amcahall

Title: Lunar: A updated trip down memory lane The Setup (Overview): A ancient disaster forced the abandonment of the the world's sister planet, The Silver Star. Seeking to save at least some of the population of the doomed planet, the goddess Althenia used her powers to bring the survivors to a new world where she used the last of her energy to transform the barren wasteland into a vibrant world where the sins of the past could be avoided. To ensure that peace reigned four beings, known as dragons, were given power over the forces of light, dark, fire and water. Their avatar in this world was known as the Dragon Master. She then retired to the goddess tower where she sleeps until she is needed again. Whenever the balance of the world was threatened brave men and women would set out to complete the dragons trials and earn the power necessary to deal with the threat. This cycle continued for thousands of years until the last Dragon Master, Dyne, perished under mysterious circumstances. The evil that threatened the world was defeated, but for the first time in memory there was no Dragon Master to maintain balance in the world. The world was left to deal with it's problems on it's own. The dragons were silent. It didn't take long for some to forget what the silent, silver reminder in the sky warned against. The Story(Some Story Details): The story begins in the remote town of Burg, fifteen years after the death of Dragon Master Dyne. An ancient evil has begun to stir on what as known as the frontier, a barren land that is beyond the reach of the Goddesses Althena's power. While rumors swirl of the return of the “Magic Emperor”, a title associated with anyone who unites the monsters of the frontier, they are just rumors without any proof. While some of these stories have reached the remote island town of Burg, they are far away and more the problem of the magic guild which is located on the main land. More popular are the stories of the legendary Dragon Master Dyne and his companions. Though most consider the stories to be a exaggeration of actual events, this doesn't matter to a young man by the name of Alex. He dreams of becoming the next Dragon Master and going on grand adventures to thwart evil where ever it may be. One day he gets his chance when exploring the nearby White Dragon Cave. In a flash of light the White Dragon appears and grants Alex the Dragon Ring, the first relic needed on the journey to become the Dragon Master. Soon Alex sets out on a journey to find the remaining Dragons and assume the role of Dragon Master. With him are his childhood friends ,Ramus, Luna, and his flying cat Nall. Their first stop is the magic guild, where they soon find that their journey might not be as simple as they thought... Conclusion(My Overall Opinion on the Story): I played this game when it first came out years ago. It was one of my favorite RPG's of the time and even though the graphics have been updated and a few things removed, like that awesome original opening song, it's still the engaging story I played all those years ago. There are several new scenes that have been added to flesh out the story and there are various game play tweaks that make the game a little more streamlined for modern times. In this version you can save anywhere, the graphics have been updated, the combat system has been streamlined with tactics that can be customized and probably a few more features that I am missing. The only downside to this game is that the combat hasn't aged that well. The combat is your standard turn based fair where you select an attack for each character and then they do said attack and then the enemy takes it's turn and does the same. While I don't like overly complicated battle systems, there isn't much need to think about tactics in this game, except for a couple of battles. This is helped a little by the fact enemies are visible on the map and, can occasionally, be avoided but there is still a lot of battles where it boils down to pick your area spell of choice and repeat two or three times till the battle is over and then repeat. The good thing though is that the story and the characters hold up even though it is your standard boy saves the world and gets the girl story. So if your looking for a classic rpg to sink some time into give this one a shot. m.a.c

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]