Lucent Heart is a free-to-play MMORPG developed by Playcoo and published by Gamania. The game itself has existed in one form or another for a number of years now, but made its official North American debut on February 10, 2011. Lucent Heart appears to be your standard MMORPG stock, but promises some of the most unique and engaging social aspects of any game to date. Will that be enough for this rookie-of-the-year winner from Japan to be received just as well in a land where shooters are the dominating genre?
The story for Lucent Heart is quite rich and very well told. The story begins with the goddess, Hectate, and her quest to obtain/inherit the most powerful item in the universe, the Lucent Heart. During her quest to prove herself worthy of the fabled item, she cracked a star and spent much of her godly power trying to heal it. In the process of repairing the star, she drained herself to the point where she was in danger of becoming mortal. After she had returned to Mount Olympus, she was greeted by Zeus, who held the infant twins, Theia and Cadena. The twins were born of Hectate and the star. Eventually, the Lucent Heart chose Theia and this drove Hectate over the edge. For years, she and nearly everyone else on Olympus had believed that she would be the owner of the fabled power. This cosmic slight moved Hectate to corrupt the heart of Cadena, which caused her to turn against her twin.
Soon, Cadena and Hectate moved against Theia and vowed to destroy that which she loved most, humanity. Thus began the thousand year war between the goddesses. This is where the player’s character comes into play. Long ago, the good goddess Theia whispered to you. She foretold of your greatness and the role that would play in ending this war which has ravaged the world of Acadia.
Taking my first steps in the world of Lucent Heart immediately brought to my attention how story driven this game is. The very first NPC I met responded with awe and apprehension at seeing my character. I was under the impression that my character was spoken of in legends that I myself was not familiar with. As I progressed through quests and was introduced to new NPCs (some of which included the storied Greek gods themselves) it was relayed to me quite clearly what was at stake. I was a huge fan of Greek mythology when I was younger and that deep seated interest is still with me today. As such, I was instantly sucked into this world which incorporated my favorite gods of old with a few new ones in an interesting new tale.
Despite the obvious Greek mythology foundation in the story, the overall style of Lucent Heart is as far away from togas and bronze armor as it can get. The game incorporates a large variety of styles including medieval armor, steampunk locals, modern, and gothic style clothing. It’s a bold move away from the standard of “have a strong overall Greek theme if there are Greek gods present.” It’s refreshing. There’s a strong blend of many elements and it all fits so very well. I don’t know how they did it, but the art development team managed to craft something very unique and quite appealing with this grab bag of influences.
The game itself is very easy on the eyes and greatly reminds me of the Kingdom Hearts series. The characters appear to be very young and this is most likely due to the heavy anime influence. It feels like a world populated by children, playing make-believe in a world inhabited by monsters and the gods of old. In a word, it is relaxing. From the fantasy themed cities to the rolling hills populated by the most adorable monsters to ever fall by my sword, the entire game put me at ease. It was as if everything I had imagined as a child came to life twenty years later in the form of this game.
As with any game, I loved the fact that it was resource friendly and didn’t run my machine into the ground. Lucent Heart is a game that can be run by nearly any system out there. It may not be the most technically detailed game out there, but it doesn’t have to be. In a generation of games filled with space marines shooting aliens on lifeless, brown planets, Lucent Heart is a much needed break. There’s life in this world, and I feel that it can lure in even the most jaded gamer with its light-hearted style.
The game itself plays like many other MMORPGS, with characters taking up quests, killing monsters, and clearing dungeons. What makes Lucent Heart stand apart from any other MMORPG is how it does this.
Classes branch off from a series of choices made by the player. In the beginning, everyone is the same. Shortly into the game, at level four, players must choose one of two paths, that of the Warrior or the Mage.
At level 10, Warriors branch into one of two classes. Warriors can become either a Knight, master of the sword and shield, or a Gunner, a master skilled in the way of the gun. At level 36, the path splits once more. Knights can choose between the role of the Solar Guardian or the Celestial Templar. Solar Guardians are the clear choice for tanking, with numerous taunts and the highest constitution in the game. Celestial Templars make for a solid off-tank and have the unique ability to equip shields with built-in guns.
Gunners can specialize as a Comet Marksman or Nova Sentinel. The Comet Marksman is ideal for support and high DPS roles with silencing shots and other status modifiers. The Nova Sentinel adds leadership aspects in the form of the ability to issue commands to teammates which can increase accuracy and critical strike chance.
At level 10, Mages can become a Wizard, a magical torrent of destructive power, or a Priest, the backbone of any group, with powers over life and death. At level 36, Mages can hone their powers into one of two additional classes, either as a Moon Flame Envoy or as a Galaxy Sage. The Moon Flame Envoy can unleash devastating fire and water attacks and dominate the battlefield through teleportation and control spells. The Galaxy Sage specializes in air and earth spells. As a Galaxy Sage, players can buff their teammates and cripple enemies with powerful debuffs.
A Priest can focus their abilities as a Dawn Prophet or Sun Commissioner. A Dawn Prophet has the ability to restore life in the form of heals over time. They can also buff the party with increased health and health regeneration and are unique in that they can revive a fallen teammate while still in battle. The Sun Commissioner fills the void as the primary healing class in Lucent Heart. With single target and group heals, this class is ideal for those that enjoy filling up the life bars.
