Pre-first impressions

[Kizyr]

Ok, I'm real tired now 'cause it's, like, 2 in the morning and I've been playing through about 4 hours of Lunar: Genesis.

I'm going to have a full update sometime tomorrow evening, but for right now I'd like to hint at some of my reactions...

First off, I really, really enjoy it. It's proving to be quite fun and engaging, plus the music's on-par with what I'd expect and hope for in a Lunar game. Especially when I've been waiting since Magic School for a new one.

There's room for a lot of sidequests. But, it avoids the FF7-syndrome of stacking every sidequest on towards the very end; I'm just at the beginning and there are four small sidequests I can do through Gad's Express. That whole system is making for a new element in the game.

The usual complaints about the dual battle systems and HP loss while running are overstated... they don't prove to be much of a problem. Running in towns doesn't hurt any since you can always stop at an Althena's Statue before heading out. Running otherwise only uses a little HP, so short dashes has barely any effect. Plus, you level up quickly, so switching between the EXP and Item gaining modes doesn't prove too burdensome. I'll say more in my full first impressions article.

The storyline, well, I'm only in the first few hours, but it's shaping to be interesting. I mean, me and G1 have already been saying that the story is quite good, and definitely in the vein of the rest of the series. But seeing it in action, it's unfolding nicely thus far. I also like Lucia as a character; she's less demure and more forceful than Luna, while still being supportive.

Once I'm not so tired, I'll get around to a full first impressions piece. I'll try to cover both the positives and negatives, but bear in mind this is after only the first 4 hours of play and I'm just now on my way to Healriz. KF

[phyco126]

she's less demure and more forceful than Luna, while still being supportive.

Blasphemy! Luna was pretty darn forceful, at least in SSSC. Remember in the begginning? Oh man... I still have nightmares about it

*ahem* Moving on, I'm glad that you people are enjoying it. I still am worried, but hopefully when you post your full impression tomorrow/today/tomorrowtomorrow, it might help. Regardless, I want the game. It's chucking the money for the DS that I am weary of.

[NallOne]

All that did was get me excited to see the full impressions, Kiz! Teasing us like this. How horrid.

It sounds like Lucia is shaping up to be a worthy heroine, which makes me happy. I've always been more fond of the heroines in the past Lunar games than I was of the Main Character(s) himself.

[Erasculio]

Hey Kizyr, if you have time I would like to ask two somethings:

How are the little side quests on Gad's Express? Are they always the same thing? As in, "kill enemy x until you have y ammount of item z, and then give it to NPC a to get b ammount of gold"? Or do they actually have some kind of side plot as well?

And the Battle Cards: are they items we use once in battle, like the Starlights from previous Lunars, or are they equiped items that help you in some way, like the Crests from EB? I have noticed that, in one of the battle videos, Jian would be healed after each attack, and I wonder if that's thanks to a card or if that's another item.

Erasculio

[GhaleonOne]

From my understanding cards are very valuable, but I think they can only be used once. For instance, one card might up attack power for the party for x rounds, while another card might be some kind of fire attack. Obviously, Kiz will reply later, but that's the way I understood.

[Alunissage]

All the jobs I've seen thus far, a fair bit ahead of where Kiz stopped last night, have involved taking various combinations of items to people. Whether there's actual story involved in these (after the first) I couldn't say, but since the same job will recur, I doubt it. I rather expect that there will be specific story-related jobs at some point though.

Regarding the healing, again I couldn't say for sure whether that's from a card, but there's a spell a la Priest (?) Litany which restores 5% of HP every round -- and every round means immediately after that character has done their battle command rather than everyone at once after the complete "turn". I've also come across an item that restores 1 MP each round, though I don't actually know which one is creating that effect. You can't unequip anything without having a replacement, so it's difficult to check things like that or even to see what the stat boost for weapons/armor is (I mean, you can see how much it improves that person's stat, but you can't easily see how much of that stat is a character's natural attribute without equipment).

I really should try using a card in battle and see what happens sometime.

[Kizyr]

The equipment and cards all have descriptions attached to them. I haven't tried using them yet, but I'll see how re-usable they are. All I'm saying is what I gather from the descriptions and instruction manual. You still have the card, but all it defined was that they were then useless in the Scratch Battle mode.

The quests in Gad's Express so far have been amassing items and delivering them to a client. I'm only taking on one or two right now, since the others are too difficult for the moment (you do have to decide which ones are reasonable and which are beyond your ability, so it's a good idea to think ahead rather than doing everything possible outright). However, I believe they'll change a bit in content later on.

It's interesting having a significant number of sidequests. You'll probably have to resist the temptation to do every single one.

EDIT: Watch for the first impressions article tonight or tomorrow morning. It's nearly ready to go, after a few last edits. KF