Lufia II: Rise of Sinistrals

  As a Lufia fans who started from the tail end of the main series, I have always been fascinated with Lufia II which have been the most highly regarded series from Lufia Titles. While it took me almost 2 Decades to get into Lufia II and being JRPG from 16-Bit era doesn't have make things easier either, I am surprised that Rise of Sinistrals still have plenty to give for a 30 years old Game and quite pleased with the overall experience. Lufia II definitely worth more exposure it deserves as any self-respecting diehard JRPG fans will be going to pay a visit to this series at some point.

Just as promised, I will be writing a full fledged article for Lufia II: Rise of Sinistrals because being the most important piece of Lufia series do deserve such treatment. Trust me this one will be a very lengthy article compared to your typical Realm of Darkness post. I haven't made this sort of long winded articles for a long time and considering that Lufia II is getting one, It just shows how I highly regard Lufia series even though The Legend Returns is still my personal favorite to this date. Compared to plenty of Lufia II reviews from other sources, this one will be a commentary from a diehard Lufia III fanboy who held the Gameboy Color Lufia in highest regard. Considering the spoiler nature of this article, it is recommended to read this one if you only have finished Lufia II.

 Lufia II: Rise of Sinistrals or Estpolis Denki II is the true chronological starting point of the whole Lufia Saga. This iteration of Lufia series partially sheds some light on the nature of the struggles between Humanity and the group of Demigods called Sinistrals that became the main premise of the series. This series marks the beginning of the story of Humanity struggle against the Sinistrals lead by a Red haired Hero named Maxim and his descendants wielding a powerful sword called Dual Blade which is the only effective weapon to kill these 4 Destruction, Chaos, Terror and Death incarnates. While Lufia I did a glimpse on the Maxim's final confrontation against the Sinistrals, In Lufia II the players get to witness the full chapter of the First Doom Island War.

Notably, Lufia II is the only game that have Arekdias / Arek, the apparent mysterious Overlord of 4 Sinistrals make his appearance. Seriously Lufia series right until its demise never able to properly explore this particular enigmatic yet very powerful character who could have served as some major plot device and could even have one of Maxim's descendant to face this Sinistral God at some point.

 

  Being the textbook classic JRPG, Lufia II will have you control Maxim, the Forefather of the legendary heroes bloodline who serve as the main adversary of  the Sinistrals, embarking the journey on the Continents of Northland travelling through many several places at a time. Compared to Lufia III, Lufia II do appear to have more Towers as the Dungeons of choice as you get to have Maxim and his parties climb over many and solve various assortment of ridiculous puzzle and plenty of the Important events occur on this Dungeon type over the duration of his adventure. 

Compared to the Lufia I Battle of the Doom Island, Lufia II had a massive leap of improvement for the dungeon design. While the overworld still run with random encounter, In the dungeon You no longer have the annoying high random encounter rate and instead able to choose your fights as the enemy are shown throughout the dungeon. While the soundtrack are still quite monotonous, the chiptune do see a major improvement over the first game.

But if I have to point out one Major Flaw that the Lufia II still have, in my opinion it would be that the Maxim's adventure for most of the part are way too linear. As you will spend most of the time stuck in the straight cycle of Town visiting and Dungeon Crawling set in rinse and repeat manner. As a player you will only have some sense of agency when you reach near the end of the game. At very least Lufia III did fix the issue somehow by giving the player access for Ship by Midgame which allows some interesting playthrough.

 Being the classic JRPG, Lufia II is still an old school turn based RPG game by its nature. Nothing as fancy as the 3x3 Grid system that Lufia the Legend Returns had, but Lufia II 4-party member Combat mechanics is another major step-up from the 1st game. For the first time, Maxim and his party got access to IP Skills outside regular attacks and Magic which are assortments of Special Skills that consume Energy Bar that is obtained as the combat progresses and can be very powerful assets if used correctly in the battle. 

Unlike Lufia 3 where the players had to collect secret scrolls throughout dungeons for the party members to learn the skills. Lufia II IP Skills are tied to party member's equipment which adds a layer of tactical decision that players have to make. But personally from my experience, IP Skills always worth more than Equipment unless the latter statblock are superior by 50 points at very least.

