The Lufia and the Fortress of Doom "review" | Jason Graves | Every SNES RPG # 21

[@Rat_Reborn45]

TLDW, another dogshit video, congrats.

[@analogmoz]

Finally, something useful in the comments.

[@Big_Dai]

Agreed

[@cyka_delik9537]

Is this like a "Primus Sucks" sort of thing, or is this comment serious?

[@Rat_Reborn45]

@@cyka_delik9537 100% serious, hate this guy.

[@AnarickTheDevil]

@@Rat_Reborn45 Not even a spoiler warning, Just straight to ruining the plot for anyone remotely interested in playing the game. I fucking hate people like this.

[@LucasRCD]

So, as the one Lufia fan who's (hopefully) well versed on the story of the franchise and wishes it could return one day (please Square Enix, you have the rights to the series; if you brought back an obscure game like Actraiser back with a remake, you can do the same with Lufia), the following games DO pull the trigger regarding the twist and explain how Lufia's fate wouldn't have mattered either way (spoilers below): Lufia II reveals that the four Sinistrals serve under Arek the Absolute, a being who has the power to manipulate time if need be and is doing everything as a way of testing mortals to see if they deserve to be transient on the world over the gods, only listening to the wills of the Dual Blade above him, as it chooses who its wielder is. Erim and her reincarnations are basically one big test of morality for both the wielder of the Dual Blade in each game and for the god who's the most intrinsically connected to mortals, that being the god of death. This isn't a one and done deal, as so long as their spiritual force remains, they shall return every 100 years. Lufia: The Legend Returns has Erim's latest reincarnation devise a plan to end this vicious cycle. Reincarnated as a fortune teller called Seena, she doesn't have amnesia this time, she's in fact fully aware that she's Erim but keeps it a secret until the final dungeon, where she plans to get her siblings' spiritual energy destroyed for good alongside her own so she can no longer ressurect them by merely existing; while it's not explicitly told, it's quite clear that she's being forced to return to life every 100 years because of a higher power, that being Arek. Despite this being the canonical last appearance of the Sinistrals and that they're supposedly gone for good now, superboss Iris (also spelled Iria in battle) alludes to Arek directly (or Alekdias, as they decided to retranslate his Japanese name) if you beat her, saying that you might be strong enough to beat him, setting up for a sequel with him taking center stage, which unfortunately never came to be. So what one can gather is that after a reincarnation of Erim is disposed of, their part is done, and they are invariably brought back to life by Arek as a regular human being since they no longer serve a purpose. The DS remake of Lufia II, despite also being a reboot, basically shows that Arek is willing to alter the course of fate to bring back people from the dead if one of his servants shows enough compassion for the life of mortals, as shown by the New Game Plus ending, so it's not farfetched to assume he'd do something similar with bringing back Lufia and Seena back to life as regular humans. Turns out the Lufia series' themes are of learning to live life without the aid of faith and the cycle of death and rebirth, which I find interesting.

[@Dhalin]

Also, to explain a few hints on how to make Lufia and the Fortress of Doom a better, more smooth experience: 1). Level up to Level 3 before you do anything right outside the first town. 2). Buy Plum Ciders from the 3rd town. Using them outside of battle is almost as powerful as a Stronger spell. A full stack of them costs

[@zhizn_snake]

My favorite SNES game of all time. And yeah I've played all the ones someone will throw at me in a "but what about ____?" comment. Including the sequel. The intro and first 10 minutes of the game blew me away as a kid is still among my favorite first 10 minutes of any game ever.

[@StewNWT]

has an incredible opening and soundtrack.

[@IsaacG8]

Well said!

[@Dhalin]

The battle system of #1 is WAY better than #2's. And #2 is so braindead easy, they gave you the ability to hold down the L button to auto-input Attack because that's all you need for like half the game.

[@Dhalin]

@7:45 He doesn't wanna take Jerin because Jerin is a _child_ and he doesn't want to endanger her by taking her on a dangerous journey to get to Elfrea. He goes to that forest without Jerin hoping that there'd be some other, older elf that can fight in combat. It's only when he learns that there are no other elves, that he eventually relents. And I can see where he's coming from: when Jerin first gets in your party, she is _absolutely weak AF_ and will oftentimes die in 1-2 hits until you get her some levels and find new armor for her.

