Lunar Eternal Blue

[Melf]

Lunar Eternal Blue was the highest-selling title in Sega CD history and rightly so. Mixing incredible storytelling with a solid battle engine and loveable characters, it was everything a sequel should be. Working Designs scored big with this one and it's a title that deserves to be in any self-respecting Sega CD owner's collection. Read our full review (http://www.sega-16.com/review_page.php?id=1125&title=Lunar%20Eternal%20Blue) and see why you simply need this game.

[Joe Redifer]

It is also one of the fewest-reviewed Sega CD titles on GameFAQs and is a hard game to come by. If this was the best selling CD I think there would be more than one review. Where was this "highest-selling" information gathered from?

EDIT:

Many of the pieces sound much higher in quality and range than before.
How is this possible when the original music has 16-bit, 44.1Khz audio and Lunar: Eternal Blue has a maximum sample rate of only 32Khz (with the music generally running even less than that)? I'd say the quality and the range is limited. Also maybe I missed something in the review, but part 2 has much more loading time than part 1 and overall is much slower. Characters move much slower on the overworld map most likely to add a false sense of the game being longer. Also what about the save feature taking up 56 blocks on BOTH my internal save RAM as well as my Back-Up RAM cart for just one save?

I agree that the game is worth having, though.

[Melf]

You can't gauge a game's success by its reviews on GameFaqs.

Actually, I was wrong. According to SegaBase, the original Lunar was the best-selling Sega CD game of all time. Lunar 2 was the best-selling title of 1995. According to GameFan 1996 v 4, #12, the two titles account for more than 50% of Sega CD software sales from 1993-1995.

[Joe Redifer]

OK I just tried to continue my journey and I just can't stand how slow this game is! A little background on me: I found Phantasy Star 2 easy and I JUST finished playing through Lunar 1. This game is so slow and takes forever to load the battles, and there are tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of battles.

I am trying to do the Blue Spire thing at the beginning of the game. But it kicks my ass HARD. There is nowhere to buy more herbs. Every two or three steps I take it loads (slowly) a new battle, and in battle the characters just stand around forever before they attack. When my guy uses his boomerang he stands there with an animation of his mouth flappin' for quite a long time before he actually throws it. And if I select RUN the characters just run in a circle, but not away from the battle like I want them to. Needless to say it is easy to die. And I like to save often (and Working Designs suggests saving often in their Lunar 1 manual, I guess they were lying when they wrote that). But the game penalizes me for saving.

The game has better graphics, but they really screwed up the gameplay. I guess the reviewer didn't notice that or has all the time in the world to wait while the machine loads and loves lots of random battles. Am I the only person on Earth to notice how slow this game is compared to the first one?

[Demonic Weasel]

I desperately wnat to have this game. I played it once a long time ago at a friends house and then I had to move and I have never been able to play it again. But I loved the first game and I really wish that I had this one too.

[j_factor]

Actually, I was wrong. According to SegaBase, the original Lunar was the best-selling Sega CD game of all time. Lunar 2 was the best-selling title of 1995. According to GameFan 1996 v 4, #12, the two titles account for more than 50% of Sega CD software sales from 1993-1995.

I find it hard to believe that these games outsold Sonic CD.

[Melf]

That's what's been said....

I'm trying for an interview with Vic, and you can bet this will be one of the questions.

Oh, and j_factor, check your PMs. You package went out.

[Joe Redifer]

OK I tried again and got past the part in the beinning where I was stuck. This game is really starting to grow on me despite that it has to actually load each battle. Must get a legit copy of the game! Must.

Hey Melf send me a package, too! I like packages!

[Novaka]

Good review.... I remember my older brother rented this game once way back when. I think it was the first RPG i saw in action..

[Dyne]

I find it hard to believe that these games outsold Sonic CD.


two quality rpg's on a system starved for them outselling one average platformer that for all intents and purposes offers nothing "substantially" better than the 4 cart games (besides the bonus stages) before it dosn't sit oddly with me. ssems to make sense.

[j_factor]

two quality rpg's on a system starved for them outselling one average platformer that for all intents and purposes offers nothing "substantially" better than the 4 cart games (besides the bonus stages) before it dosn't sit oddly with me. ssems to make sense.

It's an RPG not of an established franchise outselling a major Sonic title. How does that make sense?

Your (rather lame) criticism of Sonic CD doesn't explain anything. Quality only affects sales to a small degree.

[Dyne]

It's an RPG not of an established franchise outselling a major Sonic title. How does that make sense?

obviously we know you must love sonic cd, we get that but just listen to what i said first, k?

by the time sonic cd came out i'm sure people were tird of the same old thing over and over. he already had at least 2 or 3 outings on the genesis (not sure of the timeframe of parts 3 and s&k in relation to cd) and it wasn't a vest departure from those earlier games.

when the lunar games finally shipped (part one moreso than 2) there werent any rpg's fort he system worth noting and with better music and cutscenes compaired to anything ont he genesis, people were going to buy it up. if you actually think about what i've said instead of only seeing "omg he said sinic CD SUCKS!!!!!!" it would make sense.

and just like you say quality doesnt always mean sales, established names don't either apparently.

