Lunar I+II Official Artbook
Interview with Kazunari Tomi (Studio Alex)
Translation by Maou

Below is one of the translations from the Lunar I+II Artbook, in the Long Interview section. This interview is with Studio Alex's Kazunari Tomi. Translation here is by Maou.

Kazunari Tomi Interview

[p. 95]

Mr. Kazunari Tomi, Studio Alex Representative Director.
In “Lunar I,” managed the project planning and main program. Creator of the series of PC RPG masterpieces “Mugen No Shinzou” [The Heart of Dreams and Illusions].

Would you mind talking with us about “Lunar I?”

Tomi: The impetus for making “Lunar I” was to make an RPG in a setting that hadn’t been seen before. For example, things like the clothing designs all resembled each other in RPG’s until then. We wanted a completely different location that could still feel familiar, so we thought, “What if we do it on the moon?” This was the beginning of “Lunar I.”

The first problem we suffered through was that the story would be that there were formerly heroes who were adults, and there would be new heroes acting in a different generation, and if this were the case, we couldn’t show both of them on the screen at once. So I then talked with Mr. Shigema, and after we set up things like what the old heroes had done and how the resulting world had become, we created the story of new youths.

In the process of making the game, were there any things that changed?

Tomi: Let’s see. He’s not here now, but there is a scenario writer named Mr. [Takashi] Hino, and he doesn’t have any morals (laughter). A strong feeling ended up getting inserted into the Lunar world that you would get if, I don’t know, a group of local boys got together at night and told lecherous stories. The lecherous things in Lunar are all from Mr. Hino and Mr. Shigema... (laughter) However, this was a spot where there was strong love for the characters. Everyone had love towards the characters, like knowing a character wouldn’t say a certain thing. The dialogue was created with that kind of discussion.

Shigema: Were you saying something bad about someone? (Mr. Shigema intrudes)

“Lunar I” still has a very high reputation today as a Mega CD RPG, doesn’t it?

Tomi: Yes, I’m glad we worked hard on it.

Shigema: What Mr. Tomi paid attention to during “Lunar I” was that obvious things were done correctly.

Tomi: Right, doing obvious things correctly and simplifying the rules.

Shigema: Until then there weren’t many properly-made RPG’s on Mega Drive. Well-made orthodox ones.

Tomi: No, I don’t think it was orthodox. There is a strong style. People say orthodox but I don’t think it’s orthodox. Not all the elements that are usually put into a normal RPG are in there. I think there is quite a lot of originality. To be called orthodox just because the menu or the screens or something are like before...

Shigema: But this part of Lunar was most highly praised, really. An RPG you can have fun with.

What do you think of “Lunar II” after trying it?

Tomi: Well, I think there’s not quite enough love, maybe. The love between the protagonist and the heroine was good, but I wonder what the surrounding people were doing.