Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete: Prima's Unauthorized Strategy Guide

 (22 customer reviews)

Stategy guides are often the lifeblood of many gamers who want to tackle a difficult or complex game. Having played through Lunar: The Silver Star when it was first on the Sega CD many years ago and now through Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete for the Playstation, I must say that a strategy guide can be very useful for this game, at times. The dungeons are long, monsters tricky, and bosses a real challenge. Unfortunately you will find little help in Prima's Unauthorized guide. The inaccuracies in Prima's guide make it too unreliable to be a useful reference.The most obvious fault that I can find with Prima's guide is that it is in black and white instead of color. While a number of stategy guides are now coming out in B&W to save you the more expensive price of a color guide, in Lunar's case such money saving becomes a real liability. Maps of dungeons and towns are difficult to read because they are in B&W and very unclear. Screen shots are even worse...Read more

Well, maybe she did, but not too many readers of this guide would disagree with that statement if they have tried to use it. Inaccurate lists (as they refer to equipment found in the Japanese version of the game), incomplete (and confusing) maps, plot spoilers, and tons of white filler space are what this "guide" is riddled with. Most everything all the other reader reviews have said about this book is true. I couldn't suggest you buy the official guide (which is EXCELLENT) or even the July 1999 issue of Expert Gamer magazine, both of which give you something that qualify as a strategy. An obviously rushed job, expect no boss or fighting tactics to be found, nor any of the game's secrets. It's not the worst game guide in existence (believe me, I've read hundreds)--that honor still goes to Prima's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night guide (check my review for that as well for a good laugh). Still, avoid at all costs.

The main problem with this guide is that is based on the Japanese version of the game. Working Designs spent alot of time changing the game for an American audience, so the guide is basically worthless for the American version of Lunar:SSSC. Not to mention the poorly described dungeon maps and the poor black and white photos. The guide looks like it was done by a kid on his home computer rather than done by a professional publisher.