I’m surprised I’m not getting sick of these low quality-of-life improvement RPG remasters getting ported to modern hardware like Lunar Remastered Collection. I like playing them on the console of my choosing, and I like that I can get achievements for them and play them on my couch. That rules! It’s also nice that the translation and dubs were updated. And truthfully, that’s all you need to make one of these remastered collections work. I still have some druthers, but overall, this remaster is quite good and brings an iconic series back out of obscurity.
Lunar Remastered Collection
Developer: GungHo Online Entertainment
Price: $50
Platform: PlayStation 4/5 (reviewed) Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam
MonsterVine was supplied with a PlayStation 5 code for review.
Lunar: The Silver Star was originally released in 1992 for the Sega CD, followed by its sequel, Lunar: Eternal Blue, in 1994. Working Designs took care of the English translation; if you’re wondering why a new one was required, it did pretty well despite releasing solely on a peripheral. It’d be like a PSVR2 title selling well, which has yet to happen. Selling well on an obscure console peripheral means porting and remastering early, which is exactly what happened when the PlayStation 1 released and we got Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete in 1996 and Eternal Blue Complete in 1998. Though not outlined specifically in the game’s main menu, the Remasters are based on the Complete versions of both games.
The launcher gives you the option of playing the classic versions of each game or the remastered versions of each game, as well as selecting the language. You can freely switch between Classic Mode and Remastered Mode by exiting to the launcher and making your choice there, but switching in-game is impossible. This is a disappointment. Regardless of the amount of work it would require, this is a disappointment. However, the ability to play either Classic or Remastered is a step up from remasters like Suikoden that didn’t give you the option at all.
The upscaled anime cutscenes are gorgeous and really cool when they attempt to do the 3D thing. You really get a sense of what we were doing in the 90s with these cutscenes and the animation in general. I think I was surprised at how well Lunar holds up. Both games look good, and it’s likely because of the color palette being used, with both games employing a more vibrant set of colors than most RPGs at the time. The voiced dialogue is also very surprising, showing up throughout the game and sprinkling in some needed punch when the story calls for it.
I can’t say I vouch for the story much in either game. While they’re both competently written and written in a way that sounds right considering you’re playing a bunch of kids going on an adventure. Also, my favorite part of Lunar is that they really lean into the trope of fighting a god with friendship. However, the plot of both games revolves around a boy falling in love and trying to save a girl. Collectively as a society, I feel like we’ve moved on a bit from very simple damsels in distress stories. Even with the window dressing of the two planets, the goddess and the dragons, it’s still very simple at its core.
Eternal Blue vs. Silver Star: Uneven Enhancements
Some of the language in the game isn’t great either. Some of the main story beats, cast, and trials they go through really prop up the idea of codependence as a good thing. Eternal Blue especially leans into that, as well as making a few considerably fatphobic remarks in the main script. It’s disappointing to say the least. And while I am disappointed overall, it’s a sign that the script was left intact for the most part, and that the experience is relatively the same as it was in the 90s. Silver linings, I suppose.
What’s perhaps most jarring is that the Lunar: Silver Star Story Remaster was given more attention than the Eternal Blue Remaster. Both games were different on release, and of course, the first game is going to get a little more attention than the second. The first game gets an updated inventory system that’s just perfect, and brings it closer to Eternal Blue in that regard. Silver Star Story also received a rework on its tactics design for the auto-battle, which, if finessed correctly, can be used to clear trash battles without having to make individual inputs for every single person.
Eternal Blue, however, did not receive those tactics updates and as a result has some really uneven auto-battling. Most of the time, using auto-battle in Eternal Blue, your characters will do the wrong thing. Either doing regular attacks on enemies that can only be damaged by magic attacks or using magic/aiment attacks against enemies where a simple attack would have killed them out of the gate. I stopped using auto-battle in Eternal Blue for a while, but would occasionally throw it on to see just how wrong the auto-battle would be in some of the harder fights. Going up against multiple enemies, I’d have Jean do her blue dragon uppercut everyone attack, and wipe them out in a single turn. Using the auto-battle, everyone starts using single target attacks, and it takes three turns to clear the battle. It’s bizarre because the Silver Star Story auto-battle could be fine-tuned to clear out the same battle in a single turn as well. I don’t get why these options weren’t afforded to Eternal Blue.
That aside, while both games have their issues, the Lunar Remastered Collection does a wonderful job of bringing these two games out of the 90s and into modern day. And if you played just these two games in the Lunar series, you’d probably be left to wonder why this series died out in the first place. Perhaps if this Lunar Remastered Collection sells well enough, we’ll finally get that Lunar 3 that’s been rumored to exist since as far back as I can remember.
The Final Word
Lunar Remastered Collection is the best way to play Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete. The updated translations, widescreen support, new dubs, and quality-of-life improvements make this somewhat impenetrable game series a very good option for people looking to experience older RPGs.
MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
