The Lunar series has a special place in my heart. When I founded the emulation archive, Zophar’s Domain, my favorite games were (and are) Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. The games had charactrers that felt real and that I could relate to, the soundtrack was epic and sweeping, and the story put the power of love and determination at the forefront…. so when GungHo announced they were remastering it, I was very excited. I couldn’t wait to hear John Truitt reprise his role as Ghaleon, for Jenny Stigile to bring her incredible voice to Jean & Ruby, and the beautiful singing of Luna and Lucia. And who could forget the unforgettable (and sometimes controversial) localization by Vic Ireland?
.. except, that does not appear to be what we’re getting. Watch for more.
👾 Featured Lunar-related Links 👾
► https://youtu.be/DMthZOrOvKQ
► https://youtu.be/Miz5SCIja9Q
► GungHo Online: https://www.gunghoonline.com
► LunarNET: https://www.lunar-net.com
► Zophar’s Domain (Founded 1996 / Emulation Archive): https://zophar.net
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23 Comments
I know some may find this to be a hot take (and I'm trying to stay optimistic!), but I really fell in love with the original voice acting and localization back in the 90s… so this hits a little hard for me. What do you think?
Open mind and open heart. Those remasters are made usually to get new people's attention, not to please the old fans. But who knows. Let's see how will be the final version.
Glad this game is getting some attention nonetheless
I get why, from a practical standpoint, they might choose to do a total overhaul of the voice acting.
Not the kind of thing that you can just upsample the existing audio and call it a day — but the fact that they haven't even reached out to the previous VAs is worrying. Having the same folks reprise their roles could have been a great way to do things, but the fact they didn't kinda sucks.
And yeah, trying to be cautiously optimistic about this release but as you point out, we still don't know which localizations they'll be using!
My worry is that if lots of people buy this — whether it's actually any good or not — the rights holders will take it as "we did everything perfect!" Like, I'll probably get the digital release simply because it's the least-hassle way to play either of these classics on any of the modern consoles I own. But that doesn't mean I'll necessarily be thrilled at all of the decisions Gung Ho is making…
Disappointed but not surprised. Lunar 1 and 2 are two of my favorite games of all time and the voice acting and translation are part of the charm of the psx releases. Despite being a stickler for accurate translations, having played through Un-Worked Designs translation of both games I still find myself preferring Working Designs versions of both games.
I hope the music isn't replaced, the singing was wonderful!
I don't think this is a hot take at all.
I can't say I'm crazy about changed voice acting in general, and Lunar may not be an exception. I just hope, at the very least, that there's a dual audio option in the Lunar remasters for the original Japanese voice acting.
Also not crazy about this package not being both the PS1 and the Sega CD versions of each game. I like comparing different versions of games for one, and for another I genuinely liked both Sega CD Lunars, especially the first game. From a preservation standpoint the outright removal of the first major version of a game in exchange for a total remake is a sickening prospect to me. I didn't like it when they changed all the enemy placements in Dark Souls 2, I didn't like when Nier got a remaster that had absolutely no Gestalt option, and I certainly don't like that Konami still hasn't listed the original Silent Hill 2 on any platform. It feels like the Sega CD Lunars are getting the same treatment.
At least keep Ronfar's.
I used to think "Fire Is Sooo Pretty" was one of the funniest voicines in an RPG.
Yummy
I watched this earlier, but I forgot to comment to abuse the algorithm.
Yummy
I'm legitimately happy to see the series getting more love, but i don't know about this new track/dub. It might be different if they were going in a new direction like 3D (Legend of Zelda/ Final Fantasy like) but why change it for a remaster?
If was not the only way I can enjoy the games, I would not get it. I agree no pre orders is telling. It bugs me that they are not using the cast that made the Lunar games. I think it is a big middle finger to the fans. And hope on that the Nostalgia of the game will sell it… I lost a lot of hope…
The trailer has new singing with the same lyrics, which seems to imply the working designs translation. I suppose its not impossible they'd license just the lyrics but not the rest, but it seems unlikely (and using non-final lyrics in the trailer, especially ones they haven't cleared, seems even less likely).
But yeah, bummed about the change. Not every actor was amazing, but some were. And the rest at least have charm. The new singer is not too far removed from Jenny and does a good job, but it's a slight step down (too much vibrato, too much like a performance).
I'm very skeptical about them. I think it's a cash grab. The text looks too "RPG Maker" to me and the new audio is sacrilegious, so…
I never got around to the lunar games during the original releases, so I've been mildly curious about this remastered re-release! the original dub actors included would've been cool but I understand why they weren't. (I hear vic was a big part of the reason why the games didn't make the cut on the genesis mini 2.) but may pick this up physically if the reviews are positive!
I hope the steam version gets a strong modding community and they can mod in the old voices as an option. I definitely need more John Truitt in my life.
If I was to play only one Lunar game which one should it be?
I'm assuming that, even if it says that there will be enough physical copies to go around, they are still trying to get more people to purchase digitally, especially the more impatient ones. Since there is no pre-orders, you'll be waiting, at best, a two or so days to play it.
Yeah I'll pass, I'll stick with the sega CD version on MiSTer
3:35 it's technically the Sega Saturn version, the playstation release is just a port of the Saturn remake.
i'll probably get this anyway, but for sure the steam version is gonna have mods no doubt, so we can have the peak voice acting
Hopefully it won't have Denuvo, so that it can be patched by dedicated fans. Me personally, I'm glad we're getting this.
To be honest the only voice I really wanted was John Truitt… but I think that if the voice acting is amazing in these remasters, and the lyrics of the music are still the lyrics of the music, I can be happy just playing these again. I really missed them. Lots of great new voices out there, and I hope they rounded them up for this.