Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - Review

Remade Classics Rule.

By: locke_57

Review Breakdown
Battle System	8
Interface	10
Music/Sound	9
Originality	8
Plot	9
Localization	10
Replay Value	7
Visuals	9
Difficulty	Medium
Time to Complete	20-35 hours
Overall
Criteria

I Would Hope That you Knew This by Now...

   Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is an update of the popular Sega CD game, Lunar: The Silver Star. Within this package of goodies is a wonderfully crafted game with enough emotion and humor to keep any gamer hooked. In this remake, not only have the graphics and cut-scenes been redone, but the plot has been reconstructed also. I was a fan of the original game, even though I was too young to remember most of it, and thoroughly enjoyed this game. Thus begins my review of a game which will be remembered for years to come. 

   Alex is a boy from the village of Burg, who wants desperately to go on a grand adventure, like his hero, Dragonmaster Dyne. When the opportunity comes for his adventure to begin, he and his pet, Nall, and his girlfriend, Luna, follow. Nall is a sarcastic flying-cat type thing that turns out to be very helpful. More about him later. Anyways, this starts your grand adventure through Lunar's intriguing world.

    The battle system is a somewhat fresh face to the redundant world of Final Fantasy type battles. There are six different options to choose for each character before each turn, all of which make perfect sense, except the incredibly dumb AI option. I pity someone who chooses this option, especially in boss battles, as the computer makes the absolute dumbest moves possible. Anyways, the rest of the moves are standard magic and physical attacks, and the use of items. Items can only be used in battle if in the characters personal inventory, and there isn't any exception to this rule. Another interesting feature is that Nall, your friendly flying-cat, revives you when you die, no matter how long it may take him. And suffice to say, you need this feature. Badly. The battles range from medium to hard, and the odds stack against you when you battle four enemies to your (sometimes) two. Magic also plays an integral role in the battles, and learning how to use it is also very important. If you use too much in one battle, you could come up to a boss battle soon afterwards, and curse at yourself for using it all up. All in all, a good system, but not absolutely great. 

   The interface to this game was so amazing for me that I could probably annoy someone all day about it if I could, but you deserve better. The menus are easy to use for the most part, but it sometimes gets tedious to exchange all that equipment and the items. But that's probably the only slightly negative thing I can say about. The characters are very enjoyable, and the world is easy to navigate overall. One of the most interesting things about the game was the fact that while walking around towns, there are people that you can talk to. Depending on who it is you talk to, at least one character will make a usually witty comment, and most people will say more than one thing if you talk to them repeatedly. I found it most enjoyable to walk around towns talking to people, just to see what would happen. Since it's not my job to bore you, I'll stop at that.

One of the Game's Song Sequences

   Now for the music and sounds. The music in this game fits the mood perfectly almost every time, and I have been known to hum it to myself and even listen to the soundtrack if I want to (which at times is quite often). This came as a big surprise to me, because while I normally enjoy music in a game, I don't feel the need to buy or listen to a soundtrack. If one hadn't come packaged with the game, I would have actually bought this soundtrack. Adding to the emotional happenings in this game are voice-overs that are well done. Yet, there are battle cries that do get annoying (such as the often annoying "Check this out!"). On a side-note, the grunts and death moans of the enemies are your typical RPG fare, so don't get excited. Overall, great music, and some of the best voices I've ever heard in any game.

   This game may not seem very original, but that's because you need to look for the originality. There are lots (and lots) of small things in this game that make it original. The bromides, for example. Name another game with bromides of girls. Can't think of any? I thought so. Also, the battle system is slightly original, with the addition of Nall the reviver. And overall, the plot is very original. These may be small things, but with so many things like this in the game, the game deserves the score it got. 

    The plot... Where to begin? This game has an original plot, and once you get into it, you better have plenty of time to play it. It wants your attention, and you want to openly give it to the game. The story flows quickly and steadily, and offers a few unexpected surprises. Since this game is completely linear, you don't go around wasting your time on useless things (i.e. Final Fantasy VIII), and just get down to the story and it's advancement. In the end, this straight-forward storyline may bother a few, but for the linear lover, it's a dream come true.

Back Off or I'll Sic Nash's Hair on You!!!

   Localization is another area where the game (and Working Designs) shines. References to pop culture are everywhere; you just can't seem to escape them. Not that this is a bad thing. Working Designs did a wonderful job making this game's text flow. There are not very mistakes, and you never get confused about what the characters are trying to say or hint at. Great job, Working Designs. Another well-translated game.

   The replay value in this game isn't as large as I would hope it to be. Now, don't get me wrong, it's certainly fun to pop the disc in again, but I would hope for more. Besides playing through again for the heck of it (which honestly won't really take you THAT long), you should give it a second go through to find the bromides. It does succeed in having the classic fun element that just makes you crave to play again....so do just that.

   Graphics in this game are good all-around, particularly in the anime movie scenes. Wonderfully dubbed, they add some emotion and humor to the game. And if you like lots of movie scenes, you'll get lots of movie scenes. The in-game graphics are old-school, as many people like it. This game delivers top-notch classic 2D RPG-goodness, with all the vibrant colors and high quality, animated characters.

Herbs, Huh? I Would Think Monsters Would be ATTRACTED to Those...

   While this is certainly the most difficult game in the world, it isn't necessarily easy either. This game is most likely a good, solid medium difficulty, but that doesn't save it from being a relatively short game. For an experienced RPG player, this game shouldn't take much more than 20 hours. Maybe less. For newcomers, however, and people who must experience ALL of a game, Lunar should take around 35 hours - 40 tops. Some would argue that this game has its shortcomings, citing the debatable battle system. Others might mention their discomfort with the linearity. But these pitfalls are vastly outweighed by the number of amazing things in this game; such as the storyline, graphics, music, references to pop culture, the anime, need I go on? Lunar is a solid buy for any RPG fan, and if you can find it, I suggest you buy it. It has grown scarce since the end of last year, when production stopped. This will be a classic. Again. Trust me on that one...