Lunar Threads

Hey Lunar faithful, I was frolicking the internet just a minute ago and came across this piece of information at RPGfan.

http://rpgfan.com/news/2011/1408.html

They note a comment made by website toucharcade.com (http://toucharcade.com/2011/04/07/somog ... r-for-ios/), "It won't be a shoddy port by any means, this is a complete from the ground up touch-based port of the game, not a ROM wrapped in a mediocre emulator like Sega's offerings."

We'll see what this means and how the game develops. For those of us who don't have an iOS device this could translate as the most expensive investment yet to play a Lunar game is in the not too distant future. Ugh! but at the same time...YEESSS!!

And yet for those with iOS devices, this may translate into the most inexpensive investment.

(I wondered when this would show up.)

Just making my annual visit to bring an appropriate pall of despair to this announcement:

"SoMoGa is responsible for the [sic] bringing the similarly fantastic old-school RPG Vay [$4.99] to the App Store, and we're expecting Lunar: Silver Star Touch to be of similar quality."
Even a cursory look at the Vay port should make this statement a cause of lamentation.

"it won't be a shoddy port by any means."
Actually, that is literally the exact opposite of what will happen. Of course, unless they meant meant, "it won't be a shoddy port by any means, it will be a revolutionarily awful port, the likes of which you have never seen."

Temzin wrote:Even a cursory look at the Vay port should make this statement a cause of lamentation.

Haters gonna hate.



But, you know, Vay was the first RPG on an iOS device, and it had no precedent to go on as for what people liked and didn't like; many of the subsequent RPGs that have come out used Vay as a guide for what to do, and improved on the model in their own way.

If you've played Vay, why don't you write to their feedback address and tell them what liked and didn't like? I am certain they'd love to hear.

Temzin wrote: "it won't be a shoddy port by any means."

Actually, that is literally the exact opposite of what will happen. Of course, unless they meant meant, "it won't be a shoddy port by any means, it will be a revolutionarily awful port, the likes of which you have never seen."

You seem quite certain for something you haven't even seen yet.

The statement is a reference to the fact that a number of companies have been known for just selling an emulator + ROM -- if you've tried any of these, you'll know they'll often subpar experiences and sometimes difficult to play. On the other hand, the code for Lunar has been completely rewritten to accommodate touch screen devices, which is a step a lot of companies aren't willing to shell out for.

Hmm, I don't see how not trusting a no-name foreign developer, whose previous efforts are demonstratably unimpressive (see previous link), would be that unreasonable. If it were the original creators or some iteration of GameArts as it exists now, I think I'd be a little happier.

Could I write them and tell them what wasn't good about Vay? I guess, but I don't think "everything you contributed" would be a very helpful response, but if you look at the graphical disunion between the original (here) and the port (here, clown boots and all), there's really no other way to put it.

Surely there are relative merits to other iterations of Lunar, even relatively unimpressive outings like Legend. But to me, being a fan of a series would make one more inclined to be critical and discerning towards a new iteration or re-release and its relative potential, rather than excited by default. To my mind, "any new Lunar is good Lunar" doesn't remotely apply in all cases, not with Genesis/DS and certainly not with another amateurish SoMoGa product.

Well, the vast majority of the reviews the port of Vay were quite positive, but that said, if you're just referring to the graphical changes, then I agree they don't match.

But were there other aspects you didn't like? If so, what were they?

Oh, that's all there is to it, really, though I think Parish probably makes good points about touch control problems, too.

This is just the ancient Mega CD game dumped onto an iphone, so no particular problem there on a technical level, but then, there's not a lot to praise about a company's ability to shovel ancient Vay onto the iphone. And if their only additions on a technical level were to add truly bizarre, unprofessional, ill-matching "HD" sprites for only the main characters, I just can't trust the professionalism or judgment of the company in question. (Reverse the assumptions that this will be good or bad: how might you react if the party's battle sprites in SSS were drawn to the same laughable standard of the Vay port?) All the more bizarre is that this is even an issue of someone other than GameArts dealing with it in the first place---this is the sort of franchise treatment that I associate with Telenet's Valis properties getting sold off to adult game companies---but ah, well.

Temzin wrote:Oh, that's all there is to it, really, though I think Parish probably makes good points about touch control problems, too.

And what would you preferred they had done? A virtual d-pad? In my mind, that reeks of laziness.

Temzin wrote:This is just the ancient Mega CD game dumped onto an iphone

Has it been confirmed that's what this is? The articles I saw were vague as to which game this was.

Less virtual d-pad, maybe more "doing a touch scheme that works better." Attempting to have a touch interface is not a crime by any means, though clunkiness is regardless of how difficult it was to be the pioneer RPG.

Oh, the "ancient Mega CD" bit was just referring to the Vay port, not SSS (as in, "their only job was to port a very simple MCD game, which they did, good for them, though not without completely botching the visuals in battle.") I don't think we'll see MCD Silver Star ever again, but in any event and regardless of the version, I'd be very wary of an outsourced project to someone whose past work does not invite confidence. Giving people a fair chance is kind, I suppose, but rightly or wrongly (rightly, I suspect), we judge people and artists based on the quality of their past work. I still can't figure out how GameArts isn't doing this one, but hey.

Kinda hoping it's the SCD version. That'd be in line with SoMoGa's (rather limited) record, right?

I hope these folks don't make me want to cry. The lack of a unified visual style wouldn't sit well with me. That "anime art" they added to Vay? ::shudder::

That was the one thing a lot of people didn't like; I've heard the art team had no real reference art and decided to experiment. They were appropriately beaten.

As for the stretching of sprites, this was done to be accurate to the original -- most emulators don't do this, but parts of Vay were displayed at a resolution where the Genesis had to stretch it to make it full screen on TVs.

I'm curious. I'll need to see how it plays first.

So Lunar 1 is getting its annual remake on the iphone this time? Interesting.

I like the convenience of having ported games like Vay and Shining Force on me at all times. Even if this is a worst case scenario it will be a bad port that will likely only cost $1-$3, and I'd rather buy that than Lunar DS which I paid $30 for. The price point is so low it would have to be pretty bad for me to regret spending that dollar.