Lunar DS:
No, I don't know what drove me to start playing this. And I don't know why I'm -still- playing it.
The game design is very... at the nicest... counter-intuitive. After a few 2-hour car rides where I didn't have anything better to do than play this, I started to get used to some of the 'unique' systems.
The game has 2 modes for fighting - 'Get Items' mode and 'Get EXP' mode. These are the only rewards you get for battling each mode (meaning, no money, no weapons, just items or EXP). At first, this seems to make battling feel really pointless and unrewarding, but due to some -other- systems in place, it balances the game pretty well. This doesn't save the game from being crap, but it isn't as horrible as I first expected.
The monsters level up with the main character a la FF8, so it makes speed-running the game a lot more possible (and actually... kind of fun). You end up spending more times in 'Get Items' mode just so that you get enough items to do Courier quests (the only profitable way to make money in this game) so that you can buy better weapons. And generally, you can just avoid all fights except for bosses and a few randoms here or there to up your MP to use your skills more than twice.
The Courier quests, too, while annoying at first, end up being easy to exploit and are far more efficient for getting money than random battles, so another good balancing point.
However, combat sucks. Lunar DS really goes out of its way to punish you for fighting. It's really easy to die to randoms throughout the entire games and there's not much reward for beating them more than once per enemy type (to get its unique battle item).
In a way, Lunar DS resembles a more... hmm... realistic look at living in a fantasy world. Monsters don't carry money. You need a JOB. Fighting monsters is dangerous business and never gets any easier and why-oh-why do you fight things that you don't have to?
Of course, then there's the fact that you Can. Not. Choose. Your. Target. Enemies.
This makes randoms even more dangerous as you end up wasting characters' turns by mis-aiming damage. It's a really unforgivable design decision since you can't even powerlevel around it. It also makes less dangerous fights even more dull and uninteractive.
Characters' skillsets are pretty bland too. Jian can attack, use an item, or cast one of 4 elemental spells (that all do the same damage no matter what because it seems LDS doesn't actually have an elemental system... >.>;; ) . The two beastmen characters can either attack ST or MT, or use an item. And the healers are the only ones with anything resembling a skillset, and they are carbon copies of each other.
Also, battle speed. WAY too slow for a battle system this brain-dead.
Despite all that, the game is incredibly short, so it's bearable. I definitely get a sense that the way I'm playing the game is exploiting everything it has to offer and speeding through it and making lots of 'Progress', so it has its fun moments as a time-waster.
Plot/dialogue/characters/world-building are all pretty 'ugh'. Though it has its moments of not-ugh and merely 'meh'. I did appreciate the fact that the main character at least has something approaching a personality this time around, even it is a pretty generic 'headstrong, battle-minded, hero-type'. At least he talks. And occasionally the characters sound like human beings when they talk to eachother.
There's not much I can say that's good about the game. Even if you're a huge fan of Lunar1 and 2, there's not a lot offered here in terms of expanding on the previous games... even though it's prequel. It explains a little more about Althena and the Vile Tribe and that's all. Also, EVULZ Dragonmaster LOLz!
That said... it does translate to the DL well.
Jian - Heavy. He hogs all the damage and speed and (plot-typed) elemental options. Has status-inducing weapons.
Gabryel - Middle. Gets decent speed/durability/damage. Perfectly average, really. Her best weapon has some status attached.
Flora - Light. Frail healer with no resources. She can buff her attack for some decent damage and her defense buff is decent too. Her best weapon has some status attached. She can also hit flying enemies with her bow! Awesome.
Lucia: See Flora, but her final weapon halves MP costs instead.
Rufus: Temp version of Gabryel.
