Let rise the dreams of your heart
The Lunar series is an interesting tidbit of nostalgia for me. It is one of the few games that holds two different times in my life. The original Sega CD releases happened around my early teenage years. The intro of the first game lives rent free in my head. It was amazing to see animated cutscenes on my home console. The second wave happened shortly after I moved out on my own, living with a roommate who shared a love for the series as the games were re-released on PlayStation.
It is not often that pieces of media have a stranglehold on two chapters of my life. Now, almost thirty years later, the series is finally available to play on modern platforms, and I couldn’t be happier. Being able to experience these games was not easy, not anyone with a console or PC can enjoy two of the best RPGs ever made.
MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99
The Lunar games were pretty straightforward RPGs of that time. Players take on the colorful cast of characters that feel ripped right out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon of that era. They are fairly linear with your typical turn-based combat system. On the surface they don’t strike people as overtly special or memorable. What makes them that way are the stories and characters. Working Designs were infamous in those days for their translations. The characters in these games just resonated with anyone who played them. Sadly, some of the jokes have been removed as they were of that time, but the new writing is still great.
The animated cutscenes have also been upscaled to look better. I can’t tell if it is simply AI upscaling or if they had access to the original files and touched them up by hand, but that intro to the first game still hits like it is the early 90s. The music and presentation just resonate so much with me, and I still get goosebumps when it plays.
So what do we get with this package? Well first and most importantly we get both Lunar games, Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue. These are the PS1 enhanced versions that came after the Sega CD versions. Each game is playable in two modes, remastered and classic. The classic mode is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio and even has a CRT filter to make it feel like playing on those classic consoles. The remastered version is presented in widescreen and features updated visuals that are sharper but retain the classic look.
The battle system now has a speed option to make them move faster. This helps speed up the pace of the game. The voice cast is entirely new and is a mixed bag. Silver Star Story is fine, even if I would have preferred the originals, but Eternal Blue just doesn’t feel right. A lot of the characters feel out of place and do not retain the charm of the original. The inventory system has also been updated for Silver Star Story allowing for a combined inventory instead of the character-specific ones. This is a huge boon that makes managing items much more streamlined.
Silver Star Story feels the most upgraded with the new inventory system. It is also worth noting that the treasure chests have been reverted to the Japanese amounts, which further alters the difficulty as I was always stocked enough to save the game and buy potions. Eternal Blue remains mostly untouched when it comes to mechanics. The movement speed has also not been upgraded, which makes traversing the world in the sequel still a chore. Still both games live and die by their charm, and there is certainly no lack of that here.
Lunar is a special series that is of its time. Both games hold up for me, and for anyone that enjoys classic RPGs, this is a must-have collection. I had a fantastic time revisiting these games and am so glad they are finally available without having to go through other means, or spending a small fortune on classic hardware. I do wish they had used the original voice actors and sped up the movement in Eternal Blue, but this is still an easy recommendation.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
