Video games - Lunar: Dragon Song

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	Video games - Lunar: Dragon Song

Lunar: Dragon Song (called Lunar: Genesis （ルナ-ジェネシス-）in Japan) is a computer role-playing game for the Nintendo DS developed by Japan Art Media and published by Marvelous Interactive and Ubisoft in 2005. In addition to being the first game in the Lunar series for the DS, it is also the first original game in the series since Lunar: Walking School
in 1995, and the first new Lunar title (not counting remakes) released in North America since Lunar 2: Eternal Blue for the Sega CD.

As the first traditional CRPG for the system, Lunar: Dragon Song set the standard for the genre on the new hardware, including the use of the mic to issue commands, combat that is set across two screens, and the separation of menus and actual gameplay. It is also the second game in the series to not be translated by Working Designs.

Story

Even though Lunar: Dragon Song is the latest game in its series, it actually takes place 1000 years before Lunar: The Silver Star
, making it the first game chronologically. The game opens with an explanation of the Lunar lore and how the Goddess Althena created a habitable place out of a barren wasteland and sent four powerful dragons to protect it. During the time of this game, Humans and Beastmen are still at odds with one another, and live in opposing towns across the world.

The game stars a delivery boy named Jian Campbell who works in the busy port town of Searis delivering parcels and packages to anyone he is assigned. His best friend and partner, Lucia, often joins him in his excursions and helps him defeat monsters that litter the land. Along their journey, they get caught up in the legend of the dragons and, eventually, must put an end to an evil Dragonmaster who seeks to use their power to rule the world.

Gameplay

The game makes use of Nintendo's new hardware in several interesting ways. First, and most noticeable, is the inclusion of a second screen assigned for showing the menu. It is here, through either manual selection or by using the touch screen, that a character's stats, item usage, and game settings are accessed. In combat, both screens contain the action, and commands can be issued either by selecting them with the D-pad, touching them, or (in the case of running) using the built-in microphone.

The combat itself is different than most Lunar games, with the characters remaining stationary while they attack instead of moving about the battlefield. No individual enemy can be selected, and the characters merely attack whichever one is closest to them, or which one has less resistance to their particular attack. A combination of physical attacks, magic, and heal spells are still present, with different characters taking on different group roles. At max, a party can consist of three characters, each one joining Jian at different points in the story, with no way to switch between them.

Before going into combat, the player must choose whether they want experience points (called "Althena Conduct") or items as a reward (this is changeable at any time out of battle in the menu). No monsters in the game actually drop money, and it must be earned either through selling the items gained by defeating them or by completing deliveries, which can be assigned to the player at any time.

In order to discourage making the characters run everywhere, as well as save the ability for avoiding potential enemy encounters, running for an extended period of time will actually cause all party members to lose hitpoints. Once a character's hitpoints reach below a certain percentage, they lose the ability to run until they are replenished.

Battle Card system

If the player chooses to get items from combat, enemies will sometimes drop monster cards that can be used in or out of a battle for a variety of effects, or they can sold to vendors. Some cards can be used as curative spells, others change certain rules in battle, like disallowing the enemy to steal the party's items. Due to the power and rarity of these cards, they should be saved for high-pressure battle situations.

Scratch Game

The Scratch Battle card game is a special two-player feature of Lunar: Dragon Song that takes advantage of the Nintendo DS's link-up capabilities and is accessed through the "Coliseum" option on the title screen. Assuming both players have copy of the game, they can play against each other in a card game that includes monster cards collected from one of each of their game saves.

Both players compete by "scratching" a selected card placed face down, thus flipping it. They are then able to use that particular card's special abilities to damage their oppenent's cards' vitality, which is measured in hit points. The game ends when one player has no more cards available to scratch. Winning this game has no effect on the actual story, nor does it yield any sort of reward.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lunar: Dragon Song ]

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