As for the selection of enemies in Lufia II, the game yet again improve on the first game and now had its distinct styles that departs from the Dragon Quest style. While personally I am not too fond off the Toon style enemy sprites from Lufia II, as Lufia III enemy somewhat realistic sprite style evoke the sense of danger expected from an epic JRPG adventure even better. At very least I had to appreciate the assortment range of the enemies in Lufia II that served as the solid foundation for Lufia III and have even fiercer look that they deserve. Though I still got nightmares from looking at Lufia III Medusas. Too bad Lufia II end game enemy encounters are somewhat rushed as evidently the Final Dungeon were quite barebones since I think the Devs could have something in store for the Doom Island if Lufia 2 wasn't falling behind schedule.

On hindsight, While Lufia III didn't follow the formula of Lufia II and the series died with a whimper afterward. Lufia II at very least did have a very good Spiritual Successor which is definitely not the failure called Ruins of Lore. The particular spiritual successor is known as Golden Sun series which at some point reigned supreme on GBA scenes. Golden Sun pretty much improvise Lufia II 4-party member combat mechanics and actually become a distinct masterpiece on itself. Starting with IP Skills that transition into Weapon Unleash, elemental Psynergy Magic System and Elemental Djinns which are even more streamlined version of Capsule Monster Below.

Lastly when it comes to BGM, Lufia II is probably one of the best that 16-bit JRPG ever had. Not as varied as Lufia 3 but I do have to admit Lufia 2 easily reigns supreme in this one with their select BGMs. The Boss fight BGM and the Sinistrals are easily the best for its class that not even Modern RPG can easily surpass and I do like the overworld theme even though Lufia III Rosplett remains my personal favorite. If Lufia II had attained the recognition it deserves, Yasunori Shiono could have attained the same fame with Top Tier VGM composers like Yuzo Koshiro and Kohei Tanaka. That's just how good the Lufia BGM are even if consistency are not their biggest strength.

 

 One distinct feature that Lufia II had is the Capsule Monster system, which is basically a Non controllable Pokemon ally who will assist Maxim Member. There are 7 variations of Capsule Monsters that can be obtained throughout Lufia II which each have their own distinct 5-stage evolution level that can be gained by feeding them random equipments and secret condition for the last evolution stage. While the Capsule monster is nothing fancy by present's standard, this mechanic was quite ahead of its time and I am quite surprised that this Capsule Monster feature actually show up before first Pokemon series was made for Gameboy. Too bad that Ruins of Lore utterly ruin the potential that Capsule Monster had for Lufia because they are just waste of time with underpowered asset.

The best of the Capsule Monster in Lufia II is actually the 1st one you get which is Foomee, A soap bubble monster that somehow turn into Sacred Fox beast. Foomee will stick throughout the battle and rarely flees whereas the rest will simply escape when their HP reach 50%. I think Mousse from Lufia 3 is an offshoot of Foomee family which looks like a giant teddy bear instead of a Fox type monster.

  Another feature that Lufia II had but none of other Lufia series had is the Puzzles mechanics which are quite good and challenging even for adults. As the story progresses, Maxim are given a selections of Tools to tackle assortments of puzzles. Some of the Puzzles that players had are quite brutal and harder than necessary for players to progress with Treasure Shrine Color Block and Ancient Tower being some of the worst offenders though the Dragon Mountain vine puzzle is BS as well. I really wonder if the Puzzle designer of Lufia II is the same guy that did the Puzzles for Alundra because the brutality of the puzzles are very similar. 

At very least Golden Sun did follow the Puzzle tradition very well with the timing of challenge are properly accounted while Ruins of Lore are not even worth discussing given the bad stain it left for Lufia series.

