I recently received an e-mail from a gentleman who didn't think highly of my Final Fantasy VII review. He didn't like the last paragraph, in which I suggested that some hardcore gamers who like it might be in witness protection, and asked why some people might be ashamed of liking it because it's "one of the greatest and most influential games ever." I'll ignore the "greatest" comment because it's opinion and to each his own. It's the "influential" part I’m taking issue with. As a game reviewer, "influential" is not a word I swing around like a baseball bat because I'm expected to convincingly back myself every time I use it. Incidentally, you will not find that word anywhere in my review of Final Fantasy VII, because I fail to see what's influential about it. The only real influence I could see Final Fantasy VII having is in the popularization of RPGs, which is a negative considering the strings of pretenders that came out: Breath of Fire IV, The Legend of Dragoon, and even the almighty (sic) Final Fantasy VIII, which in the interest of space I will kindly call a misstep for the series before going on.
With the shelves collapsing under the weight of such mediocrity, it would be very easy for a devoted role-player to lose faith in the genre. But for me, that's where Lunar came in. Lunar restored my faith in RPGs. (I'm well aware of the fact that Lunar had been floating around for several years preceding all the games I just mentioned, on both the Sega CD and the Playstation. However, circumstances had prevented me from playing it for years.)
Considering the hype and enormous cult following surrounding the game, my expectations upon unwrapping Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for the Playstation on that snowy Christmas morning were quite high. Lunar took my expectations and blew them clean out of the water. I knew the game was supposed to be good, but never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined it to be as good as it is. Lunar isn't just "good good". It's up-there-with-Chrono Trigger-and-Final Fantasy IX good. And while it does contain many of the silly clichés that have been associated every RPG ever released, both story and gameplay contain wonderful, unique twists that will prevent Lunar from ever becoming just another face in the crowd.
In Lunar, we enter a magical RPG world where most of the main characters actually have regular names. There's the occasional oddball name, but nothing on the level of weirdness or stupidity that would rival the stupidity of parents who would name their child Dart (he's the main character from The Legend of Dragoon). The main character in Lunar is named Alex, and like many kids his age, he's inspired by the antics and adventures of a chosen famous person whom he admires. Alex's hero is Dragonmaster Dyne, a former world savior who disappeared mysteriously years ago. Alex spends many a day at the grave built in honor of Dyne, dreaming of having incredible and dangerous adventures before being snapped back to reality by either his foster sister and childhood sweetheart Luna, his money-obsessed friend Ramus, or his pet flying and talking cat Nall (I haven't a clue, so don't ask). It's a day like any other when Ramus decides to visit the cave of the White Dragon because he wants a rare jewel. During their spelunking expedition, the gang meets the White Dragon himself, who thinks Alex is able to become the next Dragonmaster. And so begins Alex’s fulfillment of all the dreams he had of being like Dyne.
Lunar isn't merely about Alex's quest to become the Dragonmaster, though. What good is an RPG if it doesn't include the all-universal video game objective? That's right folks, we're heading out to save the world again, this time from a tall dark guy who calls himself the Magic Emperor. And as with all great adventurers, Alex has a crew of hangers-on by the end to help him absorb the punishment. All great adventurers have fair maidens or damsels or whatever you want to call them too, and that role is filled in very nicely by Luna. But there's difference between the Alex/Luna love story and most others, and that difference is Alex's devotion to Luna being so strong, he almost cares less about the world he's fighting to save than about his sweetheart since childhood. It's a wonderful way to do love stories, just showing how much the hero cares and sparing us the awful male self-realization we were forced to endure in games like Final Fantasy VIII. There are two other love stories in Lunar, but neither of them are brought to any real prominence as to deter our attention from Alex, Luna, and the world.
The characters in Lunar are arguably the best group I've ever met. Alex may be a teenager, but there's no inner pain to make him keep second-guessing himself, and so he shows a levelheadedness beyond his years and no reluctance in facing the dangers confronting him. While Luna does play up the pain-riven role a bit more, she makes up for it with her sensibility. There's also the overconfident, arrogant wizard Nash; the shy and reserved but powerful witch Mia; the barbaric, chauvinistic warrior Kyle; and the tough-talking, hardheaded priestess Jessica. All are excellent in their own way, and the exchanges between them are fun to read, especially the verbal rivalry between Kyle and Nash.
Speaking of verbal, Lunar's classification as an RPG means there will be talking in the game - lots and lots of talking. However, even talking in Lunar isn't the boring, nearly useless experience of many other RPGs. Part of this is because the dialogue is very good. But a large part of the reason for this is because the everyday street walkers aren't amnesiacs who drop one cryptic sentence that remains the same no matter how often you talk to them. Repeated talking to a single face in the crowd will take you through three or four different sets of dialogue before it loops. Furthermore, the characters often banter back and forth with each other during the interrogation. Characters in Lunar don't just talk to you, they converse with you, and that element alone does a lot more to bring you into the game’s world than any other RPG.
