Written By Craig
In 1992 Gamearts released an RPG for the Mega CD System, an RPG that would start one of most memorable RPG series ever, Lunar. Lunar The Silver Star became an instant hit with Mega/Sega Cd owners with its compelling plot, unique characters, memorable music and solid gameplay. In 1996 Gamearts decided that they would do it all over again and remake the already classic RPG for the Sega Saturn under the name Lunar Silver Star Story.
What did Gamearts change exactly? Alot. The plot was tweaked, modified and reworked, the graphics were completely redone and modified to take advantage of the Sega Saturn, the soundtrack was changed and the gameplay was also tweaked.
The plot of The Silver Star Story starts in the small village of Burg where a young man named Alex (Aresu) dreams to follow in the footsteps of the legendary hero, Dragonmaster Dyne (Dain). The plot may seem simple at first but it turns into one of the most memorable experiences that a videogame can give you. The modifications to the plot made it much more mature, added depth and even lengthened the quest a bit. The cast of Lunar SSS is filled with memorable heros and villians and the main characters go together perfectally. The gameplay in Lunar SSS is not anything new or revolutionary but it still gets the job done. The battle system is a traditional turn based combat with strategy which lets you move to different areas on the screen. The battle system could have used some more work though, some battles move at a very sluggish pace and you also would find yourself using the same battle technique over and over again. Fortunately this is fixed in the Lunar 2 Eternal Blue remake.
Lunar SSS’s graphics are completely oldschool but not in a cheap way, the sprites, towns and dungeons are detailed and colorful and some of the areas look like hi-res paintings (Burg Springs). The 50+ minutes of anime FMV in Lunar SSS is incredible and even has some CG intertwined with it. My only gripe about the FMV is that it had to be windowed because of the Sega Saturn’s poor FMV compression. The soundtrack for Lunar SSS has a more synthizsed feel to it compared to the Sega CD soundtrack but I still prefer the Lunar SSS soundtrack because it is a lot bigger and contains more memorable songs, even if the sound quality isn’t as good.
SCORE:
Gameplay – 7.7
Graphics – 8.5
Sound – 8
Entertainment – 9
Overall: 8.5
Overall, Lunar SSS will always be a classic and memorable RPG that can withstand the test of time, no matter what console it is released on.
