Luminous Arc - Hot stuff from Atlus
 

Strategy RPG for the DS coming to the States later this year. Gotta say, it's about time.

I've been waiting for Atlus to announce a translation project. I had a feeling they would, they are gaining more and more of my respect every release/announcment it seems.

The game itself looks a bit promising. With some songs by Yasunori Mitsuda (although he only did a few songs iirc), I don't know who did the rest. I hope for some great gameplay (and story for that matter). Anyways, I'm glad to see a DS strategy game, this will find itself in my collection, whether it's good or bad.

Does anyone have any footage of the gameplay? I just looked on youtube and only found a trailer (which was pretty cool).

Oh, so someone finally picked this up. Reviews weren't stellar, but there were a bit above "average", so I might buy it.

I thought I heard something about this having wifi capability to fight with other people. If that is a fact I'm stoked. I've always wanted an actual SRPG with multiplayer. Kinda like kartia on the PS1.

Oh, this comes out very soon! Hopefully it will be good. I'm a fan of Atlus stuff so I will probably buy it anywho. I'm bumping so many more people will show interest in the game. :3~

gonna get it tonight~

I hope you guys post some info & opinion on the game in this thread when you get it.

What, it's released already?
EDIT: Shit, it is. How the hell did I miss this (´A`)

Shit sucks.



Surprised they kept the original Japanese opening (with vocals anyway). Of course the game itself is dub only. Not the best of dubs, but not the worst.



Enough about that.

As far as the game itself is concerned. Story -> Action (Talk to people) // Return to World Map (only way to access the System Menu outside of battle) // Advance Story (Proceed with Battles, etc)

Controls are either Stylus or D-Pad (you must set this in the menu). By default it is on Stylus (R). The control style you have determines how you control in battle. If you are on Stylus you cannot use the D-Pad for anything other than to move the camera.

It's a standard Strategy RPG I'd say. AT system, EXP gain is based on levels (higher levels abusing lower levels get less EXP than a lower level poking a higher level). There is something called a "Philia Icon" which is basically a little heart dictating how much your allies appreciate (or love) Alph. If you take someone with a Philia Icon and place them next to Alph in battle, they get a significant bonus to Accuracy and Dodge.
Certain characters are usually required in battles (mostly Alph), the order in which you pick the characters matters a bit. Those who are picked first tend to be placed closest to the enemy. It however has no meaning on their turn order. If you have the high ground you deal more damage and take less damage, standard stuff there.

There is a system called Flash Drives which is similar to the OverDrive system from Riviera. Do enough attacks and each character's Flash Points go up (maximum they can have is 3 full gauges, which is 3 Flash Points), Flash Drives require a certain number of Flash Points to use. Flash Drives have the nice effect of not hurting your allies or healing enemies, unlike Magic and Skills can do.

To go along with Flash Drives is the Synergy, only certain characters can use this, it requires 3 FP on them all, and they are only gained by events. This would be considered the Ultimate Attacks of the game.

Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Light, Dark. You can expect the elemental system to factor into things a lot. So it would probably be good to learn what supports and opposes what. There are also elemental tiles in battle that give your character a boost of 5% all stats (except Move & Jump) if they are the same element. Sorry for the bad quality, but basically Red Arrows oppose, Blue supports, and Yellow is neutral (gives the bonuses of both Oppose and Support, but not as great as either one).

http://oic.houyokusen.com/luminouselements.jpg
Oppose factors in for attacks, Support factors in for healing.

You can access the System Menu and save mid-battle (It goes into the "Suspend Data" section). I think that alone makes this game very convenient.

The story itself is pretty cliché, but the characters are developed interestingly enough so far.

More impressions as I get further, maybe.

Atlus has been really pumping out a lot of RPG's in the past year and a half. I wonder what it was that made them produce more common.

I've been seriously mulling over getting this one. The one thing that bothered me about Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis was the slowness of the AI in deciding its action, moving and attacking. I blamed this on the hardware.

So, I have to ask, Lacerta. How fast is the gameplay?

So far the AI has been instant in their movements and actions.

