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Luminous Arc 2: Will
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Developer(s)
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imageepoch
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Publisher(s)
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Marvelous Entertainment Inc. (Japan)
Atlus (North America) Rising Star Games (Europe) |
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Designer(s)
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Shuetsu Kadowaki (director)
Kaito Shibano (designer)
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Composer(s)
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Yasunori Mitsuda
Akari Kaida Shunsuke Tsuchiya Yoko Shimomura Yoshino Aoki |
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Platform(s)
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Nintendo DS
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Release date(s)
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JP May 15, 2008
NA November 18, 2008 |
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Genre(s)
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Tactical role-playing
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Mode(s)
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Single-player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
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Rating(s)
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CERO: A
ESRB: T
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Media
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128MB Nintendo DS Game Card
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Luminous Arc 2, known in Japan as Luminous Arc 2: Will (ルミナスアーク2 ウィル Ruminasu Āku Tsū Wiru), is a second entry in the Luminous Arc series.
The opening animation was made by an anime studio JC Staff, while the song Unlimited World was performed by KΛNΛ.
Gameplay[]
Luminous Arc 2 is a strategy RPG in which characters can be moved across an isometric grid. Each character can be equipped with a weapon, armor, items and magical "Lapis" gemstones that increase character stats or grant special effects.
Characters learn special skills through leveling up and are able to use "Flash Drives", which consume FD instead of MP. Flash Drives are special attacks which can devastate a single target, or a group of enemies. FD is earned from attacking or defeating enemies.
After some battles Luminous Arc 2 allows you to undergo an "Intermission" where you can talk with your friends. If the heart is a light blue, then after a certain point in the story, your able to undergo a "Final Intermission", which unlocks a new piece of artwork for the Gallery.
Plot[]
Story[]
In an age when magic supports everyday life and civilization itself, peace is maintained by the queen's knights and the Rev Magic Association. Sixteen years before the game's story begins, monsters called Beast Fiends started to appear, destroying everything in their way. Mattias, leader of the Magic Association, used the evil Demon Blade to try to seal the source of the fiends, but was sealed away himself by the elemental witches. New Beast Fiends have been appearing, and the Kingdom of Carnava overextends its forces 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 for the Kingdom.
Trying to solve the crisis, the Kingdom starts a clandestine research project to produce an easier way to use magic. The story starts at the point when the Kingdom had just successfully completed this tool, the "Runic Engine". Roland, a knight in training, is accidentally imbued with this new power, and fights the Beast Fiends, Master Mattias and the Shadow Frost Witch. In the course of the game, he discovers that the Rev Magic Association had Mattias' turn towards evil. However, they did not realize that Mattias did this to try and save the world, rather than destroy it. He later discovers that Bharva, king of the Fiends, was manipulating events, and joins with Fatima to prevent the Mage Queen Elicia, creator of the Fiends, from overrunning the world with them.
The player has a choice of having a romantic relationship with Fatima or Althea, and parts of the story, including the ending, will change depending on the player's pre-battle dialogue choices.
Playable Characters[]
Main Article : List of Luminous Arc 2 Characters
Counter clockwise from top left (Fatima, Rasche, Roland, Althea, Rina and Steiner)
There are 18 playable characters with a maximum of six on the battlefield at any one time. Some characters may temporarily leave the party and will be unavailable until a certain checkpoint is reached.
Roland - The hero of the story and second son of Steven. After an unfortunate run-in with Josie and some golems, he bonds with the runic engine, becoming a Rune Knight. His Flash Drive varies depending on the Witch he is engaged with.
Rina - A female archer who trains with Roland and Rasche under the guidance of Steven. She is the childhood friend of Roland and Rasche, and the younger sister of Steiner. Her Flash Drive is Apollo Shot.
Rasche - Roland's older brother who trains in art of lance and dislikes the witches due to the problems they caused. Wields a lance and have prejudice towards witches at the beginning of the game. He excels in HP, Defense and powerful physical attacks. His Flash Drive is Rising Dragon.
Althea - An aprentice Fire Elemental Witch who want to become a Mage Queen. She meet Roland at the start of the story and may form relationship with him. Attacks with a wand. She excels in accurate attack and fire magic. Holds the Fire Crest. She can learn Ressurrect, a skill that revives an ally with full HP. Before becoming an Ember Witch, her Flash Drive is Phillia Blaze, after becoming an Ember Witch, her Flash Drive turned into White Flame.
Josie - A feline familiar who hang around and serve Fatima, the Shadow Frost Witch. It can controls and creates various type of Golem. With wings, Josie excels in Jump (allowing it to go up high obstacles like Sadie), Speed (makes it easier to evade attacks) and Magic. One of the main antagonist at the beginning of the game.
