Lunar Threads

The Famitsu website posted up some screenshots. They're pretty much the same ones from the magazine spread, but now you can see em pixel perfect.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1224128_1407.html

Ramus' sword stance rocks as always.

It appears they're using the anime sequences from SSSC.

I'm wondering if they'll be edited in some way to fit into the PSP's widescreen format or if they'll just black bar the edges.

Hell no! I don't want this only for the PSP. I'm psyched that the Lunar series isn't dead as of now, but I seriously hope to see this on the DS or Wii.

Excellent! The text is identical to the Famitsu article itself, which (as I'm always repeating) we have translated here:
Famitsuu on Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star

I'll update those sections with this link when I get home tonight. Thanks! KF

They're beautiful!!! ;0;
I love seeing Burg and the Lost Woods all fancy like that. :3

I'm assuming the large town is Meribia? Not sure I like it. I wish they would try to make it like the TSS version. Everything else looks great.

So, still no random battles? I wish they'd bring those back.

Kiz, I'll have those screenshots up shortly, if you wanna piggy-back off of my uploads. I'm working on getting the Harmony section live here in the next hour. I'm just doing some Photoshop work on that artwork to get the logo cut out for other usage.

Also, one thing that I don't think anyone's stressed enough... the actual battles are a return to the TSS/EB/SSSC/EBC range and movement from the sound of things. Kiz touched on it in his translation, and the screenshots pretty much confirm it. That was my biggest disappointment in Legend (and the disaster that was Dragon Song's battle system). I really think this remake is in good hands, and we're going to get the best Lunar title since EBC. Graphically it's already better than anything put out this decade based on screenshots.

Interesting mix of, well, pretty much all the Lunar games stylewise here.

Redrawn character portraits -- kind of cutesy to me; Ramus's seems to have become kind of generic.

Sprites really detailed, even more so than Legend's, but proportioned more like Magic School's or Genesis's.

Point and click world map like Legend and Genesis... well, I guess that's not surprising. Looks like the White Dragon Cave is in more or less its old position, rather than in the Weird Woods like Legend, also not a surprise.

Isometric city view like Genesis, stairstepped roof edges like SSS, elaborate statue design first seen in EB's artwork. For the life of me I can't recall that exact art being used for an actual in-game model before, but I might just be blanking.

Classic enemies from most of the games, with their proportions likewise changed a bit. The Albino Baboon is tall and slender comparatively, the Slimes have some pseudopods, the mushrooms have arms, and the Monocrop or Gunfoot or whatever is more centered, etc.

Luna is using a sword in the White Dragon Cave. She could do this in TSS also, at least the short sword.

Although Ramus still has no magic, he does have the same bar the rest have, presumably a gauge similar to Legend's.

It's a bit hard to tell, but it looks like Alex's MP is closer in scale to TSS than SSS, at least in the shot of him at level 6 (the level 15 one is harder to read and is perhaps grayed out, making it suspect -- 30 HP seems pretty low to have that full green bar right below the number). Perhaps he does actual magic in this version again, unlike SSS and Legend...?

Looks like Mia is casting an Ally Zone spell, which would be different (unless it's more like Power Flame/Vigor) and the screen zoomed in on it.

I wonder if the shot of Alex and Nall from the SSS cutscene means that the sword will still be in the monument rather than in the Goddess Tower. I hope not; it was one of SSS's stupider changes.

I will be ecstatic if Ghaleon murders Quark in this version.

Not to sound bloodthirsty, but I thought the 'capturing' element in SSSC was lame.

cj iwakura wrote:I will be ecstatic if Ghaleon murders Quark in this version.

Not to sound bloodthirsty, but I thought the 'capturing' element in SSSC was lame.

A lot of things on Ghaleon's motives and methods seemed terribly toned down in SSS.

Definitely agreed. Ghaleon is a monster; have him act like one for once. KF

Kizyr wrote:

cj iwakura wrote:I will be ecstatic if Ghaleon murders Quark in this version.

Not to sound bloodthirsty, but I thought the 'capturing' element in SSSC was lame.

A lot of things on Ghaleon's motives and methods seemed terribly toned down in SSS.

Definitely agreed. Ghaleon is a monster; have him act like one for once. KF

I liked that about SSSC. They gave him a human side. He acted out for the benefit of mankind while in TSS he was just really greedy. It's a unique dimension to a badass villain.

I was under the impression that the dragons died in the Grindry at the end of SSSC. They were captured to provide the sheer amounts of magic required to raise the Fortress of Althena, and only for that purpose. When that purpose was done and overwith, they died.

Probably so, but Quark's little death speech was classic. And Ghaleon's voice acting after leveling Quark was so much better in TSS than the voiceovers in SSSC. That actually may be the only time I didn't like John Truitt's voice as much as usual.

Alunissage wrote:I wonder if the shot of Alex and Nall from the SSS cutscene means that the sword will still be in the monument rather than in the Goddess Tower. I hope not; it was one of SSS's stupider changes.

You know, I kind of agree...I think it's cool but really, the sword is sitting there for 15 or so years. I understand maybe they wanted to honor Dragonmaster Dyne... I can also understand Nall holding onto it in EB considering he and Alex were practically brothers AND he's the white dragon. Where else would it be? However it makes you wonder what happens to the sword after any other dragonmaster hangs up the ol' dragon cap.

Regarding your question, if you look at one of the screen shots linked to the first post there's one of Luna and Alex talking at Dyne's monument at night. Check out that sword jammed in there.

Here's a question of my own...I wonder how old our heroes will be this time around? Wasn't there an age change from TSS to SSS?

I think in TSS Luna and Alex were both 15, while in SSS Alex was 17. One of Alex's parents says something to him late in the game about his smiling at Luna when Dyne brought her to Burg, and maybe even something about holding her.

I think the implication is that the dragons died when the Grindery was destroyed, or else were already basically dead when it began going. It's not exactly authoritative, but I remember that one section in the WD guide was subtitled "Quark's Dead Head".

I can't exactly see Ghaleon's SSSC motivation as unique. People in power committing atrocities because they think they know what's best for all is not exactly unusual. It's also a lot less logical for Ghaleon to take so long to make his move if, as in SSS, he knows exactly what happened with Dyne and Althena. Dyne didn't exactly hide the baby very well, leaving her in his own home village with his old friend; Ghaleon could have found her a lot sooner. In TSS, not only is there no connection at all between Dyne's "death" and Althena's routine human incarnation, Ghaleon may not have been aware of the facts of either, making his motivations more complex since he obviously does become aware of the actual score at some point.

Ghaleon's betrayal hits so much harder when he murders Quark in cold blood, then runs off laughing maniacally.

Also:



Huge negative. Bring back a real world map with random battles. That's where half the exploration of the original Lunars came from.

cj iwakura wrote:Bring back a real world map with random battles.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/169933

"Beware the random battles..."