This topic is for discussing my experience with playing the original version of Lunar: The Silver Star for the Sega CD. I know I want to consider some version of the game to LP, so I am checking this one out with the Kega emulator. SPOILERS are allowed here.

Special thanks to Gilder for his information, as well as helping me to get the game working. It plays perfectly now.

After some brief initial grinding, the game seemed to really pick up the pace. Battles are much faster than the PSX version. Surprisingly, even though they implement random encounters, there are far fewer battles per dungeon, which would make recording and editing a lot easier for me. The battle music also makes the battles more fun for me. Dungeons are also much shorter, which is very welcome to me.

It's hard to say if the gameplay mechanics would make this version more interesting. On the one hand, the PSX version is a lot longer and more tedious. However, on the other hand, they actually have puzzles in some of the dungeons, though not on the level of Zelda or Lufia 2, of course. As for the battles, they are faster in the SCD version, but according to Gilder, elemental weaknesses are non-existent, which eliminates a huge part of the strategy in the game.

The voice acting, cutscenes, and NPCs seem to be far higher quality in the PSX version, but that should be obvious, due to the technological improvement. I'm sure the SCD version was a huge achievement, back in the day. I don't know how much I should take that into account when deciding on which version to LP. While I don't put a ton of value on storytelling, even I have to admit, it's hard for me to overlook the quality of the cutscenes and in-game graphics. If the PSX version tells a better and fuller story, that's just hard for me to overlook.

Of course, I've just barely started the game, so I have a long way to go. I just met Quark and made it back to Burg.

Thanks for your support.

This was the only version of Lunar that I've ever played. So I'm intrigued on what your thinking about it.

Also will you be playing Lunar 2 at some point?

Nice to see you getting back to this version. Personally, I'm fine with either version of the game for you to LP, whichever one you prefer even if I've only played the SegaCD version myself. I'm sure it'll be enjoyable to watch either way.

I'm sure Taku is happy though :lol:

As for the SegaCD, I suppose it was something of a technological achievement back then, but the thing was plagued with horrible FMV games of the lowest quality. There were some pretty good games on the thing, but it's more remembered for it's mediocre titles than it's strong games (Both Lunar games, Sonic CD, Snatcher, etc.)

So, I thought about it overnight and I've decided that I'm going to hold off on the Ghaleon vs. Ghaleon analysis until HC finishes this one, since I don't want to introduce any of my personal bias into his experience with the SCD version.

Since I'm already here, I may as well mention that I'm going to play along with this one. My goal is to get through the game with as little grinding as possible. I was able to get through the SCD version of Lunar 2 with literally zero grinding, so I'm curious to see how much grinding will be necessary in this version since it's much easier throughout.

It sounds to me like the PSP version brings in the best of both worlds, so I'm guessing you'll end up LP'ing that. My only concern with LP'ing that version is that if/when you do get around to LP'ing Lunar 2, you won't have a PSP version to choose from, so there will be a lack of consistency between the LP's.

You didn't even grind for Borgan? I find that a bit hard to believe, considering how much the battle depends on luck if you have any of your party members below level 30.

No, not even for Borgan. My god, was that one of the most unfair things in any game ever. Zophar's first form was also pretty hard compared to everything else in the game. His second and third forms are a joke, though. The only other remotely powerful bosses in that version were the Red Fiend and the second battle with the Phantom Sentry.

I always liked the Voice Acting in the SCD version more compared to the PSX or PSP version.

And the NPCs are a lot better in the SCD version IMO. In both Lunar 1 and Lunar 2 on SCD, you'll be surprised at what they get away with.

Political stabs. They're freaking hilarious.

As much as I hated the 2nd fight against the Phantom Sentry, nothing can match the sheer rage and frustration I had against Borgan. I nearly wanted to break the goddamn game in half.

Well, I learned something important about Lunar 1 on the SCD today.

