Amazon.com: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Limited Edition: Sony PSP: Video Games

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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great enhancement of an amazing classic RPG, March 8, 2010

Michael Wootton (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

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This review is from: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Limited Edition (Video Game)

Lunar has seen many different versions on various platforms over the years, but in my opinion this new version for the PSP localized by XSEED is the best and my definite favorite. I'll do my best to explain why!

STORY: Lunar has a somewhat clichéd epic love story backed by one of the most memorable and lovable cast of characters in RPG gaming. You start out as a young boy named Alex, who along with his adopted sister Luna, best friend Ramus, and "flying cat" companion Nall, go out to fulfill his dreams of going on an adventure and becoming a Dragonmaster like his childhood hero Dyne. The "world" of Lunar itself is expertly crafted (although the history and backstory is better explained in the sequel "Eternal Blue") and it's just incredibly fun to explore. The story captivated me when I was much younger and it still manages to do so after many years and many different versions. It's a very fun, adventurous, suspenseful, and incredibly humorous storyline that always does a great job of presenting and pacing itself.

GRAPHICS: Simply put, gorgeous. The game looks beautiful on the PSP. All the backgrounds are wonderfully hand drawn, and the character sprites have been greatly upgraded from their original forms. There are many anime style cutscenes throughout the game that all look great, and the entire main cast have different character portraits that show up when speaking, and they are all very well done and show a great range of emotion. Battle animations are also impressive and very unique showing each character's personality through their movement. This is not a simple upgrade, the graphics have been completely overhauled and the care and polish Game Arts put into this title is evident from the get go.

MUSIC/SOUND: For the music, original Lunar composer Noriyuki Iwadare has returned to re-orchestrate the entire soundtrack for the game. And in short, it sounds fantastic. The songs and themes all sounded great years ago, and they have most definitely stood the test of time and absolutely shine in their newer versions. The music is catchy, fun, epic, and just very fitting for the overall feel of the game. Also for fans of the series, vocalist Jennifer Stigile has returned to sing the updated versions of the opening theme and the boat song, and she just sounds absolutely lovely as always.

As for the voice acting, it's definitely different from what fans are used to and not perfect in all aspects, but the new cast members do a great job. Alex comes across perfectly as an adventurous youth, Nall still sounds cute but actually comes across as male and not a 3 year-old girl/chipmunk (FINALLY!), Luna has much more spunk and personality than before which I enjoyed, Ramus sounds as he should (like a fat best friend), Mia has a wonderfully subdued voice that fits her very well, Jessica is a little more valley girl than I expected but it fits her as well, Kyle's voice also fits his personality and his drunk speak is absolutely hilarious, and Nash sounds, well, like Nash (conceited and annoying). As for Ghaleon (aka the most important voice EVER to rabid fans that can only be voice by John Truitt but wasn't this time around), I enjoyed his performance most of all. I thought he was incredibly mysterious and powerful, and he commanded every line and just breathed the character and personality of Ghaleon perfectly. Oh, and Mel is a pirate.

GAMEPLAY: Classic RPG style gameplay here. You find monsters roaming on the field (no random battles), and upon touching them you engage in a turn-based battle system that incorporates enemy-to-character distance (Range) into the mix. You have your healers, magic users, and heavy hitters, and fight through well designed monsters and excellent boss battles accordingly. One thing brought over for the battle system from the GBA remake "Lunar Legend" is the Arts Gauge, which can best be described as an overdrive/limit break/super special move that can be used in your magic menu after filling a yellow bar. These moves do significantly decrease the level of difficulty the original games had, and while some will find that welcome, others will most definitely not. The dungeons have all been restructured and redesigned, and many are much shorter and streamlined while having a very high monster encounter rate. Also brought over from "Lunar Legend" was the way of moving around the world, so instead of walking from place to place on the world map (as done in previous games), it's now more straightforward having you just scroll through and click whatever town or area you're headed to next.

EXTRAS: For those buying the Limited/Special Edition of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, XSEED has included 13 female Bromide cards that have character descriptions on the back, as well as the re-orchestrated soundtrack in a very shiny and beautiful "Premium Edition" box. While not as extravagant as Working Designs previous PS1 releases, I'm really thankful XSEED provided us with the option of a special edition release as the extras included are very well done.

