Square Enix working on a new Lufia

F-Zero_Racer

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/12/square-enix-announces-new-lufia-game-platforms-unknown/




This is actually very surprising for me, considering I had thought Lufia to be long dead by now. It was by far one of my favorite game series though, and I grew up on the original Lufia and its sequel/prequel.

I'm actually wondering if it's going to be an all new game in the series, or possibly a remake for the DS. Really can't wait to see how this turns out.

Buttcleft

Once more we wield the Dual Blade to destroy that which itself wishes destruction of the world at large?

Superb.

Fig-D

Lufia II was one of the great RPGs of the outstanding 16-bit RPG era. This should be interesting.

Bartholamue

I'm calling it getting a DS release.

Viraletan

My favourite ever game is Lufia II.

Is... Is today my birthday? And Christmas? At the same time?

Aroduc

Technically, Taito's working on it. And hopefully it's better than the last two because they were fucking terrible.

Maz-

Holy fucking shit.
Awesome news.

Lufia 2 one of my favorite RPGs ever..hopefully this will live up to it.

MinionOfCthulhu

If it's better than the GBA Lufia, I'm all up in this.

Foomy

woo good news indeed.

wonder when it'll be out, hopefully we won't have to wait years for it.

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Hopefully they bring back the puzzles.

Those fucking puzzles.

The Wolfman

Kinda weird though. I didn't know S-E aquired the rights to Lufia.

Ah well. 1 was fun, if not a little tough and punishing (Hi there, FF1 targeting system... bleh). 2 was awesome. 3 on the GBC was decent enough. And the GBA one from what I heard may have been called "Random McRPG" for all it had conneced to the previous plots.

In other words... bring back the Sinistrals, or GTFO.

Slicer

Aroduc wrote: »

Technically, Taito's working on it. And hopefully it's better than the last two because they were fucking terrible.

Seriously. They were such a disappointment.

Gonna be cautiously optimistic about this one though. Now I just need a new Ogre Battle and my nostalgic RPG thirst shall be quenched.

Fencingsax

I never really liked the way battles worked in Lufia. I don't know why.

Also I hated Ogre Battle because I was obsessed with which units were the best, and which alignment I wanted and so on, so I restarted the game about 50 billion times. I can't remember if I ever finished.

SirUltimos

I grew up with Lufia 1 and am currently playing Lufia 2. You can colour me excited.

And I'm totally calling that it 's for the DS.

Aroduc

My favorite Ogre Battle memory was the one time that I got a Blood Kiss in the second battle. Then the insane vampire stat growth kicked in and by about battle 5, I had an untouchable god. He also cost as much alone to deploy as it cost to deploy about two full other units, but he greatly amused me. His name was Rat, and he was fabulous.

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I always camped the base city with my main dudes and levelled the shit out of them. I know the game tells you not to, but fuck that. The only other units I ever deployed were fast, cheap ones I could use to capture and explore while I went to fight the boss.

SirUltimos

The Wolfman wrote: »

Kinda weird though. I didn't know S-E aquired the rights to Lufia.

Ah well. 1 was fun, if not a little tough and punishing (Hi there, FF1 targeting system... bleh). 2 was awesome. 3 on the GBC was decent enough. And the GBA one from what I heard may have been called "Random McRPG" for all it had conneced to the previous plots.

In other words... bring back the Sinistrals, or GTFO.

They got the rights to Lufia when they bought Taito.

Izanagi-Okami

Is Lufia the game that a giant robot that was standing over a river with two towns on either side that was also a dungeon?

I remember playing a game like that on the SNES and for some reason think it's Lufia.

Zephyr_Fate

It's been confirmed for DS by people on NeoGAF.

Henroid

I never got around to beating Lufia 2 despite how far I was getting in it. And I never played Lufia the first. But part 2 was a blast. This is good news.

Nerdtendo

Aww... Can't we get a chocobo or moogle shaped luffa too?

