LUNAR Remastered Collection announced

[Highwind Dragoon]

https://youtu.be/uLpHIFSqa-E?si=ZMdBxr15ixYSetO7

FINALLY, they decided to remake Lunar 2 Eternal blue, and it took them almost a quarter of a century to do it to boot, as well.

[kupomogli]

In an alternate universe, Lunar would be where Beyond the Beyond is. Lunar was archaic even during its own time and the game is an absurd grind regardless which of them you've played. The GBA version isn't a grind, but the gameplay shows just how boring the game actually is if the game wasn't grindy that you spend so much time walking through battles like cutting through paper just to get to the story. I mean it's not like it's some masterpiece of a novel, it's a "good" cliche video game storyline. But how much time are you going to waste to get through to the next minute of dialogue or couple minutes in some cases? 99% of the game is gameplay and the gameplay just isn't very good.

No joke I'd rather have had a Beyond the Beyond remaster. Atleast they could have fixed the issues the game had with its mechanics and the high encounter rate to change what's a pretty solid game. Beyond the Beyond isn't a bad game, its biggest flaw was releasing on the PS1 where 80% of the RPGs on the system are some of the best in the genre. It's not a bad game, it's a good game, it was just it was one of the worst RPGs on a console where almost every RPG was great. I find Lunar where Beyond the Beyond is though, except lower than Beyond the Beyond.

Here's the thing though, you spend so much time grinding on Lunar. And Beyond the Beyond you don't have to grind nearly as much but you have a super high encounter rate. I mean personally I'd rather have the high encounter rate than sitting around the same spot for hours leveling up because the next boss just one or two shot you.

*edit* Also another remaster. They need to start calling it the Playstation Portstation 5 at this point. It's pretty ridiculous that this year alone has had more remasters released or announced than any other console generation. Even the PSP had less ports on the entire history of the console than we've seen this year alone.

I say this while you see Grandia 2 on my PSN ID. But that's the thing, if I wasn't playing ports I wouldn't be playing anything as the console has no games.

Which is also a funny coincidence that I'll add. Grandia has a charming storyline of Justin and Feena while having one of the best combat systems in an RPG. Grandia 2's storyline is worse, but the gameplay is better simply because it's a harder game and allows for the mechanical depth of the combat system to really shine. Grandia Xtreme has an even worse story, unlikable characters, but is the very best game in the series because of just how good the combat it is on that game. The reason why I say Grandia Xtreme is better than Grandia 1, is you don't exactly get as much out of the first game if you already know its storyline compared to Grandia Xtreme's more gameplay heavy mechanics.

Anyways, reason why I brought Grandia up is that, the gameplay is actually great. Of course it was based on what they've initially did in Lunar and then turned it into what we've got with Grandia, but doesn't change the fact that the original combat lacks any depth and is archaic even in its own time. You defended on the first turn because if you attacked you'd move first and the enemies would then attack you, so to get the first turn in you'd defend, or when you got items that cast spells you'd use those items the first turn and then all turns afterwards you'd attack. Just a very by the numbers rote RPG.

[Aussie2B]

I just want to know about the localizations of these remasters. If they got all-new, not-Working Designs localizations, that would be very welcome.

I can't say I ever found the PlayStation version of the first Lunar grindy. When RPGs have battles triggered by visible, on-screen enemies, I just fight each battle once as I first come across it, and then I try to avoid the battle if I have to pass through the area later. That was more than enough for me to be sufficiently leveled in Lunar. And don't bosses scale with the player anyway? There's no point in grinding for those. You just need a better strategy if you lose, though I don't remember losing much in the game in general. If I remember correctly, almost every boss is best defeated the same way, by powering up Alex and then using whatever move of his is strongest.

[Gentlegamer]

I played the original Skies of Arcadia, with a random encounter every two steps, where each battle had a 30 second intro, where every spell or ability had a 20 second or more animation.

Nothing fazes me now.

I have the Un-Worked Lunar games on my Mega Everdrive Pro that haven't played yet, so I think I'll add them to my "queue."

[Tron 2.0]

I just want to know about the localizations of these remasters. If they got all-new, not-Working Designs localizations, that would be very welcome.

I can't say I ever found the PlayStation version of the first Lunar grindy. When RPGs have battles triggered by visible, on-screen enemies, I just fight each battle once as I first come across it, and then I try to avoid the battle if I have to pass through the area later. That was more than enough for me to be sufficiently leveled in Lunar. And don't bosses scale with the player anyway? There's no point in grinding for those. You just need a better strategy if you lose, though I don't remember losing much in the game in general. If I remember correctly, almost every boss is best defeated the same way, by powering up Alex and then using whatever move of his is strongest.

It's getting a redub as for the text it might be the same as well.Given that victor irelend has the rights to the translations to games that wd localize.This goes back to the genesis mini II sega made a offer for the english version of lunar sss and eb,popful mail and victor decline.

[Highwind Dragoon]

I've always said that Vic was a real dick....

