Tuesday 18 January 2011

Lunar:Silver star harmony

Gamespot score:8.0(great)

my score:8.2

(+)Pros:-Superb emotional tale with an amazing conclusion,-battle system absolutely receives a thumbs up,-lots of boss fights make up for the chore of long dungeons ,-main story is long enought to keep players occupied to at least 30 to 40 hours,-likeable party members.

(-)Cons:-some lousy voice acting,-some glitches during battle

gameplay time:30-40 hours(Above average)



According to my memory, lunar was suposedly a PS1 game, but it was my older cousin who played it, not me, and apparently it has been remade a couple of times....but meh, never played a single one, until silver star harmony. While I have to say that it was kinda old school, this is probably one of the best RPGs on the PSP, next to mana khemia, birth by sleep and crisis core. Amazing story, good battle system plus a long journey with tons of bosses, lunar is one solid RPG, and it will satisfy those who are thirsting for a good RPG. A few annoying things will get in your way here and there to hinder your experience, but still, overall your time will not be wasted if you play through the whole game.



Lunar's story is really old school, and for that its kinda cool. You play as alex, a typical village boy with a flying cat pet and a stepsister named Luna. One day his friend remus asks him to follow him to a nearby white dragon cave, and thus, out of curiosity alex and luna tag along into the cave. There, they really meet a great white dragon, who tells them of an old tale, and even gives alex a white dragon ring. Following that, the curious trio decide to travel further from thier village to find out more about the dragons, and from that journey, a string of disasterous events take place, turning the world into a fearful place where monsters can strike anytime. To make matters worse, the 4 heroes are out of commision, with no one to save the world, alex is the final hope, since he has the white dragon ring, he is the only one who can collect all the dragon pieces to become the legendary dragon knight.


Well, everything aside, Lunar is a pretty normal RPG. You move from town to city, forests to caves, all in an epic journey to save the world. Your journey takes you to many strange places with many strange monsters, while meeting a fair share of interesting people. The main party itself is fairy amusing itself. While alex himself is pretty much a silent protoganist most of the time, he is accompanied by a bunch of cool guys, we get nash, a cocky magician with a pretty demanding personality. We also get mia, a quiet kind girl who always wishes for peace within the party, since the rest of the party is usually butting heads with each other, since the other 2 members, jessica and kyle, are usually always arguing over trivial issues with nash. These amusing conversations themselves will entertain you for a fair bit. At least theres something to enjoy aside from all the interesting areas you will visit.




The game's battle system is rather simple, but can get technical after a matter of turns. You start the battle with the formation you set your party in, then start assualting the enemy. Though in this game you get to set in the AI to fight for you, its recommended to fight yourself to feel the heat of battle itself. But of course its not entirely useless, the AI feature allows you to fight enemies if you're tired of killing them youself, a single button press is all you need. Aside from that, everything is pretty much from other games as well. Normal attacking, using skills, items, blocking and escaping....yep its pretty much normal, until a few turns pass. After a turn or two of assualting, your party will be everywhere. If you melee your opponent, your character will move towards the enemy and strike. If you want to cast spells, you can choose to move to the further parts of the map to do so. So after abit of moving here and there, to get your formation right, you can fight properly, since enemies will have to move to strike you as well, unless of course they are using skills. Aside from this, there are alot of boss fights, so getting used to your basic formation and strategy in battle will serve you well.


Flaws-wise, this game has only 2 problems. Firstly, during battle, there ARE glitches. Sometimes when you have multiple characters trying to melee someone, they do get stuck, and refuse to move. Also, there are times where not matter what you press, you or your other characters refuse to do anyting. -.-. Finally, theres the voice acting, altough theres not much of it outside of the animated cutscenes, it quite bad, as GS says.
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Lunar: Silver star is certainly a classic, and when remade, it was made even better. RPG fans should, in no way miss this game, its one to remember and the core story will stick with you for a long time. It also has a great conclusion where the whole story ends well, unlike most games, where the ending justs makes you beg for more, this games finishes it well, and you will be happy with the ending.

Happy gaming!