“My one wish…was to give the flower of my heart to you. That was all.”
Much to my own surprise, I had 430 pictures for this episode, which meant that I had to watch TimeFactor’s video and look through my own pictures to see which ones I want to keep and which ones I trash. Revisiting this episode made me enjoy it a lot more, surprisingly.
This episode is mainly about Maxime falling in love with a noblewoman named Hortense and going out of his way to make her happy like the knights in a popular novel series that’s a hit in Aedis Academy. He learns about how to make people happy and how noble families can be cruel. It feels like foreshadowing to his future in some ways as he’s never acknowledged by his own family. Alas, that theory will never be answered.
Sometimes, Luminaria surprises me because who expected a rhythm dance game to be a little mini-game of sorts? The genre changes so suddenly at times. First, we had a stealth game in Gaspard Episode 1, a shooting game in Celia Episode 2 and now a rhythm game in this one. I remembered being terrible at this mini-game.
I actually like Hortense! She’s weary from family expectations, but she never takes advantage of Maxime’s feelings and is always sincere. She even appreciated their date, despite not having feelings for him; she’s even appreciative for helping out with her elopement. I can see why Maxime fell for her and why he wants to make her happy with her true love Sinan. Sinan himself feels a little one-note, but at least he is a good man who respects Hortense as a person; that’s why Malt decided to let them go by faking a death report.
While the episode is about Maxime, I think the supporting cast was hilarious. Leo likes reading romance novels, Lucien and Yelsy spy on Maxime’s date and the terrible acting from Vanessa—it was easily the highlight for me. I loved how Maxime had to whisper that she was miscasted in order to not hurt her feelings, feel her wrath as he finds her scary, and not blow their cover.
Overall, I really liked how lighthearted this episode was (plus, Lucien was also a key character and you know how much I like him). Sometimes, seeing these characters go on silly quests makes you want to see more of them and not think about the depressing state that they’re in. One day, I hope Bamco will give Luminaria another chance. What are your thoughts on this episode?
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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