Lunar: Silver Star Harmony for PSP Reviews by Gamers

Great stories resonate with society independent of pop culture fads. These are the tales told over and over, slightly evolving with time but maintaining the central themes that make them worth repeating. Lunar has lived on four consoles since its release over a decade ago on the SEGA CD, and it continues to find an audience not because of the straightforward gameplay but because of its timeless tale of young love, betrayal, and friendship.



That said this PSP iteration is the best looking version of Lunar ever created. The environments have been beautifully redrawn, and the character and menu art looks gorgeous on the PSP. Sony's handheld also ensures that the soundtrack sounds as good as ever and the classic animated cutscenes remain intact. The spoken dialogue and songs are a huge part of this game's world and they come through beautifully. There's even an in-game item that allows players to watch these scenes at any time. If you are interested in picking up Silver Star Harmony for nostalgia alone, this is a brilliant remake that accentuates the game's best qualities. If you're new to Lunar you should know that at its core is a battle system that shows its age and will eventually bore some players.



The core mechanics of Lunar would make a fine blueprint for the quintessential turn-based role-playing game. Players gather a team of friends comprised of warriors and mages and battle their way through a series of ever more difficult obstacles. Healing herbs, magic spells and sword techniques are all at your disposal as you trade turns with the enemy on the field of battle.



Gamers used to the more complicated or action-based battle systems found in Crisis Core or Dissidia might be surprised by Lunar's simplicity. But thankfully, the technical upgrades made over the years accentuate the game's appealing aspects and downplay its age. Instead of random battles, enemies appear on the screen throughout the dungeons. It makes encounters predictable, but hardly avoidable as most enemies directly block the path to advancement. Players navigate the map screen by simply selecting a destination, meaning that you won't encounter enemies when traveling between towns.



During battle, the AI function allows players to let the game do the thinking for them either on a character by character basis or for the entire team. It comes in handy when battles become tiresome or an enemy is so beneath your skill level that micromanaging a party's actions is a waste of time. The AI doesn't always make the best choice and it might pick an overpowered attack that wastes magic or one that misses the enemy entirely if they adjust their position on the field. In short, it's helpful for the easy battles but not entirely reliable in the tough ones.



The "critical attack system" has also made its way over from previous remakes and is now called Arts Gauge system. As players advance through battles a meter fills up that periodically allows them to unleash a super attack. It adds only the slightest bit of variation to encounters. Though the combat can veer into the monotonous at times, the game does its best to condense the grind, and characters level up and gain new skills at an even pace. The only real annoyance is when monsters re-spawn in areas you re-enter after they've already been cleared.



However, to dwell on the mechanics of Lunar would miss the point entirely. The endearing story is one of the best fables to grace the digital format. The beginnings are humble enough: a young boy name Alex from a small town embarks on an adventure with his friends. The story quickly expands into a quest to reclaim his true love from an evil that threatens his entire world. Every one of the characters Alex meets along the way have fully formed personalities with motives that are as personal as they are about saving the world. Modern RPGs still have a lot to learn from the way Lunar's plot intertwines romance, loss, and humor.



There are a few extended and additional scenes in the game that fill in some of the minor plot holes from the original script. Purists will notice the additions straight away, but they fit neatly into the story and, in this case, the more Lunar the better.



Lunar continues to shine in the dialogue. The writing is humorous, genuine, and avoids the awkward wording and lost cultural references that plague so many translated Japanese role-playing games. The NPCs all have something interesting to share, and very frequently change their responses based on what is happening in the story and how many times you've talked to them. Entering a new town is a joy as you know there will be an entirely new group of people to speak with, each with their own small quirks, jokes, and insight into the world around you. Add in the bickering and romantic involvements of your teammates and your wise-cracking pet dragon, and you'll never regret spending extended amounts of time with the characters of Lunar. I found myself over 30 hours in, and although some dungeons dragged on a bit too long -- and I'd played previous versions of Lunar -- I was still enthralled with the story.

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