Part 1: Burg

Main Walkthrough

Your first combat-oriented challenge in Lunar: Silver Star Story, the White Dragon Cave is not necessarily a walk in the park. While this is the easiest the game gets it can still be challenging upon entry, and you'll likely want to fight enemies for a little while before you try to go too deep. Speaking of which...

Combat

Combat in Lunar: Silver Star Story is relatively standard JRPG fare, with a few tactical caveats. Enemies are encountered as you explore dungeons, appearing on the map as sprites, and if you make contact with one (which you usually will - they tend to be way faster than you) you'll get into a battle. This will place your team on a horizontal screen, with your characters on the right side and the monsters on the left.

Combat takes place over rounds, and each character, friend or foe, receives one turn, based on their speed. You enter commands at the beginning of the round and watch them play out. At the beginning of each round you have four options that apply to the entire party:

  • AI - You let the game choose commands for all of your party members. This is not recommended most of the time - particularly not in boss battles - as the AI isn't especially smart, and will waste everyone's MP.
  • Tactics - A slightly more directed version of AI, where you give broad commands to the whole party. If you just want everyone to attack, for example, choose Attack. This is a solid choice for getting through random battles when you know you have the upper hand.
  • Command - You choose the commands during the battle round for all of your party members. Most of the time you'll be doing this.
  • Run - Your party flees the battle. If this command fails your whole party will be stuck, and forced to absorb enemy hits for the rest of the round.
Choose Command and you'll be given the chance to issue orders to each of your party members. This brings up further options:
  • AI - You can allow the computer to choose battle commands for the character. Again, not advisable.
  • Attack - Your character attacks an enemy with their equipped weapon. If your character has more than one #Attacks per round they will perform them all, either to travel or to use their weapon.
  • Magic - Your character uses a special ability, either on your party or on foes. Magic is more powerful than normal attacks, but costs MP to use.
  • Items - Your character can use an item from their personal inventory. You can't access items in Nall's inventory during battle.
  • Defend - Your character raises their defenses for the round, but otherwise does not act. 
  • Run - Your character attempts to flee the battle. If successful they can no longer be used during the fight, though if the rest of the party falls you won't receive a Game Over. Once everyone runs the fight ends.
The limited inventory slots aside, combat in Lunar: Silver Star Story differs from other games thanks in large part to character proximity. Whenever you choose to physically attack an enemy - assuming your character is using a melee weapon - they will need to run up and attack their target. Characters can only walk so far during a turn, so if an enemy is too far away you may waste your character's turn on traveling. Enemies are also subject to this rule. Proximity also plays a role in the use of area of effect attacks, so you need to be careful when using some of your spells.

Enemies won't just sit back during combat, and will launch attacks at your party. Any character struck by an enemy will take damage to their HP. You can use items or spells to restore HP. If a character is reduced to zero HP they will pass out, and you'll need to use an Angel Tear or magic to revive them. Nall will occasionally swoop in to revive downed characters, as well, though this is a matter of luck. Once you leave battle fainted characters will return to life with a single HP, and you should heal them back to full.

Defeat every enemy on the field and the battle will end. This will earn your characters experience and silver (money). Gain enough experience and your characters will gain a level, which boosts their stats and potentially earns them new spells. Levels are key to success in Lunar: Silver Star Story, like most RPGs, and if you're having difficulty with a particular fight you can always grind out a few levels and try again later.


In addition to your in-combat options, you can set up battles in the field. Enter the menu and highlight Nall to bring up two additional options that will go into effect whenever you begin a fight:
  • Tactics. This menu allows you to adjust what your characters will do when you choose the Tactics option in combat. By default everyone will do the same thing, but here you can swap things around so, say, Alex attacks, Ramus defends, and Luna is operated by the AI.
  • Formation. This menu allows you to adjust the starting position of your characters. In general you want to place your melee fighters right at the front of the pack (the left), while your ranged fighters should stay way in the back (the right).
Early on you don't need to mess with these additional settings all that much, and it's not a great idea to let the AI do everything. You need to learn how to play manually. Once you've learned the ins and outs of the game, however, optimizing autopilot settings will allow you to cruise through easier battles and quickly rack up experience points.

At the moment you have three party members, each of whom has a specific role:
  • Alex is your frontline fighter. He hits the hardest, and his Sword Dance attacks does more damage than anything else in your repertoire. Give him any swords you come across and let Alex do his thing.
  • Luna is your healer, thanks to her high MP and Healing Song spell. Always use up Luna's MP before resorting to restorative items. Luna should always be in the back lines, pinging enemies with a ranged weapon when she isn't healing.
  • Ramus is your wild card. He has no spells, and at this point should be on the front lines with Alex. Ramus starts off with the most HP but gains very little by way of attributes when he levels up, and should eventually be hitting enemies with ranged weapons. Give Ramus items so he can provide extra healing support.
And that's that for combat. Keep fighting baddies and you'll figure everything out as you go along. Onward!


