When I came to this world, I did not even know the meaning of humanity's power, so how could I believe? But you changed all that, Hiro. You showed me the power of your inner strength and made me believe.
After almost five years of blogging, I've determined that the late 90's and early 00's are my favorite era in gaming. Let's say from 1996 to about 2004. There's an entire post's worth of reasons as to why, but the most important of such reasons is a simple one: RPGs were mainstream.
Nowadays, I would consider a grand total of one RPG franchise to be mainstream: Final Fantasy, and even that franchise is not as popular as it once was. I guess Pokemon is about as mainstream as it gets, but it's kind of it's own thing with a much different feel than the kind of RPGs I'm talking about. Persona, Tails, Trails and even Dragon Quest are comparatively "mainstream" amongst RPGS fans, but they are still relatively obscure when considering the gaming industry as a whole. But that wasn't always the case. It used to be a major deal when these games came out. Final Fantasy was always a major deal, but at the time, so were titles like Legend of Dragoon, Grandia II, Xenosaga and a host of others. It was great to see my favorite genre get so much love and it also lead to developers and publishers taking more chances with games they otherwise wouldn't have touched. A lot of games that would have otherwise never left Japan got released in the U.S. Occasionally, older games that missed the RPG boom were remade, reimagined or re-released on more popular consoles. Lunar II: Eternal Blue was one of those games.
Developer Game Arts and Publisher Working Designs (remember them?) brought Lunar II to the western market not once, but twice. I remember playing it for the first time in 1995, in its original incarnation for the much maligned Sega CD. Even with my limited time with the game, I was able to get half way through, I was blown away. It was a game I had to have and one I absolutely would have purchased for myself if given the chance. There was just one problem...it was on the Sega CD. To play Lunar II, I would have had to have purchased a Genesis, Sega CD and the game itself, a near impossibility on a few dollars a week allowance. It wasn't exactly easy to find Sega CD games in my town, you were looking at a 30 plus minute drive to the nearest Funcoland and even then they only stocked titles for the console on rare occasions. Can you blame them? No one I knew had a Sega CD and since the few days of my aforementioned Lunar II playthrough, I've never come across the console again. But the game was not as lost to me as I thought. In 2000, Game Arts and Working Designs decided to bring the Lunar II: Eternal Blue Complete to the Playstation with updated graphics, sound and gameplay. The JRPG boom of the 90's really was crazy, at any other point in history a game like this would have been left to wither in obscurity on a floundering console (though in recent years, the Sega CD has started to gain some respect from the gaming media).
Before we go any further, we need to talk a little bit about version differences, because they are quite a bit different. For the sake of this review, I played the PS1 version. The general consensus among fans is that the first game (Lunar: The Silver Star Story), also a Sega CD title, was changed drastically when it was brought to the PS1. Lunar II also saw its share of changes, but they were far less drastic. I can't speak for the first game, but I will say that the story and characters in Lunar II are largely the same. The translation has been cleaned up, but the overarching plot and the personalities of your party are pretty much in tact. The battles are a bit different and the magic exp mechanic has been done away with. But the biggest changes were reserved for exploration and dungeons. All encounters in dungeons are touch based instead of random and there are no encounters at all on the world map. Some of the dungeons have been shortened, with a handful changed entirely. The number of cutscenes has been reduced, but the ones that remain are longer and more detailed. It's different, but not so much that I would consider it an entirely different game. I will say I think the PS1 version looks and sounds better. But if you are looking for a challenge, the Sega CD version is way tougher.
Okay, now that that is all out of the way, I can talk about why Lunar II is one of my all time favorites. I have mentioned in the past that even among my 10s, there is a division between great and greatest, and this leans closer to greatest. Lunar II is a top 10, borderline top 5 game of all time for me and that starts with it's memorable story and characters. You play as Hiro, a young man who lives with his adoptive grandfather Gwynn and lifelong companion Ruby, a flying pink cat (JRPGs are weird) of questionable origin. Obsessed with exploring ancient ruins, Hiro idolizes the legendary Dragonmaster Alex, a familiar character for those who played the first game, and longs to leave his relatively dull life behind. After witnessing a strange flashing light at the mysterious Blue Spire, Hiro, Gwynn and Ruby are confronted by Leo, a member of Althena's chosen and one of the four heroes. He is seeking information on a being called the destroyer that is alleged to have appeared at the spire. This doesn't phase the trio at all, as they set out to explore despite the warning. Expecting to find a hideous beast at the top of the spire, they are shocked to instead find a young woman. She introduces herself as Lucia, claims to be from the revered Blue Star and demands to see the Goddess Althena in the holy city of Pentagulia. Hiro is unsure at first, but he feels compelled to help Lucia and decides to help her in her quest. But it won't be easy. For one, Lucia has been cursed, suppressing her otherwise god-like magical powers. They must also stay one step ahead of Leo, who is convinced that Lucia is the aforementioned destroyer. All of this will lead to a pivotal battle against an evil force beyond anything Hiro could have ever imagined.
