| Lunar: Dragon Song | 
 enlarge | From: UBI Soft
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $5.99
You Save: $14.00 (70%)
Buy New/Used
Avg. Customer Rating:   (28 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6180
Platform: Nintendo Ds
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 16038
Model: 8888160380
UPC: 008888160380
EAN: 0008888160380
ASIN: B0009F3QSE
Release Date: September 8, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
World of Lunar May 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Let me start off by saying that I love Japanese-style RPGs. I am a big fan of the Xenosaga series and the Final Fantasy series of games. High production values, mature plot, complex characters, and a complicated battle engine really do the trick for me. I love good voice acting and long cinematics. For those reasons, my console of choice for the last ten years have always been the Playstations (1,2,3). I normally do not play RPGs on a handheld console due to the limitations that they impose on the game. Because of the hardware limitations of a handheld device, an RPG would have to sacrifice spoken dialogue, in favor of text-based. And, you will have to make do with a very small amount of cinematics. However, I decided to play Lunar; Dragon Song on a whim.
The story of Lunar:Dragon Song takes place about a thousand years before the events of Lunar Silver Star Story. The world was young, having recently been created by the Goddess Althena. The two main inhabitants of the world, the humans and the beastmen, live in peace. Your main character is a young package carrier named Jian.
The battle mechanics will be familiar to you, if you have ever played Lunar Silver Star or Final Fantasy X-2. Basically, you will be given a chance to determine the actions for each of your battle characters. Once you've entered your commands, the battle will proceed in a somewhat of a turn-based fashion. The enemies and your characters will each take turns. Your characters will carry out the actions that you've chosen at the start. If there are still enemies standing, you will again be given the chance to enter more commands and the battle continues. Basically, you program the moves and the characters move as if in auto-pilot and you're watching from a distance. Personally, I do not like this type of battle system. I would like to be able to determine my actions, based on the most recent move by the enemy. I also want to have more involvement as well as a closer view of the battle.
Don't look for a mature, complicated, and intricate plot here. The games in the Lunar series have always tended to favor lightweight stories and plots. The story unfolds in a rather cliche', traditional form. No surprises really.
The dialogue is text-based. You will have to do a lot of reading. Cinematics are almost non-existent. Don't look for Xenosaga-style 3-D cutscenes and movies here. You won't find FF-like in-game movies here. You won't find those here. This game plays like an old RPG from about twelve to fifteen years ago. In other words, you will have to do everything in the game, even the most mundane of the tasks. Lots of repetitive actions and lots of repeated button mashing just to get the simplest of things done, like moving through the text-based dialogue.
This is not a bad game for those who want to just kill some time on the Nintendo DS Lite. However, do keep in mind the limitations that the DS Lite hardware is putting on the game.
As for me, this will be the last RPG that I will play on my DS Lite. The handheld DS is just not powerful enough to give me the things that I require from an RPG. I will play Valkyrie Profile on my PSP just to see if the Sony's more sophisticated hardware will be closer to giving me what I want from my RPGs.
If you really want to play an RPG on your handheld console, then by all means give this one a try. However, if you're accustomed to the likes of Final Fantasy and Xenosaga, then you will have to adjust your expectations accordingly for this DS Lite title.
 Awesome! April 21, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love this game!! its soooo fun. All my friends have played it and they love it to! I dont get why ppl say they dont like it! I think it has enough fightng and it has an excellant story line! I think every one who wants to buy it should!
