Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

This product is also called Lufia in Europe, Estopolis Denki II in Japan.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is an RPG with puzzle elements.

You play as Maxim, a monster hunter from the town of Elcid. One night a blazing red star flies across the sky, prompting the man to investigate. What he finds is a woman who advises him that he is destined to change the foundation of the world and that he's one of those destined to fight evil. Setting out with this in mind, he searches the world for answers to many questions that he has; one being why is he so good with a sword?

Battles take place on a seperate screen in turn based style which is initiated by running into monsters in the dungeons or via random encounter on the world map. Characters will act out their turns in accordance with the commands that they are issued with, in order of their speed status. Characters with a higher status will act first, obviously. Amongst throwing around normal attacks, spells, and special IP skills determined by the equipment they are wearing. The player can also have a monster join the fray known as a Capsule Monster. These monsters boast the party number to five (four heroes, and the monster), and act independent to the player meaning that they can not be commanded.

Capsule Monsters may be fed outside of battle to evolve them into new, more powerful versions of themselves. There is a total of seven Capsule Monsters to find throughout the world in this title.

A heavy element to the dungeons laid out across the world are a variety of puzzles ranging from pushing blocks, to defeating monsters in a certain order. Skill Items which can be found in dungeons add a layer of depth to these puzzles as the player can fire an arrow, drop a bomb or hook onto a pillar across a gap to navigate their way through the landscape. Some puzzles are quite challenging, and may get a little frustrating.

Mini-games also play a minor part in the form of a casino in some of the towns, which can grant to party coins to trade for rare items if they are lucky. Also contained, is a bonus dungeon called the Ancient Cave which is completely randomised every time the party enters - with each member's level being set to one. The player must navigate their way through each of the 99 floors, finding equipment and items to outfit their team with as they battle their way through hoard of monster, some not even seen in the likes of the outside world.