Jessica: strong female character or missed opportunity?

[Imperial Knight]

Not sure if it adds much to the discussion, but I did find this blog post on Luna, Jessica, and Mia. Just as an aside, I did ask the blogger over Google about the whole Pao sickness sub-plot, and he argued that, while it was problematic, Jess and Mia were pro-active and important enough to the plot that it didn't take anything away from their characters.

Well, I think seeing any perspectives (provided they're not, like, abusive or something) adds to the discussion. My critique (of the blog post, not you) is that it seems to be too focused on an agenda (putting forth the Lunar women as positive characters in response to nebulous "opponents of gaming") in a way which, to me, gets in the way of character analysis.

[Greco12]

Attempting to get this train back on the original track: I think Jess was overall a good character. She was independent, cool, funny etc. The one thing that struck me as odd was how Mia inherited Vane, but Jess never inherited Meribia. Maybe she inherited Meribia sometime after the main story? That would make a cool side story.

In-game NPC dialogue and the Lunatic Festa drama CD seem to imply that she moved out of Mel's mansion to live with Kyle.* It makes sense to me that she wouldn't inherit her dad's estate, since in Lunar 2 Lunn was governor and had converted it to a dojo. I'm pretty sure the estate belonged to Jessica's mom's family and Mel inherited it by virtue of being her husband. Also, keep in mind that Mel was just a governor, an elected official as opposed to being a monarch like Lemia and Mia (okay, they were head of a guild, but they were part of a long-running dynasty). That, and the 1000-year gap between 1 and 2.

And I really didn't like the bits I saw of Jess's and Luna's portrayals in SSH either.

I'm guessing your referring to that one additional scene in Meryod where she and Kyle get into a heated argument. I disliked that scene because it made their relationship with one another look really ugly and abusive. I was cringing throughout that scene; I thought the writers went a little too far there. On that note, I feel like both of them (especially Kyle, since Jessica at least had a decent amount of interaction with the other party members early on, and we get a pretty good understanding of her relationship with her dad) could have used less of the stereotypical anime-tsundere couple moments.

*An NPC in Meribia says that one day Jessica will move out of the house and get married. And in the audio drama, she can be heard fixing a meal for Kyle, who chokes on it.

[Kizyr]

In-game NPC dialogue and the Lunatic Festa drama CD seem to imply that she moved out of Mel's mansion to live with Kyle.* It makes sense to me that she wouldn't inherit her dad's estate, since in Lunar 2 Lunn was governor and had converted it to a dojo. I'm pretty sure the estate belonged to Jessica's mom's family and Mel inherited it by virtue of being her husband. Also, keep in mind that Mel was just a governor, an elected official as opposed to being a monarch like Lemia and Mia (okay, they were head of a guild, but they were part of a long-running dynasty). That, and the 1000-year gap between 1 and 2.

Wouldn't it stand to reason that, with Meribia turning into a free city with a governor (...whether he was elected or not, Mel is at least popular and loved by the people of the city), they'd turn over the estate to the city? In other words, it's no longer a family estate, but now it's specifically the governor's mansion -- so when Mel is retired from politics, they'll move out of the mansion and let the next governor move in.

They didn't explicitly state this in the games, but given Mel's personality and the fact that by Lunar 2 it's become Lunn's dojo (and place of administration of the city), that seems the logical course of events.

Curious if anyone else gathered the same idea as I did from this. KF

[Alunissage]

That would make sense to me, especially since by the time even of Lunar 1 the noble family that Jessica's mother is from is barely known. And after all, the mansion already had training grounds and such.

Is it explicit that Jessica never came to govern Meribia herself, though? I can think of reasons why she'd choose not to, but I don't remember it being said outright that she didn't.

And I totally missed Greco12's response to me months ago. No, I've never played that far in SSH. It's the voice acting I'm thinking of (which I heard in SSS Touch) and characterization in that. They wrote Luna as "sassy" (Jessica @ XSEED's word), and I just don't feel like that's an attitude or character that there's any shortage of. I think the feistiness she occasionally shows in SSSC is about right; any more starts rubbing me the wrong way (and is amply filled by Nall). Maybe this is because I'm a grownup and the cast is the age of Get Off My Lawn, but I didn't like it much when I was a teenager either.

[Kizyr]

Is it explicit that Jessica never came to govern Meribia herself, though? I can think of reasons why she'd choose not to, but I don't remember it being said outright that she didn't.

