Lunar 2: Eternal Blue — love, destiny, and the long road between two worlds
Presentation
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue refines the classic 2D JRPG template with expressive sprites, lavish anime cutscenes, and a warm color palette that sells small‑town coziness as confidently as apocalyptic grandeur, now most widely experienced via the PlayStation “Complete” version and later remaster reappraisals. The battle system continues Lunar’s positional tactics—range and movement matter—layered with powerful techs, crests, and equipment‑granted abilities that let party members branch beyond their archetypes without collapsing readability in regular encounters. Localization leans into snappy banter and character chemistry, giving the cast a contemporary pulse while preserving the series’ earnest core, particularly in emotional pivots around sacrifice and chosen family.
Story
Set a millennium after Silver Star, the tale follows Hiro and his companion Ruby, whose exploration of ancient ruins draws them to the Blue Spire and a mysterious emissary named Lucia—an otherworldly figure seeking the goddess Althena to avert a looming catastrophe tied to the demon Zophar. Pursued by White Knight Leo and ensnared by false prophets and resurrected legends, Hiro’s party grows to include the fallen priest Ronfar, dancer‑warrior Jean, and mage heiress Lemina, each wrestling with pasts that mirror Lunar’s broader struggle between divine providence and human will. The narrative crescendos with revelations about Althena’s choice, Ghaleon’s atonement, and Lucia’s faith in humanity, culminating in a rare epilogue that transforms post‑game hours into a character‑centric coda about presence, loss, and hope across worlds.
Systems and structure
Combat is turn‑based with spatial positioning and movement ranges central to damage and crowd control; techs, magic, and crest combinations allow builds that emphasize utility, burst, or sustain depending on boss demands. Dungeons favor readable layouts with occasional gimmicks and strong boss setpieces, while the Complete version folds in itemization tweaks, quality‑of‑life features, and a robust post‑game that remixes expectations without undermining the main arc’s closure. Unlike grind‑first designs from its era, Lunar 2’s curve relies more on disciplined encounter routing, ability sequencing, and crest synergies, helping it feel brisk even when revisiting earlier regions for story payoff.
Length and co‑op
A typical main‑story run averages 30–40 hours, with the Complete version’s post‑game epilogue adding roughly 8–10 hours of new dungeons, scenes, and a secondary ending path; completionist routes can push past 45–50 hours. Lunar 2 is strictly single‑player—there is no co‑op or multiplayer—so replayability stems from localization humor, party tinkering, and the unusually substantial epilogue rather than shared‑screen play.
Reception and critique
Contemporary and retro reviews consistently praise the story, cast, music, and cutscene integration, often singling out the Hiro–Lucia arc and the rare, heartfelt epilogue as series‑defining strengths. Critiques tend to focus on occasional pacing lulls, early difficulty spikes, and some remaster/port idiosyncrasies (movement speed, performance variance), but sentiment broadly frames Eternal Blue as one of the era’s most human JRPGs. Community retrospectives underline the crest system’s flexibility and the translation’s humor, noting that the post‑game coda elevates character resolution beyond genre norms.
Critics’ scores
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IGN — strongly positive contemporary coverage, highlighting cutscene integration and narrative momentum.
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RPGFan — very favorable, emphasizing character writing and story leadership over raw system novelty.
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RPGamer — enthusiastic, recommending the Complete package on the strength of the script, music, and overall value.
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Metacritic (aggregated retrospectives/ports) — generally positive, clustered in the low‑to‑mid 80s depending on platform/version.
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MobyGames critic average (Complete) — approximately 84% across collected reviews, reflecting strong consensus with minor technical caveats.
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GameFAQs user reviews — typically around mid‑80s to high‑80s, with many calling out the epilogue as a standout.
