RPG Classics Capsule Reviews - Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

Title	Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Developer	Never Land
Year	1996
Platform	SNES
Capsule Rating

Capsule Review: The Lufia series has always been plagued by one problem, and that is the Fetch Quest. While the hero always expresses his motivation to hunt down the enemies, the process of doing so always involves frequent pointless detours to find pointless items in pointless caves to give to pointless characters to proceed to the next stage to repeat it over again. Unfortunately, Lufia 2 still suffers from this problem. Fortunately, it's not quite as aggravating as it was in its predecessor, and that's because the game has more to show - the puzzle element has been strengthened (sometimes too much so), the battle system improved and the story far more solid. The cast of Rise of the Sinistrals is much better than the abysmal characters of The Fortress of Doom and the story is more complicated, despite still being far from the pinnacle of the genre and not quite even making "memorable" status. What's more, the gameplay sports several interesting ideas, most notably the IP system, which evolved into Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII. In general, the second installment of the Lufia series is a much stronger title than the first - unfortunately for it, it was already released past the prime of the Super Nintendo and after such greats as Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger claimed the throne of the genre. While the relentless fetch quests, the sometimes teeth-grinding puzzles and the lackluster graphics and sound are clear flaws, the game's strengths should make a decent experience for someone who doesn't mind them.