Luminous Arc Impressions

[kadnod]

Anybody had any success with imbuing items?

Some, but the "random" battles can sometimes make getting back to the imbue-point a major pain.   

and I find the characters to be far more likable than in many other games

Same here.  The plot is a little predictable, but the characters are amusing and the dialogue is generally well written.  I'm liking the intentionally over-the-top voice acting, too.

[Misguided]

The only voice that really seems to get on my nerves is Nikolai.
I don't mind over-the-top, but yeesh.

About imbuing:

Spoiler for Hiden:

From the manual, I had thought that the first vitae you picked
would give the resulting item that element, but it clearly doesn't work that way.
For instance, I wanted to make a water sword for Alph and to do so I had to use not water,
but fire/fire.