The island suddenly appeared in the sky. Let's Play Lufia & the Fortress of Doom!

Half-elf get!



Jerin is our final party member. The outcast half-elf of Belgen, Jerin has no family and no place to call home, so decides she'd rather hang around with us instead. Due to her elven heritage, she looks much younger than she is; it's not a stretch to assume she might actually be the oldest member of our group. She has a very child-like personality, and is very curious, often asking questions about her surroundings. Her childish behavior tends to aggravate Lufia and Aguro, so Jerin essentially serves as a foil to the rest of the party.



Jerin's greatest asset is her agility. She is easily the fastest member of the party, and can in fact get so fast that she can act multiple times before some members act once. Due to her elven blood, she has an affinity for archery, and is the only party member who can equip bows, which gives her the ability to attack whole enemy groups at once. She otherwise shares equipment options with Lufia, although you're always better off giving Jerin a bow than a rod. She'll also have better end game equipment options available than Lufia does.

Her attack power is a bit better than Lufia's but will never compete with Medi or Aguro. Jerin makes up for these disadvantages with a wide assortment of magic options. She will learn almost all of the white magic spells over the course of our adventure, giving her the ability to heal, revive, buff, and cure status ailments. Finally, she rounds out her arsenal with magic of Fire and Ice. She also has the very useful Warp and Escape magic, for traveling between towns and escaping dungeons.



Jerin isn't a weak character, but she's probably the hardest member of the party to use effectively. Her attacks can never substitute for Medi or Aguro, but she's great at softening up enemy groups to make it easier for other members to kill them. Her magic spells are much weaker than Lufia's, but can be absolutely brutal if employed at the right time, against the right enemies. Her healing magic is great, but it will take a long time for her to start learning her better healing spells.



Jerin also has a very strange level curve. She starts at level 14, grows very, very fast for a few levels, and will fly way past Aguro and Lufia. Around level 23 or 24, she slows waaay down and the other two will pass her again.

I have no idea what that weapon she's holding is supposed to be.


Cave

Okay, Lost Forest, for real this time. This is the game's only “forest” dungeon, and it's only a single screen long. Trying to go through here without Jerin will always dump you back out at the entrance, even if you go the right way.

Only one path will allow you to succeed, and Jerin helpfully points it out to us.




Battle

Jerin demonstrates some of her icy Frost magic. Ice spells always hit all enemies, but in general her fire magic will be way, way more useful. I rarely use her ice magic. Unless you're hitting enemy weakpoints, Jerin's magic isn't terribly useful or effective, but when it does...



Lufia learns the “absorb” spell that lets her steal MP from enemies. This CAN be very useful for refilling her MP mid-dungeon, but only if you know what enemies to use it on.



East-South-West-South is the passage through the forest.



Yay!



In a nice little continuity nod, both ends of the forest have a guide station, because obviously people pass through from both directions. The old man here doesn't have any elf child to pass off to us, but he will let us rest if we want.



This mysterious shrine will lead us to the next area!


Shrine

Rather than a warp, this shrine hides a staircase that leads under the nearby sound.





A conveniently-placed all-knowing old man tells us that we're drawing near to Elfrea, and tells us of the three mysterious towers that ring the islands ahead.



He warns us that the monsters are strong, and that no one has ever found Elfrea. On the bright side, he does give us directions to the next town.


Field

We're very near to Elfrea now. Next time, we'll finally meet Artea.

Next time: The two three towers.

Now that we have all our team's magic users, it's time to talk about the kinds of magic we'll be learning!

Healing Magic:

Strong, Stronger, Champion:

These are the basic healing spells of the game. Strong heals for around 25-30 HP, Stronger for around 90. Champion fully heals the target.

Medi, Lufia, and Jerin will all learn Strong and Stronger. Medi and Jerin will also learn Champion.

Boost-Valor:

These are multi-targeting magic spells that hit your whole team. Boost is about as powerful as Stronger, while Valor full heals the entire party.

Lufia and Jerin both learn Boost. Medi and Jerin will learn Valor, though not until very late in the game. It's possible to finish the game without Jerin learning Valor.

Recovery Magic:

Poison

Cures Poison. Medi learns this early on, Jerin starts with it.

Stone:

Cures petrification. Medi and Jerin both learn this.

Statue:

This spell petrifies a party member. I can't think of any practical reason to use this. Petrified party members CAN be targeted by attacks, but won't take damage. But it's not a very practical strategy. Only Medi learns this.

Stun:

Cures paralysis. Jerin starts with this.