Game Arts also decided to add in an extra "Prologue" scene at the beginning of the game featuring the Four Heroes in an epic battle never seen before by Lunar fans, and it's a lot of fun to see Dyne, Mel, Lemia, and Ghaleon in their younger forms. However as someone who has always been enamored at the idea of a possible "Lunar 3" with a focus on these specific characters in their early adventures, I was dissapointed to see their backstory still not better developed and explained as the scene only lasted a good 20 minutes.

CONCLUSION: If you are an RPG fan that has never played a Lunar game, you owe it to yourself to pick up and play this wonderful classic in what I consider to be its definitive form. If you're a fan of the series, you'll have to judge for yourself whether all the upgrades done to the game are worth going through the world of Lunar again. For me there was no question and I had it pre-ordered the second it went available, and playing it feels like a brand new game and I've loved every moment. The difficulty is definitely decreased as I mentioned before due to the Arts Gauge, but that actually serves to bring in those maybe new or not as comfortable with RPG's as others. For those wanting a challenge, do a play-through without using any Arts Gauge moves, it's tough. It also deserves special mention to note that XSEED has done an incredible localization job with this title, bringing a maturity (while keeping all the various humorous aspects of the originals) and polish to the series that surpasses Working Designs efforts. Now go and enjoy the world of Lunar!

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 5 Star Game, 4 Star Remake., April 23, 2010

M.D.C. "The Franchise" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

This review is from: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Limited Edition (Video Game)

For summary and pros/cons, skip to the bottom.

Put the pitchfork down. This is not a bash against LUNAR "the game". This is a solid review of this version of LUNAR. But before I get into any of that, let me lay everything out in case you've never played (or heard of) LUNAR before.

LUNAR is a game designed by Game Arts. As you can easily see, it has origins in Japan, and is considered as close to JRPG as you can get. Game Arts has released many such games, and almost all of them eventually died off; LUNAR is really the only one that lasted past a first episode. It started wayyyyyy back on the Sega CD with a game called LUNAR: The Silver Star. Since then, LUNAR has seen one true sequel (LUNAR: Eternal Blue), a couple of offshoots, most of which we never saw in the US (i.e. LUNAR: Dragon Song, Magic School LUNAR!, LUNAR: Walking School, and LUNAR: Genesis), and more remakes than I care to mention in this review (four!). Silver Star in particular has been released on Sega CD, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and now PSP, not including LUNAR Legend which was a horrible handheld version that didn't do the main series justice. A company called Working Delays...err...Designs, was most notable in bringing some of the LUNAR games stateside, but their biggest problem was the extreme delay in releasing games. Regarding LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete (the PlayStation version of this game), it took nearly 2 years from the first announcement before the game was released.

It wasn't all a wash, because for that delay you ended up with a complete package that no game publisher has ever managed to even come close to. Silver Star Story Complete came with a cloth map, a hardcover color book, a soundtrack CD, and color foil packaging - you really felt as though a lot of care and consideration went into making the game. Additionally, Working Designs went out of its way to perfect its craft for translation and vocal arrangements, including comedy straight out of the here and now. Bill Clinton jokes were all over the place, campy humor abound, and even some borderline inappropriate statements made to the female characters. It was an amazing experience from beginning to end, and at the time, the ultimate gaming experience for RPG fans. Before all of the various remakes got released, Silver Star Story Complete garnered prices hovering near $200, because people really wanted the game after experiencing it for the first time.

In Silver Star, you play out the story of Alex, a young boy who dreams of becoming the next Dragonmaster and going on epic adventures like Dyne, the previous Dragonmaster. Luna, the young girl your parents adopted and who has been with Alex's entire life, is an expert singer, mesmerizing the townsfolk with her songs. Along the way, you'll meet various friends who help you in your cause, and experience the loss of others as the story pans out. Speaking candidly, the game itself is solid: You relate very well to the characters, as their development was done perfectly. There's never an instance where you wonder what a character is about or why they're doing what they're doing. Additionally, various cutscenes pepper the game, allowing you to experience more of the story without interaction as you play the game. The battle engine was basic, but enthralling, because it allowed you to control just how badly you got taxed by certain bosses by way of the skills and defending/moving around the field. There were strategic elements that set it apart from other RPGs in the same time period.

