Lufia and the Fortress of Doom is a classical turn-based RPG where you grind levels and try to save the world. While not outstanding, it’s still worth a try for all it has to offer

Graphic: 6/10

Graphics are definitely sub-standard for 1993. It uses no 3D whatsoever – even Final Fantasy IV did better.

By themselves the graphics are average at best. The characters you control, while less pixelated than their Final Fantasy counterpart, are grossly drawn. The children (100 years later) and the adults (Aguro and the team from 100 years in the past) are barely distinguishable and they look like midgets - Jerin had a bowl cut and looks like she's wearing diapers. Town people look a little better and adults are easier to distinguish – there are even elderly people with white hair. On the plus side you can at least run when there is no combat around. I would have preferred all the time (like Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals) but it’s a start; you don’t need any accessory to run.

Speaking of towns, they are nice and colorful with lots to explore - many dressers and furniture contain bonus objects. Coastal cities all have ports while castles all have many floors, faithful to their sheer size. Perspective is logic most of the time – you can hug a wall and even walk under bridges – and their graphic icon on the world map is proportional to their size (villages are very small, whereas towns look like the ones in Dragon Warrior III).

On the world map the tiles are clear for the graphic capabilities. The water is flowing, there are cloud everywhere, poison fields hurt you unless you float and bridges are well-drawn – the longer the better. Impassable (on foot) mountain ranges look more like high plateaus and were better-drawn even in Shining Force I. Dungeons also boast a good variety of backgrounds, maybe even higher to FF. Caverns are deep and come in different colors, they have all sorts of obstacles (stalactites, “grids”, pits) that will make your life difficult. On their sides towers also come in all sorts of colors and have, most of the time, edges from which you can fall outside like the Dragon Warrior Series. It’s very practical because most of the time you can’t escape magically from them. Furthermore, while not very elaborate (you can only plunge at specific places), the underwater part was well-done. The screen is a little blurry with all the water, there are realistic currents which you can only follow and there are also treasures to be found.

Finally the battle system was very ordinary. The battle screen merely consists of your characters fighting the monsters over whichever background you are. The chips used are apparently primitive since attack-all spells and weapons (everyone or groups) repeat the spell/attack individually. Imagine when you are casted upon a spell 3 times in a row… Enemies merely shake for whatever action they take, whereas your party has one move for ordinary attacks and one for spells. Weapons are slightly differentiated in their animation but it’s not something worth mentioning.

Spells, on the other hand were well-done. They have three levels each and the higher the level the more impressive they become: water floods much more, explosions almost look nuclear, fire looks really hot and ice looks impenetrable. Also, Miracles (all-restoring elixirs) have a flashing effect when used in battles and I think it was well-done.

Music: 6/10

While there are some nice arrangements, Lufia’s music is also subpar with other video games of its time.

In many cases the arrangements are just annoying – the overworld map trumpet is shrieking in my ears and the port town theme also has annoying trumpets – or just not good enough (the ordinary boss battle just doesn’t carry the same drama when you fight the Sinistrals). The castle music is very bland and the cavern theme, while sounding mysterious enough, doesn’t carry the same feeling as Into the Darkness (FF IV) or even the theme in Final Fantasy III.

Nevertheless there are some good arrangements. The town theme is lively, the tower theme sound very mysterious and epic and the Fortress of Doom sounds excellent for a final dungeon theme. At one point you even explore it underwater and the theme (Quiet Shrine) is a good remix of the original. Finally, the very last battle theme sound dramatic enough (but not out of this world) and Lufia’s theme is light, in accordance with the innocence of her character.

Sound effects, like the graphics, are rather ordinary. When you scroll the text at slower speeds you hear the sound of the letters defiling on the screen and it’s VERY annoying – plus there seems to be only one sound for it. Battle sounds are also very repetitive; only bows sound definitely different. Enemies, on their side, ALL sound the same.

Fortunately magic was given some attention. The higher the level the more dramatic the sound: bolts sound “shocking”, water sounds like spring meltdown, fire sound like a bonfire and ice sounds like a snowstorm.

Addictiveness: 9/10

Fortunately, despite technical shortcomings, the game has a lot to offer.

First there is the Old Cave where, for each 5 levels of experience you gain, you can explore one of the 7 levels in order to get a special item for which you will be given money. Of course there will be plenty of other treasures for you to keep like weaponry or potions. You really only need to go there twice for the plot, but what you get from the cave is invaluable. Note that as you go down enemies become more difficult; the 7^th level has the same enemies you see in the intro Fortress of Doom.

