. :(

[Iron Draggon]

Well, I've really done it this time! I think I'm gonna have to learn quite a bit of Japanese to even begin to have a clue of what the heck I'm supposed to be doing in Ginga Eiyu Densetsu. I'm making alot of really interesting things happen, but I have no idea how, and I have no idea what their significance is! But it's very cool. I even managed to trigger a scene of some footage from the anime! So I'm sure that it must be packed with that kinda stuff, if you can figure out how to set it off. I've gotten some battles going on too, but the combat system is very unusual. I thought that this was gonna be a hex-based wargame like GranDread, but it's not. I'm not even sure how to describe it. More menus than you can imagine, and just as many different views. But the dialogue sequences are very nice, with lots of very nice art. So whatever it is, it's certainly not boring, but it's definitely not for gaijin!

It's kinda like a really complex and extremely dramatic Japanese version of Battlestar Galactica. Lots of incredibly large fleets of incredibly huge battle cruisers, and all going at each other like it's armageddon or something. So laser beams are constantly firing and ships are constantly exploding. Or at least they are when you're in battle. But even more interesting than that is the fact that you seem to be able to fight these battles in a multitude of different ways in different modes. I really wish that I could read Japanese, because it looks even more complex than the most complex Koei game that I've ever played. No telling what all the buttons and all the options do, but you sure won't get tired of looking at the same screen all the time! But the coolest one is the 3D view. You can rotate it in any direction, zoom in or out, and even change sides. So you can view the battles from either side!

But that's really all that I can tell you about it. Lots and lots of dialogue too, so it looks like I'm missing out on a very rich storyline. It actually seems to be more like a space warfare RPG than a strategy game. So I'm in way over my head now, but I'm definitely gonna have to get Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus, if for no other reason than to make sure that I own the rest of the story! I don't think it's something that I'm ever gonna be able to understand well enough to get very far in it, but if I try to master it anyway, I'm sure gonna know alot more Japanese than I do right now! If I had known that it was gonna be like this, I probably would've just left it alone. But now that I've passed the point of no return, I guess I'm gonna have to try to translate what I can of all the buttons at the very least. I thought the games I had already were gonna be alot to learn, but this one puts them all to shame!

[Azazel]

From what I remember There were only 2 main Daisenryaku games. The 2nd one might of been called End of the Millinium if I remember right. As well as the Sakusen one which is the one with the added missions. The first one got a Sega Saturn Collection release. They should be pretty easy to tell apart. You could just look at the copyright years to figure which one was first and which one was second. The Sakusen one says on the disk or cd case and I think it might have something in english that says like extra mission or something like that. All of them are pretty cheap and shouldn't cost much more than $15.00 used on average.

I tried one of the Quovadis game and didn't really remember it beening that great.

I generally don't play too many purely stretegy games myself but prefer the stretegy/RPG more. Generally most of the important info that you see text wise that isn't story related is like the secenario prologues with win lose conditions. Sometimes it will mention that you have so many turns to do this mission or you have to defend someone and if they die you lose. Sometimes there will alos be dialogue that mentions the bosses weakness. The only other thing id that sometimes there's dialogue between characters that mention that one guy knows someone on the opposite army and a lot of times you have to use a certain person to recruit that person to your side.

[Iron Draggon]

See, that kinda stuff is why I avoid all the strategy RPG's. How would I ever know all that stuff if I can't read Japanese? As for the Daisenryaku games, there's definitely 4 different ones, and all of them have different covers. I don't have any links to any pics of them, but they're all distinctly different.

World Advanced
World Advanced Iron Storm
Advanced World War
Advanced World War Strong Style

There may be more games that are just mission packs for one or more of these, but these all have very different covers that I've seen, so I can tell them all apart now. It's about the same situation as the import Nobunaga games for the Saturn, there's 4 different ones of those too, and all of them have very different covers also, but they're usually all just lumped together under Nobunaga and listed as a strategy game, like there's only just one!

Anyhow, I have someone looking for the Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus for me now, so hopefully he can get it for me and it won't be too expensive. He said he'd let me know WHEN he found it, not IF he found it, so I guess he's pretty confident that he can find it in the condition that I want it to be in.