I can't believe some people out there! April 15, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
For one, I have never played any of the other Lunar games, and I didn't do any research on this one before buying, it so maybe my opinion is invalid. I was in a store with some extra money bouncing around in my pocket, my mom saw this game lying on a random shelf, saw the "dragon" part, and suggested it to me. At first I wasn't really too interested. I mean, it looked okay, but not really "great". About five hours later, I was sitting in my bed with the light way after midnight on playing the game. I was totally addicted. The characters and story line are beautiful, and the backround graphics and music are stunning. I LOVE Jian's (the character who you play) personality and his design. Speaking as a fan girl...HE IS JUST SO CUTE! Anyway, I think that you really have to be mature to understand the importance of this game. The ending was beautiful, even though I have to admit that it wasn't the best of finishes. I was kind of hoping that it would go on. No, it is true that you never get to fight the final boss, Dragonmaster Ignatius, but, if you really payed attention to the plot instead of just impatiently cliking the A button through all of the text, then you would realize that you don't need to. Besides, when you fight him for the first time when trying to rescue Lucia, he wipes you out instantly! I mean, you would nedd over a million hit points to be able to even match him!
It was fun watching the characters mature and the plot progress. There were so many plot twists that I just kept wanting to continue. I also enjoyed the way that the battles were set up. You had to choose between Zen Mode and Regular Mode, and you also had to choose what attacks you would do and when. I mean, you never new who the enemies would attack next and how powerful the attacks would be. You really had to use your brain to figure out your next move. I didn't like the fact that every time you ran you started to loose hit points, but after you level up a lot, it stops mattering. I mean, you can heal yourself practically anytime you want to with healing gum and healing drops and Althena magic!
I am not really a HUGE fan of vidoegames, but I just couldn't put this one down. I wouldn't suggest this for people who do not like fantasy or who just want to play for the fights. I mean, you can spend time leveling up your character and battling monsters, but it is far more fun to play out the plot.
This is a summarization of my final opinion on the game:
Pros:
Interesting and classic characters
Advanced and spunky music
Intricate backrounds
Great plot with a lot of interesting twists
An endless supply of enemies
Cards to aid you in battle and that are fun to collect
Cons:
Not a lot of boss fights
Hard to obtain items for the jobs
Enemies were very annoying when they follow you around and try to fight
Hit point loss when running
Character graphics
(Also, I do not like the design for the cover. Jian looks like a girl!)
I really wish that there was another Lunar game with Jian, Lucia, Gabbi, and Flora in it. I can only hope that in the future I can be granted such a wish. I also hope that if you are pondering wether or not to purchase this videogame, that you listen to my minute opinion. I mean, there are a GARGANTUAN amount of Lunar fans who despised this game and would see it burned and spit upon. But as for me, I would say, without a doubt that this is my favorite videogame. Point blank. No objections. It outshadows everything, and I really wanted to see a sequal, but then I read that this game itself happened 1000 years before all of the other Lunar games, so I don't expect one. Even though the ending DID suggfest a sequal...I think they were just talking about Lunar Silver Story. Oh well, as I previopusly said, we will just have to wait to see what the creators of Lunar will come up with next. But, if you want a GREAT, FANTASTIC, MEMORABLE GAME, try Lunar Dragon song. YOu may just end up liking it.
I can't believe some people out there! April 15, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
For one, I have never played any of the other Lunar games, and I didn't do any research on this one before buying, it so maybe my opinion is invalid. I was in a store with some extra money bouncing around in my pocket, my mom saw this game lying on a random shelf, saw the "dragon" part, and suggested it to me. At first I wasn't really too interested. I mean, it looked okay, but not really "great". About five hours later, I was sitting in my bed with the light way after midnight on playing the game. I was totally addicted. The characters and story line are beautiful, and the backround graphics and music are stunning. I LOVE Jian's (the character who you play) personality and his design. Speaking as a fan girl...HE IS JUST SO CUTE! Anyway, I think that you really have to be mature to understand the importance of this game. The ending was beautiful, even though I have to admit that it wasn't the best of finishes. I was kind of hoping that it would go on. No, it is true that you never get to fight the final boss, Dragonmaster Ignatius, but, if you really payed attention to the plot instead of just impatiently cliking the A button through all of the text, then you would realize that you don't need to. Besides, when you fight him for the first time when trying to rescue Lucia, he wipes you out instantly! I mean, you would nedd over a million hit points to be able to even match him!
