“And show me your ‘resolve’.”
After two consecutive Empire episodes, I go back to the Federation and witness the story of how Leo and Hugo got into Blaze from Lisette’s perspective. Did I enjoy the story? I sure did. It was serious but it also had a lot of comedic moments that made it more light-hearted than I had expected. There are also hints about Hugo’s defection sprinkled throughout the chapter with Lisette wondering where she had met Hugo before.
This episode takes place right after Celia’s episode. Unlike the weird performance that I had experienced in the final chapter of Celia’s first episode, the prologue of this episode shows how Leo and Hugo got defeated—Leo held back against Michelle, giving Celia the advantage. Because of this, Lisette basically trains them boot-camp style because she was ordered to let them enter Blaze.
The whole episode is just Lisette running around with Leo and Hugo and forcing them to defeat dangerous monsters in order to test their resolve. What I liked the most about this chapter are the comedic moments. The comedy mainly came from Leo and Hugo since Lisette’s a no-nonsense person. My two favorite moments are when Lisette asks if Leo liked Michelle, to which Hugo responded that he’s a good person by nature. In response, Lisette roasted Leo so hard, by sarcastically pointing out that being useless against the opposite sex could be a major hindrance in the battlefield, but it mattered little because he’s a “great” guy “.
Another funny moment was when Leo flat out asks how old she is. Hugo freaks out to the point that he even activated his Embleo on Leo. It was super hilarious! If you were curious about her age, Lisette is 25 years old in this episode since the timeline skips around.
The major foreshadowing regarding Hugo’s defection is prominent here. Right now, the reason behind Le Sant Village’s destruction is unknown. Given the characters’ disdain for the Imperials, I assume that Leo, Hugo and Celia were told that the Empire was the cause for its destruction. Given Lisette’s flashback to that day, it could be that the Federation was the true perpetrator that day. If so, Hugo’s defection would be understandable.
Lisette is like a drill sergeant, but she does have softer moments, especially when it comes to her students. She also has a sarcastic side, which is an interesting trait amongst the wide-eyed idealistic soldiers in her care. She’s not a bad person at all; since she’s a soldier, she needs to toughen up new recruits. She’s the embodiment of “tough love”. She’s also a woman of mystery because how she’s affiliated with the Le Sant Village
Leo and Hugo were mainly comic relief until the end of the episode. The way the pointed their swords at Lisette showed that they have a strong moral code and I like that. They’re humans above all else. It was obvious from the get-go that they were going to be in Blaze given Leo’s first episode, but seeing how they got in was an interesting story.
Lisette’s gameplay is fun. She shoots from a long distance and closes in on the enemies; when she gets close, she uses close combat attacks to dish out serious damage. Her flaws are that she’s not good defensively and she loses a lot of HP when taking hits. Multiple enemies are a bit of a hassle if she’s alone, so she definitely needs someone accompanying her. Single enemies are fine. Her secret missions are like Celia’s—impossible to finish if there are multiple enemies. For example, the second chapter boss took a while for me to defeat while the third chapter was easy since I had Leo and Hugo with me while Lisette was alone in the second chapter. The fourth chapter boss, Leo and Hugo, were hard to beat because they are two hard-hitting enemies, so it’s mainly dodging and shooting when it came to damaging them.
This might be a shorter review than the rest simply because the story was very straightforward in execution. Other than what I talked about above, there isn’t anything more to talk about. I do anticipate Lisette’s second episode and see where her story goes from here on out.
Tales of Luminaria is an upcoming Tales of Series original title for iOS and Android released November 2021. The game was first announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live. Unlike the recent Tales mobile games, Luminaria has been reported to have its own original world with only original characters and no previous Tales characters, as well as an English dub. Unfortunately, the game has announced termination of service worldwide on July 19, 2022.
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