Working Designs

[ifkz]

My WD collection

TG-16
Cadash (loosie)
Cosmic Fantasy 2 (bought new, opened it, but I need to play it more)
Parasol Stars (my card is a lot rough, found a manual for it.  Works!)

Sega Saturn
Dragon Force (no warranty card)
Sega Ages (a 2014 find locally!)
Iron Storm

PS1
Thunder Force V
Alundra (with the tiny map)
RayCrisis & RayStorm (bought together at auction)
Elemental Gearbolt (2013 purchase, bought some MadCatz lightguns just for this game)

PS2
Growlanser Generations (found used at Gamestop of all places years ago. Non deluxe)
Silpheed The lost Planet (love the series starting on the Sega CD)
Gungriffon Blaze (another one from Gamestop)

Sega CD
Lunar The Silver Star Story
Lunar The Eternal Blue
Popful Mail
Vay (with a tattered map)

I don't have any of the neat junk WD used to give away with their games like the amulets, puppets, card decks or anything like that.  If anyone has some the swag, please post!

[Miracle_Warrior]

I own some of their stuff as well, and always appreciated their attention to detail.  I am sure they had the right intention behind some of the difficulty tweaks, but the execution wasn't always the best.  I think that's what I appreciate about their translations though, they weren't lazy about it at all.

My WD collection includes:

Sega CD:

Vay
Popful Mail
Lunar SSS
Lunar EB

Turbografx:

Cadash
Cosmic Fantasy 2
Exile Wicked Phenomenon

Saturn:

Albert Odyssey

[_joshuaTurbo]

I only currently have one WD game for Turbob and that's Cosmic Fantasy 2.  I'm pretty much in agreement with everyone else that it's a fantastic story and presentation with some oddball/broken gameplay elements that you have to ignore/tread through in order to see the entire game.  Something I revisit from time to time.  I have Exile 2 imported.  It's interesting seeing the game with changed voices/dialogue and missing parallax scrolling.  It's a sacrifice for paying far less moneys and better challenge balance.

I also have Lunar and Vay for the Sega CD.  I've always liked WD, but can understand some of the criticisms they've received over the years.

Curse Sony for killing Vic's hard work!!

[DragonmasterDan]

I only currently have one WD game for Turbob and that's Cosmic Fantasy 2.  I'm pretty much in agreement with everyone else that it's a fantastic story and presentation with some oddball/broken gameplay elements that you have to ignore/tread through in order to see the entire game.  Something I revisit from time to time.  I have Exile 2 imported.  It's interesting seeing the game with changed voices/dialogue and missing parallax scrolling.  It's a sacrifice for paying far less moneys and better challenge balance.

Cadash and Exile are most owns.

[Necromancer]

Parasol Stars is a must own too.

[InfraMan]

Wow, I have more WD stuff than I even realized... I checked their release list on Wiki, and the only ones I'm missing are Cadash, Parasol Stars, Sega Ages, RayStorm, and RayCrisis.

It would be fun to go ahead and complete the collection, but it looks like Sega Ages is kind of on the expensive side, so I dunno. Also, I'm 99% sure I've owned both of the two "Ray" games at some point in the past... I must have sold or traded them ages ago.

I've always had a soft spot for WD's releases, in spite of some of the weird unnecessary changes they often made (like the ammo/spirit system in Silhouette Mirage, or having to spend magic experience points to save your game in Lunar 2).

On the topic of Exile 2, I actually kind of enjoyed the increased difficulty... it was a nice change from the cakewalk that was Exile 1. To be honest, I didn't really think Exile 2 was all that hard until the very last section, which was pure evil. But even that part became relatively easy with a little trial and error and memorization. Ironically, the very last boss in the game was stupid easy for some reason.

[technozombie]

I was always drawn to their Sega CD advertisements in magazines. Too bad I couldn't afford the system. I have quite a few WD games now. Too many to list off the top of my head(I'm at work  ). I was working for Software Etc when Lunar came out for Playstation and that put me on the path to seeking out their games. As far as translations, at ~16, I just accepted it for what was, not knowing(or caring) that they might be straying from the original Japanese.

[munchiaz]

I started playing Vanguard Bandits again on PSP. I love the game, and its honestly one of my favorite SRPG games. I'm doing the Empire route right now.

