Customer Reviews

Luminous Arc

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Good

+Gorgeous anime inspired art
+Simple to get into; there's nothing about this game that's complicated
+Battles are tackled at a good pace
+Fantastic soundtrack
+There's some voice acting, and it's good
+There's online multi-player

The Bad

-A lot of user error with the touch screen controls
-Very linear
-Doesn't look all that different from a GBA game
-You have to complete the game to unlock the extras
-Does very little to come into its own

The DS is perfect for tactical RPGs. It's been demonstrated to us several times. Luminous Arc is another example of a Tactical Strategy RPG that works well on the DS. While Luminous Arc really doesn't do anything different from your typical strategy RPG, it's still a pretty fun and engaging game on the whole. If you've never played a Tactical Strategy RPG before, then Luminous Arc is a brilliant introduction. If you have, you won't find anything here outside of the standard.

There's not much to Luminous Arc's storyline. 1000 years ago a war happened involving witches and the church. The witches lost the war. Now, there are rumors that the witches have returned, and soon the church of Luminous proves these rumors to be true. A band of people known as the Garden Children are dispatched to take care of things. However, the problem lies in the fact that the evilest of the witches has already grown very powerful. It's not much of a story really. There's some political intrigue here, but for the most part the storyline could've been better overall. It's presented through cutscenes in which you view your characters facing one another and talking (similar to Disgaea).

The animations are beautiful, and there's even some voice acting. The keyword there being "some". Its rather sad that there isn't always voice acting, but it's more about how the game utilizes it. In some cutscenes you'll be reading and then the next moment there will be voices. In another quick moment there won't be. The game is inconsistent with its voice overs. Most of them are quite good too. And while the writing won't win any awards, it's got a good sense of humor about it.

The game is played out very simple like. You move your characters around, have them attack other units and whatnot. If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, it's pretty much the same thing here. Attacking an enemy directly will mean less damage and a better chance of missing. Attacking from the side or from behind increase damage and your chances of landing a hit. Each character also has a set of skills or magic that they'll learn as they level up. Pretty basic stuff.

Part of what does make Luminous Arc a little interesting is the use of "Flash Drives," which are more or less your special attacks. Whenever you attack enemies you'll fill up a flash gauge. When its full you'll gain a flash point. Get three flash points and you'll be able to team up with other characters to devastate your enemies. Much like the rest of the game, it's simple stuff, pretty basic.

You can control the game either by using the stylus, or by using the D-Pad. The idea of using the stylus and touch screen only sounds like a fantastic idea (after all, it's perfect for a tactical RPG), but in Luminous Arc it's more trouble then it's worth. For starters, this is an isometric 2D map and on top of that, it uses the grid system. User error is just far too great when using the stylus and moving units around. Sometimes the angle of the map will cause you to select the wrong square. Thank goodness you can cancel any action before a character's turn is over. Moving around your units is not simple when using the stylus on a 2D isometric map, especially because you can't rotate the camera. There's a lot less stress in using the D-Pad. The stylus works, but battles go by faster with the D-Pad

Battles move at a surprisingly fast rate. Where as in most SRPGs it could take you close to half an hour to complete a battle, many of the battles in Luminous Arc can be done in less than ten minutes. After every battle you are also given the option to talk to a member of your team. For those who like character development, this gives you a chance to really get to know some of these characters. Much of it is optional, but doing this can improve friendships. As you become better friends with your allies they'll give you items. The better friends you are, the better the item.

If there was anything slowing Luminous Arc down, it would be its story. It's simplistic and predictable. It's also very linear. Aside from random Monster Encounters, there's really nothing you can do off the main path, and all the optional stuff can't be accessed until after you've completed the game at least once.

There's online multi-player in Luminous Arc. It isn't available from the get go, however.

On the visual side, I already talked a little about the animations, but the in game itself isn't bad looking. For the most part the landscapes and settings that you battle in are really good looking on an artistic level. Not a whole lot of 3D effects are brought out, but a lot of the anime inspired art is really good. The game is also really colorful. As far as how the game just looks, though, it doesn't look that different from a GBA game. In fact, you can easily mistaken it for one. So while a lot of the anime inspired art looks good and the landscapes look good for what they are, the DS is certainly capable of more than this.

