First appearances are probably the best things that Luminous Arc 2 has going for it. The minute this game powers on, it bursts into song and shows you some animated sequences that are like a teaser-trailer for what you will experience while playing. Fans with advance orders on file will also find delivered with their game an impressive art book showing the character designs, for Luminous Arc 2 and its predecessor. Paging through this book, called "Luminous Art," really highlights the thought behind the characters designed for the game. Music plays a special role in Luminous Arc 2; I don't know that I've seen any RPG put as much focus on its soundtrack. Each time you break away from battle, you'll see a ticker that shows the song currently playing, almost like you'd associate with a racing or other action game. To reinforce this, Luminous Arc 2 ships with a soundtrack CD. The tunes are a fun mix of traditional RPG fare, the kind of martial ditties popularized through Final Fantasy and the like, and more pop-oriented tunes. Luminous Arc 2 features lots of spoken dialogue, in addition to a slew of content delivered as text-only. The voice acting is quite good, with an impressive cast of characters. The developers were smart to use voice actors instead of relying on text, because there is a huge story contained in this game that would test the reading tolerance of even the most resolute RPG fans.

Luminous Arc 2 is somewhat of a throwback visually. This is nice for fans that have played every Virtual Arcade RPG download on their Wii, bought the classics like Arc the Lad, and slathered attention on all the "lost" Final Fantasy titles. Gamers playing across several platforms have been graced with good RPGS in recent years, some of them updated quite a bit and breaking from the old formulas. Thoughts of Level 5 output such as Jeanne D'Arc come to mind, which of course wasn't available for DS-only gamers. Perusing the DS catalog over the past year in the RPG category, you'll find a mixed bag, and the strongest games are arguably the classics. With this in mind, is it any surprise that Luminous Arc 2 turns to the past, as did last year's release of Luminous Arc? The character designs are very retro, including some classy anime styling during cutscenes and story sequences. The speaking roles are played by static character models that have varied facial expressions, but no animation. The scenes during battle are top-down and appear to follow the same kind of sprite-based character models seen in many other places, at many other times. There is lots of world to explore within the game, but only from moving place-to-place via menus, rather than free exploration. This creates a lot of menu navigation, but Luminous Arc 2 takes a nice approach to keep things from becoming confusing. Each time you enter an area, you'll see unexplored areas marked on the menu as "New" so you know right away what's been done or not. There are some small but very nice visual touches in the form of animations that sprawl across both screens, usually of a beautiful lady. There's a serious otaku thread that runs through the game; even in the art book, you'll see each of the women's, ahem... measurements. What's neat is how Luminous Arc 2 lets you ogle the ladies while poking fun of itself through characters like Kaph, that totes a camera around to post pictures of beautiful witches for fanboys. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Luminous Arc 2 is very much in debt to classic titles that came before, which doesn't prevent it from being a wonderfully playable game.

This is a game that is heavy on story, and RPG fans do love their deep stories. A full cast of new characters are featured in Luminous Arc 2, revolving around an aspiring Rune Knight named Roland. After a mishap with some experimental technology being developed to battle a threat to his homeland Carnava, Roland hits the road with his older brother Rasche, their fellow Knight-in-training Rina, and a mysterious Witch-in-training named Althea. Very quickly, it becomes clear that Roland is on one side of many that are mutually against the threat to Carnava, but in competition with each other, and convinced that their side is the right one. The game isn't so open-ended that it allows you to switch sides, but the enemies you'll face are far more than cardboard cutouts with a grudge and a sword. Everything in the world of Luminous Arc 2 has a nice weight to it, and you'll find that as much forethought went into crafting the plot of the game as went into the beautiful designs. Although it is probably too linear for folks accustomed to having complete freedom to explore game worlds, towns, and grind dungeons indefinitely, Luminous Arc 2 keeps things moving through about 30 hours of gameplay.

Multiplayer returns! Two copies of the game are required, and you'll have to play through about half the main, single-player mode before you can access this feature. It's a worthwhile trade-off considering you can then take your characters into battle against a human opponent through the local wireless or Nintendo Wi-Fi. This is pitched as a more difficult game than the original, with battles that test your mettle and a thicket of special abilities to employ, but nothing is quite as satisfying as beating the pants off a human opponent. RPGs aren't exactly known for multiplayer modes, but Luminous Arc 2 manages to implement a well-tuned battle system that vastly improves the replay value of the game for fans.