Fatima - A "Shadow Frost Witch", who started a war between Carnava and herself. A main antagonist in the beginning of the game. She travels with her undead kitty cat familiar, Josie. She is working against the Rev Magic Association to revive Master Mattias, whom she trained under in her schooling days. Fatima reveals that users of Shadow Frost magic are often shunned by magic society and that Master Mattias was the only person who accepted her for who she was. It is for this reason she follows him with greatest loyalty. She attacks with a whip. Her Flash Drive is Black Frost. Similar to Vanessa in Luminous Arc
Dia - Current leader of the Rev Magic Association and of all the witches as well as the Brilliant Witch, who master the element of Light. Holds the Light Crest and attacks with a baton. Bossiness and lack of sense is her downfall yet she can decide thing very well. Often rushes into her decisions which may produce bad results. She excels in Magic and Defense making her resistant to physical attacks. Her Flash Drive is Rev-Ray. Similar to Claire in Luminous Arc.
Luna - The "Tide Witch", an Elemental Witch of Water. She speaks with a high, calm voice to match with her laid-back personality. She is a teacher at the Rev Magic Association and is highly skilled in magical languages and artifacts. She has a preference to "good water" and the tea that can be made with it. Roland is asked to find her, as she ran away with the stolen Enigmatron, a precious magical spell encrypter. She summons water with her fan. She excels in Resilence, which provide resistance to magic attacks. While she may be the slowest character in the game, she have very good healing spells like Curall that heals around 400-500 HP in a cross area, and can revive allies. Her flash Drive is Aqua Strike. Similar to Mel in Luminous Arc.
Sadie - The "Breeze Witch" who uses and masters Wind magic. An Elemental Witch of Wind. Sadie is a "Winged One", a race who have a much longer lifespan while retaining their youth and adorn beautiful white wings. She was the only Witch to survive the disaster 10 years prior. Sadie is another witch who is shunned. Her wings attracted a lot of rude and skeptical comments, so she relocated to an Ice Hermitage up in the mountains. She also guards Mother Lapis. Sadie always itches for a worthy opponent in battle and summons wind with her trumpet. She have the best mobility among the witches with an Attack Order of 43, and Movement and Speed of 5. She also excels in Speed, Magic, and somewhat in Resilence. Her attacks are all ranged. She have low HP, and Defense, however. Her Flash Drive is Serenade. Similar to Vivi in Luminous Arc.
Pop - Potpurri, more commonly referred to as "Pop" is the "Verdure Witch" an Elemental Witch that uses Earth magic. She is the pushy and bossy elder sister of her brother Pip. She greatly respects the previous Verdure Witch and strongly believes that magic should not be used for harm. Despite this, she constantly bullies her little brother into cooking her several crab dishes, for which she has a love for. Her sharp tongue tends to get her in trouble. She have very impressive Attack, Speed and HP. Most of her skills improves her attacks and made it 100% accurate. Her Flash Drive is Seed Shot. Similar to Mavi in Luminous Arc
Pip - Phillip, as "Pip" as everybody referred. A 10 year old, Pip is the younger brother of the Verdure Witch Pop. He is an excellent chef and is usually found cooking crab food for Pop. He is very kind, but because of this, his sister constantly makes him do things for her. He have a British accent and is great at making tea. Since he is a good cook, he also have a refined taste. He excels in healing spells but is outclassed by Luna. He is faster at healing than Luna, though. Pip is useful for his "Regen Mass" skill, as it cast for a group and provide a regeneration of 100 HP at the start of their turn for 5 turns. He can also revive fallen allies with Revive. His Flash Drive is Good Show! and can only hit adjacent enemies.
Kaph - A famous artist and founder of B-Witched at Mistia. He have a good knowledge of his hometown Mistia and is said to be creepier there by Roland and the others. Ironically, he is one of the most trustworthy character in the game. He is obsessed with art and tends to get sidetracked in battle. He attacks with a guitar bowgun and all of his attacks are ranged. He can also heal and get rid of bad statuses with Healing Arts, but that is only for himself and adjacent allies. His Flash Drive is Ballad of Bullets. He is willing to throw away his trust between him and others for the sake of B-Witched as shown in the subquest in Chapter 16-19, where he stole cognographs of Sadie, Dia and Luna and is the cause of the start of Sadialun. Similar to Nikolai in Luminous Arc.
Karen - Karen is a minor antagonist of Luminous Arc 2. She is a boss of Rosetta Rosso, a band of high technology thief whose purpose is to steal the Witches' Lapistier. Her father founded and builded the Lapis Arts Factory. After defeating her late at the game, she will join you. She attacks with a gun and attacks at a range. She have impressive Attack and Speed. She also can attack a group in a far range (as long they are in front of her in a straight line) along with a high Attack Order. In exchange, she have low HP and MP and a movement of 3. Her Flash Drive is Rain of Thorns.
Manga[]
A sample from the manga
A couple days before the Luminous Arc 2 release in Japan, a promotional manga based on its story has begun serialization in Fujimi Shobo's Monthly Dragon Age Magazine[1]. The manga contains 3 chapters all drawn by Rakuto Mangan.
This is how Marvelous announced the manga on their weblog:
"With a pop touch to the characters and a light romantic comedy-like story, drawn by Rakuto Mangan, another "Luminous Arc 2" story will unfold that is a bit different from the main plot.[2]"
In a brief summary written by cuc, we read:
"According to people who have read it, the manga includes only a brief introduction to some characters and a few vignettes like "everyone goes to spa", which makes this manga short, unimportant and non-canon.[3]"