Dead-Rally:

These spells revive a fallen member. Dead brings the member back with only a few HP, Rally full heals the character. Only Jerin learns Dead, but both she and Medi learn Rally. This is one of the few places where Medi outshines his ancestor, as Maxim did not know this spell.

Elemental Magic:

Flash-Bolt-Thunder:

The lightning elemental line. These spells deal enormous damage to a single target. In general, humanoid enemies are weak against lightning, particular ones wearing metallic armor. (Example: Gades) Lufia learns these spells. They are enhanced by the Flash Ring.

Dew-Water-Flood:

The Water elemental line, these spells deal damage to a group of enemies (any contiguous enemies of the same type in a formation.) Few enemies are weak to water magic, but those that are include any type of fire-based enemy. Lufia learns these spells. They are enhanced by the Water Ring.

Bang-Blast-Sunder:

The blast magic line. These spells are non-elemental and deal uniform damage to everything. They always hit all enemies. Lufia learns these. They are enhanced by the Blast Ring. These spells are devastatingly powerful in the mid-to-late game, and there's no guesswork involved. Blast magic annihilates anything. It's more expensive than other kinds of magic, but Lufia has a huge MP pool so you might as well put it to work.

Spark-Flame-Vulcan:

The fire elemental spell line. Fire magic hits a group of enemies. Many enemies are weak to fire magic, including any plant-based enemy, or any enemy encountered at sea. This makes Jerin's fire magic very useful if employed wisely. Only Jerin learns these spells. They are augmented by the Flame Ring.

Frost-Blizzard-Glacier:

The ice elemental line. Ice spells always hit all enemies. Reptilian enemies are weak against ice, but these aren't common, making ice magic probably the least useful type of magic. Jerin learns these spells. They are augmented by the Frost Ring.

Status Magic:

Fright:

Fright puts enemies to sleep. It affects all enemies and has a decent chance of working. Both Medi and Lufia learn this, but they both usually have better things to do. If Jerin learned this, it might have been worth using.

Deflect-Bounce:

These silence enemies. Deflect works on a group, Bounce works on everyone. There's little functional difference, though. Lufia learns these, but it doesn't work on anything worth using it on, so you might as well just blow enemies up instead.

Confuse:

Confuses enemies, which is more of a novelty than a real strategy. It only affects one group. Jerin learns this. If it affected all enemies, it would have been more useful, perhaps. But if Jerin has nothing better to do, there are less amusing ways to use a turn.

Drain-Dread:

Drain and Dread severely diminish the target's defense. This is a very useful debuff against bosses, or enemies like mimickers with iron defense. Dread affects a group of enemies, which mostly exists to give enemies the option to use it on your group. Draining a boss's defense is always a good strategy. Medi and Lufia both learn these.

Absorb:

Absorb steals MP from an enemy. It only works if the target has MP to steal. Can be a great way to restore MP mid-dungeon if you know who to use it on. Lufia and Jerin both learn this.

Perish-Succumb:

The vaunted instant-death magic. Perish affects a single target, Succumb can affect a whole group. Perish is worthless since Lufia can instantly kill most enemies with lightning magic anyway, but Succumb is actually worth using, since the chance of affecting at least one enemy are good. Lufia learns perish and Succumb. Medi will also learn Succumb, but it's so wildly out of left field for him I'm not convinced him learning it isn't a bug. But at 8 MP for a chance of instant death, for multiple enemies, with a decent chance of working? I'll take it.

Support Magic:

Courage:

This spell raises the party's defense. It's a very powerful spell that is unfortunately limited in usefulness. Few bosses use physical attacks, and against common enemies you'd be better off just killing them. Both Medi and Lufia will learn this. I'll only use it once ever.

Sheld-Protect:

These spells raise MGR, which is much more useful since bosses use magic a lot. Shield affects one member, Protect affects everyone. Lufia learns these. It's a great way for her to open a boss fight.

Fake:

Fakes raises the party's agility. Medi learns this. It's a great spell, but Medi is usually too busy killing things to use it. If you want to open a boss fight with it though, go ahead.

Trick:

Trick raises attack power. It's extremely useful. Medi and Jerin both learn this. It's a great way for Jerin to spend turns during boss fights when she's not healing.

Mirror:

Mirror reflects all hostile spells cast at the target. It does NOT reflect your own spells, which is great. Mirror is extremely useful in the game's final battles. Jerin learns this.

Float:

This spell lets you walk over poisonous marshes without taking damage. Items are often hidden in poison marshes. Only Medi learns this.

Warp Magic

Warp:

Instantly teleport to a town you've been to. Jerin starts with this.

Escape:

Instantly escape from a cave. Doesn't work in towers. Jerin learns this.

