A satisfying and enjoyable strategy RPG that is worthy of putting into your DS!
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