Luminous Arc

GENRE: Tactical RPG
PLATFORM: Nintendo DS
DEVELOPER: imagepooch
PUBLISHERS: Marvelous Interactive Inc., Atlus, Rising Star Games
PRODUCER: Hideyuki Mizutani
DESIGNERS: Hideyuki Mizutani, Kaito Shibano
Images by RPGFan

SHOPPING:

All Luminous Arc games and merchandise

Amazon.com Description:
1000 years ago, dragons and witches warred against God for the fate of the world. God's power was triumphant, but it was a difficult struggle, and the deity sent Himself into a deep sleep to recover from the terrible wounds he suffered in the battle. Ten years ago, the Church has proclaimed that a great event will soon occur- God will be reborn, and the world will be led into a new golden age under His guidance. However, this news is coupled with a grave warning- the Witches will soon reappear to begin the millennia-old conflict once again.

• An isometric strategy RPG on Nintendo DS
• Create new weapons and equipment with the Vitae Imbusing system
• Strengthen your friendship with comrades and improve your attacks on the battlefield
• Compare your friends' strategic prowess against your own with Wi-Fi multiplayer

Meh. >>> by skysenshi
Having finished Disgaea two games before I played this, I find Luminous Arc forgettable at best. In fact, I realized that I should have written my review earlier ("as soon as I finished it kind" of earlier) because I really did forget its title and I had to borrow another DS to resurrect my saved game and unearth my stats and data.

Atlus is one of my favorite publishers. I mean, I had never gone wrong with the Shin Megami Tensei series. This was why I had expected more.

There are a few good things I could say about Luminous Arc, though. Among them:

• Beautiful portrait art.
• Well-balanced grinding system. You just need to hit 100 experience points per level and even healers gain experience points for using magic, which is how it really should be.
• Some characters are intriguing. I personally like that twist about the protagonist and his brother's origin.
• Battles are relatively quick because the terrains are well-designed.

The things I hated most:

• Vitae imbuing system for weapon/armor creation. Can you get any more cryptic?
• Some characters have annoying voices that really grated on my ears.
• Something's seriously wrong with using the stylus (problems with calibration?) that was why I would avoid it all costs.
• The intermissions allowed you to get to know your comrades better so that you can gain items and rare gifts. Unfortunately, if you try to get close to all your female friends, it begins to look like a bishoujo game. Sometimes the males are weird, too.
• Blah blah blah blah blah. For some reason, many of the inane dialogues here drone on and on and on that it does feel like a bishoujo game when you're not in battle.

For highlights, those are what I can remember. The rest of the game seemed like a blur. I suppose Luminous Arc is a good way to pass the time when you're in between games. Other than that, I can't seem to put it on my list of replayable games. I hope Luminous Arc 2 will be better.

PLAYER STATUS:
DIFFICULTY: Easy
COMPLETION TIME: 32:01 hours
HIGHEST LEVEL ACHIEVED: Alph 62 Theo 59 Saki 57 Cecille 71 Nikolai 54 Lucia 74 Kai 56 Heath 58 Leon 57
RATINGS: Gameplay 8; Battle 10; Story 7; Visuals 7; Characters 8; Sounds 7; Replay Value 5