Daria Reviews Lufia 2 [SNES] - A Critical Look At the Characters of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals is a story heavy JRPG for the SNES. As the prequel to Lufia: Fortress of Doom, Lufia II chronicles the adventures of tragic lovers Maxim and Selan as the battle to save the world (one village at a time) from the evil Sinistrals.
Known as Estpolis Denki II in japan and simply Lufia in Europe, this turn based classic RPG is easily one of the best on the SNES. Ranking (in terms of quality) with the likes of Final Fantasy III and Breath of Fire 2. The game is known for its strong writing and abundance of Zelda-like dungeon puzzles. Fans of the genre should definitely consider giving this amazing RPG a play.
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I think this game was released just before Nintendo discontinued the Super Nintendo system and replaced it with the PlayStation. As a promotion for the game Nintendo Power magazine advertised a limited edition Lufia wristwatch that could be ordered through the magazine. I bought one of these watches and I still have it. Gamers have told me the Lufia watch is one of the rarest Super Nintendo collectibles along with the Final Fantasy 5 trading cards released by Square Soft in Japan in1992. These cards were never released in the U.S. because the game never came out on Super Nintendo. I ordered a box of the cards from a store in Japan and I still have the cards. I like to give one of the cards to gamers that I meet who like FF5 and don't know about the cards.
Unfortunately I can't play this game any more because the battery backup in the cart I have is long dead. I guess that I couldn't expect the batteries in these old SNES RPG's to last 25 years. Plus I can't find any site that has a rom of this game available to play on an emulator. Plus I don't know much about computers anyway and sites devoted to hackers who share these games are hostile to women game players like me I have found. Is there any way you could send me Lufia 2 and Soul Blazer and Secret of Mana by. e-mail as an. attachment so I can play these games again on my emulator on my computer. I really miss playing these games as I never got into 3D games on the PlayStation or any other newer games. I remember back in the early 1990's a bunch of gamers played or rather struggled through the Super Famicom version of Estoplis 2. Since the game was in Japanese we all worked through It on a trial and error basis and whenever we got stuck one of us would figure out what to do next so we all could advance. At first the guys playing the game shunned me because I was a woman. But one time they all got stuck in the game and I figured out what to do next in order to progress in the game. So then they accepted me and found out that again and again I could figure out what to do next in the game in order to progress. Hard core gamers back in the 1990's bought a Super Famicom because the RPG's and all the other games were released first on the Super Famicom in Japan before they came out here and we all could not wait to play the new RPG's even if we had to struggle through them in Japanese. I played Super Mario World on the Super Famicom months before it came out here so I knew all the secrets in the game and had beaten it many times. There was a game fair put on. By Nintendo at a local mall where gamers could play a demo of the game. When I played it I breezed through it and the Nintendo reps crowded around me and watched me playing the game and couldn't figure out how I knew all the game's secrets because they thought I was playing it for the first time. Of course they didn't know that I had finished the Japanese Super Famicom version of the game many times. I could finish the game in less than 20 minutes and I had fun telling the guys there I will bet you $100 on who can finish the game first..None of them took me upon it because they hadn't played the game before but I had. All the women gamers there crowded around me and said I was great because I was better at the game than any of the guys. That was one of my happiest gaming experiences.
@@ealswytheangelicrealms
First, you should able to find the roms in emu paradise
2nd, you can just change the battery, i thinks it's 2.5v battery? You just need someone to soldier it
@@ealswytheangelicrealms like the guy above me says, you can find the ROM for those games easily without any human interaction with simple Google searches, the battery on your cartridges are easily repairable and it's a process any retro game enthusiast that owns original hardware would benefit from at least becoming slightly familiar with. 🙂
@@ealswytheangelicrealms I sincerely mean no offense here but I was able to track down all 3 ROMs you mentioned within less than 5 minutes. Which seems to indicate there is a flaw in your method of looking.
Storin t'Kel -thanks for pointing that out. My mistake. Play station was Sony. What did Nintendo replace the Super Nintendo with? The X box? Maybe you know because I never got any other gaming system after my SNES. SNES were 2D games. I could not stand the 3 D games that were the next generation. They just didn't look right to me. I played a little of Final Fantasy 7 at a friend's house and I couldn't stand it. A terrible game. I played an English translated ROM hack of Dragon Quest 6 but tried 7 on the PlayStation and again it was a terrible game I couldn't stand. I am still happy with my SNES because there are "new" games for it like all the different hacks of Chrono Trigger I am playing now.
One of the best RPGs on the SNES, and one of my favorite games of all time.
This and the original Final Fantasy Tactics are tied for my number one RPGS of all time
Same!
I higly agree!
Sin duda
Well i have to disagree with your analysis - im playing rpg video games since 30 years now and well, Lufia 2 is one of my all time favorites because of the awesome writing and grinding.
The main plot is very different than what you said it is, as it is about humanity progressing past the need for an outside threat to cooperate, this is already stated in the intro.
The sinistrels arent evil, at least Arek and Eris seem to actually care about the best for humanity and want to test mankind if they are ready to be on their own or if they would just kill each other if the sinistrels left.
The reveal of eris true nature was also kinda good and the characters were amazingly written for an SNES game (which, if you break it down like you did all have a very simple story, Terranigma, Illusion ofg Gaia, Seiken Densetsu, Tales of phantasia is ultimately all good vs evil)
Selans Character is diminished by Maxim? I dont think so. After all she does rise from being a captain of the guard to become a guardian of the entire world and defeats threads that her entire kigndom couldnt deal with. She does become a mother, and its clearly shown how she grows because of it, if you say character growth is all about being badass, then yes, she was more badass and much more childish before meeting Maxim but i didnt see her loosing her badassery.