All of that sounds great, doesn't it? I went on forever about how great it is, so why did I ding it a star? Well, you need to understand that I'm not reviewing this as a standalone game, because it's effectively the same game as the previous remakes, and therein lies the problem. This isn't Working Designs anymore, and it shows. A lot of content was either changed, cut or just plain done wrong in this release, and while I personally was not satisfied with what I got, I can't ding it any more than a star, because at its core it is the same basic gameplay. It's more storyline where the drastic changes got made, with some slight aesthetic butcherings. Rather than go on any longer than I did above, I'll just bullet it out for you.

*/* What LUNAR: Silver Star Harmony Does RIGHT (compared to Silver Star Story Complete) */*

- SSSC was three discs; this is just one UMD/download. That alone is impressive.

- No need to track down the hidden bromides; if you get the Limited Edition they're all there in card form.

- The town music remixes were actually quite well done.

- Hmm...how to say this without spoiling..."you don't need the Ocarina this time". A BIG plus.

- No more Nall side inventory. There was a SSSC demo that gamers could use to then carry over to the actual game, but it had a glitch. If you moved Alex's Ocarina to Nall and forgot to move it back when you played the actual game, you couldn't finish the game. BIG problems with that one.

- I can't help but deny that the majority of the graphics were improved signfiicantly, especially for the dragons. Also, sprite animations are excellent, especially the characters when attacking.

- Portable. Quite possibly the most well rounded of the portable games and seemingly a perfect fit for the PSP.

- New Arts attacks give your characters an edge that you never had before.

- They fixed Myght's Tower, where on SSSC they gave you that sun/moon/star/planet puzzle but didn't actually give you the clue you needed.

*/* What LUNAR: Silver Star Harmony Does WRONG (compared to Silver Star Story Complete) */*

- They sectioned off the towns, and it has to load as you access each section. Very annoying.

- There's a load every time you enter or exit battle.

- There's a load every time a cutscene begins.

- Did I mention load times???

- There is a slow fade effect when beginning or ending battles, in addition to the load time. This results in a VERY slow experience to something that used to be lightning quick.

- Alex and friends no longer walk as fast as they used to, even with the run button.

- Extremely stingy with the experience. I beat the game at level 37 and that's with grinding. On SSSC you could easily get to at least 45 without breaking a sweat.

- The full 3D really causes issues with navigation sometimes, because it's hard to tell where a wall begins and a floor ends on some areas.

- Every town, cave, dungeon, and castle has been redrawn, so even if you memorized exactly where the bar is in a town, it's likely in a totally different location now. Same goes for chests where you distinctly remember where it was on SSSC.

- Bromide locations and requirements changed; not all, but some. Still annoying. Essentially you're buying half of them. That defeats the challenge of finding them.

- Dialogue is more tame. A LOT more tame. None of it is really edgy anymore like it used to be. I can understand killing the Clinton jokes, but at least a Bush joke would have been nice.

- Some cutscenes were removed. This REALLY annoyed me, especially since the back of the game claimed that there was "more" to the story. Notable mention: Quark lifting his head slowly, blinking, and saying "My friends...."

- Loading/Saving glitches; every now and then I would save the game, sleep the PSP, wake it up later only to find the game literally frozen. It happened at least four times, after which I stopped using the sleep mode.

- Some of the voice actors are terrible compared to the SSSC counterparts. Notable mentions: Ghaleon, Nall, Ramus, Mel. IMO, Ghaleon is inexcusable.

- This "Limited Edition" Packaging is pathetic. Bromide cards and a soundtrack CD that looks like it was printed on someone's Lexmark is not a true limited edition. These guys need to go back and study Working Designs' early works.

So....do I recommend it? Yes. Even though I have those negatives, they really don't impact how great the game is at its core. The only thing that would really affect you if you've never played LUNAR are the load times and the save glitch. Beyond that you will probably not think twice on what I said. LUNAR is a must-play game, and honestly, I say that you should track down Silver Star Story Complete as it's absolutely the superior version. But if all you care about is playing the game, albeit portably, this is definitely worth the money. If you played the older remake then you know what to expect going into this.

