Luminous Arc
At first glance, Luminous Arc seems like it would be a horrible game. The battle system seems like a gimped version of Final Fantasy Tactics. The controls are horrible. The graphics can’t even compare to some 16-bit era games. Even the story is subpar; it’s filled with Jrpg cliches, and the characters are really really annoying which is compounded by the horrible voice acting. And yet, the game as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts and is actually pretty fun.
Aside from maybe “game over”, no two words make gamers wince as much as “licensed games”. They have all the potential to be great; recognizable characters, backstory, built in audience, etc. But when a developer acquires a license, they feel as if they can release any old shitpile of a game upon the unsuspecting audience and expect us to gobble it up. Case in point, RoboCop for the NES.
Even though I was somewhat disappointed with PW: Justice For All, I was looking forward to Trials and Tribulations. I knew it was the last of the “GBA remakes,” and, therefore, wouldn’t have a lot of new gameplay mechanics… but that doesn’t really matter right? Because let’s face it, the actual gameplay of the Phoenix Wright series sucks. If we were just judging it on it’s adventure game mechanics, it’d probably score lower than I did on my SATs. Okay maybe it doesn’t suck, but who plays Phoenix Wright games for the actual “gaming” elements anyway?
