Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals Ranking: A
Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (which I reviewed as well) is an SNES RPG that tells the story of a hero descended from a dude named Maxim. In years past, Maxim led the party that defeated four evil god-giants known as the Sinistrals, who embody chaos, terror, destruction, and death. Lufia II is a prequel, so you actually play as Maxim and his party. While the first Lufia had some major mechanical issues, Lufia II does just about everything better and thus achieves a higher rank. Battles are now standard turn-based, without the strange randomness from before. You can target enemies properly and characters will switch targets automatically if an enemy dies. Lufia II introduces a few new mechanics, such as IP Skills, abilities tied to equipment that use a Limit Break sort of resource (it fills as you take damage). You can also recruit AI-controlled Capsule Monsters and feed them stuff to make them change form. It’s essentially a less-polished version of dragon raising in Bahamut Lagoon.
One thing that stood out to me was the focus on puzzles coupled with the fact that there are no random encounters in dungeons – enemies are visible on the map and battle begins if you walk into one. You would not believe how much of a difference that makes. Even an RPG fan such as myself hates navigating a dungeon trying to solve a puzzle only to be distracted every few steps by a random encounter. Some of the puzzles are pretty difficult; for instance, there’s this puzzle in the Treasure Sword Dungeon that took me a good half-hour to figure out. Then again, maybe I’m just dense; your mileage may vary.
Speaking of dense, Lufia II also has the infamous “World’s Most Difficult Trick” puzzle, which is actually a fairly well-known sliding block puzzle called Klotski in real life. It’s optional and when I played Lufia II as a kid, I didn’t even know about it. My latest playthrough, I tried my hand at it, and…it took me ~10 hours. Ten. Hours. But in the end I DID IT SO TAKE THAT YOU FUCKING PUZZLE FROM HELL. Anyway…
Now being a prequel, the plot of Lufia II doesn’t change the overall storyline. In a nice bit of continuity, the end sequence to Lufia II is exactly the same as the playable prologue to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. So I’m not really going to comment on the plot, but I will talk about…Selan.
You first encounter Selan when you arrive in Parcelyte, where she’s the commander of their military. The game introduces her as a badass swordswoman – she’s the strongest warrior in Parcelyte by a large margin and the entire kingdom pretty much idolizes her. So the king…orders her to join your party under Maxim’s command. What? Note that when people like Guy and Dekar join your party, there’s dialogue on how they’re equals to Maxim, but Selan’s dialogue specifically puts Maxim in command. What the hell is this? Moreover, playable Selan isn’t primarily a swordswoman; she’s more the mage.
Selan starts out resentful of Maxim and his party (because of course she would be – how would you feel if your king unceremoniously ordered you to follow some random stranger who just showed up to your kingdom), but warms up to Maxim over time. And by time, I mean a short time. Then they get married.
Boy, that escalated quickly.
Look, I’m a sucker for the whole “destined love” concept, but I had trouble believing this. Even Guy, in-game, comments on how rushed Maxim’s and Selan’s marriage is. On the other hand, Maxim’s childhood friend Tia, who risked her life to follow him, who’s known Maxim for a hell of a lot longer, just sort of disappears in favor of Selan right before the wedding. I don’t have anything against Selan – in fact, I like her character – but this romance arc was absolutely not written well. Poor Tia.
At any rate, here’s the legendary hero Maxim right after entering the Fortress of Doom. As you can see, he’s a hell of a lot more impressive than what the prologue of Lufia I would suggest. I thought of trying to re-create the equipment layout from Lufia I in Lufia II, but the equipment you can get in Lufia II generally outstrips the stuff you get in Lufia I and some of Lufia I’s items don’t appear in Lufia II (including, strangely, Maxim’s personal Wave Ring), so I deemed that a futile endeavor.
Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (which I reviewed as well) is an SNES RPG that tells the story of a hero descended from a dude named Maxim. In years past, Maxim led the party that defeated four evil god-giants known as the Sinistrals, who embody chaos, terror, destruction, and death. Lufia II is a prequel, so you actually play as Maxim and his party. While the first Lufia had some major mechanical issues, Lufia II does just about everything better and thus achieves a higher rank. Battles are now standard turn-based, without the strange randomness from before. You can target enemies properly and characters will switch targets automatically if an enemy dies. Lufia II introduces a few new mechanics, such as IP Skills, abilities tied to equipment that use a Limit Break sort of resource (it fills as you take damage). You can also recruit AI-controlled Capsule Monsters and feed them stuff to make them change form. It’s essentially a less-polished version of dragon raising in Bahamut Lagoon.
One thing that stood out to me was the focus on puzzles coupled with the fact that there are no random encounters in dungeons – enemies are visible on the map and battle begins if you walk into one. You would not believe how much of a difference that makes. Even an RPG fan such as myself hates navigating a dungeon trying to solve a puzzle only to be distracted every few steps by a random encounter. Some of the puzzles are pretty difficult; for instance, there’s this puzzle in the Treasure Sword Dungeon that took me a good half-hour to figure out. Then again, maybe I’m just dense; your mileage may vary.
Speaking of dense, Lufia II also has the infamous “World’s Most Difficult Trick” puzzle, which is actually a fairly well-known sliding block puzzle called Klotski in real life. It’s optional and when I played Lufia II as a kid, I didn’t even know about it. My latest playthrough, I tried my hand at it, and…it took me ~10 hours. Ten. Hours. But in the end I DID IT SO TAKE THAT YOU FUCKING PUZZLE FROM HELL. Anyway…
Now being a prequel, the plot of Lufia II doesn’t change the overall storyline. In a nice bit of continuity, the end sequence to Lufia II is exactly the same as the playable prologue to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. So I’m not really going to comment on the plot, but I will talk about…Selan.
You first encounter Selan when you arrive in Parcelyte, where she’s the commander of their military. The game introduces her as a badass swordswoman – she’s the strongest warrior in Parcelyte by a large margin and the entire kingdom pretty much idolizes her. So the king…orders her to join your party under Maxim’s command. What? Note that when people like Guy and Dekar join your party, there’s dialogue on how they’re equals to Maxim, but Selan’s dialogue specifically puts Maxim in command. What the hell is this? Moreover, playable Selan isn’t primarily a swordswoman; she’s more the mage.
Selan starts out resentful of Maxim and his party (because of course she would be – how would you feel if your king unceremoniously ordered you to follow some random stranger who just showed up to your kingdom), but warms up to Maxim over time. And by time, I mean a short time. Then they get married.
Boy, that escalated quickly.
Look, I’m a sucker for the whole “destined love” concept, but I had trouble believing this. Even Guy, in-game, comments on how rushed Maxim’s and Selan’s marriage is. On the other hand, Maxim’s childhood friend Tia, who risked her life to follow him, who’s known Maxim for a hell of a lot longer, just sort of disappears in favor of Selan right before the wedding. I don’t have anything against Selan – in fact, I like her character – but this romance arc was absolutely not written well. Poor Tia.
At any rate, here’s the legendary hero Maxim right after entering the Fortress of Doom. As you can see, he’s a hell of a lot more impressive than what the prologue of Lufia I would suggest. I thought of trying to re-create the equipment layout from Lufia I in Lufia II, but the equipment you can get in Lufia II generally outstrips the stuff you get in Lufia I and some of Lufia I’s items don’t appear in Lufia II (including, strangely, Maxim’s personal Wave Ring), so I deemed that a futile endeavor.
Per the post-game report, it took me 40 hours and 6 minutes to finish Lufia II. I stayed at an inn 69 times (nice), fought 3040 battles, and opened 149 out of the 164 chests in the game. Nobody died, I never ran from a battle, and I used the Reset spell exactly 0 times. I also won the first fight against Gades – unlike in Lufia I, it is actually possible, though the game obviously doesn’t expect you to.