Lufia: The Legend Returns

"ReV's FAIR Review."

And they had the nerve to call this a ''Lufia'' game?

Lufia: The Legend Returns is a sequel to a prequel, which is a sequel to a sequel. I know that's confusing, but the original publishers (Taito) and the new publishers (Natsume) apparently didn't do much conversation. The first Lufia was on SNES, and was the base of the story. The second Lufia was also on SNES, and took place far before the first Lufia. This GameBoy Color incarnation takes place 100 years afterthe first Lufia. So a lot of the events and things will be familar to those who are playing the game. In short, you're Wein, a young red haired swordsman sworn to protect your hometown. A young blue haired girl named Seena comes looking for a swordsman. She's a fortune teller, and doesn't fully explain why she needs a swordsman, but like a good little boy, you decide to go along for a great adventure.

As always, my ratings are based on a '10' scale.

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Story: 4
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This is the game's weak point. You know the character names, you know the reason you left the home town, and you know that you're supposed to be smart. That's about it. The story isn't really deep like its father and grandfather, and what's worse, the character development is VERY low. You know what each character does, and you know their names and their types, but that's where it ends. Once a person joins for the long haul, you don't hear anything more about them.

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Graphics: 4
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Trust me, I've seen a lot of Game Boy and GameBoy Color games, and this one is at the low end graphically. The maps are detailed enough, but there's pixelation if you really look at it. The colors aren't really deep, and it's not the type of graphical detail you'd expect from a game, even on a portable system.

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Gameplay: 5
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I have a LOT to say here.
To me, I think a game's playing engine should be fun, entertaining, challenging, and inspiring, all rolled into one. I also think that it should be the type of engine where you can't find one ultimate maneuver and cheat your way through the whole game with it. This Lufia DOES have a very interesting engine, truth be told. The problem lies with how many characters you have. A lot of them become useless, for one reason or another, and only having 3 fighting at one time gets annoying. It's like, yeah there's 9 of us idiots standing out here in front of this Sinistral, but 6 of us are filing our nails while 3 of us are up there getting killed. Yeah.
Another big issue is with the challenge level. There will be bosses that you're supposed to die at, and that's all fine and good. Then there'll be bosses that are easy to the point of you wondering why they were even put in the game. Then there are the cheaters. There are bosses that are so much cheating that, if you don't die, you'll come damn close. It's so unbalanced that you can't concentrate on what you're doing half the time, and building up levels seems to do no good.
Which brings me to my next point. There are so many ''P'''s that I almost lost track. You've got IP, which are your special abilities; Wave, which is basically a tactical level differentiated by a color; LP, which are points needed to either increase that tactical level or ''buy'' spells at the church; MP, which is obvious; HP, which is also obvious...I mean there is so much different stuff to remember, and this can be good or bad. I mean you can basically add tactics to your group, depending on if you have a certain Ancient Text, or ''Scroll'' to use, and if you have the correct tactical balance. I won't go into details, but let's say that each person's tactical level will need to be kept as high as possible if you want new skills. Problem comes when you also need spells - you have to basically conserve your LP and choose wisely between spells or tactical level.

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Sound: 8
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I don't care what anyone says, I think that the music in this game is very good. I was expecting some rather dull tones, but there are some town themes and map themes that are just plain catchy. The midi-nature of the GBC is to be expected, and points are taken off only because of the fact that I know for a fact that the GBC is capable of even more. If Dragon Warrior III can do it, so can Lufia: TLR.

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Challenge: 8
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It's not an all around challenge. I mean you will get cheated by bosses and SOME enemies, but overall it's pretty smooth sailing. Items are all over the place, so be surprised if you have to buy anything besides Potions. The sad thing is the fact that you're stuck having to go through random generated dungeons. This wouldn't be so bad, but for the fact that every dungeon is IDENTICAL. Sure the floors are random, but the concept is the same. It's like they only designed dungeons #1 through #9, then they said, ''ok, for each cave, mix up the dungeons and then send them in the mixed up order'', but it's still the same 9 designs all throughout the game.

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Replay Value: 4
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Except sheer boredom and perhaps a penchant for extra features, I can't see why this would be played again.

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The BOTTOM Line: 5
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Nothing more than an average of all of the scores.

Lufia: The Legend Returns was originally planned to be one of PSX's midlife games. Back then, it was called Ruins Chaser. That project was junked, and it was then ported to GBC. It was junked again, but then stayed on the same system, and was finally released to lackluster sales.

In my honest opinion, had Lufia gone to PSX as planned, it would have been a LOT more sought after by fans and newbies alike. The GBC is a great idea for action games. But I honestly feel that RPGs, especially ones in series such as this one, should NEVER take a step backwards. Going from SNES to a handheld did just that. As a result, the product was less than stellar. If you get a chance, rent this. I would not recommend buying it, ever. Not because it's not a good game worth buying, but because we as fans need to get Natsume to understand that the game has too good a history to be backtracked again, and it needs to be on at LEAST PSX.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/02, Updated 10/02/02