White Dragon Cave

Enemies
  • Albino Baboon - 47 HP - Strongest enemy, can hit close and at range
  • Mutant Fly - 13 HP - Weak melee fighters
  • Slime - 13 HP - Weak melee fighters
  • Synapse Guard - 18 HP - Can hit your characters anywhere on the screen

The Ring of Fire Alex's father gave you in Burg will grant the group passage into the White Dragon Cave. Your party will be quite weak at first, and it's likely that you will need to heal a lot durin the first handful of battles. Spend enough time in this first area, wiping out the weakest enemies, that you gain everyone two or three levels apiece. This will also earn you enough cash to buy new equipment from the Weapons Shop in Burg. Alex and Ramus (and eventually Luna) can wipe out most enemies with a single hit, so you may want to prioritize armor over weapons.

1F

Navigating the White Dragon Cave is fairly straightforward. Follow the main path south and west. A short walk to the left of an ice block that you can't pass right now is a chest containing an Herb. Follow the path until it brings you to stairs into a pit. 

The path splits inside the pit. If you head north you'll climb back out of the pit and find a chest containing an Herb, as well as a path leading west and south. If you follow this path - or if you just headed south through the pit to start with - you'll eventually find your way to an eastbound route. Check in the southwest, along the southern edge of the pit, for a chest containing an Herb, before you head east.

To the east of the pit's south end you'll find an open area with two patrolling Albino Baboons and a bunch of freestanding ice blocks. In the northeast of this clearing you'll find the blocked path back to the entrance. If you get close enough to the Albino Baboons they will pause for a second, then charge at you. Use this tendency to coax one of the Baboons into smashing into the ice blocking your path. This will disintegrate the block and create a shortcut back to Burg.

South of the shortcut is another pit. Head east to find the stairs into the pit, then look southeast to find a chest containing an Herb. Follow the pit south and you'll come to a doorway flanked by ice blocks. Inside the door the party will meet Quark, the White Dragon, and he'll agree to hand over his Dragon Diamond - if Alex and company complete a task for him first. Quark will restore everyone's health to full before you leave, though this is a one-time service.

Head west of the doorway. You'll find stairs out of the pit, and they're leading to a second doorway.

2F

Near the entrance of the next area you'll find a cluster of ice blocks. There's an Albino Baboon skulking nearby, and you'll need to stand by the blocks and coax the Baboon into smashing them for you. You may need to lead the Baboon around a bit before it is lined up to destroy a block. Leave the room and come back if you accidentally get into a fight with the Baboon and kill it.

The door to the next floor is on the other side of the ice blocks.

3F

This is another small floor, with a chest behind some ice blocks and a single Albino Baboon that can destroy the ice. You'll need to maneuver it around quite a bit, and coax it into following you at diagonal angles, to get the Baboon into place and destroy the ice. The chest contains a Star Light.

Whether you take the time to get the Star Light or not, the exit is to the west.

4F

You're almost done. This open area contains a bunch more ice blocks and a single Albino Baboon. There are two chests here, the one in the southeast containing 250 silver and the one in the west containing the Dragon Ring Quark sent you to find. You should have enough experience with smashing ice by now that getting to both chests won't be an issue.

Take the Dragon Ring back to Quark and the old dragon will reward you with a Dragon Diamond. He'll acknowledge Alex's destiny as the next Dragonmaster - even if success is uncertain - and bid you visit the other three colored dragons. Fully restored by Quark, you can head back out of the cave and return to Burg.

Head to Althena's Statue to restore the party to full, then visit the Item Shop. Looks like you won't be selling the Dragon Diamond in Burg. Return to Alex's home and Luna will leave the party - and Ramus will convince Alex to skip town immediately, so they can go sell the Dragon Diamond abroad. (With Luna gone the conversations and descriptions around town change, so if you like descriptions you might want to do another circuit of Burg.)

Leave Burg and head west. You'll enter the Weird Woods, another dungeon area that is too foggy for Ramus's liking. Walk a ways in and eventually Ramus will flee, forcing you to return to Burg. Head back to Alex's house, then speak to Luna, Alex's father, Luna, and Alex's father, in that order. This will trigger a series of scenes that will, eventually, culminate in Alex, Luna, and Ramus leaving Burg together. Speak to Ramus by the entrance of Burg to begin your journey.

Part 3: Weird Woods

Main Walkthrough