This is the point at which playing the Lufia games in chronological order falls down. You see, this is the first game in the series in terms of production. As it turns out, many of the elements that made Lufia 2 unique and interesting, such as visible encounters, puzzles, a rotating roster of characters, the IP meter, etc. were all implemented first in that game. What does that leave this first instalment? A pretty generic RPG, unfortunately.

The plot and characters do approach the level of Lufia 2, albeit much simpler here. The writing is still good, even though the forced jealousy between Lufia and Jerin rankled more than Tia and Selan’s rivalry. There’s a good range of spells and items to spice things up, although I mainly just attacked to keep things moving quicker. There’s still a huge world to explore. It’s just that it seems a little primitive with its random encounters and clunky menus.

I even found myself in retrospect appreciating some of the things Ruins of Lore did, with its dynamic events, its take on the map screen and exploration, and its visual variety. In Lufia 1 (and 2 for that matter) you end up with a long list of towns on your warp list that all look very similar when you get into them. It’s a problem a lot of old-school RPGs had, unfortunately.

It’s too bad I found so much that compared unfavourably to the sequels, because playing the game is fine in the moment. There is a lot of repetition though, and RPG busywork. It ends up feeling like it’s dragging. Ah, what would I have thought as a youth had I sought out RPGs instead of platformers and found this first (impossible given it wasn’t released in Australia ever)? But I played Lufia 2 first, which simply exceeds this in every way. I suppose if you are looking for a strictly old-school style game without the action and puzzle elements, a more simple and basic game, this could be the ticket?

As it is, what I took away from this most was seeing all those bits and pieces that would be called back to in later games. The Ancient Cave in Ruins of Lore is based on this game’s version, and there are lots of little references that in retrospect tie it in closer to the series, as well as events in Lufia 2 that are inspired by this game. Not to mention character archetypes that are set up here. Although I was a bit puzzled to see that—I think—none of the towns are carried over to either 2 or RoL? Odd. Well, given all that I’m really dying to play the final game in the series: The Legend Returns on GBC. It’s the only Lufia game on the Virtual Console, and I’m happy to buy it even though I won’t have the emulator’s turbo button that helped so much in this game (although not as much as in the slower GBA one).

Oh and I finally met Lufia in this game; spoilers, but there is kind of a good reason the series is named that despite Lufia herself only appearing in this one game—Curse of the Sinistrals convinced me that the whole series is really Erim’s story. At least this one had a happy ending.