Lunar 1 and Lufia 1 are so similar

[Lord Yggdrasill]

For those who havent played Lufia 1, you may google it and see what you find. The similarities are mostly related to the two heroines: Luna and Lufia

1. Both games have long blue haired heroines.
Luna has Blue hairs, so is with Lufia. Luna's hairs do not look long in the game, but if you go through the ending you will find that she does have long hairs.

2. Both heroines have a dominant personality, can get jealous from time to time.
In both games, the heroines get upset 'cause the heroes initially do not wish to take them on their journeys, considering its too dangerous. Gotta love Luna's facial expressions when Alex touches Mia's bed. For Lufia, well, she bullies Jerin constantly 'cause she believes Jerin is also interested in the hero.

3. Both heroines are goddesses that possess divine power.
Luna is the reincarnation of Goddess Althena, no need to explain much. Lufia apparently has strangely powerful magic power way surpassing most elves, since shes after all the sinistral Erim.

4. Both heroines turned their back on the heroes at a time, as they are somewhat being controlled by the villains.
Luna is kidnapped by Ghaleon, she aint even aware of what's going on. For Lufia, her memory as Erim returns and she becomes confused and leaves the party. The good thing is, well, in both cases the two heroines are able to recognize the heroes near the end of the games.

5. Both heroines are central to the storyline and root of the crisis.
This may sound a bit harsh, you know its true though. Luna is used by Ghaleon to obtain divine power as he believes the world needs a god, while Lufia actually is the one reviving the evil sinistrals. There wouldnt be a drama without them.

6. Both heroines lose divine power and become normal humans in the end.
Another interesting point Id say. At the end of Lunar 1, we see that Althena no longer exists and Luna is the last reincarnation of Althena without her supreme power. In Lufia 1, same thing happens, although the damage is more complete as Lufia has lost all her money along with her magic power. The difference is that, well, many people feel bad that Althena is gone for good, while in Lufia its a perfect ending.

7. Both heroines share the three letters in their names: lua.
This must be a coincidence, but still I find it funny.

8. Both heroines are strongly connected to the series title.
Luna and Lunar are similar, thats no secret. I believe that Luna is named after the series/world of Lunar. For Lufia, there isnt much to say about it, the series is named after her.

9. Both games have preludes at the beginning of their games for you to control the previous four heroes.
In Lunar Silver Star Harmony, we control Dyne, Mel, Lamia and Ghaleon to fight the evil sorcerer Eiffel, although this is not present in the original game. In Lufia 1, we control the four heroes Maxiam, Selan, Guy and Artea for their final battle on Doom island fortress.

10. Both series only do remakes or spinoffs, no main titles will ever be produced.
This may sound terrible, but you know its true. Lunar 1's remakes are like almost everywhere, but no one is bothered to make a new game for this series. Lufia's story is pretty much the same, the franchise is seemingly dead.

Of course there are other similarities I can list, such as both are the heroes' only love interests and both can use magic/heal, but they aint unique similarities only shared by the two games so I wont bother. There are also significant differences between the two. For instance, Luna is not part of the party for most of the time, while Lufia accompanies with the hero till the very end(despite a short time of absence). On the other hand, Althena is clearly a benign goddess, while Erim is an evil goddess. Anyway, I am intrigued to find that these two games share this many similarities. Unfortunately, Lufia 1 only has a SNES version, which is somewhat difficult to play through due to the graphics and high encounter rate. It has a great main storyline, but the character development aint comparable to Lunar 1. A game worth playing, though I wont consider it as good a game as Lunar 1.

On a side note, the Lufia community is close to release their fangame Lufia V, which looks very interesting. I was wondering if a Lunar III fangame is being made here, just sorta curious.

[jay_are]

Listen, Lord Yggdrasill.
Don't talk turd about Lufia! (Edited: accidentally used a word that got filtered, sorry )

Ok... Honestly, when I played Lufia, I thought the same thing. It had many similarities to Lunar! So I agree with everything.
But see, Lufia was a nice game on its own enough that it is forgivable and I wouldn't compare it with Lunar or even make a thread!
Consider it something to give SNES owners at the time who weren't lucky enough to have a Sega CD with Lunar 1.
I would happily accept Lufia to get some more ideas from Lunar as long as it keeps its quality
(even though Lufia 2 is a lot more original if not fully!),
what I DON'T accept though, is Zelda Skyward Sword. That's a game I wont get tired of comparing with Lunar.
There are so many rip-offs today, specially coming from the Final Fantasy series, that it's not justifiable to pick on Lufia's little similarities.