There is no third warp spell. Why are you asking?

I think you're confusing "Cutscene Scolding" with "Battle Scolding". They're entirely different things.

Except the people of Belgen.

Ah, the Slime Elf...
Looks like a generic rod/cane to me. The top part does look a bit weird, as if there's a telescope mounted on it.

As a sidenote, I adore those sprite animations. Like, "we're going in a dangerous adventure to fight super deadly evil beings! Watch me jump in joy! Wheee!"

It's a staff.

Back in high school I had a friend who played the game and we had a sort of in-joke about those sprites. (They remind me of the Dragon Warrior sprites but those are more like a weird military parade march of some sort.)

sfc

as far as i can tell there was no artwork in the actual instruction booklet. if there was it has since been lost to time.

snes

this is fun

cellphone


no

Jerin's outfit makes even less sense than Lufia's! Who the hell designed those boots?! I still maintain that the hero's cellphone artwork is by far the worst of all, though.

Aguro also looks way too young; I always imagined him being older but I guess in JRPG land "teenager" is plenty old enough to be a commander in an army.

Do any of the characters have canonical ages? Lufia is the only one whose age is given in-game.

not that i can find, but i'd wager medi is also 16, and aguro is probably ~21

To be fair, every country has such a terrible army that Aguro could easily have risen to the rank of commander by being the only person who is even remotely competent.

Field

Chapter 6: Artea

Last time, we saved a virgin and acquired a half-elf. This has the unfortunate effect of making our party now consist of 12.5% elf by volume. But that's still a better ratio than Maxim's party had, since his group was a full 25% elf. I can live with it if Medi can.

This, of course, assumes that the other members of our party are 100% human. But there's no reason not to think that.

We've finally reached the island that the apprentice told us about so long ago. But the elves, being pricks, made the process of finding their village as confusing and convoluted as possible. In fact, no one has ever managed to find it, though many humans have spent their whole lives trying. I suppose it makes sense that the process of finding a hidden elf paradise would take longer than any human lifespan would last, in order to keep the humans out, but doesn't that just make the elves even bigger jerks?

Anyway, we don't have a lifetime to search for Elfrea. Gades already burned down one kingdom and who knows what he's doing now?

It's time to do what no human has ever done.


Town

Jenoba is a thriving city whose main industry seems to be playing host to the various adventurers searching for Elfrea. Apparently, secret elven villages are quite the tourist attraction. But more importantly, many of the folk here are veteran adventurers who might be able to give us clues on how to find Elfrea.



Well...uh...that's encouraging?



He tells us of the three towers that ring the island. Each is a different color, and each plays host to a different class of monster. These three towers are the key to finding Elfrea, but it seems this guy was never able to solve the mystery.



Again, we get the hint that only an elf can find Elfrea. I wonder if 12.5% elf by volume is enough?



You should be a cartographer when you grow up!



When in doubt, find the old man. The all-knowing old man always knows what's up.



Yeeeeahhh, that's the stuff, lay it on me, old timer!



Well...that's not very helpful at all! You're the worst all-knowing old man I've ever met!



Neither of the old men in this town were any help! Now what? I mean, where the hell else am I supposed to find someone old and all-knowing?



An old lady?



That's right, my humble readers. Jenoba plays host to Lufia's one and only all-knowing old lady. In fact, she's so all-knowing that she recognizes that giving away your wisdom for free is a sucker's game, and demands that we buy her a drink first.



Two drinks. That is one canny old lady.





The old lady tells us something that only a handful of adventurers have learned; the secret to finding Elfrea lies in three magic gems hidden in the three towers. We'll need to find these gems if we're ever going to meet Artea.

Field

So we're now presented with three towers to explore. Our goal for now is to locate the three magical stones that will open the way to Elfrea, and figure out what to do with them. You need to climb each tower twice, but none of them are very large and only one of them has a boss.

But it's a mean boss.


Battle

In the meantime, lets meet some of the locals! The monsters here are pretty brutal compared to what we've met so far. Fortunately, Jenoba had some pretty decent gear available, although a lot of it is what we already had; Long swords and Light Armor, which we found in the Old Cave. This is the first time where the gear we have is merely appropriate for our location, instead of much stronger. This means we'll have a harder time here than we had previously. We have four party members now, and the challenge has scaled appropriately. But Jerin is still very weak and hasn't come into her own yet; she neither has the healing magic or firepower to compete with our other party members yet, and won't until the end of this update.

She did learn the Absorb spell, but it's still going to be a few levels before she starts to get into the really good stuff. So let's help her out a bit.