Musically, Luminous Arc sounds absolutely brilliant. It's got a really good soundtrack with a lot of memorable tunes. The sound effects are also good and along those lines, the voice acting (when there is voice acting) is pretty good too. \

For the most part, Luminous Arc is a fun game. It may not do things that differently from your standard Tactical RPG, but it's still a fun game overall and it's pretty engaging. The story isn't the best, but it certainly isn't the worst either. If you're looking for some fun, Luminous Arc delivers it. If you're looking, however, for an SRPG that goes above and beyond, you won't find it with Luminous Arc.

Luminous Arc is yet another turn based strategy to hit the DS, and like a decent number before it, it's pretty good to boot. The story of Luminous Arc unfolds in a typical fantasy world with some typical fantasy characters, but it's the core gameplay that helps set it apart from the rest of the pack. The typical turn based gameplay gets a tweak thanks to being able to level-up during the battle instead of afterwards, which can greatly assist you and adds some depth to the otherwise tried and true gameplay. The overall storyline of Luminous Arc isn't really anything we haven't come across before (and in fact can come off as confusing), but the colorful cast of characters more than make up for it. Not to mention that the game also offers a lengthy (yet somewhat linear) quest with some extras to find once you play it again, so the replayability factor is nice as well. All in all, though Luminous Arc doesn't really bring much new to the table, it's unique charm and different take on the overall gameplay mechanics make it worth checking out nonetheless.

Having been on the market for nearly three years now, the Nintendo DS has given us innovation, new types of games, and revitalizing old genres (like the point and click adventure game), all the while providing loads of fun. Surprisingly, though, one genre has been all but ignored on this little handheld: turn based strategy RPGs. Hoshigami Remix tried to fill that void, but it's essentially a port of an old Playstation title that's too complex and unrewarding for it to be enjoyable. So, is there anything that can really fill that itch? Fortunately, Atlus has answered the call and delivered "Luminous Arc", an original game that is quite the satisfying strategy RPG.

Story:

The story of "Luminous Arc" can be summed up like this. Kids that are raised from the Church, known as the Garden Children, are called up to raise arms against the "evil" Witches, who plan to kill all the people and disobey the will of God. Alph, a young, courageous youth, becomes the leader of the group, and leads off the fight to condemn the Witches. Although the story initially sounds very cliché, the plots really starts to twist early on, and you eventually learn that things are not as black and white as they appear to be. You also start to question who is really the villains in this game: the Witches... or something else?!
Overall: 9.0

Design:

The main story mode is what you'll be spending the most time on in "Luminous Arc". All areas are marked on a map, and locations are marked with icons, and you move the cursor to where you want to go. The locations you visit vary up to battlefields, towns, forests, and the like. Sometimes, you may end up being forced into a battle while trying to get to your next destination. When you arrive at your destination, you either talk to some of your party, sometimes shop, or just advance to the next story battle. This simplicity with providing menus to help you along ensures that it's very difficult to get lost in this game.
During battle, you can choose up to eight party members at a time. To gain experience, you can either land an attack on an enemy, or do a status enhancer or heal on your party. Movement is on a grid based board, and the movement is determined by squares. The attack range is also determined by this same setup. The battle system is very similar to that of most strategy RPGs, but it does work well here. Leveling up, though, is more determined by getting up to 100 experience points rather than a random number. This system makes it easier to determine how many points you need to earn to level up. All status of individual characters is displayed on the top, while the bottom is for actions. This makes things easier to follow, and it leaves the bottom screen uncluttered.
The problem is that the touch screen controls are sometimes unresponsive, leaving you with some frustration if you use that method. You eventually decide to just use the no touch screen option in the options menu and just use the old d-pad. Although it's not much of a gripe, it would be good if the game had good touch screen controls. Either way, it's hardly even a problem for me.
After battles, you have an opportunity to talk with one of your party members. You choose a response. If it favors them, their trust increases. If you talk with them enough, depending on how full their heart is, you get a special cutscene. These special scenes can be rather amusing, to be honest, and adds some depth to the whole game. All the pieces together make for a great blend.
Overall: 9.0