[Lord Yggdrasill]

Listen, Lord Yggdrasill.
Don't talk turd about Lufia! (Edited: accidentally used a word that got filtered, sorry )

Ok... Honestly, when I played Lufia, I thought the same thing. It had many similarities to Lunar! So I agree with everything.
But see, Lufia was a nice game on its own enough that it is forgivable and I wouldn't compare it with Lunar or even make a thread!
Consider it something to give SNES owners at the time who weren't lucky enough to have a Sega CD with Lunar 1.
I would happily accept Lufia to get some more ideas from Lunar as long as it keeps its quality
(even though Lufia 2 is a lot more original if not fully!),
what I DON'T accept though, is Zelda Skyward Sword. That's a game I wont get tired of comparing with Lunar.
There are so many rip-offs today, specially coming from the Final Fantasy series, that it's not justifiable to pick on Lufia's little similarities.

Well is Lufia a taboo here?

Anyway my intention was not to discuss which game is more superior to the other, just find it interesting that the two games have so many things in common. Sure every JRPG has a good number of similarities, but Lunar and Lufia are like twins lol. Not saying whether its a good or bad thing, just curious and intriguing.

[jay_are]

No, Lufia is not taboo!
Sorry if it seemed that way.

[Werefrog]

I thought the same thing when I first played it! But I don't remember enough of it now to make an argument one way or the other.

[Alunissage]

The Lufia games have been on my list to play for, oh, a decade? I watched my husband play through some of them and helped on puzzles but haven't gotten back to them. I should probably bump them up in my list, though it'd mean dragging out a SNES.

I only skimmed through the list of comparisons so as to not spoil the Lufia plot for myself, but it reminded me of when my housemate and I played Vay, just after finishing Lunar TSS. About halfway through Vay my housemate turned to me and said "So let me get this straight... Luna is really the Goddess Althena..." Another friend of mine had about the same reaction to Skyward Sword, for a more recent example. I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes Lunar so compelling, but it isn't originality of plot.

[Werefrog]

I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes Lunar so compelling, but it isn't originality of plot.

Truth. It's just so charming. Don't know why but it is. Somethings just shouldn't analyzed.

[Sonic#]

I don't find it surprising that, in the genre of save-the-world stories in RPGs, a few games get the delivery right. We can talk about the psychology of the Persona games, or the huge plot twists of Chrono Cross, but few stories have solid plots that are presented as well as Lunar. Its tone (humor and sincerity) is amazing. In contrast, I liked Lufia a lot, but I haven't played it more than once.

[Werefrog]

In contrast, I liked Lufia a lot, but I haven't played it more than once.

I think Lufia had a lot of the same attributes that I liked in Lunar. I remember it being pretty humorless and the dialogue being stiff. The only thing vaguely humorous about it that I remember was a scene at the beginning with Lufia struggling to make supper for the hero whose name I can't remember (always a sign of a good game!) That said, I did connect with their characters. Maybe not in the same way as I did characters in Chrono Trigger o Lunar, but I still thought there was some human spark in it.


I don't know which game I would recommend a newcomer start with. I would say Lufia II, but I'm afraid that if someone played Lufia II before Lufia I, they wouldn't be able to endure the first. Lufia I is a good game, but II is so much better.

[Sonic#]

^ To be fair, in the first Lufia you name the hero. It's a stiff convention, but that's why I couldn't remember the hero's name either. XD

In any case, I remember liking Lufia II better.

[Werefrog]

In any case, I remember liking Lufia II better.

It's a far better game. That said I have a soft spot for Lufia 1.

[Lord Yggdrasill]

I wouldnt say Lufia 2 is much better than 1, sure that DS remake rocks but its unfair to compare Lufia 1 to the Lufia 2 remake. Just comparing Lufia 1 and 2 on SNES and you know they are about the same quality. If they decide to remake Lufia 1 and add some new elements and revise old stiff dialogues, the game will be way more epic.

[Imperial Knight]

I've only ever played the SNES originals and I'd honestly say that Lufia II is a much better game than Lufia. The story, dungeon design, and battle system are all vastly improved.

[Werefrog]

I've only ever played the SNES originals and I'd honestly say that Lufia II is a much better game than Lufia. The story, dungeon design, and battle system are all vastly improved.

Yeah, same here. I like Lufia & The Fortress of Doom, but it's an absolute chore to play. Lufia II is fun.