The next one on my list after that one is Taiheiyou No Arashi 2, also known as Pacific Storm 2. Apparently it's become a pretty popular competitor to the Daisenryaku games. The latest version, part 4, is currently an import PC title. It looks really sweet too. They seem to come out for the PC first, and then later for the consoles. So part 2 is the only one that was ever made for the Saturn, but it came in 2 different versions, a regular set and a boxed set. At first I thought that it was just PTO 2, but it isn't, although you can get that for the Saturn also. There's PTO, PTO 2, PTO 3 for the Saturn, but they all go by their Japanese name, Teikoku No Ketsudan, or by Admiral's Decision.

So I'm catching on to all this stuff, and finding out the differences between them all, but finding the actual games is alot harder, especially if you're trying to find them all new sealed, like I am. They can all be found mint complete easily enough, but then you never know just how mint they really are until after you've already spent alot of money on them, so I just look for sealed.

[geelw]

two things (i'd write a longer post, but i'm in the middle of halo 2):

one: shadows of the tusk should be your next strat game. the menus are in english, and if you get a sealed one, you'll also get a nice set of cards with cool matsushita art.

two: if you have an xbox, kemco is bringing out a daisenryaku game here later this month: Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics. I did a preview here if you want to check it out: http://www.bonusstage.com/art1843.html
oh: advanced world war and daisenryaku strong style differ in that one is wwII units, and the other has more modern vehicles.

well, three things: quo vadis and quo vadis 2 are COMPLETELY different in terms of gameplay and presentation. part one is a space battle strategy sim (turn based), while two is a combination of RTS and action with mech suits and a more anime-style presentation. they're both tough to play if you've no language skills, but some stuff can be figured out if you're patient...

gotha, gotha 2 and gotha world are also different from each other, but the gameplay and overall plot remain the same. the first game is a lot rougher looking than part two, and i believe gotha world has more rpg elements...

g.

[geelw]

also: arcana strikes is pretty decent, and not to be confused with arcana for the super nintendo (which was released in japan as card master). it's pretty plain-looking, but is fairly easy to get into overall.

oh- i checked my copy of gotha out, and the game uses digitized actors for itc cast (and chunky polygon ships), while part 2 has CG rendered faces (and better looking ships). obviously, the developer wisely decided that the real stars were the planes, lol.

g.

[Azazel]

Shadow of the Tusk felt like it was more of a stretegy RPG versus just a normal stretegy game so it might not appeal to you as much.

Some of the things I mention can also apply to normal stretegy games but probably not as much. I don't really play Koei games myself so I can't comment on them. Most of the big name stretegy/RPG there are guides that explain that stuff. It would more just be a problems for the lesser known ones as they generally don't have as much depth in them.

As for the prices for this stuff most of them are pretty cheap if you get them on Ebay. I think I've mentioned before but most of these stretegy games should run more than $15.00 used. While I agree that most people aren't real honest about the condition of there stuff and this can apply to online stores as well it's just not worth the time, hassle and extra money sometimes to get a sealed one. I could go into a much longer rant about it but it would do more than piss about 95% of the people here off.

[geelw]

true, tusk is more of an SRPG, but i was taking into consideration the lack of japanese knowlege stated by Dragon. My own japanese is sorta busted, lol, and that made me gravitate toward SRPGS over straight up strategy and appreciate both genres all the more. those daisenryaku and koei games are intensely frustrating if you don't at least have some sort of menu guide to work with or a good deal of experience with strategy games to figure out stuff like commands and options.

generally, a sealed tusk is around $10-$12, last time i checked, but it depends on supply and demand. you can get a used one, but you may not get the card set, if you're interested in that sort of thing. i actually would have settled for a used one, but when i had the chance to finally get mine, the guy i buy from had it sealed and cheap, so i didn't pass it up :D

g.

