Introduction
Sakura MMO 3 is the final entry in the Sakura MMO visual novel series. It was developed by Winged Cloud and released on PC in June 2019. Gamuzumi then ported it to consoles in November 2022.
*Disclaimer: A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This does not affect the review, as my thoughts are mine and mine alone.
Video Review
Review
Viola and her crew have finally reached the end of their journey in Asaph online. Following the shocking revelation that they have to find the goddess Iona, and stop her from destroying the land, they have to find their way to an ancient library to learn where to find her. So off they go, on their journey, to figure out how to get there to finish their journey and return home.
The game opens up with a slight recap of everything that sort of happened, leading up to this point, but it also leaves out a ton of stuff. The story was a bit faster paced than the other two entries of the game, and it only really slows down a few times. The story adds one new character to the lineup of cast members, but only briefly. It was so brief you never really get to know her. There’s a few dialogue options regarding her, but other than that, they were just a means to an end.
In previous games it felt like every character was treated a little equally. Everyone had a story to tell and you were able to seduce them all just as fairly, but this entry really puts an emphasis on Neve. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Neve as a character and I love the backstory that the devs have written for her throughout all the games, but it felt like Fion and Eleri get sidelined A LOT in this entry. It’s so drastic that if you don’t give enough love to Neve, you literally get a bad ending! This made getting every ending in the game more daunting than the other two entries, because if you love Neve too much, you get her ending. Don’t love her enough? Bad ending, no matter what!
When it came to the endings I was actually pretty happy with where the series ended, especially seeing every girls ending. I gotta be honest, I was expected to face disappointment, and I really don’t know why. This entry definitely has a lot less lewd portions to it than the rest of the series does, so I guess I was a little disappointed there. I mean, I was mainly in it for the story, but when it comes to Winged Cloud visual novels, there’s usually a decent dose of fan service.
The game definitely had a lot of spelling errors. I can’t count how many times some words were spelled incorrectly. I mean the devs still got their story across and I do kind of giggle when I see mistakes in visual novels, but when you have to re-read something over and over again, because of a spelling error, it really pulls you out of the experience. Though I’m no saint, I make spelling errors a lot that I don’t see.
The end of the story surprisingly choked me up with the drastic turn it took with the villain. But what I really enjoyed is that after the end of the game, no matter the ending you get at first, you get a little side story of what happened to the villain afterwards. Not only was this a fantastic little thing to do, I wish more games did it honestly. I wouldn’t mind seeing the end of the villains story, or even more in depth backstories to their motives in games. It honestly made me really like Iona even more as a character, but she’s honestly hard to hate…even if her motives are questionable.
Rating
Pros:
- Ends The Series Well
- Fantastic Villain Sidestory
Cons:
- Focuses Too Much On One Character
- Not A Lot Of Lewd
Summary
I’m happy to see the end of the Sakura MMO series wrapped up in such a nice way. I do wish the story focused more on all the girls and a bit more on the new character before it threw her away, but the mystery and tension it built up to the last second makes me easily able to recommend the whole series. Trust me, they’re well worth a read.
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Game & Developer Information
Developer Website: Winged Cloud
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Gamuzumi
Publisher Socials: Twitter
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