As I have completed my pilgrimage to Lufia main series which had the final stop at Lufia 1: Fortress of Doom, to wrap things up, I will be dedicating full article for this game just like what I did with Lufia II. Lufia I is possibly the oldest JRPG game that I have touched so far through out my journey in this genre which I still believe peaked at PSX era. Lufia I is not exactly an enjoyable ride for me because it is too old school even for me but I still got what I seek from this series regardless. At its core, Lufia I had some good potentials which had been partially realized through later sequels before it took a nosedive due to lack of clear vision by Neverland.
The primary goal of this particular article is to provide a glimpse of the Crux that this First title of Lufia series could offer for modern gamers audience without having to directly play the game. Because trust me Lufia I ages really badly by modern standard compared to its later sequels and most people won't have pleasant time playing this game.
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In its inception, Lufia I: The Fortress of Doom is one among the many JRPG clones that rose up in early 90s from the success of Dragon Quest series. It is an old school JRPG that features a group of 4 Demigods hellbent on world destruction called Sinistrals with their Flying Fortress called Doom Island as the main adversary pitted against the players.
While Lufia & The Fortress of Doom is the first game of the whole Lufia series, the storyline of this series actually takes place on the mid of the series timeline as players control the Descendants of Maxim as the main character.
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In terms of Gameplay, Lufia I is very basic JRPG through and through complete with Old school game difficulties. It is until I tried the game directly that why this game had particular notoriety mainly stemming from the absurdly high Encounter rate where the players are fighting random battles after another literally within 6 steps. The Combat system of Lufia I is also as barebone as it gets with Direct attack and Magic being the only main options. Lufia I can get really grindy as well at some point with the late game enemies being very cheap spamming powerful AOE Spells that can easily lead to Gameover if you don't resort to use Save States.
Playing Lufia I do make one realize how Lufia II have improved leaps and bounds from a humble beginning. To be honest apart from the core theme of the series, I can't say there anything particularly noteworthy from Lufia I apart from the memorable overworld theme that show a glimpse of Yasunori Shiono talents which will be more apparent on later games.
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Lufia & The Fortress of Doom starts the game with the players witness the Reenactment of the First Doom Island war as the opening scene. The players get to control Maxim and his party and witness themselves fighting against the Four Sinistrals back to back. This is a very unusual move even for a JRPG of its time but certainly catches the players attention to be invested for this series. It is unfortunate that Lufia I at the time is rather lackluster piece of work.
For those who wish for complete experience for Lufia series is recommended to play Lufia II. Although It do really make harder to stomach Lufia I due to the whole downgrade of everything especially Gameplay and encounter rate. But for those who started from Lufia I, Lufia II is still a very good game experience even if you have known the outcome of Maxim's journey.
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In Lufia I, roughly around 99 Years has passed from the First Doom Island war and the players control the unnamed Maxim's Descendant who live an uneventful peaceful life as a Knight along with his Childhood Friend Lufia. Facing the threats of Sinistrals once again, The Hero then fulfills his destiny and set forth throughout the world to find like minded allies and strength to thwart the Sinistrals threat. Just like what Maxim did, the Hero's fate will be intetwined with the Dual Blade once again. Due to the limitation of Lufia I at its time, I can't really say much about Maxim's descendants allies apart from Lufia which are Aguro and Jerin. Though I do hope they will be fleshed out even more should an opportunity for proper remake of Lufia I presents itself.
In my playthrough of Lufia I, I named the hero Jeros after Maxim's son in honor of Maxim's legacy in Lufia series even though it is not the exact accurate considering Jeros would have been an old guy by this time. In terms of storyline, Lufia I is as barebones as it gets as the players going back and forth in many dungeons to gather necessary Key Items with the Elf Towers and Airship Materials main quest being the notorious example of being very time consuming.
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By present standard, Lufia I has no really much thing to offer for modern gamers. However as a fans of Lufia series growing up playing Lufia: The Legend Returns. Lufia & the Fortress of Doom had something special which is stemming from the titular main heroine herself; Lufia. Lufia series is probably one of the earliest JRPG that incorporate romance theme successfully and even until now in my opinion. Lufia I had rather simple Boys meet Girl romance theme and even with the limitation of the game of its time, this aspect from the first title of Lufia series really shines through as the player will face whole another level of plot twist in Lufia I.
