User:Nall/Sandbox2
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| Lunar: Dragon Song | |
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| Developer(s) | Game Arts Japan Art Media |
| Publisher(s) | JP Marvelous Interactive NA Ubisoft Entertainment EU Rising Star Games |
| Designer(s) | Mitsuru Takahashi (producer) Toshiyuki Kubooka (character) JAM Sound Team (composer) |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release date | JP August 25, 2005 NA September 27, 2005 EU February 17, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Console role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | CERO: A (All Ages) ESRB: E10+ (10 and older) PEGI: 12+ |
| Media | 32 MB + 8KB EEPROM |
Lunar: Dragon Song, known as Lunar Genesis (ルナ-ジェネシス-?) in Japan and Europe, is a console role-playing game developed jointly by Game Arts and Japan Art Media. The game was originally released in Japan by Marvelous Interactive on August 25, 2005, with an English language version made available in North America by Ubisoft Entertainment the following September, and a European version in early 2006 by Rising Star Games. As the first original Lunar series title in ten years, it was also the first traditional role-playing game available for the Nintendo DS, utilizing several new features such as combat taking place across of two screens and the use of the system's built-in mic to issue commands.[1]
The game takes place a thousand years before the events of the first Lunar game, Lunar: The Silver Star, and centers on Jian Campbell, a young delivery boy and adventurer who must save the world from the rising menace of the Vile Tribe, a race of powerful magicians who wish to gain control of the goddess Althena and take over the world.[2] Largely panned by critics, the game has received negative reviews due to a number of gameplay additions often seen as tedious and debilitating, such as the inability to target specific enemies in combat, as well as the decision to not include series mainstays such as voice acting and full-motion video sequences.[3]
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[edit] Gameplay
Lunar: Dragon Song is a traditional two-dimensional console role-playing game with an overhead, isometric viewpoint. Players may move the game's characters in eight directions using the Nintendo DS D-pad or stylus across of a number of different environments and completing story-based objects to move the plot forward. The game includes several differences to other games in the Lunar series, including a simplified world map that allows players to instantly travel to adjacent locations, and and a condensed menu accessible from the bottom screen.
A card collection system first seen in Lunar Legend is expanded to allow the cards to be used for beneficial effects, such as granting special abilities and changing game mechanics. Using the Nintendo DS wireless connection, two players can participate in a multiplayer game using cards obtained through normal gameplay called Scratch Battle. By scratching off sections of each card, a player can "damage" their opponent by revealing numbers on its surface.
[edit] Battle system
Before going into battle, a player may choose one of two different modes: Combat and Virtue. Virtue Mode allows a player to earn experience points known as "Althena Conduct" after winning a battle which go towards gaining levels which grant characters increased statistics and new skills. Combat Mode instead yields items
Unlike previous Lunar games that took a strategy-based approach to combat, Lunar: Dragon Song relies on a strictly traditional turn-based system where the player inputs commands at the start of each combat round with the appropriate actions taking place in accordance with a character's speed. While a player may freely select any character to use items or supportive magic on, specific enemies cannot be targeted by attacks, with the character artificial intelligence instead choosing the target itself. Game producer and Japan Art Media president Mitsuru Takahashi stated that the game's battle system was made intentionally simplistic to "speed up" combat sequences, as well as streamline the battling process. A player's party may consist of no more than three characters, each of which are switched in or out automatically at certain points throughout the story, with no way to actively switch between them.
[edit] Plot
[edit] Setting
Even though Lunar: Dragon Song is the latest game in its series, it actually takes place 1000 years before Lunar: The Silver Star, making it the first game chronologically. The game opens with an explanation of the Lunar lore and how the Goddess Althena created a habitable place out of a barren wasteland and sent four powerful dragons to protect it. During the time of this game, Humans and Beastmen are still at odds with one another, and live in opposing towns across the world.
The game stars a delivery boy named Jian Campbell who works in the busy port town of Searis delivering parcels and packages to anyone he is assigned. His best friend and partner, Lucia, often joins him in his excursions and helps him defeat monsters that litter the land. Along their journey, they get caught up in the legend of the dragons and, eventually, must put an end to an evil Dragonmaster who seeks to use their power to rule the world.
[edit] Characters
The principle characters are Jian Campbell and his companions, a group of young adventurers who are caught up in a quest to save the world from the rising menace of the Vile Tribe. Jian himself is a headstrong delivery boy for Gad's Delivery who must often travel through monster infested lands to make his runs, and has trained himself in hand-to-hand combat accordingly. Lucia Collins is a kind-hearted yet bossy young girl who works with Jian, and has a natural gift for healing magic. Gabryel Ryan is a free-thinking young beast-woman who believes humans and beastmen should be considered equals, and fights with a combination of martial arts and magic dances. Flora Banks is a skilled marksman and healer who lives with her brother on the outskirts of the Frontier, a barren place that resembles the world of Lunar before the Goddesses' intervention. Rufus Crow is an adolescent Beastman and general of his nation's army who develops a rivalry with Jian after their first encounter, yet sees him as an ally soon after.
Primary supporting characters include Gad, manager and owner of Gad's Delivery Service where Jian and Lucia are employed, and Zethos, leader of the Beastmen and one of the world's strongest fighters who follows the old doctrine that his people are superior. The primary antagonist is Ignatius, member of the villainous Vile Tribe and expert magician who seeks to covet the power of the Goddess for himself. Lunar: Dragon Song is the first game in the series to not have Toshiyuki Kubooka as lead character designer, but rather as a design supervisor who made final decisions on each character's appearance and maintain a "distinct Lunar feel".[4]
[edit] Reception
Lunar: Dragon Song has received less-than-favorable reviews from several leading game industry publications. GameSpot gave it a score of 6.1 out of a possible ten, labeling the game as "fair" under their grading system . Likewise, Game Rankings, averaging scores from various online game review sources like GameSpy and IGN, gave it a 61% rating. The majority of the game's criticism came from the battle system. Many critics complained that the lack of targeting made battles tedious. They also complained about the need to choose between earning only items or experience as it needlessly drew out what should have been a simple task. The penalty for running was also not well received. Not all reviews were negative - GameSpy gave the game 4 out of 5 stars, though it too noted the same shortcomings. Fan reviews also found the game rather lackluster. RPGfan's reviewer gave the game a score of 68%.
The English translation is also a sore spot for long-time fans of the series, who have come to rely on the wit and humor usually displayed in the Lunar series by California-based game software producer Working Designs. The current translation job, done by Ubisoft, is seen as inferior in both quality and enjoyability, and numerous glaring typos and translation mistakes appear in the final version game, such as removing the word "The" from nearly every instance of The Cathedral of Althena, and listing Rufus's race as human in the instruction manual.
The game sold poorly, to the disappointment of series fans who had hoped good sales of even a mediocre Lunar title could revive the series.
[edit] References
- ^ Nutt, Christian (2005). Lunar: Dragon Song DS Review Index. 1up.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
- ^ Mueller, Greg (2005). Lunar: Dragon Song for Nintendo DS Review. GameSpot.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
- ^ GameRankings staff (2006). Lunar: Dragon Song Reviews. GameRankings.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
- ^ LunarNet staff (2005). Interview - Toshiyuki Kubooka. LunarNet. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
[edit] External links
- Official Lunar: Dragon Song Website (English) from LunarNET
- Official Lunar: Genesis Website (Japanese)
- NTSC-uk's Lunar Dragonsong Review
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