Lunar Legend

"This is what they hyped to be a "classic" game?"

Lunar Legend is yet another remix of the Silver Star Story. I heard a LOT of hype about how good it is, blah blah, how it’s much better than the PS one version, blah. Well, I never liked the PS one version of this supposedly “good” game, and this was not much better. It’s just the same stuff over and over again. I don’t understand how something like this could have the fan base it does now.

Plot/Story - 2/10

The story is just so... monotonous and straightforward. Yeah, they had like... two or three plot twists near the end, but they’re predictable (or “just there”) and can be seen from miles away. Too rudimentary for my likings. It isn’t so different from the Lunar for PS one, except they added some minor things and altered character appearances. Nothing I would consider an advancement. Just... different.

The love story in Lunar Legend is supposed to be one of the big points of the game. But after I played the game, I could not feel anything toward their relationship, and I’m usually a sucker for love stories! I don’t know if it’s because of the sheer lack of development of their “relationship” or my lack of feelings for the characters involved, but it just made yawn every time they have those naive “moments” of theirs.

Characters - 2/10

The main characters Alex and Luna are some of the most lifeless characters in any RPG I’ve played. Alex has NO personality. I believe they were trying to connect the player to the character... however, the very idea of that is ridiculous, especially for female players like me. Even a poor personality is better than no personality. Luna, your average damsel in distress. I realize there must be one of these in every RPG, but she’s just so dull. Most damsels in distress actually interest me, and have their good points, but not Luna. They could’ve done a much better job in developing this character. Most people say the GBA version has more development than the PS one, but I didn’t see any. The others were the same. They may have one distinct personality that distinguishes them from others, but that’s it. They’re static and unchanging, therefore uninteresting.

As a writer myself, I cannot fathom how they can come up with these one-dimensional characters and get away with being called actually a “good” game. Had I created such a character like Alex in one of my works, I would have set him apart as a VERY unimportant one-time appearance character at best.

Gameplay/Controls - 5/10

Well, you can‘t walk on the world map anymore. Oh well, it’s not that important. There were nothing special on the PS one world map anyway. The gameplay and controls are fine. It’s just it’s not unique and/or special. It’s just LACKLUSTER and nothing we haven’t seen before... but it does work adequately.

I’ve heard some complaints about random battles for the GBA version, but I don’t mind them. You decide. I don’t think it’s possible to have monsters spawning the screen of a tiny GBA though. Not enough space.

Battle System - 2/10

This is just too simple. I had no fun at all playing this. You fight, level up, buy new weapons/armor, your stats increase. Woo hoo. Not a tiny bit complicated. No possibility of customizing your characters to your heart’s content. The characters have a set of spells they learn when they reach certain levels. Bah. This just bored me so much. And I thought Golden Sun had a boring system...

Another thing. They ripped off the limit break system from the Final Fantasy series, except the little bar grows when you do damage (instead of receive), and it’s nowhere as good... nowhere as complicated. Even so, I was enraged when I saw this. How could they take others’ ideas? BIG Minus!

Graphics - 7/10

Better than the PS one. It is pretty good. At least it’s not pixilated. Probably the best part about this game. Not as good as Golden Sun though. They had some full-screen images, I guess what they would call GBA “FMV’s”. It really doesn’t add much. But then again, of course, graphics don’t matter much when it comes to RPG’s...

As for specific designs, the town designs are good, other designs (forests, dungeons) are nothing to be gawked at. They’re for the most part plain and unimaginative. The character sprites are ok, but still not as good as contemporary GBA RPG sprites.

Sound/Music - 5/10

Luna’s annoying singing voice pops up too many times. Other than that, the music is ok. Just more of that stuff from the game‘s premixes. Don’t understand how fans can stomach this stuff over and over again though. The GBA kind of degrades the music a bit, but that is expected. As far as the actual music goes, it’s childish. Not my type. But I guess that fits. Didn’t pay much attention to the sound effects though. Nothing that impressed me much, obviously.

Challenge - 2/10

It’s easy. There is no strategy or anything. You fight more, you win. If you have time to build up your characters, you’ll ace it. It’s a no-brainer! I’ll agree that some dungeons are confusing and hard to navigate, but that’s more of an annoyance than challenge.

To Buy or to Rent?

Don’t bother with either. There are so many other, better games out there. Unless you’re one of those extreme old school gamers, or a Lunar fanatic, or you like simplistic things, or you never played any RPG’s before, this game is not for you. The sequel to this game, Lunar 2 is actually much better. If they ever do a remake for that game, buy that instead.

OVERALL - 2/10

This game would probably make an OK beginner’s RPG, since it’s so easy. But seriously, if this was my first RPG, I would probably hate the RPG genre. I don’t understand why this game gets remixed so many times. They love to cash in many times for one game, I suppose. To be honest, I think this game insults my intelligence. It’s so simple and uninvolved, with such unexciting characters and plot. I could think up of many plot twists to make this game better. Why didn’t they?

And most of all, this game is just NOT FUN... just TEDIOUS. That is main reason it does not qualify, in my opinion, as anything decent.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/03, Updated 01/01/03