Luminous Arc 2: Will - Tokyo Game Show Impression

Platform: Developer: Image Epoch Release Date: Winter 2007 (Japan)

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by Paul Koehler

Strategic RPG's aren't exactly the most accessible sub-genre, but for those who like them they can be really addictive. As a subgenre it takes an unusually good game to break out among others, and while Luminous Arc 2: Will puts up a good effort for the DS, it doesn't differentiate itself from the field of other games enough to make it stand out. This isn't to say that the game is bad, I enjoyed it a lot. But it's nothing horribly special either here. "...Luminous Arc 2: Will puts up a good effort for the DS..." This comes from a company which has a pretty good booth at TGS, Marvelous Interactive Inc. While close to the juggernauts of Microsoft, Square Enix, and Capcom, this company held its own with some of its own titles, although Luminous Arc 2 was off to the side with only 4 DS consoles available for play. I was able to sample the battle system, which has the usual array of classes, in addition to the series' scantily clad witches. If that's your thing, cool. There weren't too many of those lovely ladies available in the demo, so it might have been a case of not sampling later scenarios. As far as the DS goes, graphically this game is fairly strong. Not the best, but it's up there. It's a pity that there wasn't more that helped this game stand out. I liked the effort, and I couldn't really find anything wrong with it. But at the same time, there wasn't too much else to make it different, and in the face of other games in the SPRG genre, this one might have trouble. Worth a look if you're a fan of the series or the subgenre, but nothing to lose sleep over.