Lufia World

10 years of frue destruction

Wed Sep 7 18:55:03 BST 2011

Today it's 10 years since the (Japanese) release of Lufia The Legend Returns! Yay!

Lufia II Soundtrack (fan)arranged

Sat Jun 11 18:29:59 BST 2011

SourJovis has been arranging the entire soundtrack of Lufia II.
Check his youtube account for updates and more Lufia tracks!

Lufia V: For the Savior Demo 2.0

Fri Jun 3 15:04:10 BST 2011

Hey all!
The second demo of Dekar the Great's fangame, Lufia V: For the Savior, is out now! You can download version 2.0 here ,check it out!

Lufia I to Wii Virtual Console

Thu Mar 10 19:37:51 GMT 2011

information from the esrb site
Title: Lufia & The Fortress of Doom
Publisher: Square Enix, Inc
Rating: Everyone
Content descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence Platforms: Wii

Rating summary:
This is a role-playing game in which players must save a fantastical world from evil beings. Players travel across continents, interact with other characters, and engage in turn-based battles with a variety of small creatures (e.g., elves, goblins, frogs, wolves). Using a menu system, players select actions (e.g., Stun, Poison, Thunder) that result in colorful hit-point damage against enemies, which disappear when defeated.

(and this old sega ad just asked for being edited =P)

Lufia music feature (again)

Sat Feb 26 14:56:58 GMT 2011

Here's another music feature!

Message Board Upgrade

Tue Dec 28 17:15:49 GMT 2010

I have upgraded our message board software to phpBB3 today as a first step towards stopping the bot spam we have recently been facing.

Unfortunately, a number of features are missing, including news comments (this will be fixed ASAP), the RPG add-on, and the "classic" board logo! However, the bot spam made the upgrade much more necessary. I hope you agree that this upgrade is a change for the better!

Lufia Genesis

Tue Dec 28 16:25:02 GMT 2010

I found some footage of "Lufia Genesis", the cancelled Sega Genesis version of Lufia & The Fortress of Doom. There were rumors that there is a proto cartridge of Lufia Genesis.

(At around 0:55)
It just looks like a test room to me. (That or Raile Shaia built a new laboratory especially for the Genesis version and cloned Hero and Lufia...)

What's Taito going to do?

Tue Nov 23 17:38:15 GMT 2010

Taito trademarked Lufia I and Lufia II. (Source Siliconera)
Siliconera says the reason might be for re-releases, possibly on the Wii Virtual Console.

I wonder what else they would trademark the Lufia games for... The 3DS also has a virtual console but I don't know if it is going to let you play snes games.

Interview with Natsume from RPGFAN

Sat Oct 23 18:06:03 BST 2010

Quoting an interview from RPGFan (click here for the original page on RPGFan)

" Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals Q&A with Natsume Vice President of Operations Graham Markay by Kimberley Wallace & RPGFan Staff - 10/23/10

RPGFan: It's been almost ten years since you last published a Lufia game - Lufia: The Legend Returns in 2001. Natsume strayed away from the GBA iteration of the series, The Ruins of Lore. What made you decide to return to localizing and publishing the franchise?
Graham Markay: Everyone here at Natsume has always been fond of the Lufia series, and when the opportunity came up for us to work on the series again with the original team responsible for Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals and Lufia: The Legend Returns, we jumped at it.

RPGFan: As a remake of Lufia II, there is already a fully translated version of this story. Was the script for the Nintendo DS version re-translated and re-written? If it was re-written, whose dialogue has changed the most and was the most fun to translate? What was the most difficult part of the localization?
GM: Well, Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals is more of a ground-up reimagining of Lufia II than a straight remake. It retains the same core elements of the story and the same characters, but just about everything else is new. The setting has changed from a traditional medieval fantasy to a sci-fi steampunk world.

The Japanese script was completely new; how characters know each other, when they're introduced, how key plot points play out, a lot of those story elements had been reworked and re-imagined. So we did use a new translation for this game.

As far as the localization went, I'd say the humor was the trickiest bit. There are a lot of really amusing exchanges between the characters and some pretty entertaining villagers you'll meet on your journey. But humor is the thing that always has the most trouble translating across languages; wordplay and jokes that work in Japanese don't always work in English. Of course, that's also the most fun part, as it challenges us to be our most creative.

RPGFan: Was anyone from the Lufia II localization team on board for this new one?
GM: Unfortunately not. Lufia II was done back in 1996 and the team responsible for the localization has moved on.

