Lunar: Silver Star

[Lord Chainsaw]

I don't know about excellent gameplay in Lunar SSSC or EB, but everything else is fantastic. I try to ignore the painful battles. It's not that hard to do.

I prefer Lunar 2 to Lunar SSSC, although I think both are incredible. And I have to give proper credit to Working Designs for their incredible localization of the game. You just don't see care like that going in to many games coming in from Japan.

I also recommend you buy the official strategy guides for the games with the games. These are the best strategy guides ever made. Really, they are. Not because of the level of helpful content, but because of how fun they are to read.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The gameplay may not be anything spectacular, but there are some aspects I really like.

• Combat involves moving around the battlefield, adding a new dimension to offense and defense. Physical attacks require you to first actually run up to the enemy, and the enemy has to do the same to strike you, and everyone can only move so far in a single turn.
• You can tell what attack an enemy is about to make based on how it's moving or acting and prepare accordingly. So, if it's bobbing up and down, you'll know it's going to fire that horizontal beam across the screen, so you'll move everyone out of the way. Or, if its eyes are flashing, you'll know it's going to use an area attack, so you'll move all your characters away from each other so they won't be caught up in the same blast. If it's standing on its head, you'll know it's going to use a screen-wide fire attack, so you'll cast a spell to protect everyone against fire. Etc.
• As characters level up and apply certain equipment, the amount of physical attacks they'll be able to do in a single turn will increase, usually reaching five or so hits by the end of the game for the warrior-type characters. In addition to the offensive advantage, if a character is trying to strike the enemy but has moved as far as he can and still isn't close enough, he'll automatically sacrifice one of his hits for more movement. So, if Alex can hit four times but isn't close enough to reach the enemy in one turn, instead of wasting a turn, he'll reach the enemy at the expense of one of his hits and still be able to attack three times.
• In L2:EB, there are special equipment called crests that allow whomever equips them to cast special spells, increase certain stats, or utilize other special properties. Each character can equip two crests at a time, and their effects can be combined to unlock even more potent ones. Customization abounds.

Yeah.

[Vyk]

Y'know... I watched that stuff happen, but I never really paid much attention to what was actually going on. I just jumped in and tore stuff up. But on the subject, I have to say the AI in Lunar was really good. Some days I was more interested in plot and exploration and spent my whole play time letting the computer fight for me, and it did a damn good job of keeping me alive on its own. Really nice for those lazy days.

[crashNUMBERS]

The gameplay may not be anything spectacular, but there are some aspects I really like.

• Combat involves moving around the battlefield, adding a new dimension to offense and defense. Physical attacks require you to first actually run up to the enemy, and the enemy has to do the same to strike you, and everyone can only move so far in a single turn.
• You can tell what attack an enemy is about to make based on how it's moving or acting and prepare accordingly. So, if it's bobbing up and down, you'll know it's going to fire that horizontal beam across the screen, so you'll move everyone out of the way. Or, if its eyes are flashing, you'll know it's going to use an area attack, so you'll move all your characters away from each other so they won't be caught up in the same blast. If it's standing on its head, you'll know it's going to use a screen-wide fire attack, so you'll cast a spell to protect everyone against fire. Etc.
• As characters level up and apply certain equipment, the amount of physical attacks they'll be able to do in a single turn will increase, usually reaching five or so hits by the end of the game for the warrior-type characters. In addition to the offensive advantage, if a character is trying to strike the enemy but has moved as far as he can and still isn't close enough, he'll automatically sacrifice one of his hits for more movement. So, if Alex can hit four times but isn't close enough to reach the enemy in one turn, instead of wasting a turn, he'll reach the enemy at the expense of one of his hits and still be able to attack three times.
• In L2:EB, there are special equipment called crests that allow whomever equips them to cast special spells, increase certain stats, or utilize other special properties. Each character can equip two crests at a time, and their effects can be combined to unlock even more potent ones. Customization abounds.

Yeah.

One of those game's that one aspect doesn't step up to the other's but the rest bring's the game back up...

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Sigh.

[Sephex]

Sigh.

LOL. And your points you made in your earlier post is why I like the Lunar games.

[crashNUMBERS]

Sigh.

[xox LiNdZ]

I haven't played Lunar: The Silver Star for years, but it was and still is one of my favorite games. I had the game on sega cd, so it was a long time ago. I want to buy it for playstation sometime. I recently played and beat Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, on playstation. I liked eternal blue, but I think silver star was better.

[localflick]

Okay. It breaks down like this:

Lunar Legend is a stripped down version of Lunar Silver Star Story. It has no cutscenes, reduced graphics, and other cut corners already mentioned in this thread. To answer ALL your questions go here.

Most Lunar Fans think that Legend is OK, but NO WHERE near as good as the PSX or Sega CD versions. Also Lunar Eternal Blue is my favorita RPG of all time. If you like Silver Star that's the next one to try.

Remember, they don't sell them used for over $50 because they suck. If you get a copy on E-bay, try to get one with the bonus stuff that came with it. (Cloth map, hardbound manual, nifty box etc...)