| Sunday January 31st, 1999 |
Square's first newsletter |
| Our good friends over at Gaming Age have recently written an article about Square's first newsletter "Ogopogo Examiner" that appeared in 1992. It's really interesting to see Square preaching the Snes CD-ROM and claiming that a bug in their game is actually not a bug but a trap put there by the vilain in the game :). Drew Ressner scanned the newsletter and you can check it out in its entirety by clicking here. Every Square fanatic should take a look at this little piece of history. - Rudo 10: 59 AM CST |
| Saturday January 30th, 1999 |
More on Grandia, and other news.... |
| Today I did my daily check on the Working Designs official message board, and saw Victor Ireland from Working Designs had responded to a post about the recent fuss over Grandia being brought here by SCEA. Here's a quote from his post: "We pick and choose our titles. Grandia is a BIG game, and we have a really full plate this year. I would have preferred to do Grandia 2 in 12-18 months. Also, a title like Grandia deserves a big marketing push that only SCEA can give." This lets us know WD has a few games up their sleeves for us. ^_^ It also speaks in volume about Grandia and SCEA. Imagine if SCEA can put forth a huge marketing blitz similar to what they did with Final Fantasy VII. Also, I wanted to point something out about all this news about Grandia. Webber reminded me that he had posted news about SCEA and Grandia almost a week or two ago, well before anyone else. You can read through it near the top of the archives for what it's worth. Also, does anyone know where ESP's (publisher of some of GameArts games including Lunar on the Playstation, among others) website is located? You can EMail me it here or by sending it to Rudo who is manning the LunarNET address here. I wouldn't mind being able to 100% confirm a Japanese Playstation Grandia, and ESP would be the one publishing it. - GhaleonOne 8: 20 PM CST |
Lufia III coming to America? |
| It seems like the development problems of Estpolis III (Lufia III) are a thing of the past now. Never-Land Company is continuing the development of the game and according to Videogames.com, the US publisher Natsume will be handling the American version (although nothing has been announced yet). Although Lufia II was a prequel to the original Lufia, Lufia III will take place 300 years after the events of Lufia I. No release dates have been announced yet for either the japanese or american version so we'll just have to wait for any further news but it should definately appear in Japan at the very least during 1999. This is pretty old news to us though because we already reported on this back in June 1998 but since it's been a while and since Videogames.com just reported on it, we thought it was worth a second mention since many might not have seen our original preview which can be found here. We also have many character sketches for the game which you can find on our pics page. - Rudo 1: 50 PM CST |
| Friday January 29th, 1999 |
Grandia 2 players, but what does it mean? |
| Many sites around the internet have been reporting that Grandia 2 for DC will have a two-player option. Although no site has gone any further and actually explained the two-player game, because Game Arts has not released any info on what this two player game will be. As we reported a few weeks ago, Grandia 2 will have many multi-player options. This two-player option may be part of Grandia's network play. Grandia 2 is expected to have multi-player gameplay similar to the single-player quest. Game Arts does not appear to be setting up a constant online world for Grandia 2, like Sony's Everquest or Ultima Online. So, one could hypothesize that the two-player game is part of the network play, and will most likely be two people playing the regular game connected to each other by modems. Although, there might be multiple two-player options, we'll just have to wait and see exactly what it will be. - Webber 08: 16 AM CST |
Zelda Sells 6 Million! |
| Nintendo has announced that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has reached 6 million copies sold. This includes 1 million in sales in Japan. - Webber 08: 02 AM CST |
| Thursday January 28th, 1999 |
Grandia comes to the Playstation! |
| This was posted just hours ago on GameFan Online. According to ECM, one of GameFans editors, Sony beat out other bidders for the Playstation port of the Saturn game created by Gamearts, Grandia! Among the bidders for the game was companies like Acclaim, so the bidding must have gone fairly high. Personally I'm still skeptical because I have yet to even hear about a Japanese Playstation Grandia, but it wouldn't suprise me if this was true. If so, look to have Grandia in your Christmas stockings next year hopefully! - GhaleonOne 9: 30 PM CST |
Zelda MIDIs! |
| There are 5 new Zelda 64 MIDIs in our Zelda series MIDI pack. All of them are ocarina songs, and all came from Althena's Court Online's new president, NallWdrgn, who used to run the Dragons of Lunar website when LunarNET used to host sites. These are his first MIDIs, but they are all really good. Seeing as he graciously gave me this, I'll give him some advertisement time. If you are an AOL member, and LOVE Lunar, then make sure to EMail him to join the biggest Lunar club ever created, Althena's Court Online! Click here for the MIDIs! - GhaleonOne 8: 56 PM CST |
