Lunar Threads

This one is fairly obvious. What song do you most like to hear, and why?

I like the music  when you find the Black Scimitar in the Goddess Tower, particularly "Brilliance." (Harmony version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEKJbkeMNug ) The organ is great for building tension, as well as being an audible theme for awe-inspiring religion gone wrong here and in EBC. (Is it in the original, or is it a more subdued organ?).

For me, it has always been the Star Dragon Tower Theme from the Sega CD version of Lunar 2. I remember when I first got Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete and listening to that CD, I always wondered why such an awesome song was not in the game. Then, years later I would find out it's in the Sega CD version.

For some reason, I like a lot of the music from the original games better than the remakes. Well...at least for the first Lunar. For example, I like the battle theme, and second overworld theme in Lunar TSS way better than SSSC's.

My favorite song that stands out in my memory the most right now is Mia's theme, fairy rain i think its called? I love that song and i like the updated version in SSH, and i remember having a hard time looking for that track, i never did find it and just gave up. Like Dark Fairy i like a lot of the Lunar music, Sometimes i would just have a playlist of Lunar music going in the background. Sadly it's been at least 3 years since i've listened to any Lunar music, so i've forgotten a bunch of my favorite songs.

Too many to pick one, mostly from TSS. I think it was the Dragon Cave music in that game that really made me sit up and take notice of the game as a whole. Actually, everything Dark_Fairy said. I like the other two TSS battle themes as well. The "big boss" one quotes the Dragon Cave music, which I always thought was neat. And the regular battle music must be really good, if I still like it after the tens or hundreds of thousands of times I've heard it. And the second overworld theme and temple/shrine music are also favorites.

There's a piece in Genesis/Dragon song that I really like as well. Can't remember the name -- if it even has a name -- but it plays in some deserty areas. Well worth inclusion in the series, whatever the quality of the rest of the game.

SSSC's music really, really disappointed me when I first played it, because of the totatlly different style and simply for not being TSS's music. But to be fair, it does sound a lot better on the Saturn, and of course the SSH rearrangements are good too. I did get used to it and like it well enough now as a whole, but it took some time.

In Eternal Blue, I really like the second overworld music, heard mainly on the west half of the world. I forget the exact locations. There's some other stuff I like too, but that game also introduced the horrid thud-thud-thud cave "music" that's appeared in seemingly every game since then. (I don't know if it's in the WS and MS games, but there's a version even in Genesis.) And yes, the Star Dragon Theme, the only piece written on this side of the pond, is awesome. WD had wanted to put it in EBC as well, but didn't have it in a format that was easily convertible to PSX.

Finally a topic I can contribute to. Music has always been my favorite part of Lunar and I'm a person who loves a good list. Here are my top 5 in order.

1. Opening Credits Lunar: EB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKJ9FR1Gba8

2. Althena's Shrine. Lunar: TSS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc-NlvDiaR8

3. Final Battle Lunar: EB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3jfz45QH0U

4. Overworld Theme #1 Lunar: TSS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B41cYKJaKE

5. Vane Lunar: TSS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0nwmT_-UXE

I am kind of in an odd mood but to me, the funniest LUNAR-related music track has to be that bit from the Making of where everyone was in the game testing room and they played Lemina's Theme over the staff whipping their workers to keep working. LOL I would crack up so much because I've watched that CD disc so many times just for the moments like that. I would sometimes hum in it my head whenever I'd be walking around or stuck doing something somewhere, too, actually.

Another favorite... it actually used to be the LUNAR: Silver Star Story COMPLETE introduction track, followed by Luna's Boat Song (I like it just because it was supposed to be cut and it turned out great-sounding *giggle*) but the theme they played at the end of LUNAR Eternal Blue. Also, back before I had a working SEGA CD, I'd play the LUNAR The Silver Star CD on my Discman and listen to the opening track - it was really cool + neat-o.

Even over Fairy Rain from the import soundtracks, my favorite was Killy Is No. 1 or Magical Emperor Nash, I forget which one I liked... I should listen to those again... *cue Mariah on my music player*

Alunissage wrote:In Eternal Blue, I really like the second overworld music, heard mainly on the west half of the world. I forget the exact locations.

That's called Field to Tomorrow I believe. I love that one too.