Graphics:
Graphically, Luminous Arc is a decent looking game. The game is 2D completely, but the sprites animate quite well, and their movement helps convey some realism to the anime style characters. Cutscenes are told using still portraits that look quite good, with painted backgrounds. Their expressions change depending on the dialogue, witch helps a bit as well. Some attacks also have a bit of flash, as well. While not much here that could not have been done on lesser hardware, like the GBA, it's still quite impressive. There is also a full motion anime intro at the beginning, as well.
Overall: 8.0

Sound:
Audio wise, the game is a real treat. You get fully orchastraic music, a catchy Japanese pop intro, and voice acting. While the voice acting only really happens for about 20% of the whole game, when it does happen, it's performed well, for the most part. One character I don't like, though, is Nickolai. What is his deal?! Come on!! The sound effects are appropriate and do the job. So, overall, the audio part is great.
Overall: 9.0

Overall:
The game is quite an enjoyable experience. If you're looking for a great strategy RPG for your DS, don't hesitate to pick this one up. It's quite good.
Overall: 9.0

This is John. Say hi to John. John has never played a strategical RPG ever. He got Luminous Arc. He loved it. He played it again. He still liked it. Hurray for John.

Unfortunately, I am not John. I have played strategical RPG's before. I have replayed certain ones before and not just FFTA, which was, yes, a fabulous and in depth game.
However, this game has no depth. Nor does it come up to the DS's expectations.

First of all, the DS. A fabulous system. You probably have Mariokart and thought "Wow, these graphics are just as good as the N64, maybe better!" These graphics are fat, choppy, and the battle animations look like the guy is doing the robot. It looks like a slash movement took 2 or 3 frames of animation. Yes, the portraits are pretty, but that's it. It is not going up to the limits of the DS. Even all the armor looks the same, and as no color. When you have a different sword, everything is still the same. It's annoying really. Also, there are things called "Flash Drives". Using one is kind of like using a combo. Even these are poorly animated, and it looks like something off a GBA. I remember Riviera: The Promised Land haveing better animation than the "Flash Drives". One thing really shines in this game. Voice acting. It's fabulous. Everyone has a different voice, accents, laughs, everything. It really is a enjoyable cut-scene experience.

Besides the limitations, it's not a terrible game. The leveling system is pretty nice. You never know when you'll get a new skill, or what it'll be! New skills are always fun, and every one is actually useful. You get new characters, like every game, and they each have their one special weapon and skills. When your on the battle field, you use the stylus to move your people and select options etc. You can change to the buttons, but this is the only time where you use your stylus. It's nice, but also clunky. I calibrated my stylus fifty times, but still nothing doing.
So basically, it could've been a slightly better GBA game in the end.

PROS:
Good leveling and skill system.
Voice acting is spectacular.
When people die, they don't go forever.
Storyline is strong.
CONS:
Graphics are bad, not using the DS to its full power.
Battles are kind of boring.
Linear. Moves to fast.
No depth, slightly dull.
Multiplayer is a laugh.
More like a GBA game than a DS.

Luminous arc is an extremely mediocre RPG. I would only suggest getting it if you haven't played a strategical RPG, or you don't own one.

I bought this game on a whim; all I knew was that it was a Final Fantasy Tactics-style game, and a little about the storyline. Knowing that Atlus and Nippon-Ichi (who used to have Atlus publish many of their games) tend to produce the BEST SRPGs, I decided to give it a shot. I was not at all disappointed. For me, it came the closest to capturing the feel of the original Final Fantasy Tactics (FFT) of any game in the genre since FFT's release. Granted, you can't really customize your characters (each one serves basically one purpose), but the game play style, coupled with the story line, really brought me back to that first play through FFT, which is what turned me onto this genre of games in the first place. With a storyline focusing on religion and political intrigue, the story is phenomenal. My only issue with the game is with the controls. There are a few options (left-handed stylus use, right-handed stylus use, and D-pad use), but I think if they would have just allowed you to use a combination of stylus and D-pad it could have been great. Otherwise, fantastic game with a great story, that I think deserves more credit than it normally gets.