[Iron Draggon]

COOL! Thanks for all the info! I'm doing OK on some of these games, but I do need to get myself some sort of kanji guide, and decipher all these menu buttons at least! There's just too many that aren't really obvious what they are when you press them, and actually I would like to try to get at least a start on learning some Japanese. I know it's a BITCH, but still it seems like if I at least learned what all the menu buttons say in these games, then at least I would've learned something. Besides, I kinda dig the cultural experience.

I saw a sealed Shadows of the Tusk for real cheap myself, and wondered what it was, but it looked more like an RPG so that's why I didn't get it. So is it one of those card-based RPG's like Arcana Strikes? I've been looking at that game for a long time, and also Culdcept, because I think I would enjoy something like that. I loved Arcana on the SNES, and I know they're not related to each other, but in a way they are, since they're both card-based.

No XBOX here yet, but I sure would like to have one. If I was still working full time, I would've gotten one on the day that it was released. Maybe someday, like when the price drops to $99 or less! I'd rather buy games. I didn't know there was a new daisenryaku game coming out, but I did know that Strong Style featured modern weapons and vehicles. Believe me, I've been researching Daisenryaku games alot! Even the ones on the MegaDrive!

#3, OOOHHH you are really making me want Quo Vadis 1 & 2 now! I like space battles and mech battles, so those two sound really neat! I thought they looked like my cup of tea, so I may have to move those up a bit higher on my list now. It's a really long list though, so I kinda have to prioritize it!

Now the Gotha series, I'm really curious how Gotha & Gotha World compare to Gotha 2, because that one was released here as Heir of Zendor. So for once, I just might know what the hell I'm doing in the other two games, if they're structured the same way as Gotha 2. I'm wondering why we only got Gotha 2 though, why would we get that one before we got Gotha?

Azazel: I don't think that I'd attempt to play any Koei games in Japanese, but I might. They're usually alot more focused on resource management than warfare, so you'd really have to know what all those kanji in the menus were talking about to have a chance of doing well. I prefer the hex-based games that don't get into all that stuff very much, but I do enjoy the more in-depth games like that sometimes also. However, I've always played them in English, and that's plenty hard enough, because they are very advanced.

Now my thing about sealed games, maybe I shouldn't be so picky about that, because I just miss out on alot of stuff that you either can't get or can't afford sealed anymore, but I'm really picky about keeping all the games in my collection as mint as possible, so that makes it really hard for me to buy any used games that I can't fully inspect personally before I buy them. I wouldn't have so much of a problem with it, if there were still some good import gaming stores around here where I could shop for retro imports, but unfortunately there just aren't any that I know of. Which is VERY surprising here in Houston too, because we have a HUGE Asian community! So huge in fact, that we have TWO "chinatowns"! We have old chinatown and new chinatown, but I've been through all the shops in both of them, and all I ever find is current imports, no more old stuff anymore, DAMMIT! Perhaps I should try to open up my own retro import shop here someday, but then maybe there's a reason why nobody's selling old imports around here now!

Now both you guys are very right about needing a strategy guide oer at least a menu guide to navigate my way through all these games! It's alot harder than I thought it would be in some of them, and alot easier than I thought it would be in some of them, but either way, I need to know my commands! I don't like trying to play games like this without knowing exactly what I'm doing in them, because it takes away so much of the enjoyment from them, not to mention it isn't helping my strategies and tactics at all to be so lost!

But I'm still glad that I got all the ones that I've gotten so far. Now if only I could save up enough money for the ones that I want on the PSX! I did manage to get Assault Suit Valken 2 cheap enough, but all the other ones I've found are pretty damned expensive! Of course that's mostly because I insist on sealed copies, but even the used copies seem to cost alot more than what I've been having to pay for sealed copies on the Saturn! I guess it's just because the PSX is such a popular system to collect for now. It sure does seem to be even more popular than the Saturn is, and I thought the Saturn was still pretty popular! But anyway, DAMN, the PSX strategy games are almost as expensive as the PSX RPG's, so you know they're almost outta sight! And it really SUX too, because I've found quite a few games I want!

