Lunia is an action-packed 2.5D fantasy multiplayer role-playing game. The game is, in fact, the combination of numerous large episodes with ten stages rather than one persistent world. The game can be said as the classical acreage brawler with multiplayer elements. The special features of the game include stunning music and vibrant animated graphics.
Arcade-Style Combat: A closer Look
Simply stating that a game is inspired by arcade-style action can be a bit misleading. People will make different mental connections depending on the type of arcade games they may have been exposed to during their lifespan. Having grown up in the era of the Atari 2600, the mention of arcade games brings to my mind such classics as Galaga,Pac-Man or Asteroids – games that notably focused on increasing intensity in a never ending loop of new enemies. As a result, the notion of breaking up those loops via uninspired boss fights never really took hold for me. Games that came out later in that same decade, such as Super Mario Bros., popularized the concept of level capping boss fights for a new console generation, and it’s remained a staple of single player gaming ever since. When Lunia is described as being motivated by arcade-style action, it’s clearly those later entries that inspired the game.
Players in Lunia embark on a series of repeatable missions that can be accessed at any time via a handy UI button, or by simply leaving town in the appropriate direction. Think of these missions like a series of short arcade game levels, because for the most part that’s exactly how they’ll play out. As you advance, enemies will become increasingly more difficult, come in larger numbers and will have a greater variety of special attacks. Though not every mission in Lunia is capped by a dreaded boss fight, the vast majority will be. Rather than rehash what I’d previously said about boss fights in my preview, let’s just say they certainly weren’t my favorite aspect of the game.
Once a level has been cleared, you’ll be given the option to open one of two locked chests, the choice typically being between either potions or items that can be sold to vendors back in town. For some reason this choice will also be on a timer, so you’ll only have 10 seconds to decide which you’d prefer. From there you’ll be shown a score-board for the level, which tracks things like how long it took to complete the level and how much damage you took. These stats will be compiled into a final score for each mission, which will ultimately determine the overall experience gained. Thanks to the repeatable nature of the missions, these scores are also something you can improve upon should you so choose to.
Character Advancement: A Closer Look
Though combat in Lunia will primarily boil down to alternating between hitting the A button and Space Bar in various combinations, characters will also gain levels and learn new skills they can add to their hotbar similar to most MMOGs. While some of these skills prove to be extremely useful, such as area heals or knockbacks, quite a few of them tend to be all flash and no bang. This is just as well, because for the most part the button-mashing nature of combat keeps things moving at a fast clip without the need to rely too heavily on tactics.
Loot plays a very prominent role in Lunia, to the point where you may find yourself spending just as much time in a mission running around to collect dropped items as you do fighting swarms of oozes or orcs. Earlier on in the game this can become somewhat of a burden, as it necessitates frequent trips back to town between missions. That said, Lunia does also offer quite a few special items that can be purchased via an item mall that is accessed either within the game or at the official website. While I didn’t spend too much time browsing the items for sale, some of the things that stood out were odd things like rented pets that you could also buy outfits for – in other words, the purchasable items are more of the visual enhancement type rather than anything that would alter the balance of gameplay in any meaningful ways.
Tying the Two Together
The arcade-style combat and character advancement in Lunia might otherwise be an odd pairing if not for a longer story arc played out primarily in a series of flash-based cutscenes. These short scenes will appear either before or after most missions in Lunia, and add a layer of charm to the game that really helps to tie everything together into a more cohesive experience. Though the cliché anime characters might not appeal to some, I still enjoyed the storyline enough that it helped me overlook the fact that I knew I’d likely die a dozen times as soon as I reached the next boss fight.
Initial starting classes:
- Sieg [Knight]: you are going to represent the generic melee character as Sieg while playing Lunia. You get powerful melee attacks, high hit points and really impressive and long combos. But you will miss the long ranged attacks and have a lowest MP in the game.
- Eir [Healer]: obviously, you become the priest with the supportive role. Eir is the female character, and you will represent superior healing and supportive skills. However, you will have weak melee fighting skills.
- Dainn [Wizard]: As Dainn you become the wizard in Lunia. You will enjoy the superior ranged offensive skills along with long combo chains. However, having low defense and hit points, you are very susceptible to melee attacks.
- Tia [Thief]: Again, you can enjoy this female character, and you will love the agility and damage dealing capability with Tia. However, you will miss the defensive skills and armor of the Knight. This is equally compensated by faster melee speed and the critical attacks.
- Arien [Archer]: the long distanced ranged attack capability has been recently added with this female character Arien. You will be very proficient in bow category and deal with ranged attacks.
