Together RPG - Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals - 4/01-6/01

[MrPopo]

Gades' Blade get!

I ended up grinding a single level to get Tia's speed up high enough that she'd be faster than Gades after a single Fake + Sluggish. She spent the rest of the battle spamming Stronger from her Mind Ring. Selan didn't quite have enough defense buffs in time and died, and Guy died shortly thereafter because if you want all four to stay up you need both girls spamming healing the whole time. But Tia was able to keep Maxim up in perpetuity and after a while he fell.

[MrPopo]

So I just made it to the Ancient Cave. I'm doing it as early as possible so I can do the Dekar, Guy, Selan, Maxim party. My first run through was rather fortuitous; on the first floor there was a Blue Chest helm and then I snagged a Blue Chest whip before I had to Providence out. It was touch and go once I got to about floor 21 or so, as I never found a healing spell and a couple of monster encounters would wipe me due to attrition. Oh, and I got the Iris Sword, so that's 8 treasures left to collect (plus the Master Jelly). Time to prepare myself for a ton of Ancient Cave runs.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Gades' Blade get!

I ended up grinding a single level to get Tia's speed up high enough that she'd be faster than Gades after a single Fake + Sluggish. She spent the rest of the battle spamming Stronger from her Mind Ring. Selan didn't quite have enough defense buffs in time and died, and Guy died shortly thereafter because if you want all four to stay up you need both girls spamming healing the whole time. But Tia was able to keep Maxim up in perpetuity and after a while he fell.

Sheesh, I didn't even know you COULD beat Gades the first time. Impressive, Popo Sensei :I

Also, how do y'all pronounces "Gades?" I always pronounced it like "Hades" with a 'G,' as opposed to "glades" without the 'l.'

[Ack]

Also, how do y'all pronounces "Gades?" I always pronounced it like "Hades" with a 'G,' as opposed to "glades" without the 'l.'

Oh, no. He's Australian, so you pronounce it G'Days.

I've also hardly played since Sunday. I popped in for a few minutes last night, but I'm in the process of building a bridge which requires I make frequent trips out of this particular dungeon and go back to town. Thankfully I'm still gaining levels, though the disparity in experience requirements at different points for these characters is quite striking.

[MrPopo]

Gades' Blade get!

I ended up grinding a single level to get Tia's speed up high enough that she'd be faster than Gades after a single Fake + Sluggish. She spent the rest of the battle spamming Stronger from her Mind Ring. Selan didn't quite have enough defense buffs in time and died, and Guy died shortly thereafter because if you want all four to stay up you need both girls spamming healing the whole time. But Tia was able to keep Maxim up in perpetuity and after a while he fell.

Sheesh, I didn't even know you COULD beat Gades the first time. Impressive, Popo Sensei :I

Also, how do y'all pronounces "Gades?" I always pronounced it like "Hades" with a 'G,' as opposed to "glades" without the 'l.'

Yeah, you can beat him the first time in both Lufia II and Lufia the Legend Returns (GBC). The latter is far more difficult to do, as I understand it.

I'm pretty sure everyone pronounces it like Hades with a G, but according to the DS remake with voice acting it's actually pronounced gah-dess.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Gades' Blade get!

I ended up grinding a single level to get Tia's speed up high enough that she'd be faster than Gades after a single Fake + Sluggish. She spent the rest of the battle spamming Stronger from her Mind Ring. Selan didn't quite have enough defense buffs in time and died, and Guy died shortly thereafter because if you want all four to stay up you need both girls spamming healing the whole time. But Tia was able to keep Maxim up in perpetuity and after a while he fell.

Sheesh, I didn't even know you COULD beat Gades the first time. Impressive, Popo Sensei :I

Also, how do y'all pronounces "Gades?" I always pronounced it like "Hades" with a 'G,' as opposed to "glades" without the 'l.'

Yeah, you can beat him the first time in both Lufia II and Lufia the Legend Returns (GBC). The latter is far more difficult to do, as I understand it.

I'm pretty sure everyone pronounces it like Hades with a G, but according to the DS remake with voice acting it's actually pronounced gah-dess.

Well, Gah-dess is actually how his name is pronounced in Japanese, so I suppose that's teeeechnically the correct way to pronounce it :/
I still prefer like Hades with a G though.

[Exhuminator]

I put 2 hours into Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals on DS last night. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a remake more than a reimagining. Gameplay reminds me more of an Ys + Zelda mashup than anything from Lufia II. Except of course the plot is much the same as its progenitor. Really impressive graphics and audio, but that's to be expected given Square-Enix was involved. I was having a pretty good time with it until the game glitched and froze during a cutscene transition. That snafu cost me 35 minutes of game time, hopefully it won't ever happen again. I've been especially privy to bringing out the glitch goblins lately.

[Sarge]

That's interesting, I don't know if I ever got a crash. You playing on a legit cart, or flash?

Re-imagining is exactly the word that was used when it was released. It's a good descriptor. I enjoyed my time with the game a ton, but 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.

Still, fun times, and some excellent music as well.

[Exhuminator]

That's interesting, I don't know if I ever got a crash. You playing on a legit cart, or flash?

Legit flash cart. Never had any other game crash on it though. Also this game hasn't crashed since that one time, so maybe it's all good now.

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.

I've got five hours invested in Curse of the Sinistrals, overall I have enjoyed it thus far. It's a bit surprising how platform-jumping oriented the game is, with most of the challenge coming from that and box puzzles. The actual combat difficulty is a bit of a joke, but the combat engine is pretty solid... very late generation Ys inspired for sure. I agree the music is quite good, it seems to take the SNES tracks and build on them. Right now I'd give the DS game an 8/10, but I don't think I'm even halfway through it yet, so that tentative outlook could change either way.

Funny anecdote... in the DS version, I've heard the name "Gades" pronounced two different ways by different voice actors. Some say "gades" and others say "gah-dez".

[Ack]

Lufia

Argh, I generally dislike typing up posts on my phone, but I still can't access the site via computer. Anyway, I got the boat over the weekend and then proceeded to ride around, leveling up and getting the best gear I could buy. I have finished the Old Cave, have cleared the islands looking for Aluminia, and am now going to talk to a king about taking some of his, which will likely entail getting him some food. My characters are in the mid to upper 30s level wise, but I am getting frustrated with all of the constant status effects enemies are throwing my way. Also, the encounter rate is just bizarre in this game. Sometimes I get in a fight every three steps. Sometimes it takes closer to fifty, and I clear whole floors of a dungeon without getting in a fight.

Anyway, things are moving along, and I think I am pretty far. There looks to be one continent left once I finish up this aluminia quest and deal with some pirates. Hopefully I'll be through in the next couple of weeks.