PSX vs SCD Lunars

[TomMage]

The two Lunar games on Sega CD were two of my favorites. I also have them for PSX (those expensive so called "complete" games). But........ One of the things I liked about the games on SCD was the "adult humor". Such as Leo saying "I know a good man when I see one", then Ruby says "I'll bet you do.........." And Ruby saying "Time for your eye exam, I'm NOT a cat". When I started the game (Eternal Blue) on PSX I think these conversations were missing? How about the rest of the game, have they "toned it down?" Lunar Silver Star, played the entire SCD version, the PSX just messed with, noticed music was different, I liked the SCD version better. Any comments from people that have played all 4 games/versions, on SCD and PSX?

Tom

[Jorpho]

(Don't forget the GBA version.)

[TomMage]

(Don't forget the GBA version.)

Did not know about that one, not into handhelds (someone buy this dang sealed GBA SP I have wasting away here). What is the GBA version like, does it resemble the PSX or SCD version? And which game, Silver Star or Eternal Blue?

Tom

[Azazel]

It's like a port of the first one. I've heard it's not that great. The also changed the battles a little bit and you don't move around on the screen and it looks like most other RPG battles.

I've played through the Sega cd versino and played about 1/3 of the PSX versions. Barring the improved graphics and FMV the originials are much better on the Sega cd. Part of the problems with the PSX version is they just reused parts of the Sega cd translated scripts and didnt' translate parts of the remake. This has been talked about to death at other sites so I'm not going to go into great detail about it.

Don't forget the Gamegear and Saturn import only Lunar Magic School.

[TomMage]

[quote="Azazel"]It's like a port of the first one. I've heard it's not that great. The also changed the battles a little bit and you don't move around on the screen and it looks like most other RPG battles.

That rignt there turns me off, I love the aninmated battles, Jean "dancing" her way up to attack etc.

This has been talked about to death at other sites so I'm not going to go into great detail about it.

Where would that be?

quote]

[Azazel]

Mostly on some Lunar mesage boards as well as some rom translation sites.

[Blackjax]

Silver Star Story was, in my opinion, lots better on the PSX...

However...

Eternal Blue complete had to be one of the biggest disappointments I ever had in my gaming career. Not only was it late late late late late (in typical working designs style), WD screwed with the game too much. They unnecessarily ramped up the difficulty in the wrong places, and there were an infuriating number of battles - and the enemies on the screen were impossible to avoid in 99% of the cases.

And the voices in battle.... if i had to hear Leo scream "I SAVED THIS FOR YOU, INFIDEL!!!!" i woulda thrown the game out the window. Then I find out during the epilogue you can turn battle voices off. Argh. and for the love of god I hope they make the little dragon they use sound like Darth Vader next time. Ruby had the most annoying game voice in history - that wasn't changed from the Sega CD version tho...

They shouldn't have increased the resolution on the anime scenes. they claim they ran them through a low pass filter to reduce artifacts, but some of them still look absolutely horrible.

All in all, the SegaCD version is far superior in every way except for the kickass extras you get with the PSX one

[Chooky]

I agree with pretty much everything Blackjax says. I've been a Lunar fan since the beginning, and I love the games, but the PSX version of Eternal Blue was crap. The anime scenes looked like streaming video, a lot of the backgrounds were lifted straight from the original, and (like the Silver Star) the music was much worse. The thing that really killed it though was the tweaked difficulty. The enemies were fine, but the bosses were WAY TOO POWERFUL. I had to go through the Blue Dragon Cave three freaking times, killing every single enemy, just so I could be strong enough to take on the boss. The Japanese version was actually supposed to have really easy bosses, so Working Designs decided to do some half-assed tweaking and ended up nearly ruining the game.

[TomMage]

The Japanese version was actually supposed to have really easy bosses, so Working Designs decided to do some half-assed tweaking and ended up nearly ruining the game. [/quote]

Sounds like Vay, heard overseas battles very easy so they made them tougher in US version (almost tedious, in fact I remember you had to pretty much just physically attack, had to save all magic points for healing?). Not the best WD game, but still not bad. Popful Mail was great game too. Hey you know what, SCD had a LOT more great RPGs than the N64, winner of my "most dissapointing system" of all time award. Other than Paper Mario (sequel to Super Mario RPG, but please, it looks cute but from what I see can't hold a candle to SMRPG), Quest 64 (kiiddie RPG), and someone says a game that starts with an "A" (sequel to Quest 64), N64 had no real RPGs I think. SCD had not a lot but some darn good ones, Lunars, Shining Force CD, even Heimdall. I think I may replay a few of my SCD games

Tom

[Blackjax]

Yeah, I forgot one of the things in my first post I should have put down.

The music... i didn't mind most of it too much, but I can't believe they wrecked one of the best final boss themes in history. Lucia vs Zophar had so much power behind it in the SCD version. I got to Zophar's third form in the PSX version and it just sounded... kinda wimpy.

and with the bosses, the crank up the difficulty on all but one - the one who's supposed to be a royal pain in the arse, Borgon.

Yeesh, i should stop before i go on all day about this.

[Jorpho]

What? Zophar's Domain is named after a character in Lunar?

I never knew that!

[Chooky]

TomMage, I STRONGLY recommend you give Paper Mario another chance. If there is even the slightest bit of love for Mario in your heart, this game could possibly make you explode. There are cameos and in-jokes everywhere, and the writing is suprisingly good. The battle system easily ranks as one of my all-time favorites because it actually requires real twitch skills. Damn that game was so freakin' sweet...*drifts into nostalgic trance*

[Azazel]

Yes Zophar's Domain was named after the Lunar boss. He even said so a few years ago when the first PSX remake wes coming to the US.

