Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (2024)

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, known as Estpolis Denki II (エストポリス伝記II, Esutoporisu Denki II) in Japan, and as simply Lufia in Europe and Australia, is an RPG game with puzzle elements developed by Neverland and published in Japan in 1995 by Taito, and in North America and Europe in 1996 by Natsume and Nintendo respectively, for the SNES.

The game is a prequel to . It follows the story of the first main character's ancestor, Maxim, and explains the origins of the war between mankind and a group of gods called the Sinistrals. Lufia II made a number of changes from the first game. Dungeons no longer have random encounters and there are hundreds of puzzles throughout the game, ranging from simple to extremely challenging. It also introduced new skills, such as a variety of weapons that could be used to stun monsters or solve puzzles, and IP attacks.

Gameplay[]

Battle System[]

Battles in Lufia II remain as turn-based, through a party formed of four characters. A new addition is the IP (Ikari Power) Gauge, which builds over time as a character receives damage; allowing them to unleash a special technique through a piece of equipment.

Capsule Monsters[]

Capsule Monsters are a new addition, allowing the player to be assisted by a fifth AI-controlled party member. Capsule Monsters are found scattered across the world, and can evolve up to four times through feeding of items. Up to seven Monsters exist, each of them corresponding to an element.

Ancient Cave[]

The Ancient Cave of returns, massively improved, acting as a sidedungeon of 99 randomly generated floors where the player can acquire powerful equipment. Levels in the Ancient Cave are reset to 1, while all equipment is removed except for few items.

Scenario Content[]

Characters[]

Main[]

• Maxim: A lifelong monster hunter of Elcid, and an avid adventurer. His uniquely red hair seems to be hiding something special...
• Selan: Commander of the Parcelyte forces. Her fate intertwines with the one of Maxim; as both are meant for a great heroic deed.
• Guy: The friendly villager from Tanbel, and a battle maniac. It appears he longs for a great adventure.
• Arty: An aloof elf from Eserikto who joins Maxim's cause after certain incident.

Secondary[]

• Iris: A wandering seer. It appears she was sent to keep watch over a certain individual...
• Tia: Maxim's friend, who runs a shop at Elcid.
• Dekar: The strongest fighter of the world, hailing from Bound Kingdom.
• Lexis: A genius inventor living near Treadool.
• Milka: Arty's younger sister, and the reason for his resolve to join Maxim.

Villains[]

• Daos: Master of Terror, and head of the Sinistrals. He longs for a single thing: prove the superiority of his peers over mankind.
• Erim: Mistress of Death, and envoy of The Absolute. Her journey will eventually provide The Absolute with the answer he sorely needed.
• Gades: Master of Destruction. He wishes nothing but to cause unlimited destruction on the lands of Lufia.
• Amon: Master of Chaos, and the deft tactician of the Sinistrals.
• Idura: The stubborn servant of Amon.
• Camu: Henchman of Gades.

Others[]

• Arek: Also known as The Absolute, Arek appears to oversee the progress of the world. Through the Dual Blade, he aims to know if divine intervention is still a necessity, and whether humans are worthy or not to be the masters of the lands of Lufia.
• Jeros: The young son of Maxim and Selan.
• Hilda: Guy's sister, and also part of his reason to fight.
• Karyn: Milka's mother and martyr of Eserikto.
• Alex: The prince of Bound Kingdom, and an avid bluntheaded adventurer. He admires Dekar.
• Eric: Prince of Gratze, and inheritor of its ancient knowledge. Little he knows that Gratze will soon be the scenario of the arrival of a shadowy figure...

Story[]

Gameplay Content[]

Equipment[]

• Weapons
• Armor
• Items

Spells and Skills[]

• White Magic
• Black Magic
• IP Techniques

Monsters[]

• Enemies
• Bosses

Locations[]

• Towns
• Dungeons

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals[]

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS, is a reboot/re-imagining of the game, which attempted to revive the series after a long hiatus since the release of Lufia: The Ruins of Lore. Being a heavy rework of the original game, many of the changes were not well received; as such the game received a mediocre reception and low sales, ultimately ending with a heavy hit to Neverland, which would lead to their bankruptcy in 2013.

Regional Differences[]

The title opening in the North American release features the Natsume Serious Fun logo followed up with it Taito and Licensed by Nintendo text while in the European version it features the giant red Nintendo logo along with the Taito logo.

In the video introduction in the North American version features Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals animation title screen video opening, While in the European version features Lufia with the Taito Corporations All Rights Reserved copyright.

In both the North American and European releases, many of the churches and the priests miter hats have the Christian crosses removed or replaced by Obelisks. However, in the ruined towns of Gordovan, Agurio, and Chaed, the crosses are still present in the ruined churches despite the no religion policy by Nintendo.

The girls at the Forfeit Island Casino had their bunny costumes changed to normal dresses. However, references to the bunny hat, bunny armor and bikini armor remain unchanged.

Some of the weapons, armor, and items use the word holy even in the North American version.

Nudity is present in Capsule Monsters such as the Cupid and the Fish Head, which have their buttocks exposed. It's unknown how this got past the Nintendo censorship.

Glitches[]

In the Submarine Shrine you can see that the room is glitched up. Also, on the 99th floor of the Ancient Cave the room is also glitched up. This is only seen in the North American release.

Gallery[]

tbc

Trivia[]

• This is the first game to feature an Ancient Cave which had randomly generated rooms. Lufia: The Legend Returns would also have this feature.
• This is a prequel to Lufia and the Fortress of Doom. It would also become the prequel to Lufia: The Ruins of Lore
• This is the first Lufia game to use tools like those in The Legend of Zelda series.
• The game was set to receive a prequel titled Lufia: Beginning of a Legend, apparently set to be released for the Playstation 2. It was silently cancelled for unknown reasons.

Navigation[]

Template:RoS Nav