Luminous Arc 2

If you dig Luminous Arc’s style though, and like to mix a little humor and manga inspiration in with your core gaming, Atlus’s sequel is a great one to have in your collection.

Music is top-notch again, and the graphics are spiffier overall than in the last game.

With well over forty hours of gameplay, multiple endings, online battles, great music and a solid battle system, Luminous Arc II is recommended to anyone after a strategic RPG built to last.

Even though Luminous Arc 2 is a pretty extensive handheld title (40 hours, multiple endings) with a bonus OST, I cannot recommend it to you. If it was March or April and you were dying for a new game, I would say to buy it cautiously. But we're in the middle of the Christmas season and there are so many games out there.

Luminous Arc 2 stands out enough in its own right as a charming tactical title that it should provide gamers with plenty of hours of satisfying, strategy-centric role playing.

The visuals are spiffier, though, and the music is top-notch. [Dec 2009, p.69]

Luminous Arc 2 is fun to play, but it doesn't provide a strong, compelling reason to do so beyond its character dialogue and battles.

Luminous Arc 2 doesn’t attempt to reinvent the RPG nor does it push the strategy game genre forward but it’s certainly a very enjoyable game that RPG fans will certainly appreciate. Still, the strategic combat action isn’t the strongest element in the game and the story is a bit by-the-numbers but there is still some fun to be had in this decent strategy/RPG.

SRPG fans will have some fun playing Luminous Arc 2, but if you’re not a fan of the genre it's not a game you’ll be playing over and over.

Luminous Arc 2 is certainly a more balanced game than the first one, although it doesn't have the freshness of the original.

An average game, with good pieces of art, nice dialogues and easy going fights. Unfortunately, it lacks depth and it's far too easy for hardcore gamers.

While there may not exactly be a shortage of RPGs available on the DS, Luminous Arc 2 does just enough right to warrant a playthrough.

This series may be clinging tightly to Final Fantasy Tactic's coattails, but at least it's doing a better job of it. [Holiday 2008, p.88]

Luminous Arc 2 is formulaic but charming, a solid strategy RPG that hooks you in with warriors of might and magic.

Luminous Arc 2 is not the best SRPG on the Nintendo DS, but it fares well. A good experience for fans of the genre, with several changes on the gameplay, but a less interesting story than the original.

Still, the battle improvements, presentation polish, and overall cheeky vibe keep the single-player option well worth playing.

In the end, Luminous Arc 2 has a strong mechanical backing and some silly moments, but its story fails to deliver.