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Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete

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Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
File:Lunar2box.jpg
Developer(s)Game Arts
Vanguard Works
Publisher(s)Japan ESP/ Kadokawa Shoten
United States of America Working Designs
Platform(s)Sega Saturn, PlayStation
ReleaseJapan July, 1998 (SAT)

Japan May, 1999 (PS1)

United States of America December, 2000 (PS1)
Genre(s)RPG
Mode(s)Single player

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is a retitled version of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (ルナ２ エターナルブルー, Runa Tsū Etānaru Burū), a Japanese role-playing video game. It is the sequel to Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Originally released in 1998 for the Sega Saturn console in Japan, it was ported to PlayStation in 1999, and then translated for the North American market in 2000 by the US publisher Working Designs. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is a remake of Lunar: Eternal Blue, originally released for the Sega CD platform. This game is part of the Lunar series.

As with the first game, Lunar 2 features an enormous amount of material appealing to game players in a personal level: The story features likable characters engaged in quests that will help them mature as people; in particular, the two main characters develop a powerful romance. The dialogue is also a standout, as even minor characters have large quantities of dialogue, including some very funny jokes. There are also several appealing game features, such as several hand-animated sequences, done in anime style as well as wonderful musical pieces. Best of all was a second, optional adventure that could be played after completing the first, another improvement over the first Lunar.

These elements make the Lunar games stand out amidst the throng of PlayStation One-era RPG video games, and make the experience of playing them more akin to playing an interactive Disney movie.

Storyline

The story takes place approximately one thousand years after the events of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Once again, Lunar (an inhabited moon that circles a planet called The Blue Star) is endangered, this time by the return of Zophar), the God of Evil responsible for the destruction of life in the Blue Star millennia before. This causes Lucia, a being assigned to the purpose of eventually reviving life on the Blue Star, to awaken before her time. Lucia arrives on Lunar and meets a teenage boy named Hiro, and Ruby, his baby red dragon companion (who, like Nall in the first game, resembles a talking, winged cat) and they set out to find the Goddess Althena so they can prevent Zophar's revival.

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Along the way, Hiro, Ruby and Lucia meet other allies, including: Ronfar, a priest of Althena who turned into a gambler and carouser after failing to free his lover from a curse; Jean, a itinerant dancer with martial arts skills and a secret, troubled past (she escaped from a cult of assassins); and Lemina, a money-hungry magician and descendant of Mia and Nash (two Lunar I main characters.) Additionally there is Leo, a beastman knight of Althena who is convinced that Lucia will bring about the destruction of Lunar. Also, some characters from Lunar I make surprising reappearances.

Eventually, the heroes discover that Althena's Chosen, a religious order that ostensibly spreads the teachings of the Goddess Althena, has been throughly corrupted by Zophar. The "Althena" who rules the Chosen is an impostor, the "Four Heroes" who serve her are evil (except for Leo, who is not aware of the truth) and Zophar has resurrected Ghaleon, the main villain of Lunar I, as the new "Dragonmaster". Ghaleon imprisoned the Four Dragons of Althena and gave their power to the Four Heroes. Lucia and her allies free the Dragons and seek the real Althena, only to find that she died long ago, having given up her immortality. A message left to Lucia by an elderly Luna (Althena's human identity) inspires the heroes to tap the latent "Power of Humanity" and use it to defeat Ghaleon and Zophar.

After their triumph, Lucia, who has fallen in love with Hiro, reluctantly returns to the Blue Star to await the time when she must revive it. Hiro undertakes a quest that allows him to travel to the Blue Star to be with Lucia.

Although the story does have its plot problems (in particular, Zophar's revival, Althena's reasons for reincarnating, and the concept of the "power of humanity" are never clearly explained) it more than makes up for it in characterization and in the dramatic resolution of the events.

