Review: Luminous Arc (NDS)

With the Nintendo DS continuing to be the handheld format of choice, its surprising that it has not played host to a viable crop of RPG’s given its dominance in Japan.   The latest candidate to arrive is Luminous Arc from Marvelous and although it ticks all the right boxes, it’s just missing that vital spark to capture the interest of genre fans and become an essential purchase.

The storyline centres on a society where religion and obedience is central to everyday life and the resurrection of the witches threatens this peace and harmony.   Sealed away for a thousand years, the witches with their followers have returned and are using their unique rune abilities to run amok.   The Luminous Church is their main target and your employer, as you take the role as one of the Garden Children.

In fact you control all the Garden Children who comprise of orphans taken in by the church and trained in the ways of scriptures (called Luminous Verses) and combat.   This elite group while extremely young and inexperienced are catapulted into the centre of this ancient conflict.  The group comprises of various characters that are allowed to develop in every sense as the storyline progresses.   A decent standard of character design and art is evident throughout Luminous Arc with the witches themselves being particularly memorable.

A common dislike is RPG’s that play it safe and rely firmly on turn-based combat.  Thankfully Luminous Arc adopts a strategy-based approach to confrontations but still maintains a rich storyline, so often overlooked in such releases.   The strategic depth fails to rival what Gamestyle has come to expect, meaning the experience is straightforward and almost easy.   Retracing your steps and engaging in more battles to increase your experience can often overcome those moments where you do fail, but these occasions are rare.  Where death does appear, the game promptly kicks you back to the title screen.  Meaning failure to save on a regular basis often sparks some avoidable repetition.

The lack of a real sustainable challenge is somewhat compensated through the inclusion of a battle option over the Nintendo Wi-Fi network.   However if you’re unable to enjoy this option then you’ll be left with a frustrating experience as all the ingredients are in place for a decent battle system.   Various opponents can present a variety of obstacles and specific weaknesses for you to exploit.  Attacking options are plentiful, as is where you leave your character on the battle map.   The direction they should defend is also a consideration, with characters being more venerable from attacks behind and from the side.

The level of control is decent, as is the utilisation of the Nintendo DS touch screen capabilites.   At times it can be difficult to select the right square or person, when the screen becomes mobbed with characters.   Gamestyle would have appreciated an option to see the range of square moves available to each character in advance, rather than having to pursue a trial and error method through the menu screens.  This backtracking when trying to formulate your moves did become tiresome and will hopefully be addressed in the sequel.

The humour that tries to play a part in proceedings fails mostly but does highlight the Japanese origin of the game.   Characters through interplay try to install some light-hearted banter to mixed effect.  Then the intermissions that arrive after successful battles, allow you to speak with comrades, answering questions and sometimes receiving rewards.   Most bizarre of all is the ‘life of Kopin’ saga, which is a creature revealing his memoirs in bite-sized chunks.  Its purpose is beyond Gamestyle’s comprehension if only to add another mode to what is a title that could do with more depth and longevity.   
 
Perhaps our main critisicm is that Luminous Arc is not the longest adventure or strategy experience out there.  Despite the options and modes it is possible to romp through the chapters with very little hesitation.  Size and quality should never be confused but in this game both are lacking to any degree, which is unfortunate.  The battle areas are easily reached and are neatly fitted onto the DS screen thereby shrinking the options for real strategy.   Larger levels with improved environments and design would have made a real difference here, as Gamestyle experienced in Rebelstar Tactical Command for the GBA.

Luminous Arc is a pleasing experience without ever being a vital one.   Trying to maintain that balance between strategy and traditional role playing is ultimately its undoing, as it fails to fully deliver on either front.  However in providing some enjoyment and unique charm, it is hard to ignore, as it attempts to bring something new to the market.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Jason Julier