Lunar Knights
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| Lunar Knights | |
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| Developer(s) | Kojima Productions |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release date | JP November 22, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Lunar Knights, known in Japan as Bokura no Taiyō Django & Sabata (ボクらの太陽 Django&Sabata Bokura no Taiyō Jango to Sabata?, lit. "Our Sun: Django & Sabata") and abbreviated Boktai DS, is the fourth title in the Boktai series of games developed by Kojima Productions, and announced at E3 2006. It begins a new story arc, and follows new protagonists and hence has also been marked as the beginning of a new series. Although the publisher and/or developer appears to be erasing references to Boktai from the English version (mainly in the form of changing character names), it it is evident from the Japanese title and style of the game that it is the successor to the Boktai series. This is most likely because Boktai was successful in Japan, but not in the United States and Europe. The game was revamped to remove the necessity of using the real-life solar sensor due to player troubles; however, it still retains the functionality if any of the Game Boy Advance Boktai cartridges are inserted.
As some gameplay features are exclusive to Japan, the original names of the characters are used in such instances.
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[edit] Overview
Lunar Knights revolves around two characters: Lucian and Aaron. Lucian (Sabata in Boktai DS) is a dungeon scroller, wielding various dark melee weapons. He is also imbued with the power of darkness, and can change into a vampire after he builds up a Trance (shortened to TRC in-game) meter by fusing with his Terrennial, Nero, which allows him to absorb life out of his foes, a mechanic that debuted in Boktai 2 as Black Django. Nero is based on the cat of the same name in Boktai 2, who was rescued by Sabata many times.
Aaron (Django in Boktai DS) is an apprentice sharpshooter, and uses a variety of Solar Guns to deal damage to his undead foes. Unlike Lucian, Aaron has light powers, and can temporarily become an avatar of the sun when needed by fusing with his Terrennial, Toasty (known as Otenko in Japan and the English versions of the original games), much like Sol Django in Boktai 3 (released only in Japan).
The player increases the two characters' levels by killing enemies, and their weapons may be upgraded with various parts, allowing more abilities to be used with that weapon.
The ultimate goal in Lunar Knights is to destroy a number of boss vampire enemies, in which the basic mission is to defeat each of them in their respective dungeons, either by exploiting their elemental weakness or using Trance to quickly lay waste. Once this is accomplished, the boss is launched into space using the Casket Rocket, Laplace; the player would then enter a mini-game consisting of 3 parts. The Casket Rocket is controlled from a third-person perpsective with the stylus. By moving the stylus, Laplace moves, and tapping the screen causes it to fire lasers. After these 3 segments have ended, there is a short video segment in which the defeated boss is purified with the intense solar radiation in the stratosphere, made possible by the Interstellar Satellite Sunflower.
As more bosses are defeated, the player is able to gain access to different elements through terrennials. There are 4 different terrennials available besides Nero (Dark) and Toasty (Sol): Ursula (Flame), Tove (Earth), Alexander (Cloud), and Ezra (Frost). With each acquired terrennial comes a different climate for the player to manipulate with. This can be done by going to Sheridan's Mansion and selecting 'Change Climate' to change the default weather. Certain parts of dungeons, which often hold new items and weapons, are inaccessible unless the player changes the weather. Special high-priced items are dropped by enemies or objects under certain climate conditions.
[edit] Setting
Lunar Knights producer Kensuke Yoshitomi confirmed in a 1UP interview (dated 9/23/06) that although Boktai DS/Lunar Knights take place in the same world as Boktai, but at a different time period with fresh characters, it is still not a direct sequel to Boktai. He stated that the many versions of Princess Zelda and Link throughout The Legend of Zelda series are a good representation of this.[1] Nonetheless, a few characters from the previous games appear, and the events of the first three Boktai games are consistently mentioned and heavily influence the game's story.
[edit] Terrennial System
Terrennials, also known as Seireijuu (literally "Star Spirit Animals"), are the physical manefestiations of the elements that accompany you on your travels, with fire (Ursula), ice (Ezra in English, Lisa in Japan), wind (Alexander in English, Otfried in Japan), and earth (Tove), represented. In addition, the sun has a terrennial (Toasty in English, Otenko in Japan) as does darkness (Nero). In addition to these elementals, there is a null-elemental Terrenial only available in the Japanese version - War Rock, whose details are described below in the Crossover section. When these terrennials are equipped, you can use your TRC powers if you desire, and they'll also add their elemental attacks to your weapon strikes (Aaron cannot attack without a Terrennial to aid him but Lucian can have a neutral damage attack from any one of his melee weapons), at the cost of some ENE (energy). Each element is directly vulnerable to its polar opposite, and resistant to itself. For example, if you strike an ice-aligned monster while you have Ursula equipped, you'll deal extra damage, but if you hit him while Ezra is equipped you'll deal less than normal damage.
