SCD Lunar the silver star & Eternal blue Sega CD vs Playstation 1: Witch one i should play?

[Jvsouza11]

I wanted to play lunar for a long time and i heard good things about this duology of sega jrpgs but i dont know witch version of these classics i should play.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

Both are good actually but If you can play the SEGA CD version then go for that one it’s more balanced than the PS1 version which was published by everyone’s favorite Working Designs.
The SEGA CD version feels more authentic while the PS1 version is sort of an updated version with minor deviation from the original.

 

[bjork]

Both are good actually but If you can play the SEGA CD version then go for that one it’s more balanced than the PS1 version which was published by everyone’s favorite Working Designs.

Help me because I guess I'm not reading this right: they were published by Working Designs on both systems?

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

Help me because I guess I'm not reading this right: they were published by Working Designs on both systems?

Working Designs tend to tinker all their PS1 releases so that players tend to play their longer. Back then as a guarantee Sony imposed on all game publishers to have a 30-day refund. As players tends to finish some games within that period they opt to refund their money back. To counter this WD resulted to unbalancing the games difficulty.

 

[Jvsouza11]

Working Designs tend to tinker all their PS1 releases so that players tend to play their longer. Back then as a guarantee Sony imposed on all game publishers to have a 30-day refund. As players tends to finish some games within that period they opt to refund their money back. To counter this WD resulted to unbalancing the games difficulty.

They mess with the difficulty of the games because of money?

 

[Turbo Kid]

Working Designs represents everything awful about localization. They wanted to make it their game and put their stamp on it.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

They mess with the difficulty of the games because of money?

Exactly! Imagine what they did to that light gun/rail shooter Elemental Gearbolt they removed the easy difficulty on the settings which they replaced “practice” difficulty which after defeating the 3rd level/stage you’re forced back to the main menu, not to mention they also removed the infinite continue on the Japanese release and replaced it with only 3 continues.

 

[Jvsouza11]

Exactly! Imagine what they did to that light gun/rail shooter Elemental Gearbolt they removed the easy difficulty on the settings which they replaced “practice” difficulty which after defeating the 3rd level/stage you’re forced back to the main menu, not to mention they also removed the infinite continue on the Japanese release and replaced it with only 3 continues.

Thats absurd! I didn't know this side of working designs existed.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

The only reason I'd pick the SEGA CD version over the ones on PS1 is because the opening theme on SSS rocks harder than an earthquake. Otherwise, PlayStation all the way.

I'll never understand why they removed such a catchy, iconic opening song.

 

[bjork]

Working Designs tend to tinker all their PS1 releases so that players tend to play their longer. Back then as a guarantee Sony imposed on all game publishers to have a 30-day refund. As players tends to finish some games within that period they opt to refund their money back. To counter this WD resulted to unbalancing the games difficulty.

Huh. I knew people who played both versions and I'd never heard this before. I owned both PS1 versions back when they were new, but I never even opened them. The only difference I knew between them is that the PS1 games have normal dialogue and the Sega CD version people TALK LIKE THIS GO BEAT A DRAGON WHAT DO YOU MEAN CAPS LOCK IS YELLING

 

[Jvsouza11]

Huh. I knew people who played both versions and I'd never heard this before. I owned both PS1 versions back when they were new, but I never even opened them. The only difference I knew between them is that the PS1 games have normal dialogue and the Sega CD version people TALK LIKE THIS GO BEAT A DRAGON WHAT DO YOU MEAN CAPS LOCK IS YELLING

They forgot to turn off the caps lock.

 

[Stare best girl]

Working Designs is the reason about why I don't play Lunar yet

 

[Bakuma1997]

I heard the PSX version has longer load times between battles than SCD

 

[Turbo Kid]

People loved Working Designs years ago because they were just happy to have access to these games, but the years have not been kind to the company's reputation. They had no respect whatsoever for any of the games that they localized.

 

[Deleted member 881671]

I think the PS one is the better way to play this game.

 

[Scotty Scotty]

Both versions are fine, but I prefer the Sega CD version.

However, regardless of which version you choose to play, I highly recommend playing them through the "Un-Working Designs" patches. Not only does it alter the Sega CD version's text to be mixed case instead of ALL CAPS, but it balances the game's difficulty - keeping it more in line with the original JP version.

Unfortunately, it's not a full-on retranslation. This means you still have to suffer through the poor quality translations of these other fantastic games.

Post automatically merged: Sep 17, 2025

Working Designs is the reason about why I don't play Lunar yet

Honestly, I do not blame you one bit lol.

Post automatically merged: Sep 17, 2025

Thats absurd! I didn't know this side of working designs existed.

Yeah, they made a lot of games MUCH more difficult (like "Lunar 1 & 2" actually lol). What's hilarious is that in page 22 of the US instruction manual for "Lunar: The Silver Star", Working Designs had the gall to say THIS about the game's difficulty:

"Whenever a game is translated from a Japanese version, the inevitable question is: "What did you change?"

Gamers are very concerned, as we are, that the original game stay intact as much as possible. We really try hard to give the American gamer the same experience the Japanese gamer had when playing the original game. In reality, we meet, and sometimes exceed, the quality of the original Japanese game."

Yeah, because paying to save your game à la DKC2 in the 2nd Lunar game gives US gamers "...the same experience..." as Japanese gamers. Also, throwing in dated pop culture references.

 

[Jvsouza11]

Working Designs tend to tinker all their PS1 releases so that players tend to play their longer. Back then as a guarantee Sony imposed on all game publishers to have a 30-day refund. As players tends to finish some games within that period they opt to refund their money back. To counter this WD resulted to unbalancing the games difficulty.

I remember something similar happening to garten of banban, the creators of the game needlessly extended their games because they dont want their (Franchise) get refunded by the gamers.