General discussion thread

[Artemis 0]

This thread is for general discussion of the Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals Mod Series.

The English patches are only for a headered NTSC-U ROM with these specifications:

• - Lufia II - Rise of the Sinistrals (U) [!].smc
  - Size: 2.50 MB (2,621,952 bytes)
  - SHA1: 8B2CB09B1A0122027FB3863974D0728E53FE8B69
  - MD5: D35FCF90C273D4BC12EED59120954E58
  - CRC32: 2FAEBB78
  - Apply only to a headered ROM

NTSC-U ROMs have the Natsume logo at startup, not the Nintendo logo. Other ROMs will not work. I cannot provide ROMs or sources to them.

With that said, here's an overview of the big trio: Frue Lufia, Spekkio Lufia, and Kureji Lufia, located in the main archive's "Projects" folder. These are also now on RHDN.
 

---

 

Frue Lufia

Frue Lufia is a mod of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals that fixes just about every bug in the game. Additionally, it sports a full script update, fixing many of the inconsistencies and errors present in the retail version. Censorship has been removed as well. As a cherry on top, some minor rebalancing is also featured. See the “Notable Changes” text file for a full list of alterations.

(Note: This is a direct upgrade to Relnqshd’s Lufia II Fixxxer Deluxe. All of Relnqshd’s enhancements and bug fixes are included in Frue Lufia.)

If you dislike the new names for Shriek, Awake, and Trick, there are patches to revert specifically these changes in the main Mod Series archive's Patches folder, linked at the start of the thread.

If anyone is looking for a Frue Lufia that has consistency with vivify93's Lufia I Restored and Lufia III Text Cleanup, please check out Frue Lufia: Trilogy Addendum. The changes mentioned previously are already reverted in this branch.
 

---

 

Spekkio Lufia

Based off of Frue Lufia, Spekkio Lufia is a battle rebalancing mod that aims to supply more of a challenge while lessening problems in the retail release’s game design. Not only are bosses rebalanced, but certain regular enemies are too. The Ancient Cave also received some tweaks. Enemies of later floors drop more useful rewards, you can buy Blue Chest items in Gift Mode—which is available from the first time you launch the game—and Iris Treasures appear more frequently.

The important updated bosses are as follows.

1. The Sinistrals in the Fortress of Doom are stronger, more befitting final bosses.

2. The Master can fully heal himself every round. How can you possibly bring him down? There must be some way…

3. The Egg Dragon, who named the patch. He now behaves like Spekkio in Chrono Trigger, his battle script changing based on the highest-leveled party member.

4. La Puella, the beloved pet giant tarantula of the Princess of Parcelyte. She can be fought anytime after defeating Gades in the Ancient Tower. Do you stand a chance against La Puella and her friends?

Check the X_Notable_Changes_X text file for detailed changes. To aid your survival, included are a bestiary, and a list of equipment that have always provided protection against status ailments.
 

---

 

Kureji Lufia

Based off of Frue Lufia, Kureji Lufia is a difficulty mod of legendary proportions. All opponents have been beefed up by a crazy amount, especially the bosses, who now have only one goal: Clinging on their wretched lives. They don’t want to just fade out into obscurity and nothingness, and therefore will do everything necessary to stay alive and put their mark on the world. This might be Maxim’s toughest journey yet! Will you manage to emerge victorious?

It cannot be stressed enough: it’s hard… It’s really, really hard—and it sure won’t get any easier as you progress! Most bosses have new gimmicks you’ll have to deal with in order to even be able to survive against them. In particular, the later bosses have the potential to wipe out your entire party very, very fast. You won’t only need a strong party, but also some sound strategies and tactics, like wearing the right equipment, and analyzing and completely understanding the enemy attack patterns.

Of course, the Ancient Cave has received some heavy tweaks as well. This is the place where you’ll really feel the tremendous new power of regular enemies the most, whereas you will find masses of treasures as elusive as… Green Tea or Ear Picks. So, you better prepare yourself as best you can when blazing your trail down; you will face all the formidable atrocities that dwell deep down at the ineffable abyss beyond all imagination…

It’s highly recommended that you check out the text file “survival_tips”!

To aid your survival, included are a bestiary, and a list of equipment that have always provided protection against status ailments.

There are different versions of Kureji Lufia available in the main Mod Series archive's Projects folder, linked at the start of the thread. However, I suggest the DIFFICULT version WITH the normal enemies buffed as well.
 

---

Also in the Projects folder, there are two additional patches: The Wrath of Foomy and The New Fierce Battle. These are superboss fights - which are not included in any of the above mods.

Within the Patches folder, you can find all of the mods made by Relnqshd, Artemis, and Rainponcho. These range from bug fixes to text cleanups, and newly-designed boss fights can be found in here as well. Not every patch has documentation, unfortunately. (There are also some docs on vanilla monster AI in Relnqshd's folder.)

Please enjoy!

Edited August 19, 2023 by Artemis
update to newest version

[Bob_gamer 0]

Hi,

I love your patches. Great work.

But I was wondering about one thing: the capsule monster regional differences. They changed the evolution sequence for wind and water in non-japanese versions. For reference check out the Youtube video "Capsule Monster Comparison".

Is there any hope that you will change your patches to match the japanese version? That would make it just perfect.

[Artemis 0]

I don't know enough about this capsule monster stuff in order to change it.

Besides, I'm somewhat burned out about modding Lufia, so I guess there won't be an update for quite some time.