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] paraSOL
The game relies on an in-game weather control system, known as the paraSOL.
It has a thermometer, and measures water saturation and wind speed. The weather is generated from the game itself, not from the local outside environment. There are 5 types of known weather:
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- Balmy Subtropical Climate
- Tropical Rainforest Climate
- Humid Continental Climate
- Arid Desert Climate
- Frigid Arctic Climate
- During rain storms, thunder will allow you to see otherwise invisible items, as well as identify mimics. The water level will also rise in some areas, raising wooden platforms and allowing the heroes to reach otherwise unreachable items and areas.
- During snowy weather, acidic pools will freeze, allowing you to cross them safely.
- During arid weather, some pools will evaporate and allow you to access hidden items and areas beyond once the temperature reaches +30.
- During tropical weather, plants will thrive and grow so that they can be walked on, creating shortcuts and pathways to hidden items.
- During high winds, the hang gliders will allow you to cross large gaps.
- During a hailstorm, both the player and all enemies are dealt a small amount of continuous damage.
[edit] Trance meter
The Trance meter is a fairly familiar gameplay mechanic: It's built up as you land blows on your enemies, like the Overdrive in Riviera: The Promised Land, as well as in the Final Fantasy series, or the fury meter in the Sword of Mana series. When it's full, you'll be able to use the powers of one of your Terrennials to launch into an extra powerful attack that affects multiple enemies. The transformations mentioned above are two of these attacks, but some are more magical in orientation, and often revolve around interaction with the touch screen.
[edit] Burst attacks
Burst attacks are Trance moves performed by terrennials other than Toasty/Otenko and Nero. When a Burst attack is used, the weather will change accordingly once it's done.
- Fire/Ursula: Draw small circles on the bottom screen. Balls of fire will be sent to these locations. The bigger the circle, the stronger the attack. After the burst, the weather will be clear.
- Ice/Ezra: Blow into the microphone to freeze over enemies. After the burst, there will more likely be precipitations.
- Wind/Alexander: Use the stylus to spin around a tornado. After the burst, the sky will become cloudy.
- Earth/Tove: Shake the bottom screen using the stylus to make rocks fall down. After the burst, precipitation may follow.
- Null/War Rock: Tap the enemies on screen to fire buster shots at them. Attack power increases based on strength of Wi-Fi friends. (Only available in the Japanese game)
[edit] Transformations
Similar to Django in Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django and the Japan-only Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack, Lucian and Aaron can transform into a much more powerful form by combining with Nero and Toasty respectively. These two transformations are reminiscent of Django's two Trance forms in Shinbok.
- Dark Lucian: By combining with Nero, Lucian transforms into Dark Lucian. By pressing the B and Y buttons, Lucian will attack with his special abilities:
- Dark Claw: Lucian attacks everything in his reach (radius).
- Dark Fang: Dark Lucian will attack the closest/locked on enemy. He will draw blood like a vampire (not in a 1:1 ratio like Black Django did In Boktai 2 and 3). Continuously pressing the buttons will allow Lucian to continue feeding.
- Sol Aaron: The Apprentice Sharpshooter combines with Toasty, forming Sol Aaron. Like Dark Lucian, Sol Aaron can use his skills with the B and Y buttons.
- Sol Flame: Sol Aaron attacks everything in his reach (radius) whilst creating a Solar Emblem on the ground.
- Sol Prominence: Aaron attacks the closest/locked on enemy (with his feet). Continuously pressing buttons will allow Aaron to keep kicking the enemy.
After the TRC gauge empties, the transformations finish and the time of the day changes. Sol Aaron causes the Sun to rise and Dark Lucian makes night fall.
[edit] Other Gameplay Features
- Blowing into the Nintendo DS's microphone will cause the character to whistle, drawing attention to enemies. This serves to replace the wall tapping of earlier games in the Boktai series.
- Whistling also has the function of using a terrennial's special technique, which can only be used when the terrennial is glowing (happens during affiliated climate or time of day):
Toasty: restores energy.