[Zable_Fahr]

I disagree with this review. This series really sparked my interest during the mid/late nineties, when I stumbled upon various fansites, but when I finally got to play the games (the playstation remakes first, SCD originals later on), I was extremely disappointed. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but I found the writing and the story telling in this game to be simply awful. The silly "power of humanity" thing aside, here's a few things that bothered me:

The story is structured so that each character has a "pair", or counterpart, and that character is essentially the only one they interact with in a meaningful way (in the sense that the characters, and their relationship, grow with that interaction). As a result, besides the fact that we never really see them grow as a group, things that can be crucial to the characters' respective storylines are often never really explored.

Take Jean, for example. Apparently, she cries at night. We know this only because some random member of her troupe tells us so (if we talk to him, that is). Now, if this story had been done right, the team would have stayed at an inn at some point (it seems these guys never sleep... ever...), and someone would have heard her cry, and gone to talk to her. This would have given them both more depth, and it would also have provided Jean's storyline with a lot more credibility if we actually got to see her cry (she seems awfully chirpy for someone with such a dark past, doesn't she?). But sadly, this is never done.

The choice of which scenes to animate is also strange at times:
A key scene for Lucia is when she splits from the group in the snow town, and so it would have made sense to animate it (correct me if my memory's a little off, but I don't think it was even voiced). And yet they don't. They do, however, animate a silly gag, where Hiro and Ronfar are given a thorough beating by the ladies. Now, I don't know, maybe this is Game Arts' idea of meaningful character interaction, but I think it's a waste of development resources. That scene did NOT need animation. But the aforementioned Lucia scene would have benefitted greatly from it.

Another thing is that the pace of the story seems better suited for a TV series. During the entire journey to Pentagulia, I couldn't help but feel that nothing really happened that moved the plot forward. It was as if I was watching countless filler episodes of your standard assembly line anime series. Sure, the characters were introduced one by one in a number of different scenarios (or episodes, perhaps?), but once they'd joined, nothing meaningful was done with them until they met up with their respective "pairs", and you could easily tell that the plot was standing still for the better part of your journey. Now, I don't mind a story being character driven, but if it's gonna be so, then you have to develop those characters properly over the course of the game, and Lunar 2 simply does not do this.

Working Designs translation doesn't always work very well, either. If you want the player to accept the idea of people suffering, then you simply can't have them constantly making cracks about everything. It makes it impossible to take their supposed hardships seriously.

Uh... Maybe I'd better stop now. To sum things up, I think this is a mediocre game. The wonderful design work and music are the only things that made it memorable. One final thing, though: Did they ever say where the hell they got Zophar's blood? Did I miss that part?

[j_factor]

obviously we know you must love sonic cd, we get that but just listen to what i said first, k?

wtf? Drop the snotty attitude. I didn't say anything of the sort, there's no reason to respond like that.


by the time sonic cd came out i'm sure people were tird of the same old thing over and over. he already had at least 2 or 3 outings on the genesis (not sure of the timeframe of parts 3 and s&k in relation to cd) and it wasn't a vest departure from those earlier games.

Sonic CD came out after Sonic 2, and it was a departure with the alternate time versions of every level, and a completely different style of level design. This was also when Sonic's comics and cartoons were beginning, and that year a Sonic balloon was featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Sonic was definitely "in" at this point.


when the lunar games finally shipped (part one moreso than 2) there werent any rpg's fort he system worth noting and with better music and cutscenes compaired to anything ont he genesis, people were going to buy it up.

Except this was 1993. Console RPGs weren't the most popular genre. The fact that it was the first good RPG for Sega CD means little.


if you actually think about what i've said instead of only seeing "omg he said sinic CD SUCKS!!!!!!" it would make sense.

Again, wtf? I posted nothing like that at all. There's no need for you to be so smarmy.


and just like you say quality doesnt always mean sales, established names don't either apparently.

The fact that Shadow the Hedgehog sold as many units as it did proves, in my mind, that having a well-established name drives sales more than anything else.

[Demonic Weasel]

I think he was being smarmy, or alternately snotty as you called it, because you seemd completely mind-boggled at the idea that an RPG could outsell a Sonic game at the time.

And while there was jumping to conclusions there it was a safe guess to make that you liked Sonic CD. And although RPG's weren't the most popular at the time, there were RPG fans at the time though. And RPG's were beginning to find a niche.

Personally I have no trouble accepting this.

[j_factor]

I think he was being smarmy, or alternately snotty as you called it, because you seemd completely mind-boggled at the idea that an RPG could outsell a Sonic game at the time.

This was possibly the peak of Sonic's popularity, and in a time when gaming was ruled by 2d platformers. I know now it's easy to think of an RPG being hugely successful, but that's a post-FF7 mindset.


And while there was jumping to conclusions there it was a safe guess to make that you liked Sonic CD.

