I originally found out about Luminous Arc while looking at new DS games on gamestop.com. When I first read about it I was interested in the game but there were other games I wanted more than it. Then later on I wanted a new DS game but when I went to search for it on gamestop.com it wasn't on their site at all. I wasn't really happy so I decided to just give up on it. I was surprised when to see the game at gamestop while I was looking for a new game to buy with my gamestop gift card I got for Christmas. I didn't get it then because there was another game I wanted first. I was surprised that it was at the store when I couldn't find it on the site earlier. So when I had another chance to get the game I decided to look on gamestop.com again and see if it was on the site and sure enough it was. I was real happy when I was finally able to get Luminous Arc. As soon as I got home I started to play the game. As soon as I started playing the game I was having so much fun and I had a hard time even putting it down and taking a break. To find out why this game is so fun that its hard to put it down just keep reading.
Story
The story takes place in a land where many people who are led by the Luminous Church live. Now that a new millennium has dawned a taint of evil has started to spread all over the land. The Luminous Church believes that the evil witches have back and are trying to destroy them all including their beloved God. The Luminous Church actually foresaw the reappearance so they had decided to create the Ever Garden to raise a special group of soldiers and train them from birth so they could one day defeat the witches. The leader of the Garden Children as they were called is Arc Knight Heath. His motto is "Protect the Light, Condemn the Dark". It is up to them to condemn all witches before they destroy the world like they did before.
Gameplay
There are many characters in the game that you will meet and will eventually join your party. Here is a short description of the main characters you meet at the beginning of the game:
Alph - He is a boy who lives in the Ever Garden with his other friends and his little brother Theo. He can be a bit stubborn at times, but he has a strong sense of what is right and wrong. He cares a lot for his brother and friends. He admires Heath a lot and he wants to be a knight just like him one day.
Lucia - She is a mysterious maid who had come to the Ever Garden to work as a maid. Even though she comes off cold she actually cares for people despite her shielded personality. She takes care of all the cleaning of the Ever Garden except the dishes. For some reason, she cares a lot for Alph.
Cecille - She is a priestess at the Ever Garden. She is a strong believer of the Luminous Religion and she enjoys the peace she gets by serving the Light. She is very kind to others especially her friends and she believes in the teachings of the Luminous Verses.
Theo - He is the younger brother of Alph. He looks up to his big brother more than anyone else. He spends most of his time training with his brother in the Ever Garden.
Leon - He has lived in the Ever Garden ever since he was a small boy, and he has grown up with Alph and the others. His farther was a renowned knight in the heavy cavalry who lost his life in battle. His father was known as "Lion King". He has always looked up to his father and has strived to become a stronger warrior and live up to his father's great legacy.
Heath - He is an Arc Knight for the Luminous Church. He is know as the "Cleansing Flame," and he is respected by everyone around him for his strong faith and his skill in battle. He is always prepared to throw himself into any battles to fight for justice. He is an honest and dependable man with great knowledge of combat. He has a very deep hatred of Witches. He believes all Witches should be condemned under the power of the Luminous Church.
The Game Progression is basically a 5 step process that repeats itself every chapter. The first step is Scenario which focuses on the advancing of the storyline. Things that can be preformed in this stage are: Conversations between party members, reading books at the library and shopping for weapons, armor, accessories, and items. The second step is Battle most battles will advance the story and that's when most of the battles take place during the storyline. Sometimes you will run into random battles while moving on the world map. The next step is Intermission which only happens after battles. The Intermissions allows you to choose when of your party members to talk to them with Alph. They will ask Alph a question and depending on which answer you choose Alph's relationship with the character you chose may improve. The fourth step is Life of Kopin which only appears after a Scenario Battle. This is when the mysterious Kopin reveals one of his misadventures with you. The last step is World Map which is where you can view your current location and move to new points on the map. As you advance through the storyline more locations will become available.