Jerin will be the recipient of a lot of our stat potions for the rest of the game. She'll split Spell Potions with Medi and Power Potions with Lufia, because she needs both HP and MP. But the best thing to do with Jerin is feed her Speed Potions.

She's already the fastest member, and you might think they'd be better served being used on Aguro, who is the slowest. But due to the way speed works, making Aguro faster won't give you much benefit. Making Jerin faster can eventually let her start taking two turns to Aguro's one, which is very useful in the end game when she's flinging around full healing spells and attack boosting buffs. You'll never get that kind of pay off with Aguro, or anyone else.



The tower nearest Jenoba is the Blue Tower, so we'll start there.




Tower

The blue tower is inhabited by renegade elves who hunt down anyone who approaches Elfrea. And here I was almost starting to think that elves in this setting weren't pricks!



In order to defend the tower from intruders, the elves have formed an alliance with the most terrifying of foes; the evil clown. Lufia II players may recognize that these clowns were reused as a boss in that game. In fact, they'll likely recognize a few enemies from this area!



Those slimes are called “Jellybeans” because Taito is silly.



The three towers are a major turning point in this game's difficulty, because here enemies not only use status effects liberally, but they will start using the second tier magic on you, which can really hurt.



The tower does provide us with some useful treasure to compensate with the increase in difficulty. Each tower hides a useful ring. The Blue Ring, unfortunately, doesn't reduce damage by half, but it does raise a lot of stats. Medi will wear this for a while, replacing his Power ring.



Part way up the tower, we see a tantalizingly out of reach treasure box...I wonder how we get to it!?



If you guessed, drop down a hole, congratulations! You've discovered one of the two types of puzzles this game has. (The other is “push a switch.”)



The hidden treasure is the “Green Jade” which is one of the three gems we need to solve the riddle of Elfrea. Alright!



The top of the tower has a pedestal. Likely, this is related to the three stones we have to find. I guess the Jade we found isn't the right one, though.



We can't do anything more in this tower right now. We'll be back, but right now let's check out the other two towers.

Field

A bit further south we see a small shrine, similar to the one that brought us to this island. It leads to the next region, but it's locked. We have no interest in it right now, though, since we're looking for Elfrea.



South of the Blue Tower is the Green Tower. There's no nearby village to rest, though.


Tower



One canny businessman decided to turn this into an opportunity, and opened an Inn at the base of the tower and charges extortionate rates. He apparently makes a pretty decent living off of the “I've been searching for Elfrea for thirty years” crowd.



Next we find the “Green Ring” which gives a huge boost to agility and a bunch of other stats. We'll give this to Jerin, who needs all the help she can get right now.

Though, do note that her stats have nearly doubled in only three levels.



The evil clown brigade is out in full force in this tower, along with a variety of dark demons. Uniform enemy groups will let Jerin hit the entire formation, helping soften them up for the other party members to bring them down. Jerin's attack animation is a very satisfying little “thwick” that hits each enemy in turn. Attack animations are tied to characters, not weapons, and each character has a unique one.



Jerin learns the confuse spell here, which isn't a bad spell; it actually works fairly reliably. It'a decent way to use her turns while she's still weak, but soon enough she'll be strong enough that attacking will always be the better option.



This is an interesting-looking room, it appears there are shadows from the floor above.



It leads to a huge pile of treasure! Nice.



Uh...this is a problem. We kind of needed this gem to find Elfrea. Did the elves really leave us a broken gem? Jerks.

Looks like we'll have to get a red gem from somewhere else.



There's more treasure on the other side. Note that there is also a staircase that doesn't seem to exist on the lower floor. We'll revisit this later.



For now, there's nothing more we can do here.

On to the next tower. Jerin demonstrates some of her growing abilities to us. Her attacks are still a little weak, but she'll get something at the end of this update to help with that.


Field

Near the Red Tower, we find a tiny village, implausibly located at the edge of a toxic marsh. Stopping in that town seems like a bad idea.... but let's check it out.


Village

Well, it's an aptly-named town at least.



According to the people of Ruan (represented here by one young woman), the toxic lake wasn't always toxic. Oh, I get it, I bet the lake got poisoned because of the folly of man and those darn hippy elves are going to teach us a lesson in environmentalism (another plot point stolen in Lufia II.)



Oh. Apparently the tower is home to the Water Fairy, and she got kicked out by an evil ghost who proceeded to poison the lake. Well, we already killed one evil ghost, so that basically makes us experts, right? I'm sure we can handle him.



The cleric mentions that this area has a strong energy, possibly due to the Water Fairy's presence. Maybe they do draw power from supernatural beings after all?



