Lufia: The Ruins of Lore
| Lufia: The Ruins of Lore | |
|---|---|
North American box art
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| Developer(s) | Atelier Double |
| Publisher(s) |
Taito Atlus |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 70.75% |
| Metacritic | 76 of 100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Edge | 7 of 10 |
| EGM | 8 of 10 |
| Game Informer | 7.75 of 10 |
| GamePro |   |
| GameSpot | 6.6 of 10 |
| GameSpy | |
| Nintendo Power | 3.4 of 5 |
Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, known in Japan as Estpolis Gaiden: Chinmoku no Iseki (エストポリス外伝 沈黙の遺跡 lit. Estpolis Side Story: The Ruins of Silence?), is a role-playing video game developed by Atelier Double and published by Taito in Japan in 2002 and by Atlus a year later in North America. It is the fourth title in the Lufia series of video games and was released as a "gaiden", or side story, to the main series; as a result, it does not feature many elements common to the rest of the series, such as the Sinistrals and the Dual Blade.
Much like the rest of the Lufia series, The Ruins of Lore plays like a typical role-playing video game, where the player must advance through several scenarios and navigate dangerous dungeons, fighting enemies along the way. Unlike typical computer RPGs, however, the battles are not random, and the monsters are displayed in the dungeon itself along with the characters. Combat only ensues when they come in contact with each other.
Winning battles grants the player experience points which go toward gaining levels, making the characters stronger in the process, and just like Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, several monsters (called "Disc Monsters" in this title and caught in battle in a similar manner to Pokémon) can be captured instead of slain and used to fight with the party. The monsters can be fused with Eldin, Torma or Rami for three turns in combat once a character's Installation Points ("IP") reach their maximum. These points are visible by a gauge just beneath a characters hit points and ability points, and fill up when they are hit by an enemy. In your new merged state, you lose control of the character but gain two abilities. The first is invincibility: while you're merged with your monster partner, you can not be hurt or given status ailments in any way. The second is a special attack (depends on what form you're in) that may or may not do more damage than your characters normally can: this same move is repeated until all three turns pass. Once three turns go by, you and your monster partner revert to normal. It's important to note that you can't merge with your selected partner unless he or she has built up at least three hearts worth of Loyalty with the character (Loyalty can be found on the monster's status menu; the max number of hearts is five). Loyalty is raised by simply having your partner accompany your party and earn experience from fights (the partner does not have to actually be an active fighter to raise its Loyalty).
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Wikipedia