Progress through the game is very linear, although there are some special missions and areas within Luminous Arc 2 that allow you to break away from the main story for a time and develop your characters. The Intermissions are back, where you'll interact with specific characters that volunteer for battle. Responding in the right way to dialogue with these characters during the Intermission will confer some bonuses, bringing them closer to Roland. There is also an Engagement feature that will bring Roland very close to the witches in the party, drawing their power to him for the duration of the battle. Initiating this feature will bring up an awesome animation showing the witch in your party dressed as a bride and showered with flowers. If this isn't Otaku Central, I don't know what is... Using regular powers, items, and skills will fill up a meter you can use to trigger the powerful Flash Drive attack. I love the fact that points accumulated can be used on regular skills, if you choose to spend them this way. Lapis items can be equipped to increase certain stats for each character; this system isn't nearly as deep as what was included in Jeanne D'Arc, but it allows you to enhance the natural strengths of some characters, or decrease their exposure in weak areas. Tweaking characters, buying weapons and armor, and paying close attention to the objectives of each battle in the game allows you to experience the great story, which is probably more of the focus than anything else. You'd almost be safe categorizing Luminous Arc 2 as an interactive storybook with some heavy RPG game elements, considering how much the battles are window dressing around the time characters spend in conversation.

Nothing here will be incredibly challenging for gamers that follow the golden rule of buying the best weapons and armor you can and saving frequently. In much of the game, rules for battle are generous. Unless the entire party is wiped out, you'll be fine. Knocking out a specific enemy makes it easy to blast through enemy lines and shorten the overall length of the game, or you can take time to wipe out each of the ancillary enemies crowding the field. Luminous Arc 2 is a whole lot easier if you devote the time to defeating enemies and leveling up your characters. Complications arise early in the game when most of your party is underpowered and too poor to purchase lots of fancy equipment. There are restrictions on how many items can be carried by a character, making it impossible to stockpile an endless supply of potions for healing or renewing magic. This ups the ante during longer battles, as you have to gauge when to use heavy attacks and avoid expending your potions and magic before accomplishing your goal. The victory is always well won, and Luminous Arc 2 is really looking for a different audience than some of the deeper RPGs that cater to characters interested only in power-leveling. Instead of endless random battles, the focus here is on establishing battles that can be won through deliberate use of specific characters and by taking advantage of elements in the landscape. Even though Luminous Arc 2 is touted as being more difficult that the original, characters still feel overpowered compared to enemies. The Flash Drive attacks especially, when charged, are devastating to normal enemies and can easily steal up to half the hit-points from a boss.

Managing your party during battles is made very easy by a system that works exactly as you'd expect, combing automatic prompting for actions with a character menu that allows you to select items, attack from where you stand, or end your turn. There are some nice features that work with subtlety, as in the way that a range indicator automatically fires up after you move, on the assumption that you'll want to attack and see the range of your equipped weapon. There are other areas where Luminous Arc 2 isn't at all intuitive, such as the Shop screen. As you scan through items, you have to also scroll through your party to find what characters can equip the items. The systems out there that offer to equip after purchase are so much more elegant than what is contained here, but that's a quibble... The battle system operates on a timed order, which means it isn't always possible to rig your party's attacks against the enemy. Saving movement during a turn will bring that character up more quickly, making it easier to defend a position than to go on the attack. Landscape bonuses are everywhere, from mixed landscape that favors some characters over others, to bottlenecks that can negate the power of a large force very quickly, 300 style.

The touch-screen is available for use, but isn't necessary and certainly doesn't add a huge amount to the game. For my money, the benefit to playing on DS is having two screens, and Luminous Arc 2 uses both to full advantage. Navigating menus and selecting options in one screen keeps the other free from clutter, something that isn't possible on the PSP. Nothing about the menu system ever feels confusing, and an especially nice touch during dialogue is an Auto feature that plays through scenes without you having to press (A) each time a character speaks. If you are really put off by the dialogue, you can use a different command, tied to the left shoulder-button, to skip scenes. Luminous Arc 2 is a generous game, designed with a good anchor in classic role-playing titles and a nod to all those sweaty, anime fanboys like me. It may seem odd that modern developers would take the time to build a game that looks 20 years old, but not when you consider the fond emotion that those old games still rouse in modern players. Fire up Luminous Arc 2 and play a few hours to understand exactly why in gaming, as in fashion, classic lines never go out of style.