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Crowetron, you are doing a beautiful thing. The Lunar games (1 and 2, anyway) aren't the most original in concept nor in gameplay, but there is still something very special about them. The only critique I'd have about adding dialogue is that you should keep it sparing. Working Designs (bless their souls, gone but never forgotten) packed a ton of personality into their localizations, so I would say to only embellish if you're wanting to illuminate an unclear point, or add some extra flavor to random NPCs, though they often have that anyway. Edit: Or, I suppose, if you absolutely cannot resist a gag that comes to mind, because WD sure as hell never held back in that regard.  Also, Leo.  Oh my god, Leo. Leo is the standard by which all "paladin" type characters should ever be judged.
Mazed fucked around with this message at 12:18 on Feb 20, 2013 |
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Feb 20, 2013 12:11
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 14:23 |
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Dug up my own copy of the PS1 edition that came with the soundtrack, and I have to say, it's better than I remembered it. They do some really entertaining stuff with character leitmotifs, too, and the battle themes....man, there's something about a fantasy RPG that makes liberal use of MIDI rock guitars that just makes you go  Lunar 1 and 2 stand on firmly equal footing in terms of quality -- they're both precisely as good, which says something about the potential virtues of sticking with what works. Since Lunar 2 does carry over some significant plot points from the first game, and if you're not content reading the LP of it, there was a version released by XSeed for the PSP called "Silver Star Harmony". It's actually a remake, with fancied-up art and some additional content, but XSeed deliberately set out to capture the Working Designs spirit in the localization -- which is to say, it's very silly. You can get it for pretty cheap. It's a shame that Eternal Blue isn't ever likely to get the same treatment.
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Feb 20, 2013 18:23
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Ruby isn't the only talking cat around. You never know when they'll turn up.  They make for a fantastic sidekick, though. Both Lunar games are pretty great with their protagonists as well. Alex didn't quite have as much characterization as Hiro, but both are, right out the gate, all kinds of "gently caress yes, bro, we are doing this adventure thing, yeah!" Especially for those of us who first played these with the PSX versions, they were a breath of fresh air amidst all the mopey, cynical, or simply blank leads from other RPGs out at that time. So, speaking of Parasite Eve, while I was crazy for the creature design in those, I'm equally a fan of the costume design in the Lunar games. A lot of them have a distinctive, sort of Latin American look going. You get the details mainly in bonus art and animated cutscenes.
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Feb 25, 2013 08:05
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I kinda dig the red look. A few dungeons such as this aside, I seem to recall that this game has a very warm color palette overall, so it'll go nicely with the scenery. So, Hiro's skills. I'm not one to complain about the voice acting in these games, but I hope you like hearing him yell, "Dodge this!" about ten thousand million times. Crowetron posted:
Oh, yeah, that's dialogue that fits in a Lunar game. This isn't sarcasm.
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Feb 26, 2013 09:45
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: "Uh...nope! No secrets! No need to look under my mattress or anything!"
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As I recall it, Silver Star and Silver Star Story Complete/Harmony had the more dramatic differences (has anyone LP'd either of the latter?). If this thread ended up becoming a PSX/Sega CD Eternl Blue double feature, we'd probably get more interesting discussion than if we had two threads, assuming that's something both Crowetron and Camel Pimp were up for. I guess it'd need some coordination between our two intrepid Hiros, so that's all their call. Sega CD Eternal Blue, I remember being the first Lunar I ever saw, in a magazine article somewhere and later a strategy guide sitting in a bookstore. It looked neat, but nobody I knew owned a Sega CD (and this was back when anime-style art was still dazzling and exotic). When the Complete games came out for PSX a few years later, my impression turned out gloriously correct. We had Ghaleon punching-puppet battles during lunch at school. 
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Feb 27, 2013 10:06
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BooDoug187 posted:Apparently several other people who preordered their copy of the game didnt get their puppets and they called EB's main office, complaining about what these guys were doing. When the manager called the head office was about to call him up. Letting him know that a manager and clerk from another EB was coming to take over the store, and that the manager and the rear end in a top hat clerk I had to deal with were fired.  That's right, EB, you do NOT gently caress around when it comes to the Ghaleons. And y'know, I'm sure there'll be plenty of wonderful things to be said of a particular  -as-gently caress elf after we get to a certain point in the game.
