Lufia: The Ruins of Lore observations

Lufia: The Ruins of Lore suffers from a massive glitch that is effectively a far more drastic version of the Phantasy Star IV Level 99 Bug with no workaround whatsoever beyond using cheats... Once you hit level 99 in this game, you suddenly lose ALL the stats you've gained from levels (you still get to keep any stat boosts you've gained from the Ancient Cave or using stat-raising items), with stats barely higher than their starting stats, with no chance of getting those stats back unless you use a bunch of stat-raising Sources. If you haven't used any sources on your characters by this point, a couple of them end up with AP in the negative single digits, and Dekar ends up with -2 ATK unequipped. Strangely, he suddenly gains 263 AP at level 99, despite still being incapable of learning skills to use said AP on. Thankfully, level 99 is so hard to reach in this game (it takes about 25.4 million EXP to reach level 99; no battle in this game awards more than 32767 EXP, and EXP is split between party members, of which you can have up to 8), that this should NEVER happen with anyone who isn't an unhealthily obsessive powerleveler. I'm not sure if this glitch just affects Eldin, or if other characters have their stats reset upon reaching level 99. Monsters have their own individual level caps which are far below 99, so they're exempt from this glitch.

-Also from Lufia: Ruins of Lore, a stat glitch... Once Eldin's AGL hits a certain point (around 480, I believe), most enemies start getting 6-8 moves on HIM before he acts, when it should be the other way around. Gaining or losing a few points in AGL should correct this glitch.

-Also another observation related to Lufia: RoL... Damage can go beyond 999. So can healing. Once, I tried casting Regenerate on Goldiark, the final boss (who has 8000 HP) when I was close to beating him, just out of boredom, and he healed 4,000 HP, though the counter only showed 999. Also, for the first and only time in Lufia history, stats CAN'T go beyond 999 in this game.


-After playing around with the debug menu through cheats, I found out an interesting discovery about the 5 characters that could have their levels changed using it.  It is definitely a glitch caused by shoddy programming.

For reference, here are everyone's unequipped stats at their starting levels:
Eldin's unequipped stats at level 1: 20 HP | 0 AP | 12 ATK | 11 DEF | 10 AGL | 8 INT | 10 MGR | 0 EXP
Torma's unequipped stats at level 1: 32 HP | 0 AP | 17 ATK | 10 DEF | 12 AGL | 10 INT | 10 MGR | 0 EXP
Rami's unequipped stats at level 10: 43 HP | 58 AP | 17 ATK | 22 DEF | 55 AGL | 41 INT | 25 MGR | starts with 2891 EXP
Bau's unequipped stats at level 13: 80 HP | 2 AP | 81 ATK | 21 DEF | 48 AGL | 11 INT | 18 MGR | starts with 6325 EXP
Dekar's unequipped stats at level 14: 87 HP | 0 AP | 55 ATK | 44 DEF | 29 AGL | 16 INT | 20 MGR | starts with 7777 EXP

Everyone was supposed to have the following base stats upon reaching level 99, +/- a few points in either direction, assuming they're in base class instead of being assigned to any different jobs and haven't used any stat-raising sources yet...

Eldin's intended unequipped stats at level 99: 512 HP | 341 AP | 334 ATK | 310 DEF | 244 AGL | 180 INT | 193 MGR
Torma's intended unequipped stats at level 99: 512 HP | 295 AP | 412 ATK | 276 DEF | 244 AGL | 180 INT | 150 MGR
Rami's intended unequipped stats at level 99: 380 HP | 423 AP | 220 ATK | 155 DEF | 256 AGL | 285 INT | 210 MGR
Bau's intended unequipped stats at level 99: 440 HP | 80 AP | 450 ATK | 184 DEF | 244 AGL | 120 INT | 180 MGR
Dekar's intended unequipped stats at level 99: 558 HP | 0 AP | 334 ATK | 334 DEF | 140 AGL | 140 INT | 130 MGR

And finally, here are the party's final unequipped stats at level 99 under the game-breaking glitch, again, give or take a few points in either direction:
Eldin's final unequipped stats at level 99: 31 HP | -1 AP (!!!) | 15 ATK | 9 DEF | 7 AGL | 9 INT | 9 MGR
Torma's final unequipped stats at level 99: 43 HP | 57 AP | 5 ATK | 22 DEF | 50 AGL | 41 INT | 25 MGR
Rami's final unequipped stats at level 99: 69 HP | -5 AP | 80 ATK | 20 DEF | 48 AGL | 11 INT | 18 MGR
Bau's final unequipped stats at level 99: 86 HP | 0 AP | 55 ATK | 43 DEF | 24 AGL | 16 INT | 15 MGR
Dekar's final unequipped stats at level 99: 257 HP | 263 AP | -2 ATK (WTF?!) | 0 DEF | 0 AGL | 0 INT | 2 MGR



Yeah... As you can see, reaching level 99 without using cheat codes to hack yourself there artificially or leveling yourself up through the debug menu, also accessible only by cheats, will cause your stats to become so low as to make the game virtually unbeatable.

-Disc monsters have their own individual level caps. I will post the list of monsters and their level caps on a later update, as well as their stats upon being recruited, which, are also the stats they have every time you fight them.