 In Lufia 2, the storyline narrates the journey of Maxim, a consummate warrior who become a Monster Hunter by profession embarking on journey leaving his hometown of El Cid to fulfill his destiny ordained by a mysterious maiden named Iris who claimed to foresee his future. Maxim will encounter many sorts of adventure and people in his quest to warn the world about the threats of Sinistrals. Throughout his journey Maxim will have several allies joining the party including his Final Party members who become steadfast friends like Guy and Artea as well as his eventual Wife, Selan,

 Lufia II marks the first encounter of Humanity with Sinistrals; A group of powerful Demigods of Destruction, Chaos, Terror and Death as the latter serves as a trial whether the Humans are fit to continue existing with or without the assistance of the Gods. Lufia II did couple of things better to expose the Sinistrals even better despite it is still lacking. While Lufia I had Maxim's Descendant face the Sinistrals in the gauntlet of deadly Final Battle. Maxim do get to properly fight Gades somewhere on midgame which do portrays that the hopelessness of Humanity against the Sinistrals without Dual Blade. As someone who played Lufia III where Wain gets to fight One Sinistrals on each continent, It was rather unexpected to have the Sinistrals fight crammed right until the end as it really makes the conflict lacks the sense of urgency. Despite being the most powerful of all 4 Sinistrals, Daos really do make rather underwhelming Final Boss.

To be honest, all that the Sinistrals need are some good writings to portray their threat level as the beings on their power level are more than capable bringing down many civilizations to ruin instead of just a City or Two if the Dev are somewhat competent enough to portray them as the active agent of destructions and ruin. Considering they take rather passive role most of the time in all of Lufia main series.

 In Maxim's journey to thwart against the Sinistrals, a mysterious maiden named Iris served as an unlikely ally who saved Maxim for many times. As someone who started from Lufia III where Iris served as the secret Ultimate Boss. I was quite surprised with the revelation of Iris identity in Lufia II which she turns out to be actually the alter ego of Erim, the Sinistrals of Death. Iris/Erim claims that her role is to lure Maxim to his death so that Sinistrals conquest will go unchallenged but her actions really proved otherwise. It really appears that her encounter with Maxim do really change her mindset about humanity and possibly she could have actually harbor some feelings with Maxim given her Alter ego actions in Lufia I and Lufia III. 

Looking through all 3 Lufia Games, Erim is a rather unique Sinistral that is even more special than Daos, the leaders of Sinistral himself as her behaviour is quite an outlier for her kin. Given her Alter Ego as Sinistral/Goddess/Human represented in Erim/Iris/Seena&Lufia, makes fans like me wonder what makes her fixated upon Maxim and his descendants to the point of going through multiple cycles of Death and Rebirth to be along side with these heroes. Whether it was unrequited love with Maxim or something else, Lufia series could have thrived if Neverland make proper use of Erim as the anchor of the series. But ultimately they really wasted their chance they had with Lufia after so many blunders especially with the last 2 Iterations of Lufia which literally got none of the fans wished from a Lufia title.

 Lufia II also marks the beginning of the Maxim and his descendants intertwined with Dual Blade. A powerful weapon that amplify its wielders Spiritual wave to be point of capable fighting the Sinistrals on equal footing. As Maxim and his party tried to find effective means to slay the Sinistrals, their quest ultimately lead to seek the Dual Blade which lay dormant deep in underwater just like the rest of Lufia series. Lufia II definitely expose the most on Dual Blade as the Blade appear to be a neutral sentient weapon which could have chosen to be wielded by Sinistrals but ultimately sided with humanity through Maxim for some reason and faithfully complying to Maxim right until his death by sacrificing himself to deviate the Doom Island collision course.

Neverland could have made a Lufia game that the fans could have supported as long as they expanded properly on the Main Trinity of the series, Sinistrals-Iris&Erim-Dual Blade. As for Dual Blade they could have portrayed more of the weapon of its sentient personality or even the background of its inception as the sole weapon that makes even Demigods tremble and fear. But this particular dev probably never have any good management given they messed up their last 2 chances for Lufia right until the end.

 To be frank, Lufia II is not exactly my cup of Tea as I was growing in 32-bit era JRPG and not the 16-bit one. However if there is one thing that helped me kept going on to finish Lufia II, it would be the portrayal of Maxim and Selan relationship as the story progresses. With all limitations that 16-Bit JRPG had, Lufia 2 is one of the few JRPG that delivered a well written romance between Ideal couples. They are easily one of the better representation of Ideal Power Couple who stay through the thick and thin, helping each other to cover each weaknesses. 

