Adenine
The biggest issue with Lufia I was how redundant is was past its 5 first hours, being stuck with its long chain of fetch quests which hardly related to the main story, which is a shame considering how nice the dialogues were when they were any.
Lufia II, its prequel, feels like it understood in more ways than one how monotonous the first game was. It feels like every improvements and changes made to this game was an answer to this, and I can't help but compare them.
A lot more dialogues, better characterization, dungeons with actual level design obviously borrowed from ALTTP and no more random encounters inside them, etc, etc.. This game screams "We don't want you, the player, to be bored".
And for the most part, it works. As I said, the dungeons are the obvious exemples of these changes. You have access to tools in order to progress in rooms filled with puzzles in contrast to the aimless roaming in Lufia 1, meaning surviving isn't the only goal now, you actually get rewarded for thinking hard enough, with better equipments or even Capsule Monsters, which are additionnal party members you can't control but can come handy. Thanksfully, no random encounters mean you can move around and solve these riddles without too much worries, a change that may seems obvious today but clearly shows hindsight for the time it was released. You still alternate between towns and dungeons to move the story forward, but now it feels less like a chore and more like " I'm looking forward to the next dungeon " for most of the time. In term of design, some of these puzzles can be tedious, but that's not the majority, especially considering how Lufia II is the first JRPG to my knowledge with dungeons like this.
Lufia I and II share the same structure too, but there's much more dialogues now, stuff I would consider boring fetch-quests in Lufia 1 are now funny little antics making me grow attached to the characters (it's always funny to see Guy and Dekar interact), balancing the more serious and touching bits of the story. Not to mention if you played Lufia 1, you know how the story will end, it's interesting to see how the game try to bait us with characters that come and go in your party, before the final confrontation against the Sinistrals mirroring the brilliant intro of Lufia 1.
With all that being said, man am I glad to have played the first Lufia before this one. In its quest to be a more pleasant experience than its predecessor, I can't help but think some things were lost. Take the battle system, I actually really liked how you had to think before acting in Lufia I because of the game choosing for you which ennemy you will hit when targeting a specific group, combined with the game not changing target when hitting a dead ennemy. Don't get me wrong, Fortress of Doom was a tedious grindfest 50% of the time, but when that was done, random encounters were actually dangerous and fun. In Lufia II, the battle system was streamlined to something more traditionnal, you can target ennemies precisely with no downsides whatsoever like most JRPGs at the time, and while the IP system giving special abilities depending on your equipment is an interesting idea, in practice, battles are far easier and somewhat more boring than in the first game. An other thing to consider is that the progression is way more linear than Lufia 1, you simply won't get lost most of the time. It's not like the first game wasn't linear too, but you could visit 2 or 3 towns simultaneously in some parts, which is just not the case in Rise of the Sinistrals. Personally, I like getting lost in JRPG, it gives a slower pace and feels like time is actually passing, making some relationship and events more credibles. Everything in Lufia 2 might happens a bit too quickly for my taste, such as how Selan fall in love with Maxim.
I don't want to spend too much time comparing the two games, but I wanted to give some response to the " skip Lufia 1 and play Rise of the Sinistrals ". In most parts, Lufia 2 is clearly the better game, but I feel like sometimes it lacks a bit of atmosphere in order to lives up to the " hidden gem" status i've read a lot. Maybe I wouldn't have minded spending a little less time in dungeons in exchange for more interesting events happening in towns or the worldmap.
Still, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals was a solid experience, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much the developpers really wanted the players to have a good time with this title, whever it's for its fun mecanics or its extremly charming writing. I didn't even mention the Ancient cave, a 99 randomly generated levels dungeon in which your party is reset to level 1 with no equipments in the beggining. Yes, a totally optionnal roguelike in your 1995 JRPG.
Anyway, if you like JRPGs of this era, it's still a must play, but try to finish Lufia I before.
Lufia II, its prequel, feels like it understood in more ways than one how monotonous the first game was. It feels like every improvements and changes made to this game was an answer to this, and I can't help but compare them.
A lot more dialogues, better characterization, dungeons with actual level design obviously borrowed from ALTTP and no more random encounters inside them, etc, etc.. This game screams "We don't want you, the player, to be bored".
And for the most part, it works. As I said, the dungeons are the obvious exemples of these changes. You have access to tools in order to progress in rooms filled with puzzles in contrast to the aimless roaming in Lufia 1, meaning surviving isn't the only goal now, you actually get rewarded for thinking hard enough, with better equipments or even Capsule Monsters, which are additionnal party members you can't control but can come handy. Thanksfully, no random encounters mean you can move around and solve these riddles without too much worries, a change that may seems obvious today but clearly shows hindsight for the time it was released. You still alternate between towns and dungeons to move the story forward, but now it feels less like a chore and more like " I'm looking forward to the next dungeon " for most of the time. In term of design, some of these puzzles can be tedious, but that's not the majority, especially considering how Lufia II is the first JRPG to my knowledge with dungeons like this.
