A very frustrating game...and for the wrong reasons. A rant.

[Alunissage]

I dunno, the locked chests are kind of fun to me. They're something for you to go back and find, and get cool goodies from. They also reward the player who looks thoroughly sometimes; in TSS, the Recovery Cane is in the Weird Woods, in a chest that you can't see the first time you're there because there's a huge tree in the way. But if you return there after the bridge is built (which you have no reason to do except exploration), you see that there's a red chest behind the stump. Also, having that cane the first time you went there would throw off the balance; it'd be too powerful an item when the party's HP levels are so low that the cane would be a near-full heal. I think there were other items like that too, especially in Legend.

Are you a Zelda fan? Isn't half the fun of Zelda games going back to find chests and treasures later in the game that you couldn't get to when you first saw them because you didn't have the right equipment?

By the way, I also seem to recall that in TSS you can only open red chests when Kyle is in your party, as he's the one who gets the chest holding the Thieves' Crest open. I think there's a red chest in the dungeon part of Myght's Tower that you can't open when you're goiing there with Laike. Anyone else recall this being the case? It would make sense, since Kyle is basically a thief to begin with, being a bandit more or less. Come to think of it, that might be why Jessica refers to him as a thief while in Pao... not because of his actual 'occupation' but because of the Thieves' Guild. I know the line confused me when I first saw it because I didn't think of Kyle as a thief, but as a protection racketeer. Of course, SSSC called him a thief more explicitly, when he sculpted the crowbar and called it a thief's best friend. But that's WD's line, as Kizyr's list of changes indicated. *shrug*

[LunarRaptor]

True, but in Zelda going back getting more stuff in a continual process because you keep picking up more fun toys to play with while going back and forth between areas, like the hook/clawshot, or some nifty new fire/ice arrows, metal boots, glider, or whatever. These not only get you whole new items, but they often open whole new veins of road and areas for you to explore.
In Lunar: Silver Star, you're just restricted from the red chests that you come across until you get into the Thieve's Guild, and Kyle can now open them as long as he's with you. You just wonder back to places you've been before and can all too easily reach again and just retrieve whatever's in the red chest.
While its true that going back got you some nice stuff, I can't say it was a particularly enjoyable experience.
Its not really the same story. If by getting the Thieve's Crest, you were allowed to enter whole new places in previous areas you couldn't before, and you can then open the red chests, that'd be a different story and I would have no complaint.

That's why I was more pleased with just being able to open whatever chest you wanted in Eternal Blue with how they set things up in the Lunar games.

[Alunissage]

I guess it's a playing style thing. I'm always going back to previous areas in RPGs to see if NPCs say anything different (and possibly give you cool stuff if you talk to them at the right time); my goal is as much to see every bit of text I can as to finish the game. If you're doing that already, backtracking for red chests is no big deal. Especially in Lunar 1 since you have the White Dragon Wings so it's fairly quick.

[LunarRaptor]

Heh, heh, I can see where you're coming from now. I don't personally go everywhere after I've through a new area to find all new text, but I can how by doing that that finding the red chests would be no hassle. For me, I'm always wanting to play through for the fun of the gameplay engine, new quests, and furthering the plotline as my main priorority.

Oh yes, the wonderful, wonderful Dragon Wings. I love those things. Want to go to any area you desire (once you've been there), you're there.

But, when push comes to shove, the whole red chest thing is really just more of a pet peeve of mine. Nothing more. Although, you gotta admit, the idea of being able to access new areas in previous areas once you have the key is an nice concept.