[@hiroyui9699]

Strongly disagree about your review. I genuinely like the story and thought it was one of the strongest parts of Lufia. I remember playing the game. I laughed out loud when the characters were talking to each other. The second strongest part about the game is the music which is absolutely amazing. It’s right up there with final fantasy in terms of quality.

[@MistyKathrine]

The music is awesome and I still remember it even though I haven't played this game in decades.

[@leargamma4912]

I liked this one. The true posers are the friends we made along the way.

[@Dhalin]

I really fricken hate KZbin's post deletion algorithm BS. Lemme try posting this again. The Hero doesn't wanna take Jerin, because Jerin does not appear to be an adult, and the Hero doesn't want to risk a non-adult's life on a dangerous journey to Elfrea, and also because Lufia is so instantly distrustful and angry at the idea of Jerin coming along, that he tries to play peacemaker and hopes there's another elf that they could take instead.

[@Joker22593]

Vulcan makes sense. I know you're probably thinking Star Trek, but Vulcan is the Roman name of Hephaestus, Greek god of volcanos. The Vulcans in Star Trek live on a mostly Volcano planet, which is one of their reasons for developing the philosophy of serene rationalism, as a defense against cruel nature.

[@SonofSethoitae]

Strictly speaking, Vulcans embraced pure logic in order to temper their often violent emotions

[@LucasRCD]

It also just sounds like Volcano and the animation for the spell (which is translated differently every single time, because Lufia) in later games is somewhat inspired by the Vulcans in the Gundam series.

[@Volcannon]

Sir, I am pretty sure that this game has no nudity in it.

[@bluespaceman7937]

That's right. You'd have to look into Lunar or something else for that.

[@ChurchAngel2007]

As someone who grew up playing Lufia 2 and didn't play this one until adulthood, Lufia 2 is better in every sense. *Spoilers* The spells can multi target, you can avoid monsters, the annoying girl leaves early on, the sinistrals are more dangerous because they actually destroy entire towns, you get more characters in your party, the cave goes to 99 levels and you get great weapons and it's random everytime, the story plot is better especially with the time of peace inbetween and settling down with Selan, you can press a button to see what an item does, the music is better, and you get capsule monsters to fight and evolve next to you. I could keep going but you get the point.

[@Holy_Zen]

So, uh, source on the nude image? Asking for a friend....

[@VulpesVvardenfell]

This video really undersells how ludicrous the bridge building thing was, since it's part of a larger story thread that I feel could be classed as a shaggy dog story. This guy you have to see is not currently in his lab, and you have to go find him, but you have to do a million things to go see him (like buildin the bridge) an then go to the top of this tower and he's not there anymore when you get there. You end up meeting up with him at the lab where you started, making the whole thing seem pointless.

[@Dhalin]

I loved the bridge building thing, because a trek through that cave let you run into MIMICS. Those mimicks gave *GREAT* XP if you could kill them before they run away. I would legit get 3-4 levelups per trip into that cave, you got buff and beefy real quick in there and the enemies in there aren't even all that tough. Sure, they run away quite often, but every now and then you'd get something awesome happen like Aguro nails one and oneshots it and the other one stays and decides to fight for 3 rounds in a row letting you kill it too and next thing you know, instant levelup for the whole party.

[@IsaacG8]

My this review was overly critical and clearly played through a modern lens dealing with archaic RPG values. Personally, I do talk this game up. This game actually converted a lot of people into RPGers back in 93. I know almost my entire block got converted when I lent everyone this game. Yes, Lufia 2 is technically superior, but this game had a charm I think even the sequel didn't capture. I love this game. Best beginning to a JRPG I played on the SNES.

[@arrozchaufa5245]

what is the music that is between the 0:01 and 0:34 mark?

[@Crusader-m8y]

Did you ever get the name?

[@anthonystarke893]

The use of NFL Primetime music is seriously fantastic.

[@seriouslypersona968]

Love your editing Jason!!🍻🍻

[@JasonGravesPoser]

I try

[@StewNWT]

This game is awesome and one of my favourites.

[@mattcraven8214]

This channel is criminally undersubscribed to.

[@Taragas]

I've played this when it came out and the way I remember it (except for the aforementioned plot twist) is that you chase down some MacGuffin person from your current town to the next only to be greeted by the first villager saying, "He's in the next town."

[@fantome3799]

Kudos for that Game Sack reference!

[@kartavianmacrath7219]

As someone who spent HOURS grinding FF1 and this one, I loved them. I am replaying this one now. You are right, art is subjective and I understand your issues, which I considered a challenge at the time and just quirky fun now. Great video!

