Does the game make the company or does the company make the game?
PostedMarch 12, 2010
The game itself is joyfully bright and colorful. New life is breathed into the character's sprites. The amount of detail and care put into the sprites shows. It was really enjoyable to see familiar faces flushed out. And for those of you who are new to the series I'm sure you can agree those are some of the best 2d sprites you've seen in a game. The music is also redone and especially poignant to people who are returning to Lunar.But perhaps the best part of the new release was the additional lore added to the story. Some of the previous Dragonmaster's adventure was fleshed out. Unfortunately all it really did was cater to people who had already played Lunar. The scene itself didn't last longer then 5-10 minutes. The result is something that the average player would probably find lack luster as the bonds that develop between player and character are not established. I found myself watching strangely familiar characters regurgitate something from a Japanese melodrama. The problem was multiplied by the horrible voice acting. Since I had the benefit of knowing who and what the relationships between the character's in the new scene were I was deeply disappointed that Althena's decision wasn't as fleshed out. What you get is a scene that neither adds nor takes away from the existing storyline. It was really just empty filler and at worse a cheap ploy to boost sales of yet another remake in this series. But perhaps the best part of this version of Lunar comes when someone takes the knowledge of the previous versions and fills in the things are missing here and there. The relationships between the main character's has added depth. It was great to see Jessica's character express herself in new ways. The same goes for all the other character's except for Alex & Luna. Those two stayed remarkably stale. Although in the beginning this version's Alex was far more aggressive then the previous versions. But toward the middle of the game Alex's input into random NPC conversations and even plot developments diminishes to a point of non-existence. The joy came in finding every NPC and talking to them. Finding out what the citizens of Lunar have to say after almost every single plot development was a novel and enjoyable aspect of the game. Everyone had an opinion, it was great. Unfortunately, it's not without its flaws. Every single NPC dialogue had these strange vertical black bars that appeared. It was completely annoying. The “tricks” used to transition the player into a major plot development scene were just bad choices. All of them use either a fade to black or fade to white technique. Toward the middle of the game it was predictable and bland. A lot of it was just simple appearing and disappearing sprites. Or layering special effects on top of sprites. Or worse, is when the characters board dragons they walk into them and disappear! Battle effects like an exploding roof or exploding engine are implied and not quite realized. The result is something like an NPC having to explain what just happened visually. You might as well play a MUD. Nothing was fluid or smooth. Everything had to stop and go. NPC's popped in and out, it is completely unappealing. It just looks like an amateur team handled the development, it really shows. Unfortunately in the English Version although the WD script remains largely unchanged the feeling and awe doesn't translate into this version. Xseed has seemingly picked and chose from a simple copy & past to adding unnecessary changes. Example: the ending. It is literally verbatim, except they added a few extra erroneous words to dilute the emotional impact of the scene. But I doubt how much that would have mattered considering the voice actors threw off the emotions in the scenes.The combat system was absolutely horrible. I avoided battles like the plague. I found every single battle extremely easy, and extremely slow. The combination of the two turned what used to be enjoyable battles into punishment. The wor
0 of 3 found this review helpful.