| Wednesday January 27th, 1999 |
Gamearts opens up shop! |
| This isn't a huge update or anything, but Gamearts fans will want to take note. I was surfing some of my favorite Japanese sites tonight and decided to see what was new on Gamearts website. Well, looks like they've put up a small shop from what I can tell, selling trading cards, tee-shirts, etc. Take a look at http://www.tokyoweb.or.jp/gamearts/goods/index.html if you want! - GhaleonOne 11: 53 PM CST |
Quest 2 announced for N64 |
| Imagineer have announced that they were working on a sequel to Quest 64 for the Nintendo 64 (duh!). This sequel will cleverly be called Quest 2 so I guess we should be talking about a prequel since the first one was Quest 64 :P. Okay, okay, that one sucked but I'm tired tonight and I give myself the right to make bad jokes :). Let's just hope that this sequel will be better than the original because Quest 64 wasn't exactly what you would call a "quality" RPG (see Webber's review of it on the reviews page). - Rudo 10: 51 PM CST |
Arcade games in Shen Mu? |
| It's been reported that you'll be able to play the classic Sega arcade game Hang-On in Sega's upcoming Shen Mue for the Dreamcast by going into an Arcade inside the game. However, according to SegaWeb, Outrun, AfterBurner and Space Harrier would also be available to play in the game which would be really cool because on top of being a top notch game, Shen Mue would also be the ultimate Sega Classics collection all rolled into one. Let's hope this turns out to be true and if it is, I'm sure some people will spend most of their time in the game actually playing those old classics :). - Rudo 10: 37 PM CST |
| Tuesday January 26th, 1999 |
Make your own RPG part 2! |
| Many of you e-mailed me to let me know about the homepage of the VERGE engine (including one of the programmer) which is a great software to make console style RPGs for the PC. It's quite easy to use and the result of seeing your game in action is really rewarding. To get a taste of creating your own RPGs, check out the VERGE home page and don't forget to e-mail ASCII to tell them to release RPG Maker in America. You'll also be able to play a lot of fan-made RPGs built with the VERGE engine and it's always fun to check out what other people are doing with their RPGs. - Rudo 8: 31 PM CST |
Repost: Make your own RPGs! |
| Brian Glick from Gaming Intelligence Agency informed me that there might still be a possibility of RPG Maker making its way to American shores after all. ASCII is currently reconsidering it due to the popularity of RPGs in America right now. For those who don't know, RPG Maker is an RPG engine that allows you to create your own RPGs on the Playstation. You can pretty easily achieve graphics similar to those of Final Fantasy 2 or 3 on Snes with RPG Maker. This would surely be incredible news because a lot of us have always wanted to create our own RPGs and this game allows just that. Of course, you might also want to check into an engine called VERGE for the PC which makes graphics similar in style to the Phantasy Star series (the address escapes me right now so forgive me). If you want to see this game released in America, we urge you to e-mail ASCII at the following address: gamemaster@asciient.com and let them know how you feel about them bringing RPG Maker over here. - Rudo 6: 55 PM CST |
Castlevania Press Release! |
| Ok, so it's not an RPG, but we covered Castlevania: SOTN for the Playstation, so we'd only be fair by covering a game as spectacular as Castlevania on the N64! Konami sent us a press release today with information on the game. You can click here for the press release. This is a game we'll be covering over the next few months, so check back soon Castlevania lovers! - GhaleonOne 2: 18 PM CST |
Minor screw-up |
| If you've noticed, the past 12 or so hours, the "Last Updated" date has been off, and Rudo's update about RPG Maker disappeared. This is my fault. I screwed up our updating scheme when I archived this page last night. I fixed the date, and when Rudo comes back from work tonight, I'll ask him to repost his update that he did last night. Sorry for any inconveniences that this may cause. - GhaleonOne 1: 57 PM CST |
FFVIII Reaches 1 Million in Sales? |
| Actually that would be presales, and in the small span of one month. Final Fantasy VIII is expected to be released in Japan on February 11th. - Webber 08: 18 AM CST |
| Friday January 22nd, 1999 |
LunarNET Message Boards |
| This isn't much of an article, but more of a shameless plug of our message boards. Lately the traffic to them seems to have picked up intensely. If this keeps up we might even add a few new boards(not for a while, but it's a possibility). Our current board topics are list below: - for our import gamers(or inspiring import gamers). There you have it. Before posting, please read our simple rules for posting on our boards at the message boards page. With recent problems, specifically on the Working Designs board, we have to keep a close eye on flaming and such nonsense, so please keep your cool, and enjoy. ^_^ - GhaleonOne 6: 26 PM CST |