It's possible to become virtually irreparably stuck. I was all the way up to where Xenobia captures Luna, but didn't have enough Max MP to cast Dragon Bolt 3 times and I didn't have any MP healing items in my inventory which together renders the battle with her minions unwinnable. Well, when I try again later today or tomorrow I'll be sure to actually buy MP healing items. (For reference, I can't actually get to where they're sold, so I have to start the whole game all over again)

If you are having a dilemma on choosing which version to LP, you should clearly just do them both. :P Haha. Joking aside, I am pretty biased in favor of the PS1 version, just because I've played that one more and it was the first version I played (not for lack of wanting to get it on SegaCD back in the day). Either way, I'll definitely be tuning in. ;)

Can't you buy MP restoring items back at the store that Ramus sets up? I recall them being relatively inexpensive, especially at that point in the game.

I'm stuck here. So, I'm at Meribia, and Dross steals the diamond. However, Nash isn't at the Black Rose Street to teach me magic. I tried talking to Mel and looking up a walkthrough for a sequence trigger, but I didn't find anything. What else can I do?

Thanks a lot.

Sounds like a similar situation I was in while playing the PSX version. I got to Xenobia, but kept losing because I didn't have enough healing items. Had to restart, and got all the way back to Althena's Fortress.. Just one problem - forgot to stock up on healing items. So had to restart again, and the final time I remembered to buy healing items, beat Xenobia, and beat the game way back in the summer of '99.

Have you talked to the mage that supposed to unlock Alexs magic power? Hes at the street in the building on the far north side.

Also have you used This? Its a good walkthrough that helped me when I played the game.

Yeah, he just scams me for money, or does nothing. That walkthrough just says Nash should be there.

Did you try going to the sewers and talking to the guy in front of the entrance? I think maybe that triggers Nash being at the building.

Yep. No dice.

Only thing I can think of is that you haven't talked to Mel or one of his maid that mentions something about Jessica. Otherwise I'm stumped.

As much as I would love to see you LP the PS1 version, it being the first version I've played, I would be fine with seeing an LP of the SCD version. I was never blessed with owning a Sega CD, and the one time I saw the SCD version available at Vintage Stock, I was flat-ass broke at the time. :unsure:

I believe I recall you mentioning that LPing the PSP version could be good, seeing as most people that like to play along could more easily acquire it than the other two. Working Designs was notorious for making far too few copies of its games, in hopes that the low inventory would drive up demand. Then they shut down. Gee, I wonder why...? :rolleyes:

Hopefully when Gilder wakes up from his nap he can help out. Or even Taku, given that this is his favourite game of all time and thus probably knows it inside-out.

Don't know how far into the sewer you've gone. Go down until you find a guy that says that regular weapons won't work on the enemies, then Nall should say something about going to go look for Nash, and that triggers the event, IIRC... Hope that helps! :)

Edit- Like I said before, I'm not AS familiar with this game as I am the PS1 version, but I hope I can be of help. ;)

Thanks a lot. That worked. There was a SECOND man much further down into the sewer that you have to talk to, so Nash will appear at the shop. I thought you guys were talking about an NPC outside of the sewers who says the same thing, or the first guy in the sewers who doesn't.

I dunno, the SCD version just never hit me the way the PS1 version did. I LOVED the PS1 version so much, and to see you LP the SCD version would be a little bit of a disappointment to me personally, but its not my youtube channel, its yours.

I'll still watch whichever you play, nonetheless.

While I like this game, the event triggers of this game annoyed the shit out me. I still like it, but good lord it really brought down my enjoyment of the game.

Damn, he beat me to it. Yeah, you have to talk to the second man. Lunar 1 SCD has sequence triggers, some of them not the most...obvious ones. I have them memorized, so they don't bother me as much.

I made it through the Meribian Sewers today. This game breezes by so quickly compared to the PSX version. So far, I'd have to strongly disagree with Taku on the plot and NPCs. It's just so much richer in the PSX version. The SCD version is pretty bare bones. Although, it does have the aforementioned advantages. Right now, I'd say I favor the PSX version still. Sorry, Taku. I'll keep playing, of course.

