If you have to ask...Kalarion wrote: โ December 21st, 2025, 05:10Guys.
If I look at maps of each dungeon after completing it to see secret passages, is that cheating?
Disclaimer: I haven't played many recent JRPGs. From the marketing available, they appear to be tiresome anime TV shows with extra steps.
Lufia 2 holds up as an excellent example of the JRPG genre. It may even be the best JRPG. I'm struggling to think of other examples that are a better overall experience.
Graphically, it is primitive, though I don't imagine that was the case when it was released in 1995. In addition to all of the standard genre trappings, it does a few things really well:
The biggest criticism I would levy at the game is that it is simply too long. There's a relatively long stretch at the end where you are completing filler tasks until the final conflict. The length could be cut by about 5 hours. Another thing that could be better is more differentiation between the various land masses in the world. I can follow the quest "east", but I couldn't tell you where towns are in relation to each other. I suspect the SNES release would have included a world map, but it would also have been nice to see something in-game, like an 'arctic' region and some more distinct shapes for the continents.
Others have criticized the combat as being too easy, but I don't really understand this. It feels the same as most JPRGs to me. I can only think of one JRPG with exceptional combat tuning and difficulty and it came from an unassuming title: Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3.