Characters

Heroes

File:Hiro (Lunar).jpg
Hiro
  • Hiro (ヒーロ, Hīro)
    • GameArts official name: Hiero
    • Origin: Salyan Desert
    • Age: 16
    • Interests: Treasure-hunting, adventuring
    • Voice: Hikaru Midorikawa (緑川 光) / Chad Letts
The male lead of the game, he is a daring young adventurer who lives with Ruby and his grandfather Gwyn. Due to Gwyn being an archaeologist, Hiro has an admiration of the history of Lunar. When he and Ruby gain access to the Blue Spire with a crystal they found in an ancient dungeon, they meet Lucia, and are thrust into the events surrounding her that will decide the fate of Lunar. Hiro's love for Lucia develops gradually over the game, and he is heartbroken when she returns to the Blue Star after Zophar is defeated. He then sets off on a new quest to find a way to get to the Blue Star so that he can be with her again (the Epilogue). With the help of the Star Dragon, Hiro is able to reach the Blue Star and is reunited with Lucia.
File:Ruby (Lunar).jpg
Ruby
  • Ruby (ルビィ, Rubī)
Ruby is Hiro's partner in crime at the beginning of the game. She is often sarcastic, and while she is very practical and acts as a voice of reason for Hiro in some things, in others ways she is naïve and reactionary. It is unclear when Hiro met Ruby, though it is established that they have been together for a very long time, possibly since early childhood. Ruby resembles Nall from Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete in appearance, and like Nall, she has a high-pitched voice and serves both as comic relief and a mentor for the main protagonist. She ultimately joins Nall in the ranks of the Four Dragons, as the Red Dragon. Romance between her and the now much-older Nall is implied, though not stated outright.
  • Gwyn (グェン, Guen)
    • Game Arts official name: Guen
    • Age: Unknown
    • Interests: Archaeology
    • Voice: Masaharu Sato (佐藤正治) /
Gwyn is an elderly, somewhat eccentric beastman, and Hiro's adoptive grandfather. Though very old, he is a competent white mage and archaeologist. He accompanies Hiro, Ruby, and Lucia in the Blue Spire, but permanently leaves the party after Lucia is cursed due to his age.
File:Lucia (Lunar).jpg
Lucia in her red robe
  • Lucia (ルーシア, Rūshia)
    • Game Arts official name: Lucier
    • Origin: The Blue Star
    • Age: Unknown
    • Interests: Singing
    • Voice: Chisa Yokoyama (横山智佐) / Kelly Weaver
The female lead of the game, she has existed for thousands of years, watching over the Blue Star until it is capable of being restored. At her introduction, she is solely concerned with locating Althena, being as Zophar is manifesting himself on Lunar and Althena has apparently not taken any preventive action. To this end, she has no concept of human society, and a very limited understanding of human emotion. Over the course of the game she slowly develops a personality of her own, falling in love with Hiro and with him fighting against the revival of Zophar. When Zophar is defeated, she returns to the Blue Star so that she can concentrate on its restoration once again but is ultimately awakened by Hiro who has found his way there with the help of the Star Dragon.
File:Ronfar (Lunar).jpg
Ronfar
  • Ronfar (ロンファ, Ronfā)
    • Game Arts official name: Rong-fa
    • Origin: Raculi Village
    • Age: 19
    • Interests: Gambling, drinking
    • Voice: Ryotaro Okiayu (置鮎龍太郎) / Ned Schuft
First mentioned as a powerful priest and healer, when Hiro, Ruby, and Lucia meet him, they find that he is nothing more than an alcoholic, womanizing compulsive gambler. He denies that he was ever a priest, but when he realizes that Hiro and Lucia may be the key to confronting his past and his lost love Mauri, he agrees to give up his self-indulgent lifestyle in order to assist them in their quest. Ronfar takes the role that Jessica did in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, though his personality is actually more similar to Kyle than anyone else. While Kyle indulged in his roguish acts for his own enjoyment, Ronfar did so partly to forget his feelings of guilt over Mauri.
File:Jean (Lunar).jpg
Jean
  • Jean (ジーン, Jīn)
Jean is introduced as the star dancer in a traveling caravan. She presents herself in a friendly, sisterly way, but she also seems to be running from a dark secret in her past. It is later discovered that she is a former member of the Shadow Dragon Cult, and that she was trained at a young age to be a human killing machine with no thoughts or emotions. She rejected that lifestyle and suppressed the memories associated with it, ultimately retraining (under Lunn, though she was not aware it was the same person that led the Shadow Dragon Cult) in the Blue Dragon Fist style. She is forced to confront her past when Lunn reveals himself to be the master of the Shadow Dragon Cult. After the battle with Zophar, she returns to the life of a dancer in a traveling carnival. For most of the game, Jean fulfills a role similar to Kyle's in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, that of a second fighter who (at least in the beginning) is stronger than the main character.
File:Lemina (Lunar).jpg
Lemina
  • Lemina Ausa (レミーナ・オーサ, Remīna Ōsa)
    • Game Arts official name: Remiena
    • Origin: Vane
    • Age: 16
    • Interests: Making money
    • Voice: Megumi Hayashibara (林原めぐみ) / Kathy Ostrander
A descendant of Mia Ausa and Nash from Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and junior Premier of the Magic Guild of Vane. Lemina is a dead-ringer for her illustrious ancestor Mia and is equally talented in magic, but for all of her apparent sweetness, Lemina has none of Mia's mild manners or delicacy. She is pushy, conceited and naively believes that Vane's ultimate restoration may occur in her lifetime. She is the party's black mage and golddigger, always trying (and failing) to sell the party things that they either don't want or she doesn't have anyway. She often expresses herself by attaching the adverb "mega" to whatever she feels at the time, such as saying "mega-hurry" whenever she feels impatient.
  • Nall (ナル, Naru)
    • GameArts official name: Nall
    • Origin: Unknown
    • Age: 1000-1100 (estimated)
    • Interests: Karaoke
    • Voice: Rika Matsumoto (松本梨香) / Matt Atwood
Nall is the now venerable White Dragon. He demonstrates the ability to take three forms, his original 'flying cat' form, his Dragon form, and his new favorite, the form of a delinquent-ish kid with a bad attitude. He is met by the other protagonists at Taben's Peak, where he is the caretaker to a large group of orphans. His powers, however, were sealed by Ghaleon, rendering Nall unable to assist the heroes in any way until the seal is broken. After the seal is broken, Nall and the other dragons cooperatively destroy false Althena's capital, Pentagulia.