....And it lead to Working Designs downfall by sticking exclusively to one company (First NEC; then Sega; then only Sony).

[Tron 2.0]

Vic on a recent podcast on what he thinks of the remaster with joe from gamesack and coury from MLIG.He tells his side of the story believe him or not is up to you.
https://retrohangover.captivate.fm/e...e-of-game-sack

[Gametrek]

Lunar being remastered is kind of sad................They are going to Retcon it.

If you want a Lunar translation, you might as well patch the original Lunar SEGA CD game, without the Dubb. There is literally SEGA CD and other games with translations
that are being corrected and perfected by random people. Like the "Breath Of Fire" release.

1. Censoring is my greatest fear. Why? Take Shooters from PC-98 -> PCE. Censored despite well drawn displays. "Dragon Knight" is a great example as it has been
censored cross versions into the SFC game.
1. Valentina ( Margareta ), Rouge breasts and figure animatins
2. Pauline being absent in later Mario v DK games. Having her Cocktail dressed replaced, and making a her a singing Mayor of a made-up town.
3. Amy-Rose being less head-over-heels over Sonic in "Generations" game.......
4. Mario RPG Geno fire-cracker / Megaman Arm being replaced with soccer balls, Martial-arts removed, and any reference to Jackie gone ( the game has a character named ).
5. Even knowing Bowsers alternative win stance was edited out. The colors of the intro when the castle falls, and the dynamics of Bowsers Keep.

They are CCP washing everything just like in that SouthPark episode featuring Winnie-The-Pooh. Makes me sick to my gut.

The worst part is that we are not going to get anymore Working Design Logos or artwork. Just going to be another DLC release.

..........

They say or do whatever they want, it is going to be retcon.

[Aussie2B]

These are remasters, not remakes like Switch Super Mario RPG is. There's no indication thus far that any script or visual changes would be substantial. And if you want something faithful to the original Japanese release, then you wouldn't want the Working Designs versions to begin with.

Dragon Knight is a literal hentai game series, so I don't know what you expect when those games were ported to home consoles like the Super Famicom. Most home consoles don't allow explicit content, and even the ones that do (PC Engine, PC-FX, Saturn, etc.) generally don't allow the same level of content as computer versions. So it's either edited content or no port at all, and having retro games exclusive to long-obsolete, Japan-only computers doesn't exactly make them particularly accessible these days. With series like Dragon Knight, a lot people appreciate them for the gameplay more than the erotic content, so plenty of people don't care if that content is removed as long as they can play the game itself. Furthermore, when it comes to Japan's PC game market, it's common for explicit content to be added just because it boosts sales, not because the developer feels it's an intrinsic part of the experience. It's not unusual for an all-ages version of a visual novel (often with more story added compared to the adults-only original) to be regarded by a developer as the canon or definitive version, rather than the original adults-only version.

[fpbrush]

What do y’all think of this remaster? It should have some new gameplay elements, though I don’t think they will change the core premise of the game. I mean, it’s a solid title remaster for Everywhere.

[Tron 2.0]

Another trailer up with the redub.


I'm sure you will have fans of wd that don't like it but i don't care these remasters will allow more people to play these games officially.Yeah and i still have my original copies so it will be interesting to see the differences when it comes to gungho localizations.

[Nz17]

LUNAR Remastered Collection - Announcement Trailer
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/uLpHIFSqa-E

LUNAR Remastered Collection | Story Trailer
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Nc2Oo24Cdfo

[JSoup]

I just want to know about the localizations of these remasters. If they got all-new, not-Working Designs localizations, that would be very welcome.

I can't say I ever found the PlayStation version of the first Lunar grindy. When RPGs have battles triggered by visible, on-screen enemies, I just fight each battle once as I first come across it, and then I try to avoid the battle if I have to pass through the area later. That was more than enough for me to be sufficiently leveled in Lunar. And don't bosses scale with the player anyway? There's no point in grinding for those. You just need a better strategy if you lose, though I don't remember losing much in the game in general. If I remember correctly, almost every boss is best defeated the same way, by powering up Alex and then using whatever move of his is strongest.

Did you beat either game? The early game you can eke by with whatever is on hand and abusing the frankly broken boosting abilities, but by around the third boss you're seeing issues. The bosses scale laterally with player level, so they'll do the same damage at level 1 as level 10. Some grinding is required to make sure the party can keep up with that. Indeed, it's an issue with the originals and the PS1 remakes where you can get stuck in an area before a boss with no way back while underleveled, so there's no way to bridge that lateral gap.

Interestingly, there's a soft fix for this in these remasters in the form of achievements. There are achievements requiring obtaining all the bromides. The first game, as an example, requires you to have multiple copies of an expensive item to get the lions share of them. So going for completion will force some level grinding at a point in the game where it's actually a great idea to spend some time doing that.



For these remasters, people are saying it's pretty much just visual spruce ups and any script changes are minor at best.