Well, I'm off to play some more Shin Kaitei Gunkan again. That one is still my favorite out of all the ones that I've gotten lately, which is really cool in itself, because that was one that I knew almost absolutely nothing about and just took a chance on it! I highly recommend it. It's pretty straightforward, but I still haven't figured out what all the commands are and what they do yet. Just like all the others too, but for some reason this one captivates me alot more than any of the others do, so I'm getting really into it. And I still can't figure out why they never translated this one. It's just so cool! The story is cool, the gameplay is cool, even getting your ass kicked because you have no idea what you're doing is cool, what more could us Americans want? I've really gotta get myself set up for taking screenshots of this game for y'all, I really wish that y'all could see it. I think it's very impressive, but without a way to show it to you, I dunno if y'all would like it as much as I do or not. So screenshots are definitely in order. At least that would help y'all out a little!

[Azazel]

There's really no great Kanji guide. You could either learn Radical lookup or maybe look for a Japanese site that has the menus and that kind of stuff and run it through a online dictionary program. Although if you really want to learn the language you should probably start out with learning Kana.

Unless you have really good connections it's hard to run a retro import shop. Even than it's still really hard and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[Iron Draggon]

What's Radical lookup? I don't think I even wanna try translating a bunch of Japanese sites, just so I can *maybe* actually find what I'm looking for. Do they even have fansites that would post such information? Seems kinda hard to believe that anybody would post stuff that's already found in the manual, very few western sites do that, and they're usually very difficult to find too.

[davidleeroth]

There are kanji OCR programs too, scan the guide and it's picks up the text which you can then run through a translator. Of course you'll need a pretty good scanner and good contrast between the characters and the background and you'll still end up with a pretty poor translation.

I haven't used the program for a long time but if you send me a couple of sample shots (TIFF format), I can try and see what it comes up with.

[Azazel]

Yes there are sites out there. A lot of the captures out will have some basic stuff like menus, items and oter stuff that can also be found in a manual but really varies from site to site. Finding the sites can be another thing as generally you have to enter the title into a search engine and write in it's original Japanese.

[Iron Draggon]

I think I'd rather just try to learn how to read Japanese, or make some new friends who can read it. It would be alot more useful to me at this point to learn at least what little I need to know to navigate menus and stuff. That's all I really need to know anyhow, what all the buttons are and what they're for. And if I never do learn how to read it, or what all those buttons are and what they do, oh well. At least I still have a ton of great import games to play, even if I can't play them worth a hoot because I have no idea what I'm even doing, I still own them and have them in my collection. So that's all that really matters the most to me anyway, having them in my collection. Besides, it'll be good for me to learn how to read a little Japanese. If I ever get any good at it, and I learn enough of it, maybe I can start deciphering some of the stories in all my games, and start buying some strategy RPG's.

Anyhow, I just bought Taiheiyou No Arashi 2 Limited Edition. So I can hardly wait for it to get here so I can check out the special book that comes with it, and see what the Saturn version is like. I've seen some screenshots of the PC version, and it looks pretty cool, but I'm hoping the Saturn version is a superior version with enhanced graphics. I'm sure that I'll be just as lost in it as I am in some of my other imports now, but this game seems to be very obscure to us Westerners, so I just had to have it. And it's a WWII game, so you can't go wrong with that. Maybe next I'll start trying to track down a copy of all the Daisenryaku games, but for now this will get me into some combat in the Pacific theatre. I understand that this game is supposed to be extremely detailed and accurate, so it should be a really good simulation. If I like it, I may have to import the other two sequels for the PC. The original game doesn't seem to be available anymore, but the rest can still be found. The latest version of it looks the best of course, but they all look really cool.

So my collection of import strategy games is still growing, but unfortunately my scout still hasn't located a sealed copy of Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus for me yet. I hope he finds one soon, or I may have to send out some other scouts to track it down for me. I know that it's more rare and harder to find than the original game is though. So it may take a while, but hopefully someone will find it for me in the condition that I'm trying to find it in, sooner or later. That's the last one that I'm planning to get for a while though, if I can find it, because I want to start getting some fighting games. I still don't have any import fighting games yet, so I think that I need to remedy that situation. But I need to get a 4 in 1 before I go there, since all the best ones require additional RAM. And that still isn't in my budget yet. Too many games to be had, and not enough money for all the games, much less another adapter.