GR Interviews Zach Meston |
| Gamer's Republic has posted an interview, with Working Designs employee Zach Meston. Maybe the word interview isn't the best to describe it. They had Zach write an article on a day at Working Designs. The article also mentions some of the process that Working Designs has gone through to translate Lunar: Silver Star Story for the Playstation. I beleive it's a two-part article, so after reading todays half, you might want to head back when they post the second half. - GhaleonOne 2: 12 PM CST |
Info on Shining Force 3 Premium Disc |
| NCS got in their copy of the Shining Force Premium Disc yesterday. This was Sega's special gift to gamers for purchasing the Shining Force III trilogy in Japan. Here is what they had to say: Sega's special bonus for Shining Force fans arrived today. This Premium Disc offers a rich library of data and graphics from the series. A feature on the disc allows the player to choose a character, vehicle or creature and then view, rotate and perform an action with the target. A portrait gallery is also included where you can view a color rendering of all the major characters from the series along with a black & white pencil sketch. Our favorite section on the CD is the cinema option where you can view the intro movies from all three games along with interviews with the creators. The video here is interspersed with animation from the original Shining Force games on the Mega Drive. Three short television commercials are also included, one of which starts out in a Japanese disco. Although this disc is not for sale, NCS may be able to source minute additional quantities through conventional channels in the future. We'll update accordingly if we are able to import a few more pieces of this disc. Pretty cool stuff, to bad english gamers have to miss out on it. Thanks to NCS for the info! - Webber 10: 38 AM CST |
| Thursday January 21st, 1999 |
Final Fantasy VII Review |
| Lately, it seems like there's a lot of people out there who think that Final Fantasy VII wasn't all that great but Stahn certainly isn't one of them because like many others, he thinks that it is the best game ever made. Of course, everybody is entitled to his own opinion and there's nothing wrong with liking Final Fantasy VII since it was a very good RPG but I know that a lot of people won't agree with the perfect mark given to the game by Stahn. To find out more about his reasons for giving the game a perfect mark, check out his review by clicking here. - Rudo 10: 35 PM CST |
Wachenroder Review |
| E-Chan wrote this review a while back but unfortunately I totally forgot about it so here it is finally. For those who don't know, Wachenroder is a Strategy RPG from Sega in the style of Shining Force 3 and was released sometime in 1998 in Japan for the Saturn. Although it can't compare to Shining Force 3, it is still a pretty decent Strategy RPG and for more info on it, click here to check out E-Chan's review. By the way, I dare anybody to try and find another site out there who reviewed this game :). I personally couldn't find one so I guess you're all going to have to trust E-Chan on that one (he's never wrong anyway so that's not a problem, hehe). - Rudo 10: 28 PM CST |
Final Fantasy VI News! |
| First off, thanks to Brendan McGrath for this information. Brendan did some translating of the Square Japan site and found new info on Final Fantasy VI. Unlike what was previously reported around the Internet, Final Fantasy VI will be ONE CD, and not 2, as originally thought. This also explains why there are only 3 CDs in the Final Fantasy Collection(1 CD for each game) and not 4(if FFVI had been a 2 CD set). - GhaleonOne 9: 59 PM CST |
| Wednesday January 20th, 1999 |
Miscellaneous small news bits! |
| Quintet recently announced a new RPG for the Playstation, titled Boy Kanipan. Quintet is known for past games such as Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia. I couldn't find any pics of the game, so don't expect any pics for a while. In Japan, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time has finally topped the 1 million mark in sales. This last bit of news(coming from Magic Box) is that Compile has announced a Playstation port of Waku Puyo Dungeons, a Saturn RPG. This game plays quite a bit like Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon. - GhaleonOne 11: 25 PM CST |
Persona 2 for Playstation? |
| According to the Magic Box, Atlus may make Persona 2, the sequel to their popular Playstation RPG Persona, for the Playstation, instead of Dreamcast as originally thought. - Webber 6: 50 PM CST |
Final Fantasy VI Remake Pics! |
| We now have pics, artwork, packaging pics, and character art from the remake of Final Fantasy VI for the Playstation. Keep in mind Final Fantasy VI Remake is SEPERATE from Final Fantasy Collection. FFC is a collection of the SNES/Super Famicom Final Fantasy hits, and has a good shot at making it out here in the states! Anyways, on to the pics. Click here for the screen shots, here for the artwork, here for the disc art, and here for the character art! - GhaleonOne 3: 16 AM CST |
Final Fantasy Collection! |
