Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

In the small town of Elcid lives a man named Maxim. He is but a simple monster hunter who works for a woman named Tia, his childhood friend. One day, on a trip to the caves near the town, Maxim meets a mysterious green haired woman named Iris, who tells Maxim to go on a journey. With Tia following close behind him, he learns of the Sinistrals, four mighty gods who seek global domination. Now on a quest to defeat the Sinistrals, Maxim meets Guy, Dekar, Selan, Lexis and Artea, who aid him along the way. Eventually, the heroes make it to the Fortress of Doom and fell the Sinistrals. Maxim and Selan fall with the Isle of Doom, but they live on through their legend and their descendants.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is the second in the Lufia series and the prequel to Lufia and The Fortress of Doom. The conclusion to the game was known by anyone who had played at least ten minutes of the first game, but the game's whole story had more to tell. In addition to adding onto the story of the Heroes of Legend, Lufia II got rid of the random encounters from the first game, and brought in monsters you could see on the map. Said monsters would react to the movement of the player and could even be frozen with use of a tool. The game also introduced puzzle dungeons to the series, which are similar to those seen in the Zelda games. With a series of tools (and the Reset spell) at the player's disposal, Lufia II's dungeons were more than the typical dungeons of J-RPGs. Combat was also changed: gone were the ineffective attacks of the first Lufia, and in its place was the IP (Item Point) system. As characters take damage, their IP increases, allowing them to use powerful abilities. The player could also find a series of pets to raise that would aid the heroes during battle. These additions would help make Rise of the Sinistrals the most critically acclaimed of the series, though it would not be enough to make the series a mainstream giant like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. It has, however, become a Cult Classic, and is generally considered by fans as the high point of the series.

Tropes used in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals include:

The Ancient Cave provides examples of...

  • And Now for Someone Completely Different: Your party's levels drop to 1 every time you enter the Ancient Cave. Your inventory is replaced with a brand new one (which contains 10 potions and blue chest equipment), play time resets to 0:00, and money resets to 0 as well. When you exit the Ancient Cave, your levels, inventory, gold and play time return to normal.
  • Anti-Grinding: Each floor has a finite number of enemies, which limits experience and item acquisition.
  • Check Point Starvation: There are no save points in the Ancient Cave at all! It will take will take at least 10 hours to reach the bottom floor in a single sitting. This is assuming everyone in your party is already geared completely with blue chest items at the beginning of the run. And hope you don't get wiped on the 98th floor...
    • Depending on your viewpoint of what "Ancient Cave" is, you might consider Providence a form of checkpoint, since nobody beats Ancient Cave in one run. There are many checkpoints, and it takes a long time. Spatially, the Ancient Cave contains no checkpoints, but Ancient Cave transcends space as a dungeon that requires multiple entries over time.
  • Money for Nothing: Despite all the monsters inside being Money Spiders, you can't take any money you earned inside the Ancient Cave outside.
  • New Game+: You can begin a new Ancient Cave run with all blue chest equipment you previously acquired, either in the main game or previous Ancient Cave runs (provided you exited the dungeon alive using a Providence).
  • Random Drop
  • Roguelike
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