Of course, since Lunar is an RPG, you'll find yourself taking to the battefield in order to be able to converse with other characters. One thing I noticed about battles is that they're not exactly random - you can see the monsters wandering around on the map. They move quite fast out there, and they do everything they can to crash into you, but they're avoidable. If you do run into one, a battle ensues. I point this out because of a dumb misconception I saw when Square-Enix released Chrono Cross - RPG n00bs seemed to be spreading the idea that Chrono Cross was the first game to offer such a system. Square-Enix, looking for their dollar-gathering hype, did nothing to discourage the idea. Lunar is among the many games that prove the idea wrong.
The battle system, like so many other things about the game, is nothing new but offers a few twists to stay above the humdrum. First, before doing the battle rounds with your characters, the game offers a choice for you to choose either having the whole group perform one action or whether you want to fight the round without help from the AI. For example, if you want your whole group to attack, you can select "attack" at the beginning of the round, and all your characters will save you the trouble of individual selection by attacking all by themselves. There is also an AI option for those people who can never think of what to do with certain characters. It's a nice thought, but using it will quickly show you that no matter what you wanted to do with your characters, the computer's auto choices are worse. But what I really like about the battles was that Lunar is range is a factor in using ordinary attacks. After selecting your option to attack and the enemy you want to attack, your selected character will actually walk over to that enemy, hit him, and then actually stay right where he stopped to attack. This can be good or bad, depending on how well you're able to adapt to using such a system. Sometimes, if your selected character has to walk a far enough distance to attack, he or she won't actually get to attack at all, and will sit there like a helpless sitting duck for your foes to prey on. The enemies are able to move around in a similar manner, and they won't hesitate to surround and pound a character to death.
Lunar's battles are challenging because the AI is powerful and bloodthirsty. This is easily countered using the age-old RPG solution of leveling up. However, this doesn't work on bosses. Whenever Alex levels up, the game applies complicated rocket science mathematical formulas in order to make the bosses more powerful. (An idea that Square-Enix ripped off when they made Final Fantasy VIII.) What I'm saying is that as Alex's level goes, so go the boss' levels. I both love and hate this system because while it keeps the game good and tough, it also ensures that beating some of the cheaper bosses relies more on your luck than on your strategy or skill. After losing certain boss battles a few times - and trust me, you will - some of the more short-fused among us will be buying new controllers before long.
One of the things about Lunar that drives me crazy is that the only character who can carry enough items to last through a typical dungeon is Nall, who you don't get to use in battle. Everyone else has an inventory that's so limited, deciding what items to place in it becomes necessary strategy. Perhaps the game offers the save-anywhere system in order to effectively counter this gameplay shortcoming.
After so effectively praising Lunar, you may now be beginning to wonder if Lunar has any chinks. Sadly, the answer is yes, and those chinks appear in the technical details. The version of Lunar that I'm reviewing may well be on a 32-bit console, but it's still a remake of a 16-bit game, and the graphics and sounds both show their age. Lunar has over an hour of animation, and while it's not exactly Disney-quality, it's just fine for what it does. The game graphics reek of 16-bit. While there are some impressive graphic effects in spells and certain animations like the blob that is the first boss, the sprites are unimpressive and lack detail. The sounds in the game are quite bad - whenever a character scores a hit on an enemy, the game makes a sound that can only be described as a squishy, muffled bang. The music is pretty good, but nothing on the level of the extraordinary compositions in, say, Final Fantasy IV. There are only two tracks that are really worth remembering - the title screen theme, and a song performed by Luna (lyrics included) as the group sails to Meribia. The rest is nice, but not indispensable, and the battle music sounds like a rejected disco track.
The gameplay in Lunar is quite good. The characters can move at diagonal angles, which is useful is you're on your last legs and trying to avoid battles. Having five different characters with five different inventories complicates the menu a bit, but it's nothing you won't figure out by the time you hit the second dungeon. When the AI pursues you in trying to start a battle, it will only chase you as far as the edge of the area you're currently in. It's almost as if the various AI map creatures are territorial, which is just fine with me because so many of them are faster then you.
Man, did I EVER want to give this game a perfect score. But out of objectivity, I just couldn’t. The graphics and sounds are just too weak, and the boss level-up system too frustrating. However, those things won't stop me from giving Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete one of the highest scores I've ever given out. Plus, I guess I'm now able to brag about being rich enough to afford video games that include manuals with hard leather covers (which includes interviews with people behind the scenes and a strategy guide for the first leg of the game) making-of discs, music discs (of course, those are both common these days) and maps of the game’s world printed on canvas (completely useless, but still very nice). Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is a classic for every reason good games become classics. It's a brilliant answer for those who insist that nothing will ever be as good as Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, it's also out of print and exceptionally rare, so you’ll end up paying top dollar for it. But hey, the way I see it, Lunar's rarity is just another finger pointing at its greatness. If you're lucky enough to find it, buy it then and there and I guarantee you won't want to part with it either.