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When It comes to Cameo in Lufia I, during his journey Maxim's descendant will encounter Guy and Artea himself who were Maxim's compatriots in the first Doom Island War. It is quite a surprise that the Maxim descendant able to meet with Guy considering the latter is over 100 years old by the Time of Lufia I even though he shortly passed away after the brief encounter with Maxim's descendant. Also I never expect Egg Dragon has been around since Lufia I despite in his simple form. The Egg Dragon still gives the player some helpful upgrades if you gather all of 8 Dragon Eggs though I only bother to gather the Dragon Eggs for Jerin's strongest Bow weapon given the encounter rate of this game is too annoying for me to consider backtracking.
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In Lufia I, Maxim's Descendant set on a journey after his near-death encounter with Gades, The Sinistral of Destruction. As much as the 4 Sinistrals serves as the major plot device in Lufia I. Just like Lufia II, the pacing with the Sinistrals are just a mess in Lufia I as the players will only face the Sinistrals in the Gauntlet of Final Battles. As the player progress through the Maxim's Descendant quest on thwarting the threats of the Sinistrals, they will come across with a surprising revelation. It turns out that Lufia is the incarnation of Erim, one of the Four Sinistrals all along but against all odds, Lufia's love toward Maxim's descendant overrides her duty as the Sinistral and in the last fight, against all odds she sides with her love to thwart her Sinistral Brethren.
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At the end of Lufia I journey, The Maxim Descendant will face Guard Daos as the Final Boss which is the almagamation of Gades, Amon and Daos. Just like I never enjoy the bulk of Lufia I, Guard Daos fight is not very enjoyable either as you face a very cheap boss who keep spamming AOE Confusion spell that easily leads to Game Over. Can't really imagine the fight to be any easier without any Save states.
Upon Guard Daos defeat, Lufia I concludes in a rather bittersweet note as the Maxim's descendant had to thrust the Dual Blade upon Lufia to completely settle the business with the Sinistrals threat in his life time. Overwhelmed by the immense guilt upon committing the deed, the Maxim's Descendant aimlessly wander until someday he...
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Note: While other parts of Lufia I article is as basic as it gets, this segment will be the primary focus of this particular article
Until one day Maxim's descendants visit upon a village where Priphea Flowers, Lufia's favorite flower bloom everywhere and he encounters Lufia once again despite the latter completely lost her memory and power. But it matters not for this Maxim's descendant because his love of his life being alive and well despite everything both have to go through.
Just like Lufia II which I being invested with the series due to Maxim and Selan romance. I put up the whole crap that Lufia I had due to the romance between Maxim's Descendant with Lufia which is easily the best selling point that this 30+ years old JRPG had. As limited as the Game's production value at the time, in the overarching view Lufia series is one of the few Fictional works that tackle on the matter of "True Love transcends time". Neverland would have Lufia series thrived if they kept exploring this theme properly instead of making a shitty half-assed Pokemon clone that no Lufia fans even wanted. Thus Neverland kept wasting the opportunity that they had with Lufia series and eventually went bankrupt with a whimper.
After journeying through all 3 Lufia games, what I can piece up from Erim, the Sinistrals of Death who is the Main Heart and Soul of Lufia series is as follows. Erim being the most different Sinistral herself is divided into 3 Aspects which are divided into Erim as Sinistral of Death then a Goddess as Iris and finally as a human being Iris/Lufia/Seena in the series timeline order.
From what I can piece up, Erim began to show interest toward humanity after her encounter with Maxim whose journey shows her the worth of Human who will struggle and overcome anything for love. In fact, Erim as Iris might be even in love with Maxim as she helped him many times even it is beyond her obligation as the observer of the First wielder of Dual Sword. However Erim ultimately give up her love on Maxim as his love with Selan proven to be too strong to severe. Instead Erim focus her affection toward Maxim's descendants instead which she is shown to enjoy it as shown in her journey as Lufia and Seena probably much to Selan's chagrin. Had Lufia is still thriving until this day, One could imagine how many of the Maxim's Descendants she will fall in love with which reminds me to a particular fantasy series that I recently give a read.
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I do hope this article could help any fans interested with Lufia series to explore the game even if they don't have to play Lufia & The Fortress of Doom. While Lufia series ultimately never realize its potential to the fullest due to the lack of Capacity by Neverland. If someday Square Enix ever let some dev to work on Lufia series HD2D, I do wish the latter will never forget the theme of "True Love transcends time" that served as the Heart and Soul of Lufia series through the titular heroine with the story of Red Haired Boys meet Blue Haired Girl that serve as the staple of Lufia.
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