Good ------ - Great graphics - Memorable music, grows on you - Faithful to the origi
Let's start off with the overall eye candy and the magnificent graphics~
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the game does not show the PSPs full potential like Crisis Core, Dissidia and even MGS: Peace Walker do, Lunar:SSH has every right to share at least a piece of the PSP graphics pinnacle throne.
The full quality, somewhat cartoony graphics are absolutely superb, non-pixelized, and the hand-drawn backgronds are just lovely, and it only gives more charm to the overall look of the game. The sprites are amazing, a bit different than from the PS1 original, but nevertheless great.
The cutscenes are in the 4:3 format, like they were on the PS1, while the game is in 16:9, optimized for the PSP LCD screen, but it doesn't matter since the cutscenes aren't small or anything like that, so you'll have a fun time seeing those too.
While graphics cannot be compared, like I said earlier to some of the 3D games like FF7:CC, that wasn't the game's intention at all, since the game tries to be faithful to the original, and faithful it is, at least graphics wise.
-----------------
Graphics 5/5
-----------------
The music however, is not that good, because it is MARVELOUS.
If you got the collector's edition, in which you got the Lunar : Silver Star Harmony soundtrack, you should be one of the luckier people on the planet we call Earth. The songs perfectly match with the storyline, the whole scenery of the cities, and are really really touching.
I suggest you youtube the songs, if you haven't played the game already, and even if you did, still youtube the songs, because half of them are on my everyday playlists, and alltime youtube favorites.
The music has it's moments, whenever there's a cliff hanger, a determination of a character to achieve something for the good of the world, the music is always there to make it even better.
-------
Music 5/5
-------
The game excels at both music and graphics, and is a pleasurable experience to listen to and watch, but alas, it must have a weakpoint, thus the fair 8.5 grade.
Namely, as much as faithful to the original, this game also has the new "Limit Breaks", or the Arts Gauge, how the game names it.
The Arts Gauge is a special gauge that fills up whenever one of your character gets damaged, hence the Final Fantasy comparison.
While I don't have anything against the AG, I do have just about everything against a specific Arte that the magician Mia has, who becomes a constant party member about 15 hours into the game.
Basically, her "arte" gives the party an immunity against both magical and physical attacks for the next THREE TURNS, and that's about as much time as it takes for the gauge to refill (Maybe a turn or two more, but that's about it).
What I'm trying to say is that there is NO attack in the game that can bypass the shield Mia casts over your party, henceforth making her ability the most overpowered one in the game.
Yes, not even the final boss can't bypass the shield she casts over the party, which gives you free 3 turns to do whatever you please with your 4 party members.
It's just too easy after you get Mia, and to me, not fun.
But then again, if we were to compare to the original Lunar:Silver Star Story Complete, which was really hard, and sometimes harsh, this game looks more open to the new and inexperienced players to the Lunar franchise, but xseed could've done a better job finding the balance between too hard and too easy.
When we talk about gameplay, the skill animations are definitely worth mentioning, because they are unique, and truly stunning, most of the magic spells are elemental, and there are many events in the game when you're supposed to go to a fire or ice dungeon, that's when the elemental spells come in handy, as it happens in almost all the games.
The game's loading times are never too long, mostly 5 seconds to me, and sometimes even less, depending on the area, and that's coming from someone who played the retail version, and not the Playstation Network downloadable one.
The equipments are kind of easy to come by, since there aren't any hidden chests, nor many sidequests, which makes the replay value next to none, and the only things you can actually collect are the Bromides, a set of items with the female characters of the party, and the special cutscenes involving them.
There's also a special item that lets you see all the game's cutscenes which falls into a potential sidequest, but that's about as much as sidequests that you'll get.
Leveling is easy once you find a spot where the enemies are weak against a certain element, and there's also the party AI you can use as a command, and let the AI fight for you.
There aren't any random encounters, instead there are only monsters as in monster sprites you can run into, or evade and run away from them.
Also, some of the normal monster battles are kind of boring, and running away is hard, takes a lot, so there's no need to level too much, since even if you don't fight much you won't have trouble finishing the game, just sit back and enjoy the story.
Basically, you won't be coming back to the game in the next few years once you finish it.
-------------------------
Gameplay 4/5
------------------------
Overall~
It's a one-time-stand game, very memorable, the soundtrack is charming, the story has many twists and a lot of charm, graphics are superb for the PSP and the genre, and it's a very recommendable game to both the fans and people who heard about the game for the first time and own a PSP.
It does have it's low replay value, and other not so good things, but it also has it's unique shine, and it shows the work the people who developed the game for the PSP, as well as their determination to stay faithful to the original.
My advice to you is to give it a try, it's available both on the Playstation Network and in retail sale, at a reasonable price, and it'll give you a good bang for your buck, from the minute you start playing it, to the second you finish it.