Lufia I and II share the same structure too, but there's much more dialogues now, stuff I would consider boring fetch-quests in Lufia 1 are now funny little antics making me grow attached to the characters (it's always funny to see Guy and Dekar interact), balancing the more serious and touching bits of the story. Not to mention if you played Lufia 1, you know how the story will end, it's interesting to see how the game try to bait us with characters that come and go in your party, before the final confrontation against the Sinistrals mirroring the brilliant intro of Lufia 1.
With all that being said, man am I glad to have played the first Lufia before this one. In its quest to be a more pleasant experience than its predecessor, I can't help but think some things were lost. Take the battle system, I actually really liked how you had to think before acting in Lufia I because of the game choosing for you which ennemy you will hit when targeting a specific group, combined with the game not changing target when hitting a dead ennemy. Don't get me wrong, Fortress of Doom was a tedious grindfest 50% of the time, but when that was done, random encounters were actually dangerous and fun. In Lufia II, the battle system was streamlined to something more traditionnal, you can target ennemies precisely with no downsides whatsoever like most JRPGs at the time, and while the IP system giving special abilities depending on your equipment is an interesting idea, in practice, battles are far easier and somewhat more boring than in the first game. An other thing to consider is that the progression is way more linear than Lufia 1, you simply won't get lost most of the time. It's not like the first game wasn't linear too, but you could visit 2 or 3 towns simultaneously in some parts, which is just not the case in Rise of the Sinistrals. Personally, I like getting lost in JRPG, it gives a slower pace and feels like time is actually passing, making some relationship and events more credibles. Everything in Lufia 2 might happens a bit too quickly for my taste, such as how Selan fall in love with Maxim.
I don't want to spend too much time comparing the two games, but I wanted to give some response to the " skip Lufia 1 and play Rise of the Sinistrals ". In most parts, Lufia 2 is clearly the better game, but I feel like sometimes it lacks a bit of atmosphere in order to lives up to the " hidden gem" status i've read a lot. Maybe I wouldn't have minded spending a little less time in dungeons in exchange for more interesting events happening in towns or the worldmap.
Still, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals was a solid experience, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much the developpers really wanted the players to have a good time with this title, whever it's for its fun mecanics or its extremly charming writing. I didn't even mention the Ancient cave, a 99 randomly generated levels dungeon in which your party is reset to level 1 with no equipments in the beggining. Yes, a totally optionnal roguelike in your 1995 JRPG.
Anyway, if you like JRPGs of this era, it's still a must play, but try to finish Lufia I before.
does not look like a n64 game
despite some tedious sections in its second half, there's something with how the story plays out between the really great introduction and the emotional ending that makes Lufia quite endearing
Penny’s Big Breakaway is a game I was looking forward to ever since it was announced: a 3D platformer made by some of the Sonic Mania devs and above all, the promise of a game revolving around interesting physics-based level design and controls. An ambitious project behind the cutesy aesthetic, and while I found the end result to be promising, it suffers from some limitations.
In addition to the usual controls in this type of game, Penny can perform 3 different actions: A dash, allowing the character to redirect her trajectory wherever on the ground or in the air, the possibility to use her yo-yo to swing around while midair and gain momentum depending on the timing with which you release the button, and mounting it on the ground, using the speed built with the two previous actions to roll. In term of controls, perhaps Penny feels a little less versatile than what I first thought looking at the trailers, and the main gameplay loop is a bit obvious, but she’s still incredibly fun to maneuver around. There's almost no automation and the degrees of freedom associated with these actions are respected. There is a certain margin for improvement in these sequences, which are necessary to master, as Penny is much slower and, above all, less interesting to control without them. I can't stress enough how good swinging and building momentum feels after understanding these mecanics and this is without a doubt where PBB shines. I should also note the presence of a scoring system which gives you points the more you link these actions without touching the ground directly, but since you can just stop somewhere and chain figures without moving forward, I found it a bit wonky.
The game is divided in multiple worlds, with level design that complement these qualities well. Slopes, jumps or looping, that can be used ingeniously depending on the speed you have upon reaching them, can reveal different passages rewarding the player understanding the core mechanics, in addition to the shortcuts that naturally emerges from this kind of game. When well mastered, Penny brings back a feeling of spontaneity and improvisation, reminiscent of the 2D Sonic philosophy from which this title obviously draws its inspiration. Adding to this, the charming visuals which mostly consist of simple shapes allowing for good readability with clever use of colors giving this game a unique personality makes for a pleasant experience.
