Lunar: Eternal Blue: Difference between revisions

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The second installment in the Game Arts-developed ''[[Lunar]]'' series of [[Eastern RPG|console role-playing games]]... not remade as much as the first, but still existing in multiple versions. The titles are:
 
* ''Lunar: Eternal Blue'' (no numeral) for [[Other Sega Systems|Sega CD]], English version released by [[Working Designs]].
* ''Lunar 2: Eternal Blue'' for the [[Sega Saturn]] and its [[Updated Rerelease]] on [[PlayStation]], ''Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete'', English version released by [[Working Designs]].
 
''Lunar: Eternal 2Blue'' takes place a thousand years after ''[[Lunar: The Silver Star|Lunar 1]]'', and centers on a teenaged [[Adventurer Archaeologist|treasure hunter]] named Hiro, who is fascinated by the Lunar world's epic past (in short, the events of ''Lunar: 1The Silver Star''). While exploring a ruin, he meets Lucia, a [[Mysterious Waif]] with [[Mystical Waif|vast magical powers]] who immediately announces that the world is "[[Foreshadowing|in grave danger]]". As if to prove her point, the [[Big Bad]] shows up and puts a curse on Lucia, [[De-Power|depowering]] her. In response, Hiro [[Dulcinea Effect|takes it upon himself]] to help Lucia carry out her mission to meet with the [[Physical God|Goddess Althena]], who can set the world to rights. The trouble is that [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Althena's far-reaching religious organization]] thinks that ''Lucia herself'' is the threat to the world, and attempts to stop them at every turn.
 
Yes, it's a [[Corrupt Church]] plot... that well-worn trope which drives the storyline of many a late 90's [[Eastern RPG]]. But when ''Lunar: Eternal 2Blue'' debuted in 1995, the corrupt church plot was new to video gaming... in fact, ''Lunar: Eternal 2Blue'' may have even been the pioneer. Be that as it may, the fact that the game held up well enough for a remake is testament to ''Lunar: Eternal 2Blue'''s other strengths: the fun characters, the entertaining, humor-laden writing, and the fantastic soundtrack. The remake, released in the twilight of the PS1 era, is notable for: being the ''only'' remake of ''Lunar: Eternal 2Blue'', (unlike ''Lunar: The Silver 1Star'' which developers can't seem to leave alone) and having a lot more in common with its Sega CD original than its counterpart, ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete]]'', does.
 
Sample our [[Lunar: Eternal Blue/Characters|character sheet]]!
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Accidental Pervert]]: Hiro, when he comes across Lucia while she's bathing and then runs for cover... after a [[Distracted by the Sexy|moment of gawking]]. In ''Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete'', Lucia (inadvertently) turns the tables and walks in on Hiro, [[Innocent Fanservice Girl|not getting what the big deal is]].
* [[Actual Pacifist]]: Jean, when she is first introduced in the remake. {{spoiler|She hates her violent past so much, she is reluctant to fight even to save her friends}}. Not so in the original version, where she doesn't seem to mind re-purposing her dancing ability for combat at all.
* [[Adventurer Archaeologist]]: This is Hiro's "profession" at the beginning of the game; the introduction even features a long [[Death Course]] complete with a [[Indy Escape|rolling boulder chase]].
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* {{spoiler|[[Did Not Get the Girl]]: In the first ending, Lucia returns to the Blue Star and leaves Hiro behind. In the Epilogue, Hiro finds a way to go to her}}.
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: The defeat of [[God of Evil|Zophar]] by Hiro, Ronfar, Jean, Lemina, Leo, Lucia and Ruby.
* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: Story-wise, female Ruby plays much the same role in ''Lunar: 2Eternal Blue'' as male Nall does in ''Lunar: The Silver 1Star''.
* [[Dragon with an Agenda]]: {{spoiler|Ghaleon, to the point of [[Reverse Mole]]}}.
* [[The Dulcinea Effect]]: Hiro's devotion to Lucia. So much so, in fact, that the [[The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches]] calls this trope [[Console RPG Cliches 1 to 24|the Hiro Rule]].
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* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Lucia, though she [[Character Development|feels more]] [[Defrosting Ice Queen|as time passes]].