It is possible I could be mixing up some of the NPCs from Lunar 2 on SCD, who has the best NPCs in the series and in all of gaming IMO.

The ones in the PSX version are excellent too. It's a very similar style to SSSC.

Status update:

I just recruited Kyle and I'm currently getting some of the Locked Red Chests. Since I'm taking the game more seriously this time I haven't actually needed to buy any MP healing items. (I had two Silver Lights to spare when I fought Xenobia's minions, though it actually took 4 castings of Dragon Bolt to kill all of them, as opposed to the 3 that I originally thought it would)

Current Levels and Equipment (No grinding done up to this point whatsoever)

Alex

Level 27
Dagger (Initial Equip)
Leather Gauntlet (Purchased in Meribia)
Chain Mail (Found in Cave of Trial)
Chain Helmet (Found in Lann Island Cave)
Wood Shield (Found in White Dragon Cave)
White Dragon Wings (Received in White Dragon Cave)
Alex's Harp (Initial Equip)

Nash

Level 17
Earth Cane (Found in Red Chest in Meribian Sewers, use entrance inside second floor of Mel's mansion. Casts a spell, when used as an item in battle, that looks like Landquake/Rock 'N' Roll, but does about 95 damage to One Enemy instead of 200 damage to All Enemies)
Leather Gauntlet (Purchased in Meribia)
Magic Robe (Found in Silver Spire) (Previously had Leather Clothes passed down from Alex. Found in Lighthouse)
Headband (Purchased in Meribia)
Mia's Bromide (Don't know if this actually does anything, but I like giving it to him for the hell of it. Purchased in Vane)

Jessica

Level 23
Claw (Initial Equip)
Bracelet (Purchased in Vane)
Magic Robe ("Borrowed" from Ghaleon)
Tiara (Initial Equip)
Wood Shield (Found in Lann Island Cave)

Mia

Level 25
Recovery Cane (Found in Weird Woods in Red Chest near tree stump. Casts Healing Spell when used as an item in battle. Looks visually like Rest Litany, but I'm not sure how much it actually heals at the moment)
Bracelet (Purchased in Vane)
Magic Robe (Initial Equip)
Tiara (Passed down from Luna. Found in Weird Woods)

Kyle

Level 25
Dark Sword (Initial Equip)
Leather Gauntlet (Purchased in Meribia)
Chain Mail (Found in chest right before Nanza Barrier)
Helmet (Passed down from Alex. Purchased in Meribia)

I'll update again once I get to Reza and make some equipment purchases there.

Finished my Reza/Meryod purchases.

I'm about to head off to the eastern desert to gather the vines. (Hopefully they drop quickly or I'm going to be overleveled. I'll probably reset if it ends up taking too long, so that I don't gain very many, if any, levels) I still haven't done any grinding up to this point, but I did have to sell all unnecessary equipment and items in order to afford all of the purchases that I wanted to get.

Current equipment and levels as of this update:

Alex

Level 29
Long Sword (Purchased in Reza)
Iron Gauntlet (Purchased in Reza)
Chain Mail (Already Had)
Steel Helm (Purchased in Meryod)
Wood Shield (Already Had)
White Dragon Wings (Already Had)
Alex's Harp (Already Had)

Nash

Level 19
Earth Cane (Already Had)
Leather Gauntlet (Already Had)
Magic Robe (Already Had)
Headband (Already Had)
Mia's Bromide (Already Had)

Jessica

Level 24
Mace (Purchased in Reza)
Bracelet (Already Had)
Magic Robe (Already Had)
Tiara (Already Had)
Wood Shield (Already Had)

Mia

Level 27
Recovery Cane (Already Had)
Bracelet (Already Had)
Magic Robe (Already Had)
Tiara (Already Had)

Kyle

Level 27
Dark Sword (Already Had)
Iron Gauntlet (Purchased in Reza)
Chain Mail (Already Had)
Chain Helmet (Passed down from Alex)

I'll update again once I get through the Red Dragon Cave and have made weapon purchases in Meryod.