Slicer

Izanagi-Okami wrote: »

Is Lufia the game that a giant robot that was standing over a river with two towns on either side that was also a dungeon?

I remember playing a game like that on the SNES and for some reason think it's Lufia.

I think that's the first Breath of Fire.

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Izanagi-Okami wrote: »

Is Lufia the game that a giant robot that was standing over a river with two towns on either side that was also a dungeon?

I remember playing a game like that on the SNES and for some reason think it's Lufia.

There was a giant robot in the first Breath of Fire game, it's probably that.

Fencingsax

Page- wrote: »

Izanagi-Okami wrote: »

Is Lufia the game that a giant robot that was standing over a river with two towns on either side that was also a dungeon?

I remember playing a game like that on the SNES and for some reason think it's Lufia.

There was a giant robot in the first Breath of Fire game, it's probably that.

I had that on GBA. I couldn't not use Boomerang.

chrono_traveller

This is going waaaay back into the memory banks, but wasn't Lufia (or Lufia 2) the one where you started off the game as your kickass ancestors through the "final dungeon", kill the bad guy, then fast forward to x centuries later to play the protagonists of the game? I seem to remember this as being Lufia, but I could be wrong.

The Wolfman

chrono_traveller wrote: »

This is going waaaay back into the memory banks, but wasn't Lufia (or Lufia 2) the one where you started off the game as your kickass ancestors through the "final dungeon", kill the bad guy, then fast forward to x centuries later to play the protagonists of the game? I seem to remember this as being Lufia, but I could be wrong.

Yup, that was Lufia 1.

And Lufia 2 was the prequel, with the awesome bit being that the final dungeon was pretty much identical to the first game's opening. Even if you saw it coming, it was still a treat to play through.

Orochi_Rockman

I was never tempted to use a circular saw on a videogame cartridge until Lufia II's puzzles.

urahonky

I almost had a heart attack reading the title. A... New Lufia? Does that mean they'd release Lufia 2 on the DS or on the VC? Oh God I hope so.

Day one. I don't give a shit what anyone says. I will buy this game day one.

Blackjack

What.

What is this.

Other than the best news I've heard all day.

carmofin

in a series of 5 games, Lufia II is the big exception, all other entries were as crappy as it gets, i'll be sceptical.

Ledneh

The Wolfman wrote: »

chrono_traveller wrote: »

This is going waaaay back into the memory banks, but wasn't Lufia (or Lufia 2) the one where you started off the game as your kickass ancestors through the "final dungeon", kill the bad guy, then fast forward to x centuries later to play the protagonists of the game? I seem to remember this as being Lufia, but I could be wrong.

Yup, that was Lufia 1.

And Lufia 2 was the prequel, with the awesome bit being that the final dungeon was pretty much identical to the first game's opening. Even if you saw it coming, it was still a treat to play through.

When I got to the end of Lufia 2 and heard the Doom Island music kick in (only improved), I smiled a lot. Hell I can STILL listen to that.

And now you can too!

This news has me jumping for total joy!

(edit) But god damn some of the Lufia II puzzles were positively fucking brutal. Fuck that grass.

jothki

Is there any connection between Lufia 2 (and maybe the others) and the Wild Arms series? Some of the mechanics are suspiciously similar.

Blackjack

carmofin wrote: »

in a series of 5 games, Lufia II is the big exception, all other entries were as crappy as it gets, i'll be sceptical.

Four games (well, I guess you're right. Now it's five. ). And the first one was also great. It's aged horribly, but it was fun as hell at the time.

carmofin

Blackjack wrote: »

carmofin wrote: »

in a series of 5 games, Lufia II is the big exception, all other entries were as crappy as it gets, i'll be sceptical.

Four games. And the first one was also great. It's aged horribly, but it was fun as hell at the time.

okay, me, i got to play it after lufia II and as you can imagine was insanely disapointed.

Rizzi

SQUEEEEEE.

Mattakuevan

Holy fuck, I never actually thought this would happen lol.