More power potions! Lufia and Jerin will split these for the rest of the game, they both need all the HP they can get.



Ruan is also home to a jewelry store. Maybe they have a red stone we can use for the three towers!



I don't know how much you know about gemstones... (I'm an expert.)



The jeweler has an extraordinarily hard time convincing Lufia that rubies and sapphires are the same type of gemstone.



See, it's not just a video game, we learn things too.

Warning: nerd tangent

Rubies and sapphires are indeed the same type of stone. Both are formed from the mineral corundum, and the only difference is their color. Red stones are rubies, and other types are called sapphires. Sapphires are most commonly known as a blue gem, but green variations do exist. Green sapphires are not emeralds (which are formed of beryl.)

To my knowledge, “red sapphire” is not technically a correct term; you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would call a ruby a “red sapphire.”

The game's insistence on using the “sapphire” terminology leads me to believe that all three of the magical gems in the three towers were intended to be sapphires; blue, green and red. However, due to space limitations, only “Red Sapphire” fit. The Green and Blue gems are called “Jade,” which is a common type of gem formed of nephrite and jadeite, but it is not related to the sapphire, and isn't otherwise referred to in the game at all. Jade is most commonly known for being green, but blue variations do exist, so technically a Blue and Green Jade stone are valid gemstone types. But since neither is called a “sapphire,” the insistence on using “red sapphire” to refer to a ruby just further confuses the issue!

Incidentally, rubies are among the hardest known gemstones (only diamonds are harder), so how the "red sapphire" broke by sitting in a treasure box for eons is a mystery for the ages.

Why the random tangent? Well, this very conversation happened to pique the interest of young nine-year-old Solitayre, who proceeded to take a great interest in gemstones, learned all about them, started a mineral sample collection, got a rock tumbler, learned how to make jewelry to impress his ladyfriends, took geology classes in college, and continued to take an interest in the subject to this day. Why do you ask?

(Gemfire probably deserved some of the blame for this one.)



Anyway, the jeweler doesn't have any rubies on-hand. Ever since the mines of Medan ran out, there haven't been any shipments.

Oh well, we'll worry about that later. We've got a ghost to kill.

Tower

The Red Tower is the most dangerous of the three towers.



Unlike the other two towers, this one has a basement. Let's see what's down there!



Wow, okay. Apparently, the Dark Ghost's influence has caused the base of the tower to be flooded with a corrupted morass of toxic sludge.



This area will clear up after we defeat the boss, and these two chests will respawn with new items, so make sure to get these!



The creatures here continue to raise the stakes even higher, with stronger magic than anything we've seen so far.



Medi finally learns the “Stronger” spell, which is going to be very, very useful in a few minutes.





The Tower hides the Red Ring, which is a great ring for Lufia due to its substantial intelligence boost. Soon, however, she'll learn her next tier of lightning magic, at which point the Flash ring easily supplants it in usefulness.

This is also the only time Lufia gets to use a sword.



Hidden in this tower is a plaque that reveals the secret of the three towers.



Only those who can read elven writing can decipher it, which might be why so many people have trouble finding Elfrea.



The plaque reveals the order that we place the three gems in the towers. Unfortunately, we only have one of them gems, and can't find them all until we put the Dark Ghost down, so this information isn't helpful at the moment.



Causality has been fractured. Time has no meaning. Existence is a nightmare without beginning or end.



The top of the tower reveals the tower's pedestal being guarded by a fiendish specter!



Poor Aguro is still using the Daze Ring we found back in Treck. Unfortunately, the Ghost Ring is not effective here. The Dark Ghost is considered “Undead,” not a ghost. Since we don't have the Undead Ring, we can't exploit his weakness. Which is a shame because it would really help.

Despite his horrifying appearance, the Dark Ghost doesn't really seem like a supernatural entity of darkness so much as a rotten jerk who just wants everyone to go away. Either way, that little town doesn't stand a chance until that lake is purified, so this guy has to go.


Boss

Welcome to what is easily the hardest boss fight in Lufia. The Dark Ghost sucks. He's pretty much everything to fear in a boss; iron defense, lots of HP, horrifying damage output, and no weaknesses.



We're pulling out all the stops on this one. I'm normally very stingy with my items, but I wouldn't hesitate to use my entire inventory on this jackass.



Sadly, Lufia's shield spell can't even begin to mitigate the damage the Dark Ghost is going to be throwing at us. The Drain spell at least lowers his defense a little.



Once he starts throwing out his Water spells though, it's a challenge just to keep everyone standing. That's around a quarter of our team's health in one shot!