Anyhow, I'll report what Taiheiyou No Arashi 2 is like as soon as it gets here. I also bought Vatlva from the same seller, since both games were dirt cheap, and I could save on shipping. So I'll have another review of another racing game soon too, or whatever type of game Vatlva is. I've heard that it's a little bit of everything. Some kind of combat racing RPG, or something like that, maybe even a few strategic elements. So it should be really cool. I've heard that it's really good, so I'll be finding out for myself as soon as it gets here. My mailman must think that I've opened up a new import business by now. Every time another package arrives, I order something else to keep all the packages coming. So he must be wondering what the heck I'm getting so much of from Asia. He probably thinks it's porn. That's what I'd assume. But then he probably doesn't even really notice what all he delivers to me.

[Azazel]

Generally finding someone that knows Japanese and has time to help you out can be quite hard. If you could at least post the stuff in Japanese you at least have a better chance of someone helping you. As for learning Japanese Katakana will be the easiest as it's the closest to english. You could probably learn it in a few hours of study but takes some practice before you can accuratly translates names, menus, items and stuff like that. Hiragana for just menu stuff is pretty easy. You could download something like NJstar and just type them in and look them up in the dictionary thing that's already included in the program. As for Kanji I've mentioned already mentioned about radical lookup. I'm sure there's some information online that can teach you how to do it. Generally most stretegy games tend to be heavy in the Kanji menus.

[Iron Draggon]

Well I'm lucky there, because Fuyukaze here on the boards lives in Houston too, and he knows how to read at least some Japanese. So I have access to a helper in the physical world, which will be much better than me trying to get my scanner to show all the details without blurring them up when I reduce the quality of the image for the web. But if I run into any problems, I'll see what I can do. I know my scanner isn't very good for text though, even in English, so getting a decent image that I could post here is kinda iffy.

[Iron Draggon]

Well, Taiheiyou No Arashi 2 is finally here, and I must say it's very impressive! Sorry I forgot to come back and mention it when it arrived, but I kinda got all caught up in the madness of the holidays, and all the packages that kept coming! Anyhow, it's way better than I was expecting. Lots of really cool 3D cinemas of all the battles, and every unit that you can possibly imagine. If it was in the Pacific theatre of war, chances are it's in this game. So if you're a WWII buff, or you just like wargames, you'll probably love this game. And if you're looking for a change of pace, you can't beat playing as the Japanese!

In other news, I have two more new strategy games on the way now. I won't be getting them for about another month, because they're being held for shipment with another game that I'm still making payments on. The first one is Gaia Breeder, which appears to be some sort of African evolution game or something. The second one is Nairugawa No Yoake, which appears to be some sort of African archeology game. I'm really not sure exactly what either one of these games are, but they both look very cool, and I'm dying to find out more about them. But best of all, they were both dirt cheap! Only $15 each, brand new and factory sealed! So they're just as affordable as Taiheiyou No Arashi 2. It was only $15 shipped brand new and factory sealed too, and in the special Limited Edition box with the strange little canvas book even! I wish that I could read Japanese so I could read that book. I thought that it would have pictures, but there are none. It's just a neat little canvas covered book with the typical ultra thin paper and tons of Japanese writing in it. So, not musch use if you can't read Japanese, but still a very cool little extra. I guess maybe it's supposed to be a GI handbook?

Anyhow, if anyone knows anything about Gaia Breeder or Nairugawa No Yoake, please let me know here. I know that Taiheiyou No Arashi translates to "Pacific Ocean Storm" but I have no idea what Nairugawa No Yoake translates to. Does anyone else have any idea, or know a site where I can find out? I tried to translate it with the online translator that I use, and I got no results. So I don't know what it means, but the game looks cool as hell!

