Lunar Legend

"What kind of a "legend" is this game?"

Lunar Legend is a relatively unknown RPG game, which isn't surprising, since it's part of a relatively unknown RPG series which includes Lunar Legend 2: Eternal Blue and Lunar: Dragon Song, as well as a couple of titles which you can't obtain outside of Japan. This title started everything off, and I believe is the most popular in the series.

Story: 7/10

The story starts off with you controlling Alex, a young boy from the small town of Burg who dreams of one day becoming a Dragonmaster like his hero Dyne. When a young apprentice of the magic guild needs to be guided to the legendary white dragon's cave, Alex starts off on his journey to become a Dragonmaster.

The story is fairly cliche in the beginning, with a few twists as you progress. I enjoyed the fact that you can talk to anyone in town, after any given major event, and their dialogue will change. It helps to remind you where you are in the story, and what you have to do next. Each character in your party has a very distinct personality, and it's pretty funny when those personalities clash. Overall, pretty standard.

Gameplay: 7/10

The gameplay is fairly standard RPG action. Whoever has the highest agility attacks first, and everyone takes turns from there. You also have different skills or magic you can choose from. There are a couple of things unique to Lunar, though, such as the "Limit Break" skills. After every attack, you slowly fill up a gauge which will let you preform a special attack.

In battle, you can choose to manually issue your commands, or you can let everyone just simply attack at random. You also have the option to select some commands ahead of time, and make everyone perform them in battle. These options are very nice, and make random encounters much easier to handle (no need to press "A", "A", "A"). Be careful when you do this, though, as you won't be able to stop until everyone, including enemies, has had a turn, and even than you need to manually stop it by pressing "B".

Navigating dungeons and towns is very simple, as there are no puzzles to solve, and very few maze like dungeons (though there are a few).

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics in Lunar Legend are really good. The environments look great, and are very colorful. I especially enjoyed the many, many cut-scenes that occur throughout the game, presented in the form of pictures that illustrate the events taking place in the game. There are also pictures displayed whenever a character performs their special attacks. Another thing I enjoyed was the character's battle-stances after the enemy is defeated, as well as the how they interact with each-other.

Music & Sound effects: 8/10

I really enjoyed the music in Lunar Legend. Somehow, no matter how dire the circumstance, the music managed to be upbeat through the entire game. I sometimes find myself humming a tune from Lunar even though I haven't played it in weeks.

The sound effects are also done well, as you would expect. I can't recall anything being out of place. Well done.

Re-playability & Extra's: 7/10

I really can't see why you would want to replay Lunar Legend (except for enjoyment, of course). There are a couple of items that you can't get in one play-through, and a few that you can only get at a certain time, though. Also, you can collect different cards as you play the game, though they don't have any purpose. As for the extra's, once you beat the game, you unlock the music player, the sound effect player, as well as the "gallery". Here you can listen to all the music again as well as view the different cut-scene pictures.

Overall: 7/10

Overall, a solid RPG that isn't too difficult to beat. I would recommend it to fans of the genre, but there are other RPG's you could try for a deeper story, better visuals, and deeper gameplay. Have fun & keep playing. Later...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/07