The Nineties gave us among the most celebrated Japanese RPGs of all time, and though the Lunar video games are sometimes missed compared to their contemporaries, they nonetheless embody every little thing magical about that period.
The Lunar Remastered Assortment is a welcome revival, then. It bundles Lunar: The Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Everlasting Blue into one handy package deal, providing larger decision visuals, some (comparatively minor) high quality of life enhancements, and an all-new English dub.
When it comes to storytelling and characterisation, each video games nonetheless maintain up. Granted, the overarching plotlines aren’t something particular — chosen heroes, almighty dragons, a rising evil — however there’s an plain appeal to the adventures themselves.
Totally animated cutscenes — full with that traditional 90s anime model — at all times helped Lunar resonate on a story stage. They continue to be a pleasure to behold at this time, however the remaster’s use of AI upscaling does take the sting off when you discover it. Most gamers most likely will not even catch on, however there are occasions when the AI does the standard AI factor, creating odd linework or patterns that are not presupposed to be there.
And this leads right into a broader dialog in regards to the Lunar video games deserving a higher return. Certainly, different features of this assortment really feel a bit half-arsed. For instance, now you can double and even triple the pace of turn-based fight, which is nice because the first Lunar specifically could be a sluggish, grindy sport.
Nonetheless, as a result of fight encounters aren’t random, and you’ll solely grind for ranges in set dungeons, the method of beefing up your social gathering nonetheless looks like a chore. At this level, why not simply embody extras like an elective expertise booster? The draw of those outdated titles is not to relive their inherent tedium — it is to take in the ambiance of a style’s bygone period.
Given what number of issue spikes these video games have — as in, you don’t have any actual alternative however to grind some ranges to even stand an opportunity towards particular bosses — it is onerous to not really feel as if way more may have been performed to enhance the general circulation.
It is a disgrace, as a result of as alluded, it is Lunar’s story and characters that reel you in. Once you’re not mindlessly battering the identical monsters in the identical dungeon over and over, these are rather well paced RPGs that funnel you throughout a reasonably memorable fantasy world.
And to be trustworthy, the battle system is fairly primary anyway. It is your normal turn-based affair that does little to excite right here in 2025 — though the spritework continues to be immaculate. Establishing your social gathering’s formation is about as in-depth because it will get, and in each video games, it isn’t till afterward that fight calls for strategic nuance past therapeutic when your HP is low.
Having mentioned all of that, there’s nothing fairly just like the gradual satisfaction of seeing your social gathering’s stats creep larger. Possibly that is the nostalgia speaking, however there is a straightforwardness to the stereotypical 90s JRPG that just about feels refreshing nowadays.
You realize what else is nostalgic? Lunar’s English localisation — a script so 90s that it even manages to reference cultural occasions of the time. From what we are able to inform, the dialogue is largely unchanged on this assortment, regardless of the fully rerecorded voicework (which, we’re comfortable to report, is stable all through).
We perceive why JRPG purists may need needed a extra… correct translation for this revival, however there is not any doubt that the outdated script helps set up a real 90s anime aesthetic. The localisation workforce had enjoyable with this one, and that lighthearted, typically jokey tone bleeds into Lunar’s total id.
Conclusion
The Lunar video games embody every little thing that is nostalgic about 90s JRPGs, from the enjoyable characters and vibrant fantasy worlds, to the wonderful spritework and catchy music. That mentioned, Lunar’s underlying grind could make it troublesome to abdomen right here in 2025 — particularly when the Lunar Remastered Assortment would not do sufficient to mitigate the sequence’ most tedious features. It is nice to expertise these video games once more — a totally deserved revival — but it surely’s an actual disgrace that the gathering is not flush with extra useful options.