Summary
Yeah, baby, yeah!
The Good
I really must be the most annoying MobyGames reviewer, mainly due to my terrible habit of re-writing reviews for certain games. This present attempt is the
third review I write for the game. Just for the record - all three were written after I already finished the game. You see, there are some games that make both a positive and a negative impact on me. And sometimes I simply can't decide whether I loved a certain game or hated it. There were many things that disturbed and annoyed me in "Lunar 2". However, I found myself having fond memories of this game after I had already finished it. I found out I missed certain scenes of the game, missed the unforgettable cast of characters, missed the overall feeling of something pure and innocent that this game had, missed its kindness and its warmth. So I decided I was too harsh. Before I continue (and I
will criticize the game, because it is anything but perfect), I have to say that in spite of all the troubles I had with the game, and despite all the frustration and all the irritation its slow, old-fashioned gameplay and its somewhat childish story brought to me, I love it and I wouldn't like to lose it... Call me crazy, but that's the way I feel!
First of all - and that's where the game shines and rules undeniably - it has surprisingly fresh, attractive, and often simply brilliant dialogues. If you thought Japanese games always get poor English translation, take a look at this game. I'm no expert of English language, but at least I have some experience concerning books, movies, and games in English, and to me the game's dialogues seemed wonderfully natural. You can really notice how much attention has been paid to those dialogues, each line is carefully constructed to reflect the personality of the character that utters it, and I don't mean just with some fake accents or extra words, but nicely capturing the spirit of a person. For example, Hiro's lines are direct, honest, and simple, just like the person himself, Ronfar is a (seemingly) carefree wisecrack, drunkard, gamer, and a harmless Casanova, so his words are chosen accordingly, and so on. The insignificant townspeople also have interesting things to say. Overall, the dialogue is of a very high quality, and with pretty good voice-overs, too.
There is a lot of humor in the game. Some jokes are really hilarious, and can compete with the best examples of a tongue-to-cheek humor in games such as, let's say,
Gabriel Knight.
The animé sequences are a pleasure to watch for any manga fan. They are very beautiful, there is a fair amount of them (although not as much as I would like to see, but still, way more than in
Xenogears), and they often have an erotic flavor, typically for manga - there are three sequences that show a completely naked woman (although from such angles there isn't much to see)...
Many bad things were said about the game's graphics, but it seems that most of those critics forgot it is just a port of a much older game, almost an exact copy, except some cut scenes changed to animé sequences and slight changes of story. I heard the graphics were converted to 32 bit, but they seemed 16 bit to me, and were more or less of the same level as in, for example, in
Phantasy Star IV. However, I liked the graphics, especially the beautiful backgrounds in battles and some nice nature scenes.
The characters have a certain natural quality, and especially the main protagonist appears almost as a rare figure in our days, where a conflicted, torn-apart, fighting-the-evil-from-within, scarred, rude, and mysterious hero is a must in practically every RPG (who started that, I wonder?). For a change, it is a nice to have a main protagonist who doesn't yell at nice people, doesn't turn occasionally into a monster, hadn't killed his grandmother when he was 3 years old, and seems mentally stable.
Playing as Hiro (since the hero of this game is named Hiro), and witnessing the development of his relationship with Lucia is an experience not for the impatient ones, but rather something very touching and very pure... damn it, I'm starting to sound like an old grandmother, but think of it: do you know many games that present a pure, innocent love? A love of a simple teenager boy, one of those we all know? It is not the kind of love we encounter in Final Fantasy games: it is a not a complex love of grown ups, it is the love of a heart that yet doesn't know the sorrows of it - the first love for an ideal beauty (because Lucia is more an incarnation of feminine beauty than a concrete woman; at least Hiro sees her that way). Now I'm not going into details here, but certain scenes (such as the "naked" swimming pool scene I already mentioned) belong to the most intense and poetic experiences I ever had with any video game. At the end, this story is nothing more than "kill the bad guys" fairy tale, but hey, if it's a fairy tale, it's a damn good one! Any traditional console RPG is first and foremost an "interactive novel", where characters and story are way more important than the gameplay. The story of "Lunar 2" is a mixed bag: more about it in the "bad" section. The gameplay is definitely not the strongest side of the game. But the characters, the characters... the moment you meet each one of them, you know: this is a
person. This is not a video game figure created by some programmers: this is a human being just like the rest of us. Believe my word: this game is worth playing just for the sake of those characters. Forget the childish plot, forget the old-fashioned gameplay: this game is about spending time with somebody you can really get attached to. And after you finish the game, you'll miss them and you'll replay the game just to see them again.
The gameplay also has a lot of good sides. Yes, it seems outdated, but I'd rather prefer this simple, classical "outdated" gameplay to the ultra-super-moves and various gimmicks of many modern RPGs, which are there just to prove the system is "original". I have nothing against those gimmicks and I usually enjoy them a lot, but it's good to play a game that goes straight to the point for a change. You have your basic character classes in "Eternal Blue", and it is up to you to use their abilities wisely. There are no "Ultimate Destruction" mega-spells that annihilate the enemy party in one hit. You have to work hard in order to win the battles. Regular battles are not that hard, but you'll need patience and good planning for the bosses. It is impressive to see how team work matter in "Eternal Blue". It adds to the sense of the wonderful unity of the characters. Every character knows exactly what he has to do in order to contribute to the victory. If Ronfar starts attacking bosses with his mace instead of healing the party, the game will be over very soon. "Lunar 2" offers RPG players something they have forgotten over the years - a bit of
challenge.
