Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, known as Estpolis Denki II (エストポリス伝記II, officially translated Biography of Estpolis II[2]) in Japan, and as Lufia in Europe and Australia, is a role-playing video game with puzzle elements developed by Neverland and published in Japan in 1995 by Taito, and in North America and Europe in 1996 by Natsume and Nintendo respectively, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
North American box art
Developer(s)Neverland
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Masahide Miyata
Designer(s)Ryu Kurugami
Tomonari Matsumoto
Samichi Sugiura
Programmer(s)Akihiro Suzuki
Writer(s)Masahide Miyata
Composer(s)Yasunori Shiono
SeriesLufia
Platform(s)Super NES
Release
Genre(s)Role-playing game
Mode(s)Single-player

The game is a prequel to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. It follows the story of the first main character's ancestor, Maxim, and explains the origins of the war between mankind and a group of gods called the Sinistrals. Lufia II made a number of changes from the first game. Dungeons no longer have random encounters and there are hundreds of puzzles throughout the game, ranging from simple to extremely challenging. It also introduced new skills, such as a variety of weapons that could be used to stun monsters or solve puzzles, and IP attacks. In 2010, Square Enix released a re-imagining of the original game titled Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals.

Gameplay

In Lufia II, characters walk around an over world map, enter dungeons, fight monsters, buy or find new equipment and spells, and set out on a quest to save the world. The player's party supports up to four characters at once, along with a Capsule Monster. There are various forms of transportation which the player may utilize in order to travel faster than walking, these include; warping, a spell learned early in the game; a boat, modified by Lexis into a submarine and later a blimp. Various casino games are accessible later in the game; these include Pachinco Slot, Black Jack, Slot Machine, Stud Poker, and Action Bingo.

In dungeons, monsters appear on the map, and can be avoided if the player wishes. Motion in dungeons is also turn-based, and monsters do not move unless the player does. Maxim gains a number of tools and weapons for use in dungeons (similar to The Legend of Zelda titles), such as a bow and arrow, bombs and a hookshot; these, along with his sword, will stun monsters temporarily and interact with obstacles. Finally, dungeons place great emphasis on puzzles. On the world map, monsters are encountered randomly.

Aside from the RPG standards of "Fight," "Use Item" and "Use Magic," characters also have access to IP Skills, which are attached to weapons, armor and accessories.[3] Each character's IP bar fills when he or she takes damage, and is depleted when an available IP skill is invoked. IP Skills take varying amounts of charge to activate. Players can freely wear and customize their characters with different varying sets of these weapons and armor for different IP skill effects and apply them while utilizing tactics during battles. Also, IP Skills themselves cannot be customized, sometimes forcing the player to choose between a newer and stronger piece of gear, or an older, weaker one that has a useful IP Skill.

Capsule monsters are special creatures which the player may only find on specific locations of the world. Once a Capsule monster is found, the party acquires a fifth, computer controlled member. These monsters can be fed items and equipment, and once they are satiated they evolve to a different form, up to a fifth and definitive form, labeled M. Seven of them exist, and each Capsule monster belongs to a different element (Neutral, Light, Wind, Water, Dark, Fire and Soil), and has a different set of skills.

The Ancient Cave, a randomly generated dungeon composed of 99 floors, is presented to the player as a side-quest in the town of Gruberik. Every time the player enters the cave, a new layout is generated, similar to the roguelike genre. Within the cave, the characters are downgraded to zero experience points and stripped of nearly all equipment and items. The player must proceed through the cave's floors, collecting equipment, finding magic spells and increasing levels, with the objective of reaching the Ancient Cave's final floor. There are three ways of exiting the cave: by dying, by reaching its bottom or by finding and using an item exclusive to the cave, named "providence". Within the cave lie two kinds of chests, blue and red. Red chests contain items which can only be used inside the cave for the duration of the playing session. As soon as the player leaves the cave, all items from red chests disappear, except for "Iris Treasures," which cannot be equipped and serve only as collectibles. The rare blue chests contains items which can be used outside the cave and brought back to the cave on subsequent journeys. Some items that can be found in blue chests can also be found by other means, such as monster drops. These can also be taken in and out of the Ancient Cave just as if they were found in blue chests. The bottom floor of the inn in Gruberik serves as a storage for these items.

Plot

The game is a prequel, set ninety-nine years before Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, which tells the story of how the Sinistrals first appeared in the world and the battles fought against them. The story is centered around the hero Maxim, a swordsman from the town of Elcid who is born with a natural ability to fight and is destined to destroy the Sinistrals. Throughout his journey, he meets other warriors who are able to confront the Sinistrals as well.

Characters

The game's protagonist is Maxim, a talented swordsman from the town of Elcid. Little about his past is mentioned in the game, but the game begins to follow him when a mysterious woman named Iris tells him that he is to go on a journey.

