Rated 7 out of 10 by Alalalalawoo Marvelous battle system. Decent storyline...
The game is GREAT. Its reccomended for first-time turn-based SRPG (Strategy Role Playing Game) players. The story throws me completely out of wack, however. Why? Because it is a typical Witch, Knight fantasy theme. Its...rather boring, the storyline, after playing it once. The storyline IS interesting the first time though--I even cried at the part *CAUTION SPOILER* when certain guy Rasche somewhat dislikes dies--I'll admit THAT. Then I did a rerun of the game, and when I hit that part, it wasn't sad at all. So, decent storyline. The battle system follows that of an average Turn based SRPG, with extra candies: Engagement, which is +50 on a specific stat, depending on which witch you select to use Engagement with. FDs: This is in all Luminous Arc games--its like a super power REVENGE KILLAH! >:D There's also a sight of previous characters from the 1st Luminous Arc game. (No Lucia, though. Sorry.) If you're not looking for too serious of a game, you should buy this. The gameplay to get 100% rate usually takes 60 hours, so the time is rather bulky.(Unless you're like me and like to spam Guild Quests...haha.)
2/10/11
Rated 10 out of 10 by If Nobody Is Perfect Than Im Nobody : ) Best Game EVER
The person above who also wrote a review is absolutely right and this game is also. I also enjoyed the music soundtrack that was part of the game, which matched the storyline, and made even better than thought possible. I also thought the first Luminous Arc game was great, but this was recreated and made even better than I ever thought it could be. For people who enjoyed the Arc the Lad series and thought it was great, must play this. Although I never thought a game could be better than the classic Arc the Lad this game passes it and makes Arc the Lad look mediocre in comparison. The storyline for the game is one of the best parts and makes the game become unforgettable. Even the game is pretty lengthy I loved it so much I have started playing it again and am already half way done with it AGAIN. Everyone should buy this game!
11/30/08
Rated 10 out of 10 by MysteryGirl Something Fresh...? TOTALLY!!
So I bought this game with the soundtrack and art book. Let me tell you something, I’m glad I did! Thank you Atlus and Marvelous Entertainment for such a grand RPG!
First I should start off with the rich character design. I love how light and airy everything is, for both animation and storyline, with a certain seriousness to it. But I have to say this game had a shortage of dominate and masculine male characters. The closest character is Rasche. Even he has a such a faint feel of power he soon can be annoying for complaining. If you like a large cast of male characters you’ll want to buy a different game, cause this is all about the withes. Personally I love the idea of lots of witches. My only request would be to have more dominate male characters. Besides that the characters are nicely done. Moving on to battle system. Not for everyone but once you get use to it the battle system can become lots of fun. Multiple endings? GENIUS! The off and on voice acting is also very cool. And the menu setting to turn the music off and on during conversations is very smart. There is a bit of comedy, adventure, action, and a twinge of romance. Overall a fresh fun game for the expected 30 hours of gameplay. And a little tip, Rina rules!!!
2/28/12
Rated 8 out of 10 by Neverender Pretty Alright.....
This is a pretty good RPG. The battles are fun and the plot line is in-depth, with multiple endings. But that second ending is really hard to active, you about have to go to a walkthrough site because of the level of difficultly in figuring out what to do. This game is turn based and reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy Tactics games. The characters are well developed and likeable. There are side quests apart from the main story line that revel things about the characters and the world that the game inhabits. My only real complaint about the game as a whole is that it's quite short.
8/19/11
Rated 0 out of 10 by SaikoNinja Another Arc. =)
This game is going to be worthwhile in getting. If you really are looking for a good tactics-styled RPG to play on the Nintendo DS, this game is going to be one game you don't want to miss. Not to forget to mention that when you pre-order the game, it'll come with an extra collector's item bonus. How sweet is that? It's not a game for everyone, I'll say, not if you're not into anime and all that jazz, but still, it's a worthwhile game. I'd say reserve it now because it might be one of those rare to find games in the future.
