Since a new experience went poorly with Fire Emblem, let's try something else new! My friend had Lunar: Silver Star Story for the Playstation long ago, but I never played it. I don't know if he played it much, either, since no one ever talked about it. But I knew it was four disks long and looked interesting. Plus, it was new, so I always wanted to. But for reasons that are unknowable to a child, I never did. I gave it run through during my dark ages, but it only lasted about an hour - if that. So I'm coming back around to it now for the re-re-remake on the PSP!
Our opening cinematic has us seeing a young boy go through various whimsical places, along with his friends and shoulder cat/bird. It's got an early 90s city pop/anime sound to it with an actual singer! We don't get much from it, but I'm starting to see some plot twists already. But we're brought to the main menu, and I select new game.
Lunar starts off rather oddly. We're not a young boy in the middle of the boondocked village, but we're right in the thick of it! A woman with blue hair is being held prisoner by a man with a mask and terrible voice acting. The two "discuss" ruling the world, but it's short lived as the man throws the Goddess, Althena, into a fire. As she does, four people casually show up to save her. They're way too chill about their friend probably dying right now. Anyway, the masked guy summons five heads, absorbs the power of Althena, and attacks the four of them. This entire thing is impossible to lose, so whatever. I guess it's the tutorial of the game. The masked man is unsure how he could lose with so much energy, but the heads behind think he sucks because he's human. But he might make for a great host... After they merge, they kick our butt. But then they hear singing coming from somewhere. It's Althena! This invigorates them, and we make a comeback. They save Althene and prepare to party since they just saved the world. As they leave, the silver haired dude stays back, and the masked man appears again. He prophesies that their ruin will come just as they brought his.
We cut to a small house with a family of four in it. That whole thing was a story two parents were telling their kids. But it's bedtime now. Even so, the kids are hyped because the legend of Dyne, the Dragonmaster, is so cool! But they're good kids, so they hit the hey! We cut again to a hill with a blue planet in the background overhead. We're with the boy from the opening scene, Alex! His pet cat/bird is Nall, and they're at the shrine of Dyne, the Dragonmaster. He was the one leading the charge against the masked man. As he and Nall talk about Dyne, a slightly chubby boy enters the scene named Ramus. He informs Alex that the ice blocking the White Dragon Cave has melted, and he wants to adventure in and find a Dragon Diamond! It takes some coercion, but Alex agrees to go. But first, he has to let his adopted sister, Luna, know he's skipping music practice. Ramus goes off to his house to prepare, and we can finally do something in the game. A small earthquake happens as we do, but it seems to be no big deal. This section takes thirty minutes...
From here, we can explore the village of Burg. We get some early world building going on as we learn Dybe was from this village fifteen years ago. Later on, our dad tells us he was a friend of his! Luna, our blue haired sister, was adopted fifteen years ago... But, most importantly, we're quickly approaching the Goddess Festival, a celebration of the Goddess Althena. Luna loves to sing and is practicing her song in the spring east of town. We're her ocarina accompanist, but we're late. She's in mid tune as we approach, and we quickly get settled in. Pitch perfect! She laughs, and then the three of them (Nall) start to talk about the festival and the White Dragon Cave. Rather than get too mad, Luna actually agrees to come with us on the condition we tell our parents. She thinks she needs to protect us, and, spoiler, she's a healer, so she will. Return home, and our laissez-faire parents will be okay with us heading to this cave of unknown monsters. We're seventeen, so maybe it's not that bad. Anyway, dad gives us a Fire Ring and lets us loot the basement. Head to the exit to catch up with Ramus, the spoiled son of the mayor, and we can head to the world map. It's not a true, golden age map, but it's more like Grandia's, which makes me sad. Music's real peppy, though, and it reminds me of a pop song I can't recall. But we have a Dragon Diamond to find!
