Software:Luminous Arc 2

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Short description: 2008 video game

Luminous Arc 2
North American box art
Developer(s)Imageepoch
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Shuetsu Kadowaki
Designer(s)Kaito Shibano
Composer(s)Akari Kaida
Shunsuke Tsuchiya
Yoko Shimomura
Yoshino Aoki
SeriesLuminous Arc
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: May 15, 2008
  • NA: November 18, 2008
  • EU: October 9, 2009
  • AU: April 1, 2010
Genre(s)Tactical role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Luminous Arc 2[lower-alpha 1] is a tactical role-playing game developed by Imageepoch for the Nintendo DS, and published by Marvelous Entertainment in Japan on May 15, 2008, and by Atlus USA and Rising Star Games in North America and the PAL region respectively. It is the second game in the Luminous Arc series.

Gameplay

A screenshot of a battle: the top screen shows units' status and information, while the touch screen displays units' positions and turn order

Luminous Arc 2 is a strategy role-playing game 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.

Development and release

The game was featured at the Marvelous Entertainment booth at the Tokyo Game Show 2007. It was released in Japan on May 15, 2008 and North America on November 18, 2008.[1]

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.[2]

The game includes a bonus music CD insert.[1] Those who preordered the game at selected retailers received an art book named "Luminous Art", which offers content from both Luminous Arc games.[3]

A manga based on the story of Luminous Arc 2 began serialization in 2008.[4]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic73/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
1Up.comB−[6]
Destructoid8/10[7]
Famitsu28/40[8]
GameSpot7/10[9]
GamesRadar+StarStarStarStar[10]
GameZone7.5/10[11]
IGN8/10[12]
Nintendo LifeStarStarStarStarStarStarStarStar[13]
Nintendo Power7/10[14]
Nintendo World Report7.5/10[15]
RPGamer3/5[16]

In Japan, Famitsu gave Luminous Arc 2 all four sevens for a total of 28 out of 40.[8] The game sold 41,000 units in Japan in its first week of release.[18] For the North American release, the game received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as Luminous Arc 2: Will (Japanese: ルミナスアーク2 ウィル, Hepburn: Ruminasu Āku Tsū Wiru)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Casamassina, Matt (July 10, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 Coming to America". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/10/luminous-arc-2-coming-to-america. 
  2. ↑ "MJCD-20125 | Luminous Arc2 will Original Soundtracks". https://vgmdb.net/album/7785. 
  3. ↑ IGN staff (November 5, 2008). "Inside Luminous Art, the Official Luminous Arc 2 Pre-order Bonus Art Book". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/11/05/inside-luminous-art-the-official-luminous-arc-2-pre-order-bonus-art-book. 
  4. ↑ "Luminous Arc 2 Development Blog" (in ja). May 7, 2008. http://www.mmv.co.jp/message/luminousarc2.php?itemid=827. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Luminous Arc 2". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/luminous-arc-2/. 
  6. ↑ Fitch, Andrew (November 18, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 Review". Ziff Davis. http://www.1up.com/reviews/luminous-arc-2. 
  7. ↑ North, Dale (November 19, 2008). "Destructoid review: Luminous Arc 2". Gamurs. https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-review-luminous-arc-2/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "News for May 8, 2008". May 8, 2008. http://www.the-magicbox.com/game20080508.shtml. 
  9. ↑ Massimilla, Bethany (November 21, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 Review". Fandom. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/luminous-arc-2-review/1900-6201542/. 
  10. ↑ Bratcher, Eric (November 24, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 review". Future plc. https://www.gamesradar.com/luminous-arc-2-review/. 
  11. ↑ Valentino, Nick (November 24, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 - NDS - Review". https://gamezone.com/reviews/luminous_arc_2_nds_review/. 
  12. ↑ Bozon, Mark (November 19, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 Review". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/11/19/luminous-arc-2-review. 
  13. ↑ Newton, James (December 1, 2009). "Luminous Arc 2 Review". https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2009/12/luminous_arc_2_ds. 
  14. ↑ "Luminous Arc 2". Nintendo Power (Future US) 236: 88. Christmas 2008. 
  15. ↑ Jones, James (December 20, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2". NINWR, LLC. https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/17431/luminous-arc-2-nintendo-ds. 
  16. ↑ Welhouse, Zach (November 18, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2 - Staff Review". CraveOnline. https://archive.rpgamer.com/games/lumarc/lumarc2/reviews/lumarc2strev1.html. 
  17. ↑ Hussey, John P. (November 20, 2008). "Luminous Arc 2". Emerald Shield Media LLC. https://www.rpgfan.com/review/luminous-arc-2/. 
  18. ↑ Jenkins, David (May 22, 2008). "Monster Hunter 2nd G Passes 2 Million At Top Of Japanese Charts". Informa. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/-i-monster-hunter-2nd-g-i-passes-2-million-at-top-of-japanese-charts. 
MobyGames
Logo since March 2014
Screenshot
Frontpage as of April 2012
Type of site
Gaming
Available inEnglish
OwnerAtari SA
Websitemobygames.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedJanuary 30, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-01-30)
Current statusOnline

MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] The site is supported by banner ads and a small number of people paying to become patrons.[2] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It is currently owned by Atari SA.

Content

The database began with games for IBM PC compatibles. After two years, consoles such as the PlayStation, were added. Older console systems were added later. Support for arcade video games was added in January 2014 and mainframe computer games in June 2017.[3]

Edits and submissions go through a leisurely verification process by volunteer "approvers". The approval process can range from immediate (minutes) to gradual (days or months).[4] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copyediting.[5]

Registered users can rate and review any video game. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own subforum.

History

Logo used until March 11, 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999 by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, then joined by David Berk 18 months later, three friends since high school.[6] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[7] This was announced to the community post factum and a few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.

On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San-Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[8] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel.[9]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[10] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[11][12]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ "MobyGames Stats". https://www.mobygames.com/moby_stats. 
  2. ↑ "MobyGames Patrons". http://www.mobygames.com/info/patrons. 
  3. ↑ "New(ish!) on MobyGames – the Mainframe platform.". Blue Flame Labs. 18 June 2017. http://www.mobygames.com/forums/dga,2/dgb,3/dgm,237200/. 
  4. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  5. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32856/Report_MobyGames_Acquired_By_GameFly_Media.php. 
  8. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  9. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/207882/Game_dev_database_MobyGames_getting_some_TLC_under_new_owner.php. 
  10. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  11. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site’s Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  12. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 



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