That she ends up being a mage...yeah ok i give you that, thats quite different from the introduction but it would also kinda be awkward having a group with 4 people who all were introduced as amazing swordfighters and no healer. Besides, Maxim also cant use a lot of weapons besides we are told he is a weapons expert.
Besides Selan, if you dont care about blowing out mana, can do the highest damage of all party members and usually is your main healer and thus most important character in fights. Indeed, anyone can die and you still win, but if Selan dies, you are pretty much screwed, in special in tougher fights your group may be wiped out before you can revive her.
I do see you havent really played the game much as you say, after all capsule monsters can be quite helpfull if you level them. The light one can actually become your parties main healer and survive through most boss fights. I had him with me when defeating the egg dragon and he survived till the end.
The other capsule monsters have variable worth but the fire, dark and neutral one can dish out very decent damage and make a real difference in fights.
So finally, Lufia 2 did have its flaws sure, but it is one ame i can recommend to a lot of people even though its quite old and dated
Very well explained! 👍
I would disagree that Selan being a mage disagrees with the introduction we see in Lufia 1. Sure, in Lufia 1 her melee weapon was a spear. I wished they'd kept that in Lufia 2. Much cooler than some club/staff. But she was still the strongest offensive and defensive magic caster in Lufia 1 and they kept that in Lufia 2.
This game is very important to my childhood. It is a major reason why I started collecting video games.
I will always love Lufia 2 and it's bitter sweet ending. This was a huge surprise, when I was little... I was totally assuming, that this game - with all of it's cuteness - will end with a stupid "we all live together in a peaceful wold"- happy ending. At least I was totally prepared for that when I played it for the first time.
I'm from Germany and Lufia 1 was never released in PAL regions. But they released Lufia 2 (and renamed it to just "Lufia"). So back then I didn't knew about the spoiler in the real Lufia 1 and the necessity for a "bad ending". I was pretty shocked about that (but in a good way, after it was futher processed in my childish head). This was a rare case of an unchangeable bad ending in a video game. I know, there are games out there that feature multiple endings and therefore bad endings - by choice - as well - but there you can always try to get a good ending on another playthrough. In Lufia 2 you'll have to accept it. That concept was new for me in a video game (and especially for a RPG) and nowadays I think it is very sad, that bad (and sad) endings for video games are a rare thing.
Haha, I had exactly the same for my Dutch version. Just made a comment saying pretty much the same you have, lol. xP
Same from Spain xD
@@YYorle Dutch here. What a game. Never managed to make it through the rogue like dungeon. Should have kept Dekar on the team.
I wouldn't call it a bad ending. It's more like a "sad happy ending". World is saved, but not all our heroes made it.
@@大銀河帝国の皇帝 Yes, agreed. That's what I wanted to say in the first place. I bothered to put "bad ending" the first time I used it in quotation marks because of that (but not for the two follow ups). Yes, calling it "sad good ending" would have been a good choice.
God the music in this game is amazing. So much nostlogia. Brings a tear to my eye the hours I spent playing this as a kid. The puzzles. The battle. And the ending. I think i cried back then. Great review
This is the only game that make me shed à tear at the end. The music still brings so much emotion.
The end credits is such a good song.
The Music in this game is so GOOD!!I was just intently listening to them in this whole video!
This had to have been the easiest video to put together a soundtrack for. All the songs were amazing. All I have to do was decide which sequences needed fast and slow tempos.
So true, I love the entire soundtrack
This game was a masterpiece. The scene with Tia realizing what needs to happen gets me every time...very few games invoke that kind of emotion from me!
Jesus, this damn puzzle. I cried and cursed for days and days trying to solve it, my fruitless attempts only interrupted in search for that step-by-step guide I knew I had seen several times in one of my issues of the Club Nintendo magazine.
But which one was it?! Been a while since I read those thoroughly, sure, but it shouldn't take too much time to hit upon the right one. And all along, Lufia still demanded an answer, a solution. The guide would be nice to have but maybe I can make it without.
Oh, how naive I was.
Soon I found myself in an exhausting downward spiral where I either stared at the TV, fingers clenched around the gamepad, or dug through issue after issue swearing by my name and everything that is real and what dwindling rest of sanity I had not yet sacrificed along my quest that the solution was somewhere in there.
ALL IN VAIN! This blessed tome of the forefathers' wisdom had vanished from our world!
In the end, after countless godforsaken ages of tears and hatred and ragequits had passed, I beat the puzzle. I had done it. I really did and all by myself. Heavens, what unfathomable joy!
I was free again from my shackles, I was able to go on with my life and more importantly with this here video game. Never again shall your challenges stand in my way! *shakes fist*
An hour later i had to poop and to spend an otherwise boring time with something to do I randomly grabbed one of the magazines intending to skip a bit through it without paying too much attention to it. So now I sat on the toilet, turned a page somewhere in the middle and - BOOM! - there you go: Lufia's hardest puzzle in 63 easy to follow steps, right when I not needed it anymore. Fuck you, Club Nintendo Redaktion of 199something. Next time, just call me.
(Also, sincerest apologies. English is not my first language and while I'm well aware that my tenses are probably all over the place I'm not aware enough to fix mistakes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
I was way too entertained by that story to notice your tenses. *applauds*
Haha. .great story! I feel your pain!
I wouldn't have guessed you had an accent from the quality of your written english.
You know.. this game was the first RPG to ever get a full Dutch translation.. I still remember it very well for that reason!!
