It’s been more than a decade since Game Arts and Working Designs collaborated to bring gamersLunar: Silver Star Story Complete for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, and since its release, gamers still have a difficult time finding another video game that recreates its appeal.

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (and its sequel—Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete) didn’t rely on flashy graphics or advanced gameplay mechanics. In fact, the game’s turn-based combat system and 16-bit graphics seemed almost archaic in comparison to other popular, role-playing games like Xenogears or Final Fantasy VII.

Regardless, Lunar cultivated a prominent following using three simple things: story, audio and localization. The story’s cast of motley heroes were all uniquely amiable and sympathetic, the voice acting and soundtrack were exceptional and the localization job (performed by the now defunct Working Designs) endowed the script with a memorably sharp, charming wit that continues to make the game endearing to its fans.

It’s been almost five years since the last installment in the series, the prologue Lunar: Dragon Song, and now Lunar: The Silver Star is being remade for Sony’s PlayStation Portable. With a new title (Lunar: Silver Star Harmony), upgraded graphics, revamped gameplay and much more, Game Arts and publisher XSeed Games are looking to remind RPG fans what a true, role-playing classic looks like.

I had a chance to talk with Masato Dobashi (Producer at Game Arts) and Jimmy Soga (Product Manager at XSeed Games) and ask them a few questions about Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, PlayStation Network, Grandia, punching puppets and, of course, the possibility of Lunar 3 arriving sometime in the near future.

Special thanks to Jimmy Soga, Masato Dobashi, Scott Fry and the tireless team at One PR Studio, XSeed Games and Game Arts.

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony launches for PlayStation Portable on March 2, 2010. Be sure to check in later this week for our full review.

College News: A large part of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete’s success was due to the localization and voice acting performed by the now defunct Working Designs. Is Lunar: Silver Star Harmony using their script and voice work? Or are they using Working Design’s localized script from the Sega CD version? Or is everything completely from scratch?

Jimmy Soga (Product Manager of XSeed Games): As you mentioned, the localization done by Working Designs was a large part of Lunar being so popular in the US, so we definitely didn’t want to lose that charm which Lunar brings. For Lunar: Silver Star Harmony we used the Working Designs script as our base and changed some parts where we thought it would make the flow better. We also took out any ‘90s pop culture references.

For the voice cast, we hired a whole new set of voice actors, but we did manage to get the singer, Jennie Stigle, to come back and sing the opening song and the famous boat song.

College News: The graphics have been updated in Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, but what other changes can gamers expect? Will there be any significant changes to the storyline?

JS: In Lunar: SSH, the graphics, as well as the music, got a total overhaul, with new added story elements and a new battle system. The additional storyline is not something that will change the entire story from Lunar: SSSC, but more of an expansion on the parts that were only talked about before. This is now playable to better understand what happened in the past.

The new battle element is a system called Arts Gauge. It’s the same system that was in the DS version and is something like a limit break. Once your party members have a full gauge during battle they will be able to unleash special attacks and/or support magic which will be very useful during boss battles.

College News: Part of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony’s appeal will be the nostalgia factor. What steps are being made to ensure this Lunar remains faithful to the Lunar played by fans more than a decade ago? What steps are being made to ensure it stays fresh and accessible to newcomers?

JS: Since the main game is the beloved Lunar: SSSC I think fans will enjoy reminiscing about that great game. However, with new graphics, text touch-up, new voice cast, and the additional story elements, the long time fans as well as the newcomers can enjoy the fresh new look of this timeless classic.

College News: It was totally awesome to see Game Arts hasn’t forgotten its roots and are making an elaborate collector’s editions for Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. Can we expect to see a new line of Lunar boxing puppets being sold as well?

JS: Unfortunately there will be no puppets included in the Limited Edition this time. However for this Limited Edition we will have a completely re-mastered soundtrack CD and 13 actual bromide cards which can be found in the game. The bromide cards are one of the dearest items for Lunar fans and we thought it would be great to make them into actual physical cards for this title.

College News: Are there any plans to bring Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete or Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete to the PlayStation Network store?

Masato Dobashi (Producer at Game Arts): We don’t have any plans as of now. However, we do recognize that the demands from the fans are high. There have been so many cases in the past that a project came to life because of the voices of the fans so we’ll see how it goes.

Can we expect to see PlayStation Portable remakes of other Game Arts games like Grandia or Lunar 2: Eternal Blue?

MD: There haven’t been any plans on this either at this time. However we at Game Arts always think of ways to please the fans as a priority.

CN: We haven’t heard anything about Lunar 3 since 2001. Are there any plans on finally giving gamers a true sequel instead of a prequel or remakes?

MD: This is undecided at this point as well. Lunar 3, huh? It sure is an attractive idea. I dream about it sometimes, but I guess whether it’ll become a reality or not will depend on the fans.