Luminous Arc -GRIMOIRE-

Luminous Arc throws you into a pretty standard fantasy showdown where church knights hunt witches, only to realize the church might be the real problem. You lead a squad called the Garden Children through grid based battles, building up a flash drive gauge for special attacks and chatting with party members during intermissions to boost relationships, kinda like a mini dating sim. The soundtrack is great with Yasunori Mitsuda composing (the guy from CHRONO and Xeno series) and the voice acting punches above its weight for a handheld game but the gameplay loop gets repetitive fast: fight, watch a cutscene, advance the story and repeat. The touch controls are a mess, so stick to buttons, maps feel cramped, you can't rotate the camera, battles chug when too many units pile on and healing spam can break the difficulty since leveling refills HP and MP completely. Still, the anime art style charms, the witches grow on you and the multiplayer is a neat bonus, it's a cozy afternoon kind of game.

Luminous Arc -GRIMOIRE-

Luminous Arc

 

Luminous Arc 2 -WILL-

Luminous Arc 2 -WILL- is a solid step up from the first game but still won't blow your mind. You play as Roland, a knight in training who accidentally bonds with a magical engine, letting him «engage» with witches midbattle. The tactical gameplay sticks to grid based moves, flash drive specials and an intermission chat system that actually makes you care about the cast, even if half of them are walking anime clichés like Fatima, who steals the show. Battles can drag with scripted spawns and repetitive grinding so it gets old fast, voice acting fades in and out and the story's still «corrupt church, save the world» deal, tho the multiple endings add some replay value. Controls are better than the original, with both stylus and buttons working fine, graphics are bright and the guild quests feel like filler. Still, it's charming in its own dorky way, especially if you like RPGs that let you romance the characters.

Luminous Arc 3 -EYES-

Luminous Arc 3 -EYES- is the peak of the series. You play as Levi, a boy who awakens magical «eyes» after a fairy monster kills his friend, then gets sent to an academy to train as a magic knight. Yeah, the plot's still the same ol' JRPG comfort food but the characters are engaging and the After Break system (the dating sim parts) lets you bond with them, even unlocking different endings. Gameplay's the real winner here, battles are snappier, the unison strikes add teamwork flair like in Persona Q2 and every single character feels useful. You can even walk around the academy freely instead of poking menus which makes the world feel more alive, music's still solid, tho the battle themes recycle a bit too much and voice acting takes a nosedive compared to the previous games since entire chapters cam go without a single voiceline. Anyways, visuals get a small upgrade with sprites moving during cutscenes and the difficulty options with no useless party members make this the most polished entry.