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The differences between the PSX version and the PSP Version, July 17, 2010

Jeffrey C. Matthews "link9us" (Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars

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This review is from: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Limited Edition (Video Game)

First of all, this is my very first review on this site. I am a huge RPG gamer and i own a vast collection of rpgs so i have the experience in role playing games but im not that great of a writer so please don't criticize my review for being horrible. This is my personal opinion on this game and it shouldn't effect what others think bout the game. I plan on writing more reviews in the future.

I found that this needed to be said right away. I am amazed that know one has explained in detail the huge significant differences between these two versions of Lunar silver star.

For the love of god, if you think this is Lunar silver star story complete, your sadly mistaken. Do not believe all these reviews, i think most of these people haven't even played the original.

I will start with pointing out the pro's of the game and why its better in some cases, then ill point out the cons.

This game does have some changes that make the over all graphic quality and sprites much more 3d like. Its definitely more visually appealing then the original game. There is even an extra little side story that explains more detail about the back story behind the "4 heroes" which i thought was ok. It could of been longer, but it was a nice little addition. Now the cons.

Old fans of lunar series will be very disappointed in the lack and depth of character development and story progression. I have noticed this when i was playing the psp version. The dialogue is short and to the point, usually consisting of a few min of dialogue even during the critical plot points of the game, fans that are looking for a deep serous story line won't find it in this version of the game. Please do your self a favor and go buy the original game. The story and characters are far more fleshed out and the script is very well written. The psp version of the game has really lost that magic and as an avid RPG gamer who really enjoys in depth stories i really am disappointed that they resorted to this. The script is almost made up to appeal to a far less intelligent audience. Think of the original "final fantasy" game, the first one, ever released. Also a lot of the script changes were some of the very humerus dialogue scenes that some of the characters had, paticulary the small flying dragon "nall". The game has really lost its humerus dialogue, there is hardly none in this version of the game. Some instances they try to be funny but it turns out to be some pretty lame jokes that in some cases I even raised my eyebrows at. I could swear if I go back to the NPC scripts for each character in the game, it almost sounds like they didn't put any thought or work into it what so ever, like a 10 year old wrote up the scrip of the game.

Though the combat, the attack animations and the 3d sprites gives you a more of a visual 3d experience, it still does not beat the original in my opinion. Not to mention the over world is pretty bland looking. If i remember right, weren't you able to explore the over world on foot in the original game. That freedom of exploration has been completely lost in this game.
Also another thing i have to point out, is the "lunar's boat" song that every one really enjoyed in the original has been completely redone and it doesn't actually follow the "real story and background" of the character luna through her quest. I won't talk bout any spoilers but you know what i mean when you read the lyrics of the original song. It has alot to do with the actual central part of the story line and it helps to define the character "luna" and her past. The original song's lyrics flows nicely with the plot of the game. Another difference is the anime dubbings have been changed and i found that the dubs from the original game were much greater.

One last thing that i noticed and im sure people pointed this out as well, was the difficulty, each dungeon was very small and there was hardly any challenge compared to the original game. I found my self not even having to grind that much and i can still beat every single boss with out even trying. I remember that the original Lunar silver star story complete for the pS was really hard. I found my self strategically using every method i can for each battle carefully to try and beat the hard bosses. By far the worse part of this game is the script though. I am seriously surprised that no one on here has mentioned that. I feel like the story is not moving any where and you get a few lines here and there to tell you where to go. In the original game i felt like every character, even the NPCS had a purpose in this grand adventure, they felt more alive to me but you just don't see it in this version of the game. I wasted money on this game really. I am kind of sorry i did. This game really was so disappointing to me that is actually made me think of putting other DS games on hold. But trust me there are far better DS games. one in particular that im playing is dragon quest IX, its great.

Bottom line is. If your a fan that loves incredible story and would like to know why lunar was such a huge hit on the ps, you have to buy the original game to see its "true" magic. If you already played the original and want to see the difference in animation skill effects and 3d sprites, then give this game a shot cause you will be pleased with 3d graphics incorporated into the game but rent it first, don't buy it

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