Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals #4 - Lufia: The Musical

Today on Lufia 2... Lufia: The Musical.


 This game is quite valuable, to say the least.

 I'm guessing they had to rename orcs to keep the Tolkien Estate from suing. That or the Dungeons and Dragons people. I'd hate to think that Natsume was renaming an iconic monster just to be "hip" or "fresh".

::Maxim, Guy, The King, The Guard, and The Princess all look up::

...wait, what? The Princess?

Maxim barks orders when we learn that Guy's sister has fallen ill. "I'm not your guy, buddy" replies Guy.

Meanwhile, love is blooming. Bao chicka chicka. Wao wao.

Indeed. I'm also happy being on either end.

What follows is... you guessed it, another cave. This one is short, at least, and full of story developments.

 Namely, Tia tries to act like she's competent (no doubt in an effort to emulate Selan) and ends up falling down a hole. Maxim actually hesitates a moment on going after her due to the danger of the trap, while Selan recklessly leaps right in. This five second scene is amazing from a storytelling perspective, because it advances SO MUCH about all three of them in one fell swoop.

Selan then rescues Tia from a monster, while Maxim arrives a few seconds late and more than a dollar short.


::snaps fingers::

Tia: "When I'm when I'm loving you loving you why would you wanna break up?"

Maxim: "Do anything for you why would you wanna break up?"

Huh, who knew this bridge-builder was so kinky?

 ...oh, no wonder. Now we're in Bound Kingdom. The kink is strong with these people. Let's just say all the hardware stores here are out of rope.

 As soon as we arrive, trouble comes with us in the form of Sinistral-in-training Idura. And by that I mean... 


Idura: "Trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble!"

Idura's Goons: "Oh! Ohhhh! Ohoh ohhhh! Ohhhhhh!"

Idura: "Trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble!"

Idura's hench-monsters gang up on Dekar...

 ...and he easily dispatches all of them in seconds. GREATNESS IS HIS ONLY DESTINYYYYYYY!

(Trouble trouble trouble trouble trouble!)

 With one slime remaining, the prince comes running out and defeats it. Then he bellows forth that he has protected the kingdom, not realizing that Dekar handled all the heavy lifting already.

Not only is Dekar a mighty warrior, he's a smooth talker with the ladies. He's Jason Stackhouse with spiky blue hair.

At this point, I take some time to buy a bunch of Bronze Swords to Poke-volve Foomy to form 3. He's looking a little bit 'roided up now.

I stumble across my first Dragon Egg. I believe this is the fourth of the eight, but I haven't been going out of my way to collect 'em.

Third capsule monster. You may think that this would prompt me to play "It Wasn't Me" or that other popular Shaggy track. Unfortunately, dealing with Shaggy's lawyers is a legal minefield.

This guy is Light element.

"SHORTY YOU'RE MY ANGEL" he says when reached for comment.

A "boss fight" follows, where you need to take out a bunch of Idura's goons. They're all run-of-the-mill regular encounters. Seems like all Idura has going for him is an ability to sic big groups of enemies on people.

After his goons are taken out, Idura flees. He'll be back later.

Maxim and Selan have a mutual admiration society going on. Meanwhile, Tia is also there.

Selan says something about how people want a warrior in the street and a freak in the bed.

I said YEAH! ...no, no link for this one either, as Usher wouldn't give up the rights for it to be used in Lufia: The Musical without sizable monetary compensation. Let's just move on.

That bastardly Gades showed up at Bound Kingdom... and DIDN'T torch the place. They're lucky they got off so easily.

Bao chicka wao! Bao ba baooo!

Maxim decides at this point to go confront Gades himself... without the women. He can't put them in danger... because they're both pregnant with his children because... he doesn't want Tia to die, and Selan is needed in Parcelyte.

Dekar offers to go with him to Gades' tower, and making a triumphant return is Guy. IT'S BRO TIME!

There's some friction with Guy and Dekar, as Guy immediately feels like Dekar is stealing his heat as premiere tank of the game.

 Meanwhile, Tia... keeeeeps hollllding onnn!

At this point, our heroes go shopping.

Insert shopping montage here as they try on armor and shields.