I'll report on what the games are like as soon as they get here. Much faster than I reported on what Taiheiyou No Arashi 2 is like, I promise. BTW, I got Transport Tycoon recently too. It's basically exactly like the PC version, but all in Japanese, with currency in yen. So it's nearly impossible to play without any knowledge of Japanese, unless you own the PC version. I do own the PC version of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, but unfortunately it's a DOS game, and I have yet to figure out how to configure DOS BOX so I can play it on XP. If I could get it running on my system again, then I could make some notes of ahwat all the icons are and what they do. Then I should be able to play the Saturn version without any problems. But until then, that game is more of just a curiosity for my collection, and not something that I really intend to try to play very much. I only got it because it was a strategy game, and it was cheap. It was another one of those $15 bargains that I just couldn't pass up. So I sure am glad that there's still alot of those lurking around out there, if you're patient enough, and you know where to look for them. It makes buying the more expensive games far less painful on the pocketbook, especially when you can have them thrown in with a more expensive game, to save on shipping. Then you can do like I do, and just tell yourself "Hey, look at all the games I got for only $$$!", instead of stressing over the fact that $$ of that $$$ was almost $$$ just for one game! LOL

[Iron Draggon]

Well, Gaia Breeder & Nairugawa No Yoake are finally on their way to me now, so it won't be very much longer until I finally find out what they're all about!

[Iron Draggon]

OK, here's the story: Gaia Breeder is a life sim, sorta like EVO on the SNES! Nairugawa No Yoake is a God game, with a classic ancient Egyptian theme!

I haven't played either one of them yet, but I will report more here later! They both look very cool, and certainly worth alot more than they cost me!

[Iron Draggon]

Well unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm ever gonna be able to play either one of these games without learning Japanese, which is very discouraging.

Gaia Breeder is definitely the sort of game where you need to know what's what. Apparently, you travel through different time periods from the dawn of the age of mammals to the present, selectively breeding them together and watching the results of your experiments in their genetic engineering. You create the landscapes for their habitats, seed them with vegetation, and pretty much farm around with the animals throughout earth's history. So it's kinda like being a time traveling alien, experimenting with earth creatures. Mostly animals that you would find or would've found roaming around what we know as the continent of Africa today, and your own variants of them. But forget it, if you can't read Japanese, because you'll completely lost too.

Nairugawa No Yoake is the same way, and even more frustrating. This one came out in 1998, and apparently was one of the last Saturn games ever released in Japan. And it's a total shame too, because if it had come out when the Saturn was still alive in America, I'd say that it's chances of being translated for us would've been very strong. It's absolutely epic, and it looks like some kind of strategic God game with some war game elements as well. But without a translation to tell me what's what, and what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm afraid that I'll never be able to figure it out. And that is just thoroughly depressing too, because this game is very much the sort of game that I could get into for a long time, if only I knew how on earth to play it.

So playing with the animals looks like alot of fun, but I definitely need a full set of instructions to be able to understand it and do very much with it. And the situation with whatever it is I'm doing in ancient Egypt is the same way, and even more of a disappointment, as far as the language barrier goes. It seems to be some sort of world conquest game, where you apparently try to advance the Egyptians beyond their historic borders and into Europe and Asia. You build cities and God knows what else, and within these cities you build various structures that have various purposes. But without knowing what's what, you'll be as forever lost as I am, and wishing to God that you either understood Japanese or the game was translated into English for you.

Yes, both games really are that discouraging for us nonspeakers/nonreaders of Japanese, and to the point of being thoroughly depressing. Time to learn!

[Iron Draggon]

Terra Phantastica is on the way! Hopefully a few more SRPG's too, if I can scrape up enough money to buy a few more that are also reasonably cheap.

[Iron Draggon]

Well, I finally got Terra Phantastica, along with a very large shipment of other strategy games and a few other games!

I must say Terra Phantastica is one of those games that really makes you wonder why Sega never translated it for the US & Europe. It's absolutely epic, and extremely cool!

But for now, I wanna talk about another game that I got in this shipment. It's called Simulation Zoo, and that's exactly what it is. Who knew that somebody else beat Microsoft to Zoo Tycoon? But not only that, this is an awesome game!

I'm totally lost with it of course, but it is at least partially gaijin-friendly. So some of the menu buttons are actually labeled in English, and the icons are mostly self explanatory.

The first thing you do is you pick a landscape for your zoo, which is basically just picking a scenario. There's several to choose from though, so it has a pretty nice varity of them.

