Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
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Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, known as Estpolis Denki II (エストポリス伝記II, Esutoporisu Denki 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. It is the second game in the Lufia series.
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
Characters walk around an overworld map and then enter dungeons, where they fight monsters and either buy or find new equipment and spells. The player's party supports up to four characters at once, along with a Capsule Monster. There are various forms of transportation faster than walking, including a warping spell, a boat modified into a submarine, and a blimp. The game includes the casino minigames Pachinko 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. The main player character, Maxim, gains a number of tools and weapons which can only be used in dungeons (similar to
Aside from the RPG standards of "Fight", "Use Item" and "Use Magic", characters have access to IP Skills, which are attached to weapons, armor and accessories.[3] Each character's IP bar fills when taking 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 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,
The Ancient Cave, a randomly generated dungeon composed of 99 floors, is presented to the player as a
Plot
The game is a prequel, set 99 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 II", and included no subtitle because Lufia & the Fortress of Doom was never released in Europe and Australia.
Reception
The game held an aggregate review score of 80% on GameRankings based on five reviews.[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.[13]
Upon release in North America, three GameFan reviewers each scored it 90 out of 100; all three praised the storyline, puzzles, dungeons, graphics, and soundtrack.[9] GamePro praised the game's heavy puzzle element, but criticized that the battles are easy, the graphics are subpar, and the music and sound effects are boringly generic. He concluded that the game is unexceptional, and in particular pales against the recently-released Super Mario RPG, but makes a decent holdover for gamers waiting for the next great RPG.[14]
Retrospectively, Corbie Dillard of
Nintendo DS remake
An
References
- ^ a b "Review - Lufia II". GameFan. Vol. 2, no. 9. DieHard Gamer's Club. May 1996. p. 30.
- ^ Neverland Co., Ltd. (25 June 1993). Estpolis Denki (Super Famicom). Taito Corporation.
< Staff > [...] Biography of Estpolis
- ^ "IP Techniques". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 83. Sendai Publishing. June 1996. pp. 60–61.
- ^ CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
- ^ a b "エストポリス伝記II [スーパーファミコン]". Famitsu. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: エストポリス伝記II. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.324. Pg.38. 3 March 1995.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b "Lufia 2". GameFan. 4 (5): 13. May 1996.
- ^ Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
- ^ Cavin, Derek (1999). "Staff Retroview > Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals". RPGamer. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ Musashi (1999-10-01). "RPGFan Reviews - Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals". RPGFan. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
- ^ "Super Famicom". Game Data Library (Famitsu sales data). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ Scary Larry (June 1996). "Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals". GamePro. No. 93. IDG. p. 80.
- ^ Top 100 SNES Games of All Time - IGN.com, retrieved 2022-09-04