You will also have the occasion to collect Dragon Eggs, for which you can receive either “Mighty” weaponry or increase your levels and get potions. You can even to this quest twice over (get a total of 24 eggs) so it’s going to take a while.

In addition at the very end (after the credits) you will get all sort of statistics about your game like how many times you died, how many treasures you found and how many secret objects (in poison fields, in flower fields in towns) you gathered. Can you get a perfect score?

Finally there is even a “new game +” option you can get after you first complete the game. It’s the exact same thing except that you gain experience at four times the ordinary rate. Very practical when you hate grinding levels.

Story: 9/10

Lufia I gets extra point for the originality of its scenario.

Without warning, the island suddenly appeared in the sky.

Four foul and wicked beings claimed it for themselves.

They possessed the frightening powers of Chaos, Destruction, Terror, and Death.

The people were horrified. They called the evil ones "Sinistrals".

The reign of Terror continued.

The world massed its warriors to battle their dark foes.

But the Sinistrals were all powerful.

In desperation, the people called on their bravest fighters: Artea, Guy, Maxim, and Selan.

And so began the final battle...

(From the introductory text)

So you start the game with these four over-leveled characters (level 77 or so) in the final stage of their quest. It was practical to get acquainted with the basics of the game. Unless you are truly unlucky you will dispose of the Sinistrals very easily… but not without Selan dying of exhaustion and Maxim standing by her side (only Guy and Artea escape).

The game then moves 90 years in the future where a descendant of Maxim (you) just lives his daily life in the Kingdom of Alekia. One day a mysterious young girl name Lufia pops in the village and befriends you. Still nine years later trouble brews again: the Kingdom of Sheran was attacked by monsters! After you go there you indeed find out that the village is in ruins.

You go back to Alekia but kingdom bureaucracy won’t send help for weeks, so you go back and take Lufia along after much insistence. There you find out who was responsible for the massacre: Gades, the Sinistral of Destruction!

Depth: 8/10

What I just described should take about an hour of gameplay if you’re new to the game. The game is going impressively into deep for such underwhelming technical points, taking at least 30 hours of your time. There will even be interesting plot twists you won’t see coming.

The storyline in itself is quite elaborate. After you survive your encounter with Gades (thanks to Lufia, strangely enough), someone tells you that Guy (yes, he’s over 100 years old!) might know something. Before he dies from a heart attack (the Sinistrals are back!!), he tells you to find Artea. His blindness keeps him from joining you but he will direct you to Raile Shaia, an inventor who developed a machine going underwater that might help you get back Dual Blade, Maxim’s sword against the Sinistrals.

In addition, as I said earlier, the sidequests are quite elaborate. Getting all the treasures from the Old Cave will take quite some time, and finding the Dragon Eggs after you collect the original 8 will take even more time.

The only caveat I can think of is the lack of diversity in your party. Whereas Lufia II lets you play a few characters before going to the Fortress of Doom, Lufia I only lets you play the same four characters, who are basically the carbon copies of Maxim’s party: the fighter with healing spells (you), the pure fighter (Guy/Argus), the magician (Selan/Lufia) and the elf with an arc and magic spells (Artea/Jerin).

I thought it was annoying considering their age (teens at most), but Lufia and Jerin's cat fight was funny at times

Difficulty: 7/10

When I first played the game I thought it was pretty difficult. Probably because of my limited English I had a very hard time moving beyond Grenoble; I thought I had to finish the Old Cave before moving on!

But now, and even with save states, this game is pretty challenging. The simple crossing of a bridge can tremendously change the strength of the enemies, potentially wiping out your party. If you’re trying to run undefeated then it will be challenging. Also, as with many RPGs, the encounter rate is ridiculous, especially at sea. Sweet Water can help reduce the rate but not contain it altogether.

Also, still with save states, bosses are quite challenging. Their range of action is influenced by YOUR actions (attack, magic, defend, etc.) but is very limited. So if you are level-grinding against, say, red cores you only have a limited choice of actions to keep them from fleeing.

Fortunately, that can be played around with thanks to Foul Water. When you use it, you will encounter enemies every single step you take. Who you fight depends on the random number generator, so you can abuse the save states in order to get the encounters you like and get a lot of experience in a short time – red cores are worth about 14k a piece while Mimics are worth around 3k.

In short I recommend Lufia and the Fortress of Doom. Despite substandard graphics and music, both the storyline and the sidequests will keep you begging for more.