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| From: Atlus Video Games
Category: Video Games
Buy New: $38.00
New (12) Used (9) from $26.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 2882
Platform: Nintendo Ds
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Operating System: Nintendo DS
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 40009
Model: LA-40009-6
UPC: 730865400096
EAN: 0730865400096
ASIN: B000P46NK2
Release Date: August 14, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Too simple February 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this tactical RPG from ALTUS in the hope that it would be "Disgaea" for the DS. It turned out to be Disgaea's cute pre-school age cousin. Sure, you maneuver characters on a grid of squares, do physical and magical attacks for damage, level characters, and can do special combination moves with multiple characters. However, the game lacks any sort of flexibility or depth. The number of available characters in your party is constrained by the story. The number and type of special moves are few, and the combination attacks are both underpowered, and inconvenient enough to not be worthwhile. The story was cutesy, and a bit confused: what you'd expect from a mediocre Japanese RPG. One thing I did like was that every time you leveled up a character, their HP and SP were reset to full strength. This both added a bit of interest to the gameplay, and made the game ridiculously easy to beat.
Atlus once again provides us with a great SRPG February 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this game on a whim; all I knew was that it was a Final Fantasy Tactics-style game, and a little about the storyline. Knowing that Atlus and Nippon-Ichi (who used to have Atlus publish many of their games) tend to produce the BEST SRPGs, I decided to give it a shot. I was not at all disappointed. For me, it came the closest to capturing the feel of the original Final Fantasy Tactics (FFT) of any game in the genre since FFT's release. Granted, you can't really customize your characters (each one serves basically one purpose), but the game play style, coupled with the story line, really brought me back to that first play through FFT, which is what turned me onto this genre of games in the first place. With a storyline focusing on religion and political intrigue, the story is phenomenal. My only issue with the game is with the controls. There are a few options (left-handed stylus use, right-handed stylus use, and D-pad use), but I think if they would have just allowed you to use a combination of stylus and D-pad it could have been great. Otherwise, fantastic game with a great story, that I think deserves more credit than it normally gets.
 A very good, but underated tactical rpg. November 23, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
First off, let's get this out of the way: this is not Final Fantasy Tactics or its Advance counterpart. I do not understand why people like to compare these two titles. Final Fantasy Tactics did not event the tactical rpg genre; I believe that belongs to the Fire Emblem series (they've been around in Japan since the late 80's). Also, I had more of a fun time playing this game than I did with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Another thing is, when this game was released back in August, the only tactical rpg for the ds at the time was Hoshigami Remix (which isn't too bad either). It's not going to be sometime till next year before we get a hold of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 here in the US. Now with that out of the way, let's talk about Luminous Arc.
Like I said before, this game is great. Not the best, but great nonetheless. Let's talk about the story first. Don't worry, I'm not giving away spoilers, but this isn't the best or most original story in the genre (then again, most stories in the rpg genre aren't, so that's not saying much). It comes off hilarious, though not necessarily in a good way. Even though, the characters, their development, and their dialogs are all pretty good, and can be funny a lot of the times. In fact, I found this to be more of the reason to keep going on in the game, just to see what would become of them. Though one thing about the dialoges I don't like is the redundent speaches they give. In fact, I don't think I've ever played the game with so much talking, with alot of it pointless and repetitive.
Anyway, then there is the gameplay. I like it a lot. It's easy to learn and use (especially if you love these types of games). Even though their is no class system in the game, it doesn't really hurt the game, as it gives the characters a more distinct personallity. Even though it's an easy game to control for the most part, using the stylus can be a problem every now and again because for some strang reason you can't select certian targets that are within range. This isn't a bad problem as it doesn't happen often. But when it does come up, just switch to the directional pad controls (which is cool, because you can do this on the fly, even during battle).
Finally, there are the graphics and music/sound. This is some of the best 2-D graphics that I've seen, and it's also a bright game too. My only complaint is why the designers didn't make the battle stages in rotatable 3-D. This isn't real bad, because the 2-D stages never affect the gameplay. Also, their is a cool animated intro to the game. As for the music, it's great, and one of the best things of the game. Another cool thing is the voice acting. The acting can be a tad melodramatic at times, but it does add personality to the characters. I was suprised that VO was even in the game.
So, is this game for you? Well, if you want to get into the tactical rpg genre, then yes. If you are a veteran of the aforementioned genre, yes again. If you think that Final Fantasy Tactics and it's Advance counterpart are the be all and end all of the genre, and nothing can even come close to them, then no, you won't like this game at all. It's not the most original or the best in the genre, but it's good, darn good. Definitely the money it's worth.
Very interesting game! October 24, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I think this game is a good strategy game that I've been looking for. It has an interesting story line, could be controversial, but interesting none the less with witches fighting the church. I just love the strategy, especially when you progress through the game it gets extremely tough.
 A waste on the DS system. October 1, 2007
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
I read the other reviews before I purchased this game and thought I was making a smart purchase. Now that I've played it, I'm feeling a little stupid. In fact, it takes VERY little thought into playing Luminous Arc. It's very dialogue-heavy but lacks the excitement of a comic book which is what i think this game was meant to mimic. Comic books at least have a dynamic in the illustrations. In Luminous Arc, the main characters are well-drawn, but aren't very "animated." No, I'm saying the characters should be moving. I'm referring to the way they're ALL posed: arched back, head tilted slightly forward, eyes looking in the same direction. With the exception of the occasional angry brows and open mouth, there's not much to these characters. The voices were inconsistent. Sometimes you got to listen; other times you had to read. It wouldn't have been so much of a problem if there were some use to what was said. Most RPGs tend to hide clues in the dialogue that aid you later in the game. Luminous Arc's storytelling is a bit silly ("Fatal hounds," "condemn the dark, defend the light") and probably unnecessary in beating the game. I was more disappointed by the fact that it was released on the DS. If L.A. was a GBA game, it would've gotten a slightly higher rating from me. So knowing how well the DS can perform, this game felt like a lazy effort to utilize the DS' capabilities.
(This is why I rarely buy RPGs outside of the Final Fantasy series. I guess I just expect everyone else to produce that same quality of game play.)
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