| This update, and the one for Final Fantasy VI that I'm fixing to do took FOREVER to finish, so I hope you enjoy these pics, artwork, character designs, and packaging pictures that I'm putting up tonight. As with the Xenogears and Suikoden 2 pics a few days ago, I had to put these pictures on my own personal space to save LunarNET from it's bandwidth problem until we fix that solution soon. To go with these pics, I have some news about Final Fantasy Collection. In Japan, there is a limited edition version of the collection, that will include a Final Fantasy clock(we have pics of the clock too)! Only 50,000 limited edition copies are being made. The pics of the game itself are here, the disc art is here, and the limited edition clock pics are here. In a few minutes I will post the Final Fantasy VI Remake stuff up. - GhaleonOne 3: 11 AM CST |
| Tuesday January 19th, 1999 |
New RPG announced for Dreamcast! |
| Climax UK has announced a new RPG for the Dreamcast entitled Symphony of Light. No other information is available at this point, thanks to Katana Edge for this info. - Webber 7: 33 PM CST |
Grandia still coming for Playstation? |
| As we've been reporting for a along time, Grandia is still heading for the Playstation. A new rumor states that the game has now been licensed, and will be translated for the US by SCEA themselves. There were supposedly many companies in the running for the rights to the game, including Activision, who supposedly was ready to guarrantee sales to secure the rights for the game, approx. half a million units. This info should be regarded as rumor only at this point, and is totally unconfirmed. - Webber 7: 24 PM CST |
Playstation 2 This Year? |
| The Magic Box reports that the chairman of Hudson Soft has announced that the Playstation 2 will be released this year, and he hinted that games are already in development by Hudson for the system. He also gave a hint as to the capabilites of the system, it can reportedly perform all the special effects seen in the movie Terminator 2, and running in a high resolution mode. - Webber 7: 16 PM CST |
Chrono Trigger 2? Seiken Densetsu IV? |
| Rumors of a sequel to either the Chrono Trigger or Seiken Densetsu(Secret of Mana in the US) series have been spread for some time now. But they seem to be picking up lately. Big name sites like Gaming-Age.com, videogames.com, IGN and even magazines like EGM have been reporting news about it. Gaming Age recently reported that Square is possibly about to announce a sequel to one of their past titles. Weekly Jump(a Japanese gaming publication) also said that this sequel should "rock the industry". I seriously doubt another Saga Frontier game or Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon game is going to "rock the industry", so fingers are pointing to Chrono Trigger 2 or Seiken Densetsu IV. Another possibility, could be that this sequel is none other than Final Fantasy IX. Although this isn't near as likely as a CT2 or SD4, there is still that rumor that Final Fantasy IX would be released on 9/9/1999. While I doubt this would be true, it is something to keep in mind. Either way, most of the sites I've seen have been pointing more towards Chrono Trigger 2. Another part to this rumor, some sources are saying this game will be for Dreamcast. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but it's obvious Square is about to announce a big name sequel. - GhaleonOne 2: 07 PM CST |
| Monday January 18th, 1999 |
Breath of Fire Review |
| We've got one more SNES review for you tonight thanks to Naga, one of our good friend here on LunarNET. You can check out his review of the original Breath of Fire by clicking here. Our collection of Snes RPG review is growing but how about sending us a few classic Genesis RPG review like the Phantasy Star games, Landstalker or any other classic Genesis RPGs. - Rudo 11: 09 PM CST |
New Phantasy Star Midis |
| Stew Herczeg sent us a few Phantasy Star midis that he made. You can get those new midis by downloading the Phantasy Star midi pack on the Midis page. The new midis are the following files: ps3dead.mid, ps3fortune.mid, ps4ooze.mid, ps4terror.mid, ps3final.mid and ps4abyss.mid - Rudo 10: 06 PM CST |
Release Dates Update! |
| Considering the release dates page has not been updated for over a month, I thought I would do a big update to it. You can view it by clicking here. I was planning to put up a import release dates section on the page too, but trying to keep track of import RPG release dates is nearly impossible, let alone keeping up with the domestic ones, so for now, the release dates page is staying the same. I did add quite a few names to the list(Dreamcast RPGs, rumored games such as Star Ocean 2, Grandia, etc), and took off the already released games(only 1: Magic Knight Rayearth). - GhaleonOne 4: 24 PM CST |
| Friday January 15th, 1999 |
Suikoden Review |
| Commodore Wheeler (our busiest reviewer lately) decided that we really needed a review of Konami's classic Playstation RPG Suikoden so being the nice guy that he is, he decided to give our readers a nice juicy review. Actually, I think he's in a war with fellow editor EsquE about who can review the most RPGs in the least amount of time :-). Now, go ahead and read his review by clicking here. - Rudo 1: 35 PM CST |
