Welcome to the Summer of Old JRPGs, where we're playing classic role-playing games and talking about them every week. Check out the full schedule here.
I feel like we don't spend enough time talking about fonts.
Seriously. Fonts.
For a long time I've believed that a good font can change the entire tone of a video game—especially a text-heavy game like Lunar: Eternal Blue.
I mean, look at this font in the PlayStation version:
It's crisp, classy, pleasant to read, with that serif sleekness that takes up just the right amount of space on the page.
Compare that to the Sega CD version:
Gross. I guess what I'm trying to say is: play Lunar Eternal Blue Complete, because it's got great fonts.
Some other thoughts and potential discussion topics for Lunar: Eternal Blue, the game I hope you all spent the past few weeks playing/replaying:
- Eternal Blue, like its predecessor, is pretty much the quintessential "traditional JRPG." It's got towns, dungeons, turn-based combat, a story about an adventurer who winds up saving the world from an evil god, a quest structure neatly divided into four main portions, and all the other accouterments you might expect from a classic role-playing game. This, of course, doesn't mean
- People often complain about the immaturity and dated pop culture references in some of the translations done by Working Designs back in the day, but I continue to enjoy them. What do you think of the localization in Eternal Blue?
- Ronfar: badass character or most badass character?
- Really, all of the characters in Eternal Blue are pretty damn great. I like Leo's stubbornness, Lemina's brattiness, Jean's secret shadiness... Only character that isn't very interesting, incidentally, is the main one.
- Did you find it annoying that basically all of the main bosses reform themselves and turn into good guys? Did you want them to die?
- How is a two-dimensional game from 2000 so much more visually interesting and pleasing than most 3D games that followed it?
- How good is that goddamned music?
- I can't believe it's been 14 years since this game came out. We're all so old.
(Next up: Star Ocean 2, which we'll discuss on August 22.)
Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG. It runs every Friday at 3pm ET. You can reach Jason at jason@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.