Lunar: Legend (LL) is kind of a “lite” version of the Sega CD, Sega Saturn
and PSOne Lunar games. While it isn’t a carbon copy, it does have many of the
same genes. I am a fan of RPG’s yet I must admit that I have never played any of
the Lunar games. Not sure how I missed them, but after playing LL I realize that
I have been missing one of the better RPG series out there.
In LL you play as the main character of 15-year-old Alex. Alex, like many a
15 year old, has a hero that he worships and hopes to follow in his footsteps.
Alex’s idol is Dyne, a Dragonmaster (apparently the first and only one) who
happens to be from the same small village of Burg where Alex lives. Dyne along
with three others formed the Four Heroes some 15 years ago to save the world and
the Goddess Althena. If a young boy is going to have an idol, it might as well
be one that saved the world. (I suppose I could go on some type of rant about
what’s wrong with the role models in today’s real world, but I’ll leave that to
the professionals!) In typical RPG fashion, Alex’s yearning for adventure and
excitement will soon come true.
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| All moats should have a creature. |
The basic play, look and feel of LL is best described as old school. This is
by no means meant as a slam, just that if you are looking for a state-of-the-art
gaming experience you might be disappointed. The strength of this type of RPG is
in the story and the ability of the characters to involve you in their world to
the point where you care about them and what happens to them. You will find
yourself immediately liking some characters, disliking others, and even changing
your opinion about one in particular as the game goes on. Personally I find this
the most interesting and satisfying type of RPG and LL comes through with flying
colors. To be fair, this old school type of play does have its drawbacks and
I’ll point those out during this review.
The story starts with the rather egoistical Nash, a Wizard from the Magic
City of Vane, popping into Burg to find a guide that will show him the way to
the White Dragon Shrine in order to take the first of the four Dragon trails
needed to become a Dragonmaster. Alex ends up being the best suited for the task
so he agrees to help out Nash. Joining Alex are his three best friends. Luna,
who was adopted by Alex’s parents about the same time Alex was born and acts
just like a big sister. Ramus, the son of the village chief, is interested in
fame and fortune. Rounding out the group is Nall, who is Alex’s friend and pet
and looks a lot like a flying white cat although he claims to be a baby dragon.
Along the way you will be joined on and off by different characters including
Laike a wonderful swordsman that just appears out of nowhere time and again.
The graphics in LL are well done for a GBA game. Many aspects of the game may
remind you of other GBA games like Golden Sun or even Zelda. However LL has
enough personality and style to distinguish itself and to not be accused of
copying. The characters are well animated in the overhead perspective that is
shown throughout most of the game. The lands that you travel to and towns you
visit are colorful and fairly detailed. Because the game is on the portable GBA
you will not see the FMV or hear the voices that you might have come to expect
from your modern day RPG. Instead there are some clever uses of still frame
cutscenes and as your character is talking, through text, you’ll get a nice
graphic of said character displaying a wide variety of emotions next to the
text. This actually works out well in drawing you into the story, except where
there are bugs, in which case you’ll see the graphic of Luna when Alex is
talking. As far as the sound goes there isn’t anything particularly wrong with
it but there also isn’t anything memorable either. There is some digitized
singing, but it’s very limited. Battles are where most of the R2-D2 like beeps
and whistles come into play.
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