While on the World Map you press the Star button to open up the System Menu. There are many options to choose from on the System Menu which include, saving or loading your game, viewing you items, and equipping your party members. There are a total of seven options on the System Menu and they are: Equipment, Inventory, Save, Load, Options, Title Screen, and Tutorial. The Equipment Screen is where you can view the status of your party members and change their equipment. The Inventory Screen of course lets you view the items you have in your inventory. The Save option of course lets you save your current game and of course the Load option allows you to load a game save. The options option of lets you change various options like the volumes for music, sound effects, and voices. While on the options menu you can also change the control schemes. The Title Screen option of course returns you to the Title Screen when selected. The last option is Tutorial which allows you to view basic information about the battle system and how you go about playing the game.
There are two types of battles in this game and they are Scenario Battles and Random Battles. Scenario Battles will occur after story sequences and Random Battles occur as you move around the World Map. When you first enter a battle you must select the units that will participate in the battle. Alph must always participate in Scenario Battles but he doesn't have to participate in a Random Battle. There is a limit to how many units you can bring into the battle but you can even take fewer units into the battle if you really want to. After you selected all the units that are going to participate in the battle you select the GO icon. Right before the battle begins the mission objectives will be displayed on the screen. Then the battle will begin and once you either win or lose the mission the battle will end. The basic battle commands are: Move, Action, Wait, Status, and Cancel. Under the Action command are many subcommands which are: Attack, Skill, Magic, Flash Drive, Synergy, Item, and Cancel. While in a battle you can press the start button to open the Battle System Menu which includes the options: Turn Order, Objectives, Save, and Cancel.
The Status Screen can be displayed while in battle when choosing it from the basic battle commands when its a certain characters turn. The status of the selected character will be displayed. Everything on the status screen are categorized into different categories and you have to press the L or R button to shift through the different categories. There are a total of six categories on the status screen and they are: Status, Equipment, Spell, Skill, Flash Drive, and Synergy.
The first category is Status which of course displays the status of the character. The status information includes: Lv, which is of course the units level, EXP, which is the units current experience points, AT, which is the characters position in the Active Turn List, Attribute, which is the units elemental attribute, NEG, which is any abnormal status effects the unit has, Name, which of course is the units name, Class, which is the units occupation or class, HP, which of course is the units current/max hit points, MP, which is the units current/max mental points, ADD,which is any helpful status effects the unit has, FP, which is how many flash points the unit has, Help, which explains the selected item, Attack which of course is the units physical attack power, Guard, which of course is the units physical defensive power, Speed, which of course is used to dodge attacks, Tech, which influences accuracy of attacks, Magic, which is the units magical attack power, Resist, which is the units magical defensive power, Move, which is the unit's move range, and Jump, which is the units vertical range.
The Equipment category shows the unit's current equipped items. The Spell category shows the current spells the unit has, but not all units have this category because not all units can use magic. The Skill category shows the current skill's the unit has, but just like spells not all units have this category because not all units have skills to use. A unit will usually have either Magic or Skills, but some units like Heath have both Magic and Skills. The Flash Drive category shows the current Flash Drives a unit has and the Synergy category shows the current Synergy's a unit has.
When attacking an enemy there are different attack ranges for different types of weapons. Swords and staves can only attack one square ahead of them while spears and kunais can attack two squares in front of them. Bows and crossbow's can attack an enemy when they are four squares away. There three types of magic and they are: attack, recovery, and support. Most spells have a long range and can target multiple enemies instead of only one. The only way a unit will learn a new magic spell is by gaining levels. There are also three types of skills and they are: attack, recovery, and support. Units will learn new skills as they gain levels just like they will learn new spells as they gain levels. Using spells and skills will use up some of your mental points or MP. Flash Drives are special attacks that units will learn when they level up. Each unit can have up to three Flash Drives and there are two types of Flash Drives and they are: attack and recovery. To use a Flash Drive the unit has to have at least one flash point. A Synergy is another powerful special skill but not every unit can use one of these. A Synergy is a skill that involves two units combining their powers to use a special attack. To use a Synergy there are three conditions that must be true and these conditions are: the required units must participate in the battle, all units must have 3 flash points, and all units performing the Synergy must be within a 3x3 square area. All Synergies are attacks and the only way units will gain Synergies is through the storyline.