Villains

File:Zophar (Lunar).jpg
Zophar
  • Zophar (ゾファー, Zofā)
    • GameArts official name: Zone Pharaoh
    • Age: Immortal
    • Voice: Iemasa Kayumi (家弓家正) / T. Owen Smith
Zophar is the primary villain of the game. A god of Darkness, Destruction and Evil, he arrived on the Blue Star thousands of years ago while it was still populated by humans. His evil permeated every corner of the Blue Star and while Althena was able to seal him away, the Blue Star was left utterly uninhabitable in the war. Recently, Zophar has begun his revival, now on Lunar, by means of starting a new cult worshipping the false Althena. He is eventually defeated and banished back to the netherworld by Hiro, Lucia, and the other heroes.
  • False Althena (偽アルテナ, Nise Arutena)
    • GameArts official name: Althena
    • Origin: Unknown
    • Age: Unknown
    • Interests: Admiring herself(?)
    • Voice: Shiho Niiyama (新山志保) / Katie Staeck
The person Zophar assigned to impersonate Althena in order to control her followers is known only by this name. Her real name is never actually stated, though it is understood that she is indeed an ordinary human with no powers of her own, and that she is simply a figurehead in Zophar's service. False Althena obeys Zophar in hopes that the evil god will grant her eternal beauty and youth. When Hiro and Lucia arrive at the Goddess Tower after Pentagulia is destroyed, Zophar transforms her into a monster with the intent not of stopping them but of slowing them down. The heroes quickly defeat her and proceed up the Goddess Tower.

The Four Heroes and the Dragonmaster

The Four Heroes and the Dragonmaster serve the false Althena at the highest level, and they constitute the few humans who are allowed into the false Althena's immediate presence with any degree of regularity.