Workingdesigns always make the games much harder when they release them over here. The original versions were fine as they were did. If they wanted to make the game harder why don't tey make include a hard mode or something?

I also enjoyed the Random battles much more in the originals, versus beeing abot to see and try to avoid enemy encounter. When you needed to level up or get money in the remake it drove me crazy.

Actually in Vay I generally used Magic for attacking as it generally did more damage when normal attacks. Of course you have to really stock on healing potions or whatever they were called but there pretty cheap to buy.

Popful Mail I could never beat. I ended up playing the PC Engine import version and it's gamplay is quite different and much easier for that matter.

Dungeon Explorer and Dark Wizard weer also pretty good.

[Blackjax]

Did they ramp up the difficulty on Silpheed: The Lost Planet?

As much as I love that game, I'd import it if the Japanese version was easier.

The US version isn't just hard, that thing is MEAN!!!

[Daria]

The two Lunar games on Sega CD were two of my favorites. I also have them for PSX (those expensive so called "complete" games). But........ One of the things I liked about the games on SCD was the "adult humor". Such as Leo saying "I know a good man when I see one", then Ruby says "I'll bet you do.........." And Ruby saying "Time for your eye exam, I'm NOT a cat". When I started the game (Eternal Blue) on PSX I think these conversations were missing? How about the rest of the game, have they "toned it down?" Lunar Silver Star, played the entire SCD version, the PSX just messed with, noticed music was different, I liked the SCD version better. Any comments from people that have played all 4 games/versions, on SCD and PSX?

Tom

Ummm those quotes were in the PSX version.
________
HANDJOB GAY

[kainemaxwell]

I have the Sega CD of Lunar: SS and played the PSX version and enjoyed them both. Lunar: EB I only have the PSX version so I really couldn't compare much. Only boss offhand I really had problems with was that flower boss that kidnaps most of Jean's caravan.

[SoulBlazer]

Well, I LOVE Lunar for the PSX -- both of them. Not only are they nice collector's item but they were really fun to play as well, and the soundtracks included were nice. I never played them on the Sega CD but I have the hint books that Zach wrote for both of the re-releases and he explains what was changed between them, and it sounds like the PSX is still the better version. As for the difficulty? What difficulty? Honestly, I plowed through those games like they were nothing. Maybe I've just been playing RPG's so long that nothing is a challenge anymore. The only problems I had was that Silver Star would lock up on some battles for a unknown reason and that Eternal Blue was a little borring with the normal battles -- I'd just leave them on auto and go do something else during the fight.

[zmweasel]

The two Lunar games on Sega CD were two of my favorites. I also have them for PSX (those expensive so called "complete" games).

The "Complete" tag was added by Working Designs because Game Arts stated that the PS1 versions of Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue included storyline and gameplay aspects that hadn't been included in the Sega CD versions for various reasons (20/20 hindsight, technological limitations, not enough development time).

Yeah, SSSC and EBC were pricey, but the former remains Working Designs' best-selling game ever (at about 250,000 units), and the latter sold through roughly 150,000 units. Most folks LOVED the luxury packaging.

But........ One of the things I liked about the games on SCD was the "adult humor". Such as Leo saying "I know a good man when I see one", then Ruby says "I'll bet you do.........." And Ruby saying "Time for your eye exam, I'm NOT a cat". When I started the game (Eternal Blue) on PSX I think these conversations were missing? How about the rest of the game, have they "toned it down?"

As the lead English writer of both PS1 Lunars, I assure you that the "adult humor" wasn't toned down. If anything, we had to restrain ourselves from going overboard with the sexual themes.

The biggest difference between the humor of the Sega CD and PlayStation translations is that I tried to keep the use of instantly dated, fourth-wall-breaking pop-culture references to a minimum.

On the occasions when I did indulge in a reference, I generally used catchphrases instead of name-dropping (i.e., the Shannen Doherty reference in the Sega CD Lunar). Catchphrases are much better because they're somewhat subtle, and they're mildly amusing even if you don't "get" the reference.

I do wish we'd taken out the anti-gay "joke" you mention, as it was wholly unnecessary and downright hateful.

I kept the sections of the Sega CD translations that Victor particularly liked or that I felt I couldn't improve upon, but the text in both PS1 games is overwhelmingly brand-new.

-- Z.

[zmweasel]

I've played through the Sega cd versino and played about 1/3 of the PSX versions. Barring the improved graphics and FMV the originials are much better on the Sega cd. Part of the problems with the PSX version is they just reused parts of the Sega cd translated scripts and didnt' translate parts of the remake. This has been talked about to death at other sites so I'm not going to go into great detail about it.

Actually, I'd LOVE you to go into detail, as I'm wholly unaware of any "parts of the remake" that weren't translated.

And how is the reuse of certain sections of the Sega CD translation a "problem"? As I explained in a previous post, when the Sega CD text applied AND couldn't be improved upon, we used it. Even the reused text was occasionally tweaked for grammar and/or length, however, as we had MUCH more text-space in the PS1 versions.

-- Z.

[kainemaxwell]

This is one those topics that's gonna make me go play them again. ^_^

Plus I loved the outtakes at the end of Lunar 1 & 2.
Dang, i can't remember my fav ones now by Ramsus...