He doesn't stop casting it either. The Ghost is very, very fast and can eat through 100 HP like it's nothing. Our group doesn't have any full-group healing yet, and keeping up with this kind of multitarget damage is almost impossible.



Jerin is nearly useless against this opponent. She hasn't learned “Stronger” yet, and Strong can't even begin to keep up with the Dark Ghost's “Water” spell, so her best move is to throw out hi-potions on every turn.



Even with Lufia and Jerin on full-time healing duty, it's hard to keep everyone alive. This is the only Miracle I'll use in this entire playthrough.



Magic is also nearly worthless here. Aguro's attacks are our best source of damage, while the other party members mostly just struggle to keep everyone alive.

I'm really making this fight harder than it needs to be, though. Lufia is very close to learning the “Bolt” spell. With the Flash Ring, she could axe off huge chunks of the Dark Ghost's HP. But I haven't stopped to grind out any levels so far in this playthrough and I'm not about to start!



Just to be a jerk, the Dark Ghost will also start to heal himself when he's low on HP. I hate this guy!



There is one way to slow down the Dark Ghost's horrifying assault. The Absorb spell will steal away one or two castings worth of the Water spell each time you cast it on him. When he runs low on MP, he does seem to stop casting the spell. However, just because he's that big of a jerk, he has a spell called Ectoplasm that allows him to drain MP back, so be wary.



Eventually, after a long and very pitched battle, the Dark Ghost finally falls.


Spirits

Once the Ghost is vanquished, the Water Fairy is free to return to her tower. She thanks us for our assistance, and vows to return the lake near Ruan back to normal. This also clears up the toxic marsh in the basement.



Hooray!

This will be the only time I link that particular music track in this LP. It also plays if you get a game over, but I don't get game overs because I'm awesome at this game.

Village

The people of Ruan (represented here by a little girl) are quite happy that we turned their poison marsh back into a lake. We still have unfinished business in the three towers though.


Tower

The basement of the Red Tower is no longer a poisonous pit of doom, and there are new treasures to be found here.



Lufia's next level nets her the Fright Spell, which puts enemies to sleep.



It's about as useful as you'd expect.

Let's snare those last few chests and get out of here.



Dragon Eggs: 3/8



Most important of which is the Blue Jade, which is the third gem. But we're still missing a red gem!



Our only lead is that the Mines of Medan used to have rubies. So let's check it out.


Cave

The old man here has a giant ruby, but it's going to take some talking to get him to fork it over.



Mentioning Artea is quick to get the old man in our corner, since he's one of the few old enough to remember him.



More importantly, he recognizes that no diamonds or rubies can save the world from the Sinistrals.



The old man decides to give us the original Hope Ruby. After learning that the fake ruby was destroyed, he believes Medan no longer needs to depend on it. It's fitting that the Hope Ruby can be used to help us complete our quest and save the world from the Sinistrals. It may serve some magical end yet!



I guess that greedy old man wasn't so bad after all!



Still robbing him blind, though. The Diamond Ring raises the price shopkeepers charge for items if you wear it. Not good for much unless you're doing a challenge run or something. But it will sell well.



Now we have all three gems! According to the elven plaque, we'll need to place them in order of blue, green, red.

Let's return to Jenoba and get to it!

Tower



The Blue Tower has an inscription too, but it's not nearly as helpful as the one in the Red Tower.



At the top of the tower, we place the blue gem in its pedestal. Only two towers left!




Back in the green tower, we find a switch. Moving it will change the position of the stairways in the shadow room.



The staircases that didn't exist before now appear as if by magic, allowing us to climb to the top of the tower!



Near the top of the Green Tower is an adventurer who knows the secret of the towers. If you haven't been able to discern from the clues given so far, you can pay him to tell you that you need to place the gems in a certain order.



He'll also hint that the pattern is given on one of the plaques we've already read.





Placing the green jade at the top of the Green Tower brings us one step closer to Elfrea. As the adventurer mentions, you can't place the gems in the wrong order. You must start with the Blue Jade, which of course can't be acquired until you've exorcised the Dark Ghost and purified the Red Tower.

I'm actually not sure if you need to have all three gems before you can start placing them. It's possible that the Red Tower is the only one you actually have to go through twice.



Anyway, one tower left to go.




After we place the final gem, something happens!



Well, okay, I guess we have to take Jerin's word for it that something is happening.



With her heightened elven senses, Jerin can hear something on the wind. I'm going to be charitable and assume the localization team meant to put “Sylph” here.



And thus does the final piece of the puzzle fall into place. Even amidst all the rumors and legends and magic and mysterious gems and towers, in the end the single most important element to finding Elfrea was an elf, which is of course what everyone has been saying all along. It's not possible for humans to find it at all.