File:Ghaleon (Lunar 2).jpg
Ghaleon
  • Dragonmaster Ghaleon (ドラゴンマスターガレオン, Doragonmasutā Gareon)
    • GameArts official name: Ghaleon
    • Origin: Vane (though hundreds of years ago)
    • Age: N/A (he is actually dead)
    • Interests: Collecting antique books
    • Voice: Rokuro Naya (納谷六郎) / John Truitt
One of the few returning characters from Lunar 1, Ghaleon leader of the Four Heroes and Zophar's right hand. He is introduced relatively early, and he states that Zophar resurrected him so that he might take revenge on the world that destroyed him in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. At the entrance to Pentagulia, it is revealed that he is the Dragonmaster in the direct service of the (false) Althena. After Zophar has revived and consumed the Fortress of Althena, Ghaleon arrives, claiming to have come to Vane in order to execute Hiro and the party. When the heroes defeat him, he gives Hiro his sword and encourages the party to trust each other and use all of their strength to vanquish Zophar. Zophar, realizing that Ghaleon was deceiving him all along, banishes Ghaleon back to the netherworld.
File:Leo (Lunar).jpg
Leo
  • White Knight Leo (白の騎士レオ, Shiro no Kishi Reo)
    • GameArts official name: Leo
    • Origin: Raculi Village
    • Age: 18
    • Interests: Swordsmanship
    • Voice: Shin'ichiro Ota (太田真一郎) / Ty Webb
Leo is one of the Four Heroes, the leader of Althena's Guard, and the commander of the Dragonship Destiny. He is searching for the Destroyer, a foretold demon from the skies who intends to destroy Lunar, and he is led to believe that the Destroyer is Lucia. He mercilessly pursues the heroes aboard the Dragonship Destiny until he begins to question his faith, at which time he brings them to Pentagulia so that the (false) Althena may decide what to do with them. When he realizes that he may be being deceived by the false Althena, he dons a mask and takes the name Mystere in order to assist the heroes without arousing suspicion. When he realizes that his entire life is a sham for Zophar, he duels with Hiro, and when Hiro wins he gives Hiro the Dragonship Destiny and leaves to search for the meaning of his life. He permanently joins the party for the Epilogue.
  • Blue Master Lunn (青の拳聖ライナス, Ao no Kensei Rainasu)
    • GameArts official name: Rainus
    • Origin: Horam
    • Age: Unknown
    • Interests: Physical training
    • Voice: Masaharu Sato (佐藤正治) / Blake Dorsey
Lunn is one of the Four Heroes, and the governor of Meribia. He is also the secret leader of the Shadow Dragon Cult, a martial arts organization that trains assassins by using the Blue Dragon Fist's noble techniques for the purposes of evil. He took Jean under his wing in the Shadow Dragon Cult when she was very young and trained her to be an efficient and unemotional killing machine, but she rejected this and suppressed her memories. When the Shadow Dragon Cult (with Lunn at its head) went public, Jean was forced to confront Lunn, a battle which she ultimately was victorious in. Lunn abandoned the Cult and returned to the side of good after realizing his error.
  • Black Wizard Borgan (黒の魔道師ボーガン, Kuro no Madōshi Bōgan)
    • GameArts official name: Bawgan
    • Origin: Vane
    • Age: Unknown
    • Interests: Stamp collecting
    • Voice: Daisuke Gouri (郷里大輔) / Dean Williams
One of the Four Heroes and the master of Neo Vane and it's Magic Guild, Borgan appears fairly early in the game to spirit Lemina's mother away. Though he poses as a powerful wizard, he actually he has little magic power of his own - his apparent power is merely borrowed from the Black Dragon. Borgan has enslaved people to the creation of Neo Vane to achieve his goal of restoring Vane in the form of Neo Vane, but he also hopes to use Neo Vane to fulfill his petty romantic designs on Lemina's mother, and to give himself a false sense of superiority. He is ultimately defeated by the heroes.
  • Red Priestess Mauri (赤の神官マウリ, Aka no Shinkan Mauri)
    • GameArts official name: Mauli
    • Origin: Raculi Village
    • Age: 16
    • Interests: Cooking
    • Voice: Kumiko Watanabe (渡辺久美子) / Emmunah Hauser
One of the Four Heroes, Mauri is Leo's sister. Long ago, she was engaged to Ronfar, but they broke up, leading to Ronfar's fall into decadence, gambling and alcoholism. She eventually attained the rank of Red Priestess among the Four Heroes after she was possessed by a demon in the service of Zophar. Later, it was discovered that a potion used to cure her of a disease was actually the Blood of Zophar, a draught that enslaved its imbibers to Zophar's service. When the demon possessing Mauri is defeated by Ronfar, Mauri herself returns to normal and she and Ronfar restore their relationship.