* [[Enemy of My Enemy]]: Why Zophar brought {{spoiler|Ghaleon back from the dead: Zophar evidently assumed that since Ghaleon opposed Althena before, he'd be up for a grudge match. He's so very wrong}}.
* [[Expy]]:A handful of characters appear to be simply re-tooled versions of characters from ''Lunar: 1The Silver Star''.
** Combine the [[Mr. Vice Guy]] aspect of Kyle with the gameplay role of Jessica and who do you get? Ronfar.
** Averted to some degree: Lemina is a veritable [[Palette Swap]] of Mia and has the same [[Elemental Powers]], but couldn't be more unlike Mia personality-wise. Lemina is an extremely pushy extrovert, while Mia was an extremely polite introvert.
** At the other end of the spectrum, there's Ramus, the descendant of the first game's Ramus, who is a [[Identical Grandson|perfect replica of his ancestor]]. The Grand List named a line item for ''him'' too.
* [[Fake Difficulty]]: When they localized the Sega CD version of ''Lunar: Eternal Blue'', Working Designs added in a feature that [[Check Point Starvation|forced players to pay a certain amount of XP earned from battle to save the game]]. This feature was left out of the ''Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete'' on the Playstation, and Working Designs acknowledged in the official strategy guide for the game that "it was much more annoying than challenging."
* [[Fan Disservice]]: [[media:16eb.jpg|Borgan's Bromide]]. Let us never speak of it again.
* [[Fashion Shop Fashion Show]]: Lucia gets put through a short one by the other female members of the party.
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* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Apparently, being {{spoiler|dead for a thousand years}} gave {{spoiler|Ghaleon}} a lot of time to reconsider his past actions. So when he's {{spoiler|resurrected as Zophar's [[The Dragon|Dragon]]}}, he immediately begins subverting the [[Big Bad]]'s plot. First subtly, and then overtly despite knowing he's [[Redemption Equals Death|guaranteed to die]] {{spoiler|again}} as a result.
** In the Sega-CD version, he's pretty explicitly playing both sides up until the last moment, going so far as to {{spoiler|kill the main character}} to try to {{spoiler|1=[http://www.lunar-net.com/eb/screenshots.php?startingNo=495&endingNo=622&directoryNo=3&fileBegin=LUNAR%20%20ETERNAL%20BLUE_&pageTitle=Ghaleons%20Crisis goad Lucia into giving him the secret to an actual resurrection]}}.
** {{spoiler|Leo}}... He really does want to do good, but discovers that sometimes [[To Be Lawful or Good|the law stands in the way of doing the right thing]]. Thus, he ends up in the [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]... at least until he realizes {{spoiler|how he's been duped and joins Hiro's side for good late in the game}}.
* [[Heel Realization]]: {{spoiler|White Knight Leo. This is the reason why he flip-flops between Heel and Face. By the time he's mostly sided with Hiro, he's had to accept that the Althena he served was a fake goddess, put into position by the real dark god Zophar, and that the woman he's been trying to slay, Lucia "the destroyer", was ''actually'' carrying out the will of the ''real'' goddess Althena by trying to protect the world from Zophar}}. It's a tough pill to swallow.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: White Knight Leo, who, after finding out that he's a {{spoiler|servant for Zophar}}, has one that lasts until the final act of the game, at which point he becomes permanently playable.
* [[Heroic Second Wind]]: {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|The entire party during the fight with Ghaleon]]}}.
* [[Hilarious Outtakes]]: In the Playstation remake, as before, your reward for watching the entire credits roll is these. Of particular note is Jean's VA commenting on her character's [[Stripperrific]] outfits and {{spoiler|Ghaleon}} [[Large Ham|hamming it up]] to extreme levels.
* [[Humanity Ensues]]: Nall. Ruby also had a human form drawn in the artbook, whether this was ever planned to be implemented in the plot at all is anyone's guess. Also Lucia, who is apparently a goddess who learns to be "human".
** Also Lucia, who is apparently a goddess who learns to be "human".
* [[Humanity Is Infectious]]: Lucia slowly learns human behaviors as the game proceeds, developing empathy toward her companions. Even the [[Big Bad]] knows this trope... {{spoiler|since it's the cornerstone of his [[Batman Gambit]] to take advantage of Lucia via a [["Friend or Idol?" Decision]] scenario}}.
