/vr/ - Retro Games

Loved 1. There's a patch that makes it even better (speeds up walking, undoes censorship). Never played 2.

i got 2/3 thru II, which i've really enjoyed. i need to get around to finishing it.
some of its puzzles are better than the ones in LttP. the story might as well not exist, but that's ok.

2 is amazing, one of the best SNES RPGs. Loved the puzzles in dungeons and the Ancient Cave is a great game by itself.

>>10251102
Lufia is a pretty cool guy. My youngest really liked teh pokemonish one. Never played any of the not retro ones. Heard they were pretty shit.

ancient cave. goated. 2 and the gbc game are very nice.

>>10251102
1 was kind of generic but 2 had the puzzler dungeon crawling element which gave it its own identity, and the Ancient Cave. GBC game was ok, GBA game wasn't good. The action rpg remake of 2 on DS was decent and retained the puzzle-solving of the original, and the Ancient Cave returned giving a lot of good rewards.

2 is really good. Basically Dragon Quest with Zelda puzzles. The story is straightforward with some questionable translation choices but I think the dialogue and banter between party members is really well done. You get a sense of camaraderie between them. And I kind of like the sorta heartbreaking but realistic resolution to the love triangle.

Played 2, got through it, but it was tedious and repetitive. I used 100% drop on all bosses because fuck you. Played a bit of 1 but it was boring and the encounters atrocious. Might try again someday with some hacks.

Fucking love the entire series. 2 is easily a top 5 JRPG in my book, but I'll admit I'm biased since its one of the first ones I played. Doesn't stop me from loving it though.

Like >>10252092 says, the thing that made 2 stand out for me was how the banter between the characters was very humane - It was something I hadn't seen in any other SNES rpg at the time. 2 was probably the first time I felt the cast wasn't just a bunch of excel spreadhseets but rather personalities with their own quirks and strengths.

Granted a lot of the story is filler, but the big moments are impeccable - The finale still gives me goosebumps to this day. Especially since I hadn't played Lufia 1 beforehand so the ending absolutely took me by suprise.

On a gameplay side, there's a lot to like - The IP system is great and encourages experimentation outside of just equipping the higher number, puzzles are some of the best in the genre, and the ancient cave is genius. Add a great soundtrack and its a joy all around.

If I were to really criticize it, the game re-uses a lot of environments and tilesets and I guess they ran out of time by the end since the last few dungeons don't really have any puzzles.

I'm still fucking mad we don't know who this nigga is

2 is easily the best, TLR is a solid game but kind of uneventful storywise and the procedural dungeons can't really measure up to 2. 1 is carried hard by its OST and story moments since the actual gameplay isn't very refined. Remake is fucking batshit but in a fun way that more remakes should be. Never actually played the GBA entry, did I miss out?

FUCK YOU
>FUCK YOU
FUCK YOU
>FUCK YOU
FUCK YOU

>Be gigaStacy
>Cuck Becky so hard she literally leaves the group in shame

what the fuck was her problem

>>10252580
allowed tiafags to cry and tiabros to keep losing to this day

>>10251102
didnt play the one with voice acting, and i dropped 1 halfway through. all i'll say about 1 is that i hated the slow moving and random encounters, and being able to miss enemies if you target that spot and they die was unforgivable. so, i cant really comment on more than that.

lufia 2 is probably my favorite rpg of all time. like >>10252543 says, "Granted a lot of the story is filler, but the big moments are impeccable". most rpgs are riddled with filler and tedious tasks, despite the main problem being that the world is ending. i dunno, you just kind of look past it and play past it. find the charm in the plot of the section's side quest, even if it isnt that epic. its still pretty good all around for it. the music is great, and great to listen to on its own, like while driving or whatever. the combat is pretty brainless, where mashing attack or aoe spells will get you through pretty much every monster fight, and bosses are just endurance. but the DUNGEONS. thats the REAL gameplay. chrono trigger has dungeons that you could barely call a maze. lufia 2 has actual puzzles. most of them put zelda to shame. progressing through the dungeons is fucking SATISFYING. also enemies in dungeons being things you can interact with is great. you can avoid combat if you want. some puzzles utilize enemy movement. it can be fun and satisfying to just spam an enemy that you hate with the hammer and go "fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou..." its so much fucking FUN. and then theres the casino and the ancient cave for some side fun.