Edit: Don't want to triple post, so I'll just put the most recent update here.

Finished the Red Dragon Cave and got the weapon purchases that I wanted in Meryod. It was pretty tight, but I just barely had enough money. (I had to go back and get the items that I skipped on the second floor of Mel's mansion and in the sewers, past where the Earth Cane is, in order to sell them so that I would have enough money. The main reason it gave me enough was that most of those items are Jewels (Sells for 1000 Silver) and Diamond Rings (Sells for 3000 Silver))

Current levels and equipment as of this update (Still haven't done any grinding yet):

Alex

Level 32
Samurai Blade (Purchased in Meryod)
Iron Gauntlet (Already Had)
Chain Mail (Already Had)
Steel Helm (Already Had)
Red Dragon Shield (Received in Red Dragon Cave)
White Dragon Wings (Already Had)
Alex's Harp (Already Had)

Nash

Level 25
Boomerang (Purchased in Meryod)
Leather Gauntlet (Already Had)
Sage's Clothes (Found in Red Dragon Cave)
Headband (Already Had)
Mia's Bromide (Already Had)

Jessica

Level 29
Flail (Purchased in Meryod)
Bracelet (Already Had)
Magic Robe (Already Had)
Tiara (Already Had)
Wood Shield (Already Had)

Mia

Level 31
Recovery Cane (Already Had)
Bracelet (Already Had)
Magic Robe (Already Had)
Tiara (Already Had)

Kyle

Level 31
Great Sword (Purchased in Meryod)
Iron Gauntlet (Already Had)
Chain Mail (Already Had)
Chain Helmet (Already Had)

I'll update again when I get through Grimzol's Cave. If no one has posted in this thread by that time, then I'll edit that update into this post, as well.

I've made it to Lann so far today. It feels like I'm watching an episode of Power Rangers after watching the original Super Sentai episode. While the plot is rather light and condensed, I do appreciate the pacing and not having to spend an hour if I want to talk to everyone.

Really quick update, since I've got somewhere important that I've gotta go for a few hours.

Current levels and equipment as of finishing Grimzol's Cave (Still without any grinding):
(For the purpose of brevity from this point onward, all equipment that I already had will no longer have its source marked in parentheses)

Alex

Level 40
Samurai Blade
Iron Gauntlet
Chain Mail
Blue Dragon Helm (Received in Blue Dragon Cave, stolen by Nash right afterward, and then given back by Nash when he rejoins in Tamur after you clear Myght's Tower)
Red Dragon Shield
White Dragon Wings
Alex's Harp

Nash

Level 37
Pixie's Bow (Found in Grimzol's Cave)
Leather Gauntlet
Sage's Clothes
Headband
Mia's Bromide

Jessica

Level 33
Flail
Bracelet
Magic Robe
Tiara
Holy Shield (Found in Blue Dragon Cave)

Mia

Level 34
Recovery Cane
Bracelet
Sage's Clothes (Found in Blue Dragon Cave)
Tiara

Kyle
Level 40
Insane Sword (Found in Grimzol's Cave)
Iron Gauntlet
Chain Mail
Steel Helm (Passed down from Alex)

Tempest (During Grimzol's Cave)

Level 40 (Almost 41. He started at level 39, if you're curious)
Pixie's Whip (Found in Grimzol's Cave)
Iron Gauntlet (Purchased in Reza)
Sage's Clothes (Borrowed temporarily from Mia while she is out of the party. Removed from Tempest before he leaves the party)
Chain Helmet (Passed down from Kyle)

If there are any errors in this, I'll correct them when I get back. Gotta go, be back later.

Alright, I'm back. Didn't find any errors in the post, so everything is good to go for the next one.