Alunissage wrote:There's some other stuff I like too, but that game also introduced the horrid thud-thud-thud cave "music" that's appeared in seemingly every game since then.

I cannot figure out why that song keeps getting revisited... On the other hand, EB also introduced the dragon theme, which keeps getting reused and is beautiful. (There was a rough version of it in TSS, every version since EB sounds like EB.)

I like the TSS version of the dragon music better than the EB one, I have to say. I don't care much for the second, 'borrowed' chord in the later version, the bIII; it always strikes me as kind of an easy way to convey otherworldliness. (That sentence will probably not make sense to non-music majors.) The best thing about the TSS OST to my mind was that that piece is a bit longer on it, and of course that it can be heard without the voice.

EB also introduced Althena's theme, later used as Luna's song in SSS. Which is nice enough, though again I prefer the TSS song. I always wince at the Blue Dragon Shrine scene when the girls singing with Luna are trying to hit the high note in the third measure. Not a vocalist-friendly interval.

Not a song, but Four Heros in my favorite. Ghaleon's theme and Jean's theme I used to fall asleep to all the time. Otherwise the EBC songs are all very nice, but Boat Song is my favorite followed by Wings(?).

I didn't expect to see a Mariah Carey reference in this thread. I'd pay good money to hear her cover the vocal tracks from this series, though. lol

WD RPG WD wrote:
1. Opening Credits Lunar: EB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKJ9FR1Gba8

That one's probably my favorite song from the series. "Eternal Blue (instrumental)"

It's impossible to choose just one! Even narrowing it down will be a challenge! Iwadare's music is so beautiful, touching and timeless. I feel so nostalgic when I hear certain pieces. I will have to go through the soundtracks and the in-game playlists to pick my favorites.
For right now though, I will mention some off the top of my head.

+ Wings/Tsubasa (SSSC)
+ Silver Light (SSSC)
+ Between Dragons (EBC)
+ Gypsy Heart (EBC)

I also really love the song that plays in Damon's Spire in SSSC, but the title fails me at the moment! lol A bigger list is definitely coming! I will have to have a Lunar listening party soon. For the record, how does everyone feel about the remastered music in SSH? I forgot what the general consensus was.

After playing the original first two releases, LUNAR The Silver Star specifically, the Vile Tribe music is stuck in my head.

I replayed the Sega CD and PSX Lunar games again recently, and I gotta say, the Sega CD TSS music has aged much better to me than any of the other games' music. The Burg and Vane themes in particular stand out over almost everything that came out of the later games, and the introduction of the second overworld theme is incredibly evocative.

The first time the second overworld theme is played always is an incredible tone marker to me. This just got serious. It's not a happy adventure or even a quickly-solved problem any more. The lack of a similar transition to a darker theme in SSSC was very disappointing to me when I played that game.

And of course one reason that change in TSS works so well is that that music is really well-suited to the mood of the game at that point. It's serious and even grim, but moves forward with a determined rhythm and ultimately ends with a triumphant, major-harmony fanfare. It's kind of the whole second half of the game in a musical nutshell.

Hopefully it's not too late to join the party!

Lunar~EB: Ghaleon~The Return (Mega CD only)
In Mega CD Eternal Blue, Ghaleon actually has three themes (another casualty in the remake): this one (Ghaleon's reapparance, Ghaleon overlooking the Dragonship after he attacks Leo, Ghaleon aboard the Dragonship when he attacks Hiero), his second one (the only one in the remake, used in the original in Pentagulia and atop the Magic Guild only), and the marvelous "betrayal" organ piece (when Lucia grows suspicious of the fake Althena and attacks). Fun fact: WD actually inserted this first theme into Ghaleon's appearance scene in the US version, whereas his second theme (the only one in the remake) plays in the original layout. It's an improvement.

Lunar~SSS: Machinery, Steel Movement, Magic Emperor
Often overlooked, these three variants are all quite excellent and perfect for the Mechanical Castle sequences, I think.

Lunar~SSS: Lone Wolf
The plains tribe music is just fantastic, so very fitting for the area.

Lunar~HOSS: Go, and Go!
I take back what I said about Harmony being a miserable excuse for a remake. Its existence is justified soley based on it having the definitive version of the too-perfect Magic Emperor battle theme. Iwadare has made a lot of last boss tracks in this vein (Grandia II, etc.), but this is miles ahead of all of them.