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    Luminous Arc

    Game » consists of 3 releases. Released Feb 08, 2007

    Luminous Arc is a turn-based strategy RPG game developed by imageepoch, revolving around a cadre of child soldiers trained by the church in order to defeat witches.

    imhungry's Luminous Arc (Nintendo DS) review

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    Witch Hunting Children!

    Luminous Arc is a turn-based strategy RPG. Its got a fairly interesting - if slightly cliched - storyline has a few twists up its sleeves, but after those twists you don’t feel much motivation to continue the game for the story, which you may not want to, considering the moderate amount of grinding you have to do during the course of the game. The characters are slightly loveable - with a few exceptions such as a particularly annoying bimbo-like character - but the dialogue in the game is really weak, either being overly cheesy or just plain redundant. You might end up getting attached to a character, or you might not, but overall the game’s story isn’t very strong.

    Its just kind of sad that the story is one of the main driving forces of the game, since the combat is pretty standard turn based strategy fair. If you’ve ever played a Final Fantasy Tactics game, Fire Emblem or just about any recent turn based strategy game, you’ll have an idea what to do here. Characters move around a grid based battlefield, with the order of their turns being decided by their stats. In each turn, they can move and perform an action, such as attacking, using a skill or spell and using items, after which their turn will end. The terrain also affects attacking, attacks coming from the sides or back dealing more damage and being more accurate. An interesting part of Luminous Arc’s combat system is that when a character levels up, he/she will automatically recover all their HP and MP, adding a layer of startegy as to when to level up your characters.

    Luminous Arc mixes things up a bit with the introduction of Flash Drives(No…not memory storing devices) Basically, Flash Drives are super moves that all characters can perform after building up Flash Points. Flash Points are gained through doing actions, killing enemies, or even doing nothing. In other words, no matter what you do, you’ll end up getting Flash Points. The game also has Synergies, which are like team flash drives performed by two characters when certain conditions are fulfilled. These Flash drives and synergies were a pretty good addition to the game, as it adds another layer of strategy.

    Luminous Arc can be controlled either by stylus or by the traditional D-Pad and ABXY buttons. When using the stylus, you tap buttons on the touch screen to select them. This would be a pretty good system except that the stylus and touch screen often dont accurately pick up where you are tapping, be it having to tap numerous times or selecting another thing altogether. Ultimately, both control schemes work fine and its up to your personal preference as to which to use.

    The graphics in Luminous Arc are quite good for what they are. The game is all sprites, but they look pretty good, the DS being the sprite powerhouse it is. The sound however, is not as strong. The tunes are easily forgettable and don’t add too much effect to the game.

    Luminous Arc also features local wireless and Wi-Fi compatability in the form of fully fledged battles using your team trained in the story mode. I never got the chance to try this out though so I can’t comment.

    Overall, Luminous Arc was a pretty enjoyable experience throughout and if you are looking for a strategic turn based RPG, its a pretty safe bet to go with.


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