Lufia and the Fortress of Doom is a old school game thats rich in storyline and good music, +1 for anyone to get it!
Genre: RPG
Developer: Neverland/Taito
System: SNES
Total Score: 76/100
Value Score: 7.6/10
Score Rounded to 8.0~
• Story: 10/10
o The storyline of Lufia I takes place at first about 100 years before the actual events of the game, during the time of its prequel Lufia II Rise of the Sinstrals. Four heroes defeated 4 powerful beings called Sinistrals on a floating island that housed a giant fortress called "Fortress of Doom". 100 years have passed and peace reigned however, the Sinistrals have begun to resurrect themselves to cause the same chaos they have caused years ago. Now that all of the heroes of the old era are gone or disabled from old age, its up to a descendent of Maxim (who was one of the original heroes) to save the world, along with him he is joined by a childhood friend named Lufia who will play a major role in the game and bring upon a ironic twist to the storyline, a ex-commander named Aguro who's skill with the sword is as good as the main character's if not better and a half elf named Jerin who will lead them to the village of elves where they will get the necessary knowledge to defeat the sinistrals.
• Characters: 6/10
o The main character in the game doesn't have a official name, its up to the player to name him, the hero is a descendent of a old hero named Maxim who defeated the Sinistrals years ago. Along with him he is joined by 3 others who will share a similar fate as him. Throughout the game you will encounter many enemies, characters, although the sprites for most enemies and characters will look alike, the sprites for the Sinistrals and the main characters of the storyline will be unique. There isn't much character development between Jerin and Aguro as much as there is for the main character and Lufia, majority of the game will mostly focus on those two characters rather than the first two. As for the Sinistrals you wont know much about them other than the fact you faced them in the beginning in the flash back, other than that, no other info is given about them other than about they being powerful beings who could bring the world down.
• GamePlay: 7/10
o Game play is similar to games like Shin Megami Tensei, Earthbound and Paladin's Quest, however, you get the ability to see your characters on the screen, other than that the battle system is similar to the above mentioned games. You progress like a generic RPG, fight monsters, gain exp, level up and learn skills by leveling up. Pretty basic especially the world map system, travel from town to town , through a lot of caves and that's pretty much, although the gameplay can get repetitive cause 60% of the dungeons are actually caves, while the other 30% is world map, than 10% is like traveling through towers or some sort of building. The battle system is where the game truly shines, its so simple yet fun, the fact that you get to see your character rather than just the enemy in a first person view is another plus. You get the choice to use items, attack physically, use magic, defend or run away. Nothing too complex or difficult to understand in the concept of the battle system. Along with that you'll be traveling mostly by foot rather than by ship, ship and air travel will be available mostly near the end of the game.
• Graphics: 7/10
o The game was released back in 1993, for a game such as this, the graphics were pretty good, although a little bland as you keep going through the game as the towns look similar and that the developer didn't even try making the environment look different at all. Its good to note that the enemy designs are numerous, and that there are more original monsters than there are clones compared to other games like Breath of Fire and Final Fantasy. Character sprites are decently done, both in world map and in battle. Nothing much else to note other than that about the graphics of the game, other than that it was far advanced for its time.
• Sound: 5/10
o Sound effects in the game were really not well made due to the fact that the Super Nintendo was still young and that the game was released at a very early time that sound effects weren't that important. Most of the sounds were so similar, you wouldn't notice the difference between attacking and pushing a switch since they sound so similar. Like the environment of the game, the developers were too lazy to create unique sounds for certain skills and for certain events.
• Music: 10/10
o Possibly one of the best features of the game other than the storyline, the music is well done and most of the tunes are dramatic that they match the intensity of the storyline. No one theme seems a bit odd compared to other RPGs where they would add random themes for certain moments. The battle music in its entirety is well done and should be regarded as one of the best battle themes in RPGs of the SNES era. Each town however has the same theme, along with each and every castle and cave. Regardless of the repeats of the music, there's plenty of unique songs that they implemented for this game that's worth getting the OST for.
• Length: 8/10
o Lufia I is pretty average in length but can be long if you keep doing side quests such as the dragon egg quests to get the most powerful equipment, other than that there's not much other than doing the storyline straight forward. The game takes you to many places, mostly back and forth near the end just to prolong the game. Regardless of the fact, this game should only take up no more than 15-20 hours in total.
• Replay Value: 3/10
o Replay value is a bit stale as the only thing you can do pretty much is collect dragon eggs to grant yourself 3 wishes which can range from gaining two levels (which is useless), getting the best bow, getting the best shield or getting 3 of each stat increasing potion. Other than that, you can do the treasure cave quests but you could finish that by half way through game and its recommended you do so to be on par with gears near the end of the game. There's no new game+ or any new feature, nor any new difficulty or anything.
• Player Value: 10/10
o If you want to play a RPG with a unique storyline and JUST for the storyline and simple gameplay, this is it, if your looking for something revolutionary back in the SNES era, than there's a lot of other games you can get to play. As for this game it's a masterpiece with rich music and a unique storyline, I recommend getting it regardless of its flaws of its time, you will love it.