The Forest to the west is too smokey to explore, so we head to the White Dragon Cave to the east. There's a block of ice in our path, but the fire ring can melt it, somehow. Inside is a pretty straightforward dungeon that's surprisingly hard. I've read the original Sega CD version can be ruthless, as can the PS1 remake. Fortunately for me, they toned down the difficulty for the PSP version. Head south first, just to make sure you got everything. To break the blocks, you need one of the white monkeys to ram into it. They'll charge at you on the map, so try to dodge in time. It's a bit tricky, but mobs respawn when you enter a new area, so you'll get to do some grinding along the way. Once you reach level three, it's not that hard, and it's manageable getting there so long as you remember to heal.
Monsters in the area are:
Slimes. They pose no real threat and die in two hits.
Dragonflies: They're hard to hit but don't hit hard either.
And the White Monkeys: They can throw large blocks of ice at you, and they really hate Ramus...
Ramus is designed to be our tank, but I don't have high hopes for him going forward. For starters, he's not on the PSP pause menu screen, nor does he get stats when he levels up.
After exploring for a while, we'll find a path deeper in blocked, so the only way to go is up towards a bright light. There we find something I don't know if I've ever seen before. It's a white dragon, alright, but he's covered in fur and looks emaciated. Most dragons are regal and strong, but this dude seems brittle. There's a short introduction where we say who we are and learn that this is Quark. Ramus, the boy with the silver tongue, steps forwards to ask about the Dragon Diamond. Before he can, though, Quark growls, and it scares the boy. Quark seems to sense something in Alex, but Ramus is annoying. Eventually, someone asks about the Dragon Diamon, and Quark gets annoyed again. He wants to know why humans are so interested "in my sh-." ...huh?... No one bats an eye, but they're really interested in the Diamond. Eventually, Quark tells them that if they want the "sh-," they'll need to find the Dragon's Ring deeper in the cave. This'll open the path, and we can continue on. The enemies are the same, and there is no boss. After having the monkeys break a few more ice blocks, we can find the ring and return to Quark. He'll keep talking up Alex and inform him that he senses a power he once felt in Dyne inside him. Quark will instruct Alex to find Quark's brethren and then return. Once he's done that, Alex will be able to call himself a Dragonmaster. It's getting late, so we all return to Burg.
We head to the general store to sell off Quark's "Diamond," but our town is so small that it doesn't have enough money to pay us. The shopkeeper suggests heading to the big city of Mandoria to the south, which we think about doing. We head home, and Ramus stops us en route. He asks Luna to continue home because the boys need to have a talk about manliness. It's actually about how we should leave now, without Luna. Ramus thinks Luna will throw a fit if we left because "girls are supposed to make our lives dull." Or something like that. I, being the overeager teenager, agree. We head back to the world map and attempt to walk through the Forest again. It's still too foggy, and Ramus gets scared, so we have to turn back. But we'll try again tomorrow.
We tell Luna because we're that type of brother, and she's a little annoyed. After speaking to our parents and getting their blessing, she comes around. Rather than tell us we can't go, though, she agrees to come along. We leave "on the morrow," so it's early to bed! That night, Luna has a reoccurring nightmare. We can't make it out, but it has something to do with a blinding light and faces I don't recognize. She hears Alex near Dyne's shrine, playing his ocarina, and the two have a nice heart-to-heart. We wake up, head out to Ramus, and we'll cross that Forest...
...tomorrow!
Day one plot dumps mean I skim a lot. I'm digging it so far. The visuals are fun, and I like the slightly dated anime cutscenes, even if I don't think all of them were needed. The battle system seems fun. It's turn based but with a tiny bit of Trails in the Sky placement. It's boring now, but I suspect it'll open up. And if it doesn't, I'm fine with that. There's an auto battle function if I want to use it. Not every game needs to reinvent the wheel. That being said, I've been around a while, so I think I see a few plot twists. I won't send them into the aether yet, but I suspect we're gonna bang our sister...
Oh, great, I already ruined the game!
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