Lunar Legend Introduction - GBA
0Lunar Legend is a decent remake of "Lunar Silver Star Story Complete" developed by Media Rings Corporation and Game Arts, and was the first Lunar game released overseas that wasn't localized by Working Designs. It features altered scenes, changes to the gameplay, new content, new sprites and animations, and a revamped interface. The game is significantly easier than the WD game, and with the "feature" (or rather, oversight) to heal HP and MP upon loading and the ability to duplicate items, the game is practically death-proof, so let's hope you enjoy the game for more than just its gameplay. The story is still funny enough and charming, but not as full-featured or subtle (as they just come out with a lot of stuff), which can't be helped as all prior versions of LtSS/LSSS/LSSSC came on one CD or more.
Playing as an aspiring adventurer, Alex, who resides from the small town of Burg, you have always dreamed to be like Dragonmaster Dyne, one of four mighty heroes who protected the great Goddess, Althena-- he has disappeared roughly fifteen years ago (around the time Alex was born). Alex lives a peaceful life with his best friend, Ramus, and his childhood sweetheart, Luna, with whom he sings with for their town festivals. Luna's songs are beautiful and have a divine impact, touching the hearts of those who hear her and her songs even have magical powers, which will become a major focus of the game's plot as you soon leave your little hamlet and go on a journey beyond imagination.
The audio/visuals are... okay. On one hand, the new sprites and attack animations look great for the GBA and everything is just as colorful and lively as any other version of the game, if not more so. The audio is... acceptable. If you've played Lunar Silver Star Story before, you'll recognize all the tunes; it's just that they're not particularly great sounding. They're quite muffled even by GBA standards and the game would've really benefitted from a clean-slate by recreating or remixing the tunes from scratch, whereas they sound more like they were just down-sampled significantly and squeezed onto a GBA cart (the audibles such as Luna singing being some of the best audio bits). They retain their overall catchy nature and are appropriate in their entirety, but its still a little disappointing.
The gameplay is a little different from SSSC and is even more traditional than even that game was. Everything you do in an ordinary JRPG is what you basically do in this one. You buy items with money, talk with NPCs, discover secrets, fight monsters, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. The game does not show enemies on the map and characters do not move in battles either; everything is done where a character stands and battles are random-based, which sorta makes the game even easier. Characters have an assortment of special attacks and each character has a sort of "Limit Break" attack (most major characters also have a hidden second one).
The game is of a decent length for a GBA title and it's rather interesting on a technical level just how much was crammed into the game (there are even game clear unlockables). It's an enjoyable RPG overall, which I appreciated more for its story-telling, NPC interactions and classic approach than any gameplay innovations and challenge (or lack thereof). We have an intro video and a moderate game sample. Enjoy.