What can I say? Lunar Silver Star Story is now on my list of completed campaigns. It was actually a very fun ride overall. While it wasn't very long (especially by JRPG standards), clocking in at just over 25 hours with stops for grinding, it still turned out to a very full journey.
The final dungeon had just the right mix of interesting and infuriatingly dangerous, throwing in some of the most lethal mook fights I've encountered from the PS1 era. Of particular note was the 'curse' section, leaving you with two or more party members out of action at the beginning of every encounter, combined with forced encounters. It's a healthy reminder of just much of your party's resources can be yanked away with the loss of a character. The actual final boss just reinforced the lesson, often leaving me with choosing between reviving party members or trying to keep the remainder alive. This combined with a very nasty AI pattern made for what may well be the most infuriating RPG final boss I've battled in quite a long while.
It added spice to the whole thing, certainly, but Ghaleon mashed me flat a couple of times and threatened to leave me with a failed campaign, and that is not something I wanted to deal with. Fortunately the dork side came to my aid and I eked out a win. Protip: swap out status protection for regeneration and straight defensive stat-boosting accessories, and make sure everybody has resurrection and mana heals on tap before plunging in.
Overall, LSSC proved to a very pleasant experience, sometimes irreverent and quirky, sometimes fairy blunt and grim. It all wound up on the uplifting side of things, and was a worthwhile game. I still haven't decided on the next game, but for now, The Harvest Has Triumphed.
Showing posts with label lunar silver star story complete. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lunar silver star story complete. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Save the World, Yadda Yadda
Well, things are still going very well in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. The storyline is still all cliché and silliness, but honestly it's okay.
It took me a while to realize that I've been through (and probably still going through) what is most likely the most productive gaming period I have experienced. I'm still working out why exactly my nerdy little wheels have decided to start churning out so many successive--and successful--campaigns thus far. Some of it is pure escapism; I beat Tales of The Abyss the same day my mom's cancer diagnosis was confirmed, and buried myself in Tales of Vesperia that very night. Some of it is pure bloodyminded, nerdy determination to sit down and beat some damn games instead of faffing about in open world wanderlust.
But what was the X factor, the catalyst that keeps me actually picking up the controller and seeing things to the credits? I'm still not 100 percent sure, but I think that it's the fact that I'm spacing the 'serious' games out with 'mental palate cleansers' like Lunar.
Objectively, this game should totally suck, especially stacked against some of the heavy fare I've been tearing my way through. But! The guys at Working Designs did a wonderful job of taking a cookie-cutter JRPG and making into something special. They went so completely nuts on the jokes and references and double entendres that even the glorious kooks at Gearbox Software probably weep in envy. Seriously, "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" is probably one of the tamer ones floating around in here. Throw in references to movies and cartoons, plus things like a snippet yanked and slightly sanitized from a corny sex novel and we have a wonderful, wonderful medley of hoots left and right.
A lot of the actual gameplay is actually very fun and refreshing too. The combat mechanics are fairly basic in theory, but have a level of intricacy and polish that RPGs two or even three generations ahead have a hard time matching. It's turn-based, but with interesting twists like characters actually moving across the battlefield to smack enemies, higher-level characters being able to make multiple moves and attacks a turn making basic attack commands viable throughout the game, monsters have different attacks and animations acting as 'tells,' giving you a chance to anticipate and respond. This is all in an early PS1 game that is a remake of a Sega CD game, mind you.
The dungeons are similar. They look like something from the 16-bit era that's been slightly jazzed up (which is what they are), but there's this air of polish and craftsmanship to them. The towns are even more fun; Lunar stands as that rare early JRPG where the towns actually feel like towns. They're still pretty small, but they're chock-full of things to look at, people with interesting dialogue (a lot of the gags come from random townsfolk) and objects to find and poke (even more gags). There's no real wonder that this game (and its sequel) have such an affectionate fanbase, and my only regret is not playing this the last time I had a copy on hand. But now it's time to go, The Harvest Never Rests!
It took me a while to realize that I've been through (and probably still going through) what is most likely the most productive gaming period I have experienced. I'm still working out why exactly my nerdy little wheels have decided to start churning out so many successive--and successful--campaigns thus far. Some of it is pure escapism; I beat Tales of The Abyss the same day my mom's cancer diagnosis was confirmed, and buried myself in Tales of Vesperia that very night. Some of it is pure bloodyminded, nerdy determination to sit down and beat some damn games instead of faffing about in open world wanderlust.
