Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

"Bit of an overrated title, but rather enjoyable"

It’s likely a lot of you have read some of the accolades heaped upon Lunar or the Lunar series at some point in time. At times it’s hailed as the greatest RPG of all time, or on the Playstation, or maybe for the Sega CD (which I’d agree with) or something to that effect. It’s fame has risen over the years, not that many people played the Sega CD version, and for a while until Lunar 2 came out, the PS version was an hot eBay property. I persuaded a game trader to sell me one of their few rental copies and hand-picked their newest looking one. If one thing can be said, Working Designs can definitely be lauded for a magnificent translation, and an impressive package, which is their usual trademark. The script has been translated as only they can, loaded with odd humour, many pop culture references (including numerous jabs at Courtney Love), and everything else required in skillful Americanization. The voice acting is definitely in the upper echelon in the world of gaming, though there are some irritating characters (chiefly Nall, but I wonder if it really could have been avoided) and a few of the lines are shallow and a little uninspired (“And that means you, Ghaleon!” is something I’d expect to follow ‘I will right wrongs, and triumph over evil!’). In battle, the voices can become more than repetitive, tell me how many times you can hear ‘Althena, lend me your power!’ in three minutes without bashing your head on things.

The package itself is loaded with extras, Working Designs stuffs this with as much as they possibly can, there’s even a series of out-takes that play after the end credits of the game. In addition to the two game discs, it includes a soundtrack disc and a Making of Lunar disc, which includes much of what you’d expect, with a lot of interviews and the like. If you got the package in the cardboard box in it’s first run of production, also included was a cloth map and a rather large deluxe hard-cover instruction manual packed with the standard fare, a mini-walk-through and even more information about the production of the game. This is definitely one of the best presentations of a console game ever seen, only bested by those that Working Designs followed it up with, Lunar 2 and the Arc the Lad Collection.

The gameplay in Lunar is fluid, characters can move in any direction on the map with speed, and the analogue stick works very well, though they seem to have employed fairly liberal use of vibration. Usually when I’m playing an RPG I don’t really expect the controller to be jarred out of my hand. Dungeon maps are all pretty similar multilevel affairs, every once in a while you’ll be faced with a puzzle, but they’re all pretty simple. Monsters appear on the map and give chase if they notice you, battles can be avoided, but there are a lot that are strategically placed so you’re forced to fight. And fight you will, since most areas are littered with enemies. Battle is rather straightforward, your team starts on the right, your opponent on the left, while both you and them can move around anywhere in the field. Characters can either simply attack or use magic from their either four or eight spell arsenal. One thing that got to me, is that every time you restart the game the pointer is placed by default over the AI (Artificial Intelligence) option, this can be useful if you’re lazy, but if you accidentally press that, no matter who you’re fighting, the computer usually uses your characters most devastating move in an attempt to obliterate the enemy, but yah, I know that’s my fault. I’m assuming not many people will make use of this if they plan on having their MP last more than ten minutes.

You play as Alex, a boy from a small town named Burg, who idolizes the Dragonmaster Dyne. He was one of the Four Heroes, a famed group who had previously saved the world from obliteration by an evil force, an event that cost him his life. Living with you is Luna, a girl with an unrivaled singing voice, whom Alex’s parents adopted at a young age. Rounding out the group from Burg is Ramus, Alex’s best friend. Alex dreams of being the next Dragonmaster and longs for adventure. Ramus dreams of being filthy rich and longs for adventure for that reason. Venturing to collect the vast riches of the White Dragon, Alex and Ramus are provided a chance meeting with the White Dragon himself that sends Alex on the path toward his dream. Of course, things get complicated, evil is afoot, and a Dark Emperor seeks to take over the world. So, obviously, your task is set. Throw in the standard true love elements, your cast of almost loyal friends, and you’re off to save the world and wrap everything up in a neat little package. Everything seems so….typical. I could check off a list of RPG clichés.

Graphically, this game is nothing to be impressed about, but I’m not going to state the obvious about what makes the game. The load times are actually very minimal, which isn’t really something that I’d be impressed about considering the low stress the level of graphics will cause if Square didn’t do such a bad job bad of them in FF Anthology, so kudos to Game Arts. I’ve always been a fan of sprite based RPGs, though these are quite simplistic. Enemy design can be rather strange sometimes, but there are some very good-looking ones, and spell animations are pretty tame. Lunar also makes use of the age-old tradition of creating more enemies by taking existing ones and painting them a different colour. Most backgrounds are pretty bland and many of them look like just the colour had just been changed as well. Of course, one of Lunar’s most exalted features are it’s anime cutscenes and character designs, which are done fantastically. There are many cutscenes, occurring at pretty much every remotely important point in the game. The characters are drawn very well, most of them reminiscent of characters seen in various anime series. If I could find one complaint, it would be that the Dragonmaster armour sort of makes them look like they’re Dutch fencers or something ;)

The soundtrack is better than some, but it’s not entirely impressive. There are no real masterpieces, but there are some catchy tunes, and pretty much all of them fit their environment. The vocal tracks are quite good and Jennie Stigle did a pretty good job, though the lyrics do leave something to the imagination. As I’ve mentioned before, the voice acting is better than most, and sound effects during battle are all very fitting.

Maybe it was the hype, maybe it was a buildup of high expectations, but when all was said and done I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction after finishing. I just wasn’t too impressed with Lunar. In the end, it was really just a mediocre RPG, and I’d assume if it was someone other than Working Designs working with it here, than it might not have as much acclaim as it has accumulated.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/31/02, Updated 10/31/02