So the equipment thing for the capsule monsters. They don't actually want what they say they want. It was a glitch that was fixed in the European release of the game. But it's actually pretty easy to increase their class all the way up to M especially later in the game. Also Selan can used swords and one of her best swords is the Blaze sword which can be found in the Ancient Cave. Can't remember what its IP attack is but it's a holy sword so very useful against the Sinistrals. This is probably my favorite RPG on the SNES. It would be my second favorite overall with FF7 being my favorite.
To get a fully maxed Capsule Monster, ANY Capsule Monster:
Phase 1: Long Knife x11, Antidotes. Feed the monster 1 Long Knife, and then 3 Antidotes. Rinse, repeat until grow.
Phase 2: Wooden Shield x32: Feed the monster 32 Wooden Shields. Boom, done.
Phase 3: War Rapier x11, Antidotes: See Phase 1.
Phase 4: 1x Fruit (I can't remember if it's the same element fruit or the opposite element fruit; Foomy takes the Secret Fruit.)
Capsule Monsters are VERY powerful at Max Transformation. Especially Foomy (the neutral one). If you grind out Foomy as early as possible, he/she will get Tackle (a powerful AoE attack) about the same time you get Dekar, and this will entirely wipe out enemy groups wholesale.
Also to note: Capsule Monsters WILL eat something that they are not asking for, if it's good quality. For example, you can feed a War Rapier to a Rank 1 monster and it will probably add 8 bars of growth.
Also, in the Ancient Cave: Definitely do it with Dekar still in the group if you want to defeat the Floor 100 boss. Get enough Blue Chest equipment for everybody and then attempt a Floor 100 run. Pray for a Dekar Blade at some point in the run, and use its IP attack on the boss on the first round (have everybody else defend/use buff spells so that nobody hits it first). Put a Gades Blade on Guy and use his IP along with everything else you have on Round 2+. If you are Lv80+ Guy *should* finish it off, but it might take a few more hits afterwards. Killing the Floor 100 boss without the Dekar Blade is incredibly difficult as you only have 4 rounds to deal 10,000 damage which is not easy to do.
Actually can kill master of ancient cave without Dekar, and not mean using suicide(that works in fact xD) but u need even more luck. There are only ancient cave weapons what reduce hp in % like some cursed sword/staff, and old sword. Also gems with that effect but a heavy damage is needed anyway :)
It is technically possible but far, far, FAR harder than using a Dekar Blade + Gades Blade. And if you let the slime suicide, you will NOT get the Ancient Key to open the door in the lobby. You only get the Key if you are the one to land the killing blow on him, that is, deal 10,000 damage in 3 rounds. You can also use two Gades Blades with Guy and Dekar, but that requires insanely high levels (90+ IIRC) and *all* of the best blue chest items on everybody and even then you barely do it on the very last turn. Though, the treasures in the lobby kinda suck compared to the blue chest items that you should have by the time you *GET* the key in the first place so it's kinda more just bragging rights.
I have the whole lufia series. I wonder if I should start with this one since it’s a prequel
Eh. I don't mind the out of chronological order thing. Especially since gameplay-wise Lufia 1 really does feel like a step back.
+DariaPlaysRPGs
Lufia 1 is more like a mediocre Dragon Quest clone with even more of those fetch/exterminate quests. Some quirky dialogs can be found but you'll need some tenacity to get through this one without losing your mind over its repetitiveness.
GBA Lufia is good, and you can actually level your monsters.
Even though the story of 2 happens before the story of 1, play 1 first. 2 is so much more technologically superior that you'll really regret playing 1 after 2.
Also, there are a few little minor references in 2 that you won't catch unless you play 1 first.
I disagree, I found both the GB and GBA Lufia games to be pretty mediocre. The DS remake was quite good though.
Been thinking of this game a lot lately. Great video. Was really shocked with how few retrospectives there were for this game.
Lufia, so many good memories. Wish they'd make a new one. My fav series of all time.
There are too many great dead series. :/
They did makes a remake of Lufia 2, but ....
rashidisw ya I like to pretend that monstrosity doesn't exist! Lol
DariaPlaysRPGs agreed! Keep up the great vids!
That comoany itself went bankrupt. But lyfua v is being made.
Rise of the left handed people, truly one of the most terrifying titles.
So I had to Google sinistral to understand your post but wow- yeah that's really funny.
Tjitze de Boer aww, why you no like lefties?
Now that i google it, the title is quite prophetic describing those who on the Left as evil.
Here is some blasphemy for you. I have found the Lufia series better than Shining Force.
Dekar is one of my favorite characters on the game💝. He was a very strong warrior during the journey before his sad departure. Maxim is also my other favorite warrior of the game. With good warrior skills as well💝, and also I didn't understand the ending of Lufia 2 when I first played it a long time ago until now, that I also realize, that Maxim and Selan both died. I honestly thought they just had new powers of flying and going home😔 .
I loved Lufia 2! I loved the story. Although I hated Tia.... Dekar though was great and actually kind if over powered. Almost 100% back in the day. I never found all of the Iris treasures in the ancient cave nor did I beat the final boss of the ancient cave. I forget the conditions but there is a way to do a new game that basically is just the ancient cave. In that mode you can choose any character to join you. My usually party was Maxim, Dekar, Selan, and Arty. The casters were essential for last in the cave. And there were a lot of Dekar exclusive gear that indicates he was intended for him to be part of the party for a long time. The capsule monsters I kind of agree however the light one (if memory serves me correctly) was one of the best to max out because it can heal the party. The others for the most part were there to say yeah I did that. But I remember wanting this game so bad because of the teaser in the opening of Lufia 1. You did kind of forget to mention though the biggest reason for Selan's change was because she became a mother. That played a big factor in her change even though it was really under played in the end.
