LUNAR Remastered Collection | REVIEW | PC

''GREATNESS RETURNS''

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Developed: GungHo Entertainment

Published: GungHo Entertainment

Genre: RPG

Release Date: April 18th, 2025

Platforms: XBOX FAMILY/PC/PS5/NSW

Review copy provided by GungHo Entertainment

Lunar Remastered Collection is a collection of classic RPG titles that is developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment. With titles like Grandia Collection and Trails In The Sky currently under the catalogue, GungHo decides its time to bring back a fan favorite classic with Lunar Remastered Collection. But was it a smart move to bring back this franchise? or should it have maybe stayed dormant? Only one way to find out, so lets go!

''SOCIAL DISTANCING DOESNT EXIST''

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GAMEPLAY:

You know, I'm starting to see a trend here, specifically with my recent reviews revolving around the 1990s and RPG games in general. It seems like every time I review a ''classic from ages past'', I end up getting one that relates to the golden era of RPGs from the 1990s and once again, here we are with LUNAR Remastered Collection, which continue this on-going trend. If you were a 90s kid, then you grew up in a time of the SaGa series, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Mana series, Chrono Trigger and many more, and Lunar was another one of those franchise, albeit on the SEGA CD... which I honestly don't know many people, personally that is, that even owned one, so I imagine MOST of peoples memories for Lunar The Silver Star came with its Playstation release over its SEGA CD and Saturn counterparts, but I could definitely be wrong on that one. I mean if you had an actual SEGA CD, you'd have to make an abomination and monstrosity of a contraption by plugging it into a Genesis, then with Genesis you snap in a 32X, then on top of that another Genesis cartridge, with SEGA CD snapped into the side of the Genesis in general, with two separate power plugs to begin with. Like what the heck, that's on the same level of trying to manage all the cords and connections for the original PSVR, and that crap was a nightmare. In relation to titles like Final Fantasy 7 which years later would turn the industry on its head with its graphics and changes to the RPG open world structure, in comparison, Lunar went for the pixelated sprite feel like a lot of older classics use, but mixing in cutscenes that borderline looked like something out of an anime, which was not only extremely cool, but something I do not think the industry saw a lot of back then, well if you want to try to count FMV, but I surely dont, because some of those old FMV are big big yikes. With the Lunar series in general being like Kevin Durant in the NBA, meaning hopping around from team to team because he cant hack it on any team nowadays after leaving The Warriors it seems, Lunar definitely has the same string of consoles under its belt by making the leap to PSP, Mobile, Playstation 1 and being on the SEGA CD and SEGA Saturn as stated previously, but now its back, yet again, this time in a remastered collection of Lunar The Silver Star and Lunar 2 Eternal Blue, on a modern consoles and PC. with better looking pixel art to its style and animations that have been tweaked a little bit here and then, giving it an uptick it needs but keeping them at the same time, the way we remembered them.

Taking on the role of a young hero who is pushed into a quest to stop evil from taking over the land, you gather allies on this long journey in order to try to rid the world of the great evil once and for all. Seem familiar? yeah, well, that's because it is and that's pretty much the go to for most classic turned based RPG titles, but for me it never gets old, as long as the characters are interesting, which there are with characters that are full of spunk, elegant, rough around the edges, characters that are spirited and always full throttle ready to go - they all have their own distinct personalities that will either have you relating to them or at the very least, tolerate as you play through each games story. Heck even villains like Ghaleon with their intriguing personality that has you connected with them more than you expect to due to their inviting energy, along side tons of references to real world events at the time, including scenes people found problematic, such as ''Austin Powers'' references. Granted I never saw the big deal but hey, this day and age of the internet, people seemingly go out of their way just to be offended, makes them feel good, but to me, they just look as messed up as horrible done Mario Paint creation. At least Mario Paint is still relevant though. Shots fired. Boasted by a linear structure for an RPG of its time, you're strung along through a tightly knitted story that keeps you engaged rather than distracts you with other bells and whistles, which in turn keeps you enthralled in whats taking place, which is the opposite of what titles like Final Fantasy 7 offered or even in regards to the modern era of gaming that seems to be focusing on the open world trend over anything else. Whether you're playing as fledgling heroes to take down Ghaleon or going after Zophar and his crazy as heck Omni forms that are a thing of nightmares, only topped by Final Fantasy's Kefka in the ''weirdness'' department. Combat wise, the game stays true to what made the origins fun, turned based combat but with an invisible grid that determines location of your attacks and movements and even AOE abilities so that each battle that ensues is not the same as ones you faced before and instead makes you strategize and think before you take an action in combat. Also in line with a recent string of remasters like SaGa series and others is and auto-battle mode and fast forward option to speed up the combat, so you can make your character dodge quicker or just get a tedious fight over with a lot quicker than its going. I know its not anything new or revolutionary, but quality of life additions like fast forward and auto-battling? I'll take any day because sometimes, after a night of Taco Bell, you never know when you're going to have to get up and make it to the bathroom as quick as possible ''Seven seconds until the end, time enough for you perhaps, but what will you do with it? lets see''. Sephiroth wasnt talking about Cloud defying destiny and having only SEVEN seconds, nope, hes talking about me only having SEVEN seconds to make it to the bathroom before all hell breaks loose.

While the slight gameplay changes are welcomed with the grid or even fast forwarding combat, it still can get a bit tedious in the combat department due to the amount of enemies you encounter a little too quickly. Closest comparison I have for this is tall grass encounters that happen every two seconds, well same thing happens here in Lunar and it can make you roll your eyes a bit if you're just trying to progress and not trying to start any fights, which makes me hopeful in the future developers take the FANTASIAN route and have you store active battles away to fight at another time, then tedium would be less of an issue overall, but still, with fast forward and strategy, its still an enjoyable experience, bolstered by its sleek and refined looked into the HD era.

''IM'A FIRIN MAH LASER'''

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OVERALL:

When its all said and done, Lunar Remastered Collection ends up being the definitive way to play these titles. Its not perfect, sure, with absent english voice overs being taken out, some spots in the game being a tad bit tedious and the story being linear than some modern gamers might look for in an RPG, however with stunning HD visuals, amazing ost, fun and interesting characters, great art style, strategy based combat and quality of life features to make the game more accessible, all of those together make this one a definite play if you're a fan of old school RPG and need your daily fix. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW

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