Lunar II has all the trappings of a standard JRPG plot, but it always felt like it took things a step further and explored topics more deeply than your standard, run of the mill, anime-inspired titles. It explores themes like family, love, religion and past trauma that most RPGs don't do a good job discussing or outright avoid entirely. I have said this before, but media that criticizes religion tends to either not go far enough or overdo it with hackneyed tropes that provide little in terms of fresh insight. That isn't the case here. There story comes off so strong because the characters are so strong, all of them have intriguing backstories, strong personalities and memorable dialogue. This may be my favorite JRPG cast of all time and I don't think any of them are weak, either as characters or in battle. Hiro and Lucia will quickly meet Ronfar, a former priest of Althena who left the order and now spends his days drinking and gambling. Jean is a positive and peppy carnival dancer who, despite her job and disposition, is shockingly good at beating up enemies. Lemina is the Junior Première of the Magic Guild in Vane, which is fallen on hard times. She has two goals, restore the guild and get rich. The secondary characters are equally strong. Leo is a great antagonist who learns and grows throughout the game, more than redeeming himself by the time the credits roll. His sister Mauri, who Ronfar was once in love with, is a powerful mage and one of the four heroes of Althena. She used to be a kind and compassionate woman, but something changed in her after she was cured of a horrible illness many years ago.
I could talk all day about the characters in this game and all of their lore runs very deep. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the final villain Zophar. The god of destruction and embodiment of all evil, he kind of has a similar vibe to Sin from Final Fantasy X. I think he's a compelling villain, even if he doesn't actually do much on his own during the game. Lucia makes sure that the party knows just how powerful he is and the potential for his revival is ominous throughout the game, even if he isn't running around causing damage. The more present villain is Gahleon, again a familiar face from the first game. While he is definitely working against the party, his disposition is much different than it was in Silver Star Story. Other villains, like the evil wizard Borgan and the mysterious leader of the Dark Dragon Clan are also strong, leading to a very interesting stable of enemies working against the party. It's really difficult to go much deeper on a lot of this stuff without giving away major plot twists, but just know that both the good and evil characters really stand out here.
That's not to say the gameplay isn't strong. Lunar II's battle system isn't a huge departure from standard turn based RPGs, but it's well designed and does just enough different. Your characters can move about the battlefield by using specific attacks and defending, which can be used to avoid certain enemy attacks. Your characters can attack or use spells and abilities, with attacks targeting single enemies, zones or all enemies. Enemies can also move when they attack, so you have to be cognizant of which ones you are going to target. Enemies will telegraph their moves, as their sprites will display different animations based on the attacks they will perform. Observant players will eventually be able to determine exactly which attacks are coming and prepare accordingly. It's not hugely different, but it definitely feels like it. Each character can also equip two crests, which teach them new abilities or provide additional buffs. This allows all of the characters to have a certain level of versatility. Some combinations of crests can create even more powerful attacks and I found it fun to see which of these combos work. This leads to some fun and exciting battles, especially against bosses. The final boss fight is one of my favorite RPG battles of all time. I also believe the gameplay here is perfectly balanced, way more so than in most RPGs. It felt like I had to put everything I had into every boss fight, but I also never felt like anything was impossible.
Lunar II doesn't have many flaws, but it's not perfect either. I find a lot of RPGs, even the best ones, have what I call a 'slog point,' where the game goes through a bit of a drag. This usually happens at the end, where your party is overpowered and only the final boss stands in your way. But in Lunar II, the slogging happens early, as it takes a while to get set up. The first two or so hours are really slow here. You might have noticed the amount of times I've referenced the first game in this review. Lunar II does not directly follow the plot of Lunar, but it does take place in the same world 1000 years in the future. And honestly, I'm not sure whether you should play Silver Star Story before Eternal Blue. On one hand, Lunar II is filled with references to the first game. Hiro idolizes Dragonmaster Alex, the main character of the first game. Ghaleon was the primary villain of the first game, so his presence has more of an impact (and leads to more questions) for people that have played both. There are tons of other shared themes and locations, the four heroes, Meribia, Vayne, the Magic Guild, Nall, Ramus, the Goddess Althena, all of them played major roles in both Lunar titles. Lemina is also a direct descendent of Mia and Nash, party members from the first game. With all of that, it seems like you should play Silver Star Story first. But doing so will also give away a number of plot twists almost immediately. Anyone who played the first game will know right away what Ruby's true nature is just by looking at her. But the biggest unintentional spoiler comes when you finally meet Althena. I won't give it away, but the ending of the first game already explains exactly what happened to her, so anyone who has played it already knows the resolution of what might be the biggest plot point in Lunar II.
Lunar II offered one of my favorite JRPG universes ever, with a memorable world, engrossing story and outstanding characters. Like so many RPGs of its time, it seemed destined for a sequel. But unfortunately, it didn't happen that way. The JRPG boom wasn't going to last forever, as the genre started to peter out as the 6th generation gave way to the 7th. The why and how of it, well, that's a different post, maybe even an entire series. Some series carried on, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest had become too big to fail and Persona and Tales reinvented themselves to target more specific kinds of fans. But so many other franchises simply disappeared. There never was a Lunar III (and no, the abhorrible Lunar: Dragon Song doesn't count), and that's a shame.
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