Like its predecessor, Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete delivers in every category.
Quality voice acting
Visual pleasing Anime-like cutscenes
Good English dialogue
Cons:
Not much change in gameplay or style
Roaming monsters as annoying as ever
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete for the Playstation One is a Role Playing Game and a remake of its Sega CD counterpart "Lunar: Eternal Blue" and is a sequel to "Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete". In most RPGs you take turns fighting the enemies, going on offense and defense when needed, L2: EBC is no different. The story stars Hiro (yeah, right on the nose) who starts out the adventure as a treasure hunter, but is soon engulfed in a plot to save the world from the evil Zophar.
Hiro will be joined by Lucia, whose sole mission is to warn the Goddess Althena about the impending doom that's facing Lunar. But these two won't face adversity alone, as they'll soon be joined by a diverse cast of characters with their own goals in mind. And to RPGs, each character will have his and her own strengths and weakness that will come into play during battles. Some are more offense oriented, while others are better at magic and healing.
Fans of the first game will remember how "romantic love" was one of the main themes of the story. L2: EBC isn't as heavy handed when it comes to the romantic side of things, but that isn't to say that it's completely absent. This time around other themes are central to the story when it came to developing each character and understanding their motives. Some fight for love, to protect a relative, out of loyalty, to question authority, or to atone for past sins.
In battle Hiro bears a resemblance to our Dragonmaster Alex from the first game. Both use sword based attacks and will be more times than not leading the attacks on offense during battle. A nice change this time around is that Hiro won't be the sole work horse down the stretch a la Alex during the first game, but rather Hiro's supporting cast will play a bigger role in battle with stronger attacks and better defense and magic as compared to Alex's supporting cast. But this is the Dragonmaster we're talking about, putting the world on their shoulders is sort of their thing.
Speaking of battles, Lucia won't actually be playable; she'll be in your party and whatnot, but you won't actually be able to control her. This makes her a bit of a wildcard, she has magic attacks and will automatically attack most of the time, or she'll actually heal wounded party members from time to time, she can even run away from battles if she chooses to. The upside to this is that you don't have to worry about buying weapons or armor for Lucia.
Compared to Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, L2: EBC looks and feels nearly identical to its predecessor; the world map, towns, sprites, even the battle HUD could be called a splitting image of the first game. L2: EBC also uses anime-like cutscenes. It should be an easy transition when starting the second game right after completing the first. Those looking for something new might be disappointed when they realize that not much has changed in the game play either.
Not to say that it's a completely negative point that there wasn't a huge overhaul of the game mechanics, as mentioned before it's a big plus that the supporting cast were beefed up as compared to its predecessors. And just as the first game, you're able to set tactics, meaning you can set what attacks each character uses beforehand, instead of choosing the attacks manually. You're also able to choose where each character will stand on the battlefield, this is a huge plus.
The roaming monsters can still be a pain, just as in the first time, but this wouldn't truly be an RPG without random encounters. The good news is that the higher level you are, the higher probability of escaping battles.
Fans of the Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete will have no problem diving right into Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. L2: EBC Delivers in all the right categories when it comes to enjoyment, gameplay, and storytelling.