Nero: targeted enemy drops an item.
Ursula: greatly damages targeted enemy.
Tove: restores health.
Alexander: radial attack which knocks back enemies.
Ezra: freezes targeted enemy.
War Rock: Consumes nearby coins and transforms them into useful items. Japanese version only.
[edit] W-Gate Slot-In
The player is able to use the Game Boy Advance Boktai games' sun sensor to play Lunar Knights like the original Boktai games. This option gives the player more of an advantage: slotting a GBA game into the DS' W-Gate allows the player to use extra sunlight by adding the detected sun strength to the amount produced by the in-game weather system (the extra sunlight appear as green blocks in the game's sensor bar) for a certain amount of time. It also enables the player to play in sunlight regardless of the in-game world's weather.
Depending on which game is introduced into the W-Gate, the Solar Sensor will cause different effects in Lunar Knights:
- Solar Sensor Version 1: By inserting Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand in the GBA Slot, your standby character will fill his ENE (Energy) and it will also charge the Solar Station depending on how much sunlight hits the sensor.
- Solar Sensor Version 2: By inserting Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django in the GBA Slot, your standby character will fill his LIFE and it will also charge the Solar Station depending on how much sunlight hits the sensor.
- Solar Sensor Version 3: By inserting Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack in the GBA Slot, your standby character will fill his TRC (Trance) meter and it will also charge the Solar Station depending on how much sunlight hits the sensor.
[edit] Shooting Star Rockman crossover
The Rockman series crossover continues in this game. By linking to a Japanese copy of Mega Man Star Force (Shooting Star Rockman), Sabata and Django can fight Ox Fire (Taurus Fire in English), one of the enemy FM-ians, as a hidden boss. If they are successful in defeating him, War Rock can assist them as a seventh terrennial. Boktai DS can also send and receive items and messages from Shooting Star Rockman, and there are some items which can only be obtained in this fashion. This feature was removed from Lunar Knights.
[edit] Trivia
- Multiple voice actors from the Boktai series returned to voice characters in Lunar Knights. Guy Perryman, who voiced Count and Otenko, also voices Rymer and Toasty. Kimberly Forsythe, who voiced Sabata, also voices Duke Dumas's terrennial, Perrault. Bianca Allen, who voiced Lita and Carmilla in Boktai, returned to be Carmilla, Virginia and Lisbeth. Eric Kelso, who was Black Dainn in Boktai 2, voiced Kay and Dumas. Donna Burke, who voiced Hel in the first Boktai, voiced Ursula while Walter Roberts, who voiced Smith in Boktai 2 and the Silvery White Knight in Boktai, returned to be Ernest and Alexander.
- Within the game a player can find items named after some of the Immortals from the previous Boktai games, also the weapons Lucian uses are named after the final bosses of the first three Boktai games. Also one can reach the ruins of Istrakan from Boktai, and San Miguel from Boktai 2.
[edit] Reception
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Reception for Lunar Knights has been for the most part, positive, with review aggregation sites Game Rankings and GameStats placing the game in a mid 80's percent range. Both IGN and VGRC cited comparisons to Castlevania (another series published by Konami) with IGN saying "Konami already has a vampire-slaying action adventure in the form of Castlevania, and even though the storylines and universes are completely independent of each other, it's hard to ignore the similarities." While most reviews seem to praise Lunar Knights for the use of the terrennial and paraSOL systems, Honest Gamers said "It brings some excellent features to the series, but fails to implement them as smoothly as it should have." Furthermore, many took up issue with the controls of the space shooting sequences, with GameSpot calling them "clumsy" and VGRC saying "It would have been a lot nicer if you could control your ship with the D-pad, and aim/fire with the stylus, but alas, that is not the case." IGN went as far to say about the whole space shooting sequences "while certainly not terrible, [they] aren't anything special and do feel a little tacked on as a completely separate design that's not incorporated as well into the environments." Nintendo Power magazine gave the game an eight out of ten, and stated that the game could have used more of the environmental puzzles of the original series.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ [1], TGS Lunar Knights Preview, published September 23, 2006
- ^ VGRC's review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ GameSpot's review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ Honest Gamers's review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ GameZone's review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ 1UP's review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ IGN's review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ [2] review of Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 31st March 2007.
- ^ GameRankings.com page for Lunar Knights. URL retrieved 14th March 2007.
- ^ GameStats on Lunar Knights. URL accessed 14th March 2007.
[edit] External links
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