The three gems unlock a secret spell that only elves can learn. Jerin, with her Elven blood, acquires the “Elf” spell, which can take us to Elfrea.




Village

It took us quite a while to make it here, but it seems our long journey is finally at an end. We have reached the mythical town of Elfrea. Artea, the last survivor of the Battle of Doom Island, is here somewhere.

The elves are, naturally, surprised to see us, and even more surprised that a half-elf is among our group. I take it half-elves are not very common.



The elves have some decent gear for sale, but there will be better stuff shortly, so I won't buy much here.

The elves are, for the most part, happy to trade with us and do so with only the most cursory of gawking. Maybe these elves aren't so bad after all.



The town of Elfrea is very small. There's only one building worth noting, the large one at the very end. It has three floors, and Artea can be found on the second floor.



We've spent around half the game looking for this guy, but we've finally found him. Maxim's companion, Artea, awaits us.

The elf woman at his side is Milka (translated as Mirka in this game), who had a minor role in Lufia II where she was merely a young elf girl. Her mother was a close friend of Artea's who sacrificed her life to protect her village from the Sinistral Amon. This is what motivated Artea to fight against the Sinistrals in the first place.

Milka is a playable character in Lufia III, giving her the distinction of being the only non-Sinistral to appear in three of the series' games. Not bad for such a minor character.


Lufia II: The Land Nobody Knew

Artea apparently doesn't get many guests, but he immediately recognizes that Medi is here for a very important reason.





Artea recognizes Medi's energy right away. Energy waves are like fingerprints in the Lufia universe, but Medi's are so similar to Maxim's that at first Artea mistook Medi for his ancestor.



Much like meeting Guy, this is probably quite a thrill for Medi; to meet someone who actually fought at Doom Island alongside Maxim one hundred years ago. Unfortunately, Medi's mission is too urgent for him to have time to be a fanboy.



But at long last, we've finally joined up with one of the world's greatest heroes. Artea knows more about the Sinistrals than anyone alive. If anyone can help us beat them, surely it's him!



What? Come on man, don't be like that! Guy's dying breath was to send us to you. We had to cross a whole continent! We had to climb five towers. We had to give a creepy old man something really unsettling, we had to kill two ghosts, an army of clowns, and save a virgin. You had better have a really good excuse.



Oh, okay, that's a pretty good reason. When Maxim's party united their energy waves to destroy the Sinistrals, the stress apparently affected everyone in the group in different ways. Selan was killed outright, and apparently it cost Artea his sight.

One guesses Guy got out relatively unscathed since the dude lived for a hundred more years.



Medi is understandably pretty distraught over the fact that he made this whole trip for nothing. Artea seems pretty genuinely upset that he can't help Medi out in his quest. He certainly seems like he'd have been willing.

But what are we supposed to do now? Artea was our only lead. Without him, how can we hope to defeat the Sinistrals?

Artea isn't about to send us away with nothing, however. He has one important piece of advice for Medi.



This is the first time anyone has mentioned the Dual Blade since we saw Maxim wielding it in the prologue. Until now, exactly how important it was has been fairly obscured; Maxim and Selan only had a brief conversation about it, and Daos didn't even mention it. However, the Dual Blade was key to Maxim's victory.

Medi's history nerd cred pays off here, as he immediately recognizes the Dual Bade as the sword Maxim used.



Artea, however, tells us that the Dual Blade is far more than a mere sword. Its power is an extension of its wielder's energy. It is one of the ultimate powers in the Lufia universe, able to warp reality itself to suit its whims. In Maxim's hands, it was the salvation of all the people of earth. The gods themselves rightly fear this weapon. It just might be the edge Medi has been looking for in his battle against the Sinistrals.

The Dual Blade will not serve just anyone. But Artea suspects it will respond to Medi's energy, just as it did to Maxim's.



Unfortunately, it's not a particularly useful lead. We don't even know where the Dual Blade is, or how to find it.



Artea knows the last place he saw the Dual Blade, though; in Maxim's possession as he went down with Doom Island. The sword probably still rests there, in the ruins of the Fortress of Doom, deep beneath the ocean where Doom Island fell to the sea a century ago.



Artea also clues us in that the Dual Blade is Daos' only weakness. No other weapon can seriously harm him. As far as we know, Daos hasn't been revived yet, but at least one monster has actively been trying to revive Sinistrals. So, getting the Dual Blade before Daos returns is a very high priority, since we literally have no chance of defeating him without it.



Medi asks a good question here. The Dual Blade is deep in the ocean, and getting there isn't going to be easy.

