Luminous Arc 2: Will
Encyclopedia
is the second game in the Luminous Arc
series of strategy RPGs. The game was featured at the Marvelous Entertainment Inc. booth at the Tokyo Game Show
2007. It was released in Japan
on May 15, 2008 and North America
on November 18, 2008. The game includes a bonus music CD insert. Those who preordered the game at selected retailers received an art book named "Luminous Art", which offers content from both Luminous Arc games.
Luminous Arc 2 is a strategy RPG in which characters can be moved across an isometric
grid. Each character can be equipped with weapons, armor, items, and magical "Lapis" gemstone
s. Characters learn special skills by leveling up
and are able to use a "Flash Drive" special attack upon attacking or defeating enemies. When a character's hit points reach zero, they are removed from battle, but are able to be revived.
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, monster
s 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 covered up
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 end game parts of the story, including the ending, will change depending on the player's pre-battle dialogue choices.
The Main Character of the story. Roland is a knight who was trained alongside with his brother Rasche and childhood friend Rina by their dad, Sir Steven. At the beginning he, Rasche and Rina are about to go to see fireworks at their kingdom's festival after training, but suddenly Althea comes flying down at Roland, thrown by a Golem commandeered by a floating undead cat familiar called Josie. They run away to Steiner's Lapis Seed Research Laboratory, where then they are about to engage Josie into battle alongside with Steiner who arrived in. Steiner asks Roland to toss a blue Lapis to him, the Runic Engine, but out of fate the Runic Engine embeds itself into Roland's left hand. After chasing away Josie, he and his friends with Althea who is a messenger are taken to the Queen.
Rina
Rina is an archer who trains with Roland and Rasche (friends since childhood)under the guidance of Sir Steven. Her older brother is Steiner. She lost her parents at a young age to a fire and has been afraid of fire ever since. She has a crush on Sir Richter.
Rasche
Rasche is childhood friend of Roland and Rina. His father is Sir Steven. He wields a lance. He dislikes Witches for some reason.
Sir Steven
Sir Steven is the father of Roland and Rasche. He is a former leader a Knight Squad for Carnava, the Antler Squad. He fought alongside Master Mattias and Sir Gaston in his prime.
Steiner
The elder brother of Rina and the leader of the Stinger Squad. He invented the Runic Engine and is immensely proud of this achievement. He feels cheated when Roland is ordered by the Queen to become a Rune Knight.
Sir Richter
The leader of the "Talon Squad". He is idolised by Roland and Rasche as the perfect example of a brave, courageous knight. The Talon Squad is often dispatched outside the castle to fight monsters. He may have feelings for Rina.
Sir Gaston
The burly leader of the "Tusk Squad". He is a very loud, optismistic man and is extremely loyal towards Queen Sophia. His squad is often used for protecting Carnava. He composed a theme song for the squad, in hopes of raising the morale of his troops.
Althea is a young witch-in-training who uses Fire Magic. She trains under Dia. She met Roland when she was in the middle of delivering a document to Queen Sophia. She was attacked by Josie and his Golems, but Roland saved her.
Later on in the game, Althea is discovered as the new "Ember Witch", whose position was previously unfilled. During her transformation, she casts a spell which is very powerful, striking Master Mattias. She passes out fatally ill straight afterwards.
Bharva takes an unusual interest in Althea after they meet. Althea is actually a Beast Fiend, though the only "successful" experiment her mother, Queen Elicia performed in hopes of creating perfect life.
Depending on the relationship between Roland and Althea, at the Conclusion gate deep into the game, Althea turns on Fatima through jealousy over Roland. Roland defends Fatima, causing Althea to lose control and transform into a Beast Fiend. Beast Fiend Althea is described as the "Dark Ember Witch" and has purple clothing rather than white.
After she is defeated, she regains her senses thanks to Fatima's fake sacrifice. She knows that she will never have Roland and gives up on him.
In a different reliationship level, Fatima is the one who turns on Althea. Look at Fatima's section for more information.
Fatima
The "Shadowfrost Witch", who started a war between Carnava and herself. A wielder of Shadowfrost magic. 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 Shadowfrost 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.
Depending on the relationship between Roland and Fatima, one of two scenes may occur.
In one such scene at the Conclusion Gate later into the game, Fatima strikes Althea, branding her as an untrustworthy person. This is because Althea is a Beast Fiend. Master Mattias fought to eradicate Beast Fiends, and sees Althea as the same as a monster.
In the battle, Josie leaves your party to fight alongside Fatima.
Dia
The "Brilliant Witch" and the temporary leader of the Rev Magic Association. A user of Light Magic. She often rushes into her decisions which may produce bad results.
Luna
The "Tide Witch". 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.
Potpurri
Potpurri, more commonly referred to as "Pop" is the "Verdure Witch" and 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.
Sadie
The "Breeze Witch" who uses Wind magic. 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.
gave Luminous Arc 2 28/40. The game sold 41,000 copies in Japan in its first week of release.
For the US release, the Metacritic aggregation currently stands at a 75% with 11 reviews being averaged. IGN
and Destructoid gave the game 80% scores, praising both the humor and characters. 1UP
's gave the game a B-. The 1UP review bemoaned the lack of innovation in multiplayer over the previous game, but the reviewer enjoyed most of the other updates to the game over the previous version.