[@JasonGravesPoser]

You play the pixel remaster by chance?

[@kartavianmacrath7219]

@@JasonGravesPoser I have not, only the SNES versions

[@deesmith8576]

@@JasonGravesPoser lol i think the main char keep saying no to taking the elf was cus she looked like she was 5 years old when shes like age 60

[@LucasRCD]

If you're able to enjoy the original Final Fantasy, then no wonder you enjoy the first Lufia too. They both share many of the same design problems, like mechanics that aren't explained or don't work, very slow combat with attacks that don't get redirected when you kill all enemies in a group which causes you to waste actions.

[@Dhalin]

@@LucasRCD .... slow combat? Lufia 1? lol. For a turn based game, the combat is surprisingly fast-paced. And if you use half a brain cell, you should not be whiffing at air, because you should know the strength of your characters and be able to accurately predict if someone can kill an enemy or not with their next attack.

[@cerulis1]

I'm kind of willing to bet that the protagonist not wanting an elf to join the party was actually just one of the first cases of racism against elves in video games, maybe something was lost in translation. But it is interesting to that have before Lord of The Rings movies even invented the race. By the way Vulcan does make sense as a fire spell.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

perfect sense, all of it

[@zhizn_snake]

The movies didn't invent the race, the original creator of the series wrote his books about them in the 1930s, and the idea of elves existed in western folklore long before that... and vulcan to me was just short for vulcano... erm, volcano

[@LucasRCD]

Lufia was jealous of Jerin potentially becoming competition to her as a love interest for the Hero, something that happens again in Rise of the Sinistrals but with Tia towards Selan, and Aguro doesn't like Jerin because he thinks she's a brat despite her being in her late 20's. None of the other elves in the series or even in the SAME GAME get treated like this, so it's strictly because of who she is, not what she is.

[@Dhalin]

The Hero doesn't want to take Jerin, because A). she looks like a CHILD and he doesn't want to endanger a child's life, and B). Lufia instantly is jealous of her and distrustful and the Hero doesn't wanna anger Lufia and tries to avoid taking Jerin because he hopes there'd be another elf who could get them to Elfrea instead. Makes perfect sense. Has nothing to do with racism.

[@charlieg6913]

Thsnks for the spoiler warning. 😑

[@dannyhartwig7676]

Loved it. Specialy the grind.

[@Dhalin]

Not much grind at all if you simply kill everything in your path. I level up to Level 3 at the first town, and for the rest of the game, just fight everything I bump into, except for archers (their arrows attacks are cheap AF) and some instant-death enemies. I rarely have to stop and grind at all, if at all, for the rest of the game unless I'm like just shy of a new cave floor or something.

[@kajam5433]

This game seems like the game portrayed in the opening of Moon I'm a big fan of the "Final Fantasy I rules" wherein attempting to attack a now-deceased enemy results in a miss. Especially like it in the early Dragon Quests. My favorite quote of the video is "the main character is stupid or something." The world is definitely biased, and generally, when it comes to videogame discussion, I think we should embrace that bias, speaking on how we truly feel, no matter whether or not we feel what others might want us to feel. Twilight Princess is my favorite game, and a lot of the reason why is down to simple nostalgia. I have a lot of problems with the game, but can't help loving it when that main theme just steals my heart away. I'd honestly prefer my favorite game were something more interesting like Panzer Dragoon II Zwei or Dragon Quest IV or Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, but I can't deny how I feel; for whatever reasons, I love Twilight Princess best. Fortunately, those other games would all make my top 14, at least. Embracing "bias" and speaking from the heart gives us all a unique, genuine voice, and I've come to appreciate that you always present your thoughts outright. - Chad

[@AE-us5nc]

What music is at the 7:33 mark. It sounds so familiar. It's killing me I can't remember!!

[@JasonGravesPoser]

It's from NFL Primetime

[@chadmolitor6691]

"The main character is stupid or something" Best line of the review 😂

[@cdalley19791]

I loved this game solely because it was the first JRPG I ever played. However, I can't help but agree with all of your criticism in hindsight. Really appreciate the channel!

