Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (1995)
Genres:Role-playing (RPG), Puzzle
Themes:Fantasy
Game modes:Single player
Story:Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals serves as a prequel to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, unfolding its events ninety-nine years before. The narrative delves into the origins of the series' antagonists, the Sinistrals, a group of super-humans. Players take on the role of the ancestor of Maxim, the protagonist from the first game, as he embarks on a quest after encountering Iris, a mysterious woman. Maxim seeks other heroes to join forces in preventing the Sinistrals from wreaking havoc and destroying the world.
Like its predecessor, Rise of the Sinistrals follows the Japanese-style turn-based RPG format with an infusion of puzzle elements. The game incorporates intricate puzzles into its dungeon designs, requiring players to use various items and accessories for solving. Additionally, it introduces the "Capsule Monsters" system, allowing summoned monsters to participate in battles. These creatures evolve through the consumption of weapons, armour, or special fruits. Unlike the first game, dungeons in Rise of the Sinistrals lack random battles, with enemies visibly moving on-screen.Show more
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This is one of my favorite SNES RPGs. The music, the art style and the dungeon exploring was great. Compared to the first game it was a huge quality of life upgrade in just how fast the characters moved vs the walking through mud speed of the first game. Ended up getting it for Christmas and it wasn't looking like I was going to get it as it wasn't well stocked in our area. Mom ended up having to get my Aunt a few provinces away to buy it and mail it to her. Back in 1996 the story over heard my Aunt talking to my Mom is that it was $106 and if the site I just went to for CDN 1996 compared to 2025 is accurate then it is $192.87 in today's price!
While I haven't played a ton of RPGs, this one holds out as easily one of the all-time best for its story, gameplay, music and more. Its characters and world are very charming and the combat grind is never necessary.
My love for this game comes with a very long and personal story that I'm not going to fill your time with, just know that this game was designed with a special soul to it that a lot of modern games are sorely lacking.
One truth you'll notice is that this game is a masterclass in taking the simplest, most one-dimensional stories, protagonists, etc and fleshing them into much more and making you care about them.
- Take combat as an example, enemies are always based off the environment around them and the subtle differences between every type of enemy matter, its easy to be drawn to attention the way enemies who look "squishy" ARE squishy even if they're tough or dangerous in other ways. (like those DAMN NINJAS)
The sound design is fantastic, most people make a huge deal about the music (and rightly so) but I think the overall sound design is expertly and thoughtfully crafted. Each weapon type has its own sound effect and each spell is distinct, You could blindfold someone who's played this through and start having them guess what spell or weapon is being used and well - there's no mistaking Firebird, or Confusion, or the axe vs the frying pan.
Sorry, I didn't mean for this to turn into a review lol - but my point stands that this game has a very special style to it that I've never seen anyone replicate and I would hate to lose it to history
Lufia 2 is in my opinion one of the best RPG games ever made. It was the first game I remember with the mechanics like New Game Plus, Dungeon Crawler, Monster Gathering and transforming these monsters into stronger pets.
Lufia II is masterful. The way the whole story comes together, with all the answers falling into place, really lets you understand where everything began. The mythical quest and the legendary heroes that inspired the original Lufia are portrayed brilliantly. It's proof that a sequel can be just as good as the original. I totally recommend it!
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