Cosmic Fantasy 2 Review |
| Commodore Wheeler is posessed by the reviewer god as he continues to review TurboGraphX 16 RPGs faster than I can put them up on the site :P. This time he takes a look at one of the first Working Designs translated game, Cosmic Fantasy 2. This CD game was, along with Ys, one of the first RPG to have anime cut-scenes and voices. One of its strongest aspect however is its great storyline and you can find out more about it by checking CW's review by clicking here. - Rudo 1: 19 PM CST |
New Xenogears Pics! |
| I finally got around to playing Xenogears, after finishing off Zelda 64 and other Christmas RPG goodies, and now I present you with pics from the game! 51 new pics have been uploaded, and like the Suikoden 2 pics from the other day, these are also on my own personal space, just to save LunarNET the bandwidth problems until we jump servers soon. Click here for the pics! Just to note, I'm personally LOVING this game, and in my opinion it is the best RPG of the year and the best domestic 32-bit RPG I've played(even if I haven't played a ton lately). For those that haven't played Xenogears yet, go out and do yourself a favor by getting this very LONG and addicting RPG. - GhaleonOne 12: 18 AM CST |
| Thursday January 14th, 1999 |
Info on The Airs! |
| The Airs is an upcoming RPG for the Playstation, set to be released next month in Japan. The game takes place in a world called Floatia, which is made up entirely of floating continents. The games story revolves around a once-in-a-decade air race called the Celestial Cannonball. It seems that the hero's father disappeared during the last race, and he must compete in the next one. Players will move between the continents flying through 3D worlds in machines called Tapler's. Players will do combat in the air, as well as gather info and converse with NPCs in other flying machines. Combat consists of 3D flight sequences, with each key directing your Tapler to perform actions. Players will be able to upgrade their Tapler's with about 70 different parts available throughout the game. The Airs will be released on February 25th, and is being published by Pack In Soft. - Webber 10: 08 PM CST |
| Wednesday January 13th, 1999 |
New Info on Climax Landers! |
| Lot's of new info has become available on Climax' upcoming Dreamcast RPG Climax Landers. First, the towns in the game will change depending on the level of your characters. New areas may open up, and towns will expand in size. In addition, there will be 10 different VMS games included with Climax Landers. These VMS games will range from gambling to virtual pet simulations. One of the virtual pet simulations will be called What Yogurt, starring a creature named Yogurt or Mr. Yogurt. Players will be less actual players of the game, and more observers of Mr. Yogurt's behavior. Players can ask Mr. Yogurt to do things, but Mr. Yogurt will mostly do what he wants to do. Most of his behavior will be nonsense and unpredictable, such as sleeping and digging holes. Climax Landers is set to be released on June 10th in Japan. - Webber 9: 54 PM CST |
Atlus develops for Dreamcast? |
| Atlus of Japan may be in development with an RPG for Sega's Dreamcast. No info on what the game may be is available, although a Strategy RPG wouldn't be too surpising with Atlus' excellent pedigree in that area. Source: Katana Edge - Webber 8: 53 PM CST |
Ogre Battle 3 in America |
| Just to make me look bad for saying that I doubted we'll ever see Ogre Battle 3 here in America, Nintendo has reportedly mentioned that they were interested in porting the title here for American release. Okay, Nintendo didn't just say that to shut me up and make me look like a fool, this is actually something that they mentioned in the December issue of Nintendo Power :P. Actually, somebody told me that Nintendo said they would definitely translate and publish the game in the US in this issue of Nintendo Power. So much for my pessimisism (is this even a word??). Anyway, thanks to Brendan Callahan for the info. - Rudo 7: 39 PM CST |
Sengoku Turb Released!! |
| NEC's Action Adventure game Sengoku Turb has been released for the Dreamcast, and should be available at most import game stores. - Webber 7: 08 PM CST |
| Tuesday January 12th, 1999 |
New Suikoden 2 Pics! |
| We have just put up 26 new screen shots from the import, Genso Suikoden 2! These pics can be found by clicking here. Because of our recent server problems, I decided to put the pics on my own personal AOL space, just to save the taxing on the server that these pics would give(seeing as Suikoden 2 is a hot topic in RPGs and lots of people will be viewing these). In any event, check out the pics, they rock! On another Suikoden 2 note, I contacted Konami about the releases of Suikoden 2 and Vandal Hearts 2 and unlike what has been said around the internet lately, it has NOT been announced for US release yet. If they do get announced, they would most likely be brought out in the second quarter of 1999. Personally, I think we'll see Suikoden 2 here, especially because of the original's success. But, nothing is set in stone...yet. - GhaleonOne/Webber 11: 34 PM CST |
Mysterious Dungeon for DC?! |
