The Land Cursed by Nostalgia.

Much like Hollywood, the gaming industry has realized that profitability does not rest in creating new, innovative games that try something original, but instead constantly rebooting a franchise, or remaking a beloved entry of a certain title.  Sometimes, this works out beautifully.  Other times, it is met with disastrous results.

For you, it was the day your childhood was ruined.  For Universal studios, it was Tuesday.

Despite these mixed results, the gaming industry continues to pump out remake after remake, because let's face it, nostalgia sells:

Over, and over, and over again.

However, when it was announced some years ago that Lufia II would be remade for the Nintendo DS, I was  ecstatic.  The Lufia series (or Estpolis, for you purists) remains one of my all-time favorite RPG franchises (excluding the ill-fated Ruins of Lore, which fortunately, I barely played), with many people ranking Lufia II as one of the all-time best SNES RPGs out there.

For many fans, however, enthusiasm turned to caution, then outright alarm as the details of the game emerged.  This would not be a "remake" so much as a "retelling" of the game.

Strike 1 - They're messing with the story!

Furthermore, this would not be a turn-based RPG:  Instead, it's an action RPG.

Strike 2 - Lufia as an action RPG?  Blasphemy!

As screenshots became available, fans saw most of the cast had undergone..significant changes.

Strike 3 - You've ruined the timeless qualities of beloved characters!

Yes, fans had ample reason to have misgivings about Lufia:  Curse of the Sinistrals.  Reactions about the game have been mixed, with some people enjoying the change, and others loathing the bastardization of one of the greatest SNES RPGs released and the desecration of their childhood memories.  As an avid fan, I was quite pleased with the game.

I'm writing this, however, not to tout the merits of the action game or pick apart the changes in the story -- we'll save that for a later post.  Instead, I'm making the argument that the character changes are actually a good thing, and in many cases, are more in line with each character's overall personality.