Hmmm... you have a good point about Selan's motherhood. The game makes a show of her settling down with her family during that year after the wedding. But I still think the moment she changed drastically was when Max ordered her to stay behind with Tia.
I remember the Ancient Cave mode as well and yeah, you could pick any character you want and switch around when outside. As for the Iris treasures, I think a bug or oversight by the devs made it impossible to collect all of them? From what I read you would always miss one, even if you defeated the Ancient Slime boss on the last floor in three turns.
Selan can wield sword too, you know. One of her strongest Ancient Cave weapons is Blaze Sword (Halo Sword).
She's much better suited as warrior in the DS remake though, definitely one of the best.
Someone else pointed out she can use a rapier. But it's definitely not her usual weapon and she can't use most of them. I still argue that it's a really weird disconnect between battle Selan and story Selan.
Fair point. That's also why I didn't mention rapier because she can't equip rune rapier, the strongest purchasable rapier.
The segregation may come from the need for Maxim's "ideal" partner that can serve as a nice foil to Tia, which is why she's a warrior. However, her role in combat has already been established as magic user, thus the contrast.
Yeah it definitely feels like they were tied down by the opening to Fortress of Doom, but hey she could have been a badass battlemage. Oh well. Still a good story. XD
I loved Lufia II, or just Lufia as it was called here in the Netherlands.
The funny thing was here they didn't just release it with only a different title, but completely translated it in Dutch. I was told it included a few bug fixes compared to the original version though on occassion it still glitched out badly compared to others games I knew and owned. Even better though was that it also came in this giant box with a big A4-sized walkthrough book filled to the brim with art, backgrounds, and the entire game explained, pictures and maps of all the floors. puzzles, etc. I liked how they left the most horrendous puzzle open for us to figure out though (the one on the right side at the end of your video). Since we never had Lufia 1 released here, I guess the game was just simply called "Lufia" here to avoid confusion? And since I had never played the first Lufia because of that I didn't know about the ending and that this game was a prequel. I would say because of that the ending was really emotional and impactful for me as a kid.
I can honestly say the game is by far one of my favorite RPGs of the SNES, right along there with Chrono Trigger (which we never had released in EU and I played later via emulation and way later on my DS), Secret of Mana and Terranigma (which the USA never had, hah!).
Thanks for taking me down memory lane. ^^
Ps. Here's some pictures of the Dutch box I took: imgur.com/a/V6pnsi0
That is a really awesome (and HUGE) box. Thanks for sharing!
It is my pleasure! :D
Edit: it was only years later I found out about how Lufia II was, well, Lufia '2'. Can you imagine the squee I let out finding out about this? xDxDxD
OMG! I never knew there was such an amazing version with a player’s guide and all 😮 I’m so jealous 😭
Best game ever! I just lvled all my capsule monsters by buying their food in that store that has everything you ever looted/had on that island.
Man, I agree that capsule monsters suck without a guide. It turns out there's cheap equipment you can buy in bulk, and you feed that to a monster even if it's not the rare stuff they request. Then they'll level up, but it's like 1 bar on their food meter at a time, and that food meter is around 40 segments.
It's a lot easier on Retry difficulty, a nice new game+ type mode you unlock after beating the game once. Same as the regular game, but 4x exp/gold from all the monsters, I believe. Then if you beat Retry mode, you get Gift mode, which is all about the Ancient Cave. You can even do it with Maxim + any 3 other characters you want to take, so you could bring Tia and dump Selan if you want!
Woo! Best of all worlds!
IIRC there was a town where all your "lost" items went two and you could just rebuy and feed
I found that lv 1 monsters have a trick. They want a long knife, right? Feed them one, and then feed them three potions, or whatever the lowest level healing item was. They'll cycle back around to wanting another Long Knife. Bulk fed lv 2. monsters Kukris. There's a kind of rod that's slightly cheaper that'll work. Lv 3 monsters work like lv 1, in that you can get them to want the same easily purchasable thing over and over. I forget what, though. War-something. It's in one of the port towns. Expensive, though.
You know starting your review calling this game boring and predictable is not a good way to endear yourself to this Games fan base. One of the best rpgs of all time let alone one of the best snes games on the system.
I didn't. I said the game was great, and that while the plot was boring and predictable that it didn't matter because the individual stories within the game were well written and enjoyable. Plot =/= the game as a whole.
I've never played a Lufia game... or any SNES RPG. I really liked your non-standard approach to this review. It's cool to hear more about the character stories than the typical review beats. Well done.
Thanks! I'm trying to put a more mature/analytical spin on my review format. There's too many channels already that rate the graphics/music/story and call it a day.
I liked Capsule Monsters. They're like Pokemon before Pokemon existed. Also the capsule monsters will eat more than just the one thing they ask for -- that just gives you an extra bonus. If you experiment a little you can easily find some cheap equipment somewhere that'll at least give them a moderate boost.
Your critique of Selan's arc and gameplay abilities is spot on though. Never sat right with me either.
Otherwise Lufia II has always been one of my favorites. Those puzzles. That easily interchangeable boat/airship/submarine. That IP system that reminds me of a mix between FF7's limit breaks and FF9's skills-from-equipment system. A full rogue game within the game which I think maybe got to the final floor once but only through cheating with save states on an emulator and even then I didn't get all the Iris Treasures.
