Lunar SSS’s voice acting is superb, and this is to be expected because Working Designs doesn’t slack in any department, and one of the departments where they really take pride in is in the voice acting of its games, and it shows.
Musically, this game sounds better than most post 32 bit era RPGs and that’s saying something. This statement speaks more of Lunar Silver Star Story’s greatness rather than demeaning FFVI-V’s orchestrations which are considered rightfully great by this reviewer. It is hard to go against Uematsu here, especially because the Sega CD had better sound capabilities than the SNES, but I actually find the soundtrack here superior to that in FFIV and FFV.
It is amazing that after composing the soundtracks for the three Grandias and Radiata Stories, he still can’t quite surpass his work on the two Original Lunar games. Noriyuki Iwadare is an elite composer, and Lunar: Silver Star Story, in my opinion, is far and away his best work. I mean by the time I actually got around to get myself a copy of Lunar now in 2006, I had pretty much seen everything in what FMVs were concerned, so I can only speculate as to how awesome they were back in 1992.
I can’t imagine how jaw dropping these FMVs were for players in 1992. The anime cutscenes are flawless and very well drawn, always popping up at the right time and always awe inspiring. The one thing that hasn’t aged at all (besides the amazing artwork and character design), are the game’s Anime FMVs. The bosses are beautifully designed, as are the enemies, the only downer here is the over simplistic world map, which does the job of delivering a convincing world, but it could have been better as even some of the latter SNES RPGs featured better looking, and more 3-D like world maps. The backgrounds are as bright and as crisp as the characters are. This is as good as graphics got in the 16 bit generation, the game is up there with FFVI, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue and Chrono Trigger. Graphically, there isn’t much to say here, except that the artwork has aged well enough that as long as you don’t have a problem with 2-D graphics in the year 2006, the game will be a treat to the eyes. Not only that, but the spoken dialog, and the long epic story coupled with magnificent character development that very few RPGs have been able to equal, much less surpass, made Lunar Silver Star Story a groundbreaking game in its time, and a timeless masterpiece that will be enjoyed by RPG fanatics in any era. Indeed, RPGs in the 32 bit era (probably) were inspired to go into a Cinematic route by the Lunar series, which featured gorgeous Anime FMVs that added to the experience of the game’s story and presentation. Released a year after Final Fantasy IV, a game which is mistakenly given credit for pushing the envelope in RPG storytelling, Lunar: Silver Star Story did push storytelling, and cinematic presentation in RPGs to what is now considered the modern style of presentation in the genre. Other than that, Working Designs made some improvements to the amount of monster encounters in the game, and the company took away Alex’s Magic abilities which might sound like a chore in theory but actually helps to balance the game out in my view.Įven after all of the changes Lunar: Silver Star Story (Complete) virtually remains the same game that was released in 1992. It is things like this that have always made me believe that a lot of RPGs would have been greatly improved had Working Designs had the chance to work its magic on them (The Granstream Saga I am looking at you!). The addition adds to the already epic and excellent story. While the game’s Story basically remains the same as it was in 1992 (complete with the anime scenes and excellent 2-D graphics), some events were taken out by Working Designs while others were added.Īn example of the addition is the new trio of Female Villains. So again, Working Designs must be thanked because finally in 1999 the publisher brought Lunar SSS to the PS1.įor Starters, the game went through some minor changes from its Sega CD days, to its SAT/PS1 coming out party. Like the Sega CD, the Saturn was a system doomed to sink into the depths of oblivion. Released for the Sega CD in 1992, Lunar: Silver Star Story was Game Arts’ first RPG title (and its best), and while the game seemed destined for obscurity thanks to sparse sales of Sega CD units, master publisher (now defunct), Working Designs, was kind enough to bring the game back again in 1997 to the Sega Saturn. By Samuel Rivera JRPG, Lunar Series, Lunar: Silver Star Story, PlayStation 1, RPG, Sega CD, Sega Saturn THE FIRST AND THE FINEST