I knew going into this game that it won't be anything special and that’s what I got. I would call Luminous Arc a beginner's first SRPG. Basic in every way, be it story or gameplay.
The story has a lot of cliches that you would see in other games or animes, the characters are one-dimensional, but they are still somewhat endearing. The intermissions after fights give them more personality that you will not see throughout the story and is a pleasant addition.
The gameplay will not surprise you if you have played any other SRPGs.
The biggest problem I could say it had was that you couldn't move the camera in any way being on a 3D grid-like FF Tactics makes it very hard to see where you put your characters. Also, the buffs were not of much use, but very few games make buffs useful so it gets a pass. Use Leon throughout the game, he's like a cheat code.
In conclusion, Luminous Arc is a functional game that you can beat in about 15 to 25 hours, depending on if you want to get all the intermissions. It did not do anything innovative, but for a budget title and the first game created by Imageepoch, it could have been a lot worse.

It's actually impressive how dull this game is. The characters are all very bland and generic anime archetypes, the story is extremely predictable (evil church, magic stones, you can probably guess the rest), and the gameplay is downright boring. The combat has very few options so you end up just walking forward and attacking things all the time and the characters have essentially no customization to them.

The nicest thing I can say about this game is that there are some cute character designs but honestly games with cute character designs are a dime a dozen so that's barely even something in this game's favor when everything else about it is so weak.

It bears the mark of a studio learning its trade. After several attempts they finally landed on something worthwhile with Stella Glow, unfortunately they were not able to go further. As for this one, I can't find too many positive things to say except that it works. Story could've been less cliche, gameplay could benefit from more depth and balance, and some QoL features such being able to rotate map would improve the experience a lot. Competition was not as cut-throat as it is today, so after a game like this, the studio was still given a second chance. I suspect the artwork did some heavy lifting.

This was a game recommended to me by a friend who suggested that it was worth checking out and I agreed that after trying it out, it was well worth the notice!

You play as these brothers who are holy knights whose mission it is to fight and defeat the evil witches in this world, however, after a run-in with one they soon discover that their doctrine is wrong and the majority of witches are not evil characters who want to wipe out all of humanity and command monsters, but, are defenders of nature and the earth.

Your characters go on an adventure to try and figure out what's going on, along with other side stories that are going on at the same time.

...much I've forgotten as it was so long ago, but I do remember really enjoying this game and can't wait to get back to it!

Gameplay + Stream

Besides the non-rotatable maps, the flaw in this game is that it does not offer players the possibilities and freedom already present in older titles such as Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or its egregious progenitor repurposed for PSP. In fact, more than a lack, it is a precise design choice in a product that skillfully blends the flavors of a turn-based strategy and a classic linear JRPG supported by a plot of considerable depth, embellished by characters unique both in characterization and in merely playable possibilities.