Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

"One of my favorite games ever!"

Out of all the Super Nintendo RPG's out there, the most often talked about is Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 3 (6). I love both those games, in fact, CT is my favorite game ever made. However, I'm upset because almost no one talks about Lufia 2. This is one of my favorite games ever, right up there with Chrono Trigger. Natsume and Taito made a fantastic RPG, why no one gives this game the praise it deserves, I'll never know.

The story is great, very mysterious and involving. You play the role of Maxim, who works as a monster hunter. One day, a big ball of red light crashed down from the sky. Now, the monsters are out of control and attacking the people. Maxim goes into a cave to see what is going on, in there, he meets a mysterious girl who tells him that he is chosen to stop the monsters. So, clueless about what to do next, Maxim sets out on a journey to get to the bottom of it.

Sure, it's a bit unoriginal, but that doesn’t stop it from being a good story. I liked the characters in the game a lot. Each character is developed and interesting. Natsume did a great job with the characters.

The gameplay is great. I can only think of a few RPG's that are as enjoyable as Lufia 2. If any of you are wondering what Wild Arms completely ripped off, this is it. The gameplay is linear, but is loaded with dungeons. Each one has puzzles that are sure to keep you thinking. The game gives you skills, which you use in dungeons to activate switches. For example, Maxim's first skill is an arrow shoot. He uses this to active switches he can't reach. He also has a reset skill which resets all the monsters and items in a room if something goes wrong. He also can swing his sword if he needs to access something that is blocking his path.

The battle system is great old school fun. The battles are lighting fast, and much more fun then the monotonous battles found in most modern day RPG's. You can have a party of 4, and it's a turned based fare. You get a meter that lets you choose attack, item, spell, and IP attack. The IP attack is a cool feature which lets you attack your enemy with a certain item you have. For example, you can get a bomb item, which lets you have a bomb IP attack. Your IP meter also resets when you get hit by one of your enemies. This is a very useful and cool feature.

The blend of action and traditional RPG is just great. The game is fun, and addicting, and also quite long, especially with that 99 floor randomized tower. Without doing the tower, the game will take you about 40 hours to complete, with the tower, triple that.

The music in Lufia 2 is also excellent. Each score is well written and adds to the mood of the game very well. Nice work Natsume.

Lufia 2 is one of my favorite games ever. It ranks high against many other RPG's on the market right now. However, I wish you luck finding a copy of this. I got mine for 35 at funcoland, it was pricey, but well worth it. If you see this game, grab it, and never let it go.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/01, Updated 08/12/01