One of my favorite games of all time, though I'm slightly biased as it was the second rpg I owned. Thanks for taking me back down memorie lane. One thing you forgot to mention was the amazing music but you didn't need words for that when you put one of the best tracks at the end in your montage
I'm not really a very musical person and I don't feel like there's a point in mentioning whether I think the music is good or bad when I can just show everyone what it sounds like. But... yeah. Soundtrack was fantastic.
But the way you explain capsule monsters is totally not true at all. Yes, they would get more experience if you gave them excactly what they wanted, but they didnt require that excact item for them to grow. I as a kid of 8 even figured that out. You could just simply give them other items they would also like, just for less experience. And I feel like getting every capsule monster, and seeing their last form (for me that was only the 4th, cause I didnt know how to get the 5th) was sooo cool, it was really funny to see one of them change from a pink pixie to a full blown dragon or something like that. One of the best RPG's ever made IMO. So much extra content, you could fly, dive, so much to explore. One of the best soundtracks ever, really emotional at times (Iris song, battle of the sinistrals, battle theme,The last Duel
Heh, kids at 8 have a lot more patience for this sort of thing. :P But thanks for the information, I had a feeling I was screwing it up somehow.
Also u need use right element moster. All are useful in their way. Light one is pretty useful in ancient cave since ur mp is limited and it casts heal :)
I love that "wrapping it up in montage" is a thing on your channel!
One of my fav games and Selan is one of my fav chars of all time i even cosplayed her. Ty for reviewing this amazing game.
Awww... that must have been a really cute outfit!
Finally it's here! I have my popcorn.
My housemate forced me to play this a few years back. Good stuff!
This game pretty much started me down the RPG road. Luckily the SNES also had Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Terranigma, Soul Blazer, Illusion Of Gaia, the quirky Spike McFang, Chrono Trigger, Evermore, Super Mario RPG, Harvest Moon 1, Breath of Fire, Shadow Run, Robotrek... I don't think I have to go on.
Honestly, Lufia becomes 1000x better when you play the whole trilogy and realize....
The game is NOT about Maxim or his descendants.
The main character is literally ERIM.
You watch Erim connect with humanity and everything that comes with it, from beginning to end.
**Spoilers**
She starts off an agent of Arek the Absolute, and watches Maxim as Iris while he goes to save the world from Gades, and then the rest of them. As she watches Maxim she is fascinated and ends up helping him, time and time again, to protect the lives that she's supposed to be fighting to end.
She's then revived 84 years later as a little girl named Lufia, with an innate love for the Priphea flowers she loved as Erim / Iris. She literally existed as a mortal, gaining an appreciation and even a love for humanity.
So that when Lufia 3 comes around, she comes back as Seena with her love for humanity (and Maxim's bloodline in particular) and memory intact, and the sole intent of destroying the Sinestrals for good so they can't destroy the world she's slowly learned to treasure
I was definitely one of those people that couldn't wait to get to the next dungeon to see what puzzles awaited me. That, and I also become very attached to the characters and the witty dialogue. My favourite RPG for sure.
I remember when Dekar stayed behind to save everyone, I was so upset. Then the damn bastard comes in later to save the day again. Dekar is my favorite character.
Daria and Lufia? I know I'm in for a good time
I confess I'm rather fond of Selan, but you raise valid points. Even as kid I recognized that her story and combat role were at odds. And Maxim pulled the "stay in the kitchen" crap twice! Even his descendant only did it once. Granted, the first time he maybe had a point with evacuating Parcelyte. Maybe. There's logic to it, at least. Second time was just stupid.
The DS remake isn't perfect, but a standout moment was that the first fight with Gades got an extra phase where you tag-team him as Maxim and Selan. Really enjoyed that.
Yeeesss a new video!!!! And on one of my favorite SNES game! The soundtrack and the puzzles are amazing :D the game sort of reminds me to soul blazer which I also own :D
I' m in LOVE with the music from this game. Over all the melancholic tunes... Epic.
I didn't think first lufia was boring at all
I'm glad you like it, but eh.... personally I'm not a fan of the first Lufia.
The bosses are what made the first Lufia game. Seriously. The bosses were balls-hard, and it was *awesome* . Oh, and the regular battle theme was really upbeat with lots of percussion which was really nice because you had to fight a Lot of random battles in that game. The fast-paced BGM really helped with that.
Lufia 1 Is a bit formulaic in battle and overall story mission BUT I love the battling Gods/Sinistrals AND the way the game intros with 4 maxed out characters immediately battling those Sinistrals. It HOOKED ME HARD!. Came off different enough in that fact.
this is one of the top UA-cam channels for video game RPGs IMO, nice one :)
One of my favorites. Especially the ending
The 1st Lufia is a Classic, idc wut n e 1 says... I like it better than the 2nd, by far... 4 sure...
Nice to see there are a few of us out there, that still think that way.
Literally 21h into this game right.. Saving this vid for when im done :)
Awww... you're still at the beginning. ;)
Ok, I finished and watched the video! Completely agree with everything you said. Worth saving the video :D
This was my favorite childhood game. Thank you for explaining it so well!
Aww your welcome. I loved this game too!
Somewhat sad the soundtrack didn't get as much (if any?) attention during this critical look. Lufia 2's soundtrack ranked, beyond the shadow of a doubt, within the top 5 of any SNES game ever.
I try and showcase the music as BGM in my videos but other than that I don't generally mention it.
I Loved this game as a KID! And that music.. OMG timeless!!
As a kid I cried so hard when Dekar died. He was such a badass.
I played this game as a kid. I don’t really remember the characters or story, but I do remember the puzzles and even more, the music.