* [[Humans Are Special]]: This appears trope appears again and again, starting with Lucia's amazement that Ronfar was able to overcome Zophar's curse, and culminating in the "power of humanity"... which effectively means that all of the player characters are [[Determinator]]s. {{spoiler|Even ''Ghaleon'', whose motivation in the ''Silver Star Story'' was the belief that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|humans needed a god]], now believes in this}}.
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* [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]: There is a book, which the player has access to within few minutes into the second game, that outlines the plot of the first game. It's also hard to look into the game at all without finding out about {{spoiler|Ghaleon}}.
* [[Magic Dance]]: Jean's special attacks.
** [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: Something of a theme. {{spoiler|Especially now that she has Althena's divine spark, Lucia is probably immortal and will in all likelihood greatly outlive Hiro; it's inferred that this is one of the reasons she returns to the Blue Star, as she is hesitant to watch him grow old and die (and she can't just make him immortal or resurrect him; remember: "there can be no new life without the destruction of the old"). [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Hiro goes to her anyway]]}}.
* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: Something of a theme.
** This is also {{spoiler|part of the reason all versions of ''Lunar: The Silver Star'' happened in the first place: Althena could not bear to watch another Dragonmaster age and perish while she persisted eternally, and so chose mortality of her own free will and lived out the end of her life with Alex}}.
** {{spoiler|Especially now that she has Althena's divine spark, Lucia is probably immortal and will in all likelihood greatly outlive Hiro; it's inferred that this is one of the reasons she returns to the Blue Star, as she is hesitant to watch him grow old and die (and she can't just make him immortal or resurrect him; remember: "there can be no new life without the destruction of the old"). [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Hiro goes to her anyway]]}}.
** Also applies, after a fashion, {{spoiler|to the dragons and any human they know, lovers or otherwise. Nall outlived all of his original close friends by a ''millennium''; in ''Lunar: 2Eternal Blue'', Ruby finds the concept that she'll almost certainly live to the point that Hiro could be practically ''forgotten'' a very, very hard pill to swallow}}.
** This is also {{spoiler|part of the reason all versions of ''Silver Star'' happened in the first place: Althena could not bear to watch another Dragonmaster age and perish while she persisted eternally, and so chose mortality of her own free will and lived out the end of her life with Alex}}.
** Also applies, after a fashion, {{spoiler|to the dragons and any human they know, lovers or otherwise. Nall outlived all of his original close friends by a ''millennium''; in ''Lunar 2'', Ruby finds the concept that she'll almost certainly live to the point that Hiro could be practically ''forgotten'' a very, very hard pill to swallow}}.
* [[Miser Advisor]]: Lemina, and how!
* [[Naked on Arrival]]/[[Naked First Impression]]: Lucia, being an [[Emotionless Girl]], has a lot of these scenes and takes a long time to figure out what the big deal is about Hiro seeing her naked. By the time she gets it, she's not pleased.
* [[Names to Know in Anime]]: The Japanese version of ''Lunar: 2Eternal Blue'' is a roster of top seiyuu talent of the 90's.
** Hiro: [[Hikaru Midorikawa]] a.k.a. [[Gundam Wing|that other Heero]].
** Lucia: [[Chisa Yokoyama]].
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** Lemina: [[Megumi Hayashibara]] a.k.a. [[Ranma ½|heroine]] [[The Slayers|of]] [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|everything]].
** Nall: [[Rica Matsumoto]].
* [[Narrator]]: At the beginning of ''Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete'', Ghaleon ([[Rule of Cool|for some reason]]) opens the story by talking about the history of Althena, Lunar and the Blue Star.
* [[No Social Skills]]: Lucia.
{{quote|'''Ruby''': "I mean you shouldn't get too close to Hiro, because you'd be setting yourself up for a fall."
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* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Ghaleon. Well, re-death in his case. An interesting example, sort of a combination of [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and a [[Double Subversion]] of [[Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves]]. ''At the same time''}}.
* [[Restraining Bolt]]: {{spoiler|Ghaleon is only kept alive by Zophar's power}} meaning Zophar can kill him at any time, just by no longer supplying it. While that would work with a case of [[Ambition Is Evil]], {{spoiler|it's not a big deal to a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|type IV]] [[Anti-Hero]] who didn't mind dying once he'd achieved his goal the first time around}}.