Continuity gaps

While Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is dramatically different from the game it was based upon, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete follows its original, Lunar: Eternal Blue closely. This discrepancy has had an unintended effect of opening plot holes in Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete due to the fact that the remake follows the original continuity of the Sega CD games in several places, rather than the altered continuity established in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete.

Taben's Peak, the moving mountain

Players who are only familiar with the PlayStation remakes are often puzzled by the placement of Taben's Peak, the mountainous ruins of a huge mobile fortress which appeared in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. It appears on the outskirts of the city of Meribia, but in the Lunar 1 remake, the fortress stopped far to the south of Meribia. This inconsistency occurs because Taben's Peak is left in the same location it occupied in the Sega CD original, Lunar: The Silver Star - since moving it would negatively effect the Lunar 2 scenario. In the Sega CD continuity, the fortress was looming over on Meribia before it was stopped by the Lunar 1 heroes.

Althena - Reborn for love?

At the end of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, Althena explains that she gave up her immortality, remaining as Luna out of love for Alex. However, that claim contradicts Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, in which Althena gave up her immortality before she ever met Alex. The explanation for this is that the dialogue is essentially unchanged from the Sega CD version of Lunar 2 and,in the original continuity, Luna was merely one of Althena's many routine incarnations, and after Luna's life had ended, Althena was to return to her tower. Meanwhile, in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, Luna is the last, or perhaps only, human incarnation of Althena, and fully mortal from the start.

NOTE: In the Saturn version, Althena is voiced by Masako Ikeda (池田昌子).

ALTERNATE THEORY: It could also be explained that when Luna expresses remaining mortal out of love for Alex she is speaking after her divinity was revealed to her by the Magic Emperor. Luna, at this point, is aware of the divinity she once had and decides to stay with Alex out of love.

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Version differences

Original to remake

The differences between this title and Lunar: Eternal Blue on Sega CD are numerous. The Lunar 2 remake implements many of the same gameplay revisions as are found in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - there are no battles on the overworld and no random encounters. Also like Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, the size of most of Lunar 2's many dungeons decreased substantially from the original game. Four dungeons were cut from the remake, and several new ones were added (the exact number varies from Saturn to PlayStation). The graphics are more detailed than the original release due to the higher resolution and broader color palette of 32-bit platforms compared to the Sega CD. While many monsters from the Sega CD version recur, they are all redrawn, and a number of bosses look far different. The overall number of cutscenes in Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is about 35 - significantly reduced from the original MegaCD/SegaCD version's 61. A number of short, scene-setting cutscenes and minor character introductions were cut from the remake. Despite this, the total amount of cutscene time is longer in the remake because many scenes were extended.

Saturn to PlayStation

In technical categories, the differences between the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions are as follows: The Saturn version has better quality music thanks to PCM encoding. On the other hand, the Playstation versions use sequenced audio similar to the midi format. The cutscenes in the Saturn version display at 3/4 screen, as opposed to full screen on the Playstation versions, and use the Saturn's standard Cinepak compression method, which is grainy and known to generate considerable artifacting. As the PlayStation versions use a higher-fidelity M-JPEG compression for the cutscenes, the game was extended onto a third disk for the Japanese and English Playstation releases.

The PlayStation versions include a variety of features that were added after the Saturn version was released. The PlayStation versions feature one more cutscene than the Saturn version does. In the Saturn version, the first ending was simply still screens, while it is fully animated on the Playstation versions. A number of bromides were added, and all bromides display at a higher resolution than in the Saturn version. The Saturn version contains two new dungeons, while the PlayStation version adds an additional two, with a host of extra monsters and items to attend them.

Packaging artwork

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