Lennus II: Fuuin no Shito (1996)

Lennus 2, for SNES

Rating: 7.8/10: Good

A must play if you liked Paladin's Quest. Otherwise recommended for Jrpg fans but you might want to play PQ first.

Lennus 2 is the sequel to Paladin's Quest with very similar overall Jrpg gameplay; the standard isometric 2D perspective, travelling the overworld from towns to dungeons, invisible random battles and grinding money and xp to buy equipment and level up. There is lots of interesting dialogue, a few minigames and most dungeons have some kind of gimmick or environmental challenge beyond just random battles. Several of the unusual mechanics from the previous game make a return here.

Perhaps the most striking feature is that the game can be played with one hand, which comes in handy with all the sexy ladies you can sleep with. But seriously if not for the face button that you need to hold to move faster (why is this a thing in games?) and the occasional need to access the menu, you can go around talking, looting and battling using only the D pad. Hold down "right" for a kind of auto battle for everyone to attack with their right hand item. It is a very simple and efficient system that even allows you to go back and change actions before you commit to the turn. I found it simple to memorize which series of presses would make each character do their most frequent commands, though there is no rush. Like in PQ, any equipped item can be used to attack in battle; punch, kick and head butt your way to victory if you want but real weapons are better. You can even equip 2 shields or put accessories in your hands to forego weapon attacks altogether. Some items cast spells when used and the bottles that heal (there are others that cure status, attack or provide buffs) can be refilled and placed in the hands. Rather than buying healing potions, you have to make due with the limited number of bottles.

Complementing the depth of the equipment system is the magic system. There are 8 elements in the game, most of which have to be earned in side dungeons. The protagonist can equip any combination of 4 elements (you can only equip 1 starting off) and can freely swap them in towns or by using a consumable item. Elements grant spells on their own and different combinations of elements grant new spells. For example combining Fire with Gold (weird name I know, must be like the Chinese metal element) gives a fire spell that can hit more than 1 target. Spells also get more powerful as your elements level up, even to the point of getting cool new effects such as a basic single target attack spell doing splash damage. Each enemy killed drops element points to level up the elements, so grinding random battles. Spells cost fixed low amounts of hp to cast (there is no mana) but the combination of relatively cheap healing, high enemy damage and the potential to do massive damage using magic to exploit elemental weaknesses, all strongly encourage frequent use of magic. In fact the optimal way to fight is to check the enemy type (clearly displayed in combat) and try to nuke them down as fast as possible before they hit you for far more damage than you could spend on spells. The game does teach you what some types of enemies are weak to (mammals are weak vs air, plants to fire, machines to light) but the others you have to figure out on your own, and some enemies subvert these expectations. Each area has only a limited number of random battle set ups but this allows you to experiment to learn the optimal way for your party to beat that specific battle. All battles are engaging and require tactical use of magic, though you could hire a full team of warrior types if you wanted. The main problem with physical attacks is that most items have hidden stats, such as hitting more than once which drastically improves the damage done and makes the attack power stat deceptive. You can't trust the auto equip feature or the shop displays; you really have to try something out to understand how effective it will be and what special effects it has. This does not apply so much to armor where you are just looking for defense.

All other party members are mercenaries that you hire, usually at a tavern. Some have little sidequests to do before they will join and most cost a one time fee. They all have their own starting level, starting gear, elements, stat growths and equipment selections. You can swipe their items and will need to get them new equipment as the game progresses, but they can never change elements. Later mercenaries are generally superior to earlier ones, so there is incentive to not keep the same people for too long. There is considerable depth to how you can set up the protagonist and the various party combinations, but like most rpgs with casts larger than the battle size, those not fighting do not gain xp. This discourages experimentation, though there is a consumable item to summon non active members if you really want to tactically choose the best possible party to exploit a boss. Most mercenaries have only a few lines when first meeting, another for being dismissed and some more in the ending, but they do not interact with the plot or each other. It is enough to be interesting but leaves them lackluster when compared to dedicated characters in other games that have agency and development. The protagonist is not silent and will occasionally give his thoughts and opinions, but it seems a little few and far between. The world itself is the same kind of bizarre setting found in PQ, with the same unusual color palette, biomes and races. The towns and npcs are interesting with some even changing dialog a bit as events unfold; though not at the level where talking to every single person again is worthwhile. There is some hilarious 4th wall breaking at times and many npcs give useful information that can help with combat, find optional rewards and know what you are supposed to be doing. The game more or less follows the typical Jrpg formula of going from town to town doing a dungeon associated with each before new methods of travel open up the world. Somewhat early on this formula is shaken up a bit by having a huge town that serves as a hub area for multiple small towns and dungeons. This town even sells near end game quality equipment, though whether that is a boon or a trap is for you to decide.

