Famitsu just recently announced that Square Enix is reviving the Estpolis/Lufia franchise. Square Enix currently owns the original company that created Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, and that same team will be creating the new game.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1229437_1124.html

edit: The website basically says all the same stuff, and says that more info will be released on November 19. Under the pictures: The first caption discusses the Dual Blade, the second discusses Doom Island.

...If this new Lufia is better than that GBA turd, then I will forgive them.

Well, the problem with the GBA one was that it wasn't made by anyone related to Taito or Natsume who made the original three.

Double Post.

The game has been confirmed to be an action rpg remake of Lufia 2 (Which I need to finish LPing.) for the Nintendo DS. The game is being developed by Neverland Co. which is the company that devoloped the original Lufia 2.

The top screen displays the main game, including dungeons and puzzles, while the bottom displays a map and portraits of the characters. Tapping on the portaits changes who you are controlling during gameplay.

Boss battles will take place on both screens.

The game will also feature voice acting for all of the main characters:

Maxim: Nakamura Yuuichi (Clannad - Okazaki)
Selan: Inoue Marina (Minami-ke - Kana; Gurren Lagann - Yoko)
Tia: Toyosaki Aki (K-ON! - Yui)
Guy: Miyake Kenta (Wolf's Rain - Tsume)
Dekar: Namikawa Daisuke (BECK - Yukio; Black Lagoon - Rock)
Artea: Chiba Susumu
Lexis: Ogata Kenichi (Detective Conan - Dr. Agasa; InuYasha - Myoga)
Iris: Sawashiro Miyuki
Jimmy: Sugita Tomokazu (Kanon - Yuuichi; Haruhi - Kyon)
Jamie: Hanazawa Kana (Sketchbook - Sora; CENCOROLL - Yuki)
Gades: Konishi Katsuyuki (Gurren Lagann - Kamina)
Daos: Ginga Banjou (Legend of the Galactic Heroes - De Villiers)

The game will be released on February 25, 2010 in Japan, and an official website will be launched on November 25.

Oh, and the game will feature 3D graphics very very similar to Final Fantasy 3 and 4 DS, and is an action RPG not a turnbased one like all of the other Lufia games are.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3176979

So they're taking the original game and changing genres? Odd decision.


As someone who has played Mario & Luigi 2 and Lunar DS, I can say with certainty that splitting the battle screen just doesn't work. Not unless it's like the action on one screen and stats on the other.

At least, IMO.

I thought this was gonna be a new Lufia.

I mean, as much as a remake rubs me the right way, the complete gutting of the gameplay does me the opposite. It would be like if they took the plot of Shining Force II and put in the gameplay of Shining Force EXA.

The magazine article included an interview with three of the developers:

Notes:
- Hajime Kojima is the producer of Estpolis DS
- Naoyuki Ukeda is the main programmer from the first Lufia game, XLION Engineer and Trick Constructor from Lufia II and is also listed for Special Thanks in Lufia TLR.
- Masahide Miyata is the Director and Scenario writer from Lufia I, II and TLR

Anyway, quoted from http://zepy.momotato.com/2009/11/18/new ... e-details/

# Square Enix asked them if they would like to do a new Estpolis game
# The second game’s system was a lot more refined, the scenario and music were well liked, and it took place before the first game too, so we decided to use the second game as the motif (Kojima Hajime)
# We didn’t want to do a straight port (Ukeda Naoyuki)
# Square Enix told us that we’re free to do whatever we want (Ukeda)
# So that’s what we’ll do! (Ukeda)
# Turn based command battle systems aren’t new anymore, so we’re making it an action rpg now (Kojima)
# It’s not just a remake, we’re rebuilding the story, the characters, and the world settings (Miyata Masahide)
# The hadou weapons will be a key component of the story, the world is different from the SFC version (Miyata)
# The bottom screen will only be used to switch characters (Kojima)
# The game will revolve around the D-pad more than the touch pen (Kojima)
# Boss battles will use two screens, it has its own special code for that part (Ukeda)
# Boss battles will be hard if you don’t know what to do against each one of them (Miyata)
# “It will satisfy action game players, but players that are bad with action games will be okay too” by Kojima
# Scenario is based on the second game, there are parts where we are deliberately letting them say the exact same words as in the original game (Miyata)
# But basically, everything is rewritten (Miyata)
# The number of towns that are appearing in the game is different from the original two games (Miyata)
# There will be parts in the game which will make fans of the series smile (Miyata)
# Miyata has surprisingly not changed at all. He’s just embarrassed reading his scenario from 15 years ago (Ukeda)
# The music is being brought over from the original two games (Ukeda)
# We changed the sound quality without messing with the melody line (Ukeda)
# The main staff from the SFC versions are making this game. It’s rare to have something like that 15 years after the last game (Ukeda),
# Stuff such as “Mahou no XXXX Magical XXXXXX” from the original are still in the game (Kojima),
# We changed a lot in the game, but we constantly kept in our minds that “we should keep the parts that made the series what it is” (Kojima)

Images:

Random screens

Maxim, Selan and Gades

Battle screenshots (You can see that IP attacks are still around.)

