Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Lunar: Eternal Blue
Developer(s)	Studio Alex
Publisher(s)	Game Arts Working Designs
Designer(s)	Toshiyuki Kubooka (character) Hajime Sato (world)
Platform(s)	Sega CD, Sega Saturn
Release date	December, 1994 September, 1995
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Media	1 × CD-ROM

Lunar: Eternal Blue is a turn-based role-playing game (RPG) released in 1994 for the Mega CD and in 1995 for its North American counterpart, the Sega CD. It is part of the Lunar series and is the sequel to Lunar: The Silver Star. Developed by Studio Alex and published by Game Arts in Japan, the US publisher Working Designs localized the game and released it in North America. This title has never seen a European release. This game was remade with significant changes, and later ported to the Saturn console in 1998 and PlayStation as Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete in late 2000.

Introduction

Lunar: Eternal Blue takes place roughly 1000 years after the events in Lunar: The Silver Star and tells the story of a boy named Hiro, a mysterious girl named Lucia, and their adventures. The world of Lunar became relatively peaceful in the intervening centuries, and the exploits of the last Dragonmaster, Alex, have faded into myth. Many of the people of Lunar view the legends of Dragonmasters as mere stories, the church of the Goddess Althena has evolved into one that values donations over enlightenment. Hiro is one of the true believers, and he dreams of becoming an archaeologist in hopes uncovering, and maybe even experiencing, the grandeur of ancient Lunar. After seeing a bright light at the ruins near his home, Hiro finds all the adventure he dreamed of, and more. Accompanied by his ever-present sidekick, a small, witty flying creature named Ruby, Hiro travels to the ends of his world and beyond.

Gameplay

Lunar: Eternal Blue is a traditional turn-based RPG in terms of its gameplay. The characters explore towns and dungeons, generally in alternating order. The characters randomly encounter monsters while exploring dungeons. Battle occurs under the Lunar series' signature range-based battle system, in which monsters and the player characters can traverse a certain distance per turn. As a reward for defeating the monsters, the characters gain experience points, thereby gaining levels as well as strength and new techniques. Magical abilities are upgraded via the magic experience system, through which the player may individually level up different classes of magic spells which are unique to each character.

Graphics

Lunar: Eternal Blue is one of the most painstakingly produced games in the Sega CD/Mega CD library. The game features much more detailed visuals than its predecessor, Lunar: The Silver Star, and captures the vibrant style of world designer Hajime Sato's image illustrations admirably, making the Lunar world even more immersive. Many minor details, such as animated doors that open and close as characters pass though them, and distinct left and right view sprites for characters that are not symmetrically balanced, suggest that the development Lunar: Eternal Blue was a labor of love.

Lunar: Eternal Blue also features many anime cutscenes using the full motion video capabilities offered by the Sega CD. The cutscenes are generated using a sprite-based method like the one found in Lunar: The Silver Star (as well as other SegaCD anime-style games, such as Vay and Popful Mail), but are far more complex, more frequent, and feature richer animation. Cutscenes usually display at half screen, but there is considerable variation in dimensions. Lunar: Eternal Blue contains more cut-scenes than any other game in the Lunar series, including the remakes, at a total of 61.

Characters

Heroes

• Hiro (ヒーロ Hīro)
• GameArts official name: Hiero
• Origin: Salyan Desert
• Age: 16
• Interests: Treasure-hunting, adventuring
• Voice: Hikaru Midorikawa (緑川 光) / Mark Zempel

The main character of the game, Hiro lives with Ruby and his adoptive grandfather Gwyn. A daring youth with a sense for adventure, Hiro has great interest and admiration for the history of Lunar. He dreams of becoming an archaeologist, but has yet to make any discoveries except the boomerang he carries. This all changes when he gains entry to a centuries-sealed ruin called the Blue Spire and makes the discovery of a lifetime - a beautiful and solemn girl named Lucia, who claims to have come from the Blue Star.

• Ruby (ルビィ Rubī)
• GameArts official name: Ruby
• Origin: Salyan Desert(?)
• Age: Unknown
• Interests: Being with Hiro
• Voice: Kumiko Nishihara (西原久美子) / Jennifer Stigile

Ruby is a flying, cat-like creature that claims to be a baby red dragon, although she doesn't have any proof. She is Hiro's constant companion, and has been for what, as Hiro says, "seems like forever". Her behavior is like that of a precocious little girl - 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 naive and reactionary. She can be very possessive of Hiro, and resents the way Lucia dominates Hiro's attention.

