I just finished the PS version yesterday (right in time for Marble Madness). I haven't played the Sega CD, but I finished the GBA port (which is really rather mediocre). Anyone who played / plays it twice would be much better off playing the Sega CD (for the original story and different animes) + the PS version (for all the upgrades and the story twists, which are rather numerous). Really just avoid Lunar Legend, which only unique features is the card collecting gimmick (personally, I'm not a fan of that stuff).
SPOILERS BELOW (within a long and probably nitpicky rant about the story changes, from someone who didn't even play the original)
I actually liked the PS story all in all, it's better story by far than the typical JRPG (the GBA is quite closely the same story, but with a bunch of missing info, so it's hard to understand what was going on some of the times).
The anime sequences and good voice acting made the characters more endearing for me (although there is some relatively childish stuff in there, that doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others). So don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the story as I actually liked it. My main point is perhaps that if the Sega CD version / original story didn't exist at all they might have created a better story, but as it is, they didn't.
Basically, when they had a good story already, I don't know why they changed a bunch of stuff. It puzzles me and I wanted to discuss it further now that I actually finished the PS version.
There are some minor things that are quite less credible due to the changes:
1. Luna hears Ghaleon playing his stringed instrument and thinks he is Alex. Instead of the Ocarina, Alex used to have a Lyre. How does Luna (which is musically gifted) confuse an Ocarina with the stringed instrument Ghaleon is playing? This is particularly weird as this scene wasn't even in the original as Luna stayed in Burg, so you'd guess they'd be more careful. Seems like someone imagined this scene and put it in before changing the Lyre to an Ocarina (what for?) and then just left it there.
More important than the instruments detail... Ghaleon personally meets Luna, and on top of that confirms his guess that this is the right singer by asking Quark about it. Yet the Vile Tribe continues to kidnap female singers. Now, you can justify this is just to confuse the good guys and / or just to be a bastard as typical villains are. I feel that this justification isn't in character for Ghaleon IMO, particularly as he also releases the other singers afterwards. Uh? It's not like he released them after figuring out Luna is the right one if he already knows before getting Lily that Luna is the right one... Notice that kidnapping Lily when he didn't need to worked bad for him considering the Reza thieves start helping the good guys.
2. In the new version, the dragon bodies are used to power the Grindery, and later to assist in summoning the floating thing of the endgame. Which is another strange new introduction, which doesn't make that much sense - why did the goddess put this thing in the mountain anyway? Plus they have Nall morphing into large dragon and back into small dragon, which seemed rather peculiar (and forced, considering this doesn't happen in the original).
However, unlike the other 3 dragons whose bodies are enslaved by Ghaleon in the PS version (they are just killed originally), the party destroys the black dragon body which is being controlled by Luna. Just after you destroy the body (as the black dragon spirit requested) Luna summons the black dragon body again somehow, and Ghaleon and Luna fly away in it. Uh? Further, why fly when Ghaleon is always teleporting around with Luna in tow? It feels too much that the Black Dragon fight is a remnant of the Sega CD version, where you naturally have to fight the Black Dragon to get the Black Dragon armor and it fits neatly with Dyne's backstory.
3. Having introduced Phacya and showing a more humane side of the Vile Tribe is personally my favorite difference from the original - the development of the Vile Tribe's intentions and point of view worked rather well within the new version (it probably would make less sense if grafted into the old version, but I don't know).
But why place Phacya in the temple? The claim is everyone of the temple was magically tricked into thinking she is the head priestess, and Jessica wasn't affected by the spell because she was skipping class and out of the temple at the time. My first problem with this is that Jessica doesn't make enough fuss in Lann when she meets Phacya (she rather mildly says it's strange and she leaves to investigate - but then she is just staying in Meribia with Mel and doesn't mention it again?). The second problem is that other than the Shrine people, people elsewhere (particularly in Vane which interacts with the temple - "Lemia", Ghaleon, and Nash excluded) should find the fake head priestess strange, unless they were also magically tricked... And note that you had to get permission from Phacya to use the transmission spring (isn't the Cave of Trials enough to filter people?). Magically tricking all the temple, most or all of Vane, and anyone from Meribia that happens to be around just to keep the cover of someone who doesn't seem to get anything out of infiltrating the temple... Is really a stretch.
They could have pulled a switch like with Lemia and kidnapped someone from the temple with Phacya disguising herself... But why bother anyway? Neither Phacya nor Royce needed to infiltrate anywhere as that didn't serve any purpose at all (unlike Xenobia which needed to disguise as Lemia so the true one could be "disabled" from interfering with Ghaleon's plans).
Those 3 are my main gripes. I have other gripes that I personally think don't fit as well within the established character development... But at least they are not internally inconsistent within the same story.
1. Luna originally returns to Burg to stay with Alex's parents. This is more in character of Luna IMO. This one isn't that bad as in the PS version she only goes with Alex in a last second decision spurred by Alex, so of all the changes I'm complaining about this is likely the most credible (too bad it leads to other inconsistencies though).
2. In the original, Kyle can open the locked chests innately (being a thief / bandit). In the PS version the party is only able to do that after getting the book from Damon. Kyle later refers that he picks locks when the party encounters a (magically locked) door that doesn't have a lock at all, so it's a borderline inconsistent change...
3. I also personally think it is more natural the way Nash's course of action worked in the Sega CD, but I may be biased as he is perhaps my favorite character. On top of that, his regret of the PS version actions is a bit forced IMO (although on the funny side). For a guy that is so sure of himself, he changed opinions rather easily!
4. The fake Magic Emperor (which hits pretty hard for an illusion
) is a bit forced, you get a "your princess is in the other castle syndrome" a bit in the PS version... You get close to Luna and then she gets taken away. It seems more natural how things proceed in the original. Plus, Ghaleon is unbeatable on top of the Grindery, then isn't unbeatable anymore even though he is allegedly soaking up more and more power. I guess the claim is Alex got upgraded with the Sword, but the rest of the party only leveled up in typical JRPG way and got some pep talks. Ghaleon essentially needs to get weaker to let you finish the game, when he supposedly should be getting more invincible. In the original the forced loss is absent.I don't actually mind forced losses as long as they make sense. I compare here to Chrono Trigger where you also have a fight you are supposed to lose to continue with the plot - there it's not as bad as if you are actually leveled up as much as you naturally are in the endgame when you are supposed to win, you could (and can, if you restart the game and keep the levels) beat the villain earlier (and get a different ending).
5. There is this typical JRPG philosophy stuff about free will and Gods directing your fate, which while actually decently constructed (for a change). Still seem a bit awkward and inferior to the ending of the Sega CD version, particularly in the somehow arbitrary and unexplained way the Dragonmasters lose their powers (in the original, Dyne loses the powers to seal the Black Dragon, and I don't think Alex loses his - we see him still with Dragon Armor in the very end). Plus in the Original the rise to Luna is more convincing as Alex actually gets hit by the stuff - in the PSX it seemed comparably effortless.
The conclusion I draw is that the story creator(s) wanted to make a new story (with those philosophical aspects of the Vile Tribe's plight and the humans taking care of themselves instead of closely guided by Althena, and with a fairytale ending)... But were constrained to keep aspects of the old story to call it a remake (and / or to re-use assets), and that lead to some of these inconsistencies. I like the new story, but think that it wasn't all it could have been because it was shackled to the other one, and that makes the original story superior.
If anyone actually reads all this, I'd like to know your thoughts
Ivo.