Malik
(4/20/04)
Lufia 4
Atlus
This review originally was
presented on lazy.GEEKS (6/26/03)
First off, for those of you who
played the old Lufia games for the SNES (not the Gameboy Color
version), read on and you may find this helpful...for those who
never played Lufia or Lufia 2, skip to the end score. It will save
you a bunch of time and confusion. It is hard to explain this game
to a person who never played Lufia or Lufia 2 without writing a
books worth of information. That said...let the show begin.
I have been into this series
since day one...well, day one for the U.S. since I don't think I can
play Estopolis (the Japanese name for this series) with my lack of
being literate in Japanese. The first game (SNES) in the series was
a staright and to the point RPG. This impressed me since I love
standard RPGs more than about anything else. The second one (also
SNES) was a bit more innovative, as it used a puzzle format like
you'd find in a 2D Zelda game for the dungeons, and it featured
enemies that you can see in dungeons before you fight them (no
random dungeon battles, but still random map battles).
Both of these games told the
story of a 100 year cycle of destruction in the world where four
beings of immense power, called the Sinistrals, would be resurrected
and plague the world. As you can expect, you play the random dude
and his pals who save the world each time from these evil beings. I
am making it sounds sorta cliche and lame, but the story in each
game was amazing and full of tons of plot twists.
Then I saw there was a third
Lufia (GB color) and immediately rushed to get it, even though I
lack a GBC at the time. I figured I would shoot first and ask
questions later, so to speak. I barrowed a GBC and started to
play...and then after 5 hours of trying to love the game, I stopped
playing and gave the game away (I never give away games...so that
says how bad this game was).
Fast forward a few years to
last week. I was browsing the local game store in the mall with some
friends when I saw Lufia 4 (GBA). I was quite apprehensive about
this title since portable Lufia was horrible, which also means the
last game in the series was horrible. After debating over the pros
and cons of trying the game for almost an hour, I decided I wold
risk it. I mean if it was too bad of a game I could always return
it...
Story
OK, I haven't played all the
way through yet...despite what many reviews are saying, this is not
a 12 hour game. I have played for 11 hours so far, much to the
annoyance of my woman, and I must admit the story so far is not
wowing me over too much. For one thing, I cannot honestly tell you
when in the Lufia timeline that this game takes place. I should be
able to do that after playing for only an hour, but after 11 hours I
still can only conclude that this is after Lufia 2 (which was before
Lufia 1...2 was a prequal), since Maxim and Selan (the heroes of
Lufia 2) have been mentioned as heroes. Other than that, I can't
actually tell you when this takes place since none of the events of
Lufia 1 have been mentioned.
Even worse, I cannot tell you
what the point of the game is. So far, a war has broken out between
the east and west, and a dude decided to summon a mythical beast of
destruction to wipe out the west (where you're from), but those have
merely been mentioned in the background of the game. So, for this, I
must say the story is really disappointing me thus far...or should I
say lack of story. All I've done so far is find a few friends to
journey with, and travel from town to town, looking for jobs (you
play a hero for hire...I think...).
Ok, if this section has been
vague, I'm merely trying to point out that this is due to the lack
of any story. If it weren't for the game play being so good, and the
music being so good, I probably would've quit by now...but I have
hope...I'm not even half way done yet. A story should...nay...MUST
appear.
Visuals
For those who played the
original Lufia and Lufia 2, you'd recognize these graphics
perfectly. You once again play bright and happy characters in a
bright and happy world. Which is not a bad thing. In fact, I've
always been a fan of the graphics on the original Lufia games. To me
it's like playing a very Japanese game...it's cute, colorful, and
bright...but it feels comforting.
The special effects, like in
spells, etc, are all pretty well done. They look a lot like the
effects of the SNES Lufias. Which is good, but it does fail in
comparison to Golden Sun 1 & 2. Also, the characters look really
nice, but they too don't stand out in any way. It's all pretty much
average across the board for graphics. However, if you loved Lufia(s)
for the SNES and want some nostalgia, like I sometimes do, then
these graphics will make you happy.
Music
Lufia 2 fans, welcome home. The
music in Lufia 4 is all remixes of music from Lufia 2. So, to be
concise, it is remixed music from the later SNES era. In my opinion,
this is some of the best music I've heard on a portable, period.
On the other hand, the sound
effects from attacks, spells, and all of that fun stuff...well, once
again...I hate to say it, but it's all average with no shining
moments. Too bad, Lufia was always meant to be a game to wow RPG
fans...not make them smile and think, "I remember when this was
state of the art on the SNES". Oh well...I guess this game is
winning more over with nostalgia right now...not technology.
Game Play
Thank goodness we have game
play or else I would have been forced to call Lufia 4 a pile of
crap. However, the game play stands out like no one's bussiness.
In dungeons, we face the same
game play as Lufia 2. We see the monsters ahead of time, and you can
even try to manipulate yourself to confront the enemy from behind to
gain the initiative (or they can turn the table, do the same thing
to you, and you lose the initiative). This means, for those of you
who piss me off...I mean bitch and moan about random
battles...rejoice. No random battles in this entire game.