It was fun watching the characters mature and the plot progress. There were so many plot twists that I just kept wanting to continue. I also enjoyed the way that the battles were set up. You had to choose between Zen Mode and Regular Mode, and you also had to choose what attacks you would do and when. I mean, you never new who the enemies would attack next and how powerful the attacks would be. You really had to use your brain to figure out your next move. I didn't like the fact that every time you ran you started to loose hit points, but after you level up a lot, it stops mattering. I mean, you can heal yourself practically anytime you want to with healing gum and healing drops and Althena magic!
I am not really a HUGE fan of vidoegames, but I just couldn't put this one down. I wouldn't suggest this for people who do not like fantasy or who just want to play for the fights. I mean, you can spend time leveling up your character and battling monsters, but it is far more fun to play out the plot.
This is a summarization of my final opinion on the game:
Pros:
Interesting and classic characters
Advanced and spunky music
Intricate backrounds
Great plot with a lot of interesting twists
An endless supply of enemies
Cards to aid you in battle and that are fun to collect
Cons:
Not a lot of boss fights
Hard to obtain items for the jobs
Enemies were very annoying when they follow you around and try to fight
Hit point loss when running
Character graphics
(Also, I do not like the design for the cover. Jian looks like a girl!)
I really wish that there was another Lunar game with Jian, Lucia, Gabbi, and Flora in it. I can only hope that in the future I can be granted such a wish. I also hope that if you are pondering wether or not to purchase this videogame, that you listen to my minute opinion. I mean, there are a GARGANTUAN amount of Lunar fans who despised this game and would see it burned and spit upon. But as for me, I would say, without a doubt that this is my favorite videogame. Point blank. No objections. It outshadows everything, and I really wanted to see a sequal, but then I read that this game itself happened 1000 years before all of the other Lunar games, so I don't expect one. Even though the ending DID suggfest a sequal...I think they were just talking about Lunar Silver Story. Oh well, as I previopusly said, we will just have to wait to see what the creators of Lunar will come up with next. But, if you want a GREAT, FANTASTIC, MEMORABLE GAME, try Lunar Dragon song. YOu may just end up liking it.
Well, not quite what I expected..... December 4, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
WARNING!! CONTAINS SPOILERS!! For those of you who have not beat the game yet. Anyway, I went into this game with somewhat high hopes. I mean, I own the other Lunar titles, so why not? Get this one and complete my collection! Well, it was somewhat different at first, with the battle modes and storyline, but I pressed on anyway. One of my beefs is that the majority of characters look alike. The ones you talk to, I mean. That's kind of cheap graphics-wise. Second, there's not a lot of bosses to speak of. You fight a few, and then you go through the Dragon Trials. And, I do agree with previous reviews about the slow characters. Unless you have an Action Replay to work with, you're gonna spend a lot of time walking, as running drains your health.
Now, for spoilers. Well, The main character went through the game to save his girl Lucia after she was kidnapped, only to discover that she was the Goddess Althena. Then, he embarked on a quest to go through the Dragon Trials and become a Dragonmaster, which, by the way, he turned down after receiving the power. Why? For love of Lucia. I also expected a riveting last battle. Sure, I got a huge boss at the end, but I didn't get to fight the bad guy. He fell off the side of Althena's Temple and died. I was SO disappointed at that point, as I had dealt with Ghaleon and Zophar in the past.
And the ending? Leaves much to be desired. Not what I expected at all. Let's just say the way they ended it does not go along with the other storylines. I mean, in Japan, this game is called Lunar:Genesis, meaning beginning! This was a very poor beginning. Not much story at all. I guess the American producers called it Dragon Song to go with the DS Line. Example, Castlevania, Dawn Of Sorrow. Same principle, it wasn't called that originally. But as I said, it was quite a letdown for me. Especially at the end. If anyone else who reads these reviews likes the game, that's fine. But if you're a fan of previous Lunar games, don't expect too much from this one, or you're in for a surprise. Music and background graphics were good, but not much else.
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