The Bad
I admit I was disappointed by the game when I played it for the first time, probably because I was too spoiled by Squaresoft. My main gripe is about the storytelling technique. What is a story for a console RPG? It is at least 50% of the entire game. When you play a role-playing game for the PC, you count it as a bonus if the game has a good story with memorable characters. You don't take it for granted. You think it is actually cool how they managed to squeeze a decent story into so much role-playing. You think so because RPGs for the PC are RPGs in the actual sense of the word, where what you do is role-playing, all other activities put aside. Now, console RPGs, although they considered as such, are in fact interactive novels/movies, based mainly on the story, where the role-playing is usually reduced to mere fighting. A console RPG can't exist without a story, the storyline is what drives it forwards and gives it an excuse to throw in some monsters and other stuff. So, when I am playing a standard console RPG without any unusual gameplay or setting issues, I expect, I
demand not a good, but a great story, with all plot twists, sudden revelations, character development, and other mumbo-jumbo, all wrapped nicely in one package. Now, the question is, do I get it in "Lunar: Eternal Blue"? The answer is: yes and no. Yes, because the story is wonderful, makes sense, and can hold your attention for a long time. No, because it is just not enough for somebody who got acquainted with the RPG world through Final Fantasy games. When I'm playing a long, epic console RPG, I want a story that will surprise me at every turn, that will hold me in suspense until the very last moment. But this game's story simply doesn't do it. It is too predictable. There are almost no secrets and plot turns, except an important change of direction in the middle of the game and a "revelation" of one of the main characters - both, however, almost painfully obvious. "Lunar 2" breaks a very important commandment of storytelling: it gives too much away from the plot since the very beginning. Compare the very first scene of "Lunar 2" to any opening of any Squaresoft game, and you'll be able to tell the difference immediately. Another problem is that there are too much black/white colors in the game. The good people are just good in this game. The bad people are very, very bad. And they laugh, too. Every line of every villain in this game is accompanied by a loud "Ha, ha, ha, ha, HA, HA, HA!" When I heard this for the tenth time, I found myself frowning and thinking, for what age is this game actually intended? Because anyone above 12 is sure to find those villains pathetic. It is pity, since the villains of the first "Lunar" were much better and overall the first game didn't seem to be as childish as this one.
Not only the villains are pathetic, but the whole game tends a bit too much towards the "good" side. There are just too many bright colors, too many cheerful moments, too many smiles at the expense of everything else. It's not that I'm against those things, but we are talking about the destruction of the world here, this is an epic RPG, and not a comic adventure. There wasn't even one truly intimidating moment in the whole game. Not even one location that I would describe as "dark". The heroes themselves were never in panic - although there were plenty of situations where they should have been! Instead, they just screamed in a comic manner, like some guys from
Day of the Tentacle, and most of the time even joked. This is cool one time. This is cool two times. This is not cool when it happens throughout the entire game. Again, the first "Lunar" was considerably less cheerful. The gamma of feelings in "Lunar 2" is surprisingly and disappointingly one-sided and narrow - not as much as in
Grandia or
Skies of Arcadia, but still a little too much. When the characters are sad, it never looks like actual sadness, since the next moment they will laugh happily and say: "Well then, let's continue our journey!", as if it were a Sunday trip to the nearest park, and not a dangerous expedition that is bound to end by fighting the most destructive power in the world. Or, to put it simply: the game is a bit too cute. It has too much of this typical Japanese "cuteness", that found its way even in such mature and profound masterpieces as
Xenogears. But in "Xenogears", it was only Chu-Chu. Here, it is everybody. Although the amount of cuteness is not as sickening as in
Grandia, it comes close at times. And it's not because the characters look so cute - they don't. The characters of
Final Fantasy IX seem much cuter, but here's the trick: they
look silly and childish, but they are actually not, while in "Lunar 2" it is just the opposite.
Another disappointment was the music. Usually I adore the music in Japanese RPGs, and, what's more, Iwadare himself wrote a much better soundtrack for the original "Lunar". In the sequel, there were not so many memorable tunes, both battle, travelling, and city music were quite average, and it tends to have the same problem as the entire game itself - it is too light. The we-are-walking-happily-all-together-occasionally-killing-monsters melodies are pretty fresh and nice, but the dungeon and the town music, with the exception of the first few dungeons (then the music suddenly changed), is not that memorable.
The gameplay might appear too simplistic for our sophisticated age. Either you attack, or you use magic - this is all. You equip your characters with weapons, armors, and accessories... that's it. Now compare it to any system of any Final Fantasy game, and see the difference. Such combat system as in "Lunar 2" doesn't have anything really interesting or new to offer to the spoiled modern player.
The Bottom Line
I looked at the review and saw how big the
Bad section has become. Well, if you are wise and skipped the whole review and went straight to the
Bottom Line, here it is: I feel I should criticize myself more than the game. I was disappointed and annoyed many times when playing it, and I honestly write about it in the
Bad section, but it was rather my own fault than the game's - I simply couldn't appreciate it at the time I was overwhelmed by Final Fantasy and thought there was no other way to make an RPG. "Lunar 2" is a great game. Its greatness is in the simplicity of its story, in its poetry, in its purity, in its unforgettable cast of characters. Beautiful animé scenes and the excellent dialogue, that surpasses any other I ever encountered in a console RPG, add to the fact "Lunar 2" is wonderful. Yes, it has some downsides, its storytelling technique is not that brilliant, the villains are cartoony and the good guys a bit too childish. It is not quite as emotional and serious as the first game, yet it is a magnificent experience for those who seek wisdom in simplicity, who see profound matter in what seems trivial, and who wish to have a break from everyday worries and to dive into the wonderful world of a fairy tale.
