Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (1995)

Preliminary: I wasn't a big fan of the first Lufia, and this one seems like it is just another SNES JRPG. However, the beginning is interesting so far. It has certain quirks that makes it stand out, tho in the end it'll likely just be the usual RPG hook that keeps me going and earns it at least a 3 star, and Look/Sound/plot can bring it higher if it delivers. This intro has clear dialog and is introducing mechanics in a way I haven't felt like I will need a guide for. But considering it's a JRPG, I'm sure I eventually will. I like the UI of the battle system and the exp/end-of-battle screen (I like the HP and MP having bars that remind me of, I guess, Pokemon). Interesting. The dungeon music is meh, as per usual, but the other tunes have been pretty good so far. Oh and the walking is decently fast, which is always a plus.

I am surprisingly liking this despite the combat selection issue I didn't like in the first one either. And I am reading about how many glitches/bugs this had. Kind of ridiculous imo. Playtesters should've caught some of the ones I'm reading about. And I'm not looking forward to a dungeon being randomized that I am reading about.

Early Game

I'm already turning down the music during the dungeon parts, but that's to be expected and at least the other parts have been nice. I dont' know the original Lufia oplotline so I'm not sure if there are references yet, it seems like a very mundane plot so far but I'm sure it will develop. I will add the original Lufia to my RPG Replay list, since this seems to be one I will eitehr finish or at least get a good chunk through.

Interesting that, even beyond the switch hitting and statue pushing, this game reminds me of Link to the Past/action-adventures. It seems to have Metroidvania elements too, like returning to a past dungeon with the Hook to get an item I just read about.

Getting the feeling the soudntrack will be repetitive, and dungeon music heavy. And the initial excitement of the UI and basic QoL features will wear off. I'm trying to practice my new philosophy that as I enter the mid 90s and my era of gaming that I grew up with, no reason to finish games that will just earn a 3 star. But here I am. Continuing on anyway :-p even with Chrono Trigger just a couple games away!

I don't really get the hold down or left to select it thing. Why nto just let us press down then press the command. Unnecessary quirk imo.

Ahhh on Day 2 I am torn on this. I like that there is so much vulnerability/types a la Pokemon with the Insect Crusher being strong against insects, and this Eagle item doing double damage to this boss etc. And how many Item slots there are/other QoL things. But it's feeling quite blah so far nonetheless hmmm.

The Capsule Monster mechanic rejuvenated me a bit. Quite the grind, but furthers the Pokemon comparisons, and I like grinds to mindlessly do :-p

Eh, it wasn't enough tho. I do actually like the puzzle element, it's zelda esque and not too annoying , and the way battles start means it's not too frustrating dealing with random battles while solving a puzzle. I also like what some may not-- the simple episodic step by step gameplay of new town buy equipment dungeon move on (Dragon Quest 1 esque). But, without a more poignant Look and Sound, even my curiosity for the plot isn't enough for me to push through (some tunes would pop up, or Play mechanics like the Capsule Monster, that would make me get that RPG hook and want to push on, but..). Well really its my new rule that a 3 or maybe 4 star long game shouldn't warrant weeks of gameplay , instead tag it as rpg replay for when I'm eventually done with this chronology project, and move on for now in the interest of innovative notable or forgotten games.

Look: 8/10 Not bad, and love the battle UI, but nothing spectacular.

Sound: 7.5/10 Too many dungeon-y tunes, but some good standout tunes along the way too.

Play: 7.5/10

Feel: 7.5/10

Attachment: 7.5/10 Tbh, I'm quite sure I will return to this as part of my rpg replay era that will surely follow this chronology project.

Overall: 7.6/10

Lufia II feels like a pretty standard JRPG with a decent number of quality of life improvements and features for a Super Nintendo title until you get a little ways into it and realize it might actually be a puzzle game dressed up as a JRPG. The puzzles you encounter feel pretty prominent for most of the playthrough especially compared to other JRPGs. It might just be my experience, but I also found the dungeons and puzzles in the first half of the game to be the most challenging. This may partially be because I was still adjusting to the style of puzzles and their solutions, and complexity of the dungeons. But even so, I still think they leaned more difficult earlier in the game with the second half feeling considerably more straight forward.