* [[Retcon]]: Seemingly averted, as ''Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete'' ignored several of the new plot points introduced in ''Silver Star Story'' {{spoiler|such as Luna being the only time Althena ever incarnated as a human}}.
** {{spoiler|Not really, if ''Lunar: Dragon Song'' is to be believed. The pink-haired Lucia was said to be (iirc) Althena's first incarnation}}.
* [[Reverse Mole]]: {{spoiler|Ghaleon. Interestingly, in the original version of the first game, which this follows from, Nash pulled this on him, which is probably part of why he's so [[Genre Savvy]] about it}}.
* [[Secret Identity]]: When forced to break his vows, Leo becomes {{spoiler|''The Amazing Mystere!''}} to correct things. He apparently doesn't realize that his [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] doesn't fool the heroes.
* [[Sequel Hook]]: ''Lunar: 2Eternal Blue'' has a fair number of these, what with {{spoiler|the revelations that there's a lot more backstory to the game than initially suggested and a lot of it is unexplored, Hiro going to live with Lucia, and then there's the matter of that big fortress on the Blue Star, which would sure make a ''lovely'' dungeon, wouldn't it}}. ''Lunar 3'' was in various stages of development in the late 90's and very early 2000's, but then stalled out over legal disputes between management members. The hooks have been left dangling for over a decade in some cases, now.
* [[Series Continuity Error]]: In the remake. Vane and the Grindery are not where they were left at the end of ''Silver Star Story''/''Harmony'', but remain in the spots they occupy at the end of ''Lunar: The Silver Star''.
* [[Stay with the Aliens]]: Sort of, depending on how you define "alien". {{spoiler|Hiro travels to the Blue Star to be with Lucia in the [[Playable Epilogue]]}}.
* [[Stealth Mentor]]: {{spoiler|Ghaleon}}.
* [[Steven Ulysses Perhero]]: The name of the hero in ''Lunar: 2Eternal Blue''? Hiro.
* [[The Stinger]]: The "[[Playable Epilogue|Epilogue]]" mode.
* [[Teach Him Anger|Teach Her Anger]]: This trope is {{spoiler|Jean}}'s backstory in a nutshell. {{spoiler|She was kidnapped by a cult of assassins, where an [[Evil Mentor]] taught her to fight, to feel nothing but anger, and to channel her rage into a killing instinct. Eventually, she realized what an awful thing she had learned, and was so dead-set against following her master's teachings anymore that she turned into a [[Actual Pacifist|pacifist]]. In fact, when Hiro meets her, she is ashamed after she loses control and opens a can of whoopass on a monster to save her new friends. Over the course of the game, she becomes more of a [[Martial Pacifist]] as she [[Character Development|learns that she can use her strength to help people, not to kill]]}}.
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* [[Verbal Tic]]: Lemina loves to prefix words with "mega-" for emphasis.
* [[Villainous Glutton]]: Borgan.
* [[We Are as Mayflies]]: In ''Lunar: Eternal Blue'', Nall has been alive for the past thousand years, long after his friends from the first game are dead and gone. This is a major cornerstone for his friendship with Ruby, who has to come to terms that she'll long outlive her non-dragon friends too...
* [[Wham! Episode]]: {{spoiler|Midgame wham: the Althena Church is obviously corrupt, but it turns out to be the front for Zophar's world domination efforts. And it's effectively succeeded already. Lategame wham: Lucia is a destroyer after all, though unintentionally. If she uses Althena's power to destroy Zophar, it will un-create the world}}.
** {{spoiler|The first ending, in which Lucia decides to go back to the Blue Star and leave Hiro behind}}.
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Caldor Isle, a major location in the first game. You visit a ton of areas from ''Lunar: 1The Silver Star'', but never Caldor Isle. The place is barely even mentioned, which seems odd given how historically important it is.
** Given that it's a thousand years later, and geography can change quite a bit in that amount of time, Caldor is highly likely ''gone'' by now. Especially seeing as the world maps no longer match up very well at all, and the area that roughly corresponds to where it used to be seems to be one massive glacier now.
* [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?]]: In essence, Lucia's [[Character Development]] is learning it (among other things).
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[[Category:Lunar: Eternal Blue]]
[[Category:Video Game]]
[[Category:Video Games of the 1990s]]