RPGFan: Many recent localizations have been adding references to the memes/tropes of the day: references to All Your Base, Rickrolling, etc. Will fans of Internet-based pop culture find anything fun hidden in the script of this new Lufia title?
GM: There's plenty of humor in the game, but we tried to keep it true to the characters and grounded in the world of the game. Referencing an Internet meme is always a risky move; memes come and go so quickly these days. A clever reference today can be played-out and dated by the time the game is released.

RPGFan: Besides the battle system, what are some of the biggest changes fans can expect with this remake?
GM: Well, the new, more modern setting and 3D graphics for one. Also, each character has a unique ability that's used both in combat and in puzzle solving, so expect a lot of clever new puzzles that'll challenge you to make the best use of each of your party members.

RPGFan: With the aforementioned enhancements, what classic features of Lufia will players find familiar?
GM: The monsters, the characters, and the core story of Lufia should be familiar to fans of Lufia II. For all the changes, Curse of the Sinistrals does a great job of preserving the spirit of that beloved classic.

RPGFan: With the change from a turn based battle system to an action based battle system, dungeons obviously had to be altered. Are we going to see all the dungeons from Lufia II in Curse of the Sinistrals? Are there are any significant additions or subtractions?
GM: All of the dungeons have been completely redesigned. It's not just a new look and layout; all of the puzzles are new and take advantage of the various new abilities at your disposal. Dungeons also have certain areas that you won't be able to access on your first time through, but you'll be able to return and explore them once you've gained certain party members or unlocked new abilities. This gives the dungeons a lot of replay value.

RPGFan would like to thank Graham Markay and Natsume for the time to interview with us. Keep your eyes peeled to RPGFan for an upcoming review on Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals! "

Estpolis 2 Medley - Ensemble Game Classica

Sat Oct 23 17:40:59 BST 2010

I just wanted to share this awesome Lufia 2 medley done by Ensemble Game Classica, I think it's a group that performs video game concerts in japan. (correct me if I'm wrong)

Lufia DS Release

Wed Oct 20 14:59:09 BST 2010

Lufia DS has been released! (but apparently it's delayed in some areas? And in other places it has already been released one week ago.)
Also, Natsume opened a small English Lufia DS site.

Last but not least, I want to share some photos a Lufia fan named Ashley sent me, her husband made this Lufia DS T-shirt for her birthday

Lufia music feature

Sat Sep 25 15:13:48 BST 2010

I guess it's been a while since I featured fanmade music here =P

Release date - Part 2

Thu Sep 9 18:00:35 BST 2010

According to Natsume, the release date of Lufia Curse of the Sinistrals isn't 12 October (the release date listed on Amazon), but 19 October.

Release date

Wed Sep 8 18:26:26 BST 2010

According to Amazon , the release date of Lufia DS will be 12 October.

Lufia scan

Wed Aug 25 11:36:02 BST 2010

Found this scan from Nintendo Power.

Lufia V For the Savior demo is out!

Tue Aug 24 15:21:46 BST 2010

If you've been a visitor of Lufia World for a longer time, you might remember the fangame Lufia V For the Savior (previously known as Lufia V Fourth War).
Anyway, Dekar The Great finally released a demo, so check it out if you haven't already =P
You can find the download link here. Comments about the game are welcome at the Lufia V board on our forum.

Let's hope there will be a full version one day.

Natsume + new VO company = no sucky voice acting in Lufia DS?

Tue Aug 24 14:25:24 BST 2010

If you've played some games with voice acting that are localized by Natsume, you might have noticed that their voice actors aren't exactly the best .
However, Natsume has hired a new voice over company for two of their upcoming games. One of them is Lufia Curse of the Sinistrals =)
The other game is Rune Factory 3, a DS game that is also developed by Neverland Company.
It's mentioned that this voice over company also does anime dubbing.

October release?

Wed Aug 18 13:44:58 BST 2010

According to this video from Natsume's site, Lufia Curse of the Sinistrals will be released in October.

Interviews

Mon Aug 16 16:59:10 BST 2010

Quoting two interviews with Natsume.

"How Natsume Picked Up Lufia: Curse Of The Sinistrals"
(original message from Siliconera)

By Spencer . July 14, 2010 . 4:28pm
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies and the Final Fantasy Game Boy Advance ports are exceptions. Square Enix rarely licenses their titles to other publishers, but Natsume picked up Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals also known as Estoplis: The Lands Cursed by the Gods.

