Ever since GungHo announced that it was remastering Game Arts' classic Lunar JRPGs for modern systems, one of the burning questions was whether the updated titles would use Working Designs' original Western localisations, which accompanied the games when they were initially launched back in the '90s and early 2000s.
While GungHo was fairly clear that new vocal performances had been recorded for this collection, it wasn't 100% certain that the script itself would be the same as the original versions of Lunar: Silver Star and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, both of which launched on the Sega CD and PS1 in North America.
We now have confirmation that the script used in Lunar Remastered Collection is based on the localisation done by Working Designs:
We consulted with Alana Hagues, who is reviewing the collection for our sister site Nintendo Life, and she has confirmed that the script is, in general, based on the Working Designs localisation.
Regarding the new voice work, it seems that GungHo has done its best to ensure it's as close to the original Working Designs recordings as possible.
Working Designs founder Victor Ireland has, in the past, stated that he's willing to do a deal so his voice work can be used, but voice actress and singer Jenny Stigile—who worked on both Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue—recently cast doubt on the ownership of the recording.
Ireland has refuted this. "There’s a legal agreement with text in black and white that specifically excluded the rights to the performances from the sale of the Lunar localization," he told Time Extension back in December of last year. "Game Arts knows this, GungHo knows this, I know this. Those are the only parties that matter. I’m open to helping GungHo get the original performances in the remaster so the fans get the remastered version they have wanted for decades."