In addition to the robust selection of classes, there’s one more feature that helps players make characters entirely their own. The Astrolabe is a sort of talent tree. At level 10, your character unlocks their zodiac form. This adds a star button at the bottom of the UI and will allow players to temporarily transform and gain incredible power for a short period of time. When things get tough, this can turn things around in your favor. The Astrolabe is a way of customizing your power while in this form. After reaching certain levels, you’ll unlock new bonuses that will be applied while in your altered state. There are three options for each perk, so again, each character can be wholly unique. Just don’t rely on it too much as there is an hour cool down after pressing your emergency button.
Teams can contain up to six players and believe me, you’ll need every member to take down some of the ferociously difficult dungeons and the monsters contained within. Dungeons can be summoned at various points in the game using Star Cores. When summoning the dungeon, players can use the cores to customize the dungeons. Everything from the layout to the monsters inside and the drops can be modified depending on the Star Cores used. This makes it easier for players that need certain items or monsters for either quests or crafting.
Crafting is tackled in a radically different way with Lucent Heart. Each character can learn one profession. There are currently Tailoring, Jewelry, Machine, Alchemy, Blacksmith, and Card Design workshops up and running. After selecting the profession, players can progress and learn to craft new items by completing quests assigned to them by the crafting NPCs. There are a total of 14 crafting levels. What this means is that there’s no need to continually craft the same item over and over to increase your crafting skill. Gone are the days of farming materials or paying through the nose on the auction house. However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns as there’s still the chance to fail crafting whatever item you were working on. That being said, this crafting system quickly became my favorite out of the many games I’ve played. Crafting in Lucent Heart is miles ahead of other games like Aion where it feels like the game is actively punishing you for crafting.
Another great innovation is the OEM Board. Players are able to list items they can craft on the board. Other players simply come up to the board, select what they would like made, provide the materials and crafting fee, and the product is theirs. So, there’s no longer a need to spam your wares in the general channel, waiting around for others to require your services. There’s no hostage exchange of money, materials, and crafted items. It’s simple and works incredibly well.
While all of these features already make Lucent Heart stand out among other MMORPGs, we haven’t touched on their most touted aspect, the social experience. There are many different aspects to this involved system.
Every day, players will receive a new horoscope written by actual, renowned Japanese astrologers. This will affect everything from the rarity of drops you receive to battle performance to success rates while crafting. This is all represented in five categories: Love, Battle, Work, Wealth, and Agility. Each category will have a number of stars in it to give a rating. There can be up to five stars in each category, with more stars increasing the percentage of each bonus effect. Additional stars can be acquired by grouping up with players who have complimentary astrological signs.
Players also get bonuses by finding their Soul Mate. A Soul Mate can be acquired by one of two methods. First, a special key can be purchased through the cash shop for a little under $5. This is the easiest way to guarantee being matched with that special someone. The free alternative is a little trickier. Players can head to Cupid and select the “participate in a match option”. This will match players based on a set of requirements selected by the player. Four times a day, Cupid will gather the results and notify players of their matches. The pitfall, besides the wait for Cupid to get his act together, is that you can’t be too specific when looking for your Soul Mate. Be too specific and odds are you’ll never be matched with the person you just spent the past eight hours playing with. There are guides in the forums that show players how to “trick” Cupid. Sure enough, broadening the search and giving it some time matched my true love and I.
Players can have up to three Soul Mates and there’s plenty of reason. Playing with a Soul Mate grants double experience. There’s also special emotes that can only be performed by couples that will provide stat bonuses. Soul Mates can also grow and harvest flowers which can be exchanged for special accessories. Nectar can also be harvested and serve as health and mana potions. After playing with your Soul Mate and acquiring enough Match Points, players can decide to get married. Players can only marry one other player. However, much like the real world, it doesn’t always work out. If this turns out to be the case in your digital love life, then divorce serves as a way out. Divorce in Lucent Heart can be a mutual affair or can be terminated through the use of Super Divorce Papers.
It’s not all about finding the one in Lucent Heart. Besides enjoying the immersive story and the unique character system, there’s a robust dance system. No matter what time I log in, there’s always some kind of dance party going on. Players have the option to craft their own dances and can even dance to their personal songs imported into the game. Any other players who have the same song in their game folder will be able to hear it as well. Players can even challenge one another to a Dance Dance Revolution style dance off. I’ve never been one for dancing, be it in the real world or any of the many digital ones I’ve inhabited. But, for the normal folk out there, I’m sure there’s plenty to enjoy.
The real icing on the Lucent Heart cake is the staff involvement. Every day, GMs and staff members visit in-game and host events. One day will see a server wide dance contest and the next will host a trivia contest. It’s refreshing to see the staff of a game so involved with the community. In most games, I’ve spent hours waiting for a generic response to my questions. In Lucent Heart, I can’t log on without seeing a GM chatting it up with players. It’s something I wish I saw in more games.
I’ll be honest. When I first saw Lucent Heart, I thought it would be a joke. It seemed like a bland dating sim that would offer no real challenge or reward for investing my time. What I found was an incredibly unique game full of activity that rewards everything I do. With such a solid game, there’s little wonder that such a devoted community has developed around it. Lucent Heart is by far one of the best MMORPGs I have ever played and I look forward to spending a great deal of time playing in the future. So, if you’re tired of the same shooter after shooter after generic high fantasy MMO, then you owe it to yourself to play Lucent Heart. I promise you won’t regret it. And how could you when there’s such a sweet bench emote?
GamingClimax.com Writer and Author of ZeroAnd09 Blog