First off, let's get this out of the way: this is not Final Fantasy Tactics or its Advance counterpart. I do not understand why people like to compare these two titles. Final Fantasy Tactics did not event the tactical rpg genre; I believe that belongs to the Fire Emblem series (they've been around in Japan since the late 80's). Also, I had more of a fun time playing this game than I did with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Another thing is, when this game was released back in August, the only tactical rpg for the ds at the time was Hoshigami Remix (which isn't too bad either). It's not going to be sometime till next year before we get a hold of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 here in the US. Now with that out of the way, let's talk about Luminous Arc.
Like I said before, this game is great. Not the best, but great nonetheless. Let's talk about the story first. Don't worry, I'm not giving away spoilers, but this isn't the best or most original story in the genre (then again, most stories in the rpg genre aren't, so that's not saying much). It comes off hilarious, though not necessarily in a good way. Even though, the characters, their development, and their dialogs are all pretty good, and can be funny a lot of the times. In fact, I found this to be more of the reason to keep going on in the game, just to see what would become of them. Though one thing about the dialoges I don't like is the redundent speaches they give. In fact, I don't think I've ever played the game with so much talking, with alot of it pointless and repetitive.
Anyway, then there is the gameplay. I like it a lot. It's easy to learn and use (especially if you love these types of games). Even though their is no class system in the game, it doesn't really hurt the game, as it gives the characters a more distinct personallity. Even though it's an easy game to control for the most part, using the stylus can be a problem every now and again because for some strang reason you can't select certian targets that are within range. This isn't a bad problem as it doesn't happen often. But when it does come up, just switch to the directional pad controls (which is cool, because you can do this on the fly, even during battle).
Finally, there are the graphics and music/sound. This is some of the best 2-D graphics that I've seen, and it's also a bright game too. My only complaint is why the designers didn't make the battle stages in rotatable 3-D. This isn't real bad, because the 2-D stages never affect the gameplay. Also, their is a cool animated intro to the game. As for the music, it's great, and one of the best things of the game. Another cool thing is the voice acting. The acting can be a tad melodramatic at times, but it does add personality to the characters. I was suprised that VO was even in the game.
So, is this game for you? Well, if you want to get into the tactical rpg genre, then yes. If you are a veteran of the aforementioned genre, yes again. If you think that Final Fantasy Tactics and it's Advance counterpart are the be all and end all of the genre, and nothing can even come close to them, then no, you won't like this game at all. It's not the most original or the best in the genre, but it's good, darn good. Definitely the money it's worth.

I am a middle aged mom who got into gaming about 2 years ago. My favorite genre is RPG. I like all forms of them (turn based, tactical, more RTS ones, etc). I loved this game largely because of excellent gameplay and a superbly funny story!

The gameplay is standard fare--a fairly stripped down version of something like FFT. That is fine for me. I did not buy this looking for a 100+ hour game--I wanted a fun game that I could pick up and play with a good story. This is turn based tactical at its simplest and for me it was fairly flawless. I loved that you leveled up and got your HP/MP back when it happened. It made me less cautious to try out new moves, skills, and magic which in turn actually helped my game.

The story is very funny. I found myself laughing as I played the game and couldn't wait for the next round of conversation to see what happened. I agree the story is somewhat juvenille but I play video games to be entertained so it's not like I want poverty and homelessness in my games!

I found I really grew to have strong emotions for the characters---loved the ones I was supposed to love and hated the ones I was supposed to hate. To me a great RPG keeps me going with the story---which can happen even through some pretty flawed gameplay. In the end that is what I want. LA delivers with simple and strong tactical battling and a funny endearing story. My daughter (12) loves it as well (She has just started playing a limited amount of "T" games). We ordered Luminous Arc 2 and now we don't have to fight over our LA--we each have a cart to play!

Highly recommended. I would particularly recommend this for newcomers to Tactical's or those who found something like FFT too complicated. It is simple to understand and play.

Luminous Arc is one of those otherwise good games that gets dragged down by a couple major flaws. I'll get the bad points out of the way first.

