Lufia & the Fortress of Doom

Infobox VG
title = Lufia & the Fortress of Doom


developer = Neverland
publisher = Taito
designer =
engine =
released = ^JPN 25 June, 1993
^NA December, 1993
genre = RPG
modes = Single player
ratings =
platforms = SNES
media = 8-megabit cartridge
requirements = nihongo|"Lufia & the Fortress of Doom"|エストポリス伝記|officially translated as Biography Estpolis is an RPG with puzzle elements developed by Neverland and published by Taito in 1993, for the Super Nintendo. It is the first title in the "Lufia" series of video games.

Story

The story of "Lufia & the Fortress of Doom" begins, in accordance with an ancient prophecy of the Lufia world, with a massive floating island with a large castle located on it emerging into the sky one dark day. Dubbed the "Fortress of Doom", this castle served as the base of operations for a group of all-powerful beings known as the Sinistrals, who planned to use their strength to bring the world to its knees.

In response, the people sent four of their bravest warriors: Maxim, Selan ("Serena" in Estopolis Denki), Artea ("Arty" in Estopolis Denki), and Guy, to infiltrate the dark fortress and destroy the Sinistrals before they could do any harm. The game begins with the player controlling these characters as they prepare to engage the Sinistrals, and eventually defeat them. However, after the battle, the fortress begins to collapse, with Maxim and Selan becoming trapped on the other side of a deep chasm that formed when the Sinistral throne room split apart. Unable to teleport them to safety, Artea and Guy left the falling island alone, and their trapped allies apparently perished when it crashed into the earth below.

Peace reigns for ninety years after the heroes' encounter with the Sinistrals, and the actual game begins nine years after that. The story is told from the perspective of a red-haired boy the player is in charge of naming, and along the way he gets caught up in a struggle to save the world once again from the newly emerged Sinistral army.

Gameplay

"Lufia & the Fortress of Doom" plays much like a traditional RPG and features 2D character sprites and environments. The player advances the story by travelling through several harsh dungeons, encountering monsters along the way. These battles occur randomly (every few steps or so) or in scripted situations, and winning them yields experience points that go towards leveling up the characters, giving them access to new abilities and making them stronger in the process. The battles themselves take place from a first-person perspective, and require the player to use each character's strengths, such as physical attacks or magic use, as in many other mainstream RPGs.

An interesting quirk in the battle system, reminiscent of older RPGs like the original "Final Fantasy", makes it such that if you order two characters to attack a particular enemy, and the first character defeats the enemy, the second character's attack will still target the defeated enemy and thus miss. Thus foresight is required to make sure that no characters' battle moves are wasted, unlike other RPGs, where other enemies will be targeted if the intended enemy has already been defeated.

Puzzles are often used throughout the game and must be solved in order to advance. They range from moving blocks around a room into certain patterns to solving riddles posed by the games NPCs. Many dungeons have doors which cannot be opened unless a puzzle within the room is solved. If a player ever finds himself unable to complete the puzzle, or has no way to continue it due to an error they have made, exiting the room and re-entering it will reset all the components back to their original position.

New equipment and restorative items are purchased from vendors in various towns, or found in chests scattered throughout the world. The player's progress is saved in one of three available slots on the cartridge's built-in battery back-up system by speaking to a priest at a church found in most towns.

Characters

Playable characters

"The Hero" The primary character of the story that the player gets to name. He grew up in a small town of Alekia and was raised by a man named Roman, a friend of his father who had died in a battle long ago. Very skilled in swordplay, The Hero prefers to fight in close quarters, and wears heavy armor, though he does have some degree of magical skill. He is said to be a descendant of the great hero Maxim who vanquished the Sinistrals and saved the world.

Lufia The Hero's best friend who he's known since childhood. She is bossy, but proficient in spellcasting. She has a romantic interest in The Hero and helps him in any way she can. She fights with wands and other lightweight weapons such as flails and even frying pans.

Aguro Leader of the army of the nation of Lorbenia, Aguro is a hardened warrior who is interested in the Hero's fighting ability. Having no skill in magic, he instead relies on his brute strength and skill with swords, axes and lances. He, like the Hero, can equip heavy armor to increase his defense.

Jerin A half-elf who, because of her heritage, has an increased lifespan and actually appears younger than she is. Agile, and good with magic, Jerin prefers to fight at a distance, using either a bow and arrow or wands in combat.

Non-playable characters

The Sinistrals: A group of four powerful, god-like warriors who plan on taking over the world. From their floating Fortress of Doom, they gathered their strength, only to be defeated by Maxim and his friends years ago. Their ranks include Gades, Master of Destruction, an over-bearing and proud warrior clad in dark armor; Amon, Master of Chaos, a resourceful man who wears gold armor and wields a trident; Erim, Mistress of Death, who can revive any of her brothers if they fall in combat; and Daos, Master of Terror, their leader, an incredibly powerful sorcerer.

Development

Reception

The game has received mixed reviews since its initial release. Some people reflect on it fondly for its story and characters, others criticize it as being inferior to other console RPGs of that era such as "Secret of Mana" or the "Final Fantasy" titles. Game Rankings gives it a score of 71 out of a possible 100 by averaging the ratings of several online sourcesref|gamerankings.

Megadrive version

Taito originally planned to release a port of "Lufia & the Fortress of Doom" to the Sega Genesis/Megadrive, but cancelled the project sometime early in its developmentref|megadrive.

References

#" [http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/588452.asp GameRankings "Lufia & the Fortress of Doom" Review] ". [http://www.gamerankings.com/ Game Rankings] . 2005. Last accessed May 09, 2005.
#" [http://forfeit.electromaz.com/lufia1/news/ "Lufia & the Fortress of Doom" Turns Ten] . [http://forfeit.electromaz.com/ Forfeit Island] . 2003. Last accessed May 09, 2005.

External links

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* [http://lufia.rpgplanet.gamespy.com/133/lufia-and-the-fortress-of-doom.php Lufia World "Lufia & the Fortress of Doom" Section at GameSpy.com]
* [http://www.lufia.net/ Lufia dot Net]
* [http://www.ancientcave.com/ AncientCave.com - a Lufia Fansite]