Lufia & the Fortress of Doom

Lufia & the Fortress of Doom
Lufia & the Fortress of Doom American box art. Lufia & the Fortress of Doom American box art.
Developer(s)	Neverland
Publisher(s)	Taito
Platform(s)	SNES
Release	25 June, 1993 United States of America December, 1993
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player

Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (Japanese: エストポリス伝記, "Estpolis Denki" or "Estpolis Biography") is a RPG game with puzzle elements developed by Neverland and published by Taito in 1993, for the Super Nintendo video game console. It is the first game 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, Artia, 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, Aria and Guy leave the falling island alone, and their allies apparently perish 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 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

File:Lufia & the Fortress of Doom Screen01.gif

Characters within a town in Lufia & the Fortress of Doom.

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 yeilds 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 utilize certain character's strenghs, such as physcial fighter or magic user.

Puzzles are often used throughout the game and must be solved in order to advance. They range from moving blocks around a room iinto 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 themself 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 througout the world. The player's progress is saved in one of three availible slots on the cartridge's built-in battery back-up system by accessing save points found inside dungeons or anywhere on the world map.

Characters

Playable characters

"The Hero" (age 17): 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 Roland, a friend of his father who had died in a battle long ago. Very skilled in swordplay, The Hero perfers to fight in close quarters, and wears heavy armor. He is said to be a descendant of the great hero Maxim who vanquished the Sinistrals and saved the world.

Lufia (age 16): The Hero's best friend who she's known since childhood. She has a tendancy to be bossy, but has a romantic interest him. She is proficient in spellcasting and helps The Hero in any way she can.

Aguro (age 23): Leader of the army of the nation of Loribia, Aguro is a hardened warrior who is interested in The Hero's fighting ability. Not very skilled in magic, he instead relies on his brute strength and skill with a sword.

Jerin (age 22): 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 perfers to fight at a distance, using a bow and arrow 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 inlcude Gades, Master of Destruction, an over-bearing and proud warrior clad in dark armor; Amon, Master of Terror, 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 Chaos, their leader, and powerful sorcerer.

Reviews

The game has recieved varied reviews since its intial release. Some people reflect on it fondly for its interesting and complex story, while others see it as inferior in both fun and presentation to other titles like Final Fantasy VI. GameRankings gives it a score of 86 out of a possible 100 by averaging the ratings of several online sources^[1].

Megadrive version

Taito originally planned to release a port of Lufia & the Fortress of Doom to the Sega Megadrive, but cancelled the project sometime early in its development^[2].

Packaging artwork

• Estpolis Denki Japan, 1993
  Estpolis Denki
  Japan, 1993
• Lufia & the Fortress of Doom North America, 1993
  Lufia & the Fortress of Doom
  North America, 1993

References

1. ^ "GameRankings Lufia & the Fortress of Doom Review". GameRankings. 2005. Last accessed Oct 19, 2005.
2. ^ "Lufia & the Fortress of Doom Turns Ten. Forfeit Island. 2003. Last accessed Oct 19, 2005.

External links

• Lufia & the Fortress of Doom at MobyGames
• Lufia World Lufia & the Fortress of Doom Section at GameSpy.com
• Lufia Net