Apparently, this is the week when reviews for strategy titles are all over the place. First we saw this with Square Enix's Heroes of Mana, and Luminous Arc from Atlus is following in the same pattern, with scores from the eighties down into the fifties. Overall, it sounds rather like Luminous Arc can be compared to a delicious piece of candy -- it's alright for the moment it lasts, but after it's gone, it's imminently forgettable and easily replaced.GameBrink - 84%: "Presentation wise, I think it's fair to say the graphics are wonderfully drawn from the beautiful opening animation to the story backgrounds and characters ... but it lacks a bit in terms of gameplay content. There are few sub-event battles and you don't really have much freedom to explore on the world map. Not to mention its slightly cumbersome interface and menus need some reworking too. If you don't mind all that however, it's still a fairly fun and enjoyable SRPG to play."
GamePro - 60%: "Where Luminous Arc succeeds is in its presentation: the game is beautifully drawn with attractive character designs, boasts a solid sound track and, surprisingly enough, features an adept voice-acting cast. What it doesn't do so well, however, is in the story line, which is bland and underwhelming while the character development is weak and lacking."
1UP - 55%: "The greatest weakness in Luminous Arc's interface is the one thing that should differentiate it from FFT: touch-screen support. During battles, you're using the stylus to choose menu items, direct commands, back out of the menu, tap a square, confirm the command, and so on. In practice, it's far worse -- especially when tapping a square doesn't register or selects an adjacent one because it's obscured. But -- but! -- you are allowed to use the D-pad and buttons for a much smoother experience...as soon as you manually switch to them."
_thumbnail.jpg "Prince of Persia: The Fallen King")
_thumbnail.jpg "Mega Man Star Force 2")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-15-2007 @ 5:02PM
raycosm said...
"For all intents and purposes, Luminous Arc is a Final Fantasy Tactics clone. And not of the original, but of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the Game Boy Advance installment from 2003."
That's all I needed to hear. Instant buy.
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8-15-2007 @ 5:57PM
Pinkechidna said...
@ raycosm
Right on. I'll race you to the store.
Seriously, were we expecting anything more? It's an SRPG. And it's friggin online too. I'm satisfied, picking it up today.
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8-15-2007 @ 6:14PM
OhJustSomeRandomGuy said...
This is kind of an odd Metareview...
There's a Nintendo Power 8/10, and a RPGFan 85/100.
Why didn't you balance it out with 2 high and 2 low, instead of the 1 high and 2 low?
In any case, I understand reviews ripping a game when it hypes itself up and doesn't deliver...like Daikatana did. But why are reviewers ripping a new SRPG just for not being Final Fantasy Tactics?
Especially considering that in an interview, one of the Atlus guys said specifically that Tactics had better gameplay?
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8-15-2007 @ 9:43PM
hvnlysoldr said...
Because they're such Tactics and FFVII fanboys. FFTA had a lighter tone than Tactics but it was made for the GBA and works wonderfully.
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8-16-2007 @ 3:38AM
Bob799 said...
1up seems to rate a lot of games lower than the other sites.
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8-16-2007 @ 7:40PM
Pharmaecopia said...
I'm 10 hours into the game and it's wonderful. The bad reviews just sound so bitter to me. "Oh, it's not perfect like I always dreamed it could be waaah waaah waaah."
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8-27-2007 @ 8:44AM
kronik said...
It is in essence a FFTA clone, but that's hardly a bad thing! Because it's released on the DS, everyone expects touch-control, but it is cumbersome and the game plays just fine with the D-pad.
Will definitly keep your tumbs in shape until FFTA2 shows up :)
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