"Great RPG for the DS, but not worth the money"

Your goal: To make friends and get back your pretty girlfriend taken over by the evil Ignatius. Hurry, before she awakens into the goddess Althena!

Graphics: 8
This is my first Lunar game, so I'm not exactly sure how they should be. It's a 2D game with a dark setting. The enemies and backgrounds have a darker tint to make the game seem evil, I guess. You won't see any bright blues, reds, or yellows in this game. It's hard to say that 2D graphics look realistic, but Ubisoft did a great job on the enemies and outside battle objects like the lava, water, and rain. The bosses also looked fantastic, in and out of battle. They usually took up both screens and looked pretty massive.

Sound: 9
From beginning to end, you'll find yourself humming the repetitive battle songs coming from Lunar:DS. Like I said, this game has a dark setting, and there is no song in it that sounds like pretty rainbow butterfly flowers. The songs sound like a story about determination, anger, frightfulness, and love. There is a sound test in the options menu with 59 songs. When in towns or piers, the backgrounds of the music sound like people talking, or rivers running. Very realistic sounding, you could say.

Controls: 7
You can do almost everything with only the controllers or the stylus. There are arrows on the sides of the touch screen you can use to move, or you can use the D-Pad. When walking press B to run. In battle, you can use either touchscreen or controls to select items and attack. Hold R to make the battle animations move 3 times faster. You might feel your hands getting cramped. I usually switch between stylus and the D-Pad every 10 minutes. This game has a great use for both. The microphone only has one use, and that's to run away from battles. It mistakes any sound for a blow and it gets annoying running away when you don't want it to.

Story: 8
Jian and his girlfriend, Lucia, are mail carriers for Gad's Express. They find the items for the people and deliver it to them. This is the main way to make money. Lucia eventually gets taken away by the evil dragon master, Ignatius. He knows that Lucia is actually goddess Althena in human form, and wants to reawaken her. Jian has to become a dragon master and try to rescue his Lucia with the help of Gabi, the cat girl, Flora, the mage and bow user, and Rufus, who has a very small role.

Game Play: 9
There are two modes you can choose outside of battle. Virtue or combat mode. In combat mode, you only obtain items after every kill. In virtue, you only get Althena Conduct (EXP). The only way to get money is through Gad's Express deliveries. This can be a pain when trying to make money later on in the game, when armor and weapons come to a total cost of 100,000 silver. You mainly get 800-3,500 silver per delivery. The battles are fun, but not very strategic. There is no targeting which makes many people upset. You have choices of defensive magic, offensive magic, or regular attacks. You can also obtain enemy cards which are helpful during boss fights. MP healing items are hard to find in the game, so conserve it, or find the enemy card that heals all your MP.

Replay Value: 6
There really is none. After you beat the game, you start out where you last saved, so you never REALLY beat the final boss. You can always try to get the best items, the most money, all the blue treasures, and get to the highest level, but other than those goals, there is nothing left to do in this game.

Closing:
If you can, rent this game. 40 dollars isn't worth it. If you have nowhere to rent it, then buy it. It took me exactly 24 hours on the spot to beat it. It will take 2 or 3 days to get to the final area. If you really like Lunar games, then you should buy it, make challenges for yourself, and accomplish them.
If you're looking for a great RPG for the DS get this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/05