| The following information should be regarded as rumor only at this point. Chunsoft, creators of the Mysterious Dungeon game series for the Super Famicom are reportedly in development with a Dreamcast version according to Magic Box. In addition to a single player quest, this title is rumored to have online gameplay as well. To keep things in perspective for the moment, Chunsoft was also rumored to be in development with an N64 Mysterious Dungeon game, which has yet to appear in any form. Also, remember that this is NOT the same as Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon as that one is done by Square and we all know that Square is not developing for the Dreamcast...for now. - Webber 10: 25 PM CST |
Dracula X Review! |
| Commodore Wheeler continues on his series of reviews for the TurbographX 16 (PCEngine). This time he reviews the classic Dracula X for the TGX-16 CDROM. To this day, this game retains one of the best soundtrack ever made for a game and the gameplay is pure Castlevania goodness. Click here to check out the review. - Rudo 9: 00 PM CST |
| Monday January 11th, 1999 |
Shen Mue Videos at Game Online! |
| If you visit Game Online today, 4 MPEG videos from the game Shen Mue can be found. In addition, it is expected that Sega will make a video cassette available in Japan that shows the events of the Shen Mue conference. - Zone Pharaoh 3: 31 PM CST |
New Lunar MIDIs! |
| I added two new Lunar MIDIs to the background music selector. On Tuesday I'll add them to the MIDI pack for Lunar. Thanks go to Wdrpgwd@aol.com for creating these MIDIs. Both MIDI themes come from Lunar The Silver Star. One is the Lann village theme, and the other is the first overworld theme! - GhaleonOne 2: 39 PM CST |
| Sunday January 10th, 1999 |
Grandia 2 Online! |
| In addition to what should be a fantastic single-player experience, Game Art's Grandia 2 for DC may feature online gameplay as well. Game Arts is currently considering two options, either multi-player gameplay mirroring the normal style of Grandia 2 (whatever that may be), or more action oriented. Game Arts is also considering an option to allow players to exchange game data, such as player info. Without a doubt Grandia 2 should be at the top of everyone's most wanted list, and thanks to Next Generation Magazine for this great info. - Webber 8: 50 PM CST |
Sega's TV commercial star in Shen Mue! |
| Those who have been following Sega's Japanese Saturn commercials staring 'Segata Sanshiro' may be interested to learn that the actor that plays Segata-san is also providing the voice to one of the main characters in the upcoming Dreamcast game, Shen Mue. The character's name is 'Hazuki Iwao', and unsurprisingly he is an experienced martial artist. - Zone Pharaoh 8: 11 PM CST |
"BERSERK": New Dreamcast Game! |
| Another hard to categorize Dreamcast game has been announced. Described as both an action-RPG and a 3D-action game, "BERSERK" is based on a manga by Kentarou Miura. Judging from preview drawings, it seems to feature a scar-covered hero, a young heroine, a medieval backdrop (with some cyberpunk-like ideas thrown into the mix), and lots of grotesquely deformed humanoid monsters. The game is by ASCII Corp and is due some time this year. - Zone Pharaoh 8: 04 PM CST |
Sengoku Turb Update! |
| NEC's upcoming DC RPG Sengoku Turb will make use of Sega's upcoming Puru Puru Pack. The Puru Puru Pack is Sega's vibration pack for DC. Sengoku Turb is one of the first games confirmed to be making use of the Puru Puru Pack, although many more games are expected to announce their support of the peripheral. - Webber 7: 56 PM CST |
Wild Arms 2 for Playstation 2? |
| This information should be regarded as rumor only at this point. Sony may be working on a sequel to their hit Playstation RPG Wild Arms for the Playstation 2. - Webber 7: 37 PM CST |
New Shadowgate Game Announced for N64! |
| Kemco has announced a second Shadowgate game for the N64, not to be confused with the RPG Shadowgate 64: Trial of The Four Towers, which has not been released yet. The second game will be called Shadowgate Rising, and will be developed by the same team responsible for the original Shadowgate game on the NES. - Webber 7: 05 PM CST |
Brigandine Review! |
| We have our first review of Atlus' strategy RPG Brigandine. Jaime, our strategy RPG and Atlus freak was the perfect reviewer for this game and his review is both positive and negative depending on whether or not you like this kind of game. To know more about this game, check out his review of it by clicking here. - Rudo 09: 59 AM CST |
| Friday January 8th, 1999 |
EverQuest on March 16th! |
| Sony and 989 Studios will release their massive online RPG for the PC Everquest on March 16th. The game is currently in the fourth and final stage of testing, and will be ready to go soon. Thanks to the EQvault for this info. - Webber 10: 21 PM CST |
Sega Launches Shenmue Website! |
| Sega of Japan has launched a website for their upcoming game Shenmue. Click here Shenmue.com to visit it. However, before you go zipping off to the site, be warned that all text on the site is in Japanese. - Webber 9: 49 PM CST |
| Thursday January 7th, 1999 |
New Shenmue Info! |