The bulk of the game has you enter a new enclosed land with a new to town to visit and new dungeon to complete. The new dungeon will have several puzzles to complete with a sprawling layout that will take time to navigate. The puzzles felt like the focus for me as they took up most of my time to solve, with combat being relatively simple. There are some fun added features such as Capsule Monsters you can recruit as bonus party members, and equipment that can provide additional combat skills as well. You also eventually get more ways to explore the world map as it finally opens up with some fun side distractions including a randomly generated dungeon challenge and casino mini games.

It's these added features and some funny dialogue lines that I think are probably what make the game so memorable for a lot of people. However, outside of some funny quips and character personalities, a lot of vital dialogue is rather clunky in terms of delivery. It felt to me as though some character arcs and lore lacked impact or were less clear than what may have been intended. In this regard, I was reminded of the first Breath of Fire game. Both games had potentially interesting worlds, characters, and lore but felt like they missed their potential in delivery to the player. Both games also add some fun ideas to combat but end up failing to capitalize on them by not integrating them in a purposeful way that would have made encounters more interesting.

It's a real shame that this game isn't more well known. Released near the end of the SNES's life cycle, when Final Fantasy was dominating the RPG world, Neverland Co. put out a killer RPG in Lufia II. It's basically a cross between Final Fantasy, A Link to the Past, and Pokémon. Does that sound great? Because it is.

Story

Lufia II is a prequel to its predecessor, telling the story of the events that led up to the first game. The game actually culminates with the same battle that takes place in the opening to Lufia I, which is pretty awesome for anyone that played the first game. They did a great job of recreating it. It's a nice story, and it keeps you interested in both the characters and the antagonists. It's no Final Fantasy, but I was pleased with the character development and general plotline.

I felt the game getting a little redundant a little over halfway through, as it's mostly the typical "visit town, go to dungeon, visit next town, go to next dungeon, rinse and repeat" that you saw a lot of in Lufia I, but just when it started getting dull, they started switching things up, which was really nice. By the end, I was left with a really good impression, even if the final bosses were really easy and I saved all my good moves because I expected there to be one more boss.

Improvements from Lufia I

I just went back and read my review for Lufia I, a game of which I have very fond memories but is pretty severely flawed, and Lufia II fixed literally every single issue I had with that game.

My biggest issue was the extremely high encounter rate. Lufia II fixed that by putting enemies on the screen in dungeons. They move only when you move, and you have tools at your disposal to freeze them in your tracks. Sometimes beating them is required to move on, or they'll be placed in such a way that you can't really avoid them, but for the most part, if you're strategic enough, you can avoid all the encounters in which you have no interest.

The next big issue was how every cave and tower looked the same, so navigating them became boring. The updated graphics help this a little bit, and they added mountains, so now there are THREE types of dungeons, but the biggest advancement was just that they made the dungeons INTERESTING. Lufia I had some puzzles, but they were repetitive and simple. Lufia II has TONS of puzzles, and some of them are quite challenging! I stared at one for about a half-hour before I figured it out. And you solve them using items that you collect along your way, just like in Zelda. It's really the best of both genres combined!

I also complained that Lufia I didn't tell you what items or spells did, and I had the same complaint in Lufia II, but I found out literally right after beating it that Lufia II does tell you if you press X. Great.

Extra Content

Lastly, there's actually a good amount of extra content here. There's the Ancient Cave, which I have no interest in revisiting, though it provides a fun sidequest akin to Breath of the Wild's Trial of the Sword. There are the Capsule Monsters, which I largely ignored, but had some fun evolving near the end. There's a quest involving dragon eggs that I also didn't bother doing. I might go back and do some of these eventually, but I didn't feel the need to do too many extra side quests. It's just nice that it's there if people really want to dive into this game. I spent almost exactly 25 hours on my playthrough, and that was good enough for me.

Conclusion

Basically if you like Lufia I at all, you should LOVE Lufia II, because it's a pretty similar game, just way better in every way.

Lufia 2, rise of the sinistrals, for SNES

Rating: 7.8/10; Good

Recommended for RPG and Zelda fans. If you have not yet played Lufia 1, it is a bit better to play this first

Lufia 2 is a JRPG like Lufia 1, but it is not traditional because it borrows heavily from games like The Legend of Zelda; having enemies moving around on screen (only inside dungeons), large numbers of environmental puzzles, and various tools (such as arrows and bombs) that are used to interact with the environment and solve puzzles. The story is about as well done as Lufia 1, with the same overall “defeat the bad guys” plot and similar interesting character interactions and development. I particularly like the macho bro bonding that occurs between the male characters, and the romance aspect, which is both touching and sad. However, the ending is somewhat spoiled if you played the first game.

