Lufia: Curse Of The Sinistrals Review

Posted in Gaming, Reviews by RandomGunmen, November 15, 2010 at 6:42 pm | 670 views, 21 comments

This article was written by Paige McBeth.

As a first time player to the Lufia series, I had a blank slate. All I knew about the game was that it was an RPG and that it was well known.

In the game, you can play as several characters (one at a time though), but you are mainly Maxim, a Monster Hunter set on saving the world. As I played the game, I realized it really didn’t have that much to offer as far as originality goes or uniqueness. Honestly, I was disappointed.

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals (COTS) was redone to create a new experience for players who had already played through the game several times, but I found it to be an experience I wanted to forget. I like RPGs, don’t get me wrong, but I have a specific type of RPG that I prefer. COTS did not offer the elements of an RPG that I like, which left me feeling disappointed.

For starters, I like the whole aerial-view and 8-bit sprites walking around town to town. COTS uses up to date graphics that although look good on the Nintendo DS, look shotty and fuzzy to me. RPGs on hand held consoles like the Nintendo DS are not suppose to look like a poor Banjo Kazooie. The Nintendo DS has all the capabilities of making RPGs have that 1989 feel, yet still look current. Take the Pokémon series that are now on the Nintendo DS for example, they still use the same styles from the original Game Boy games from 1996, but they look great. COTS failed to do this for me. I don’t want to play an RPG on a hand held console that is trying to look spectacular. Again, this is all personal, but it turned me off from the game.

As far as the battle style goes for COTS, I was very upset. COTS does not use the random battle function as all the monsters are visible. This did not bug me as much as the fact that the turn-based battle system was eliminated. FAIL. An RPG just isn’t the same when you jump around saying, “YEEHA!” like Link from the Legend of Zelda series waving your sword around. The Legend of Zelda series is fantastic, but that technique did not work here. Waving a sword around is mindless. I hate just hitting “Y” over and over again, when a nice crisp menu could be there and I could choose all my attacks strategically. That would’ve sure been nice.

Another edition to the game was the introduction of voice acting…*cringe*. I can really only deal with voice acting when there is either a cut scene and you watch something, or it is on a console that is not hand held. Take Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 and Xbox 360. That’s a game that needed voice acting, and it was done well. Those games need it; it adds to the storyline. The graphics are so good that it feels like you are watching a movie. With COTS, you are not watching a movie, you are watching pictures of the characters stay on screen while text moves and you listen to the most generic voices of all time. The voice acting is not on at all times, which is nice, because I might have gone crazy, but when it does come on, it just has a really cheesy factor. Something I very much disliked. I felt it took away from the gameplay.

I think what some developers are missing is that fancy graphics and unnecessary voices are not what a great RPG needs. It’s a great story and great gameplay that does the trick. The story in COTS was so generic: another guy with a sword and some magic out to save the world. I’m kinda bored… Earthbound is a series that needs to be resurfaced because it took the genre to a whole new level. It was fresh, and hip. COTS is nothing you haven’t seen before.

There is one positive; however, that although I didn’t like it, many others might. This game is huge on puzzles and problem solving. You have to go and find things, crank levers to make things work, pull blocks to hit switches, etc. I find that stuff tedious, but if you don’t, you may have a whole new look on this game. There are dungeons and places to explore, but within them, there are many puzzles to do. Perhaps that was the strategical theme they were going for when developing this game, not battling.

I realize that I may come across as harsh and extremely picky with my choice of games, but games are suppose to make the player happy, and this game did not. I feel that my voice is of many others. They want a solid RPG, and this game was not. I could easily give this game a better review with a different grading system. I could grade it on graphics and give it a better score, and say that the voice acting added a nice touch and was something new…but that would be lying because I found it to be quite irritating.

I have a specific style of RPG’s that I like. There are tons out there, and you just have to find the right one for you. Chrono Trigger is one that I find particularly good. It has a great story, great graphics (in its own right), and great gameplay. That’s what I was looking for in COTS and I did not find it. If you’re like me and you like random battles where a giant swirl jumps on screen and awesome battle music ensues…you might want to stay away from this game. I also find music very important; I want it to stick with me. When you find yourself humming the Pokémon Centre theme ten years later…you know Nintendo had you hooked! That is what great games do! They stick with you for years and years. This game is worth a shot, but if you are like me, you probably won’t like it. I give Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals a 6/10. I’ve played worse…but I probably wouldn’t want to play it again. Did absolutely nothing for me.