• Grandpa Gwyn (グェン Guen)
• GameArts official name: Guen

Gwyn is an elderly, somewhat eccentric beastman who has taken Hiro and Ruby under his wing. He has traveled the world as an archaeologist, and is currently researching the Blue Sprire, though with little success. Gwyn shares Hiro's love of adventure (he may have inspired it in Hiro), and while he accompanies Hiro into the Blue Spire, his age soon forces him to leave the party.

• Lucia (ルーシア Rūshia)
• GameArts official name: Lucier
• Origin: The Blue Star
• Age: Unknown
• Interests: Singing
• Voice: Chisa Yokoyama (横山智佐) / Kelly Weaver

Lucia is the mysterious girl who appeared in the Blue Spire, and the heroine of the story. Her professed duty is to someday restore the Blue Star to the inhabitable world it once was, and she slept for untold centuries, waiting for that time to come. She possesses incredible magic power and is set on locating the Goddess Althena. When Lucia first arrives on Lunar she has no concept of human society, and a very limited understanding of human emotion. Over the course of the story Lucia gradually learns the true nature of love, and comes to appreciate the joys of life.

• Ronfar (ロンファ Ronfā)
• GameArts official name: Rong-fa
• Origin: Raculi Village
• Age: 19
• Interests: Gambling, drinking
• Voice: Ryotaro Okiayu (置鮎龍太郎) / Ned Schuft

Ronfar is first mentioned as a capable priest, but when the party encounters him, they find a he is drunken hustler who seems to have half the women in town wrapped around his little finger. So world-weary that he usually seems far older than he actually is, Ronfar is a man running from past failures and lost love. Meeting Hiro and Lucia inspires him to reclaim his idealism, lead Lucia to where she can find Althena, and complete the things he had left undone in the process.

• Jean (ジーン Jīn)
• GameArts official name: Jean
• Origin: Unknown
• Age: 18
• Interests: Dancing
• Voice: Aya Hisakawa (久川 綾) / Jennifer Stigile

Jean is a skilled dancer who travels from place to place with a caravan, showing off her magnificent talent. She presents herself in a friendly, sisterly way, but she also displays a single-minded focus when she's determined to do something. Jean can effortlessly convert her dancing skills into combat techniques, and that ability seems to be connected to a painful past that she doesn't like to discuss.

• Lemina Ausa (レミーナ・オーサ Remīna Ōsa)
• GameArts official name: Remiena
• Origin: Vane
• Age: 16
• Interests: Making money
• Voice: Megumi Hayashibara (林原めぐみ) / Kathy Emma

Lemina is the scion of the Ausa family that has ruled the Magic Guild of Vane for centuries. Lemina is a dead-ringer for her illustrious ancestor Mia Ausa and is just as talented in magic, but for all of her apparent sweetness, Lemina has none of Mia's mild manners or delicacy. She strives tirelessly to restore the Magic Guild to its former glory, but her endeavor has unfortunately led her into a fixation on money. Lemina is selfish, pushy, and her thoughts are dominated by schemes to amass funds to this end.

• Nall (ナル Naru)
• GameArts official name: Nall
• Origin: Unknown
• Age: 500-600 (estimated)
• Interests: Karaoke
• Voice: Rika Matsumoto (松本梨香) / Jonathan Esses

Nall is the White Dragon of Althena and was once a companion of Dragonmaster Alex, but these days he usually appears in the form of a delinquent-ish kid with a bad attitude. He is actually very lonely without Alex and Luna, and this has inspired him to start looking after orphaned children. Hiro and Lucia must work to gain Nall's trust, but he quickly becomes an indispensable ally.

The Four Heroes

• White Knight Leo (レオ Reo)
• GameArts official name: Leo
• Origin: Raculi Village
• Age: 19
• Interests: Swordsmanship
• Voice: Shin'ichiro Ota (太田真一郎) / Ty Webb

Leo is one of the Four Heroes of Althena's Cult and the leader of Althena's Guard. He has dominion over the White Dragon, and also commands the powerful Dragonship Destiny. Leo is respected as a man of character by his subordinates in Althena's Guard, and is admired by members of Althena's Cult across Lunar for his strong sense of justice. Leo pursues what he believes to be right doggedly. On the other hand, he is also overly serious and inflexible. This occasionally leads him to don a mask and fight injustice as Mystere (Kamen no Shiro Kishi, or "Masked White Knight" in the Japanese version). Leo, Mauri, and Ronfar grew up together in the village of Raculi.