My next question was going to be “How long can a half-elf hold her breath?” but Artea has a better idea.



Maxim's party enlisted the aid of a great inventor named Lexis Shaia many years ago. Lexis was a genius, and his inventions included a Dragonball Z scouter and a ship that could travel underwater. Sadly, Lexis certainly passed on long ago, but the good news is one of his descendants, Professor Raile Shaia, is still alive, and continues his ancestor's work. He just might be able to help us travel under the sea.



You might remember that Raile Shaia was mentioned back in Lorbenia as being guilty of horrifying degrees of child negligence. I can't say I'm terribly optimistic about his ability to help us, but without another lead, we've got nothing better to do.



Artea tells us that we can find Shaia in a city called Odel. Thankfully, Odel isn't nearly as far away as Elfrea was. I'm quite certain that finding Professor Shaia will be much less complicated than finding Artea was!



Before parting ways, Artea and Milka give us an impassioned plea to do what Artea could not; vanquish the Sinistrals once and for all, and keep the world from reliving the nightmare of the past.

No problem, Artea. We got this. I mean, all we have to do is get the Dual Blade. Once we have that, it's a simple matter of finding the Sinistrals and murdering all four of those bastards in cold blood. What could be simpler?



Good on you, Medi. I knew we could count on you!

Artea gives us the key to the locked shrine we passed earlier, which can take us to Odel. He also has another present for us.



Unable to fight the Sinistrals, Artea at least offers us a weapon that might be of help. He gives Jerin his own bow, which he used in the battle against the Sinistrals 100 years ago. This is an impressive attack boost for Jerin. There's one better bow in the game, but I'm not going to get it, so this will be Jerin's weapon for the rest of our quest.



Say what you want about Artea, the guy does everything he can to help us. He clues us in on the Sinsitral's only weakness, points us in the direction of the guy who can help us find it, and even upgraded our half-elf for us!



A fitting contribution to our efforts from a great hero of old who knows what we're up against. It would have been nice to have Artea in our party, but given the circumstances, don't let it be said he didn't do everything he could to help us. He told us basically everything he knew.

...Except one thing, which Artea by all rights probably should have mentioned, but didn't. People who have played the game probably know what I'm talking about, but we don't know what it is yet, and the matter of why Artea didn't bring it up will have to wait for a later update.



For now, we'll use the Key Artea gave us to open the way forward to Odel, which is our next destination.


Shrine

The locked Shrine actually connects to Elfrea to the mainland, as well as to the next island, where we'll find the path to the Kingdom of Odel, where hopefully we can gain the assistance of Raile Shaia in reaching the sunken Fortress of Doom.


Field

Artea may not have been able to help us fight the Sinistrals, but he pointed us in the right direction. Our new objective is finding the Dual Blade, and the expedition to recover it will take up most of the rest of this game! Our next goal is to track down Professor Shaia. Should be easy enough, right?

...Right?

Next time: No OSHA Compliance

I loved this game when it came out, but after the first time I beat it I never managed to get past the towers. Between the backtracking, the high encounter rate, and that ghost, I always lost the will to keep going. It's a real low point in the game.

You are correct.

Aha. Well, I can see why they wanted to include the color in the item's name, since there's no visual representation of what the items look like. Not everyone would know that sapphires are usually blue, rubies are red, emeralds are green, etc. Nine-year old Solitayre certainly didn't.

I'm not sure what I'd have done in this scenario if I were the one localizing it. I suppose the least complicated solution would be to just call them something more nondescript, such as "Red Gem," "Blue Gem," and so on. But that's a lot less flavorful and I do like the little lecture on gemstone types. So I guess I'd have called them "Ruby," "Sapphire" and "Emerald" and then have the jeweler describe their colors, incorporating her hints further into the puzzle. It's not like you can place the gems in the wrong place, anyway, so as long as you have all three you can't go wrong.

artea is more important here than he is in lufia 2

e:


here is my theory re: lufia's mysterious red thing around her neck

She looks very angry in that picture.

Having reached the Hope Ruby update, I've decided to just play the game for myself. I'll get back to reading once I've caught up. Never played this or Lufia II, so it should be interesting

Also, I'm naming the main character after myself. I can't be the only one who generally does that, even in like Zelda games. Makes me feel more connected to the story. I'm also using VGMaps for towns, to make sure I don't miss any items.

This was before the relevant Pokemon games, naturally...

like her whole character is being super bitchy so

I'm not sure that I'd describe someone who's kind to children and bakes pies for her friends as "super bitchy."

I mean, she's catty with Jerin but she's half elf, she doesn't count.