-The final bosses were actually significantly weaker in the Japanese version than in the US version. Ragule and Goldiark have 2,240 and 8,000 HP respectively in the US version, making for a pretty epic, if long-winded, final battle. In the Japanese version, Ragule only has 1,800 HP, and Goldiark only has an anemic 2,100 HP, which can be wiped away within 5 rounds by a decently-leveled party. I feel that increasing Goldiark's HP made it worthy of the way it was constantly described, and made for one of the few things I truly liked about this game.

In fact, since the Beast is one of the few genuinely interesting things story-wise about this game, I am going to spill a little backstory on it. Spoilers abound.


You see, Goldiark, aka the Beast, is a dragon, an immeasurably powerful juggernaut of permanent, uncontrollable rage and unbridled destruction created as a result of a man named Odin, who desired ultimate power, and carried out numerous horrific experiments involving countless monsters devouring one another to become stronger. Eventually, it all culminated in this monstrosity being created, which devoured even more monsters fed to it as sacrifices. Specifics are unclear, but eventually, it grew too powerful to be controlled, and then it broke free and went on a horrific rampage and completely razed Eristol, the continent of its origin, brutally slaughtering everybody on it. The Beast was so dangerous and powerful that it required the ancients to sacrifice themselves to split its body in two and separate its soul from its body and seal the pieces in different parts of the world, with half of its body being sealed in Nazare, the other half being sealed in Eristol, and its soul being sealed in a temple in outer space. The continent of Eristol sank into the sea, either by the Beast's hand, or by the will of the ancients.

Ragule, Odin's descendant, also searching for ultimate power, seeks to resurrect this terrifyingly powerful monstrosity. He is extremely ugly, one of the ugliest characters in any video game ever, with gray hair, red, bulging eyes, and a Snidely Whiplash-style mustache, but I digress. About 10 years before the events of the game, Ragule went into the Gratze Kingdom and visited the King, and manipulated him into resurrecting the Beast, promising that the Beast's power would make Gratze strong again. Soon after, Ragule went into Eristol using the Royal Ring and revived the half of the Beast that was sealed there, claiming its power for his own, possibly resulting in that permanent, severe conjunctivitis he's got going on there. Gratze then established a pure military state and struck fear into the hearts of its enemies. Using the Beast's power, they destroyed Gondarle, and several other neighboring lands who stood in opposition to them. Eventually, Ragule assassinated the King of Gratze and continued using the Gratzean army to search for the Beast's full power.

When the heroes gathered the four stones and shards, went to the Tower of Guidance and opened the gate to the holy land, he effortlessly dispatched them, went through the portal, and took the Beast's soul for his own. The heroes realized they were too weak to stand a chance against Ragule and the Beast as they were, so at Rubius' urging, they went to Nazare, where they found her sister, Irmis sealed up with the Beast's other half. A tearful reunion between sisters ensues, and then the Beast half awakens. Eldin and friends killed the Beast half, and Eldin took its power. Cue another grueling trek through the Tower of Guidance. After going through the portal, they trek through the holy land. Ragule, in control of the Beast's Eristolian half and its soul, waits for Eldin to bring the power of the Beast's Nazarean half to him, and then tries to kill Eldin and his friends for it. He failed, and then the Beast, Goldiark, appeared, installed with its creator, Odin, who returned to life through the body of his descendant. He boasted about how even at half-power, he, through his creation, will annihilate all who stand in defiance of him. You now fight the Beast's Eristolian half merged with its soul. After a long, grueling battle, you emerge victorious. The Beast tries to revive itself by assimilating itself with Eldin, who has the power of the Beast's Nazarean half. Rubius and Irmis sacrifice themselves, staying behind at the holy land to ensure the Beast is sealed away forever. They order the stones and shards destroyed so that no one may ever reach the holy land and resurrect the Beast again. The Towers of Guidance and Lugwa collapse, sealing the way to the holy land forever.

As for why Odin is part of the Beast, and why the Beast is suddenly capable of intelligent speech instead of speaking in inhuman screeches, monstrous roars and acts of indescribable destruction and slaughter... Odin installed himself into the Beast/Goldiark at some point for reasons unknown. He might have tried taming the beast through normal means, only to fail miserably, and this installation was a last-ditch effort to control his rampaging creation, but the Beast's power proved too great, and he ended up being corrupted in the process. Or, perhaps Odin was simply a corrupt man from the very beginning, and simply installed himself into the Beast, either as a means to save himself from its wrath, or as an opportunity to seize for himself the ultimate power he so desired. Either way, the installation was permanent, and whether or not he was evil before, he is certainly evil when you meet him/Goldiark during the events of the final battle.

The game never really did make any of this clear, which is sad, because this is really one of the few genuinely interesting plot points in it. At any rate, the Beast is kind of a big deal, and everyone in the know is absolutely terrified with it, and for very good reason. Therefore, it should live up to its reputation, and its US incarnation measures up a lot better than its significantly weaker JP version. All in all, I put WAY too much fucking thought into the backstory of an incredibly mediocre game that few people will ever play because the game itself is shit at properly explaining things itself.