After that, I have no idea, but look at all the pretty little animals milling around in their habitats! We're at the zoo!

So, it makes a great companion to Gaia Breeder, but it's a very different game. Gaia Breeder seems to be more about selective breeding and evolution, but Simulation Zoo is just building and running a zoo, much like Zoo Tycoon, but long before Zoo Tycoon, and it doesn't look like it's bad at all!

I'll have more to say about Terra Phantastica and some of the other games that I just got here soon, but I'm still in exploration mode with them all right now, and I have some more on the way soon too! So I'm gonna be very busy for a while, but not too long. Meanwhile, I'm still seeking more!

[Iron Draggon]

WOW... I didn't realize how long it had been since I made a post to this thread... almost a whole year ago now... and lots of new arrivals since then too... need to update more...

Well, most recently, I finally found a new copy of Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus... will share my thoughts when it arrives... and try to comment on all my other new additions too...

[Iron Draggon]

Ginga Eiyu Densetsu Plus just arrived. Like the first game, it contains a ton of animated sequences from the anime. And the battle is much bigger this time, so there are way more planets involved. Now if only I could read Japanese well enough to understand what's going on. Like the first game, it's very complex, but even more so. So it's not a game that you would ever be able to really play without knowing Japanese, which is a real shame. It seems to be very dramatic, like Star Wars on steroids or something.

I also got Mobile Suit Gundam Gihren's Greed as well as the expansion, Mobile Suit Gundam Gihren's Greed Kouryaku Shireisho recently. These are a little easier to understand, but they still contain way too much Japanese to really be able to play them without knowing Japanese. That's a real shame too. I wish that somebody would make same FAQ's for all these games, but I'm afraid that they will never be as popular as all the RPG's and SRPG's are, so there's no real hope of that ever happening. Too bad. They look like fun.

Oh well, at least I have a very large collection of obscure import Saturn games that I'll never be able to play. And I still think it's way more cool to have most of the strategy games than it is to have most of the RPG's. Everybody has most of the RPG's. But how many other people have most of the strategy games? Surely not very many, since you can't play them worth a hoot without knowing Japanese.

So, I've almost completed my collection now. I still need to get Quo Vadis & Quo Vadis 2, as well as most of the Koei strategy games, but beyond that I pretty much have them all. Maybe after I get them all, I'll start working on getting more of the RPG's and SRPG's. I already have quite a few of them, but their prices are way more prohibitive. That's the other cool thing about collecting all the strategy games, you can still get them all for dirt cheap, even brand new.

[Iron Draggon]

Well it's been a long time since I found any of the games that I'm looking for in this genre, but I just ordered Momotarou Douchuuki and Wara Wara Wars, so I'll have a brief review of them posted here as soon as they both arrive!

[Iron Draggon]

well, both games have finally arrived, but I can't say alot about them yet since I still can't read Japanese... yep, another try and guess what all the buttons and menus do mystery... why the hell hasn't anyone in all the world ever bothered to do a simple menu and command FAQ for all the import strategy games on the Saturn? there's so many great ones to choose from, most of which look very absorbing, if only you knew what you were doing!

anyhow, Momotarou Douchuuki looks like some sort of RPG/SRPG hybrid... I understand that it's one of the games in the Peach Boy series, so it has something to do with his legend... and the Goblin King... and trains, I think...

Wara Wara Wars looks really cool and potentially alot of fun... you have 10 different races at war... the battles take place in various parts of the world and each region is represented by a different race... grey aliens for the USA (presumably because of Area 51), Pharoahs for Africa, boxing Kangaroos for Australia, etc... and of course Japan gets something that looks normal... LOL

I guess if I spent enough time with it, I could prolly figure out by guessing what most of the buttons and menus do, but this would likely be alot easier by looking up the Kanji and learning some of the language... back to school...

anyway, Wara Wara Wars looks very tongue-in-cheek, but nowhere near as tongue-in-cheek as Funky Fantasy... and the battles are somewhat different too... somewhere between Langrisser and Dragon Force... so they use an overside perspective... and they look a little bit more cartoony than real...

so how much do they cost? Momotarou Douchuuki was so expensive it set me back a whole $5 plus shipping for a sealed copy, and the shipping was a couple dollars more than the game... so yeah, it's a dirt cheap one... LOL and Wara Wara Wars set me back $20 plus shipping for a sealed copy, so it was cheap but not real cheap... a testament to the higher quality game it is...

