User:Nall/Sandbox
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| Lunar: Walking School | |
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| Developer(s) | Game Arts Studio Alex |
| Publisher(s) | Game Arts |
| Designer(s) | Toshiyuki Kubooka (character) Noriyuki Iwadare (composer) |
| Platform(s) | Game Gear |
| Release date | JP January 12, 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Console role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Cartridge |
Lunar: Walking School, known as Lunar: Sanposuru Gakuen (ルナさんぽする学園?) in Japan, is a console role-playing game developed and published by Game Arts and Studio Alex for the Sega Game Gear. Released exclusively for Japanese audiences on January 12, 1996, it is the third game in the Lunar series, and the first to be featured on a handheld system. An enhanced remake called Magic School Lunar! was released the following year on November 20, 1997 for the Sega Saturn, which featured improved graphics and sound, along with an expanded story. Along with its remake, Lunar Walking School is the only game in the Lunar series to have not been released outside Japan.
Set in a fantasy world "several hundred years" before the events of Lunar: The Silver Star, Lunar: Walking School acts as a prequel to the first two Lunar games. The story follows the adventures of Ellie, a young girl who leaves her quiet life as farmer to attend the prestigious floating magic school of Ien. During her stay, she interacts with several other students, and discovers the truth about an ancient sorceror who returns to destroy the world. As Game Arts' first Game Gear title, the game helped establish the company on the handheld market, and was developed by many members of the series' original staff.
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[edit] Gameplay
Lunar: Walking School is a traditional 2D overhead role-playing game where the player must move their character in one of four directions across a number of environments. In order to advance, they must complete a number of story-based objectives and battle enemies who appear randomly in hostile areas. As the first Lunar title not developed for a disc system, the game is the first to not feature voice acting or animated video sequences, and is narrated entirely by on-screen text.
Magic plays a large role in advancing the story, and characters can grow stronger by learning new spells passed on from various professors. Each character is proficient in one or more schools of magic, and can learn a number of abilities for certain situations, such as inflicting damage, healing wounds, or escaping from battles.
[edit] Battle system
Combat in Lunar: Walking School takes places randomly while traveling through areas such as dungeons or fields. Unlike previous Lunar installments, the game uses a first-person perspective for battle, with a party limit of no more than four characters. Using a turn-based approach, battles are performed with the player and enemy monsters attacking one after another in the order of their "speed" rating, with fast characters going first. The player may select attacks, spells, or items to use each round, or flee combat entirely. Winning battles yields money and experience points, which go toward gaining levels and thereby increasing a particular character's statistics.
[edit] Plot
[edit] Setting
Lunar: Walking School is set in the fantasy world of Lunar, a once barren place made habitable by a powerful Goddess centuries ago. Despite being the third game released for the series, the game takes places hundreds of years before the first title, Lunar: The Silver Star making it a prequel to the first two installments. Though it contains references to its predecessors, the game does not directly concern itself with their interlinked story, and instead focuses on its own series of events. The majority of the game takes place on the floating continent of Ien, and a number of areas within its borders, including the Magic School itself.
[edit] Characters
The main characters of Lunar: Walking School are Ellie and her classmates, who all attend the Magic School at various levels. Unlike other games in the series, Walking School features a predominantly female cast, and is told from the perspective of a young heroine rather than the traditional male lead character. The protagonist, Ellie, is an energetic and curious young girl from the town of Burg who worked as a farmhand until she was approached with the opportunity to attend the Magic School. Though initially unskilled in magic, she learns new skills while adventuring with her best friend Lena, a tough and boistrous girl who is Ellie's most loyal accomplice. Other classmates who join their group include Senia, a talkative young Beastwoman and magic prodigy, and Wing, a quiet and reserved boy with powerful latent magic abilities.
Principle supporting characters include Ant, Kule, and Rick, three male bullies who routinely cause trouble for the main characters. Ant develops a rivalry with Ellie and Lena, and often coaxes them to go on dangerous tasks. Layla is a confident older student who often plays pranks on new recruits, The primary antagonists include Barua, a dark sorceress and member of the villainous Vile Tribe with an interest in Wing, and her master Memphis, a dark mage who seeks to revive an ancient evil known only as "D". Each character was designed by series veteran Toshiyuki Kubooka.
[edit] Story
Walking School tells the tale of a young girl named Ellie and her best friend, Lena, as they leave their quiet lives as field workers in the town of Burg to enroll in a newly established magic school located on an island called Ien. There, along with several other youths, the girls find the school and the area around it completely deserted, and try to establish order by getting all the students together within the surrounding town. During their stay, they encounter several magical creatures and monsters who also call the island home, all while they continue to search for their instructors.
The game itself is divided into 12 chapters, each one presented with a curtain closing and opening.
[edit] Development
Lunar: Walking School was developed in 1995, and was the third and final collaborative effort between Game Arts and Studio Alex. The game was overseen by a number of different progammers from the first two Lunar games, including Nubuo Uematsu, director of Lunar: The Silver Star, and Kenji Ito, world designer of Lunar: Eternal Blue. Toshiyuki Kubooka returned as lead character designer, who drafted several designs based on previous installments, as well as magic girl anime elements. The game is structured differently than other Lunar titles, with a more linear approach to gameplay and storytelling segments divided into twelve separate chapters.
[edit] Audio
The music of Lunar: Walking School was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare, who had provided the music for each previous game in the series. Each background piece was developed using synth-based chiptunes utilizing a variety of instrumentation that ran from the Game Gear's sound processor. As the first Lunar title not developed for a disc-based console, the game would not include series mainstays such as CD audio or vocal tracks, and would be Iwadare's first composition on a handheld system. The game did not receive its own commercial soundtrack album. Many of the game's tracks were arranged and re-used for its remake, Magic School Lunar!, which featured upgraded sound quality for PlayStation hardware, while others were replaced outright.
[edit] Fan Translation
A fan translation of this game was attempted, however as of 2006 has not been completed.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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