In defense of Lunar: Legend...

[Alunissage]

That is a really interesting point that I'd forgotten about. I really do need to replay the game, not just look at guides and screenshots.

I'm not sure that Nash is exactly a coward. He's more aware of the extent of Ghaleon's power than the other characters are, and both idolized him and only knew him well after Ghaleon committed to his plan (as opposed to Mia, who knew him from childhood but was never his apprentice). So much of Nash's identity and self-worth is tied up with being a Vane magician and student of the greatest of magicians that it's impossible for him to see Ghaleon as someone who can be defeated. He truly thinks he's taking the only action that can save his friends by impairing their ability to get to Ghaleon in the Frontier and confront him. And that was at a cost to him too; they were his only friends.

(There are a few mistranslations in SSSC that make Nash look a little worse than he does in Japanese. For example, in Japanese he doesn't say he's been reporting to Ghaleon "from the beginning" but that he's told Ghaleon everything. He also doesn't say that the party will be killed later, just that he'll put them to sleep.)

Regarding Mia, I'm not sure she has low self-worth exactly. What she has is extreme shyness and lack of confidence in her ability to lead, which she's known is to be her role from birth. I can't think offhand of any mention of low self-esteem that doesn't relate to that. And yet she does show her mettle early on, with her initiative to release Alex and enter the Crystal Tower despite being specifically forbidden, because she feels something is wrong with her mother and she trusts her own judgement.

You're right about Nash encouraging her in Legend, btw. (There's a pretty good screenshot selection in the LL section of the main site.) "Where is the Mia who encouraged me when Taben controlled me? ... That Mia now turns her back on it all and runs away. Just like me... of long ago."

[Omegazero108]

My reasoning may have been off, but I thought Mia had self-esteem issues because of a few smaller points I think... like in most versions of SSSC onward, the Mirror didn't work on Xenobia!Lemia so she was shaken by that before it's light actually revealed the real Lemia being the masked woman... but then again, thinking Nash more cowardly when as you pointed out he had a much clearer idea of what Ghaleon could do... I may've just read too much into some scenes x.x

[Alunissage]

One thing that was toned down in localization was that Mia can be very naive and take things too literally. There are several instances of someone saying something joking or obviously fishy that she responds to seriously, e.g., Jessica's stalker claiming to be her sister. Mia believes her and introduces herself; Jessica, who just told her that she didn't have a sister, mutters "Mia...you don't listen to a word I say." Another time, in Meryod, Nash sarcastically tells a NPC that all the city youth have taken up throwing themselves into the river for sport and Mia wonders why she hadn't heard about it before.

Regarding using the Mirror, Mia doesn't let its apparent ineffectiveness change her opinion...in English. "NO! What have you done to the mirror?! It should have shown your true form. I refuse to believe that you are really my mother! It's impossible!" However, it looks like in Japanese that she's more in shock that she was wrong: "It really was my mother doing these terrible things?" This is borne out by Lunar Legend, which stayed much closer to the Japanese in translation.

[Omegazero108]

TY for making me realize I need to replay some Lunar games...