BoneSnapDeez wrote:Oh, and I'm going to approach this one like I did Illusion of Gaia - I'll be playing both LufiaandLufia II.
Perhaps I was suffering from some sort of brain damage when I posted this. Or I "forgot" how much of a time sink taking care a newborn baby is. I've squeezed in 37 minutes of gaming during these last 2.5 weeks. So yeah, maybe I'll start the first game come mid-May. That's an ideal situation.
Sarge wrote:if you're expecting something like Lufia II, it's going to be a disappointment. The engine also strains to keep up with the action a lot of times
Yes this is not the Lufia II I remember. I really wonder why Neverland didn't just opt to make Lufia III with this engine, and call it a new game entirely. Also the hardware does indeed strain to keep up with the graphical output, but not too annoyingly so.
Boo, my post got lost with the hosting issue. There actually is a proper Lufia III, Lufia The Legend Returns on the GBC. It continues the Sinistrals story and builds on various things Lufia II did while scaling back other stuff for the GBC format.
Over the weekend I nearly beat the Ancient Cave. I got down to floor 92ish but then got caught by a Silver + Gold dragon pack. Silver dragons get two attacks and gold ones get three, and those attacks can be any of a regular attack, support spell, or hit all spell. Unfortunately Selan was slightly slower than them so I couldn't save myself with a heal and maybe kill the pack. So that was 6 hours down the drain. The really frustrating thing was in that run I had picked up several nice blue chest items; a helm, a shield, another Gades blade, and a Sizzle sword, so if I had bailed out when I had the chance I could have set myself up better for another run. So I switched to some blue chest farming to be better set up (I got super lucky to get that far) and be able to make a real attempt at it in the near future. Dark Souls III is going to be my focus starting tonight, but once I've knocked that out I can get back to Lufia II and do another Ancient Cave full attempt on a weekend.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
It's really interesting how they tossed in a full roguelike subgame in Lufia II. The Ancient Cave starts you off at level 1 with 10 potions and you need to get to level 99 to defeat the Master Jelly. Each floor is randomly generated with 1-10 chests (most frequently 4) and a variety of monsters. You even get the roguelike style because of how Lufia's dungeon interface has enemies only take action when you do. And just like a standard roguelike while luck does play a factor there is a lot of space for player skill to increase/decrease your chances of making it to the bottom (with Blue Chest items definitely helping).
It is certainly not for the faint of heart; a full run takes between 6 and 8 hours assuming you're killing most of the monsters you encounter (which you probably want to do to survive the final stretch). It requires a lot of adapting to situations and eking out every advantage you can. Knowing enemy weaknesses is huge.
Of course, you can always just skip the main Ancient Cave and just farm Blue Chest items. Each chest has a 2% chance of being a Blue Chest and those items are end game caliber equipment. It only takes an hour or less (depending on how much Blue Chest equipment you already have) to farm the first 20-30 levels (when you'll get a Providence to escape) so you can spend a few hours Ancient Cave grinding and be massively overpowered for the rest of the game.
Hell, the devs liked the Ancient Cave so much they put in Gift Mode. After you beat the game once you unlock Retry Mode which is starting a new game with 4x experience gain, then beating Retry Mode gets you Gift Mode. Gift Mode lets you select a four person party (must include Maxim) and locks you to the Ancient Cave island so you can just run the Ancient Cave using a variety of parties for fun and challenge.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
MrPopo wrote:There actually is a proper Lufia III, Lufia The Legend Returns on the GBC.
Interesting. I put a fair amount of time into LtLR on GBC years ago, I didn't realize it was supposed to be Lufia III. I thought it was just a gaiden.
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I've got a little over 9 hours in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals on DS now. My opinion of the game has lowered a bit since my last post. I'd still call this remake "decent", as in 7/10 kinda decent. However, it certainly does not live up to the quality of the original Lufia II. There are some design foibles and technical hiccups that sap some of the enjoyment out of Curse of the Sinistrals for myself. I still plan to beat the game, albeit piecemeal via 20-30 minute sessions here and there, only when I have small increments of time to kill. I simply don't find Curse of the Sinistrals to be good enough to take up my prime gaming session time anymore.
I can see where that'd be the case. It's actually been quite a while since I played through it. I thought it was solid 8/10 territory myself, but there might be some foibles that I was able to tolerate that bother you a bit more.
I've actually been playing a bit of the SNES version, just trying to delve back in to see how it holds up. I'm still loving it, although I'm really only slowly chipping at it while I feel like not committing to an even more massive time sink. I've just retrieved the crown from the bumbling thieves.
My shenanigans continue. I blazed through the purple newt cave and the pirate tower last night, so my ship is now capable of going underwater. I'm sitting on Doom Island and about to plunge into the depths to seek out the Dual Blade. Level-wise, my characters range from 41(the Hero) to 35(Jerin the Half-Elf) because of the bizarre discrepancies in how much experience it takes to level them all.
My tactics have also changed now that I have the Wind Flute. I moved it to the first slot in my inventory, so now Lufia and Jerin heal every turn while the Hero and Aguro attack. The strategy has drastically lowed my MP needs since few things can outpace the 120 or so HP I can get back to every character in a "round." Status effects are my only real concern, and they are still becoming more prevalent(as are instant death attacks). Annoying, but I'll have to trudge on.
I've also given up trying to figure out how turn order works. I understand the order of actions is based in part of some complex formula involving Agility, Weight(of gear), and I believe what the action is that you are performing, be it use an item, attack, or cast offensive or defensive magic. Healing tends to come out much faster than offensive abilities, but beyond that, I really can't get a handle on how things will go. Also enemies seem to speed up the fewer there are, so a single enemy will get off more attacks than one in a group, though a single enemy still won't get off as many attacks.
Eh, even if I can't figure out the formulas behind everything and am annoyed with the awkward encounter rate and status effects(the bane of every JRPG), I'm still enjoying myself. Lufia has been a pleasant experience overall, if a bit rudimentary in its presentation. I look forward to knocking this one out, even if it does mark a critical turning point for how many SNES JRPGs I have left.
I forgot to mention that the DS action-RPG remake includes the Ancient Cave as well. 100 randomly generated floors with sporadic blue chests and a big bad boss at the bottom. I made it floor 7 and had my fill, but it exists for the record.
I only had a little time to play this over the weekend, but I ended up diving down and getting the Dual Blade. Then plot happened(really big plot!), and now I'm being sent to acquire some oil from the oil cave on the final continent. Once I have that, I'll be able to get my ship to fly, which likely means I'm approaching the endgame. Looking forward to it!
Level wise, my characters range around 43-37, with the Hero as the highest. My strategy continues to be Hero and Aguro attacking while Lufia and Jerin use the Wind Flute to continuously heal.
