nodley reviews Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)

One of the greatest games ever made in my opinion, although it lacks the production of a Final Fantasy it more than makes up for it. The battle system is random battle and turn based on the world map and nothing new, but it's very well done and there's nothing to complain about. Where it differs from the rest is that when you move about dungeons there are no random battles, it changes to enemies visible on screen and you can avoid them if you wish. You also have tools and have to solve puzzles, it's got much more "gameplay" than your average 16 bit JRPG. The music is exceptional, it always feels right for the situation and adds atmosphere, the battle music and boss music is superb. There's a huge world to explore, which opens up more with each quest you complete in an epic storyline about a battle against gods. You get to travel the world on foot, in boats, submarines and airships. There are a number of capsule mosters (think pokemon) that you can find and train up to fight alongside your party in battle, you can even feed them unwanted items and weapons to level them up. There is an optional sidequest - the ancient cave - which is a dungeon 99 floors deep and you start at level 1 with no items, if you beat this you are a skilled player. Thankfully there is a new game plus option once you beat the game which gives double experience in all future playthroughs, this makes the ancient cave a bit easier and also adds replayability value. Full marks from me, this is the best 16 bit RPG without question. 10/10