Luminous Arc

"Only one more battle! Oh, it's 4am already?"

Hello, I'm Jericho33, and I'm an RPG-aholic. With today's modern RPG feeling the need to be action/rpg's, it's nice to see a strategy-rpg come out of from under the radar.

Graphics: 8/10 - Being an RPG fan, graphics are of little value to me, but I have some good and bad things to say about Luminous Arc. On the side of good everything is distinguished enough that you can tell what is what. The characters each of their own unique designs that look beautiful and their battle-sprite counterparts bear a nice resemblance to their anime-style art.
The opening anime-sequence is one of the best I've seen in video games, as well. The only qualm I had with the graphical nature is the dialogue scenes get dragged out because of constant character-flopping. Only two people are ever shown at one time, so conversation that involve five and more characters get a little mashed up. Also, with some characters there is a bit of a glitch where the person who just left will reappear in part for a frame. An example is Kai, when he leaves a conversation-box, his sword reappears in part for a frame or two. All in all however, the graphical nature is nice to look at, and the few shortcomings will never detract from enjoyment.

Sound: 8/10 - The sound is very much like the graphics, great at times and drones at others. The voice acting for the characters is believable, but some of their random "it's my turn"-style shouts can get annoying. Music is great through and through, however, so the odd shout aren't so bad. There is one character I have to have sound off in order to get past her part of the game, as her voice is terrible. It's not that it doesn't match the character, it's just a "i'm like, so like, gonna get SOOO mad and like, you" type of speech that crawls under your skin and then proceeds to go deeper.

Gameplay 10/10 - Amazing. It's the best part of the game. World naviagation in simple and to the point, but battles take another ounce of thought to commence. I have a qualm that some enemies are far too easy, but that is only because my favourite character of the game just happens to have the strongest attack in the game. Aside from some easier than expected battles, be prepared to get caught off guard and have to repeat a battle two or three times before you figure out how to trick the AI. What I really liked about the gameplay was the way you could play around with a battle and spend hours trying out new attacks, new character combinations and new equipment.

Story: 7/10 - I really hate to flip-flop on every category but I'm going to have to with story once again. Early dialogue is cheesier than pizza, and by the time you finally are given the facts about the world it gets hard to bear other's ignorance. Despite this, I believe the game to have a great grasp of reality. Sure there are magic and witches, but the portrayal of the Church is exactly how I perceive religion to be.

Characters: 10/10 - Best part of the game. The exchanges of dialogue between them is amazing and each and every one has a purpose in the game. What's is best about the characters is the variety in them. Each character is different from other characters so each person you meet will have a different team that they use. From humans, to witches to a weird and obscure manatee you'll be able to find a group that you fall in love with.

Replay Value: 7/10 - Replay value falls into two categories. 1st is a total restart of the game, which is great but ultimately require little thought unless you want to try something new. 2nd category is New Game+ which is almost pointless. There is a new dungeon which offers new challenges, but the rest of the game requires no thought what-so-ever. You'll be sweeping through the battles that took you 2 or 3 tries first round using only 2 or 3 characters. An interesting note is that character whom you fought during the first few chapters of the game and become playable later on retain their true levels of experience. If you have that person at level 54 on your New Game+, they will be level 54 the next time your fight them in the storyline however their backup will be much much lower as they retain their original level. Wi-Fi adds a bit to the replayability, but it can be a hassle to find someone online worthy of playing against.

Rent or Buy: Buy. As with most rpg's, the rental would be wasted as rpg's are meant to be played for story and a quick playthough on a rental would hardly warrant the writing, voice, music, and the gameplay the respect it deserves.

Ending notes:
That's all I really have to say about Luminous Arc. It is insanely fun and will keep you occupied for a great deal of time, there should be no regret of purchase. It's only in the replay value that the game falters, but given that there are a large variety of characters, one can make their own challenges by using a team who are not in their comfort zone.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/07