Sure, I liked Sonic CD. But guess what? I also liked Lunar. I never said "zomg no way could a shitty rpg like Lunar outsell the amazing sonic cd!!!@!" or anything even remotely in that direction. I made no statement of quality, which is irrelevant anyway when we're talking about sales.


And although RPG's weren't the most popular at the time, there were RPG fans at the time though. And RPG's were beginning to find a niche.

I'm well aware of that -- I was one of them. When Lunar came out I was the proud owner of several RPGs, some of which being other RPGs by Working Designs.


Personally I have no trouble accepting this.

It's not that I have trouble accepting anything. I just don't believe off-hand than an unestablished RPG was Sega CD's #1 selling game when it had big names like Sonic. I don't see why you'd assume it to be true just because SegaBase said so -- SegaBase is a good series of articles, but it's not 100% accurate, and certainly not authoritative.

Could RPGs be popular in that time? Absolutely. Was Lunar a surprise hit? Without a doubt. The biggest selling Sega CD game in America? Show me something definitive, and I'll believe it.

[Joe Redifer]

According to Wikipedia, Sonic CD is the best-selling game released for the Sega CD. So who is right... Wikipedia which is mantained by everbody on the planet, or Segabase because they are a Sega site? I'm sure Victor Ireland would quickly say Lunar outsold... why wouldn't he? I don't think he would be the authority to answer this. In fact finding official numbers now would be extremely difficult.

[Melf]

It's very difficult. I've spent a few hours looking already and have come up with squat. One thing to do would be go through each of Pettus' sources and see where he came up with that data.

[Dyne]

on a somewhat related note. i had no idea Ireland was helming another company.
http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=6656
http://www.gaijinworks.com/

[Joe Redifer]

I finished this game (clocking in at about 38 hours and level 99) and I liked it. Lucia's voice acting could have been much better as she seemed quite dull and uninteresteing. The music was great, however. Too bad the quality of the recordings is so poor due to it streaming in game instead of being redbook audio. And that leads to my most important question:

Is there an official soundtrack for this game in full quality CD audio?
(I do not care about the PS soundtrack unless it is the same... I know they changed the music for Silver Star Story).

[David J.]

I finished this game (clocking in at about 38 hours and level 99) and I liked it. Lucia's voice acting could have been much better as she seemed quite dull and uninteresteing. The music was great, however. Too bad the quality of the recordings is so poor due to it streaming in game instead of being redbook audio. And that leads to my most important question:

Is there an official soundtrack for this game in full quality CD audio?
(I do not care about the PS soundtrack unless it is the same... I know they changed the music for Silver Star Story).

I dunno, but if you want, I could rip the PSX version soundtrack for you?

[Joe Redifer]

I think I will take you up on that. Thanks!

[JoeMusashi]

I've been playing this game for awhile now, and struggling to spend time with it. It has many flaws. I think for the Sega CD, it is quite the achievement, but it cannot have any place in the rankings of other RPGs that came on other systems.

The storyline is decent at most. The music is good at first, until you spend so many hours with it. The dungeons are crazy, I've spent so many hours lost and on the verge of dying even after a couple of hours of level grinding. I'm quickly bored with this, I just want to reach the end so I can say I beat it and that's that.

[cj iwakura]

Not sure how I missed this thread.

Far as the originals VS the remakes goes, Eternal Blue was a HUGE improvement over Silver Star at the time.

Silver Star only had voice acting for four characters: Ghaleon, Alex, Luna, and Nall(and only Luna and Ghaleon got more than one dialogue segment). Cutscenes were also very sparse, at very key moments(i.e. Quark's introduction, the Grindery, the finale, etc.).

Eternal Blue added to everything. Almost every story character had a voice actor, including all the assorted villains, several more cutscenes(and of much higher quality), and some great vocal music(The Eternal Blue Theme & Lucia's Theme are still awesome today).

I think these improvements aren't as obvious with the Completes, since they're basically similar quality: both have lots of voice acting and cutscenes(and dumbed down difficulty, but that's another story).

Anyway, I think it's easier to criticize the original games in hindsight, but when they came out, there was almost nothing on the market like them. This was before voice acting and animated cutscenes were the standard; it was practically unheard of.

Oh, and I can't wait to see a Victor Ireland interview.

[Zebbe]

Didn't Quark also have a voice in Silver Star?

There already is a Victor Ireland interview.

[cj iwakura]

Oh yeah, him too.

And there is? I better start archive browsing.

[Melf]

The interview we have was originally printed in the Popful Mail strategy guide. I've been trying to get in contact with Ireland for some time, but he's kind of hard to contact. I'll get him eventually though.

"Listen. And understand. That Ken Horowitz is out there. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are interviewed."

[nonner242]

Working Design games rule!

[scaryice]

The loading on this game does drive me nuts compared to the original, and also the fact that you can't run easily. But it's still easily one of the best Sega CD games.

[chrisbid]

the lunar games were huge sellers in japan, with the first lunar game selling nearly 1 to 1 with mega cd hardware sales. in the us, not so much

[Curryman123]

I sold my PSX copy and bought the Sega cd mint copy for $55.

did i f**k up somewhere? :|

I did beat the PSX GAMe though!