This was supposed to be a train wreck.
In order to understand how bad this looked on paper, you have to take a look at what transpired when the game was announced. It was going to be a Square-Enix handled remake of a beloved SNES cult classic RPG, but as an action-RPG and with "traditional" Square-Enix design. Meaning, the cloaked red-haired hero in full plate armor was now sporting a funky sword and a leather jacket. Plus, the last few Lufia games had been downright awful, and the series was pretty much considered all but dead.
In short, it did not bode well.
Over the course of time, more and more news came to appease the fans. The remake would be handled by the original team that created the original, the characters remained the same, and the only reason Square-Enix was even near the project was because they had purchased Taito, the original publishers of the games in Japan. While some fans were not abated, it was enough to warrant giving it a look see.
The game I held in my hands was not Lufia 2 : Rise of the Sinistrals. It was Lufia : Curse of the Sinistrals. The difference in title isn't much, but it is telling - this was not the Lufia of my youth. This was different in many ways yet draws from the original in others. The problem with reviewing Curse of the Sinistrals when having played Rise of the Sinistrals for so long in my early days is that it's impossible not to compare the remake to the original, with rose-tinted nostalgia glasses to boot.
Putting it bluntly, Curse of the Sinistrals is the Cliff's Notes version of Rise of the Sinistrals. Cutting much of the content, merely keeping the plot points that are necessary to carry the story forward was a good move. The modern player has no patience for stories that don't go anywhere, and the Lufia series isn't known for it's complex storyline. However, it does manage to get the point across using a very simple narrative, much like Dragon Quest. The story won't bore you, but it is kind of an accessory, and the presentation isn't as good as the original.
Where the improvement lies, however, is in the combat. It's when you realize that an action-RPG Lufia not only works, but is the way it should have been in the first place, technology not being a barrier. Using a very simple attack system (Attack, Special Attack, Charged Attack and Charged Special Attack are your four attacks, and the only one that really changes based on weapon preferences is the Charged Attack, which can be selected with the L button), it allows for a wide variety of attacks and actively encourages you, via loot bonus for attacking a dead enemy, to explore in finding the best possible attack chains. Dodging gives you a few frames of invincibility, and you can generally cancel any animation into a dodge. At one point, you get a double jump, allowing you to have a ground pound attack differing for each character. Simple, but complex at the same time.
Even though combat is fantastic, it doesn't hold a candle to the variety of puzzles in the game, which was the original's calling card. Being in 3-D allowed them to get more creative with their puzzles, sometimes even going the loathed route of quick-time events, but I found they never abused those too much. Generally, when I was about to quit in frustration, I found out that I had passed the event in question.
Another addition is the Mystic Stone Board - much like the Sphere Grid from FFX, or the License Grid from FFXII, it is a board where you place stones in order to improve your characters. Each stone has a different form, which you can use to your advantage by giving bonuses to more than one character. The game even has in-game tips if you're confused as to which character should get which stone. Generally, the board is inconsequential, but necessary. You can place stones whichever way you want and you can be successful, but not using the board at all will make your game much harder.
What's truly amazing with the game is how they balanced everything out. There's combat, but not too much that you get bored with the system (and to spice things up, you can always use a different character as you can switch on the fly), there's puzzles, but not tough enough that you can't figure it out on your own, except for the last puzzle, which I looked up the solution online as I was too lazy to beat it. There are few quick time events, but when there are, they are generally short and somewhat enjoyable (if you don't fail them too much, that is).
As far as the musical score, it is the same. Literally the exact same, with a better sound quality. They didn't touch that, and honestly, that was probably the better idea. Yasunori Shiono's score on this fit the game perfectly, and messing that up would have infuriated fans all the more. Yes, the Sinistral Battle Theme is in there. Yes, it is still awesome. This is not nostalgia speaking.
That, however, doesn't mean the game is without flaws. By sacrificing so much of the content, they had to rework the plot in ways that diluted an already watery tasting narrative. Amidst the narrative, however, there remains the great chunks of comedy that was in the original, albeit slightly changed (Neither the "My love is my sword!" nor the "When a ship goes into the bottom of the sea, it's called sinking." lines are in there, but they are replaced with equally funny ones). However, while the original still had tasty broth, this one has watery broth. A little salt would have been appreciated. The original's major plot points are recycled (the Ruby Apple, the two kingdoms on the verge of war, the elven village) and re-rolled into five towns as opposed to the original game's comparatively large amount of cities. There are few dungeons in the game, so you often end up revisiting them twice with different puzzles. It's a good way to reuse assets, but you can't help but get the feeling they could have just tried and made another dungeon for some of these puzzles.
Final Verdict : Stop hatin'.
For what it's worth, I had a lot of fun with the game. I came into the game with reservations, and yet ended up being pleasantly surprised. However, the game does not have a lot of content. It feels as though there should have been more, a lot more, and with the game as short as it is, I'm none too tempted to try a New Game Plus for the Dragon Eggs and a full Ancient Cave run.
Still, what I took from the game wasn't the amount of fun I had, but rather, the hope that games like these can still exist. Games that harken back to another age of gaming, yet update themselves for more modern sensibilities, all the while keeping the elements that made them memorable in the first place. It even updates a series that hadn't seen a new entry in years, and was declared all but dead in the first place.
That, however, does not mean it will convert people who hate JRPGs to their quirky fun mechanics. I personally enjoy JRPGs, and this one was a fun ride for how short it was. However, I wouldn't put it in the hands of someone who doesn't enjoy the genre in general.
Now, if they could fix the flaws of this game, and release a Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (a game with a much weaker plot, characters and battle system which would benefit greatly from the work done to this one) remake with a similar system? We could have a great game right there.