While Maxim and Selan had a rather rocky start, they do grow close on each other really fast as they learn to trust on each other much to the heartbreak of Tia who get quickly overshadowed by Selan when it comes to Maxim's affection. While I do feel Maxim and Selan could use more buildup before it culminates to their marriage, I think their ship overall do manage to sail quite smoothly until the end. Given the nature of their struggle against the deadly threats of Sinistrals, Selan could have chosen to live a peaceful life instead which Maxim won't even object at all. But Selan is shown to be totally devoted toward her partner as her partner shared the same sentiment even if it cost her life as shown in the final showdown with Sinistrals. This is not something that Modern JRPG games able to portray properly every time.

Apparently Lufia DS did appear to feature alternate ending for the Maxim final showdown with Sinistrals which had Selan survived somehow. Even If I am not too amused with the artistic direction, for this thing alone I might pay Lufia DS a visit in near future.

 Romance was not exactly part of JRPG main staple in early 90s, at very least until the debut of Sakura Taisen 1 in 1996 which kickstart the whole Dating sim shenanigans for JRPG. For that alone, Lufia II did have some surprisingly decent romance subplot in their game as Maxim's had a Childhood friend named Tia who have a heavy crush on Maxim but gets frustrated from time to time as Maxim is oblivious toward her advances. Her love toward Maxim goes to the extent where she joins his adventure hoping for an opportunity to be present to have Maxim settle down with her in peaceful life. Tia probably had somewhat a chance at least until Selan's appearance which just dashed her love dream to pieces.

 Both Tia and Selan deeply love Maxim. But what makes Selan is the one who ultimately obtain Maxim's heart for hers is that she accepts Maxim as he is while Tia kept dreaming of something that Maxim will never be able to being a consummate warrior with the whole fate of the world put on his shoulder. For a while it lasted, Tia's love triangle with Maxim and Selan is quite an interesting experience to witness.

 Lufia series storyline are not the best among JRPGs but they do have recurring Plot Devices that will make the series fans appreciate the gesture. As somebody who started from Lufia III, it does put a smile to see the source of recurring theme like Shaia, Egg Dragons and Side quest Plot devices came from. Lufia I did already have some of these recurring themes but it is on Lufia II that many of the stuffs are taking proper shape.

 Among the many recurring plot themes in Lufia II, The best of all is Dekar! A master warrior who served as one of Maxim's steadfast ally in his Quest against Sinistral. Finally I got to see the owner of one of the strongest weapon in Lufia III in action and finally I do understand why he is rather popular among Lufia Fanbase. Basically Dekar is Bro-tier and Larger than life ally of Maxim who is an Idiot with a Golden Heart. His antics do lift up the mood of the story and he had one of the best IP Skill in Lufia II which is Obtainable in Lufia III with some insane pre-requisites.

 Overall Lufia II had rather bittersweet conclusion as Maxim and Selan ultimately sacrifice both of their life to vanquish the Sinistrals. Despite Lufia II outcome has been obvious for those who played the first game which are not exactly many. Lufia II did a superb job on expanding Maxim's Legacy, the Great Hero whose exploits kickstarted the whole Lufia Series. While Lufia II has aged poorly by present standard, The BGM scores alone makes the game worthy to be paid a visit. While overall Lufia II unable to stand on Par with Top JRPGs of its time like Final Fantasy, Lufia II best BGM alone could give the latter a run for their money.

Considering Lufia IP is held by Square Enix, I do hope they will make good use of the IP someday like making HD2D game out of them as the demand are present. With some QoL improvements, I am sure Lufia series could regain its past popularity as its potential are still not fully fulfilled.

Lastly It is another achievement that I proudly accept to make such a lengthy in-depth article for Lufia II. I would rather to think of it as the repayment for the pleasant experience that I had with Lufia III and it is even better if this one could help people to be attracted with Lufia series.