| The game that's had its name changed more times than Prince, is adding another battle system to its in-game lineup. Making Sega's monstrously anticipated RPG-like game for DC even more exciting. It already features a system called Quick Timer Events, where players need to push buttons at certain times in battles, and the characters will perform preset actions. Now, the latest addition is reportedly called VF-Mode, and will allow players to battle as in the Virtua Fighter fighting games. Shenmue's beautiful FMV-esque graphics should make these battles truly spectacular. - Webber 8: 26 PM CST |
Nintendo Developing Zelda Sequel? |
| Nintendo is now in development with a sequel to the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, according to N64 website Nintendojo. They do credit anonymous sources close to Nintendo with this information, so nothing is confirmable at this point. The game is reportedly being developed by Shigeru Miyamoto and the EAD team, and will use an updated version of the Zelda:TOot engine. - Webber 7: 46 PM CST |
LunarNET's E-mail Address! |
| Rudo will be taking over the E-mail address of LunarNET for me. I personally can't keep up with it due to personal conflicts right now, so I let him take over, at least for a while. This is just an update to let everyone who might frequently E-Mail us know this. The address is webmaster@lunar-net.com, or you can use the contact link at the left. Thanks! - GhaleonOne 12: 02 AM CST |
| Wednesday January 06th, 1999 |
Lunar SSS Stuff! |
| I received an E-Mail from Red Ronin over at GameSages. He asked me to post a link to the preview of Lunar Silver Star Story Complete that he recently wrote. I thought I'd do better and post his actual E-Mail (because it explains his opinions on the game better than I could do). So here is the EMail: Hi! I know that a lot of you loved the game on Sega CD, fewer though may have braved Japanese to play the import Saturn version. I think it is wonderful that we will soon be able to play the enhanced version of this classic title in English for the first time. I know a lot of you feel betrayed and led astray by Working Designs. I ask you though to look beyond that at the great game they have provided to the American consumer. I think that for the first time Lunar can be seen by audience it has always deserved. Perhaps even, we will receive some sort of vindication of our knowledge of the games greatness once others who play it are able to experience it as well. That's why I wrote the preview of the game, and that's why I'm urging you all to stop by GameSages and read it. I may not change your minds, but at least you can recommend the game to your PlayStation owning friends as a worthy purchase. So far there is a Preview - Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and a full Comparison - Lunar: PSX vs. Sega CD online at GameSages. You can find the link either below or on the front page of the site. Thank you for your time, take care, happy gaming, enjoy life! Toyoniya Hiyaku, Noromuoy!Red Ronin, The Cybernetic Samurai Preview - Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (PSX) Personally, I already read the preview and loved it! So check it out! Also, Working Designs posted a new picture of their Lunar SSS boxart (along with 9 new pics from the game) on their site. I personally like this new boxart more than the original, but a lot of people do not seem to agree with me. In any event, I'll rotate the polls tonight or tommorrow seeing as my vacation is offically over and I have my own computer back! - GhaleonOne 6: 46 PM CST |
| Tuesday January 05th, 1999> |
Ys Eternal Review! |
| We've got a review of Ys Eternal for Windows 95 Japanese. Ys is without a doubt one of the most popular RPG series and probably has one of the best soundtrack ever made in a videogame and this remake of Ys Book 1 & 2 is no exception. Travis Lallman wrote this review of it and you should check it out. I don't particularly agree with his statement that Ys is the best RPG ever made and that all RPGs like Final Fantasy are crap compared to it (expect a lot of hate mail about this statement Travis :P) but I do agree that Ys is a great RPG series so check the review out by clicking here. - Rudo 9: 02 PM CST |
Climax Landers Delay! |
| It seems like the Dreamcast RPG Climax Landers from Climax will not be able to make its release of February 99 after all. According to several reports, it seems like the game has been pushed back to June 99. I'm really excited about the Dreamcast but these constant delays might hurt Sega in Japan since Japanese players are not very favorable to companies who don't supply the games fast enough (look at what happened to the N64 in Japan). Just for your information, other games like Sega Rally 2, White Illumination, Get Bass and Pop 'n Music are also reported to be delayed so it's not a very good sign. I couldn't really care less personally but this might have an impact on the success of the machine itself and because of this, I'm scared a bit. Anyway, Sengoku Turb and Evolution are still slated to be released in January so let's hope that those 2 RPGs will tide Japanese players over until Climax Landers comes out in June. - Rudo 7: 36 PM CST |
Final Fantasy VIII record already! |