Lennus 2 is a worthy successor to Paladin's Quest, advancing an overarching plot and refining the unusual mechanics and features. The in depth battle, inventory, magic and party systems engage the player while offering considerable variation in how to play. While the game could have been better, it does not have any particularly annoying features and ends up being a solid entry among SNES Jrpgs.

Pro

• Good story
• Can use/attack with any equipment
• Many options for how to equip the hands
• Many options for how to set up protagonist's magic
• Items to change magic and party set up anywhere outside battle
• Save anywhere other than a few boss rooms
• Each dungeon has its own minor puzzle, gimmick or hazard
• Clear descriptions for spells and some items
• Combat encourages tactics and magic use
• Magic becomes more powerful and can hit additional targets as elements improve

Con

• Cursor memory cannot be turned off, which can cause accidents
• Items have hidden stats, such as multiple attacks and casting spells, shop screen and auto equip cannot be fully trusted
• Mercenaries outside the battle party do not progress
• Mercenaries never hired are not in the ending
• Nonsense spell names
• Could be more optional end game content, especially the kind that would take advantage of the main event that occurs near the end of the game
• The world map is an item that can be missed

Beat. I used Chest, Joad and Melina for the beginning party. Since that team has 2 casters for Air and Light but only 1 for Fire, I had the protagonist take Fire. I later added Gold for an area spell and found the stop spell quite effective for random battles. I enjoyed having a team of dedicated mages and exploiting the elemental weaknesses of enemies. I found the random battles to be almost like puzzles on how to defeat each set up of enemies as efficiently as possible. I kept that basic party for quite a long time until I found straight up superior upgrades in Karrat, Bo and Jenka. The protagonist was the only 1 able to equip good weapons and I eventually gave him the Earth element.

I decided to scrape by spending as little money as possible, so I pretty much ignored the shops. I was using under powered weapons and armor for the entire game but it did not matter in the face of the massive magic damage the team was doing. I swapped Earth for Water and by this point I was finding it more efficient to spam the hit everything non elemental Sky spell. Jenka had the highest speed so she would often wipe out entire random battles in one shot, and if not I have 2 more people lined up to do the same. By the late game I added Void element for the protagonist and replaced the team with Zane, Lectus and later Rich jr. I then did the optional dungeon but found jr to suck. I wonder if he is specifically scripted to be bad in that dungeon because he kicks ass in the final dungeon. After struggling severely in the optional dungeon (mainly due to lacking area heals) jr bailed while I slept at the inn. So I got Nikita. She was half the level of the rest of the party and could not do decent damage, but I did the entire optional dungeon with her, then got jr back and beat the game.

Great game with the same bizarre setting as Paladin's Quest. The only real complaints I have are how the stats/special effects of items are not shown, the lack of end game optional sidequests and the gibberish spell names. Why can't every game use fire1, ice1, bolt3, heal4? That is how I name my spells in Elder Scrolls games. I did use a walkthrough for a couple spots where I got slightly stuck and to deal with annoying mazes. I also read about what I had just done to see if I missed anything. Nikita is apparently one of the best party members and Myra is among the best late game if you do her little sidequest, so it might be interesting to play through again with them. Have the protagonist also max every element.

My final party:

Hero: level 36 with tsunami sword, demon ring, gomutai boots and helm (could not afford the full set), troubled armor and giga bottle. Elements were fire, gold, water and void (all maxed) with important spells being fire, area fire, fire resist, barrier, wall, skillsup and revive. Mostly did physical attacks though because that sword is just so effective plus I gave him every stat up item.

Richjr: level 31 with full moon helm, sage ring, light ring, troubled armor, gomutai boots and giga bottle. I focused on spell power (especially bolt) rather than give him a melee weapon since he has all 3 attack elements.

Zane: level 37 with power helm, mage ring, zaygos killer, great armor, command boots and mega bottle. Focus on magic damage and a good melee weapon to make up for only having fire and sky attack spells.

Lectus: level 39 with sage mask, wind ring, needle shield, sage robe, command boots and mega bottle. Again focus on magic damage but he sucks at fighting so I opted not to give him a weapon.