10/1/08
Rated 10 out of 10 by screamcast One of my favorites
This series somehow ended up becoming one of my favorites. I picked up the first one just looking for a decent srpg and got sucked in. I am just about ready to 100 percent the game having gone through and beaten all the side quests and I'm right around 40 hours. For a DS game the graphics are bright and colorful, limited animation sequences are top notch, sound is good quality the writing is funny and entertaining. Over all one of the best experiences I have had on the DS.
2/28/11
Rated 0 out of 10 by Marcos G Looks Promising
I've played the first one for a good 2 weeks and stopped playing it due to other gaming. From what I played, this looks like it improves well in regards to the battle setup. I wasn't a real fan of the layout in the first, but this time around it looks nice. I'm only hoping the music in this game topples the first. Though I have faith the second will be a worthy second game to the series.
11/11/08
Rated 8 out of 10 by klao94 pretty good game...
To start off, this is a pretty good game, but there are some flaws. It is very challenging, since I've been playing for a few weeks and still haven't gotten very far. I usually need to try them 2 or 3 times before winning the battle, or giving up. Because it follows the storyline, the only way to level up is when there's supposed to be a battle in the story, resulting in weak characters, depending on how you use them. You might just be unlucky enough to have your main character as the lower level one. Then when you fight the monsters, which are almost twice your level, it gets really difficult to defeat them. Also, they only let you use a select characters, against a whole mob of monsters. Then when you defeat half of them, they come up with reinforcements, and more reinforcements, which makes the battles almost impossible to beat. There isn't much character customization that you can do with your characters, because they only have a specific weapon/armor for each character, and not a lot of variety in the shops. There will only be new in the shops items after you beat a certain point in the story. The controls are pretty basic, like most other games, and you get used to them quickly. There is a specific function for interface, where they choose the character important at that time, for you, and you get to choose a select person to interact with them and build relationships, though they don't really seem to matter. The storyline is pretty unique, with some twists, but with the usual "enemy being the main character's father" thing going on. Throughout the dialogue, they play music, depending on the setting, and have voice acting for the important parts of the dialogue, which is good, but I don't particularly like it. I would much prefer leaving it in Japanese and having subtitles. The graphics/animation are good, with detailed landscapes during the battles. I suppose the game is pretty long, hearing from other people, and considering I haven't finished it yet. Overall, I think this is a good game, just not for me.
2/25/09
Rated 1 out of 10 by Songstress Shia Fresh? Innovative? Look elsewhere.
Hello. After reading a vast amount of glowing reviews for this game, I rushed to my local Gamestop store and purchased it, believing I was in for an epic change of pace. I'm not easily enchanted by the mass produced, Final Fantasy-ish stories, so I've been on the hunt for that perfect DS RPG for a while. I adore Suikoden Tierkreis for the Nintendo DS. Perhaps that bit of information will give you a deeper insight on my type of game.First turn off happened to be the heavy fanboy service. In-game, the main character appears to be far too young and far too soft for his heavy role. And sadly, the only other prominent male character happens to be his brash, blunt brother. That character doesn't present enough qualities to come off as endearing, and neither does the main character. As I am a fan of a certain type of Japanese animation and graphic novels, I wasn't the least bit thrilled by the large cast of scantily clad, stereotypical female characters, and the severe lack of endearing male characters. If you happen to be a certain 'fangirl', this game will be an instant disappointment. The only characters I find to be truly appealing are Dia, because of her attitude, and the little Pip. Sadly, Pip, doesn't offer much in the way of 'heroism'.The storyline, sadly, didn't catch me from the get-go. I found myself bypassing everything the characters said for a least a dozen cutscenes. The clash between the Witches and their opposing team had no epic, compelling reigns to pull me in, failing right from the start. I'm still trying to give the game a chance, but I'm bypassing every cutscene I come across. I'm only thrilled by the relationship-building intermissions, but a past review on here said those intermissions don't even matter. This game does feature bit of a humor, though, and I suppose it should earn points for that.Music: I love how the name of the song is displayer on the bottom half of the screen, as I am a huge fanatic of video game soundtracks, and would die for the chance to buy so many. None of the tracks have caught my ears, though. And this isn't in comparison to games on other systems. Suikoden Tierkreis and Trauma Center 2 have stirring, cinematic music, and both are featured on the DS.Controls aren't anything to complain over. It takes time to learn the battle system, but one can get used to it. The graphics aren't anything to write home about, and once again, this isn't in comparison to PS3 or XBOX360 games. I have to say the cinematics are adorable, but the main character's appearance in-game betrays his cinematic appearance.Here's the bottom line. If you're in need of something fresh, fun and different, don't stop here. Only pick this game up if you happen to be a fan of the first one.