[ctophil]

Yeah, Working Designs was known for high quality translations of Japanese titles.  I didn't start knowing about them until the Lunar games came out on PS1, kinda late in the game I know.  Too bad I sold those game later on.  But I still have Growlanser Generations Deluxe Boxset for PS2, Arc the Lad Collection for PS1, and Magic Knight Rayearth for Sega Saturn. 

I will get the Lunar games again for Sega CD eventually.  Lunar was one of my favorite RPG series of all time, right next to the earlier Final Fantasy games. 

[TR0N]

I've always had a soft spot for WD's releases, in spite of some of the weird unnecessary changes they often made (like the ammo/spirit system in Silhouette Mirage, or having to spend magic experience points to save your game in Lunar 2).

Few years ago i listen to a podcast where vic was a guest.He did explain why the changes were made to silhouette mirage.Vic stated so the game wouldn't be completed so easily,meaning no returns by the customer.When i heard about the said changes i just imported it for the sega saturn instead.

[Medic_wheat]

Yeah, Working Designs was known for high quality translations of Japanese titles.  I didn't start knowing about them until the Lunar games came out on PS1, kinda late in the game I know.  Too bad I sold those game later on.  But I still have Growlanser Generations Deluxe Boxset for PS2, Arc the Lad Collection for PS1, and Magic Knight Rayearth for Sega Saturn. 

I will get the Lunar games again for Sega CD eventually.  Lunar was one of my favorite RPG series of all time, right next to the earlier Final Fantasy games.

I do wonder what changes were made between the sega cd and ps1 release of these two Lunar games.

Or where they direct ports with no changes made apart from being on two diffrent systems.

[DragonmasterDan]

I do wonder what changes were made between the sega cd and ps1 release of these two Lunar games.

Or where they direct ports with no changes made apart from being on two diffrent systems.

There's a lot of changes at Lunar-Net.com you can find out all about them.

A very brief explanation is that the original Sega CD version of Lunar 1 has a different scenario than the Saturn, Playstation, IOS and PC remakes.

The GBA remake of Lunar 1 has an even greater changed scenario (and seems to line up with the novelization of the story produced some years later), and the PSP version is changed even further though reverts some changes from the GBA version.

Lunar 2 really only has two versions, the Sega CD original, and the remake for Saturn and Playstation. The remakes between Saturn and Playstation are more or less the same.

[ctophil]

Yeah, Working Designs was known for high quality translations of Japanese titles.  I didn't start knowing about them until the Lunar games came out on PS1, kinda late in the game I know.  Too bad I sold those game later on.  But I still have Growlanser Generations Deluxe Boxset for PS2, Arc the Lad Collection for PS1, and Magic Knight Rayearth for Sega Saturn. 

I will get the Lunar games again for Sega CD eventually.  Lunar was one of my favorite RPG series of all time, right next to the earlier Final Fantasy games.

I do wonder what changes were made between the sega cd and ps1 release of these two Lunar games.

Or where they direct ports with no changes made apart from being on two diffrent systems.

What I do know that are different are the intro song, boat song, and overall music.  To me the Sega CD soundtrack is a lot catchier and is superior to the PS1 version.  You should listen to it on Youtube to judge yourself.  Hardcore Lunar fans believe that the Sega CD version is better in every way, including the story itself.  Sure, the PS1 version had better graphics and animation.  But from what I've seen, the fans are correct with this one. 

I also own the PSP version.  However, I only played for an hour or so.  They changed the intro song and remixed the soundtrack once again.  Sounds good though in its own way.

[xelement5x]

The Lunar TSS (SegaCD) Soundtrack is pretty awesome in my opinion compared to the later revision, the only standout on the PS1 being the boat song which I think pretty much owes 90% of it's popularity to the singer who did a really really good job. 

That said, I still think Grandia is Iwadare's best work.

[DragonmasterDan]

The Lunar TSS (SegaCD) Soundtrack is pretty awesome in my opinion compared to the later revision, the only standout on the PS1 being the boat song which I think pretty much owes 90% of it's popularity to the singer who did a really really good job. 

That said, I still think Grandia is Iwadare's best work.

Agreed on Grandia.

TSS wasn't entirely done by Iwadare/Two Five either. There was someone else involved with the music due to the size/scale of the project.