Lunar: Harmony of the Silver Star [PSP]

[EOJ]

Anyone else excited by this?

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090608_280672.html

Official site:
http://www.gunghoworks.jp/game/lunar/

I remember playing through the original Lunar on the Sega CD way back in the early 90s. Once of the best RPGs of its time, and one that holds a lot of fond memories for me. Can't wait to play this again after nearly 20 years. I love RPGs on the PSP! They're bringing all the classics back to this handheld, and unlike the ones they bring to the DS they don't mess them up with horrid 3D graphics.

[gsl]

I'd be a bit more excited by this if I had a PSP, but then again it's one more of a growing number of reasons (nearly all of which are remakes or compilations of older games) for me to pick one up.  I remember thinking Lunar sounded like a really awesome game when I read about it in EGM way back when, but the lack of any game system more advanced than a NES kept me from actually playing that version.  I picked up the so-so Gameboy Advance port a few years back and liked it enough to track down the PSX box set, which sadly and like so many of my other RPGs now sits on the shelf neglected, awaiting the combination of motivation and spare time which will allow me to devote 20-30 hours of my life to playing them.

[Ast-Kot]

Very nice Rpg....

I've played it on psx and I think that except some chapter of final fantasy lunar is one of the best production of that time for psx While I was in Japan walking through Akiba with some japanese friends we saw this game and we talked a lot about the story

[EOJ]

I picked this up last night. It comes with a bonus soundtrack CD. Unfortunately the music is not as good as the original Mega CD soundtrack. I wish they just kept that in the game.

The game itself is lovely. The only really glaring downside is the 5 second loading every time you enter or exit a room, area, etc. I'm starting to get used to it now (I've played nearly 4 hours), so I guess it's not that bad.

The graphics are beautiful, and I really love the widescreen view. Another weird thing is whenever you open a dialogue box (when you talk to people, open a chest, etc) there are thin black bars on each side of the screen. When you're done talking, they go away. I see no point to this, and it's pretty bizarre.

The roamable overworld is gone, instead you point and click where you want to go on a world map. I guess this hasn't been in the game since the Mega CD version, but that's the last version I played.

The battle system is where this game really shines so far. They updated it in a way that is refreshing, and yet still simple and fun.

The cinemas have never looked better, though they are still in 4:3 aspect. All the voices seem the same, and the dialogue and story are so nicely crafted compared to the stupid drivel JRPGs usually subject us to these days.

There's an added prologue that lasts about a half hour, but it's nothing special really.

Overall I'm very pleased with this remake despite it's small number of annoyances. It's definitely worth the price of admission, and I hope more remakes of classic RPGs follow on the PSP soon. I'd especially love a Magic Knight Rayearth (Saturn) remake. Someone make it happen!

[EOJ]

The more I play this, the less I'm enjoying it.   The loading times are just getting more and more irritating. I also really dislike the maps (dungeon, town) in this game. The dungeons consist of just a few small maps, but they fill them with unavoidable enemies so it takes like 15 min to go across just one screen. This paired with the lack of a roamable overworld really lessens the feel of an expansive adventure the original Mega CD (and even PSX) version, and most of my favorite RPGS, had. The maps look more like something out of a doujin adventure game than a console RPG. I prefer the original graphics by a long shot.

I do really love the story bits and that's the only thing that keeps me going along with the fact that the fights, while not really exciting, are alright. I'm about 10 hours in, we'll see if I keep plugging along or give up.

[brentsg]

Is there an option in the menu where you can preload most of the game onto the memory stick?  I was crying about load times in Gran Turismo PSP and this was the answer.

[EOJ]

Nope, no such option. And that sucks.

[EOJ]

Nearing the end (played about 20 hours now), and I'm enjoying it enough to want to finish it, so it's still pretty good when all is said and done.

I love this review on amazon.co.jp:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/review/R2DLH64YHUSYMS/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

I love it because of the note at the end (I translate it below, but it's much funnier in Japanese):

注意：PSPのアップデートが必要な場合があります！
私の場合?LUNAR購入→テンションUP→家に帰りいざプレイ→PSP「アップデート要るわ」→アップデート試みる→PSP「あ、バッテリー足りないからダメ」→?AC接続後リトライ→PSP「だからバッテリー溜まる待ててっての」→?。結局アップデート完了したのは小一時間後?すっかりテンションも下がってました?。

"Warning: in case a PSP update is necessary!
In my case (it was like this)...bought Lunar->All excited to play it->Came home and immediately went to play it->"You need a PSP update"->Tried to update the firmware->PSP said "Oh, your battery is low, so you can't"->Connected AC adaptor and tried again->PSP said "Oh you have to wait until your battery is charged up more"... Took me nearly an hour to update the firmware, which really lessened the excitement (when I managed to finally get to play it)."

Gotta love PSP firmware and its ability to suck the magic out of the gaming experience.

[Megalixir]

It's not like they have much choice. PSP piracy is so insane that if they didn't do this, sales figures would significantly drop.

Blame pirates.