When I met with Hiro Maekawa, CEO and President of Natsume, I asked him how the deal for Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals came about. “I didn’t ask them [Square Enix] to give us Lufia. That came from their side,” Maekawa replied. “We received an offer from their side whether we were interested in publishing Lufia in America.”

Almost fourteen years ago, Natsume licensed the Super Nintendo game Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals from Taito, which was absorbed by Square Enix in 2005. Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals is a reimagining of Lufia II. What about the original game? Will Natsume re-release it on Virtual Console?

“Would it be possible? I’m sure everyone is open for discussion when it comes to ideas, but nothing at this time,” Graham Markay, Vice President of Operations at Natsume, answered.

“We just did Wild Guns. Shadow of the Ninja, which made a lot of people happy. We’re trying to get a couple of those other classic Natsume titles out as well.”

------
"Interview: Natsume's Vice President of Operations Graham Markay"
(I only quoted the Lufia related parts, you can view the original and full interview here)

You guys have the Lufia revamp...
GM: Yup, re-imagining. Because it's not a port...

Well...
GM: ... It would be unfair to call it, you know, like it's just like the SNES version.

Right, but it has the same story and the same characters?
GM: No, the story's a little bit different. Characters are similar and story, but it's different. It's not just the same text that you would see in Lufia II for the SNES.

Right, the dialogue is completely new.
GM: That's right. And we know that there are die-hard fans and that they're watching what we do, so we're actually spending a lot of time on the VO as well as the script itself to make sure that we hold true, but at the same time try to bring in new Lufia fans and introduce them to the series.

Originally, Square-Enix was the publisher in Japan...
GM: Yeah, in Japan. It's a Square-Enix title.

... So, is there a reason they didn't want to bring it over here [Stateside]? How did you guys get involved?
GM: Truthfully, you'd probably have to ask Square-Enix about that. I don't really know the reasons; we just actually heard through the grapevine that Lufia might be available. We have some history with the series, so we talked to Square-Enix and it seemed like a pretty good fit for whatever reason and we moved on from there. Which is fantastic because Natsume released Lufia II and Lufia: The Legend Returns for the Game Boy Color.

Interview from E3

Thu Jul 1 12:55:24 BST 2010

Found an video of an interview with somebody of Natsume.

Lufia at Anime Expo

Wed Jun 30 14:48:15 BST 2010

Natsume is attending Anime-Expo, and is taking their games they showed at the E3 with them.
This means the English Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals demo will be there as well. One of the other titles is Rune Factory 3 for the DS, which is also developed by Neverland Company.

New Lufia DS english screenshots

Wed Jun 16 14:22:25 BST 2010

Artwork/logo

Sat May 29 17:51:12 BST 2010

Lufia logo and artwork from Natsume's site.

Lufia - Curse of the Sinistrals

Wed May 26 18:44:17 BST 2010

Good news!
Lufia DS is going to be released in English!
Current information:
Title: Lufia - Curse of the Sinistrals
Publisher: Natsume
Release Date: Fall 2010 (if Natsume doesn't delay it, that is =P )
Price: $29.99

There's going to be more information next month, at E3

English Screenshots (all screenshots are of the Tanbel Abandoned Mine, which is an early dungeon)

Lufia II/DS character artwork

Fri Apr 16 19:02:01 BST 2010

I'll see if I can find a bigger scan of this =P

Scans scans scans

Thu Apr 1 17:27:33 BST 2010

It says Erim's voice actor is "???" but her voice actor is the same as you-know-who =P

Artwork

Scans again!

Wed Mar 10 21:49:00 GMT 2010

Some new scans, they show some dungeons and bosses.

There are some more screenshots here.

Music from Hadou Disc

Fri Feb 26 15:25:24 GMT 2010

Remixed music from the pre-order CD. I found this on Nicovideo.

Music and Wallpaper

Thu Feb 25 17:29:16 GMT 2010

The official site and the OST site have been updated!
You can find a new wallpaper featuring the main cast and the Sinistrals on the official site.
The OST site has new samples of boths discs.

Estpolis II 15th Anniversary and Estpolis DS site update

Wed Feb 24 13:24:47 GMT 2010

It's Estpolis II's 15th anniversary today! Yay!

The official site is also updated today, and here is a picture of Dengeki which has Maxim on the cover =P

New drama track from the website. The ending music is used as background music.