Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, Strong Story-Driven, RPG!, February 1, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I own the boxed collection and the hard bound strategy guide. Marvelous! Truly a collectors item.I cannot go into great detail, about the game, since it has been awhile that I have played it. I will say that both this and the first one, Lunar Star Silver Story Complete, were great RPG's for the PSX.(I am an RPG HOUND)The graphics are nice for the time and the music lovely! Gameplay is fluid, interesting, addictive and challenging at parts. There are also some puzzles to be solved. A very fun and versatile RPG with a deep story that will haunt you long after you have completed the game. VERY rare but worth considering for your collection and enjoyment. You will not be disappointed.Do NOT miss this one!(I suggest you also play the first one mentioned above.) Although I have not played both in awhile they left a lasting impression, for me, in my RPG history as having been a great experience in game playing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4.5; an RPG classic remade, February 19, 2008
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
It's kind of hard to tell RPG players the appeal of Lunar when other games have more stellar graphics, more complicated storylines and deeper gameplay systems. While some of the older games from the SNES era are considered RPG classics despite very outdated looks, it's strange trying to do the same for Lunar since it wasn't quite as big or as mass-appealing. While yes graphically and storyline wise, this isn't exactly Vagrant Story or even Final Fantasy stuff, there was always an appeal to the Lunar games that made you forget about it and just enjoy it anyway.
Story: You play as Alex from the town of Burg who wants to become just like the Dragonmaster Dyne. But an encounter with a Dragon has Alex, his pet dragon Nall and friend Luna on a quest to save the world where they'll be taken to floating cities and different cities to save the world of Lunar. Again it's not the most deepest and complex RPG plot but like a lot of classic fairytales and fantasy stories, there's a wide appeal for the story simply because of the charming characters and just the general atmosphere of the game.
Graphics: You'll notice a difference between the new stuff and the "revamped" stuff. Basically the new is fully-animated cutscenes which help flesh out special events but usually they're served as character introductions. They're gorgeous with great character designs and they really stand out. Everything else is iffy since the overworld/town stuff is incredibly simplistic with mini-sprites and character portraits during dialogue. But if you love Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger, than this kind of graphic style is nothing.
Sound/Music: Soundtrack was done by Noriyuki Iwadare who's quite talented at doing upbeat catchy themes and although music-wise it can get slightly repetitive, they're quite fun and the vocal tracks are quite stellar. Sound work otherwise is functional but not impressive as swords clang and enemies die with small groans but this isn't really one of those "immersive" sound worlds like Metroid or Bioshock where there is tons of ambience. The voice acting though is quite stellar and aside from the Metal Gear series, Lunar is usually mentioned among games that best use voice acting.
Gameplay: Lunar does something different (though not together uncommon) in that spells are actually gained when you obtain a certain level as opposed to finding them in the world, buying them from shops and the like. It encourages level grinding so you can obtain new spells though enemies can get just as bad since they can level up with you a little (mainly bosses though) but really it's just going through a dungeon, beating enemies - which are thankfully onscreen like Chrono series - finding item chests and making it to the boss and whomping them. There's also some collectables called bromides which are character artworks that show up as mini-cutscenes and since the ladies are quite lovely to ogle, I like collecting the things.
Since there was extra care in the making of the game, we get some added stuff like the cd soundtrack, an artbook with a readily-available walkthrough inside (complete with funny captions, character artwork and interviews with game developers) and a map. Might not be the absolute best RPG to many people but there's lots of fans, myself included of course, and Lunar is one to pick up, or at least try.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best RPGs Ever Made, January 2, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Lunar Silver Star Story first debuted on the Sega CD. While the Sega CD system didn't last very long, Lunar did manage to get quite a following. Unfortunately, because the Sega CD user base wasn't large, Lunar was overlooked by several gamers. The game had a release on the very short lived Sega Saturn, but again, never reached audiences. In 1999 Lunar finally reached a large audience. The Playstation. With several changes and updates from the original Sega CD version to make the story more complete and satisfying.
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete concerns itself with Alex. He one day dreams of being a Dragonmaster. Just like his hero, Dyne. He figures he'll just have to keep dreaming, though. Until his friend Ramus has a plan to go into the White Dragon cave and get a hold of the White Dragon Diamond. Finally, a chance for Alex to go on an adventure. But it ends up becoming much bigger than he ever dreamed.
For the most part, Lunar Silver Star Story has a cliched overly done storyline. Despite that, however, it is one of the best in the genre because it has a fantastic cast of characters who are all well developed, a good sense of humor, one of the best villains in video game history as well as a very emotional story. All these things make you forget the cliched storyline and make it something enjoyable and memorable. The story also has a few really great looking anime cinematics and some incredibly good voice acting to help flesh out the humor and wit. It also helps that the dialog is extremely well written. Put simply, the story is presented very well.
The gameplay is dated, but that's to be expected for a game originally released in 1992. Lunar has a straightforward combat system. It's the simple turn based fare you've seen in dozens of RPGs. You'll select an action for every character to do and then watch the battle play out as your enemies and you take turns. Every character can either attack, use special techniques unique to only them use items and run away, etc. Battles are contact based. That doesn't mean enemies will simply let you waltz by. Many enemies upon seeing you will give chase.
Lunar is by no means a complicated game. Every character gains magic through levels (save for Alex who will get a few spells from meeting certain objectives in the story) and has their own unique magic. For example, Nash is the only character who can cast Thunder Magic. There are a few tidbits to the battle system that help flesh it out and keep it from being overly repetitive. For one, characters who use staves can use them to cast spells that they otherwise might not be able to cast. There's also a huge emphasis on strategy here. Lunar is not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. Especially up against the bosses. You'll find you have to move your characters all over the field and heal every turn to keep yourself a float. To make matters even more difficult, you only have a limited number of items you can carry and on top of that, items at the market are quite expensive and monsters don't drop a lot of money. So even though battles are contact based, it's probably best to fight as many as you can. The only major problem with Lunar's battle system is that battles aren't quick. Even normal battles can last for several minutes because of having to heal yourself constantly. For the most part, though, the trip through the game is very rewarding.
Visually, Lunar is a very colorful, artistic looking, smooth running game. It doesn't push the Playstation to its limits, but it does manage to be a good game nonetheless. The artistic design is incredibly well done, though. So are the character portraits and animated cutscenes. It's actually a very beautiful looking game, but it looks like a smooth over sixteen bit game too. Luckily, this won't bother most gamers.
It sounds pretty good. As mentioned before, the voice acting is some of the best in the industry. Many of the tunes are quite catchy (particularly the world map and battle themes). They're short tracks, though, so they loop real soon, which makes much of the music quite repetitive. In the long run, though, you're getting quite a bit.
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete originally came with a lot of extras. A soundtrack CD filled with the best tracks, a cloth map, a making of CD and a hardcover instruction booklet that even included a sample of the strategy guide made by Working Designs themselves. It's quite the collector's item to have.
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete is a fantastic RPG that despite being released on the Playstation, was still fairly overlooked. It does, however, retain a strong audience. A fine game where the effort of the creators really shows through fantastic writing, a well crafted story and some of the most well developed characters to grace the genre.
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