To convey these ideas, PBB choose to use fairly open stages structured with side quests (which mostly do a good job at staying on your path while keeping your speed) and collectibles to get more points, and to opt for a fixed camera that guides the player thorough the level. For me, this is when things get tricky. While this design choice certainly makes for a very functional (at least in theory, more on that later) and easy-to-grasp game, it prevents it from really varying itself across each levels, the laters sharing very similar geometry beyond the few nuances that differentiate them on a smaller scale (presence of hazards such as fire, or different gimmicks depending on the world you’re in), and even the sidequests are in reality extremely similar between each levels, making it hard for them to really stand out. This isn’t to say that the level design is uninspired, far from it, PBB certainly feels smooth and goes straight to the point. I understand the choice to go for this safer approach especially for a first game with a small budget, still, I can’t help but sometimes feel like something more substantial could have emerged from this concept and the lack of striking thematic elements across levels can be felt when playing over longer sessions. In fact, a small look at the unlockable bonus stages shows that the devs understand how intricate levels could be with Penny’s movement. With all that being said, optimizing different routes with this kind of mechanics and level design is still a pleasure I can definitely enjoy after beating the game, though I wish the time attack mode was more flourished (there’s no quick restart and you can’t save replays). From what I’ve seen, shortcuts appear naturally without the need to do some crazy out-of-bound stuff, which is a good sign, showing that Penny’s movements and level design alone are enough to bring richness to the game.
Penny’s Big Breakaway sometimes feels like it could have been much more, an impression that is reinforced by the many glitches you can run into (far from making the game unplayable, but still present), its so-so presentation outside of gameplay, or its mediocre to atrocious boss battles (seriously, you can’t give us the traditional “hit this boss 3 times” with this kind of movements), but the overall experience is great and I really want to give my praises to a new 3D platformer that is actually good. I wouldn’t mind a more polished follow-up to this game, and I have trust in Evening Star for the future.
In addition to the usual controls in this type of game, Penny can perform 3 different actions: A dash, allowing the character to redirect her trajectory wherever on the ground or in the air, the possibility to use her yo-yo to swing around while midair and gain momentum depending on the timing with which you release the button, and mounting it on the ground, using the speed built with the two previous actions to roll. In term of controls, perhaps Penny feels a little less versatile than what I first thought looking at the trailers, and the main gameplay loop is a bit obvious, but she’s still incredibly fun to maneuver around. There's almost no automation and the degrees of freedom associated with these actions are respected. There is a certain margin for improvement in these sequences, which are necessary to master, as Penny is much slower and, above all, less interesting to control without them. I can't stress enough how good swinging and building momentum feels after understanding these mecanics and this is without a doubt where PBB shines. I should also note the presence of a scoring system which gives you points the more you link these actions without touching the ground directly, but since you can just stop somewhere and chain figures without moving forward, I found it a bit wonky.
The game is divided in multiple worlds, with level design that complement these qualities well. Slopes, jumps or looping, that can be used ingeniously depending on the speed you have upon reaching them, can reveal different passages rewarding the player understanding the core mechanics, in addition to the shortcuts that naturally emerges from this kind of game. When well mastered, Penny brings back a feeling of spontaneity and improvisation, reminiscent of the 2D Sonic philosophy from which this title obviously draws its inspiration. Adding to this, the charming visuals which mostly consist of simple shapes allowing for good readability with clever use of colors giving this game a unique personality makes for a pleasant experience.
To convey these ideas, PBB choose to use fairly open stages structured with side quests (which mostly do a good job at staying on your path while keeping your speed) and collectibles to get more points, and to opt for a fixed camera that guides the player thorough the level. For me, this is when things get tricky. While this design choice certainly makes for a very functional (at least in theory, more on that later) and easy-to-grasp game, it prevents it from really varying itself across each levels, the laters sharing very similar geometry beyond the few nuances that differentiate them on a smaller scale (presence of hazards such as fire, or different gimmicks depending on the world you’re in), and even the sidequests are in reality extremely similar between each levels, making it hard for them to really stand out. This isn’t to say that the level design is uninspired, far from it, PBB certainly feels smooth and goes straight to the point. I understand the choice to go for this safer approach especially for a first game with a small budget, still, I can’t help but sometimes feel like something more substantial could have emerged from this concept and the lack of striking thematic elements across levels can be felt when playing over longer sessions. In fact, a small look at the unlockable bonus stages shows that the devs understand how intricate levels could be with Penny’s movement. With all that being said, optimizing different routes with this kind of mechanics and level design is still a pleasure I can definitely enjoy after beating the game, though I wish the time attack mode was more flourished (there’s no quick restart and you can’t save replays). From what I’ve seen, shortcuts appear naturally without the need to do some crazy out-of-bound stuff, which is a good sign, showing that Penny’s movements and level design alone are enough to bring richness to the game.
Penny’s Big Breakaway sometimes feels like it could have been much more, an impression that is reinforced by the many glitches you can run into (far from making the game unplayable, but still present), its so-so presentation outside of gameplay, or its mediocre to atrocious boss battles (seriously, you can’t give us the traditional “hit this boss 3 times” with this kind of movements), but the overall experience is great and I really want to give my praises to a new 3D platformer that is actually good. I wouldn’t mind a more polished follow-up to this game, and I have trust in Evening Star for the future.
almost as good as Gold and Silver but you can't get mareep