The video was great until you butchered Capsule Monsters.. I mean wow..
Dekar was my favorite
Lufia 2 and Chrono Trigger are tied for not only my favorite RPGs, but favorite overall games of all time.
I find that a lot of JRPGs do a good job of giving characters their breakout moments despite the plot overall ducking. Commenting on this regarding the Maxim/Tia moment you showcased. I really need to sit down and play some Lufia games. I even have the GBC one. The OST in this game is awesome, btw. Really good stuff and bad ass battle themes.
I think I recall Selan to at least be able to equip a rapier?
Heck I remember her being able to equip various swords, just not the heaviest ones. It does kinda cheat her out of the "warrior" gimmick and her lines about wielding swords
Ok. Looked it up, apparently she can use the short sword, any of the rapiers, and magical swords. So you are both correct, she just can't use the heavy stuff (which I still think is bullshit given how strong she's suppose to be). I guess when I think of swords I don't think of rapiers cause they're kind of impractical for anything besides sport and dueling. Not something a warrior would take into battle.
@@DariaPlaysRPGs then Maxim is said to be a weapons expert and cant wield big weapons. maybe its a translation thing but i cant recall Selan being described as physicly strong - a great skilled fighter yes, but strong?
lol, were you using fast forward sometimes during gameplay? I really like this game and the sequel for DS, it gives a cool twist. tia is not so active in DS version as in SNES.
Oh yeah. Some of the puzzles bits were sped up to like 600x, battles were a little fast too.
Great boss theme, too!
Yeah, capsule monsters become really good. I used to just feed them crap they didn't want until they request something I can reasonably obtain.
Honestly...Tia is the one character that always stuck out to me. Not because of the quality of writing, or her skills or something like that.
It's basically because I felt so sad fo her, while at the same time, having genuine respect for her.
I have to add, I was like 13 when I first played this game and my English was not that good.
But I did understand that situation, even with words missing. :/
EDIT: Oh! Also, I don't really agree with your verdict that Selan's character progression is regressive. Of course I can't see this from a female point of view, but to me it feels just like the typical "Hard ass needs to lean to trust others" arc.
It might seem regressive for a strong woman to give up leadership to follow the strong man of the week, settle down and be a mom.
But that whole episode was more of an intermission to me.
She goes right back to fighting, first as a kind of "lion mom" thing, granted, but after that she...I don't want to say "get's her priorities straight", but she does!
She realizes being a mom and wife isn't all that she is.
She goes back into the trenches.
The capsule monsters were a fun addition to the game, imho. If you took the time to find all of and level them they could become really strong and helpful. Not to mention their amazing designs! You had to buy a lot of cheap items/equipment from earlier towns and feed them to your monsters. Unless they request it, these will only fill up 1 bar, but sometimes this can be better than feeding them the more expensive stuff that they request. And oftentimes you 'd get lucky and they requested something very common. Overall, it's not too hard. It just takes some patience and experimentation.
And the cave of the ancients was something else. I've spent so many hours in there, amassed lots of items from blue chests, only to have my game file deleted by the dying battery. :(
And when fighting Gades for the first time you could actually beat him and then get his sword as a reward, which was really powerful and could even be taken into the cave!
Yea saving before boss battle and hoping you would get rare drop or reload from save-point is quite norm, i believes some rare drop items wont available even during the ancient cave exploration.
thankfully they had that island of lost items
Best reviewer on youtube. None of the horrible rhythmic cadence in your voice. Always top notch content. Keep killin' it, Daria! Oh and still waiting on that Crystalis review for the NES! We must reach the masses!!!
Thanks :P
Dammit now you have my itching to pick up Crystalis again.
I started it this morning. I had to stop finish a Gunpla for photos but tonight I'm gittin' it! I'm glad I gave you the bug we can get your eloquent breakdown and analysis and get people playing it again. I really do think it is the most underrated NES RPG!
Lufia 2.... Got me into JRPGS before I even knew what they were. Started it at least 50+ times. But I've never been able to finish it. The music, the art everything about it I love I just can't finish it. (One day, one day)
I love everything about Lufia except for the Sword dungeon. That place was my kryptonite when I was a kid.
Lufia 2 is my favorite SNES game and alongside Suikoden 2 and FF4/Chrono Trigger they are in my top 5 games of all time! Lufia 2 has, to me, near perfect graphics and music. The dialogs are simply the best, I loooove the characters so much. First (and almost only) game to ever make me cry! I still to this day cry like a baby at the ending and credits song..
I don't think I've said this before, but I love your editing style...the overlay of game scenes to emphasize different elements, rather than just showing one scene at a time...it works really well for classic games like this that usually just look ugly full screen anyway.
My only attachment to Lufia is the GBA one, so no real comment about the game itself, sorry...but it was a cool breakdown of it!
Thanks! I still think I have a lot to learn but I'm getting there. Also, yeah there's like no good way to make a 4:9 screen into a 16:9 format. I don't like just shrinking the image down with huge borders, and stretching is baaaaad. I try not too put too many sources on screen for too long because it's hard for the viewer to pay attention to both. But I do like to mix up the format.
Aghhh did you complete the puzzle at the end of the video, I was almost shouting at the screen. Nice video glad you got it done :)
Yeah but not from that failed attempt. I messed with it for like an hour before giving up and consulting a guide.
I worked my ass off and bought my SNES as a teenager for BoF2 but I played Lufia just as much, ancient cave was great as I love grinds in games.