Sounds like you're making great progress so far, HC! I haven't actually touched the SCD versions of either SSSC or EBC, just the PS1 versions, though I've wanted to try them out for a while now. My knowledge of those versions pales in comparison to what I know about the PS1 version for Lunar 2. :)

Lunar really suffers the worst part of "StarTropics Syndrome," AKA "talk to fucking everyone."

This is quite possibly the best analogy I have ever seen anyone use for anything. Kudos to you, sir.

I appear to be stuck again. I just got Althena's Mirror and have to get back into the Cave of Trial in order to reach the Crystal Tower. However, I can't enter the Cave of Trial, because I automatically just teleport to and from Vane at the entrance.

You have to go in the small building straight to the left of the entrance of Vane, that you originally came out of when you first finished the trial, and work your way through the Cave of Trial backwards to get to the entrance of the Crystal Tower.

Alright, time for a major update.

I made it through the Dark Cave, Cadin Black Dragon Cave, Talon Mine, Marke Black Dragon Cave and Taben's Tower so far this morning. I'm about to take Myght's Balloon to the Goddess Tower.

Current levels and equipment as of this update (No grinding yet and, considering how late in the game I am, I can definitely say that there never will be):

Alex

Level 50
Dyne's Sword (Found in Cadin Black Dragon Cave)
Iron Gauntlet
Black Dragon Armor (Received in Marke Black Dragon Cave. Possibly a Steel Armor between this and the Chain Mail, whenever you have enough money)
Blue Dragon Helm
Red Dragon Shield
White Dragon Wings
Alex's Harp

Nash

Level 50
Pixie's Bow
Leather Gauntlet
Holy Clothes (Found in Cadin Black Dragon Cave)
Headband
Mia's Bromide

Jessica

Level 49
Silver Claw (Found in Shrine in Marke just before entering Marke Black Dragon Cave)
Bracelet
Saint Clothes (Found in Shrine in Marke just before entering Marke Black Dragon Cave)
Tiara
Holy Shield

Mia

Level 50
Recovery Cane
Bracelet
Holy Clothes (Found in Taben's Tower)
Tiara

Kyle

Level 51
Insane Sword
Iron Gauntlet
Insane Armor (Found in Marke Black Dragon Cave. Possibly a Steel Armor between this and the Chain Mail, whenever you have enough money)
Insane Helm (Purchased in Thieves Bazaar in Reza when you wake up there after failing to enter the Grindery)

I'll update again once I'm right before the Final Battles with Xenobia and Ghaleon.

Edit: Putting the final update here to avoid triple posting.

Alright, final update time.

Current levels and equipment as of just before fighting Xenobia (Never did any grinding throughout the entire game):

Alex

Level 57 (He actually reached the level required to gain his third attack # without any grinding. I'm quite surprised) (Level 58 after fighting Xenobia)
Althena's Sword (Received in Goddess Tower)
Iron Gauntlet
Black Dragon Armor
Blue Dragon Helm
Red Dragon Shield
White Dragon Wings
Alex's Harp

Nash

Level 57 (Level 58 after fighting Xenobia)
Pixie's Bow
Leather Gauntlet
Holy Clothes
Headband
Mia's Bromide

Jessica

Level 57 (Level 58 after fighting Magic Emperor Ghaleon)
Silver Claw
Bracelet
Saint Clothes
Tiara
Holy Shield

Mia

Level 58 (Level 59 after fighting Magic Emperor Ghaleon)
Goddess Cane (Found in Goddess Tower. Briefly had the Sage's Cane equipped. Also found in the Goddess Tower, but on a lower floor)
Bracelet
Holy Clothes
Tiara

Kyle

Level 58 (Level 59 after fighting Xenobia)
Insane Sword
Iron Gauntlet
Insane Armor
Insane Helm

As of posting this, the last battle with Ghaleon is over and the credits are rolling.

I think this experiment has been quite successful. It has both reaffirmed certain things that I believed about the game, as well as made me notice things about it that I didn't before. I might post some of my thoughts later on; but, if I do so, it will be after HC finishes the game himself.

You could always white them out, until HC finishes it, at the very least.