Throughout the game, Maxim is joined by other talented warriors or 'Heroes of Legend' such as Tia, his childhood friend, who has a romantic interest in Maxim; Guy, a wandering warrior who joins Maxim after he rescued his sister; Dekar, the powerful bodyguard of Prince Alex of Bound Kingdom; Lexis, a brilliant inventor; Artea, an elven bowman; and Selan, commander of the Parcelyte army who becomes Maxim's wife in mid-story.

The game's antagonists are the Sinistrals, a group of four godlike beings bent on world domination. They are led by Daos, the Sinistral of Terror, who seeks an ultimate weapon to use against the people of the world. His three subordinates are Gades, the Sinistral of Destruction, who is credited with the destruction of two entire cities; Amon, the Sinistral of Chaos, who is known to be a brilliant tactician; and Erim, the Sinistral of Death.

Release

The North American release of the game has a few graphical and textual glitches which were corrected in the European version. The European versions were released in English, German, Spanish and Dutch for distribution in Australia, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands respectively. The Australian version was released in 1997, one year after the North American version. Both the European and Australian releases of the game were titled "Lufia", not "Lufia 2", and included no subtitles because Lufia & the Fortress of Doom was never released in Europe and Australia.

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings80%[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Famitsu30/40[5][6][7]
10/10[8]
GameFan270/300[9]
GamePro4/5[10]
Nintendo Life9/10[11]
RPGamer4/5[12]
RPGFan85%[13]

The game has an aggregate review score of 80% on GameRankings.[4] Upon release in Japan, Famitsu gave the game a score of 30 out of 40,[5][6][7] while it received a perfect score of 10 out of 10 in their Reader Cross Review.[8] In Japanese polls of all-time favorite Super Famicom games, Lufia II was consistently voted one of the top five between 1995 and 1996.[1] The game sold 60,254 cartridges in Japan.[14]

Upon release in North America, it received highly positive reviews from three GameFan reviewers, each scoring it 90 out of 100; all three praised the storyline, puzzles, dungeons, graphics, and soundtrack, though one of the reviewers found the battles tedious but still concluded it is "an excellent game."[9] Scary Larry of GamePro gave it a generally favorable review, praising the game's heavy puzzle elements and certain gameplay mechanics, but criticizing the easy battles, subpar graphics, and generic music and sound effects. He concluded that, while the game is "forgettable" and pales against the recently released Super Mario RPG, it is "a solid, good outing."[10]

Retrospectively, Corbie Dillard Nintendo Life gave it a highly positive review, praising the "unique visual stylings, the efficient turn-based combat system and the beautifully orchestrated soundtrack," and stating that it is "easily one of the top tier RPGs for the Super Nintendo console and a game that is challenging, humorous, and an overall joy to play." The review concludes that Lufia II is an "absolutely unforgettable RPG experience."[11]

Nintendo DS remake
Main article: Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals

An action-RPG remake of Lufia II for the Nintendo DS was developed by Neverland, with much of the staff of Lufia II involved in the project, and released in 2010. As in the original game, it features dungeons that focus heavily on puzzle-solving, but unlike the original, the gameplay is now oriented towards action, with the player controlling Maxim directly in battle and switching between characters by tapping his or her portrait on the bottom screen. The story also differs heavily in many points and received several additions.

gollark: Well, yes, obviously.
gollark: Fears don't really work rationally, on the whole.
gollark: I mean, being deadlier or anything like that probably would work against it, but if it mutated to be more infectious that'd be pretty good for it.
gollark: I'm not sure what you're trying to imply there.
gollark: I think so. IIRC the mutations mostly didn't affect the stuff vaccines targeted, but I didn't pay much attention.

References
  1. "Review - Lufia II". GameFan. Vol. 2 no. 9. DieHard Gamer's Club. May 1996. p. 30.
  2. Neverland Co., Ltd. (25 June 1993). Estpolis Denki (Super Famicom). Taito Corporation. < Staff > [...] Biography of Estpolis
  3. "IP Techniques". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 83. Sendai Publishing. June 1996. pp. 60–61.
  4. "Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals for Super Nintendo". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  5. "エストポリス伝記II [スーパーファミコン]". Famitsu. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  6. おオススメ!! ソフト カタログ!!: エストポリス伝記II. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.335. Pg.116. 12–19 May 1995.
  7. NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: エストポリス伝記II. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.324. Pg.38. 3 March 1995.
  8. 読者 クロスレビュー: エストポリス伝記 II. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.345. Pg.32. 28 July 1995.
  9. "Lufia 2". GameFan. 4 (5): 13. May 1996.
  10. "Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals". GamePro. No. 93. IDG. June 1996. p. 80.
  11. Dillard, Corbie (2009-04-21). "Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals Review (SNES)". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  12. Cavin, Derek (1999). "Staff Retroview > Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals". RPGamer. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  13. Musashi (1999-10-01). "RPGFan Reviews - Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals". RPGFan. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  14. "Super Famicom". Game Data Library (Famitsu sales data). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
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