I'll just try to explain my super soft spot for Neverland Co games. They sort of defy all logic for me because of the fact their games ooze creativeness. Each game they make is different from the last. It's not all sidebattles, it's not all the same shit over and over.
Lufia was pretty poor as far as rpg games go. It had spirit but the gameplay was archaic. I liked it for the same reasons why I liked Lufia II. Fortunately Lufia II was far more superior and improved on its predecessor. Some of its defining elements were the really fun / challenging dungeons. The amazing (yet DIFFERENT) soundtrack. Finally, the fact that they took something so generic and made it feel so epic. If I read the synopsis in modern times for Lufia II I would automatically think the game was trash, but it was so much more.
Another reason why I loved Lufia series so much was it was made by a relatively obscure development team, Neverland Co.
The Dev team was not as big as Square Enix (Squaresoft back in the days). It's just some small team made up of nobodies creating really really interesting games. When I read through the Energy Breaker translation notes, they explained how bad the code was for the game like it was rushed. The studio still managed to complete release a memorable game for me. Did I mention about how forget the staff members are? Can you even tell me who the composers are for Neverland Co?
No? Check these out then.
There are several others that are really good.
Some of the titles they made are Lufia and Lufia II, Energy Breaker, Chaos Seed, and some others.
Look them up, compare the games, they do something completely different which each take. This is how game design should be, they incorporate lots of amazing ideas. They have unique art styles in their games, none of the games look a like. Sure there are better looking games out there but who cares. This is the reason why they are my fav dev company and I wish more people knew / supported them. Maybe it's the "underdog" effect talking hehe.
Energy Breaker is probably the only JRPG where you explore an isometric world. Chaos Seed remains untranslated but from what I played / was able to understand it has a lot of interesting ideas. It's my top SNES game I'm waiting to be translated.
Here you can check out this video for Chaos Seed, tip of the iceberg:
Check out the stuff at 5:49.
Their games are drastically different, something Square Enix fraking forgot how to do. I don't understand why people still support Square Enix.
Energy Breaker was a blast from the past, a truly fun experience to enjoy in modern times. It suffered from some of the same "bad" elements older RPG games had. Still, it was truly an interesting experience.
There's more to RPG games than side battles. There's a lot ways to make 2D art. That's one reason why I respect like RPGs game Octopus City Blues. It's not the same generic garbage.
I'll post any updates regarding the translation project for Chaos Seed when I can.
If you haven't played Lufia II or Energy Breaker, I guess you can try those games out while you wait :).
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