Oh lufia! I had so much fun with this. I'm a sucker for puzzles so i just DEVOURED this game. And, yeah i was kinda disapointed with the romance in the game , i'm a fan of romance in rpgs (i just geek over my pixel characters lol) but, well there's Harmony of silver star for that.
I really like the more personal way you review these games, it really hits home.
One of the best 16 bit RPG ever made! I love this game, beautiful touching story, great gameplay, superb soundtrack! I recommend it! Very clever puzzle but sometimes, too hard, almost in a sadistic way! Truly a gem!
Capsule monsters become really amazing.
07:48 That puzzle on the right is reason alone for me to put this off for a while. :P
lol - that puzzle IS advertised in the game as like the hardest puzzle ever or something. It's an optional thing for some overpowered piece of equipment. Like fighting an Ultimate in Final Fantasy.
I've done this kind of puzzle before and I'm sure it's entirely doable, buuut it's not really the kind of challenge I'm looking for in a JRPG.
funny thing- I have never seen that puzzle. I thought the hardest one was the final "change match color tiles" one
I played this game like 50 times and its still so much fun
Just found the channel and am really enjoying the videos, I was wondering since theres a new entry coming to the west, if youve played any of the Metal Max games and what you thought about them.
I agree with you to a point on Selan. Two counter points I would offer are that it is 90s Japanese culture towards women and, Maxim was the one Iris approaches at the beginning to fulfill the destiny of fighting the Sinistrals, not Selan. Still, she's a wonderful character.
Love your channel :)
I remember playing this when I was young and hoping there was a way to avoid the Lufia I prologue at the end. Not because I dislike it but because in prequel games I prefer being able to defy the fate established in previous stories rather then having to accept it.
Ahhh yes. This series was a nice contrast to the major choices (I.E. ANYTHING by Square) we had back in the day. Worth the time. Great vid!!
love the video...
regards from Brazil
My 4th favorite SNES rpg behind Chrono, FFVI, and Rudra.
One of my favorite characters in that game was Lexis. You find him alone and exiled in his quirky underground lab and you basically bring him into the party and help reconnect him with the world. He becomes more practical and grounded as he spends more time with the party. He learns to use his skills in more helpful ways.
Lufia 2 was a great game. However, I wonder how much better of a game Lufia 2 could have been without the railroading of the boringly generic Lufia 1. For example, Arty just seems like generic Elf Ranger character that was included for the sake of needing a generic Elf Ranger character. Also, the sad ending, while powerful, might have been replaced with something more upbeat to suit the rest of the game.
So in light of Cannot Be Tamed's newest video, some thoughts occurred to me about Selan that I thought I'd share with you:
As I said in that video's comments, whenever you write a story and decide to include a character (or any element of story for that reason) for any artificial reason that has nothing to do with the story itself, such as including a woman (or even a man) to meet some kind of quota, or a black person to meet racial diversity standards, or whatever reason you could possibly think of, it *usually* comes out feeling artificial and forced and it rarely comes out "right".
I think Selan here sadly falls into this category. Lufia and the Fortress of Doom begins with Maxim and Selan being a couple and they mention a child and the entire plot of that game follows the descendant of that family line and his adventures. So, when they decided to make Lufia 2, they knew that three things had to happen: 1). There had to be Maxim and Selan, 2). They had to get married, and 3). They had to have a child. These things were inserted into the story becuase it was necessary to do so, to keep canon with the first game (I'm of the opinion that Lufia 2's story was written after Lufia 1's). Now, due to the above, when they wrote the story and they forced the Marriage and the Childbirth into the plot, it comes across feeling forced and "artificial", and I feel that it was only inserted because it *had* to be there for canonical reasons. The story writers were more concerned with trying to explain where the Sinistrals came from, and provide a coherent story for just a few lines from Lufia 1 but yet make it fit with Lufia 1 as well. That's why the whole Selan-and-Maxim-and-Child thing kinda fell off the face of the planet after the child was rescued (except for one part about a mirror and Selan's doubts in Maxim's fidelity).
Thoughts?
I think some really good writing can come from story prompts, and I don't necessarily see them as a limiter. I think I story element can feel forced when it's shoe-horned into an existing piece of writing, but Lufia 2 had kind of the opposite issue. These elements existed first and the story had to be written to include them. I think the dev definitely felt boxed in by the Selan they had already created, and the one they wanted to write about and choose a weird compromise of including both her forms into one game. Although in light of Pam's video I'm thinking yeah Selan was a videogame mom, but her motherhood was reduced to yet another fetch (the baby) quest and then discarded. I think the Lufia series just loves fetching stuff.
That's kinda what I was getting at, though. Lufia 2 was indeed boxed-in, in a way, by the first game. They had to make a story that wouldn't break canon (which is why they have the entirety of Lufia 2 taking place in seemingly another area of the world, even though you can't go to any of the towns in Lufia 1 and they have barely token mentions in 2), so they might have felt forced into making Lufia 2 a huge series of fetch-quests to avoid breaking canon. They couldn't have you doing anything EPIC because, you know, Lufia 1 (which happens later) would have no references to such things (if you did something truly epic, then surely the game that comes later in the story should have mentions of it). So they gave you a huge slew of fetchquests (including the baby) to play it safe.
I'm of the opinion that if Lufia 2 and Lufia 1 were swapped (if 2 were made first and 1 were made after), I bet the story would have come out much better (and probably a lot different). I think the only time Prequels work is when the entire story is written first, and then the videogames are then made afterwards. That's how Star Wars Prequels worked -- the entire Star Wars story was penned a long, long time ago, before Episode IV was ever shot. They didn't make Ep1-3 because Lucas felt that we didn't have the technology to do it justice until much later. But yet the story all existed in a cohesive written form and that's why those prequels worked. We don't get that liberty here with Lufia 2, though....