More random shots and puzzles.

Neither are Action RPGs!


Then it's not a remake at all. It's a reboot.

I just noticed, Guy looks waaay too big in the in-game pictures... Like bigger than Gades.

Lufia II is a classic.

I have no idea how I feel about this. I'm sorta deflated that everything looks so different. I mean, NO ONE IS WEARING ARMOR? Action RPG system? I guess you can only control one character at a time, too, instead of your entire party.

I don't like that fad.

As you say Dray, this must be a reboot, because in those screens, I didn't notice anything from the past games at all.

On Wednesday, the game's official site was launched: Estpolis Website

The site also contains a trailer for the game, and shows off the revamped music, which is the exact same music but sounds better. It also shows off some voice acting.

They actually have arranged and in-game versions of each song on the site.

Hm, the more I see of this, the less excited I get.

A lot of the enemies seem to lack the personality that the sprites had. The bosses are meh-able. This is just a new game with Lufia II as a skin. If they wanted to change the game so much that it was near-unrecognizable to fans of the game, then they should have just made a brand-new story.

But no, I guess they were too lazy to do that.

I like this:



So they take out turn-based battle system which constituted a huge part of what made Lufia what it was. Ha.

Actually, I don't think turned based battles are what made Lufia what it is, it certainly did not make Lufia 2 what it is. Plenty of games use turned based battles, not just Lufia, so you can't say that Lufia is awesome because it has turned based battles.

When I think of Lufia 2, I think of the story, the Dual Blade, the Sinistrals, lots of puzzles (puzzles play a huuuge part in what Lufia 2 is), and all of the characters that take part in the game's story, not the turned based battles.

Also, Tia now has red hair and has a pair of goggles for some reason, and Lexis is very very old and crazy looking.

You're saying that the battle system had no effect on making Lufia...Lufia?

I don't think so, and you are refering to all the Lufia games, the battle system in Lufia 1 is one of the worst battle systems I've ever experienced.

I'm kind of with Ix. It doesn't matter what RPG it is... the battle system in any RPG is vital and makes up a huge part of what the game is. Hell, some people absolutely hate RPGs for simply having a crappy battle system. And on the flip-side of that, games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 7 wouldn't be the game they are without the battle systems they currently have. And changing it would only hurt them.

*tries to imagine Chrono Trigger with Chrono Cross's battle system*

Some new magazine scans were released recently:


Tia's new look. I think they changed her hair color because the game already had enough blue-haired characters, and not enough (i.e. none) orange haired ones.


More stuff about Tia. I can assume that even though her look has changed, her personality has not; the blue text on the right says: "Her jealousy for Maxim is at 120%"

Also, the city that is shown in the green box at the bottom is "Paaseraito" which is Parcylete, Selan's town.


This page discusses the way that puzzles in the game work. Each character has their own unique "ability" that is used to solve puzzles.

Maxim: Cross Dash
Selan: Icicle Plate (a platform of ice I guess).
Tia: Hookshot (she is seen using this in the trailer).

Also, at the bottom of the last image are images of some characters that I assume are important NPCs from the games, including, Jessica (Jessy?), Jeffery (Jaffy?), someone named Kaneamaaru (Kanea Mayor?), and Miles.

As long as they can retain the awesome story and puzzle I think they can change the battle system and actually get away with it. As long as the battles don't suck.

I think on of the things you two (Ix and Lantis) are keying in on with the references to battle systems making a game is that the games you're referencing (chrono trigger and ff7) had revolutionary components for their time in their battle systems.

Those battle systems helped make the game purely because they were so awesome. It's like Legend of Legaia. That game couldn't be what it is without the battle system it has.

However, Lufia...doesn't really have that type of battle system. Sure, it was solid. But their was nothing exceptionally out of the ordinary about it. (Maybe the pets, but other games had that honestly.)

The awesome thing about Lufia was its wonderful story and characters and puzzles. The battle system being solid was just a bonus. So, as long as they have a solid battle system this time around, I think changing it up is fine. And hey, there's always the possibility that they could make a wonderful battle system this time around as well.

(P.S. I do like the direction the characters are taking...but I do hope they put more effort into the enemies.)

Finally someone who agrees with me about the game!