Some characters, like the brash and confident Leon, turn in strong and nuanced vocal performances that bring a lot out of the short scripted pieces. The story unfolds through a series of chapters that feature a lot of spoken dialogue, which is both a blessing and a curse. The characters run a somewhat standard role-playing game gamut, from the light-haired teenage hero Alph and his brother Theo through a host of assorted witches and warriors, including a manatee (OK, so not altogether standard). The Garden Children are given the task of tracking the witches down and condemning them, which would be a fairly straightforward mission except for one thing: the witches claim that the god of the Luminous Church is actually a planet-eating monster who's due to break his 1,000 year seal and finish lunch. Their training is completed just in time, as the world is experiencing a monster boom that the church claims is tied to the actions of witches, evil magic users who seek to wreak destruction on the world. You're introduced to the 'Garden Children,' a small group of young people under the tutelage of the Arc Knight Heath at a place called the Holy Garden. The story plunks you down in the world of Shtraberl, governed by a faith known as the Luminous Church. With 25 story chapters and roughly as many hours of gameplay the first time through, this is an accessible tactical adventure with a number of extras to earn and without a bunch of needless level grinding.

While the game's storytelling is a little on the bland side, it's balanced out by a solid battle system and voice work that's good, for the most part. It's not hard to find turn-based strategy games on the Nintendo DS to consume your free time, and Luminous Arc is a nice little entry into that niche.

Luminous arc ds walkthrough