even if the combat is a little lacking, the game is amazing. chrono trigger might have more story and better animation/art, but lufia 2 has better gameplay.

I've only played 2 but it's one of the best JRPGs on its system. Story, music, characters, visuals are all fantastic. I think the only complaint I have is the length of the animations for the multi-target magic you'll be using to get through most random encounters. The bugginess of the localization is worth mentioning too I suppose: I remember the first time I tried the game I accidentally did some specific sequence in the options menu that set my Maxim to level 0 and broke a whole lot of other shit. Replayed it in japanese a couple years ago and it was fun seeing how much more personality they squeeze out of the dialogue when they're not constrained by the size limits the localization was.

>>10252547
King of sinistrals, gods, giants, whatever. His task was to see if the world was to be reigned by gods or by humans, using signals of the dual blade as an indicator for (maybe) starting his "judgement," which is what lufia 2 was about. Humans eventually won this "judgement," and he basically fucked off and kept watch of those who were born with inmense spiritual force, such as the heroes of lufia 1. If you add the ds game lore, he's the servant of an unseen faction, but he retains the same role of king/leader of the sinistrals/gods, who are revealed to be the creators of humanity. Add the gba lore to the ds lore and he and the sinistrals are leftovers of eristol, who more or less were created to avoid another goldiark fuckup
The lore is a mess. And there's zalbak, who's more of a mystery than arekdias.
>>10252553
Nah, the gba game is a very janky mess which was clearly unfinished and rushed. It's the very definition of mediocre. It has sick lore though, albeit poorly elaborated.

>>10254347
Based loremaster. Never played the GBA game, can I have a quick rundown on Eristol and Goldiark?

>>10252580
Tia. Tear.

>>10254446
Eristol? The usual tropey "super ancient civilization which developed super awesome technology." It was destroyed by goldiark, and its survivors were the ones who eventually led to the foundation of gratze.
Goldiark? The ultimate creation of the king of eristol, odin. Odin was a scientist and a powerhungry jerk. Goldiark is more or less a chimera which gained power by devouring all sorts of monsters. Odin fused with this thing, and tried to dominate the world, but the ancient people resisted. Goldiark was too strong and the best it was done to it was splitting the creature into three parts.

>>10255692
I remember the DS game hinting that the advanced tech used in the world had been built by an ancient civilization with modern humanity scavenging it. Is it possible Eristol is that civilization? That would mean the GBA game is cannon with the lore of the DS game which sounds pretty wild to me.

>>10255692
The ds game makes eristol a little more futuristic, but it remains mostly the same thing. Also, eristolians are not human at all, despite looking like them. This part is somewhat fuzzy, but i can try to explain it if you want.
If you wonder what is it that connects the sinistrals/gods to eristol, it is those dragon statues found in daos' shrine. These statues are the same found atop the tower of guidance, and guess what? The tower was created by the same ancient people of eristol; the gba game tells you that.
And lastly, about the sinistrals' nature and purpose. they're machines, whose true bodies are hidden in the shrines of northland, the lufia 2 world; exception being arekdias', whose body is in some alternate dimension. They created humans, but also they keep a check on them, invading from time to time, trying (it seems) to cultivate union within humans
If you have more questions, i can try to answer them; as long as the thread survives.