[@ChrisVsRPG]

3:44 please don’t bring up the bridge, I’m still recovering… 😢

[@elessar_till9512]

trick is a fair one, I'll give you that, but vulcan sounds like Volcan sounds very related to fire because it's the name of the god of fire for romans, the Rally cames from Revive ally, maybe they're not specificlly related to the name on first read but they actually make sense once you use them or know what they do, strong is actually a bit more confusing but not wrong at all

[@DJWeissman]

Most of those spell names make sense if you think about it for more than 2 seconds. The sequel added spell effect descriptions, though.

[@TheBoredJord]

This game looks pretty cool! I like the spritework of some of these bosses and enemies, especially the four evil ones and areas and characters are portrayed in an easily understandable way. Plot twist honestly sounds pretty sweet but shame they didn't pay it off.

[@skins4thewin]

I pretty much agree with ya man. This game feels like a warm up for what was the truly great one, aka Lufia 2. I don't think many can deny that one is a truly excellent RPG. Yeah, it has a few of the same issues as this one aka secluded towns has issue, solve issue, move on, repeat, but that's pretty much it's one single significant issue. There is just SO much to love about Lufia 2! Literally everything was MASSIVELY improved compared to the first game.

[@Dhalin]

The problem with Lufia 2, was a) the battle system is worse, being a standard and boring turn-based system that was way slower, b). braindead easy, the only challenges are finishing the cave and beating Gades on your first encounter with him, and c). the normal battle theme, which you will be hearing often in both games, is way better in #1.

[@skins4thewin]

@@Dhalin Well, that is certainly a hot take. I'd say you're definitely in the minority there. But you're more than entitled to your opinion, nothing wrong w that. Music can be subjective.

[@Dhalin]

@@skins4thewin So you're trying to tell me that Lufia 2 _isn't_ braindead easy compared to the first game, and that the battle system isn't slower and less interesting because they went from an ATB system to a pure turn-based system? Now, granted maybe the thing about the music is subjective, but if you compare the two songs side by side, the music in #1 is far more upbeat and faster in tempo which is an actual fact.

[@thatminimalisttrainer]

Nothing wrong with your review and spoilers. I ❤ reviewers giving their own views and I don't see anything wrong with spoilers given at the beginning. I ❤ Lufia but I recognise everything you've talked about. We are mature individuals to know different view points.

[@monkshoodable]

Orange? Is Lufia in the Netherlands?

[@razmeanie4519]

I think I've played this like 4 times, to completion at least once. The opening is the only part I remember. Everything from this game has just slipped off my mind.

[@bluespaceman7937]

I only played the first Lufia relatively late in the SNES era, but still at a point when a basic JRPG with a mix of charming elements was a decent experience. I'm not bothered by the stereotypical parts of the story and characters. Yes, Lufia 2 is a better game, but it's the result of iteration. They already had a cool prologue concept ready even at this stage.

[@notyoursavior78]

Recent comments seem so angry. I actually like this game a lot more than the second (yes I am one of those weirdos) but the style of this guy's reviews is still vibing with me. Surprised how he never said that every dungeon is just a maze. No puzzles, just mazes and a high encounter rate. That was fine with me, it was such a colorful snes game and the music ruled. Doubt I'd want to play this again this year but back in 20fuck10 or so I'd be down still.

[@StarDragonJP]

Vulcan is the Roman god of fire, so it being the name of a fire spell makes sense, but definitely some of the others are confusing as to why they used the names.

[@Dhalin]

Rally makes sense, because someone got knocked down and you rally them back up onto their feet. Strong/Stronger, eh. Maybe when they get wounded, they are considered to be losing strength which you would if you were to get wounded, so you're making them strong again by healing their wounds? /shrug the Fake and Trick thing are... weird, well, the Fake thing might be more of a Feint thing, like you bait the enemy into attacking you making you seem more agile and able to dodge? And maybe Trick raising ATP is like... Trick attacks aka Cheap Shots doing more damage?

[@Dhalin]

@ 6:45 Oh, but you CAN grind for levels and open up the floors. Takes forever, but if you do, you completely trivialize the rest of the game. You know that boss you have to solo with the hero? Wouldn't it be awesome if you could 2-shot him with the sword on the bottom floor? I've done that, it's funny AF.

[@deedoubs]

Whoa. Did Cloud just kill the monster from Ski Free?

[@KokoroNoSama]

I was hoping lufia no clothes hack 😭

[@frionelhero]

The abominable snowman from that skiing game is the stuff of nightmares

[@olemanshavadoo7893]

Lufia 2 was so good. The reboot is super fun too. Also I loved super ninja boy. If you fudged the save codes by one character like replacing an “F” with a “5” it would give you the maximum amount of money and a few other things.