- Krieg El Hati [Paladin]: the Paladin class character has also been added recently. You will love this hybrid warrior and have the both healing as well as the powerful melee attack capabilities. You can also cast holy spells.
Unlockable characters:
- Lime [Combat Slime]: you can immensely damage your opponents on the battlefield. The speed and damage capabilities are perfect, but you are going to have very poor combos.
- Dacy [Ice Puppeteer]: You can have the capabilities of the wizard along with the twist. You can summon dolls to air in the combats. You will lack the offensive spells and have lower hit points and melee damage.
- Yuki [Ice Magician]: Yuki represents another character that has spell-casting skills. You will have a perfect area effect and honing skills with this female character and deal massive damage from long distance. Again, you will have low hit points and weak melee damage, but compensate with long chainable combos.
 Starting out in Lunia is as simple as selecting your favorite storyline character. |
Simply stating that a game is inspired by arcade-style action can be a bit misleading. People will make different mental connections depending on the type of arcade games they may have been exposed to during their lifespan. Having grown up in the era of the Atari 2600, the mention of arcade games brings to my mind such classics as Galaga,Pac-Man or Asteroids – games that notably focused on increasing intensity in a never ending loop of new enemies. As a result, the notion of breaking up those loops via uninspired boss fights never really took hold for me. Games that came out later in that same decade, such as Super Mario Bros., popularized the concept of level capping boss fights for a new console generation, and it’s remained a staple of single player gaming ever since. When Lunia is described as being motivated by arcade-style action, it’s clearly those later entries that inspired the game.
Players in Lunia embark on a series of repeatable missions that can be accessed at any time via a handy UI button, or by simply leaving town in the appropriate direction. Think of these missions like a series of short arcade game levels, because for the most part that’s exactly how they’ll play out. As you advance, enemies will become increasingly more difficult, come in larger numbers and will have a greater variety of special attacks. Though not every mission in Lunia is capped by a dreaded boss fight, the vast majority will be. Rather than rehash what I’d previously said about boss fights in my preview, let’s just say they certainly weren’t my favorite aspect of the game.
Once a level has been cleared, you’ll be given the option to open one of two locked chests, the choice typically being between either potions or items that can be sold to vendors back in town. For some reason this choice will also be on a timer, so you’ll only have 10 seconds to decide which you’d prefer. From there you’ll be shown a score-board for the level, which tracks things like how long it took to complete the level and how much damage you took. These stats will be compiled into a final score for each mission, which will ultimately determine the overall experience gained. Thanks to the repeatable nature of the missions, these scores are also something you can improve upon should you so choose to.
 Each mission presents you with a handy scoreboard at the end. |
Though combat in Lunia will primarily boil down to alternating between hitting the A button and Space Bar in various combinations, characters will also gain levels and learn new skills they can add to their hotbar similar to most MMOGs. While some of these skills prove to be extremely useful, such as area heals or knockbacks, quite a few of them tend to be all flash and no bang. This is just as well, because for the most part the button-mashing nature of combat keeps things moving at a fast clip without the need to rely too heavily on tactics.
Loot plays a very prominent role in Lunia, to the point where you may find yourself spending just as much time in a mission running around to collect dropped items as you do fighting swarms of oozes or orcs. Earlier on in the game this can become somewhat of a burden, as it necessitates frequent trips back to town between missions. That said, Lunia does also offer quite a few special items that can be purchased via an item mall that is accessed either within the game or at the official website. While I didn’t spend too much time browsing the items for sale, some of the things that stood out were odd things like rented pets that you could also buy outfits for – in other words, the purchasable items are more of the visual enhancement type rather than anything that would alter the balance of gameplay in any meaningful ways.
Tying the Two Together
 The storyline in Lunia provides a humorous break between missions. |
The arcade-style combat and character advancement in Lunia might otherwise be an odd pairing if not for a longer story arc played out primarily in a series of flash-based cutscenes. These short scenes will appear either before or after most missions in Lunia, and add a layer of charm to the game that really helps to tie everything together into a more cohesive experience. Though the cliché anime characters might not appeal to some, I still enjoyed the storyline enough that it helped me overlook the fact that I knew I’d likely die a dozen times as soon as I reached the next boss fight.
On the whole, Lunia is an easy game to recommend to anyone looking for an extremely casual free-to-play game. The anime inspired graphics might not appeal to some, but thanks to the ability to set up private mission instances, this could also be a great game for families with younger children to play together. Otherwise, Lunia is certainly a light-hearted, fun experience so long as you aren’t expecting too much depth and don’t mind running circles around bosses every few minutes.
Source: tentonhammer