It flows really smoothly. I don't like the Stylus controls much though.

Alright then, I'll probably pick it up one of these days. Been looking for a new strategy-RPG.

One other thing. Are there generic units in the game?

I am loving this game ^ ^
As lacerta said, one of my concerns is the touch-screen controls :p
But luckily you can use the direction pads and other buttons as well.

I have noticed that some of the characters have no VAs, as compared to the Japanese one that I played few month ago... *bugger*

Other than that, the pace is similar to most tactic games.

Also Lacerta, does your screen flicker when doing some attacks, especially the full motion attacks?

Yes, that happens sometimes during the regular story. It doesn't happen all the time though.

This game is really good. Basically for reasons Lace mentioned.

The story is cliche as all hell, "good vs evil" kind of thing, but what it lacks in story it makes up for in fantastic battle system. It's very reminiscent of Tactics Ogre (fuck yeah tactics ogre) and FFT. Enemy attacks are pretty fast and you have to use your party appropriately otherwise you're gonna get yourself some death (Theo likes death).

The intermission thing is cool, too. I think I'll balance it out with the characters. Or maybe plow some love into Theo, he's rather weak. :(

On the subject of generic units. I haven't seen any on your team as of yet, it's just all main story people.

When someone dies they lose all the experience and levels they gained during the battle, so it's not like any scary perma-death (which kind of kills the challenge since you know your people will still be around after they die), but it is something you don't want to happen a lot.

Hey Lace, how does this compare to other DS RPGs? I've plowed through 3 different titles in the past few weeks (Etrian Odyssey, Izuna, Hoshigami Remix) and Izuna is pretty much the only title I could play without consulting a guide (Hoshigami's coin system gave me a major headache).

No I haven't finished any of them :(

Holy shit, you have same exact list as my DS RPGs (except I have yet to pick up Hoshigami yet). Luminous Arc is the next RPG I hope to obtain.

If it plays anywhere near as good as Final Fantasy Tactics (for me anyway), then it's a worthy RPG. Voice Acting kind of sucks though, I wish they had the original Japanese voice cast.

So, everyone, how does this game stack up against FFT and FFTA? Worse, better, or equal?

Well, considering the recent DS RPGs I've played it's a lot easier than the stuff out right now. Especially Hoshigami. I was expecting more rape in the form of horribly stacked battles, but not so much. The game seems downright easy compared to it.

That said, I'm very much enjoying the game. So far it's not very complex, but then I haven't progressed very far (Only a couple of hours in). The voices aren't great, but they're not terrible. They're a nice complement as opposed to voiceless battles (Leon's voice amuses me to no end. "Hey, cut it out, man!")



It doesn't stack up to FFT at all, but I'd say it's better than FFT:A. Simply put, it's a nice game. Nothing amazing or revolutionary, but nothing disastrous or leaving me questioning what science has done.

Well I'm sure I choose FFT:A over Luminous Arc's cheesy dialog and badly performed stylus controls :)

I dunno, FFT:A just felt more alive and forward-going.

I've played through 8 chapters and I must say, this is one of the better dub jobs I've experienced (I'm mystified as to why so many people aren't satisfied with it). Character interactions are lively and there's a decent amount of exposition (screw you, Hoshigami Remix).

I don't like the stylus controls at all, but that's fine since I always play SRPGs with the buttons. It's faster that way.

This game is a very pleasant surprise after the disappointment that was Hoshigami, and the lack of substance in Izuna.

Finally gave the game a try. I avoided it for a while since I thought I wouldn't like it (SRPGs don't seem to be my thing) but Luminous Arc has turned out to be pretty fun. I wonder if there's just something special about it or if I should give SRPGs another try...

The dialogue and most of the dub work is fantastic. Nikolai in particular cracks me up, since he sounds almost exactly like Mark Hamill doing The Joker. I think I'd prefer Norio Wakamoto doing Sir Andre instead of the English actor, but that's just a minor quibble.

Only negatives I can think of are the lack of camera control (hard to see what tile you're aiming at sometimes), the abominable stylus controls and the weird lag that seems to occur whenever you level up.