When your unit performs an action they will earn experience points or exp. Everytime a unit reaches 100 exp they will gain a level and when a unit levels up their HP and MP will be fully restored. Any excess exp gained is not carried over though. When a unit hits a higher-leveled enemy the unit will get more exp and if a unit kills an enemy they will get much more exp than simply attacking it. When attacking more than one enemy at a time the unit will only gain the experience for the highest level enemy the unit attacked. Units will also gain experience when using supportive skills and even when using items.
When a unit attacks an enemy with a weapon the amount of damage done to the enemy varies depending on which way the enemy is facing when its getting attacked. When attacking an enemy from the front the chance of evasion is high but the damage given will be medium. When attacking from the side the chance of evasion is low while the damage given will be high. When attacking from behind the chance of evasion is very low but the damage given will be very high. The difference in elevation between the enemy and your unit also affects the accuracy and the damage of your units attacks. When a unit attacks an enemy that is 3 units higher or lower than you there are no modifiers applied. Your units can attack an enemy that is four units higher or lower than you but the units accuracy will decrease if you are trying to attack an enemy that is on a higher level than your unit. Just like attacking an enemy from four units higher or lower you can attack a enemy from six units higher or lower than you but the units accuracy will decrease when the enemy is on higher elevation than your unit.
As you progress through the storyline the enemies you will fight will get stronger. There are various kinds of monsters and enemy units you will find through out the storyline. The optimal methods of attacking these enemies will differ from enemy to enemy. In most Scenario Battles there will be a boss and they are always be harder to defeat then the regular enemies. For the most part you won't need to train much because you will run into random battles on the world map when traveling to a new area in order to progress through the story. The closer you get to the end of the story though you may have to train your units a bit if you have trouble winning the battle.
At a certain point in the game you will start finding Vitae which are stones that have the power of Rune hidden inside them. These are used by the Witches and monsters as sources of magical power. A vitae has to be identified before it can be imbued and to identify vitae the vitae has to be appraised. There are three types of appraisals and they are: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Bronze only reveals the meaning of the vitae while Silver reveals the meaning and the element of the vitae. Gold reveals the meaning, element, and effect of the vitae. You can imbue your weapons, armor, and accessories with vitae to make them more powerful and maybe even give them new abilities.
Controls
There are three types of control schemes available in this game and they are: Right-Handed Mode, Left-Handed Mode, and Button Mode. Right-Handed mode uses the Touch Screen and the control pad. Left-Handed mode uses the Touch Screen and the A, B, X, and Y buttons. Button Mode uses all buttons on the DS without using the Touch Screen. The controls are really easy to use and are simple.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are pretty good for a DS game. The characters are really colorful and detailed. The battlefields are pretty detailed and not as colorful as the characters but the graphics are still good. The enemies are detailed too and they are somewhat colorful but not as colorful as the characters are. Overall I think they did a good job on the graphics for this game.
Sounds
The sound in this game are pretty good for a DS game. The music is really good especially the opening when starting the game. The characters actually say things at when its their turn unlike in most other DS games let alone any Nintendo games. The one thing that really made me happy is that Luminous Arc actually has voice overs and voiced dialog. Most Nintendo games don't have voice overs but this game does and I like it. Not all the dialogue is voiced though but there is a lot of dialogue that is voiced.
Overall this is one of the best DS games I have played so far. I think every DS owner who likes RPG games should get this game and try it.
Comes with a soundtrack CD packaged with game 30 chapters and 30 plus hours of gameplay take the battle online with Nintendo WiFi connection Refined i...More at Amazon
Comes with a soundtrack CD packaged with game 30 chapters and 30 plus hours of gameplay take the battle online with Nintendo WiFi connection Refined i...More at Amazon Marketplace
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