Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

"No Final Fantasy, but a great fanasy nonetheless"

A typical, yet strangly individual RPG about children who find themselves stumbling inadvertantly onto various adventures.

Graphics- Graphics of the actual game characters are horrible. I'm sorry, but they are. Tha backgrounds and cinematic scenes are top of the line, though. Great jump in that department from the Sega CD version.

Music- The music is good. Not as good as my standard, which is Final Fantasy 3/6. The music is a great composition, and so are the words, but it just doesn't cut it to me. The music wasn't special enough to stick to my mind like some Square games.

Character Design- All of the characters are fully glorified, and have more meaning to them when given some thought. This is also the kind of game that makes that possible. Every character is given his/her own personality. They usually stick to it, but there are scenes where each character isn't so 2 demensional, which gives room for contemplation. Even the evil villians are given two sides.

Sound effects/other- The sound effects in this game are a medium, while the Duel Shock capabilities are an excellent plus. Most everything has a rumble that suits its visual effect. Lightning creates more of a rough rumble, and fire creates a more smooth one. The sound effects are like usual RPGs, with cartoonish jumping sounds, slashing sounds, and punching sounds.

Voices- There is a lot of spoken dialogue in this game. Not as much as Metal Gear: Solid. Not by a long shot, but there is still a lot. The voices in the anime-cut scenes are great, while the ones during normal gameplay (although the are the same actors) seem to be weaker and less effective. During battle, certain characters chant out words to cast spells. The phrases, however, become highly overused.

Story- The story starts out with Alex, and his friends and he go out on an adventure in search of jewels, but find that Alex is a potential Dragonmaster; something that Alex longs to be. His lady-friend, Luna, has magical singing powers, and they embark on wonderful journeys together. I'm not going into detail because I hate it when I know too much before I play it. But, it is a very great plot, with sudden turning points in some areas. The storyline rivals Final Fantasy games,but stomps out the ones earlier than Final Fantasy 2/4.

Overall- This game is a definate try. You will try it.... and love it. There's no way you could not like it, because it has an appeal to all senses of a person. The game itself comes with an instruction BOOK, stress on the book, a cloth map, and a jewel case box. Very much worth the $60.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 06/09/03