Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

Hi, my name's Artea. I'm an elf.

Developer: Natsume Publisher: Natsume Genre: RPG Players: 1 ESRB: Everyone Difficulty: Easy

This game cost me 74 dollars. For a SNES game, it meant that it damned well better be good. Unfortunately, it wasn't. This game was one of the worst I've played. It MIGHT be good for beginners, but since I was a beginner when I played it, I doubt it. And I GUARANTEE that.. "video game vets" will like it.

Gameplay-- Your basic RPG in most every aspect. However, their is the extremely annoying puzzles sections. In every dungeon, there are MANY puzzles thrown around where you have to hit switches, move blocks, etc. You are given items such as "arrow" and "hookshot" to do this. These puzzles, while rarely difficult are really a pain in the butt, since you very often get attacked by enemies in the middle of solving a puzzle; forget how to DO the puzzle, and have to restart the entire thing. Very frustrating. A cooler aspect of the game, however, is the ability to grow and use small monsters in battle! While later in the game, they become nearly 100% feeble and useless, they're pretty helpfuly early on, and pretty damned fun to use! Especially Foomy!

Graphics-- I actually likes the graphics. The characters were all pretty short and somewhat superdeformed, but still pretty cool looking. Especially Artea and Derek (Derek's hair RULED!) The Sinistrals (main baddies) seemed kind of large, actually... bigger than their sprites would suggest.

Music-- The music wasn't half bad, actually. Most of it droned on in the long dungeons, but some of it was really sweet! I really liked the music for the Fortress of Doom itself.

Storyline-- *coughs* Very pathetic. Nearly from the beginning of the game, you go on a quest to kill the Ultimate Evil That Wants to Destroy Everything(tm). Everything that I found good about the game, like Gades defeating you in combat, was taken STRAIGHT from the prequel (or, in storyline sense, the sequel), the original Lufia. Of course, when you first believe that one character is dead, dying his old enemy and saving you (a very COOL scene), they screw it up at the end, invoking the eternal rule that if you don't SEE them die, they aren't dead. And the ending for this game was the worst I've ever seen. *spoilers* For one, they COMPLETELY rushed the path through the islan-floating-in-the-sky. Why the HFIL they'd do that? They just threw you RIGHT in the castle itself! And, though a smal detail, you fight all the enemies out of order then was shown in the very first game's entrance. And the final bosses were a CINCH. Now, the worst part of this whole game is the very final ending. In the original, Maxim stayed behind with his dead wife, and died as the island fell, dying with dignity. In this one... he went on some dumbass small quest to stop the island from falling. I say, quit while you're ahead!

Fun Factor-- Hmph. If I wasn't so new to RPGs and didn't pay 73 dollars more than this game was worth, I hardly would have played it.

Overall Satisfaction-- I really wouldn't recommend buying this game... I WOULD, however, recommend people who havn't played the original Lufia, or who are relatively new to RPGs, to rent it. It might be good for beginners, even if I didn't like it.

Highs: The way the battles were fought out (looked cool!), Artea
Lows: Maxim, Tia, the whole damned storyline, the annoying puzzles, the extraordinarily easy bosses
Score: 3