LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete

What a game! I have never seen anything like it! Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete has to be the best RPG, no, the best game I've ever played. This game has a lot of history in it. It started for the Sega CD as Lunar: The Silver Star and later saw the Saturn as Lunar: The Silver Star Story. Then finally, Working Designs translated the game for the playstation, changing 85% of the original text and changing the story and dungeons around giving veteran Lunar players a new adventure. For instance (SPOILER), near the beginning of the game, you set sail for Meribia. In the original, Luna stayed behind. In this, she changes her mind at the last minute, opening up new possibilities (END SPOILER). Working Desings truly did a great job here. And also, being an American company, they care about American gamers. In a big change from the Japanese version, WD (Working Designs) beefed up the packaging. They included a cloth map of the world of Lunar, four discs: two game CDs, A making of

Lunar CD complete with appearances from the voice actors and Vic Ireland (CEO of WD), Japanese animators, and more; and a soundtrack of Lunar's awesome music. WD also added in two player option (A lot like the two player mode in FFVI), dual shock support, and 15 save files (as opposed to 3) in the American version. Then, WD translated the game perfectly. Both the dubbing and text was great. There was a lot of American humor in the game, and that makes it all the more enjoyable. We finally got it better than Japan (well...we did have to wait about half a year more than they did).

And that's just some of the great things about Lunar. This game features one of the most memorable casts an RPG has to offer. The different types of love the characters show each other carries you through the game. From Kyle and Jessica's constant arguing to Alex and Luna's deep love for one another, the character development is great. There's this one scene where each character takes a turn molding a piece of clay, and it's truly a memorable scene. This scene accents Lunar's great characters.

Along with great characters, there is also a great story. You start the game off with a simple adventure with Alex, Luna, Ramus, and eventually Nash. But once you progress into the game, the story overflows with plot turns and really deepens. You must pass through the four dragon trials to become a dragon master and defeat the Magic Emperor. But will Alex accomplish his life-long dream of becoming a dragon master like his hero, the late dragon master Dyne? Get the game and find out.

Now we get to Lunar's weak points: the old school graphics and battle engine. The graphics in Lunar are composed entirely of sprites which makes it look nothing more than a spiced up 16-bit game. Though a lot prefer the newer pre-rendered backgrounds and polygon characters, I don't. I love 2-d, and Lunar isn't an exception. Besides, a 3-d Lunar wouldn't work. I shudder just thinking about Lunar in 3-d. When creating an anime-style game 2-d is the way to go. The beautiful 50 minutes of anime in the game would just be out of place if the game were in 3-d. But if you're a die hard 3-d fan...get the game anyway for its great story.

A lot of people also hate Lunar's unoriginal battle system. Yes, it is just another turn-based battle system. But it has a slight twist. Strategy plays a key role here. Careful troop placement and smart thinking will very well be the difference between winning and losing. Your characters spread out of the battle field unlike most traditional battles where they attack and return to their place. So if you have all your characters clustered up in the middle of a group of enemies you're in trouble.

However, spreading your characters out around the enemies will give you a more strategic position. So the game slightly blends strategy/rpg elements in with it.

But these are just my opinions. A lot of people want battles with two-hundred foot tall robots and polygonal characters. Lunar won't give you that. Lunar will give you memorable characters, a great story, and a lot of extras worth more than the extra $10.00 you have to pay. There are also sub-quests throughout the game. Finding all thirteen bromides, for instance. This challenge may make up for the game's short length (around 25 hours or so). Oh yeah, almost forgot something. This game is one of the hardest games I've played. It's not super hard or anything, but a welcome change from so many Square games that you can just breeze through. I can't help but to think I'm missing a lot of important details, but reviewers that are better than me will cover those...hopefully.

Black's Reviews
Lunar: Silver Star Story Reviews


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