But what was the X factor, the catalyst that keeps me actually picking up the controller and seeing things to the credits? I'm still not 100 percent sure, but I think that it's the fact that I'm spacing the 'serious' games out with 'mental palate cleansers' like Lunar.
Objectively, this game should totally suck, especially stacked against some of the heavy fare I've been tearing my way through. But! The guys at Working Designs did a wonderful job of taking a cookie-cutter JRPG and making into something special. They went so completely nuts on the jokes and references and double entendres that even the glorious kooks at Gearbox Software probably weep in envy. Seriously, "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" is probably one of the tamer ones floating around in here. Throw in references to movies and cartoons, plus things like a snippet yanked and slightly sanitized from a corny sex novel and we have a wonderful, wonderful medley of hoots left and right.
A lot of the actual gameplay is actually very fun and refreshing too. The combat mechanics are fairly basic in theory, but have a level of intricacy and polish that RPGs two or even three generations ahead have a hard time matching. It's turn-based, but with interesting twists like characters actually moving across the battlefield to smack enemies, higher-level characters being able to make multiple moves and attacks a turn making basic attack commands viable throughout the game, monsters have different attacks and animations acting as 'tells,' giving you a chance to anticipate and respond. This is all in an early PS1 game that is a remake of a Sega CD game, mind you.
The dungeons are similar. They look like something from the 16-bit era that's been slightly jazzed up (which is what they are), but there's this air of polish and craftsmanship to them. The towns are even more fun; Lunar stands as that rare early JRPG where the towns actually feel like towns. They're still pretty small, but they're chock-full of things to look at, people with interesting dialogue (a lot of the gags come from random townsfolk) and objects to find and poke (even more gags). There's no real wonder that this game (and its sequel) have such an affectionate fanbase, and my only regret is not playing this the last time I had a copy on hand. But now it's time to go, The Harvest Never Rests!
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Wish Upon A Silver Star
Well, how does one say it? Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is proceeding very well. It has proven to be quite the palate cleanser after all the grim realpolitik and eldritch meddling going on in Final Fantasy XII.
I should be bored and a bit horrified; Grandia was a signal lesson that just because something is old, widely praised, and well within my gaming specialty doesn't mean I'll actually like the thing enough to make into a complete campaign. But Lunar just has that special spark. It's probably the music and writing. Yes, the dialog and random text blobs are hilarious. Working Design went absolutely nuts with the humor and the references, to the point that I'm amazed that this got a T rating--in the nineties!--which goes to show that censorious prudes are complete idiots when it comes to games.
Wheaties, Austin Powers (both the first and second movies), Chrono Trigger (anybody that doesn't think Ghaleon isn't Magus 2.0 is a fool, ditto for Vane being Zeal 2.0), Titanic, Norman Greenbaum, the list goes on, and I'm only six hours in! The Borderlands series' level of references ain't got nuthin' on Lunar, I tell you. Combine that with a simple-but-pleasant storyline, a fun battle system, and SSSC is shaping up to be quite a fun little ride.
It's good to remember that even now that there are plenty of old gems out there to unearth and admire, and just because a game is predictable doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun. The Harvest Never Rests, and Needs A Good Laugh Anyway.
I should be bored and a bit horrified; Grandia was a signal lesson that just because something is old, widely praised, and well within my gaming specialty doesn't mean I'll actually like the thing enough to make into a complete campaign. But Lunar just has that special spark. It's probably the music and writing. Yes, the dialog and random text blobs are hilarious. Working Design went absolutely nuts with the humor and the references, to the point that I'm amazed that this got a T rating--in the nineties!--which goes to show that censorious prudes are complete idiots when it comes to games.
Wheaties, Austin Powers (both the first and second movies), Chrono Trigger (anybody that doesn't think Ghaleon isn't Magus 2.0 is a fool, ditto for Vane being Zeal 2.0), Titanic, Norman Greenbaum, the list goes on, and I'm only six hours in! The Borderlands series' level of references ain't got nuthin' on Lunar, I tell you. Combine that with a simple-but-pleasant storyline, a fun battle system, and SSSC is shaping up to be quite a fun little ride.
It's good to remember that even now that there are plenty of old gems out there to unearth and admire, and just because a game is predictable doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fun. The Harvest Never Rests, and Needs A Good Laugh Anyway.
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