Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

this could use a retranslation

Huge step up from the first game for sure, and the mixture of Zelda dungeons into a JRPG format is really interesting. There's the potential for some really interesting expansion there, but even as it's handled here it's still solid. The story is about as shallow as the first game, but the characters are more memorable and charming. Lots of half-baked plot threads that aren't satisfactorily followed up on like what the point of Tia was as a character if Maxim drops her at the drop of a hat, and what the whole deal with Iris was, including all her hints at Maxim being somehow removed from the flow of destiny, and the various continuity nods to the first game probably would have landed better if that game was memorable even in the slightest. The capsule monsters also feel like a total afterthought , to the point where calling this a monster-collecting game feels like a huge stretch. Still a good time though, and one of the more noteworthy non-Square JRPGs on the system.