[@Chelaxim]

Lufia, Parasite Eve and Star Ocean the trinity of JRPG franchises with only one good game yet people still get mad when a new one isn't good.

[@Konuvis]

"people talk this game up" *crickets* LOL!!!

[@clydecash5659]

My only issue with the story not so much the game is that the main character you play in the beginning is really full of himself.

[@Dekent]

Lufia 1 is the most mediocre of mediocre of SNES rpgs.....buuut...it gave rise to the sequel which was one of the best, easily up there with the offerings of Square/Enix at the time.

[@ninjasteve22]

Wait you hate Super Ninja Boy too?

[@barneystinson4289]

LUFIA 2 REVIEW WHEN

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Some time before the end of next week

[@songshungama5288]

Lufia 2 is one of my fav games

[@Fonz128]

I’m not big on jrpg’s. The only JRPG’s I really liked are Nintendo’s JRPG’s.

[@b.benjamineriksson6030]

I always wanted to play this game when I was a child 😮

[@Datenshi-Beats]

Agree on a lot of points, especially this just being a Dragon Quest wanabe + Mystic Quest art style. There is nothing original but the plot and music. I'm a sucker for OSTs but the encounter rate is fuckin ridiculous, even with sweet water whole game. What I don't agree is you recommending worse games lol.

[@bluespaceman7937]

The encounter rate was definitely the worst part of the game. Everything else I can either appreciate or at least tolerate.

[@flameguy21]

Whoa, that's a REALLY cool twi--- oh, nevermind.

[@megamike15]

i always felt everything this game did story wise lunar 1 did better. and that game did not come out till later on.

[@ectoplasm]

The only thing that ever stood out about Lufia to me was the music and I was always real disappointed that guy didn't do too much more, but I suppose it's better to stop when you've run out of ideas vs just sort of defecating out the same sort of nonsense like that ancient guy that always did the music for Dragon Quest (nothing against DQ, I just always found the music incredibl grating). Lufia 2, based on my hazy recollection from 20 years ago, had more puzzle-based dungeons so it was a bit more of an experience, but it didn't fall all that far from the Lufia tree.

[@TsukiStuffs]

this games alright. the sequel, however, is one of the greatest games on the entire snes.

[@RoninCatholic]

I think your main character is just racist against elves. That would explain the seeming stupid of his behavior, he's just doing the boy version of astrology.

[@ExplorerAUDIO]

Thanks for the massive Spoilers without warning!

[@rkcoon]

Id love to play more JRPGs but i cannot stand anything turn based. That's why, or at least one of the reasons i loved the original Tales of Symphonia. Fantastic story coupled with excellent 2.5D real time combat.

[@Marinanor]

Eh as I love jrpgs so much some of this sounds like a positive review

[@PhukYu2]

Damn. Would have loved that. Complete nudity I mean :(

[@charlene2400]

I really liked this game, but it had obvious faults. Then again, I tend to be more into the problem games.

[@knifeteeth]

The tedium...thanks. Can't wait for FF6.

[@knifeteeth]

Be gentle.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Me either!

[@evenoddprime]

This game was so mid that I’ve never tried the sequel everyone apparently loves.

[@montefisto]

So... In a 10 minute review video, not only did you feel the need to go hard into spoilers, but you felt that the best time to do so was 50 seconds into the review. I stepped away for a second to do laundry for like, a second and had you spoil the game. I like quite a few of your videos, but this is one of your worst, legitimately. Please reconsider your format, I expect spoilers in a 30+ minute video essay, not in a micro-review.

[@atprofessional5714]

Lmao! Too soon?

[@RustyShackleford-hq2mr]

Did you not watch his SECOND review where he outlined FF4?

[@TheCubicleReview2]

You were never going to play it and you probably still havent. Go away.​@@RustyShackleford-hq2mr

[@SuperCrunched]

Can’t believe you would spoil the fact that he spoils the game. I wanted to discover this on my own.

[@sleepydragonzarinthal3533]

Except you stepped away, thats on you. Plus the game is ancient, so who cares. Anyone watching the video realized what was about to happen.

[@opaljk4835]

Wait so basically the second game was a remake with everything made better

[@AnarickTheDevil]

No the second game is a prequel.

[@opaljk4835]

@@AnarickTheDevil I know, it’s more about concept and gameplay than the story, is what I meant.