3/29/10
Rated 10 out of 10 by MysticalRedDengaku It's back, and it's brought new concepts and an improved battling system.
Graphics:The graphics have improved. The battlefield does not appear squarish, and has a variety of different shapes and objects. Example, when fighting in a forested area, there are large mushrooms, logs, trees, and rocks scattered throughout the dirt patches and grass. The character sprites do not look any different than the original Luminous Arc's character sprites. The attack animations and attack sprites, on the other hand, seem more detailed and smooth. Cut Scenes and Game Mechanics:During the character cut scenes, the transition from character to character is a lot smoother. I have not noticed any flashing streaks in between characters (when I played Luminous Arc, I noticed streaks occasionally appeared during battle and during character conversations). The characters are sometimes even in the middle of the screen or next to eachother rather than only conversing from the left and right. The overall orange color scheme -presented at the bottom of the screen during cutscenes and during travel- is way more appealing than Luminous Arc's brown color scheme. The player can skip through the cut scenes or set them on auto. This comes especially in handy when the player dies in a fight that occurs after a large cut scene. The memoir is also a nice new feature. It provides information about towns visited, items, groups, and it also provides background information about various places and conflicts,The equipping and item inventory screens are less cluttered and more convienient. The player can access them at anytime -outside of cutscenes and battles- and does not have to go to a shop to equip items. The character status section is organized in a more appealing manner. A small icon representing each character can be seen at once. The player simply has to click on an icon to see the stats of a particular character.Battling:The battle system's set up has been completely redone. At first, it is annoying to get used to (if you have played the previous Luminous Arc game), but after a few battles, it truly is a lot easier than the original Luminous Arc's battle system. Before battle, the player is able to view the entire battlefield by sliding the stylus around. The player can also view the enemies' stats. Conversations might take place with an enemy before the battle begins. Each turn starts off with the move feature enabled. If the player wants to move before attacking, all the player has to do is click to move the character, rather than choosing "move" from the menu and then clicking. In this improved battling system, the wait is shown at the top left of the stylus screen. The wait is represented by pictures of the character's faces, so the player knows when each character will move next. The fighting is a lot more challenging because when a character levels up, they do not regain all of their HP and MP like they did in the original Luminous Arc. If all characters are defeated, there is a retry menu that shows up, so the player does not have to restart from where he or she last saved. There is also a new "Engagement" feature where Roland 'borrows' the elemental properties and skills of a fellow witch. It literally is what it sounds like. Before the elemental properties are added to Roland, the game shows an image of the witch in a wedding dress, (which is weird, since the engagement system really has nothing to do with weddings, but it still is a nice feature to have).Sound:The sound has been revisited. The voice overs and background music sounds a lot clearer than the voice overs and background music in the original Luminous Arc. The voice acting is as expected; not horrendous, not superb. There still are those moments where the voices get annoying to the point that the player wants to mute them, and actually, the options menu is always on the bottom screen during cutscenes, so if the player is able to turn the voices or background music off at any given time.For those who were annoyed with repetitive sayings (ei.
11/30/08