Luminous Arc 2 Review

Luminous Arc 2 review

Hasn’t it been a while since this game was out? Yes it has. And that is especially why I write this review late. With games like Mass Effect being called an RPG, there always has to be a stored article for such absurd occasions. Also with this review I would like to add different criteria in the scoring system.

 Luminous Arc 2 is not a game for everyone. It is a DS game T-rated. It is only for those who are real hardcore gamers. Unless you watched anime and played anime-like games, you would never understand the glory of this game.

Story 9/10 The story is so funny. Even bandits feel like Team Rocket and the engineer is so funny. The voice acting matches the scene, the character, and the strength! “Oh a talking cat. That makes so much sense now.” The story in a nutshell is that Fatimeow wanted to fight with the witches (for a spoiler reason) and it ended up with you controlling the sweetest characters EVER. The only complaint for the story is that it takes a while to understand and is (at the beginning) longer than it should be, sometimes taking a little too much time. But near the middle of the game you find it right back on track. It is better than watching an anime or playing a game. It has a heroic vibe to it but the characters are rendered realistic to our age (in their way of thinking) than the ways of old. This is a plus because it helps to make you feel WITH them. However I have a thing or two against Rasche!

Gameplay 9.5/10 It is great gameplay, and for a strategy RPG, the board it chooses and the way the level starts is extremely challengingly nice. It has everything starting from Armory to stats to leveling up. It loses a 0.5 (score is now 20 divisions instead of ten) because there is a little unfairness in the EXP system. Attacking an enemy can give you around 4 EXP points, meanwhile the one to deliver the final blow get 35-45 EXP, even if the enemy’s HP was 1/310. The reason why I begin to hate Rasche is because he practically stole EXP from Rina, when she gets KO’d. After a little bit, Rina became so much more of a lower level than the rest of the guild. Rasche is a sturdy character, but because of Rina’s wide range I usually send her a little bit forward from the clot (I call my cowardly strategy the clot) but she ends up dying faster than I wanted her to be. Good thing THE Kaphe tagged along. However trying to use this flaw to my advantage is possible. It is possible to make no characters level up at all, but one. The problem does not ruin the entire game though. It is only possible to overcome the problem, especially for experts on board strategies.

Menu and optional goodies 10/10 The menu is cute and the guild shop quests are okay, but what really give this a plus is the optional dialogue and the Kopin stories. Kopin can be found as an easter egg on some boards, and one of the Elemental witches has some Kopin dolls. The reason why I split this from the gameplay is that it could take over 10, but it is not really gameplay and its worth mentioning. I heard there is a multiplayer and wifi somewhere but who cares? There is also some friendship system? That totally makes the game not for guys.

Re-playability 5/10 The tutorial is long, and there are only two save files. There is more than one way to save which is confusing. However to your convenience there is a skip button on ALL dialogue of the game, so the game is not so bad. It’s not terribly bad to replay, It’s passable.

RPG features 10/10 The game functions well on this matter, the fact that your inventory is infinite but who is equipped with what makes all the difference on the board. The shop is great, and it should deserve more than 10 overall, except that there are many shops with many locations and each offers limited choice so the shop at the beginning of the game will always be selling 3 weapons and I have to search a lot to find the one with the armor that I need. The game has covered all the needed RPG features with ease and good pace, and it never bores you.

Difficulty: Hard It is both fun AND hard. Strategy games were always hard for me, but since Fire Emblem and I caught some skill in them. This game is isometric, complex and simply rich with difficulty. It is hard in a good way. One notable thing is that the game seems to have beginning and an end to what seems to be a day so you can’t really be sad from failing over and over. The game is quite addictive and makes you want to carry you DS everywhere. The challenge radiating out of it is a lot. It is not impossible though and the beginning levels are easy. Depends on how you intensify the power in your guild. Offence is not always the only way to deal with things!

Graphics 10/10 This game uses the DS graphics perfectly, and no complaints on that matter. If you don’t like DS graphics then don’t get this game and if you don’t like anime artstyle then close this tab and if you don’t like the characters is tiny form then why did you open this site? Let’s pretend we never saw each other, okay? But if you really do not like DS graphics, then we need a serious discussion.

Music 10/10 No complaints either. Music is fitting, great, classic, no vocals, and perfect.

Overall 9/10 What can I say. A great game. Not a game for guys. Not because its girly. I mean, not only because it is girly, but because girls would enjoy it more. Girls in this game rule the world. Some things just tend to bore guys. It is also not for people who generally don’t like strategy and are too cowardly to take a challenge, and anime-esque haters. Otherwise if you do not fit in neither category, buy the game. You cannot miss it. Not even Fire Emblem would cover this game up. It is magnificent. After all, I hardly review games I do not like. This website is a hobby, not a profession.

  Speaking of which, the gaming world is normally open minded, allowing all and any random games to have a chance but only the best will shine. Of course fans have another view in this, but authors should let their games speak for themselves. This is how Mario, Zelda and the best of the best games became popular: by the game speaking for itself. The game developers who speak about their game through other people’s voices and overrate their games are not getting any loyal fans, but discouraging real home console gamers and helping them convert into smartphone gaming. The way they advertise about their games just bores most people I have met and that is why new gamers are falling into two categories: Call of Duty fans, and Smartphone gamers. This is because smartphones are the cheapest alternative to getting part of all types of technology. But that doesn’t mean that the market is going in entirely the wrong direction. It can still be saved. More on that later, because this is not the specific article for it!