Luminous Arc
is a tactical role-playing game from Marvelous for the Nintendo DS. Luminous Arc was released in Japan on February 8, 2007 and August 14, 2007 in North America by Atlus. The game was released in Europe on October 12, 2007 by Rising Star Games....
series of strategy RPGs. The game was featured at the Marvelous Entertainment Inc. booth at the Tokyo Game Show
Tokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
2007. It was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on May 15, 2008 and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on November 18, 2008. The game includes a bonus music CD insert. Those who preordered the game at selected retailers received an art book named "Luminous Art", which offers content from both Luminous Arc games.
Gameplay
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
grid. Each character can be equipped with weapons, armor, items, and magical "Lapis" gemstone
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
s. Characters learn special skills by leveling up
Level Up
Level Up was a UK children's TV programme that was broadcast on CBBC. It was launched on the 3rd April 2006, replacing Xchange. The show was an hour long and during the school year broadcasting from 7:30am until 8:30am...
and are able to use a "Flash Drive" special attack upon attacking or defeating enemies. When a character's hit points reach zero, they are removed from battle, but are able to be revived.
Story
In an age when magicMagic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
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, monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
s 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 covered up
Cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
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 end game parts of the story, including the ending, will change depending on the player's pre-battle dialogue choices.
Knight Squads
RolandThe Main Character of the story. Roland is a knight who was trained alongside with his brother Rasche and childhood friend Rina by their dad, Sir Steven. At the beginning he, Rasche and Rina are about to go to see fireworks at their kingdom's festival after training, but suddenly Althea comes flying down at Roland, thrown by a Golem commandeered by a floating undead cat familiar called Josie. They run away to Steiner's Lapis Seed Research Laboratory, where then they are about to engage Josie into battle alongside with Steiner who arrived in. Steiner asks Roland to toss a blue Lapis to him, the Runic Engine, but out of fate the Runic Engine embeds itself into Roland's left hand. After chasing away Josie, he and his friends with Althea who is a messenger are taken to the Queen.
Rina
Rina is an archer who trains with Roland and Rasche (friends since childhood)under the guidance of Sir Steven. Her older brother is Steiner. She lost her parents at a young age to a fire and has been afraid of fire ever since. She has a crush on Sir Richter.
Rasche
Rasche is childhood friend of Roland and Rina. His father is Sir Steven. He wields a lance. He dislikes Witches for some reason.
Sir Steven
Sir Steven is the father of Roland and Rasche. He is a former leader a Knight Squad for Carnava, the Antler Squad. He fought alongside Master Mattias and Sir Gaston in his prime.
Steiner
The elder brother of Rina and the leader of the Stinger Squad. He invented the Runic Engine and is immensely proud of this achievement. He feels cheated when Roland is ordered by the Queen to become a Rune Knight.
Sir Richter
The leader of the "Talon Squad". He is idolised by Roland and Rasche as the perfect example of a brave, courageous knight. The Talon Squad is often dispatched outside the castle to fight monsters. He may have feelings for Rina.
Sir Gaston
The burly leader of the "Tusk Squad". He is a very loud, optismistic man and is extremely loyal towards Queen Sophia. His squad is often used for protecting Carnava. He composed a theme song for the squad, in hopes of raising the morale of his troops.
Witches
AltheaAlthea is a young witch-in-training who uses Fire Magic. She trains under Dia. She met Roland when she was in the middle of delivering a document to Queen Sophia. She was attacked by Josie and his Golems, but Roland saved her.
Later on in the game, Althea is discovered as the new "Ember Witch", whose position was previously unfilled. During her transformation, she casts a spell which is very powerful, striking Master Mattias. She passes out fatally ill straight afterwards.
Bharva takes an unusual interest in Althea after they meet. Althea is actually a Beast Fiend, though the only "successful" experiment her mother, Queen Elicia performed in hopes of creating perfect life.
Depending on the relationship between Roland and Althea, at the Conclusion gate deep into the game, Althea turns on Fatima through jealousy over Roland. Roland defends Fatima, causing Althea to lose control and transform into a Beast Fiend. Beast Fiend Althea is described as the "Dark Ember Witch" and has purple clothing rather than white.
After she is defeated, she regains her senses thanks to Fatima's fake sacrifice. She knows that she will never have Roland and gives up on him.
In a different reliationship level, Fatima is the one who turns on Althea. Look at Fatima's section for more information.
Fatima
The "Shadowfrost Witch", who started a war between Carnava and herself. A wielder of Shadowfrost magic. 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 Shadowfrost 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.
Depending on the relationship between Roland and Fatima, one of two scenes may occur.
In one such scene at the Conclusion Gate later into the game, Fatima strikes Althea, branding her as an untrustworthy person. This is because Althea is a Beast Fiend. Master Mattias fought to eradicate Beast Fiends, and sees Althea as the same as a monster.
In the battle, Josie leaves your party to fight alongside Fatima.
Dia
The "Brilliant Witch" and the temporary leader of the Rev Magic Association. A user of Light Magic. She often rushes into her decisions which may produce bad results.
Luna
The "Tide Witch". 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.
Potpurri
Potpurri, more commonly referred to as "Pop" is the "Verdure Witch" and 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.
Sadie
The "Breeze Witch" who uses Wind magic. 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.
Reception
FamitsuFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
gave Luminous Arc 2 28/40. The game sold 41,000 copies in Japan in its first week of release.
For the US release, the Metacritic aggregation currently stands at a 75% with 11 reviews being averaged. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
and Destructoid gave the game 80% scores, praising both the humor and characters. 1UP
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
's gave the game a B-. The 1UP review bemoaned the lack of innovation in multiplayer over the previous game, but the reviewer enjoyed most of the other updates to the game over the previous version.