[Iron Draggon]

FINALLY! after several years of searching for it, a nice shiny new copy of Quo Vadis showed up on ebay... along with its very often found sequel, in the same condition and from the same seller, no less! all for only $10 per game, plus shipping... so for only $20, I'm finally gonna get to have a look at both games, and soon be able to let you know what little I'm able to decipher of their stories through the language barrier... I'm expecting something similar to the Ginga Eiyu Densetsu games from the original, and something similar to the Giren's Greed games from the sequel... as far as I can tell from what little others have said of these two games, it sounds like that's a fairly accurate assumption of their plots... we'll see when the games arrive in a few weeks!

[Iron Draggon]

well I finally got a chance to check out Quo Vadis and Quo Vadis 2, but as usual, I was almost completely lost with them due to the language barrier

as expected, Quo Vadis is very similar to Ginga Eiyu Densetsu, but it's a little bit easier to figure out how to play it due to the differences... until you get stuck in a conversation that just repeats itself over and over again, cause you have no idea what was said or what you're supposed to do to continue...

strangely, Quo Vadis 2 doesn't even seem to be related to the first game, as it's a completely different type of game... it's an RTS with lots of mechs, and a different cast of characters... perhaps there is some relation to the first game, but I assume you'd have to be able to read the story line to know it...

sorry, but that's about all I can tell you, since I can't read Japanese... both games are very heavily story driven, so if you can read the language you'll probably enjoy them, but if you can't they're more like puzzles that you'll prolly never solve... cool to own, but not much fun trying to figure them out

[Fuyukaze]

well I finally got a chance to check out Quo Vadis and Quo Vadis 2, but as usual, I was almost completely lost with them due to the language barrier

as expected, Quo Vadis is very similar to Ginga Eiyu Densetsu, but it's a little bit easier to figure out how to play it due to the differences... until you get stuck in a conversation that just repeats itself over and over again, cause you have no idea what was said or what you're supposed to do to continue...

strangely, Quo Vadis 2 doesn't even seem to be related to the first game, as it's a completely different type of game... it's an RTS with lots of mechs, and a different cast of characters... perhaps there is some relation to the first game, but I assume you'd have to be able to read the story line to know it...

sorry, but that's about all I can tell you, since I can't read Japanese... both games are very heavily story driven, so if you can read the language you'll probably enjoy them, but if you can't they're more like puzzles that you'll prolly never solve... cool to own, but not much fun trying to figure them out

In the same boat. Managed to get a bit further in the first Quo Vadis then the second though.

[Iron Draggon]

two new games on the way... Sakamoto Ryuuma: Ishin Kaikoku & Harakuze Sentai V-Force... will review both as soon as they arrive and I have the time

[Iron Draggon]

I finally got a chance to check out the two newest additions to my Saturn import strategy game collection, so here's what I found out about them:

as expected, Sakamoto Ryuuma is very similar to Tenga Seiha and the other RON strategy games... which means that I couldn't tell much about it without knowing how to read Japanese... nice intro, nice graphics, very Japanese

Harakuze Sentai V-Force is a bit more playable without knowing Japanese, but there doesn't seem to be alot of actual gameplay... it's mostly just a bunch of video cutscenes... nicely done cutscenes, but it still feels more like a TV show than a game... however, that seems to be the point, since the game is based on a TV show... so you get 3 discs worth of anime video with a little bit of gameplay thrown in, together with a VHS tape of even more anime video, and a jigsaw puzzle of the cover art... pretty cool, actually

hopefully soon I'll be able to complete my collection of Japanese historical simulations with Mouri Motonari: Chikai No Sanshi & Ishin No Arashi... once I get those, I'll have simulations of every major event and significant person in Japanese history... so it'll be cool when I finally own those two games as well