Lufia & the Fortress of Doom

"Not Chrono not Final Fantasy but it's Lufia the queen of RPG's"

First a brief overview.
Lufia has one of the best control schemes I've ever seen. The Characters all have such deep past. Sure the storyline is Linear but afterall most RPG's are linear in the end with one main goal. Lufia was made in 1992 and in Japan Released as Estopolis. When I first played this game. I was like oh this is gonna be boring since it was not made by either Enix or Square. But Taito impressed me with this gem of a game. Anyways onward to the review.

Control: 9.98/10
Well nothing is perfect but the control scheme of Lufia is almost Flawless. With Precision controlling you get used to the controls in a matter of minutes. Easy to learn and yet easier to master. The crossbar control command for battles is excellent. Push A to attack with weapons hold up and A for Magic down and a to run right and A to defend and left and A to use an item it's flawless. but remember you must hold the direction on the control pad and press A. This control Scheme is Flawless.

Graphics: 9.82/10
Hey this was first generation software for the SNES so don't dish the graphics. Most people who rate graphics rate it on the more advanced graphics of later Games. not the graphics of it's time. Some say the graphics are nes'ey like well they are and they aren't the way they are are the battle scenes but in the dungeons and towers the background to me and how in most caves the addition of footprints makes it look more like monsters have been moving around recently which adds an eery feel.Graphics could of been better later on but for it's time period of release it was excellent

Music: 9.99/10
Music what can I say excellent music. Without giving anything away well just go out and beat the game to listen to the great ending tune. Also boss battle theme is well done. Could of added more tunes to it but really for the space they had for the cartridge they filled it up with an excellent soundtrack. Anyways the Music speaks for itself.

Challenge: 9.79/10
Lufia is the toughest RPG I've completed it might of lacked some depth that it could be beat in a 24 hour play period but the challenge it had made you build up. Atleast to a certain degree. Just say that alot of battles are tough not just the boss battles. Some normal battles can be tough.

Replay: 8.85/10
Not really much replay Value except for maybe the Old Cave and Dragon Egg sidequests. But it does have a try again mode after beating the game. Which gives you double experience and gold. Even with double experience you will still run into a few tough battles so don't think it get's to much easier. The Old Cave is interesting the farther you make it down the better treasures you find but also the tougher the Monsters get. So that provides some replay value. Dragon eggs a great mini quest to help you on your Journey.

Story: 10/10
OK I could not stop myself from giving this a perfecto anyways the story is so compelling and so revealing. Not to be mean or anything but you may wish to play the prequel to Lufia first to get much more out of the story. The story starts out basic and develops slowly. You start out as a child and you meet the mysterious orphan Lufia. You and her become lifelong friends. After 99 years of peace and prosperity the monsters return and as a knight you are off to protect a neighboring kingdom and after seeing the it you return to your hometown and you and Lufia are off and this is where the story starts to really develop.

Pros:
Excellent control
Great Music
Great story
Great Villains
Great Character development
Is the sequel to Lufia II
Cons:
that it has not had a true sequel to it
well umm that's all

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/01, Updated 02/07/01