Overall rating
5/ 5
Gameplay
4/ 5
Graphics
5/ 5
Sound
5/ 5
XenithRose
The Definitive Lunar Silver Star Story
PostedMarch 10, 2010
When a game has been remade as many times as Lunar: The Silver Star has, you would expect the game experience to be nothing new and nothing worth picking up again. That is not the case with this rendition of the game. Silver Star Harmony tells a story already familiar to fans in a fantastic and beautiful way, with massively improved graphics, sound, and gameplay. The towns and dungeons are all gorgeous (yes, even the dungeons), and yet they still hold the charm found in older versions of the game. Battles are exciting to watch, with every move and spell shining in magnificent glory. While the graphics may not be as polished as a Final Fantasy game, that is not Lunar's aim; the graphics are lighthearted, colorful, and gorgeous in their own way. The cutscenes are the lovely original animations from the Playstation game, an aspect surely missed by players of the gameboy advance game. (A note to diehard fans, however: all of the voice actors have been changed in this rendition of the game; some are better (Phacia, Alex), some are worse (Nall, Royce), but at least they keep the original ideas alive.) The music you loved from the previous incarnations of the game are still there, but in brilliant, high definition rearrangements. The music of Lunar is a character all its own and a key aspect of the gaming experience. One should definitely play this game with headphones to witness every glorious note as intended. Storytelling doesn't get any better than Lunar. Each of the characters have believable personalities, making the player really connect and feel for them. The story itself is full of twists and turns, danger and betrayal, and, above all, it is all about love. It is both exciting and heartwarming. The gameplay is similar to other RPG's, with the player controlling the characters on a map through towns or dungeons, and with turn-based monster and boss battles. This version of the game feels much easier than the old Playstation version of the game, with little-to-no level grinding necessary. Despite that, boss battles are still interesting and the different types of spells keep the player on their toes. The "Arts Gauge," first introduced in the Gameboy Advance game Lunar Legends, has been brought back into play, enabling players to unleash powerful new spells to help them defeat the evil Magic Emperor and his minions. Lunar is one game series that you just cannot miss out on. It's a shame that there has been hardly any advertising for this game, and I, as a fan of the series, can only hope that it sells well enough for XSeed to go on and recreate Lunar 2: Eternal Blue as well. **The Limited Edition version of Silver Star Harmony comes with every gorgeous bromide from the game on collectible cards and a fantastic soundtrack cd featuring nearly every song from the game in fantastic quality. My own qualm about the cd is that it does not feature Ghaleon's "Recollection" theme, which was present on the Silver Star Story Complete soundtrack. However, this version will be a collector's piece for fans in any case!
Overall rating
5/ 5
Gameplay
4/ 5
Graphics
5/ 5
Sound
4/ 5
Seint
As if Lunar couldn't get anymore awesome.
PostedMarch 4, 2010
I pre-ordered the limited edition version of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony and it's no hyperbole to say that I'm very impressed. The LE version comes packed with an amazing soundtrack (its been a LONG time since I've heard such beautiful music as this) and "bromide" collector cards of the ladies of Lunar SSH (a few of which may cause blushing in males). The graphics are breathtaking, there's a lot of detail in the backgrounds and the anime cutscenes are brushed up a bit. More back story is added, a most of the plot holes are filled up nicely. Voice acting is far from bad but not spectacular (Is it just me, or does Yuri Lowenthal voice a main character in just about every anime/video game out today?). The music is all revamped and somewhat more soothing than the PS1 version. Nall has also gotten wittier! The only things I didn't like were the long loading time and the new version of Wind Nocturne (the old one was much better than this) doesn't hold a candle to the old version. Dispite these small shortcomings, this will most definitely be a game I will be play for quite awhile now. So thanks Game Arts and XSeed for an even more awesome take on Lunar (just give me back the old Wind Nocturne >.<).
Overall rating
4/ 5
Gameplay
4/ 5
Graphics
4/ 5
Sound
4/ 5
MassAppeal
Silver Star Harmony or Sliver of an original star?
PostedMarch 4, 2010
So ever since I heard this game was coming out for the PSP I was psyched. I played the original on the Sega CD system when I was eight and loved it so much. I then bought the 2nd Lunar which was also incredible, and then purchased the remakes for Playstation after my SCD crapped out. Hopes and expectations for this version were high, maybe too high for this game since it has turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. When you read in the previews and reviews that they have redone this game, that is exactly what they have done. The game has been changed. Don't come to it if you are looking for the original with just better graphics like I did, because that's not what it is. The point being anyone can go out and find a turn based RPG to play with no story, but when you hear the name Lunar and the words classic masterpiece associated with it you would expect more. The graphics are simply amazing and some of the best I've seen on the PSP. The musical score is brilliant and adds some gusto to the revamped/semi confusing/pushed way too fast storyline. The game is fairly simple, that being said it is no Zelda. The puzzles are pretty easy to solve, and monsters pretty easy to conquer. Dungeons are short and simple with more than one way to get in and out, meaning you pretty much cant get lost in this game. Silver Star Harmony has also rid itself of the original Lunars open field world map and has taken on the predetermined map location selection system which is a major downfall for this game in my mind. Also tough load times to deal with. Anytime the screen switches you will have a brief wait time before it loads up again which is pretty annoying, but it's Lunar so its worth trying to deal with. So in the end if youve played the PS or SCD versions you will most likely be kinda disappointed with the remake... especially when you hear this new voice acting ugghh. Newcomers to Lunar should definitely pick this up if you are into turn based RPG's as you won't find a better one than this on the PSP especially for