>>10255783
>Is it possible Eristol is that civilization?
Yeah, it seems. That same technology style is found in doom island - the shrine of daos; the true bodies of the sinistrals, those energy cores, even the ancient cave. Keep in mind the ds game remains mostly the same, lorewise, to the original game. So it's possible that connection was always meant to be there since the snes days. I mean, it's the same game, just with a slightly different ending, not counting the wild redesigns.

>>10255787
>>10255823

Thats really neat - Is all this revealed in the GBA game? I always assumed it was noncannon since Neverland didn't develop it; Interesting how it appears to tie into the DS lore - that absolutely lends creedence to it being cannon.

Two questions:

Could you explain how the Eristoleans differ from humans?

And is the whole thing on sinistrals being machines revealed in the GBA game?

>>10255823
Ruins of lore was basically a loredump more than a game. I like to think this is what ruins chasers was supposed to be, back in the 99'. You could say eristol existed as early as that, just without that name. That's what i meant when i said the connection existed since the snes days.
Did you know eldin, the protagonist of ruins of lore, can also wield dual blade? It's a shame the game ended a rushed mess.

>>10255857
>Neverland didn't develop it
Oh, neverland aided in some way as far as i know. I saw in some (dead) game news sites that the game was reportedly being handled by them. It appears they left very early; but who knows, maybe they left an early script, which was used by atelier double. The game really feels rushed towards the end. The ending is just incomplete. And there aren't even credits at all!

better dying words have never been spoken.

at least the soundtrack of the GBA game is an absolute bop at times
http://www.nicozon.net/player.html?video_id=sm12586462

>>10255857
>Could you explain how the Eristoleans differ from humans?
Their blood. Eristoleans/ancient people are born with high spiritual power; this seems to be a product of this special bloodtype. The red hair seems to have been the most prominent color amongst them, followed by blue. And guess who has red hair and fuckhigh spiritual power? Maxim and his descendants. I wouldn't be surprised if eldin's family was tied to maxim's bloodline.
>And is the whole thing on sinistrals being machines revealed in the GBA game?
No, it is revealed in the ds game.

>>10255823

How do the Sinistrals tie into being leftovers of Eristol exactly?

>>10255884
Man, that makes me wonder what went down which would cause Neverland to leave to project but Atelier Double to work on it instead. Absolutely wild to imagine that it might actually be more cannon than I imagined. Whats really frustrating about the lack of credits means we don't really know how involved Neverland were.

>>10252580
I preferred my humble but fiery shopkeep gal, thank you very much. Don't force this goddamn Mary Sue on me, you cucks

>>10255787
Regarding the Sinistrals I remember how the DS remake showed their "true forms" in the form of big robotic creatures - I assumed this was some form of possession or magic, so it never occured to me they were always machines. I don't have the image on me, but I always felt The Legend Returns official artwork for the sinistrals made them look more robotic; It lines up incredibly well.

Just to make sure I get this right; the timeline is essentially the Eristoleans are a progeniator race, who create the Sinistrals, who in turn create humanity, with Maxim likely being some form of human/eristolean mixed descendant which is what grants him Spiritual power to combat the Sinistrals?

And then there's Arekdias who we still aren't sure what his endgame is.

>>10256332
Agreed. I don't mind Selan but she has about one tenth the personality that Tia does.

>>10256332
No cucking took place. He wasn't interested. You guys lost. It's over.
Selan's losing the art game though so there's that.

>>10256414
Counterpoint; In the remake Tia ends up with actual best boy Dekar

Tiabros win

If I ever get stupid rich somehow I'm buying this IP out of Squares grubby mitts and recruiting Neverland to make a faux modern PSX version of Ruins Chasers where I spare absolutely no expense

>>10256423
Fair enough - I'll give you that!

>>10252740
Damn. Time to change preferences.