Also, like Lufia 2, the
dungeons are made of puzzles for you to solve. Each charactr in your
party has a different tool to interact with the world and thus
manipulate the environment. The hero has a sword to cut things and
break fragile objects, another person has a rope to swing across
some gaps, another can light fires, etc. This means while you're
stuck with the boring plot (or lack there of), you can at least
enjoy some simple puzzles. Good thing, since otherwise the dungeons
would bore you to death.
Another feature that was also
seen in Lufia 2 is the capsule monster (now called the disc
monster). In Lufia 2, your final party member was your choice of one
of 7 different monsters you found on your journeys. These monsters
would be out of your control, but would fight along side your party.
Now, with the disc monsters, you instead can capture any monster via
a disc (think pokeball) and have them fight along side your party
(think pokemon). I liked this feature in Lufia 2, since it served a
set purpose (that being, only 7 certain creatures would join you,
and they would be quite cool and stand out), but in Lufia 4, it
becomes merely a way to further rip off pokemon as most portable RPG
makers have done since the release of that damned Pikachu. Oh well,
at least, after you progress a bit into the game, you can stop using
your disc monsters and rely on your human party members. Also, in
Lufia 2, the capsule monster faught with your party, but in Lufia 4,
the disc monster takes the place of a party member (you want to
bring your mage or your lizardman into combat?...I prefer a
character I can control, not a damned monster that dies in two
hits).
A new feature to the Lufia
world, found in Lufia 4, is the job system. Basically, this is like
in Dragon Warrior 7 (PSX). You find a teacher who will make you an
apprentice. As you fight battles, you can experience towards a job,
gain ranks, gain new spells/skills, master the job, and move on to
the next job. As you master some job, some new ones may become
available (master being a priest to become a bishop...etc). This
gives you some control over your parties development, which is
always cool. So, if you feel like having on healer is not good
enough, let everyone gain a single rank in priest, and now everyone
has healing spells. The only problem with this new feature is that
you don't know how long it will take to gain a new rank in a job.
There are no specific job points, and you don't really know if
experience points count towards jobs, or if it's the number of
fights you go through, the number of monsters you kill, or what. I
personally like to know when I will level up, and by not telling
when you will gain a job rank, this defeats letting you know when
you will level...sigh, Lufia 4, we almost had a fun innovative
feature for a second.
The only other feature worth
mentioning is the map screen. It used to be like an early Final
Fantasy game, where you would walk around a map until you hit a
dungeon or a town or whatever and you'd fight an occasional battle
as you traveled. Not anymore. Aparently Lufia is too good for this
convention anymore. Now, you will see a map, similar to Final
Fantasy Tactics, and you will select your destination, and
poof...you are there. Once you clear a dungeon, if there's a new
location on the other side (i.e., two entrances) you can
automatically go to the other side without having to clear it each
time. This saves some time, but it also means we have lost the
traveling aspect that us old school RPG fans hold quite dear. At
least it does save time since each dungeon can take up to 2 or more
hours to clear, but I still miss traveling the world and seeing the
sights along the way.
For those who were wondering,
the fights are the exact same as they were in Lufia 2, with only one
exception. Now on, your IP points (the points you accumulate as you
get hurt) are no longer used to access the special powers of your
equipment. Now, if your character's disc monster is present in the
battle, and your IP is full, you can merge with the disc monster
(they call this "installing"). Once installed, you lose
control of the character and he/she will just do some special
attacks that are always weaker than the normal attack for said
character, but on the plus side, you are invincible for the duration
of the installation (3 turns). The only other change in the fights
is that there are no set turns anymore. Instead of waiting for each
person to go once and then it starts again, you keep going as quick
as you can in combat. So, if your hero is twice the speed of the
enemy, you will strike two times for every one attack of the enemy.
Also, magic slows you down some. To make this simple, think of how
fights were done in Final Fantasy 4.
Conclusion
Despite how thuroughly crappy
this game is, I am enjoying it...so far, at least. The graphics and
sounds may seem less than impressive, but for those who miss the old
days of SNES glory, nostalgia will ensue. The story is crappy, but
once again nostalgia is saving this game for me. Last of all, the
game play is actually pretty good, when you forget about the pokem...disc
monsters. So, to put this in perspective, if you loved Lufia 1 and
2, try this game out, and you might too get lost in the nostalgia.
If you never played Lufia 1 or 2, you will in all likelyhood hate
this game. In fact, all reasoning says I should hate this game, but
then as I play, I can't help but think about Lufia 2 and
smile...maybe I should throw this away and just play Lufia 2 again
(Malik has all, so it's just a matter of popping in the
cartridge...I don't condone or condemn emulators...openly,
anyway)...so, if you loved Lufia 2 and no longer have the game, play
this.
Ok, that was very confusing and
longwinded at times, and for that I appologize, but this is one of
those damned games that does not make it easy on the reviewer. So,
to summarize it for all of you, I
give this game a 7/10 (as a Lufia fan) or a 3/10 (if I had never
played Lufia before).
Malik
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