| Square has announced that Final Fantasy VIII has already passed 500,000 pre-orders since it started a week ago in Japan. This beats the previous record holder for pre-orders set by Zelda 64. I think it's a safe bet to say that Final Fantasy VIII will probably be the best selling Playstation game ever once it comes out because the user base for Playstation is now so high that more people will buy FF8 than FF7 in my opinion. - Rudo 7: 26 PM CST |
| Monday January 04th, 1999 |
Metal Gear Solid Review! |
| Even though Metal Gear Solid isn't an RPG, we are still covering it here on LunarNET because it is one of those games that RPG gamers love. It probably has something to do with the great storyline and the fact that the game requires more thinking than most adventure games of the genre. Anyway, there is no denying that Metal Gear Solid is a great game and you should definately check out Enygma's review by clicking here. - Rudo 12: 54 AM CST |
Breath of Fire 3 Review! |
| We've got another review for Breath of Fire 3 and there really doesn't seem to be anybody in agreement about this game. Some people like it, some people thought it was average, some people loved it. In any case, the current review by Tortolia is the lowest grade for the game so far. Of course, you can't rely on that alone because not everybody rate games the same way but read the review to really know how he feels about the game. You can check out the review by clicking here. - Rudo 12: 49 AM CST |
Xenogears FAQ! |
| Since I was playing some Xenogears this week, I decided to check some FAQs on the web and I found one that I thought was very good (despite the fact that it's not completed yet). This FAQ will help you with any problems you may have with this game and it is very thorough. You can find this FAQ by going over to our FAQs section. - Rudo 11: 36 AM CST |
IMPORTANT LunarNET Info! |
| Our little vacation is over now and we should be back to updating on a daily basis like before. I think we really needed that time off because I was finally able to just relax and play some RPGs. In the last week, I played 40 hours of Xenogears and let me say that I absolutely love it. I would still be playing it if there wasn't a scratch on my CD preventing me from going any further in the game (I'll have to rent the game only to get past this point). While we were away, we also got a VERY bad news. Our Web Hosting service e-mailed us to let us know that we used too much bandwidth and that we have to either lower it or they kick us out. Since there is no way we will lower it (because this would mean, removing some content on the site), we need to find a new server to host us. This is a lot more difficult than it seems. I've been checking tons of Hosting services and none of them allows for the space and bandwidth that we need for LunarNET (unless we pay more than 300$ a month which of course we don't have since we make no money with LunarNET). Because of this, LunarNET is in jeopardy because if we don't find a place to host us, it will be going down. Since we are desperate now, we ask you, our readers, to help by sending us suggestions or links to Web Hosting services that you know (just remember that we need about 400 megs of space for LunarNET and about 10 gigs of traffic per month). I still have one more chance to fix all of this and I'll give it a shot but if this doesn't work, we're in big trouble. If it works however, a lot of things will change on LunarNET (for the better). We will grow even more, get more hits than ever and we'll change the name of the site. While you're at it, if any of you have any suggestions for a good name for the site, please let us know before we decide on one. It needs to be something with the word "RPG" on it. For example, RPG-Zone or RPGFan or something like that (those 2 are currently the runner-ups if we change name). Give us your opinion on all of this because this is a time of change for LunarNET and either we will grow and make lots of changes or we will go down because we can't get a server. I just wanted everybody to know what the situation was because you deserve to know and I thought we may get some good suggestions from some of you in the process. - Rudo 11: 29 AM CST |
| New Year's Day Friday January 01st, 1999 |
Final Fantasy VI news!! |
| As many of you already know, Final Fantasy VI is being remade on the Playstation for import release(and hopefully US release too). We found the reason for 2 CDs finally. Although it was speculated that only the intro and endings will have CGs, it has now been announced that the whole game will have CGs(like Final Fantasy VII, Lunar Silver Star Story, and other games). This would explain the 2 CDs. I would also like to explain why I have not been updating lately. Since I had to send my computer away because of a power problem, I decided to take a trip to my aunt's in Colorado. It's been quite a week and I haven't been able to update much from the computer I'm currectly using. However, I'm enjoying a great vacation(I even got tracked by a mountain lion!), and should be back to normal updates by early next week, if not this weekend. Also, LunarNET's EMail address will not be checked until I get back. - GhaleonOne 6: 14 PM CST |