Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete

"The pinnacle of 2D RPGs"

INTRODUCTION

Okay, first off let me tell you that when I first played this game I was at a younger age, my pre-teen years and I am a different person now. And yet this game STILL musters enough of it's 8-year-old RPG finesse to force me to continue playing. If that's not something special, for a game to still impress me after 8 YEARS of age...I don't know what is...

Can we elaborate on the details asks school-boy Jimmy? Why,
of course we can!!

WHAT IT ACHIEVES

So just what is it exactly that makes Lunar 2 make me come back for more? If it's not the story it's the character development, if it's not the character development it's the battle system, if it's not the battle system it's the soundtrack, if its not the soundtrack it's the anime cut-scenes, if it's not...okay get the point? I just LOVE Lunar! I can't help it, dammit! We need more games out with this type of quality, thanks in no part to the exceptional localization team who brought this relic over. The quality of games vary from genres. You have separate fans of different tastes that need to be fed, if you will, different gamming formulas. One Genre alone would NEVER work. And yet...and yet...Lunar strives to actually make that accusation completely wrong. I've witnessed Lunar 2 win people over of the opposite genre tastes again and again. Of Course you have your critics and negative types out there but when it comes down to it the simplest thing matters the most. What do the people think of it asks school boy Jimmy? Why, they love it, of course!!

The object of 95% of RPGs is to fight, travel, read about story, more travelling more fighting more listening to the story. Thats really it. It can sound extremely boring in text, I know, but when the stroyline shines refreshingly, the battling is fun as hell, and the travelling is more exciting than some MMORPGs today or Final Fantasy Kings and all of those things come together in a way I truly can't express with words...then you know you have something special on your hands. We Lunar fans want something new that revitalizes the entire RPG genre but also keeps true to the long roots RPGs have accomplished to create it the gaming community, which by the way isn't getting any smaller.

GAMEPLAY

Everything comes together in this masterpiece in terms of Gameplay. You'll actually want to battle (most of the time;)and desire to go to new areas. The interface for Lunar's menus both on the battle-field and the area-maps are about as simple to navigate than anything I've ever seen,seriously. Battle commands are executed with utter brilliance. Voice overs for the American version are almost always on par with the grand story and immediate settings. Humor shines through the text and dialogue as well which is a serious issue for some RPGs to pull off without an event being totally weird. And I haven't even mentioned the fact that there are NO random battle! All enemies can be seen, visually on the area-maps. THANK THE RPG GODS!

GRAPHICS

Don't come getting this game expecting Final Fantasy X quality CG cinemas or character modeling. This is an 8-year-old RPG. It's 2D, for cryin' out loud! Appreciate what it's graphics do accomplish, like the mood setting for a certain area or the wonderfully animated sprite-effects. You gotta love the 2D animations! And if you're a fan of anime you won't be disappointed. Great anime scenes are everywhere in this game. And you can collect special still shots of the LUNAR cast in ANIME style!!(NOTE: The localization team boosted the window resolution 256 by 224 to 320 by 224 and changed the window view from 64 pixels from max to the max.
Good job Working designs!

SOUND

Okay, the soundtrack is excellent. Not too dramatic, just plain fun to listen to. I understand that when the localization team here in america imported this title over they had to boot up the sound in terms of kilohertz from 18 to 38 khz which is by no means bad, it's a huge improvement compared to the original Japanese but in certain areas when the Voice overs kick in they sound a little washed out. This is one factor that changed my review score to a 9 instead of a ten.

STORY

I love it I love it. The story will win you over one way or another, in the end for sure. I think you'll enjoy every little bit of dialogue and text as I and so many others did.

GAME LIFE

Well as you probably already realize I'll never stop playing this baby. As for the rest of the people out there one to two play-through's would be enough. Don't miss the Epilogue either!

OVERALL

Don't miss this excellent game. I kinda waited too long to do a review, but you might be able to find a copy floating around. This is a game every gamer should play at least once, especially us RPGers!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/03, Updated 07/24/03