• Blue Master Lunn (ライナス Rainasu)
• GameArts official name: Rainus
• Origin: Horam
• Age: Unknown
• Interests: Physical training
• Voice: Koji Yada (矢田耕司) / Blake Dorsey

Lunn is one of the Four Heroes of Althena's Cult, who has dominion over the Blue Dragon. A martial arts master trained in the land of Horam, Lunn is also governor of Meribia, and he is appreciably busy as a result. He is calm, serious and seems legitimately interested in the common good, but he hides a terrible secret.

• Black Wizard Borgan (ボーガン Bōgan)
• GameArts official name: Bawgan
• Origin: Vane
• Age: Unknown
• Interests: Stamp collecting
• Voice: Daisuke Gouri (郷里大輔) / Dean Williams

Borgan is one of the Four Heroes of Althena's Cult. He has dominion over the Black Dragon and controls the flying city of Neo Vane. Borgan leads the Neo Vane Magic Guild though 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 in hopes of fulfilling his petty romantic designs on Lemina's mother, and to give himself a false sense of superiority.

• Red Priest Mauri (マウリ Mauri)
• GameArts official name: Mauli
• Origin: Raculi Village
• Age: 16
• Interests: Cooking
• Voice: Kumiko Watanabe (渡辺久美子) / Emmunah Hauser

Mauri is one of the Four Heroes of Althena's Cult, who has dominion over the Red Dragon. She is Leo's sister, and was once Ronfar's lover, but it ended poorly. Since then Mauri has devoted herself to the service of Althena's Cult. She became a high-ranking priest despite her young age, but grew steadily colder and more cruel in the process. It is as if the sweet girl she once was no longer exists.

Villains

• Zophar (ゾファー Zofā)
• GameArts official name: Zone Pharaoh
• Voice: Iemasa Kayumi (家弓家正) / T. Owen Smith

Zophar is a god of destruction and darkness, who poisoned the hearts of the people of the Blue Star long ago. The Goddess Althena sealed him away, but not before the Blue Star was laid to waste, making it necessary for Althena to populate Lunar with the surviving humans. Now he seeks the destruction of Althena's new creation. Zophar grows steadily stronger on the negative emotions of the people of Lunar, which are being sowed throughout the land by his followers.

• Ghaleon (ガレオン 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

Ghaleon is one of the few returning characters from Lunar: The Silver Star. Ghaleon himself claims that he was brought back from the dead by Zophar to take revenge against the world of Lunar and help hasten the dark god's revival in the process. However, Ghaleon's actions belie his words, because he is helpful to Hiro and the party as often as he is hindering. Ghaleon serves as False Althena's protector, and the Four Heroes defer to him. He is rumored to be the Dragonmaster, though he is rarely addressed as such. (In the remake Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, he is frequently called Dragonmaster Ghaleon.)

• 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

False Althena is an ordinary human woman who serves Zophar, impersonating the Goddess Althena in exchange for eternal beauty and youth. She rules Althena's Cult from within a cloistered temple in the holy city of Pentagulia, and is rarely seen by anyone other than the Four Heroes and Ghaleon. Her real identity remains a mystery.

Localization

Working Designs cultivated a reputation for fluid, natural, and often very humorous localizations of the games that they licensed. However, Lunar: Eternal Blue may be WD's most criticized localization. For example, Gamefan Magazine's staff disparaged it for a profusion of "playground jokes" and "Americanisms" in a 1995 review that angered many fans. While most of the questionable material is not incorporated into the dialogue for the main plot, some fans do find the frequency of real-life references, often to popular culture subjects and mid-1990s current events, obtrusive.

Pop Culture References

The following is a selection of notable people, places or things explicitly referenced in the game:

• Kevin Bacon (actor)
• Barbie
• Barney (main character of the children's program Barney & Friends)
• Baywatch (TV series)
• Lorena Bobbitt (news figure)
• Bill Clinton (former U.S. president)
• Credit cards
• Deal A Meal (diet plan endorsed by Richard Simmons)
• Eggo Waffles
• Neverland Ranch (property owned by Michael Jackson)
• Pay-per-view TV specials
• Talk Soup (TV program, more recently known as The Soup)
• Tomb Raider
• Trix Cereal
• Eddie Vedder (musician)

References

External links

• LunarNET LunarNET, fan-based website
• Home of Lunar Silver Star Information about the Lunar series
• Lunar: Eternal Blue at MobyGames
• Lunar: Eternal Blue at FantasyAnime movie clips and screen captures