Luminous Arc 2 is a strategy RPG in which characters move across an isometric grid. Each character can be equipped with weapons, armor, items, and magical "Lapis" gemstones. 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 can be revived.
Plot
In the Kingdom of Carnava, 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 start to appear, destroying everything in their way. Mattias, leader of the Magic Association, uses the evil Demon Blade to try to seal the source of the fiends, but is sealed away himself by the elemental witches. At the time of the game setting, new Beast Fiends have been appearing, and the government 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 whose aim is to produce an easier way to use magic. The story starts when the kingdom has just successfully completed the research project, and devised a tool known as 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 to evil. However, he does not realise 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
Roland: The main character of the story. Roland is a knight who was trained alongside with his brother Rasche and childhood friend Rina by their father, 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 (a messenger and witch) comes flying down at Roland, thrown by a Golem commandeered by a floating undead cat familiar called Josie. They flee to Steiner's Lapis Seed Research Laboratory, where they are about to engage Josie in battle alongside Steiner. Steiner asks Roland to toss the Runic Engine—a blue Lapis—to him, but the Runic Engine accidentally embeds itself into Roland's left hand. After defeating Josie, he, his friends and Althea are taken to the Queen.
Rina: Rina is an archer who trains with Roland and Rasche (with whom she has been 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. She is the niece to Roland's dad Sir Steven, making her the cousin of Roland and Rasche.
Rasche: Rasche is the older brother of Roland and childhood friend of Rina. His father is Sir Steven. He wields a lance. He dislikes Witches for an unknown reason.
Sir Steven: Sir Steven is the father of Roland and Rasche. He is a former leader of a Carnavan Knight Squad, 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, optimistic man and is extremely loyal to Queen Sophia. His squad is often used to protect Carnava. He composed a theme song for the squad, in hopes of raising the morale of his troops.
Witches
Althea: Althea is a young witch-in-training who uses Fire Magic. She trains under Dia. She meets Roland as she is delivering a document to Queen Sophia. She is attacked by Josie and his Golems, but Roland saves her. Later on in the game, Althea is discovered as the new "Ember Witch", a position that was previously unfilled. During her transformation, she casts a very powerful spell which strikes Master Mattias. She passes out fatally ill immediately 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 with the hope of creating perfect life. Depending on the relationship between Roland and Althea, at the Conclusion gate deep into the game, Althea turns on Fatima because of 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 acknowledges that she will never have Roland and gives up on him.
Fatima: The "Shadowfrost Witch", who started a war with Carnava. She travels with her undead cat familiar, Josie. She works 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 great loyalty. Depending on the relationship between Roland and Fatima, one of two scenarios may occur. In one such scenario 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 therefore sees Althea as a monster. During the battle, Josie leaves the 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 (voiced by Xanthe Huynh): The "Tide Witch". She speaks with a 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 for "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 liking.
Sadie: The "Breeze Witch" who uses Wind magic. Sadie is a "Winged-One", a race which has a much longer lifespan while retaining their youth and adorned with 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 is always itching for a worthy opponent in battle.
Production and release
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.
As with the previous game, famed sound designer Yasunori Mitsuda and his studio handled all the audio mixing and mastering. However, unlike the last time, Mitsuda did not compose for the game. Instead, composers Yoko Shimomura, Akari Kaida, Yoshino Aoki, and Shunsuke Tsuchiya wrote the soundtrack, while Mitsuda acted as sound producer.
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.
A manga based on the story of Luminous Arc 2 has begun serialization in 2008.
Reception
Famitsu gave Luminous Arc 2 28/40. The game sold 41,000 copies in Japan in its first week of release. For the U.S. release, the Metacritic aggregation reached 75% from 11 reviews. 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.