Hmm... I wonder if it will be a remake or a new one...

Xenogears of Bore

carmofin wrote: »

Blackjack wrote: »

carmofin wrote: »

in a series of 5 games, Lufia II is the big exception, all other entries were as crappy as it gets, i'll be sceptical.

Four games. And the first one was also great. It's aged horribly, but it was fun as hell at the time.

okay, me, i got to play it after lufia II and as you can imagine was insanely disapointed.

III's also not that bad.

The fourth game can die in a fire.

Sorenson

Oh man, oh man. I know everybody's already said it but II really was just a fucking stellar game both for the generation and generally all time.

I just hope that they try to get in line with the old games, the GB one wasn't too bad but certainely a drop, and I'm guessing the Advanced one was worse...

And huh, the actual devs are the same dudes who did the Rune Factory games, interesting.

4rch3nemy

@ Ledneh: That's some of the best music from the SNES I've never heard before. Thank you so much!


I want a new Lufia game complete with the ridiculous puzzles, good music, and ANCIENT FUCKING CAVE.

Ancient Cave:

wikipedia wrote:

One of the most notable features of Lufia II is the Ancient Cave, a randomly generated dungeon comprised of 99 floors which is presented to the player as a side-quest in the town of Gruberik. Every time the player enters the cave, a new layout is generated.

Within the cave, the characters are downgraded to zero experience points and are stripped of nearly all equipment and items. The player must then proceed through the cave's floors, collecting equipment, finding magic spells and increasing levels, with the objective of reaching the Ancient Cave's final floor. There are three ways of exiting the cave: by dying, by reaching its bottom or by finding and using an item exclusive to the cave, named "providence".

Within the cave lie two kinds of chests — blue and red. A red chest contains items which can only be used inside the cave for the duration of the playing session. As soon as the player leaves the cave, all items from red chests disappear. On the other hand, the rare blue chests contains items that are for the most part unique to the Ancient Cave (though not completely — the Catfish Jewel, for instance, can also be won in the battle against the giant Catfish), which can be used outside the cave and can be brought back to the cave on subsequent journeys. The equipment found in the blue chests is often far superior than those found outside of it. Some items that can be found in blue chests can also be found by other means, such as monster drops. These can also be taken in and out of the Ancient Cave just as if you had found them in blue chests. Also found in the Ancient Cave are the "Iris Treasures," which are found in red chests. Unlike normal red chest items, the player is allowed to take them out of the cave. They are not equippable and serve only as collectibles. The bottom floor of the inn and Gruberik serves as a storage for these items.

Several very powerful monsters exist only in the Ancient Cave, most notably the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Dragons.

On the 99th floor, the player must fight the "Master" (a huge red jelly). It must be defeated in four turns (actually three, since it goes before the characters - unless you repeatedly use some speed lowering IP moves like Spiderweb), or else it will commit suicide and give no reward. Upon defeat, however, it gives the player the Ancient Key, unlocking the room in the lobby, as well as one of the Iris Treasures. It is very difficult to actually defeat the Master due to the time limit and its high HP value (which is always 9980 and not based on the party levels as some rumors say). Thus, a much easier and somewhat cheap way has been devised to kill it. It was found that it was not necessary to kill it-the battle only needed to end. So if the characters killed each other in the allotted time limit, the game would still consider it to be a victory. Equipping and using items which removed set fractions of enemy health (from 1/8 to 1/2 of all enemy health) was also very helpful in defeating the monster.

..I spent a good portion of my life playing Lufia 2. I love that game.

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Ah yes, farming call monsters in the Ancient Cave for hours and hours. Good times.

Saddler

Wow, I saw the GBA Lufia in stores, but just assumed it was a port/remake of the first SNES one. But apparently it's an original game, and there was also one on the GBC? Hmm.

Sadly, there's no Virtual Console ports of the SNES games yet.

I've never played a Lufia game, but I'm excited by the idea of DS RPGs in general.