[Kid Fenris]

Yeah, the Playstation versions of Lunar and Lunar 2 don't need much grinding. The second game is a little tough at the beginning when you have only one or two party members, but overall they're pretty smooth games as far as leveling and bosses go.

The Sega CD versions, on the other hand, are pretty hard, especially with the second game's battle with Borgan. I can understand why people made "Un-Worked" patches that scale down the ways Working Designs toughened up the Sega CD Lunars, but I never saw the point of doing that for the Playstation titles.

[Aussie2B]

I've yet to play through Lunar 2, but I beat the PlayStation version of the first game two times over. I don't recall ever getting stuck or having much trouble in general, not even the first time through, which was my first time with the game in any form, so it's not like experience with another version was helping me out. But at that point, I did have a fair number of other RPGs under my belt, so I wasn't a newbie to the genre. I also tend to take my time in RPGs and try to see as much of the content as possible (like returning to old towns to read updated NPC dialogue), so I imagine I probably wound up in more battles than someone rushing through, even if I wasn't intentionally grinding.

[Osirus]

25 years later I really regret selling my original PSX copy of Lunar: SSSC for like $20.

[Aussie2B]

I sold two complete copies many years ago for probably no more than $40 apiece. Luckily, I have one copy I saved. I think the one I still have has the same disc art as one I sold, but maybe I should've held on to the different one. On the other hand, I kind of hate the fact Working Designs ever did those disc art variants. I can't help but wonder how many copies have been removed from circulation by collectors who are hoarding multiple copies for the sake of collecting the variants, contributing to the insane prices on many Working Designs releases that then make them unobtainable to many people who just want a single copy to play, regardless of which disc art they get. So in that way, I'm glad I can say there isn't a single Working Designs release where I own more than one copy. And some I bought on PSN because to heck with the current secondhand prices.

[JSoup]

I still have both my collectors editions. The second game I remember standing in line at Toys R Us after Christmas. There was only one copy left, but the line was across the store and out the door. I gave up, went into the mall proper and found a few copies, at a cheaper price, at the oddly empty Software Etc. That's my little story.

A friend has the set that came with the limited Ghaleon hand puppet and has been offering to sell it to me for years.

[kupomogli]

Hot take... or, not so hot take if you agree, Beyond the Beyond is better than Lunar could ever hope to be.

Don't get me wrong, Lunar has better characters, beautiful looking areas, great music, etc, but these are long g mes and most of what you'll be doing in these two "average" but classic style RPGs is the combat, and Lunar's combat is just straight ass. Lunar has the combat depth of Dragon Warrior and by like Dragon Warrior I mean Dragon Warrior 1. Sure there's more characters, but it's as bare bones as it comes. Beyond the Beyond combat isn't amazing or anything but it's a night and day experience compared to the combat of the Lunar series. If I'm playing a really long game I don't want to play a really long game with what's essentially 90% shitty combat and that's what the Lunar series nails more than anything, shitty combat.

What especially gets me though is people rant and rave how great a game Shining Force is, the same developer of Beyond the Beyond, but this painfully, painfully slow combat system which is just incredible mediocre, but Beyond the Beyond gets a lot of hate simply because it has high encounter rate that "CAN" get into combat one step after the previous encounter, but you can go 20 steps after the previous encounter as well. It really gets shit on by a number of people that have never even played the game. FF10 has high encounter rate, that game doesn't get shit on, it for some reason gets highly praised despite changing characters and attacking in the same repetitious combat but taking so man y actions in order to do a single attack of an idea that on paper sounds great but in practice is the most brain dead common sense I've ever seen in a video game, at that point I'd rather just hit x or o to attack instead of jumping through all the hoops to OHKO the enemy. Yet again, the game is highly praised, highly adored, despite having the same high encounter rate that everyone complains about in Beyond the Beyond except taking a damn action involves several steps, several steps that just wastes your time with again, the most brain dead common sense I've ever seen as "depth."

Okay, rant over.

[Aussie2B]

I wouldn't call the PlayStation version of the first Lunar particularly long. I think both times took me about 30 hours tops each, and that was with using up plenty of time on optional stuff (like the aforementioned town crawls to read all the updated NPC dialogue). Whereas I find most PlayStation RPGs average around 40 hours for me (though there are anomalies, like Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure only taking me around a dozen hours). That said, I do think Lunar does drag on toward the end. For its content, I think a length of around 20 hours would be better. But I'm of the mind that most RPGs from the 5th gen and on are too bloated and would benefit from tighter pacing and shorter completion times. But there's no getting through to developers and players who think the longer a game is, the better value it is.

Its battle system is pretty traditional, but I do think the positioning adds some flavor. That is, how each character can only travel so far across the battlefield each turn, so it's beneficial to have characters who can travel farther or ones you want casting magic to go after the back line while the characters who travel a short distance can reach the frontline enemies. Otherwise you might end up wasting turns on nothing but moving a character from point A to point B. And the distance you can travel increases sometimes when leveling up, so your strategies can change with that.