This game mixes it up slightly by having temporary party members throughout the game, though the entire game boils down to a simple formula: travel around the world in mostly linear fashion to each town and its corresponding dungeon, wherein you must find a key that unlocks the objective of the dungeon. This does start to get old after a while. I particularly did not like that the ultimate weapon is found underwater and you need a submarine to get it; just like in Lufia 1. Granted it was not in the same place, but it could have been a little more original.

Dungeon puzzles are a major part of the game and they manage to stay relatively refreshing for the entire game without reusing concepts too much. Some are pretty much trivial and solved in seconds, while others are complex and may take quite a while to figure out. Tools and enemies also play a big part in the puzzles. The worst part about the puzzles is that they do not stay solved. If you leave the dungeon everything will return to unsolved, and some puzzles even have to be solved again even if you do not leave the dungeon. I also did not like the puzzles which involved getting a randomly moving enemy to stand on a switch, because it is random and there is more than 1 such puzzle.

Perhaps the best change to the game is that now you can hold the button to progress past each xp gain line after battles, instead of the annoying press for each line in the first game. Battles are also somewhat simplified compared to the first game. There is no more ATB like system, and no enemy grouping. Instead, you have the option to cast any spell single target or on all targets for less effect (this means there are fewer spells in this game because there are no longer separate hit all spells), and bows now hit all enemies. There is also a sidekick monster system; several monsters that will join you are in the game that you can find as treasure, and one at a time can be present in battle. They level up from xp, and can be morphed into more powerful forms by feeding them items, though their usefulness is limited because they cannot be healed during battle. There is also a special attack system where points are gained from taking damage, and allow the use of special offensive or defensive moves tied directly to equipped items. This is relatively minor, but does make it worthwhile to choose equipment not solely based on passive stats.

There is also a massive optional dungeon which is set up to be almost entirely separate from the main game. You start off at level 1 with no items or spells, and most gains will not carry into the main game. There are a few special equipment items that can be brought in from outside and brought out from inside. This dungeon has significant replayability because the layout and items found are random, though doing all 99 levels without a save point is terrible design.

While this game is a significant improvement over Lufia 1, it is not up to par with the greatest SNES RPGs. Certainly still worth playing though. The worst part is the lack of a world map, with the overly linear and samey formula coming in second worst.

Pro

• Good story, characters, dialogue
• Some very creative environmental puzzles
• Enemies are on screen in dungeons, and can be flanked for combat advantages (they can also flank you)
• Tools that can be used to manipulate the environment, and stun enemies
• Good progression of equipment (by name and concept)
• Lots of replayability for the optional dungeon
• Sidekick monsters that can be collected, leveled up and improved in form
• Equipment special abilities that mix up combat from the traditional JRPG

Con

• Final dungeon is underwhelming compared to the tutorial in Lufia 1. There are not even enemies other than the final bosses
• Some puzzles are annoyingly abstract
• Too many puzzles involving getting randomly moving monster to step on a switch
• Puzzles reset and may have to be solved more than once
• Absorb drains mana regardless of whether the enemy can cast spells (unlike Lufia 1)
• Overall game play is excessively linear and formulaic (go to town, go to nearby dungeon, find key, go to final room to fight boss or have story scene)
• No area or world map
• Game takes place in the same world as Lufia 1 and only 90 years prior, though the world does not seem the same at all. Different towns and dungeons?
• Optional dungeon is massive and does not have save points. Terrible design
• Uses save points
• Optional dungeon has overpowered enemies, where just one of them can easily wipe out the entire party in a single round (see silver and gold dragons)
• Many of the harder enemies in the optional dungeon are not found in the main game
• Gambling minigames

JRPG with tons of puzzles, almost every 3rd room or so the dungeon. They aren't head-scratchers nor built naturally into the environment like Zelda but it's still the best usage of puzzles I've seen in a JRPG.

Other than that the game is completely mediocre and would probably never be remembered. There's no challenge to the combat except at the very start before you get enough party members nor is there is any real elaborate systems to tinker with. You can learn a few abilities by equipping items, but it's pretty unnecessary as the attack commands and generic damage/heal spells are already so effective. The story rarely goes beyond "the bad guys are at this village, go get 'em tiger". At least the battle theme is catchy.