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Feb 27, 2013 19:58
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A quick jaunt over to eBay shows them going for...about $20-$30. So, yeah.
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Feb 27, 2013 22:00
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Oh poo poo, there is an art book. There you go, LP forum. Making me spend more money on video game crap.
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Feb 28, 2013 15:29
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Lucia: Every cliche, somehow making it all work. You're alright, girl.
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Mar 1, 2013 08:07
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 : The RPG.
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Mar 1, 2013 23:22
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Having played this game, and beaten this game, and seeing this game again now... ...I still don't know what the gently caress I mean, besides a dark presence with a hammy-as-gently caress voice, who is not only evil but also kind of a dick. Later encounters with it will not clear this up in the slightest  . So, I guess ZOPHAR is actually kind of cool thay way.
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Mar 3, 2013 12:58
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SpaceDrake posted:As others have said, it isn't really clear and on some level doesn't need to be clear because he's there, roll with it. They do drop a couple hints throughout the story, though, which I suppose we can all look at once they come up. Properly following that rabbit hole also raises questions about the nature of what Althena and Lucia are, which is double frustrating because they clearly know but we as players and viewers never really get that answer completely straight. Yeah. At least until we get more story bits here, it's probably best to take everything totally at face value: It's a fantasy world. When the Blue Star was populated, it too was a fantasy world (and not, say, literally post-apocalyptic Earth, which some might be inclined to believe). Something which probably involves Zophar hosed it up. Lunar was a moon (explicity true, the first game even had some more "moon-like" environments), and now it supports life because wizards did it. Althena being said wizard(s). SpaceDrake posted:Also, I have to admit: I had not appreciated until now to what level Leo is The Best. A character like Leo would be impossible to appreciate without him being a complete bonehead most of the time.
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Mar 4, 2013 12:10
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gently caress, I just got this:Crowetron posted:
Million-dollar reference, sir.
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Mar 5, 2013 08:04
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Think about "deadlines" for an LP only if you're working from an extensive backlog, I would say.
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Mar 7, 2013 12:54
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It's definitely good to know, from Leo's dialogue earlier, that Ronfar doesn't fall into the usual "angsty hero" category of having a dead girlfriend he couldn't help -- because we know Mauri is still alive. But, if Ronfar couldn't bear to face her after she recovered from her affliction, one must wonder how, precisely, did he gently caress it up...
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Mar 14, 2013 20:17
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So, I ordered the Lunar art book, and my copy arrived today. Did you know that in one of the early concepts for Leo, he was a motherfucking centaur?
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Mar 15, 2013 22:43
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I'll see what I can do so far as art book scans go. I don't want to completely destroy the binding on it, but at the same time, a lot of this is very much worth sharing. I have to say, though, even looking at the concept art, I still don't know what the gently caress Zophar is actually supposed to be.
