Welcome to another edition of For What it's Worth, were bargain titles are examined to see if they really are worth your bottom dollar. Tonight we take a look at an Nintendo DS RPG which rides the coat tails of one of the most beloved games of the 90's. Of course I'm talking about Lunar: Dragon Song.
Many fans of RPG's fondly remember the Lunar series (Silver Star Story in particular) released for the PlayStation and varying Sega consoles. Those games featured original and uniquely designed characters, beautiful anime cutscenes and a gripping epic story arc.
With that I present to you this riddle: What do you do when you take everything that made the Lunar series great and reduce it to such a degree that it becomes a hollow shell of its former self? The answer: Lunar: Dragon Song, although that name makes absolutely zero sense. It was just Nintendo's shallow attempt to put the initials DS into as many DS game titles as possible. Although If they went with a title like Dragon Story or Dragon Saga (you know, one that actually sounds appealing) it would have made sense.
This was an attempt to recapture the magic of the series but sadly with a new production team guiding most of the project, it would become a massive failure.
Story: This story takes place roughly 1,000 years before Silver Star Story (I don't buy the lack of technological development over that entire century but that's just me) and stars a young delivery boy named Jian Campbell and his friend and co-worker Lucia, who deliver parcels as they fight various monsters along the way. Somehow (I will not spoil things) they end up getting involved in a struggle for the planet, as they must defeat an evil dragon master named Ignatius who wants to use the power of the four dragons to take over the world.
I always wanted to do that.
According to the game's mythology they are the guardians of the world sent by the Goddess Althena after creating the world from a baron wasteland. So it is basically a generic anime plot with generic anime characters complete with obligatory catgirl. I would say more but again I want to keep my reviews a spoiler free zone. But I will say that the story is so stock and generic that it is absolutely boring and the few interesting parts the player is given are out weighted by idiotic and disappointing bullshit.
Graphics & Design: The graphics aren't too bad. The characters look pretty good in combat as well as they do when they are exploring the game's world and there are some neat monster designs, although most of them are pretty stock. During the dialogue scene's, because unlike the other games in the Lunar series there are zero animated cutscenes (another reason why I hate this game). The DS has the technology needed to make animated scenes possible (just look at Professor Layton) and to cut them out of the game is a big mistake considering the positive impact they have made in the previous Lunar games. Anyway, as I was saying the dialogue scenes are pretty interesting considering they feature still pictures (which are drawn pretty well but they're kind of bland) of the characters with the dialogue on the top screen, as the sprite versions of themselves are on the bottom screen pantomiming the discussion. The pantomiming is actually animated very well but it is hard to notice when you have to look up at the top of the screen to read what they are saying. Why couldn't they have scraped the stills and put the dialogue with the sprites? Why I am on the topic of the stills and sprites, the main characters are designed pretty well although again they look like generic anime characters but all of the background characters look the same. All of them are carbon copies of other background characters, with the only difference being hair and eye color. Are we to belive that every village population in this world is inbred? I really hate the lack of creativity on behalf of the character designers here. They seem to have the same level of creativity as those people who dip Sonic the Hedgehog into MS Paint and claim to have created an original character.
Sound: The songs in this game are actually pretty good. Sure they aren't as memorable as the one's in Silver Star Story and may seem to be the same typical "epic" JRPG type songs but hey, that doesn't mean the songs are bad. In fact the music is the best thing about this game.
I apologize for the poor sound quality and the lack of video footage. Footage for this game is really hard to find. Probably because so few people are willing to buy it let alone play it. So to make amends, here is the opening to a much better game:
Gameplay: The gameplay mechanics are the same as any typical RPG but with a few added twists bad ones mind you, but twists all the same. First off, their are no random battles. Monsters are visible in the foreground, so all you have to do to avoid them is runaway. Second, battles make use of both DS screens. Monsters on the top and your characters are on the bottom. The monsters come down to you or you go up to them to attack them, which is actually a neat idea. In theory. As in, "In theory communism works. In theory." And third, you have the option to chose what you want to gain from battle. Either experience or items. Huh?
Ok so let me evaluate each of these three gameplay elements. First you have the ability to see the enemies on screen and dodge them. This is a good thing. As seen in games like Sonic Chronicles, running away from a potential fight when in a rough patch can be a real life saver. However, in Dragon Song when you run you also loose HP (which drains very quickly by the way) and if half of your HP is gone, you will be too tired to run. Well gameplay element number one sucks. How about number two? Well I do admit that the animations of each attack are pretty good, but the amount of time it takes for the characters to get to the top/bottom screen, attack and go back up/down again slows down the action to a screeching halt. Especially if you are fighting a whole hoard of enemies. So element number two is a let down. How about three? It just plain sucks. Considering you rarely if at all get money after winning a battle and the items you do get sell for very little in the marketplaces, of course your going to choose experience. Unless you are short for cash and need money to buy items (which will be a lot) and with the items being so expensive, you'll be battling a lot with out gaining experience points to level up. You could always deliver parcels to earn extra cash but for some dumb ass reason the delivery service never has the damn items your supposed to put in the parcel, so you have to win battles to get the items. And it takes forever to get all of the needed items to fill the parcel. What kind of delivery service is this? How can they run a delivery service without having anything to deliver? So element number three blows ass! These elements are why the game fails to be a good RPG.
Good RPGs let you run through the foreground, so you don't have to walk at a snail's pace to conserve energy. Good RPGs make sure attacking animations are only seconds long, so your not fighting the damn basic monsters for ten minutes. And good RPGs give you experience and items and money after winning battles instead of having to make an unfair choice between them.
For these reasons alone this game is a heaping pile of Fail!
Extra Features: A juke box featuring all of the songs in the game and a wifi only card battling mini game.
Replay Value: After you play through this whole thing (I can't see why you would other than morbid curiosity), there really is no reason to play it again. Ever.
Over All Value: Retail Price: $15 (used)
What it's Worth: $5 (if you like RPG's). This is being kind.
You might notice that I actually hate this game more than ATHF and the truth is yes I do very much but it gets a higher rating because it is at least kind of playable and the creators actually tried to make a good game. Even if it is a rather shallow, mediocre, uninspired, unoriginal, shipwreck of an attempt. I apologize for rambling on about this crap for so long. To show you how sorry I am, here is another cutscene from Silver Star Story.
Until next time: Happy Hunting