I haven't seen anything confirming (or even hinting) at whether or not she governed Meribia at all later in life. I'm of a similar mind though: the absence implies she didn't, since I think it'd be really odd if she governed and no one ever mentioned it (while it's not as surprising the other way around). KF

[kazuya]

Seeing Jessica yell at the guy testing the gang in Myght's tower after she failed is all you need to know about Jessica. And the part where Kyle says her mood swings are more violent than a hurricane...

[Raining51]

I'm all over the place

[ShugoHanasaki]

Seeing Jessica yell at the guy testing the gang in Myght's tower after she failed is all you need to know about Jessica. And the part where Kyle says her mood swings are more violent than a hurricane...

Nall is so happy to say that! lmao

[Alunissage]

I have never cared for that line of Kyle's. It's basically a PMS joke, which I don't find funny.

[kazuya]

Alunissage I totally respect that, but would it be acceptable to point out that the whole point of the translations by Working Design at that time were simply to make the game culturally relatable to Americans? Can we at least acknowledge that the line was likely not made with bad intent at that time? Those same people probably wouldn't make such a joke now since it represents something very different in our culture? Honestly I wouldn't even be saying this unless I loved the game so much as it is. I know it's not a work of art or anything but it is something I, just like you, grew up with. Are some parts offensive to me? Sure, but I still love the game a whole damn lot!

[Sonic#]

Alunissage I totally respect that, but would it be acceptable to point out that the whole point of the translations by Working Design at that time were simply to make the game culturally relatable to Americans?

I mean, do you think that there weren't Americans in the 1990s who rolled their eyes at PMS jokes? Working Designs's audience with jokes like that was pretty juvenile. I still love Lunar, but I recognize that not everything about the localization worked well, then or now.

[WD RPG WD]

Offensive or not, Lunar has plenty of trite and cliche dialogue. The remakes also made the characters feel like caricatures of their previous selves at times (farting noises for Myght? C'mon..). I didn't notice as much when I was a kid, and usually laughed with it. As an adult, I cringe at some of the childish dialogue. Maybe the worst example is when Zophar appears and strikes Lucia with lightning and says "Tell me darling... was it good for you?" I roll my eyes when I hear it.

[kazuya]

Well I liked the game and all of its trite dialogue growing up...probably because it WAS made for children and I WAS a child when I formed these fond memories and mainly because that IS the target audience.

[Alunissage]

Dude. I just said I didn't care for the line. It was hardly a critique of the entire game or the company as a whole. Things aren't all or nothing, you know? You yourself said that you find some things offensive but you still love the game a whole lot; why would you assume I didn't feel the same?

For the record, I was already a grownup when the Lunar games came out. TSS was the first RPG I played, so at the time I found the book in Damon's Tower that says "Video games will eventually rot the minds of all they enslave" hilarious. Now I'd rather fourth-wall-breaking be just a tad more subtle than that. But it's still my favorite RPG.

WD RPG WD, that line of Zophar's really bothers me too, and I think if Victor had realized how rapey it sounded he would have rewritten it. I mean, it's not a bad metaphor for what just happened, but it's way too overt.

[ShugoHanasaki]

To this day I absolutely love the dialogue of SSSC & EBC (^.^)

[kazuya]

Dude. I just said I didn't care for the line. It was hardly a critique of the entire game or the company as a whole. Things aren't all or nothing, you know? You yourself said that you find some things offensive but you still love the game a whole lot; why would you assume I didn't feel the same?

For the record, I was already a grownup when the Lunar games came out. TSS was the first RPG I played, so at the time I found the book in Damon's Tower that says "Video games will eventually rot the minds of all they enslave" hilarious. Now I'd rather fourth-wall-breaking be just a tad more subtle than that. But it's still my favorite RPG.

WD RPG WD, that line of Zophar's really bothers me too, and I think if Victor had realized how rapey it sounded he would have rewritten it. I mean, it's not a bad metaphor for what just happened, but it's way too overt.

Purely for the sake of discussion I have to admit you lost me at the Zophar quote thing. Not sure what you mean. But replaying Lunar 1 as an adult definitely made me wonder whether Ghaleon is actually trying to pimp out Luna ! O.O

Anyways, as far as some REALLY offensive stuff, you probably will really want to avoid seeing the Lunar hentai. It is the most soul crushing and awful thing anybody has ever thought of doing with such a good story as Lunar.