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Mar 16, 2013 03:58
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Took a bit of maneuvering, but here we are. I don't know Japanese, but going by this, it would appear that early concepts for White Knight Leo had him looking a lot more beastly. He had a wolfman vibe with some of these (fitting, maybe, he's quite the loyal hound), but what stands out most -- and it's a shame that this didn't make the cut -- is the aforementioned fact that he might've been a goddamn centaur.  Funnily enough, his sister Mauri had a similar early design. I strongly suspect what ended up making them change it was the fact that Ronfar, as we know, was previously in a relationship with this woman, and leaving them as such would have raised some extremely awkward questions. Looking this over, though; I cannot actually remember there being an explanation for the "beast-men" of Lunar. In the original, Jessica Alkirk (the boistrous 'healer', whose role Ronfar fills this go-round) and the main antagonist Ghaleon were of this species. Was this bit of setting info ever explained somewhere, or should we just chalk it up as a fantasy world having requisite fantasy races? I'll do what I can to get more scans for y'all, but other than mighty steed Leo up there, there isn't anything too crazy yet that's relevant to what we've seen of the game thus far. For those curious: Hiro's design looks like it was solid from the get-go. Early sketches of him are practically identical to what we see now. The same can be said for Ronfar -- it's clear that they had a pretty strong vision for these characters out the gate. Lucia, though, has some interesting alternate looks, but I'll refrain from posting them yet because some involve a change she makes later. Ruby also has something, and it's rather hilarious, but it won't make any sense until we're past a certain point in the story. Mazed fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Mar 16, 2013 |
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Mar 16, 2013 11:24
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Lunar NPCs are always just the worst people. Crowetron posted:Oh, he drew a picture. Okay? Anyway, This is our first bromide! Bromides are collectable items added in the PSX remakes of both Lunar games. They are basically little bonus artworks of the female cast (mostly) that exist largely for incredibly tame, surprisingly tasteful fan service. We'll be picking up all of these in time, because they are collectable and thus I feel compelled to catch them all. Really, no playthrough of the Lunar remakes is complete without 'em. While the cheesecakey ones are a bit gratuitous, it can be said that they do put a lot of effort into capturing the personalities of their respective subjects (a large improvement over the ones from Silver Star). They tend to be a great source of comedy as well.
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Mar 18, 2013 09:00
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Lonnycakes posted:Gotta say I've been really enjoying following this LP. The dialogue inserts have been hilarious, on top of this being a very thorough play-through of one of my favorite games (there are things I've learned already that I never knew during my first 2 play-throughs). Oh, neat. You're right about it being pretty much exactly what it seems, but seeing what the designers had to say on the subject is always a treat regardless. I'll be sure to keep the notes in place in future scans from the book if you or anyone else are up for translating.
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Mar 18, 2013 15:10
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Ruby's likeability is not a mystery. She is a flying, fire-breathing, talking cat with zero self-awareness who just says what she thinks. Reason, logic, and common decency be damned.
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Mar 20, 2013 20:55
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Oxxidation posted:
Haha hah, holy poo poo. Never even made the connection, but please, please remember that someone did, when Jean's subplot is advanced further. Only thing that can be said now is that Anyone checking Camel Pimp's thread as well (and picked it up by the fact that Jean has both a portrait, a tragic backstory, and cool moves) knows she's a party member, and aside from possibly Lucia, seems to have the most alternate looks shown off in the art book. I'll scan those, too.
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Apr 6, 2013 09:32
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The Lunar 1 springs (remake, anyway) had bathing cutscenes, but the meta-context was kind of hilarious. It was super easy to get to the boys' bath, but if you wanted to get to the girls' bath, you had to fight through a ludicrously difficult optional forest-dungeon and, depending on what you did, grab an extremely expensive miss-it-and-lose-it-forever item much, much earlier in the game. Even so, the cheesecake in this game is handled a bit better than it was in the first one. Gratuitous as it is, at least it's specifically about the characters this time. Crowetron posted:
If the script were the same it would raise some question about Hiro's mental health, but it would be kind of cool if we had a game where the eldritch horror actually just wants to help and so we team up.