Also, furthermore, I'm starting to wonder if a shift didn't happen halfway through development. They at first portrayed Selan as this powerful warrior-like character (as you rightly mention in the video). But yet, you meet....a mage (she had to be a mage, because that's what she was in Lufia 1) and they had to somehow water her down in a hurry. I think maybe they decided to go non-canon with Lufia 2 (or at least play fast and loose with the canon) and at some point, perhaps some senior executive said "no no no we can't do this. You gotta match up with the first game" but they already had the first third of the game already laid out and developed so they slammed the brakes on, and changed everything, because really, if you think about it, the change seems *abrupt* and very noticeably so. This could be a case of Executive Meddling.
I also wonder if they didn't have, like, an incarnation of Selan that looks more like Guy (game-mechanics wise) and then they later changed her to be like Lufia 1's Selan after-the-fact, after most of the writing in the first third of the game was already completed. To be honest, they make her sound like she's nearly as strong as Guy in combat and easily capable of standing toe-to-toe with Maxim, but yet she's nothing of the sort in actual game mechanics. I wouldn't be surprised if they completely redesigned her game mechanics-wise after said event, whatever happened in mid-development that caused the sudden shift.
I gotcha.
I'm curious what your thoughts are on the characterization of the characters in the DS remake, if you ever played that.
you don't need to feed your monsters the items they want, there is a easy way to level them up but you need to experiment yourself to find them out, I think the first level was long knife, just buy 10 or so from the early shops.
Oh God, the time it took me to solve that puzzle to get the Lizard Blow. Holy crap. Still love.
On the monster evolution part i have found all equipment and items they needed to reach their final forms
foamy becomes really a powerful ally one of the best, the thing is you can buy all the equipment you need
in the shops you have visited during your adventures there are many shops in castles and cities towns
there's only the final items that are difficult to come by
the dark element monster has a used key item he's the only one who has that requirement
they all transform into legendary forms by giving them the item they need and it isn't listed in the menu
is it worth it in the end? no it is not but it is neat to try once
Daria never dissapoints. Spot on.
Respect for going in Dept with this game
Heh wait. Is that depth as in the scope of the review? Or debt because it's expensive? :P
Joking. I know what you mean, and thanks! I like to try and dig a little deeper with my videos, I dunno. I'm a big dork. But glad you appreciated it.
Finally it has arrived! Yesssss!
That big chest puzzle montage literally killed me inside lol. It hurts me so bad to watch people just spam random things to try to solve something instead of use critical thinking.
FISH KICK!
Also, #TeamTia. So glad I could take her into my party in the Ancient Cave bonus game mode.
Great episode Daria, I enjoyed watching!
I remember this game fondly from my childhood. I think it was one of the last games i played as a kid before i was too cool for video games. The things that stand out to me are: the puzzles, the pet monsters, the dungeon side quest. I think you missed out the on the pet monster thing Daria. I remember it not being that difficult and being a lot of fun. Thanks again. Love your reviews
Yeah I'm pretty sure I screwed up the pet "quests" but at least some of them were pretty cute. I like the pile of bath bubbles and the fish,.
DariaPlaysRPGs. If i remember right the sad little pile of bubbles turns into a large strapping muscle man. Its rewarding to watch him grow from such a humble beginning. That is one pathetic character sprite.
They have evolutions? Dammit... now I am sad I screwed it up.
DariaPlaysRPGs. I think so. Unless I'm mixing it up with another game. I check and get back to you.
DariaPlaysRPGs shrines.rpgclassics.com/snes/lufia2/capsule.shtml
Check it out :)
It has been a long time since I played this. I know that the US version was screwed up and the monster capsule requests end up being mostly hard to find stuff, or one of a kind gear. They are more useful fully evolved, but your controllable characters are still much better.
I never could beat the cave.
Oh. Were their requests actually glitched? That would explain why they kept asking for the same three things I could never actually find. I DID manage to stock up on one of the things in the rotation once but accidently sold them all after I took a break from playing. Was so frustrated that I gave up on them.
Me gusta este juego, a mi tampoco me gusto que maxim se quedara con selan, esperaba que se quedara con tía pero son mis gustos.
Es una joyita para el RPG
love the music from this game. I enjoyed this game, but it's been so long since I've played it. I was playing NG+ but lost the will to play as my cart was slowly (1 by 1) deleting the saves from the itself. One day I booted it up and they were all gone, and I just couldn't push myself to begin again lol
did i hear u calling lufia 1 the prologue? if not then ok, however cannon story order lufia 2 comes first with lufia 1 starting at the final battle of lufia 2, also it's been a while but i believe there is an island where u can buy any lost item u have ever aquired
I still have yet to play this game. It's in my back log of SNES rpg must plays.
Thank you so much for making these videos. I played 2 1/2 of the Lufia games and nobody to talk about it with. Like 150 hours at least. To be vulnerable, it makes me feel seen and heard. Your content really helps cheer me up.
my favorite rpg on the snes, really fun to play. The dungeons and puzzles were designed very well. Never questioned where to go next, but how to get there. Really good carrot on a stick gameplay. I didn't play a whole lot, but I did ofc have FF3/6, chrono trigger, and secret of mana. Here I thought Lufia 2 was the best designed rpg in the midst of some massive titles from square. Shame about the story though. shrug.
Man , I wish this franchise would be continued ; I want to see Jeros in action
Defril Prihadyansyah it went bankrupt. But lufia v us being made.