Lufia: The Ruins of Lore
	Genre: RPG Developer: Taito
Publisher Region Released Atlus NA ??/??/????

Your Account Options

You currently have no privileges related to this game profile because you are not signed into an HonestGamers account. Please log in, or click to register for a free user account.

More Reviews by Rob Hamilton
	The Mist (PC) You'll be screwing around, attempting to input any damn command the computer might actually recognize, outside the hardware store when suddenly you'll get a "Th...
	Trials Evolution (Xbox 360) Well, I'm going to have to find a way to perfectly run tracks that utterly brutalized my biker during my first stab at them. Hell, I'll be happy if I just FINIS...
	Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2) After that debacle, though, I noticed that Yuna had a particular piece of armor designed to block three particular negative statuses, so I decided to make sure ...
	Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600) Markets are kind of cool, as you collect money in the game and can use it in these places to buy bullets and other useful things. In this one, you also can try ...
	Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600) You'd start out swinging from vines like Tarzan. Interestingly enough, this game originally was called Jungle King where you controlled a guy who looked ...

Best Game Boy Advance Games
	Mother 3 Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 2
	Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 2
	Kuru Kuru Kururin (Import) Average Rating: 9.0; Reviews: 2
	Fire Emblem Average Rating: 8.7; Reviews: 3
	Mario Kart: Super Circuit Average Rating: 8.7; Reviews: 3
	Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon Average Rating: 8.5; Reviews: 2
	Super Puzzle Fighter II Average Rating: 8.5; Reviews: 2
	Riviera: The Promised Land Average Rating: 8.4; Reviews: 2
	Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Average Rating: 8.4; Reviews: 7
	Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Average Rating: 8.3; Reviews: 7

Looking for a good read?
Check out a selection from our database of more than 8000 reviews! honestgamer has weighed in on Megaman & Bass for the Game Boy Advance and figures it rates 7 out of 10. What do you think? Read the review, then be sure to leave feedback or chime in with one of your own!

Staff Review

Review by Rob Hamilton
December 21, 2007

Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals was a fluke. There’s simply no other way to explain how that SNES role-playing game was so wonderful, while the other three Lufia games struggled to even reach mediocrity. Rise of the Sinistrals had above-average storytelling along with dungeons chock-full with tricky puzzles actually requiring brain-power to solve.

Unfortunately, I’m not writing about that game.

Instead, today’s topic is Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, Atlus’ subpar Game Boy Advance effort to recapture the magic Natsume found with Rise of the Sinistrals.

As evidenced by an opening-game cutscene, our protagonist, Eldin, had his father leave home on some top-secret quest with a strange man 10 years ago and never return. Now a teenager, Eldin and his best friend, Torma, are planning to sign up to be hunters (hero-types) at the local castle. While they have to explore the monster-infested caverns under the castle to pass their hunter license test, some piddly tutorial dungeon isn’t much trouble for the young duo.

However, shortly after being named official hunters, they get asked to help a damsel in distress. As the kids find out, Rubius is no ordinary helpless female -- she’s a priestess investigating rumors that a hostile kingdom controlled by someone named Ragule is seeking to resurrect a fearsome beast capable of spreading ruin throughout the land. Before you know it, Eldin touches something he shouldn’t have and somehow gets cursed by a mystical artifact. While it has no effect on pretty much anything Eldin does, the curse serves admirably as a plot point to keep him tied to Rubius and her mission.

While this plot is perfectly serviceable, if not groundbreaking, any impact it could have is completely nullified by horrible storytelling and a crew of characters who refuse to exhibit any symptoms of development. Eldin’s a silent protagonist that makes the average hero of this sort seem captivating and well-rounded. Torma comes from the generic “mindlessly impetuous” template, while another long-term pal, Rami, is a hot-headed chick constantly losing her cool over Torma’s stupidity. Your other companions -- the half-dog Bau, Rubius and Lufia 2 holdover Dekar -- are all window dressing.

The generic nature of these characters bleeds over into the story, making it equally boring. Remember how I said Eldin’s father mysteriously vanished 10 years ago? Well, if you’re familiar with RPGs, you know he’ll pop up at some point. Now, first think about how you’d react if you ran into your dad after not seeing or hearing from him for 10 years. Okay, now read my paraphrased take on the dad’s dialogue when this happens (as a non-talker, Eldin had nothing to contribute besides the occasional “...”).

"Eldin, you’ve really grown! I bet you guys are looking for Ragule. Blah, blah, blah. Well, take care!"

And then, after Eldin and company leave, Rubius stays behind for a minute to talk to Pops about various spoiler-iffic matters concerning our hero. Truly a tear-jerking family reunion here AND it’s only one of many captivating moments in this game.

But there are more things wrong with The Ruins of Lore besides stupid characters and dialogue. Most noticeable is how this game attempts to replicate Lufia 2’s puzzles in the most half-hearted way possible. Many of your characters have a special dungeon ability. Eldin can slash bushes and pots with his sword, Rami can burn certain obstructions, Bau can smash others with his hammer and Torma uses a whip to lasso the party across chasms.

So, what you’ll be doing in virtually every dungeon is constantly switching between characters to have them break what needs to be broken and then flipping a switch or pressing a button to get to the next room. Great “puzzles”, guys! With the lack of brain power needed to accomplish this, it really makes you notice certain things about the dungeons -- like how they’re really long and dull. It just isn’t much fun to go through screen after screen hitting stakes, burning bushes and occasionally fighting monsters.

Now taming monsters could have been a different story. Ruins of Lore allows you to capture virtually every monster in the game and evolve them into more powerful members of their species. There are a ton of beasties in the game, with all having a number of special attributes, which probably will lead you believe it’s going to be fun to capture them, see which one has what skills and transfer them from one monster to another to create a super-beast.

Except that each monster in your party will get their share of the scant experience surrendered by beaten foes. It takes a good long time for Eldin and company to pick up levels and having extra mouths to feed in the party is just going to slow down their growth even more. And when you consider that monsters are controlled by the computer in battle and that few (if any) are even close to being as useful as your human characters and its easy to see how this cool idea is more of an unnecessary annoyance.

In fact, the only time you might find a monster useful is when you journey into the Ancient Cave. Only Eldin and ONE monster can visit this 60-level randomly-generated dungeon. It’s a good place to visit, as there is a lot of great equipment there, but you better not overextend yourself. If Eldin is defeated, he loses all of his equipment and money can be pretty hard to come by, especially when you get far enough into the game to purchase the great, but extremely expensive, Zircon stuff. Lose 70,000 gold worth of Zircon equipment (like I did) and you won’t want to ever go back to the Ancient Cave (or continue playing the game).

To be honest, there was only one thing I really felt Atlus really did right with The Ruins of Lore -- their class system. As hunters, Eldin, Torma and Rami get access to a guild where they can become swordsmen, priests, wizards and many other classes. On their own, they’ll never learn any spells or special attacks, but each class they choose to master will grant them five to a dozen or so abilities, which not only play to each character’s strengths, but also can mask their weaknesses. Having brawn-before-brains characters learn a healing spell and letting magic-oriented ones pick up a melee ability or two can make them as diverse in battles as they are dull outside of them.

Sadly, this skill system is pretty much the only interesting aspect of what is a mediocre, by-the-books RPG. I’m not sure what Atlus was trying to create here, but all I saw was a pale shadow of Lufia 2 that accomplished little beyond making me want to play through that game again.

Feedback

Facebook()

Forums(0)

You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!

Info | Help | Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise

© 1998-2012 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.