The Men (plus Foomy) battle Halloween costumes as we climb the tower of Gades.

"Holding back the years!"

"Thinking of the fear I had so long!"

 Drunk frogs attempting to channel Spirit Bombs are our next foes.

"I'll keeeeeep...holdin' on."

Our heroes reach the top of the tower. It's rematch time. And this time... we have to win.

It's pretty much the same fight as before, but this time Destruction Wave only does half the damage. Not sure if it's just the higher levels or if this version of Gades has been scaled down a bit from the uberboss-like earlier fight.

After a pitched battle, our heroes emerge victorious. With Gades defeated, peace is restored to the world.

Only problem is, Maxim is trapped by Gades' final play. Tia and Selan both show up, because...

...they were both worried. At this point, everyone needs to hoof it out of here before the place comes apart.

Rrrooww! The claws come out!

Selan expresses faith and confidence in Maxim's ability to find a way out of here on his own, while Tia wants to stay and try to save him even though there's nothing they can do.

At this point Maxim is on his own as he looks for a way out... except that the unsung, steadfast Foomy is still by his side. God Bless that fearsome monster!

Finally! Some armor for Foomy!

...Well, more like Selan. First, Maxim has to get out of here alive...

He nearly doesn't, but here's Iris to warp him to safety. Who is this Iris, and what does she want?

Maxim awakens in the street to find...Selan. His first concern is how everyone is doing, while her first concern...

...is getting very close to Maxim.

Snap, Selan just got served.

Now Guy pops up. The hell? HE was spying on us around the corner too?

Not sure what Maxim and Selan are doing, but I hope Tia isn't watching this.

Meanwhile, nearby, Tia is watching it. Dekar is concerned about her. She decides to leave (as in... leave, entirely) without saying anything to Maxim.


 
 
She told herself that he was right for her... but felt so lonely in his company.

But she'd admit that she was glad... it was over.

Wait, WHAT? Well, THAT was sudden...

That's right... weeks later, Maxim and Selan are betrothed. That did not take long.

Heh, Dekar is awesome. I love his verbiage and his general down-to-Earth friendly straight-talk. He's totally Jason Stackhouse.

And NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENED AGAIN. Everyone was happy... except Tia. For now. She'll get past it.

Maxim: "Somebody! I used to know."

5 comments:

  1. That was a fun trip. Glad you stopped despising Tia! Enjoyed the musical cues too.

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  2. I forgot about that cave-save scenario. It's excellent.
    This bridge builder is hilarious.
    The theme song of Bound Kingdom is Bound 2, which also cannot be shared because of copyright.
    Dekar is cool with the prince being too proud of himself, too. He's a swell guy.
    Men and Foomy is an awesome party. Glad you got to take it out for a real fight.
    Idura has a great sprite for such a tool.
    Must be icy as F between Selan and Tia while they wait for the guys to return.
    This tower-falling-apart section is so chillingly similar to the ending.
    Tia leaving without saying bye is unexpected. Unexpected but something a real adult would do.
    Congrats to Maxim and Selan on their wedding, one of the very few character weddings in a game.

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  3. I'd say the ork is just a fumble. Like "Arty."

    The bridge cave is not only a reference to the Lufia 1 version, but an apology as well. The first time around it was agonizing, this one was both quick and story-filled.

    Dekar is factually the best.

    I'm just glad it's not Shaggy 2 Dope. There's your capsule monster for the ancient cave, by the way.

    Guy is correct, Dekar completely robs him of his heat.

    Thanks to us not getting Dragon Quest V weddings just didn't happen in these games at the time.

    Great post. Tia bowing out of the game entirely here makes it all the more impactful when you finally see her again in the ending.

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  4. The first time that I ever played this game, I honestly thought that the game was over at the wedding. I thought' "While fun, that was a rather short RPG."

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    1. Yep, that part definitely has an air of finality to it. Gades feels like a final boss, as well. It's a lot like the Floating Continent in FFVI. Feels like a final dungeon, then you fight Atma Weapon with new boss music... it all feels like the end. Then, bam, it turns out that you're only halfway. It's hard to be surprised by games the same way now in the age of the internet and spoilers.

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