A good while back, I wrote about three PlayStation One you could not play legally anymore. One of those entries was actually a two-fer. These were Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. These were actually remasters of older Sega CD RPGs and ported to the PlayStation One. Working Designs then had the arduous task of porting over the remake over to Western audiences. I say this was an arduous task as they not only had to localize all of the text but to also record new vocals for the animated sequences and ever rewrite the lyrics for the songs. As this was still the early days of video game localization, they could’ve just done the work for cheap and no one would really care as that was just how things were done back then.

Thankfully, they didn’t and they even put in a whole lot of extra effort to making these ports really special by including a “making of” video, standalone soundtracks, hardbound manuals and maps for each release. Silver Star Complete included a “making of” CD you can play on your PlayStation. Eternal Blue Complete didn’t have this but it did include standees for all of the characters as well as a replica of one of the character’s pendants. Sure, it made it much more expensive than your regular game. But considering how special both Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue are to diehard fans, it was worth it!

Although I did write how both these games weren’t made available legally, that’s all about to change in a few days as the Lunar Remastered Collection is going to be released!

I am personally extremely excited about it as I will now have the chance to relive the adventures of two of my favorite JRPGs out there! I will eventually be reviewing the package when I do play through them again. But, in the meantime, let me reminisce about these classic JRPGs and why they’re much more special than you may think.

First off, let me be upfront with you by saying, although I did include these games in a list of games you couldn’t play legally before, I didn’t play any of the Lunar games through official copies. I mentioned in a post recalling my time with my original PlayStation console how it was standard practice in the Philippines to modify your console to play bootleg games. Well, that’s exactly how I played them! So, I don’t have any of the collectibles mentioned. Kind of sad, really. I’m not really a guy who’s fond of “collector’s editions” when it comes to video games. But for the PlayStation Lunar games, I would have splurged on them because they seem to be worth it.

But back to the games. Obviously, the first Lunar game I got was Silver Star Story Complete. It was around this time when I was on a huge JRPG kick. Whether it be Final Fantasy VIII, Xenogears or Legend of Dragoon, I was buying them left and right. After all, I was just getting bootleg copies so they were pretty cheap. It was around this time I came across Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and it came with on four discs! In my mind, that meant it was going to be as massive as Final Fantasy VIII as that game also came on four discs. It cost me around 80 Philippine Pesos as, for bootleg games then, a game is only as expensive as how many discs it comes on. At around 20 Philippine Pesos each discs. For some context, 80 Philippine Pesos back then was around $4 US! That gives you an idea of how cheap I got my games back then.

I got home and I was amazed by the stunning opening intro as well as the animated cutscenes. After that, however, it took me some time to warm up to the game. If you look at the JRPGs I mentioned just now, you can see they were more of the “serious” variety. They had serious storylines with world ending consequences if our heroes fail. Silver Star Story starts out with some kid named Alex who dreams of being the next Dragonmaster. What kind of childish crap is this?

Still, I pushed through with the game. There were immediately some things I like, such as the rather good voice acting, especially for the time, as well as there being no random battles! God, being able to see enemies on the screen and running into them was great! Sure, it made leveling up difficult as you would have to leave an area to allow the monsters to respond. But this was leagues better than popping into a random battle every three steps!

Still, I wasn’t clicking too much with the game as the battle system was a little too simplistic for my liking and the story didn’t really have enough bite to it. My tone did eventually change once I got to the boat… and I heard what is dubbed by fans as “the boat song.” Okay, it’s official name is “Wind’s Nocture” but, hey! Luna sang it on a boat! So, it’s “the boat song” to me!

It’s kind of hard to explain why Wind’s Nocture/The Boat Song affected me so much that it made me want to continue playing. Maybe it was the mere fact it was an actual good song in a PlayStation game. Maybe it was the way the scene was directed, with all of the spinning camera angles and sweeping zooms, which must’ve been difficult to do for an animated cutscene. Whatever the reason, this just hit me in a way that compelled me to continue Alex’s silly quest to become a Dragonmaster. And I’m glad it did because, if I quit, I wouldn’t have found out how awesome Silver Star Story really was! Now, I won’t be giving away any more details about the story as there is a budding new audience who have yet to play the game and I wouldn’t want to spoil anything anymore.

However, there is one other thing that did make the entire package Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete special to me. I mentioned there was a “making of” CD that came with the entire package. Well, there’s a little easter egg in there! If you insert the “making of” CD into the PlayStation, it’ll immediately start playing the video. However, if you input a code (which I’ve forgotten) just as the video starts, you will unlock a game called Lords of Lunar. It’s a very simple Warlords ripoff and it essentially plays like Breakout but you’re trying to use the ball to smash through your opponent’s bases. I actually had a lot of fun playing Lords of Lunar with my cousins during the holidays and birthdays. It’s kinda nostalgic to think about how a simple easter egg of a video game can bring families together.

Soon after I finished Silver Star Story, the sequel, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, was announced. And I was stoked! As soon as it was made available, you can bet I got these three discs. In all honesty, while I do feel I have a lot more nostalgia for Silver Star Story, I do think Eternal Blue is slightly better but I don’t really have many memories about it. That could be because the first game was just so much of a landmark title and the story did have a little twist in it. So, when I did start playing Eternal Blue, I was already making some predictions on where the story was going… and I was right on the money. It’s kind of hard for something to get embedded in your memory if you don’t find something unique about it.

Eternal Blue’s story and characters do come off better than the more simplistic ones found in Silver Star Story. They do change things up, with the male Ronfar being the party’s main healer and the female Jean being the strongest fighter. It may not be all that special these days… but back in the PlayStation One days, having a female fighter and a male healer was vastly different! I also did enjoy the cameos from Silver Star Story that appear in Eternal Blue, despite this game being set a thousand years after the events of the first game!

I do have a great shame regarding Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. Although I did “finish” the game, I never really completed it. You see, after you beat the game’s supposed final boss, there’s an entire new epilogue game to go through! In order to get the “true” ending, you have to go through face off against the toughest monsters yet with just the main character! It’s essentially like an endurance round! Unfortunately, I was rather underleveled as I sort of rushed through the entire game. So, I never did see the game’s “true” ending. And I never really heard Lucia’s Theme Song in all its glory! As good as Wind’s Nocture/The Boat Song is, I do see Lucia’s Theme as the better song. I’m ready to die on that hill!

Thankfully, I can redeem myself in a few days and I can finally get the “true ending” soon when the Lunar Remastered Collection comes out. Is it wrong to finally finish a game after more than two decades? Nah! Besides, since it’s the old Lunar games, I’m more than willing to replay them several times! These games were good and I’m super happy a new generation will be able to experience the magic of both Silver Star Story Complete and Eternal Blue.

Do you have any memories of classic JRPGS? Let me know what they are in the comments section below!