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Luminous Arc 2 | 
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| From: Atlus Video Games
Category: Video Games
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $36.99
You Save: $3.00 (8%)
New (19) Used (1) from $36.99
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 828
Platform: Nintendo Ds
Genre: role_playing_games
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Nintendo DS
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 40021
Model: LA-40021-8
UPC: 730865400218
EAN: 0730865400218
ASIN: B001COZFPI
Release Date: November 18, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | 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 interface offers new content and enhancements | | • | engagement system to connect with your witch allies |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
For most of the past four millennia, peace has reigned over the Kingdom of Carnava. The Magic Kingdom has flourished due to its close cooperation with the Witches of the Rev Magic Association and the ever-present usage of magic. Unfortunately, the era of peace has come to an end. Sixteen years before the story is unrolled, monsters called Beast Fiends started to appear, destroying everything in their way. Mattias, leader of the Magic Association, used a forbidden power to seal the source of the fiends. While successful in his plot, the use of that power resulted in his death. However, new Beast Fiends have been appearing, and the Kingdom faces problems while trying to protect the entire kingdom. Meanwhile, Fatima, a powerful witch of the Association with control of the rare Shadow Frost Magic, goes rogue and starts a conflict with the Association, causing more trouble to the Kingdom. Fatima, the Shadow Frost Witch, broke from the Magic Association three years ago and has attacked magic facilities across the kingdom ever since. This infighting, dubbed the Witch Conflict, has pushed Carnava to the brink of chaos. Trying to solve the crisis, the Kingdom starts a clandestine research of an easier way to use magic. The story starts at the point when the Kingdom had just successfully completed their research into such a tool, which they call the "Runic Engine". When the young squire Roland gains magnificent powers due to a chance encounter, Sophia, the Queen of Carnava, calls upon him to bring about an end to the discord.
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| Customer Reviews:
Not a Bad Follow Up November 20, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Pros:
+Some good art
+Good music
+Well written story
+Simplistic Gameplay that anyone can pick up on
+Fast paced battles
Cons:
-Graphically doesn't look much different from a GBA game
-Very easy game
-It does little to separate itself from the first game or to really try to stand out in the genre. This is a con that is subjective, however
Last year, the first Luminous Arc dropped down. It wasn't really anything special--especially if you were a veteran of the SRPG--but at it at least had merits. Anyone who was just starting out with the genre, however, may have found it a nice introduction. On the whole, Luminous Arc wasn't the greatest title, but it was far from being a bad game. It was just a bare bones basic SRPG. The same could be said for Luminous Arc 2. Overall it is a better game, but it doesn't do much to really go above and beyond the first game. In short, if you didn't like the first game, there's no real reason to think you'd like the second one.
Things don't pick off from where the first game left off. A trend that isn't really new in the SRPG realm. Nonetheless, the storyline of Luminous Arc 2 uses many stylistic things from the first game. There are usually character portraits facing one another and speaking through facial expressions. For the most part the story is well written, but it suffers from the same thing as the first. That being there is quite a bit of exposition. The other thing the story suffers from is the imbalance in voice acting; another flaw from the first game. There will be moments when you'll hear voices and then abruptly, the voice acting stops and then abruptly continues again. The story itself isn't bad, but you might find you want it to be better. There's a good sense of humor abound, and the writing itself isn't bad either. Not to mention you'll like most of the characters. While the story is by no means bad, it is a little weak and predictable. The characters make it work but you definitely won't find yourself blown away.
Gameplay wise, Luminous Arc 2 is, once again, not all that different from the first one. You move your characters around and perform attacks, usually taking turns. Characters also have special abilities and flash drives (which are fancier flashier abilities) they can use in battle as well. Nothing about Luminous Arc 2's mechanics are difficult at all. The game is easy to pick up and play. Unfortunately, it isn't too difficult either. Veteran gamers will find themselves getting through the game with no problems whatsoever.
Simplistic gameplay aside, Luminous Arc is not so stellar in production. The anime inspired art is pretty neat and most of the maps look good, but for the most part, Luminous Arc continues to look like a late GBA game. The battle animations for the spells and flash drives in particular are horrible. You might get a kick out of the art style but other than that you won't get a kick out of the visuals. The music is pretty good, though, as are some of the voices. The voice acting isn't always the strongest but for the most part it's a lot better than its predecessor.
In the end, Luminous Arc 2 is a good game, but like the first one only throws in the most basic of basic things. If you are expecting something innovative you won't get it with Luminous Arc 2. Yet for what it's worth, it is an inviting game for those who've yet to really experience the SRPG. Likewise you don't need to know anything about the first game to jump in. Unfortunately, if you didn't find the first game to be all that great you probably won't think the second one is all that great either.
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