At NISA's San Francisco press event last night, the publisher happily unveiled that it would be bringing Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love to the US. The anime-styled, robot-filled RPG is scheduled for launch this Fall and combines traditional dating-sim elements with mechanized combat.
Sakura Wars puts the story in the player's hands, as the player's interaction with the game dramatically influences the ending (there are six in all, all of them fully animated). As the player nurtures relationships between certain characters, their performance in battle will also improve and the strength of their combination attacks soars. This means that the game's social elements are closely tied to the battle system.
Once engaged in battle, players can either fight on the ground or in the air, as the bipedal robots can transform freely between humanoid and jet forms. Depending on what form the robots take, their attacks will also change accordingly.
Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love is spread across eight story chapters which will last approximately four to five hours each. The game takes place in New York and will also feature plenty of mini-games and bonus features once the player completes the main story.