LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE is the latest release from the notorious U.S. Localization Company known as Working Designs. Through the years, they have gained fame and notoriety for their "special" localization process. On the "fame" side, they have certainly deserved some credit for being the best packaging game publisher in the U.S. bar none. Their packaging for the U.S. release of LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE is downright stunning. From the gigantic special box that houses the 3 CD game, to the extras, and much more, they continue to up the ante and outdo themselves on gorgeous extras and overall production values for the packaging. Where they've gained "notoriety," is in their actual in-game translation work—from their earliest localized games (back on the Sega CD and Turbo Duo system) up through the present, they always have found a way to insert in references / jokes / comments about modern-day, American culture which, usually shatters any semblance of a suspension of disbelief while playing this supposed "fantasy" game in a faraway land.

Now you may be wondering why the localization has been brought to the forefront of this review, rather than concentrating on the game itself, but it is precisely this aspect (localization) that has ruined an otherwise potentially great, classic RPG. From the over-indulgent, excessive references to modern-day, American humor, to the horrible voice dubbing, to the infamous "tweaked" difficulty, Working Designs has ironically destroyed the one game they had hoped would be the shining star for localized games to the U.S.

Firstly, Working Designs was on the right course: the packaging for LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE is absolutely gorgeous. You get a beautiful, cardboard, glossy package, with a wonderful gatefold cover, that uses amazing art from the original LUNAR 2 illustrations by Kubooki-san. This box houses what has to be the most extensive amount of extras given away for any game in U.S. history! You get the 3 CD PlayStation game, the complete Soundtrack CD (24 tracks) remastered, a complete map of the world, a complete set of nice Character Mini-Standees (of all the major characters in LUNAR 2), a complete, full-size, replica of Lucia's Pendant (completely metal, well crafted!), a hard-bound, hardcover 120 page full color Instruction Manual that contains interviews with the creators, as well as "The Making of LUNAR 2" CD, which contains extensive interviews with the creators, the animation studio, the artists, the localization process, etc.! And, it comes with a free "Ghaleon Punching Puppet"(!) that stands nearly 12 inches tall! It's just downright stunning.

With that in mind, this reviewer was ready to take on an adventure of epic proportions—just looking through the packaging which exudes such high production values already got my hopes up that the rest of the localization would be consistently high quality; but, alas, that was not to be. From the moment Hiro, the main character you control, opened his mouth, reality set in, as what we get is a shoddy, sophomoric attempt at voice "acting" which only ruined the scene that he was in. Unfortunately LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE has a huge amount of animated cut scenes and spoken dialogue, and the voice acting was consistently bad. This has to be hands-down one of the worst English dubs I've ever heard. The only highlight would have to be Kathy Ostrander, the voice of Lemina, who pulled off a solid job playing a spunky, outspoken, funny, money-grubbing, but cute leader of the Magic Guild of Vane. Other than that, the two main protagonists of the story, Hiro and Lucia, turned out to be two of the worst voices in the game! The problem lies in the great emotional range and events that occur in LUNAR 2 that require voice-overs, which naturally need solid talent to back them up if one is going to dub it, and the people behind most of the voices failed miserably. One colleague passed my desk and actually winced during one of the cut scenes, asking me what kind of badly dubbed anime I was watching.

Unfortunately, since this LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE is a remake of an old Sega CD game (back in the days of the Sega Genesis!), the graphics are nothing to be impressed by, and it is doubly-unfortunate because with the story now undercut by poor voice-acting, the graphics aren't any reward either. Overall, it is a very old-looking game—like a SNES or Genesis, 2D sprite-work, old school, super-deformed characters-type of game. The spell effects and 2D anime sequences are a new addition to spice up the game, and they were definitely needed (and helpful). The highlight being that all the 2D animation (and 3D CG work in those scenes) were done by none other than Studio GONZO, the talented people behind BLUE SUBMARINE NO. 6 and GATEKEEPERS anime series. Mind you, they did this work before they had their breakthrough, but it is still very high quality work (mired by the poor compression of the PlayStation 1 video playback, of course).

And as for the last crucial aspect, gameplay, that too was ruined by Working Designs and their love of meddling in all aspects of any game they localize. One thing that Working Designs pride themselves on is tweaking the difficulty level of their released games, making them harder and jacking up the difficulty to give American gamers "more of a challenge." We've seen this with their much publicized SILHOUETTE MIRAGE game, and many others. Well, they've accomplished their mission once again with LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE—every area that you go to is perfectly matched so that it is just as difficult if not more so than the previous area. What this means is that they have successfully eliminated the much-needed "Hero Factor," in this game, and as a result, sucked out any fun as well. The "Hero Factor" in an RPG (or any game for that matter) is essentially the amount of "ass-kicking" or "destruction" the player character can do per battle / situation he gets into. Usually in RPGs, with a bit of "Leveling Up" or buying the best equipment, you can find yourself vanquishing monsters more easily, battles taking less time as you cut a swath of destruction past hordes of monsters.

But in LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE, Working Designs has seen fit to up the difficulty so that even if you level up your character (spend more time getting more levels of experience), or buy all the best equipment you can get, the monsters and fights in the next area will still be just as difficult as before—in other words, a constant challenge. While some people may enjoy this constant increase in difficulty and challenge, one thing that they are forgetting is that by doing so, you've eliminated any feeling of accomplishment or growth. Players never feel like they've "gotten better," since the next area's monsters and bosses are just as hard (if not harder) than before. And since the game is extremely linear, players have no reason to go back; they literally go from "Town A" to "Dungeon A," to "Town B" to "Dungeon B," and so on.

Even by the end of the game (at the epilogue section), when you've already saved the world (literally), and you've destroyed the ultimate boss that was strong enough to eradicate the entire world, you're still struggling in the side dungeons against monsters that turn out to be harder than the creatures in the true final dungeon! Huh??!

Simply put, Working Designs' U.S. release of LUNAR 2: ETERNAL BLUE COMPLETE for the Sony PlayStation is a mediocre RPG. In what could've been a great RPG (with the original voices), Working Designs' arrogance and short-sightedness has ruined a potentially great game. Their love of meddling with the difficulty has eliminated any sense of achievement or growth, their wretched voice "actors" and the horrible English dub (except for wonderful Lemina) has undercut the story and drained any emotional attachment to the characters, and their insistence on inserting in anachronistic references to current American pop culture has undercut any attachment to the setting and world. When you play a fantasy RPG that references anything from Austin Powers' "Yeah, Baby!! Yeah!!!" to GLADIATOR the movie, to Coco Puffs cereal, to Homer Simpson, there's a huge problem—how can anyone take the game seriously, or believe in the world at hand?

Furthermore, it seems that even if the voice acting were up to par, and the gameplay back to normal, the story itself is just very simple; a bit too simplistic perhaps. One key example is at the very end when the final boss, Zophar, has obtained the power to destroy the world instantly, he decides to sit there and laugh a trite "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!..." and just sit there, waiting for the player to come and get him. It makes no sense; he should've destroyed everything in that instant, but instead he does nothing and waits until the player comes back, and examples of clichéd events like that are scattered everywhere. Sure this was an old-school game, and back then it was probably "original," but in today's era of sophistication, it falls far short. In the end, this is a potentially great game ruined by too many factors.

Rating: 6.2 / 10.0