>>10256414
>>10252580

>Maxim fucks Selan
>Dekar fucks Tia
>Guy fucks Hilda
>Lexis has descendants in 1 and TLR so canonically fucks at some point
>Artea is a permavirgin
>Iris gets so horny for Ginger dick she reincarnates into a human just to bonk Maxims descendant

Is Lufia secretely the thirstiest JRPG series ever made

>>10256326
>How do the Sinistrals tie into being leftovers of Eristol exactly?
Their tie lie in the dragon statues found in doom island. These statues are the very same found in the gate to bastaam of the tower of guidance. While presumedly doom island was created by daos, the tower is directly confirmed to have been created back in the days of the "gods" who are none other than the people of eristol; the game refers to them as people of "godlike" power in some moments. Want it to get crazier? The triangle symbol of doom island does not depict doom island, but rather the ancient temple, another creation of eristol, which is basically an even bigger doom island. Also, TLR's doom island has this little circle symbol plastered on some walls; the same circle which is seen on some of the pillars of bastaam, the holy land of the ancients.
Here's a poorly stitched image that might help my post.

>>10256560
Insane find. Not sure what to say except absolutely based. Saved.

I had a lore autism moment in a Lufia thread a while back, wish you would had been there to share this, your stuff is fascinating. Please share more if you have anything.

Any speculation on Arekdias or why the Sinistrals need to constantly test humanity?

>>10256358
>it never occured to me they were always machines
Did you forget that time you fight amon's true body, which is just a cibernetic core-thingy? Or gades going /m/ on maxim, claiming his true body was the entirety of soma temple?
>Just to make sure I get this right
Yeah, that's pretty much all of it. At some point eristol/the ancients created the sinistrals; the goldiark war happened and wiped most of the planet's population; the sinistrals created humanity to fix goldiark's fuckup; and the few remaining ancients just dispersed, some going to found gratze, others founding secluded communities such as narvick or nazare, and others just becoming part of the newly born humans. The ones who didn't become warmongering jerks or hermits spawned the bloodlines of the main heroes of the games. Just in case you didn't remember, humans don't have high (if any) spiritual force, except for very "select ones".
>And then there's Arekdias who we still aren't sure what his endgame is.
He's just the one who keeps an eye on the world's balance and the sinistrals.

>>10256596
>why the Sinistrals need to constantly test humanity?
Remember what gades says at one point of the ds game: destruction and rebirth are just two sides of the same coin. Same for what the other sinistrals represent such as amon, who's the master of chaos, but also of order. They're neutral beings who want humanity to reach harmony or unity, but not necessarily through harmless methods. Think on how each doom island war was ended. People joined as one in order to strenghten the spiritual force of the main heroes. They want humans to develop their spiritual force, to the point they become a harmonious species. Sadly, they seem to have forgotten their original purpose, seeing how daos is more bent on destroying humans and avenging his defeats rather than (painfully) teaching them life lessons; or the same for gades. This lines with their original jp title of 狂神, which basically translates to mad or demented god. Which...

Man this game's localization was so ridiculously buggy. I still remember the entire submarine shrine map being a garbled mess.

>>10251102
Lufia 2 was basically 2 games packaged as one.

>>10256667
Brings arekdias to the table. He's called the absolute, but specifically he's never referred as a sinistral, not in japan, nor in the english localization, because he's still sane. As to what more i can say about this guy, which i haven't said; the ds game implies he's just a super ai which connects the sinistrals to their creators, and he also seems to want them to grow some attachment to their creations.

>>10252553
>Never actually played the GBA entry, did I miss out?
The GBA version is actually fun and has a Jobs/Class system copied from FF and Dragon Quest that allows you to customize your party at will.

>Hey Miyata-san, you mentioned we should change this one puzzle in Sword shrine
>How difficult did you want it again

>>10256667
>>10256610

Do you have a Discord? You have some great insight into Lufia lore and it'd be a shame to lose you in a Taiwanese basket weaving forum. My account is "fjunkus" in that case.

>>10257516
both sides are easy as fuck. the one on the right is just trial and error. the one of the left is simply remembering a basic control function.