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Apr 10, 2013 00:04
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An Old Boot posted:Question, though: did Working Designs 'rewrite' plotpoints of 2's PSX release as much as they did with 1? I've heard Things but it's mostly just purist fans bitching without providing concrete examples, or maybe I'm not looking hard enough. They added a fair bit of stuff. You should check out Camel Pimp's simultaneously-running LP of the Sega CD version, for sure. It's fun to compare. So, Jean, compared to some of the other characters, had a fair amount of distinctive concept art, among them many alternate possibilities. Which is fitting, of course -- when you're designing a showgirl, you need her to rock the look. Sadly, nothing as distinctive as Centaur Leo, but still neat to see. (I apologize for the somewhat shoddy scan quality. I hate it when they put artwork right next to the spine. ) I'm guessing the costume in the bottom right didn't make the cut because it appears to consist of nothing but tied-off strips of cloth. The lineart of her karate outfit got cut off, but no worries about that, since we'll be getting a way better look at that later on anyway.I really like the one in the bottom-right in this next one, though. Had that been carried on to full color, there's no doubt it'd have really stood out.  Also, the big one in the middle up there actually looks a lot like Mia, a character from the first game. For reasons you probably know already if you're following the other LP, there's a good reason that might've gotten scrapped. However, I must speculate: Could that resemblance have been deliberate, and could it be that Jean might've been originally conceived as Mia's descendant, rather than Lemina? And more costumes/hair:  Now, they also saw fit to include a tiny snippet of what has to have been the grueling and intense design process they had to undertake to convincingly portray a girl who fights, and dances, and fights while she dances. I hope you appreciate the pain and suffering that anime video game makers go through to orchestrate such nuanced choreography as this: 
Mazed fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 17:56
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An Old Boot posted:Actually, I should've clarified: I was referring to rumors that the PSX's game plot had been translated with noticeable alterations to the storyline GameArts had written for the re-releases. More of WD's fine tradition of 'creative license' going overboard with the translation, not so much 'did they add stuff in the PSX version of the game.' That much I already gathered (and it is interesting to see; I'm considering trying to find it on ebay so I can finally play it myself). This actually is a very good question. I've heard both said -- that the original games were less full-blown comedy and played more things straight, or that they were originally just as humorous, but that they couldn't directly translate that humor and reframed it from an English-speaking perspective. If the former is true, I say good on 'em. These games are all the more memorable for being outright goofy at every opportunity, and it could only have been an improvement if the original writers really tried to keep a straight face with stories as formulaic as these.
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Apr 22, 2013 18:52
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Sprite141 posted:Why is she jumping across jelly beans? Well, no spoilers, but there's some other drawings in here showing how cute and harmless-looking things are actually terrifying monsters. Other than Ruby, I mean. (  )I love how they drew scribble-Jean with that big goofy smile as she's murdering that candy. Late edit: Lonnycakes posted:Edit: I tried to transcribe some of the Japanese in the scans, but in the first the characters are too small and it makes my head hurt trying to read some of them... Thanks for translating.  The lettering is pretty scrawly on the printed pages, too, but I will see what I can do about sharpening the scan quality. Though the binding of the book has pretty much become a sacrifice, sharing art is always a worthy cause, and there's definitely stuff of other characters to show off.
Mazed fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 23, 2013 11:35
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So if you like I can take a look again if you re-scan the first page a bit larger.
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From the previous update, but,Crowetron posted:
Looks like they were going for an art nouveau theatre poster sort of thing. It's an easy way to make the show you're putting on seem classy as hell. The words would probably say something like "The Performance of Jean", except in French or something.
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Apr 28, 2013 17:40
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I like Lemina. And really, I don't see the point in getting worked up about characters who are intentionally written with a certain degree of obnoxiousness. She's loud and grandstanding, and it's pretty obvious that she's supposed to look like she's trying just a bit too hard. It's particularly evident considering she just met us and is attempting to be impressive. She fits in like a glove with the rest of these bozos we've picked up on our adventure.Crowetron posted:
Despite having the trappings of a typical fantasy setting, Lunar likes to throw creepy alien-looking enemies at us. To remind us that we're on the moon. Small White Dragon posted:Fun Fact: the designs for the original Sega CD release were actually based on Russian styles. Come to think of it, that makes sense, especially considering Alex's hat and Luna's dress. Still love the look, all around. Mazed fucked around with this message at 09:50 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 09:48
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Lunar NPCs: Still completely depraved.
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Jun 5, 2013 12:50
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While the art in these anime cutscenes is far more terrible than I remember, her new outfit is a good one.  It's all about the off-shoulder blouse and patterned shawl.
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Jul 13, 2013 13:35
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 14:23 |
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No worries dude! The way you've handled this, slow as updates might be, has been pretty marvelous. Plus the last couple you posted were a delicious full-course meal of everything that makes Lunar rockin', so it's all good. God I love how Mystere's menu portrait is his huge open-mouth grin.
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Aug 25, 2014 07:12
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