Lunar Threads

Was it released in Japan before or after Lunar: Eternal Blue? And how well was it received there? Did it get good reviews, sell well, etc?

Are you talking about the Game Gear or Saturn versions? Both came after Eternal Blue was released on the Sega CD.

Since this is 1995 we're talking about, I have no clue how it was received when it was released. Since the Game Gear version is rather rare, there isn't a lot in terms of reviews of the game.

The Saturn version is really good, except for one major, major flaw: the horrid encounter rate. Everything else about it is well-received, but everyone who plays it complains about the awful rate of random encounters in the game. KF

I'm talking about the original version, on Game Gear. I'm curious how successful that game was, in light of how DS is turning out not to be a massive success story.

Well, it was a fun little game, without any major flaws. So I don't think it was received badly (I haven't heard any really negative reviews about it). But since Game Gears and the game itself is really rare these days, there's not much information about it floating around anymore.

Regardless, the Walking / Magic School storyline did get pretty good treatment for a side-story: a 15-minute animated short, two manga volumes, a novel, and a soundtrack for both the animated short and the game. KF

I don't suppose any little things like that are popping up in Japan for Dragon Song, are they? Do they still do things like that?

There's a few items starting to pop up for Dragon Song on Yahoo Japan Auctions. Mainly stuff like phone cards, but I do think a poster was been made (which was based on artwork I never got for LunarNET useage, at that). It certainly doesn't have the merchandise that, say, TSS, SSSC, EB or EBC got. Or even as much as Magic School, for that matter.

In terms of Walking School, there are actually was a preview in one of the US gaming magazines before it was released. GameFan or one of those. No clue in terms of Japanese reviews and such though. Likely, like Kiz said, there probably wasn't much. It wasn't considered a major release, and I don't believe the novels, manga and soundtracks even came out until after Magic School was released.

Alright, that knowledge puts my mind at ease a bit. I'd like to think that Dragon Song will end up having a similar place to Walking School in the grand scheme of the Lunar series, and that the franchise will continue on despite it being such a lackluster title. (And I'd like to think that the amount of press it got alone would justify further interest in the franchise on the part of Gamearts. They have to know that the game sucked, and that if they'd put some more effort into it it could have been really great.)

GhaleonOne wrote:There's a few items starting to pop up for Dragon Song on Yahoo Japan Auctions. Mainly stuff like phone cards, but I do think a poster was been made (which was based on artwork I never got for LunarNET useage, at that).

Just FYI, the art in that poster is also used in the guide IIRC. I've strangely not looked at anything Lunar in two or three months (whenever my last shipment of stuff came in), but I'm pretty sure of that one.