Another JRPG from the early 90s that had comfortably settled into the template pioneered by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The core game mechanics are very similar to those other franchises, with you traveling from town to town and clearing dungeons via turn based combat.
There's not much innovation here, but I do want to call out that this is one of those games where your characters don't automatically redirect their attacks if the enemy they were originally supposed to attack is defeated during that turn. Some people say this requires more strategy on your part, but I think it is one of the dumbest concepts in the genre. Can you imagine that fight taking place in real life? Your comrade slays the dragon which disappears in a puff of magic smoke or whatever, only for your other idiot ally to run screaming at an empty space and swing their sword wildly at it while a necromancer is raising the dead five feet from away. Utterly stupid design and rant over.
Beyond the generic combat and exploration, the story is pretty serviceable with a decent cast of characters and logical progression of events that, as is typical for these games, culminate in a big battle to save the world. The visuals are equally fine, but nothing spectacular and the soundtrack is much the same. I wouldn't put Lufia at the top of my favorite RPG franchises of this era, but it's still a good enough time.
There's not much innovation here, but I do want to call out that this is one of those games where your characters don't automatically redirect their attacks if the enemy they were originally supposed to attack is defeated during that turn. Some people say this requires more strategy on your part, but I think it is one of the dumbest concepts in the genre. Can you imagine that fight taking place in real life? Your comrade slays the dragon which disappears in a puff of magic smoke or whatever, only for your other idiot ally to run screaming at an empty space and swing their sword wildly at it while a necromancer is raising the dead five feet from away. Utterly stupid design and rant over.
Beyond the generic combat and exploration, the story is pretty serviceable with a decent cast of characters and logical progression of events that, as is typical for these games, culminate in a big battle to save the world. The visuals are equally fine, but nothing spectacular and the soundtrack is much the same. I wouldn't put Lufia at the top of my favorite RPG franchises of this era, but it's still a good enough time.