The first major problem is gameplay. It's a grid-based strategy/tactical RPG, but that by itself isn't the problem. The stylus control should have been intuitive: Touch the square that you want the character to move to or tap the foe you want to attack/ally you want to heal. The problem lies in the fact that the controls are very imprecise. Often, you'll want to select a villain to attack but the game registers that you've selected an ally to attack instead, and sometimes it'll select the wrong target five times before it gets it right. This is one case where you'll be glad it asks you to confirm your action first. Even more often though, it won't register your taps AT ALL, leaving you mashing the touch screen repeatedly and yelling out in frustration.

The second problem is the imbalance of characters. One character in particular, Leon, stands above the rest as far as dealing damage is concerned. The game tries to balance this by making it harder to level him up (by not giving him any skills to buff/heal others), but this can be overcome by level grinding and using him to kill all the enemies. Once Leon gains a specific skill, he can mow down all but the strongest bosses in at most two hits, taking the "strategy" out of the equation.

Which is a shame, because this is a charming little game otherwise. The graphics look nice, the voice acting is well done, and the story, though a bit cliche, has its own charms. There's a good bit of comedy relief too, usually delivered through one liners or the story's more eccentric characters. The game took special care to give each of its characters their own style and personality.

Luminous Arc isn't for the hardcore gamer, or anyone who becomes frustrated easily by unresponsive and imprecise controls. However, it's well-presented and is a good title to pick up and play, if you don't mind the rather broken controls. A sequel is coming out in time for the holidays this year, and I hope they address the controls. I'm a bit hesitant to preorder it for that reason alone.

Luminous Arc lets player take control of a pre-selected group of characters - orphans actually. Each, like any role-playing-game worth it's salt, come with their own strengths, weaknesses, abilities and attitudes. And, after only a few "missions" (as they're called), you begin to differentiate and appreciate the distinction between your motley crew. Some become more favourable, some become less so, and some become out-and-out annoying. But no one could argue that there's not enough variety between your team.

Players move about on an over-world map. It is prettily drawn and promises many different climate zones and variety. You exist on this map as a little sprite of the leading-man in the game: "Alph". (This is a silly name. Every time I read it, images of that puppet from Melmac trying to toast the cat fill my mind). And, you move to your next mission which is indicated by a little "Next" with a tap. This is as far as the games navigation goes -Luminous Arc is a 95% linear adventure.

Between missions, we can take an "Action". This includes shopping, reading at many of the land's libraries, or talking to your team-mates. Let's just say the most rewarding action is the first I listed. I never really got off on all the supplemental dialog and back-story. In fact, I just wanted more of the games turn-based action. Which, I must say, is surprisingly fun, addictive and satisfying.

There are loads of different attacks, skills and what they call "Flash Drives". These are represent a sort of special move, only playable when the individual team-mate has gathered enough experience in the current battle. These are pretty creative and very useful, but, you have to make sure you're aware of when they're ready, as the game makes no alarm or mention that your moves are now ready. Once I got in the habit of using these "Flash Drives", this wasn't really a problem.

The enemies you see a pretty varied and act fairly convincingly too. You don't see them making idiotic moves or harming their own kind like in other games. Also, they show a bit of cunning too. When their health is low, they move away from the action - but watch it. They often sneak back in when it's safe to finish one of your guys off! It's cowardly but realistic. The bosses you encounter do pose a real threat, but their level of ability varies too much. Some are easy and some are hard. You're never sure how much fire-power they have up their sleeve, and it's either suicide or a total massacre.

The game is decorated with beautifully painted backgrounds. These are overlaid with the nicely drawn characters. All of the dialog scenes are presented in this way, and I have to say that it does become tiresome. All of the character art is recycled throughout the entire story, and their facial expressions are fairly under-stated. So this means that a lot of opportunity for enriching the story and characterisations was passed up. All in all, you get sick of the same pictures presented in this story-book fashion (and I'm not talking "Paper Mario" style either).

This game seems to draw criticisms for it's varying difficulties and the unusual leveling system. While these criticisms may be true, they are only a minor point, and would only upset the most traditional and serious strategy players. Those who like a little bit of story balanced with a little bit of action should have no real complaints with this title. It's surely isn't the last word for this genre, but in the meantime, it is a respectable and quality title that deserves a play-through.

I bought this just because of the turn based team battles. The story is okay, just aimed at a young audience. Not bad, I just didn't care for it. I wish there were more American developers that made more turn based tactical tittles.