Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals All Boss Battles / 1995 / Super Nintendo
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- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- It must be said immediately: this game is simply one of the best JRPGs you can find for the Super Nintendo. It's not a Final Fantasy title or even made by Square or Enix, yet it belongs in the hall of fame with them. The way the game has been refined and polished compared to its predecessor only 2 years prior is incredible, even more evident as I went from one game to the next with no break.
Lufia 2 was made near the end of the SNES life cycle, so it displays some of the best graphics you'll get to see in 16 bit, similar to Terranigma. The music is not only much catchier and melodic, but less jarring in general. I actually know at least 5 songs from this soundtrack on guitar. The controls are intuitive and responsive. The translation is good, although has that typical goofiness you expect from 90s video games. Some exceptions are the hilarity when they mix up "L" and "R" (ie "Mad Gorem"), which by 1995 is kind of unacceptable lol.
One of the best parts is how much more interactive the dungeons are. Interestingly, there are no random encounters (you can get your fill of that on the world map) - the mechanics are pretty much the same as Earthbound, which came out the same year. Some of the puzzles are downright evil and would absolutely invoke a Zelda game. The Ancient Cave? One of the most addicting side quests I've ever come across in my life. I spend hours and hours and hours in the thing every playthrough.
Of course the story shines in this one. It's simply a prequel to the first game, so you know from the start the two main characters are going to die. This is rather bold because you'll spend all this time getting to know them and it's easy to forget how it ends until you reach the final dungeon. It's that much more heartbreaking. I can forgive how painfully easy the end bosses are, and even how the final dungeon has no enemies. RPGs are supposed to have end dungeons and bosses that make you anxious as hell about failing. The optional side quests will keep you busy for hours and those are the kind of games I cherish!
My personal story is a bit tragic, as I initially passed this game up back in the day, although I played the original back then. I just never gave it a chance, and I think around this time we were playing Chrono Trigger endlessly and getting ready for the release of the 32 bit consoles anyway. I had heard great things about the game for years, and I believe it was around 2008 or so that I finally fired up the ROM, and it's tough for me to think of a time when I was kicking myself so much for putting off playing a game. It didn't take long for me to fall in love. I know this is the case when I beat a game, and I immediately play it over again because I felt like I just could not possibly soak it up the first time around.
Clearly, I've played it many times since in the 10 years that followed and it's still very dear to me. I don't consider this game a challenge at all, nor is it grind-heavy, which is honestly refreshing. It shines in many other ways that is more inclusive to people who are not hardcore JRPG players. If you haven't tried this one yet, I cannot recommend it enough. It's just a great experience visually, musically, story wise, exploring dungeons, etc. It just proves a game doesn't have to be incredibly difficult and unfair to rise to the top of the ranks. Definitely rate it up there with Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4 & 6, and Terranigma as some of the best the SNES has to offer.
I can promise you this much - I WILL be doing a guitar video of battles 1, 2, and 3. I've already tabbed them..just need to get motivated. Want to see something funny? Here's me playing the boss theme SIX AND A HALF YEARS AGO lmao. This was back when I actually used an amp and some RP pedal, but clearly I need to get on this...
• Boss Battle Theme - Lu...
Prob the best remix of the boss theme, which is quintessential golden era RPG Japanese music - I love that song so much, which is why I was covering it so early in my musical career -
• OC ReMix #1795: Lufia ...
Jack KILLING it with covers of battles 2 & 3:
• Lufia 2 BOSS BATTLE TH...
• Lufia II - SINISTRAL B...
OK! Now to the bosses!
1. Lizard Man 0:00
2. Big Catfish 0:37
3. Regal Goblin 1:17
4. Follower x2 2:49
5. Camu 3:34
6. Tarantula 6:20
7. Pierre & Daniele 8:22
8. Mummy x4/Troll x3 10:10
9. Gades (Ancient Tower) 12:22
10. Idura (North Lighthouse) 15:02
11. Lion x2 16:28
12. Idura (Narcysus) 17:42
13. Idura (Karlloon) 19:00
14. Rogue Flower 20:24
15. Soldier x4 20:54
16. Gargoyle x4 21:36
17. Venge Ghost 22:41
18. White Dragon x3 26:20
19. Fire Dragon 26:40
20. Ghost Ship 29:02
21. Soldier x4 30:33
22. Tank 31:02
23. Egg Dragon (Optional) 33:44
24. Master Jelly (Optional) 34:16
25. Gades (Shuman Tower) 35:44
26. Amon (Strahda Tower) 37:59
Final Battles:
27. Gades 40:31
28. Amon 42:12
29. Erim 43:53
30. Daos 46:45 - Ігри
On a side note, because I talk too much for the character limit - I have NOT played the DS remake, because I heard it doesn't even come close to doing the original justice, and I can't bear to see such a great game ruined. I was excited about it years ago but I'm too afraid to try it lol. However, the OST has a few orchestral/guitar remixes of the battle themes. Actually, it was while listening to this song many many years ago that I initially entertained the idea of learning to play guitar. I thought, how cool would it be to be able to play music from my favorite games on guitar? I still remember dreaming of that, and I can't help but smile today.
ua-cam.com/video/lExJLZbKmIk/v-deo.html
i always like the enemy animations.
.my son loves lufia2
Still weird that there are bosses who visibly have weapons but never use them to attack.
I never knew that you can actually win the first gades fight
I'm surprised to see you praise the translation and story, as outside of the ending, i found it to be the weakest aspect of the game. This is definitely one of those RPGs where the gameplay trumps the story, in my opinion. There are just some really dumb samples of dialogue in this game. "You little hoochies".
My biggest gripe is how the game handles the love triangle between Maxim, Tia and Selan. Yes, we know who Maxim is going to end up with, but the way it's done, the programmers shouldn't have even bothered.
Maxim and Selan barely spend any time together when they suddenly decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together and get hitched. And where does this leave Tia, the woman who has been pining for Maxim since the beginning of the story? Well, she suddenly decides to leave the party, apparently realizing that Maxim and her work better as friends rather than a romantic couple. It's just so slapdash and sudden. There was a good opportunity for drama here, maybe create a love triangle within the party. Instead, everything just happens, and with little cause or reason. Maxim and Selan suddenly love each other,
and Tia suddenly decides she would be better off without him. Maxim doesn't even say goodbye to Tia, which kind of makes your character come across as a bit of a jerk. I really wish this sequence had been handled better, as it's obviously supposed to be an emotional sequence, but it kind of comes across as rushed and unsatisfying.
This was copied and pasted from an article I posted about the game, which can be found here. :)
www.retrojunk.com/article/show/5140/hidden-treasures-of-16bit-lufia-ii
Usually when I judge translations, it's on use of slang, proper punctuation, spelling errors, etc. The only real issue I have with it is how they apparently got lazy with some of the monster names like I mentioned - anyone who has ever played one RPG knows the thing should be Mad Golem instead of Gorem. There WAS plenty of drama between Tia and Selan, and I'm assuming they are 18-20 years old (I could be wrong), so not having full emotional development would be normal for all of them.
I'm already cringing at that article for calling them Final Fantasy II and III. that should've stopped 20 years ago when we all got the internet and realized what had happened.
I was just using the U.S. titles as they were known back then. Besides, if that sets you off, shouldn't it set you off when people call the game Secret of Mana instead of Secret of Mana 2? :P
Outside of the unintended cringe, hope you enjoyed the article, and I will e-mail you soon. Damn overtime is killing me, but fortunately, the company is finally doing something about it.