Jeanne D'Arc
September 11,2007 - Level 5 has made quite a name for themselves in the past few years for making great RPGs that may rival the monstrous catalog belonging to RPG juggernaut Square Enix. The latest RPG attempt is Jeanne D’Arc for the PSP, which is a strategy RPG for PSP that loosely follows the story of the legendary French heroine Joan of Arc. Taking inspiration from some of the great strategy RPGs, like Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem, is Jeanne D’Arc another notch in the great Level 5 catalog or should they be burned at the stake for challenging the greats?

When it comes to Jeanne D’Arc’s historical accuracy, loosely is the key word to have in mind when talking about it being loosely based on the story of Joan of Arc, as there’s no mention in the history books of lizardmen and orcs that the English hired to stop Jeanne and her counterparts. Despite the embellishments, the gist of the real story is still here. Jeanne starts hearing the voice of God and seeing visions that told her she needs to save France from the grips of the English during the Hundred Years’ War. A mysterious armlet appears on Jeanne’s wrist after her village is attacked by the English, which turns her into a powerful warrior and signals that her new destiny is to help lead the French Army to victory over the English. The story is told through in-game cinematics and beautiful anime cutscenes that bring more life to the story.

When you first get into a battle in Jeanne D’Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics will instantly spring to mind, as the battlefield is eerily reminiscent of the classic strategy RPG from the PlayStation. The game’s relatively standard fare for the strategy RPG department, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve that shows that progress has been made since Tactics came out nearly ten years ago. As the result of Jeanne’s armlet, she’s able to transform into the powerful knight once per battle and as long as she finishes off enemies, she can keep making consecutive moves within the same turn. However, it only lasts for a few turns before she’s unable to transform again, so using it wisely is the key to victory. You’re not forced to use it every battle, but doing so definitely makes the fights a little easier. To help better shape and mold your fighters, the game uses Skill Stones—which you can collect in battle or buy in shops—that can be used to give new spells, attacks, and increase stats for each fighter. There are also special stones that increase your Sol, Stella, and Luna, which acts like a rock-paper-scissors system so that certain attacks can be made more powerful with the right stone and allow for your fighter to be stronger against enemies powered by the weaker element. It’s another element that’s not mandatory to utilize, but those that use them well are sure to get a more rewarding and strategic advantage in each battle.

There are a few additions to the formula that are definitely a necessity to utilize if you’d like to succeed. The first up is the Burning Aura, which is the glowing square that appears behind an enemy that is attacked. Moving a second fighter into that square to attack increases his or her power to make for a powerful one-two punch that can help make the tough fights a little easier. You’re not forced to attack that nearby enemy, so it opens up the chance to use it against other enemies of the battlefield. On the defensive end, the game rewards you for keeping your troops together with the Unified Guard mechanic. As long as you keep your troops at least diagonally connected to each other, if not side-by-side, the Unified Guard comes into effect for any person within that group that is attacked. Anyone inside this Unified Guard is better able to lessen the damage of melee attacks if not cause the enemy’s attack to miss or be blocked. The Fire Emblem presence comes from the counter attacks that appear with every attack, bringing a chance for revenge that makes every decision even more important. There’s no second attack that can happen like in the Fire Emblem games, but the better news of Fire Emblem elements is that the death of a comrade only removes them from the battle, not permanently form your party.

Jeanne D’Arc is fairly standard in most other regards, story elements break up the battles, where you may gain a new ally or new areas open up to further the story along. Battles don’t always require you to beat every enemy, as some require you to traverse the battlefield and exit the map via a few special squares or maybe just require you to beat just the enemy general to complete the stage. You’re given the option to equip new skill stones and weapons before each battle and stages you’ve completed can be used for free battles or becomes shops to buy new skills or equipment. Just like Final Fantasy Tactics, Jeanne D’Arc is tough and some stages aren’t easily beatable in the first attempt, as things may unfold that could hurt your chances for success, so you’re forced to deal with the trial and error gameplay that strategy RPGs are well-known for.

Since you’ll be playing Jeanne D’Arc for around 40 hours or more, it’s lucky that Jeanne D’Arc is a very good-looking game that’ll make those 40 hours easy on the eyes. The anime cutscenes are absolutely beautiful, but they tend to be over before you expect them to be when the game switches to in-game models to continue the story. It’s not nearly as nice and kind of takes you out of the experience, though that’s not to say that the in-game characters look bad, it’s quite the opposite. The characters look quite detailed during battles along with being cel-shaded, so the graphics aren’t nearly as pixilated as most strategy RPGs tend to look on the PSP.

The anime cutscenes are the only time you hear the voice actors, which do a good job of making you believe Jeanne and Lianne are French. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the story-telling is pretty much text-only, as you’ll be reading a ton of it throughout the game between stages. The music you hear during battles is very well done, following Level 5’s tradition of great music in their RPGs. Voices during battles are rather decent, as generic attack noises come from your allies from both melee attacks and spells.

The good summer for the PSP continues with Jeanne D’Arc being the latest game to keep PSP owners busy. Right now, it’s the best strategy RPG on the system, though Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions rears its head in October to challenge for that crown. For PSP owners who want some strategy RPG action now, however, Jeanne D’Arc fills that void quite nicely while you wait for Square Enix to step up. Level 5 can add another notch to their belt as they delight RPG fans with another strong game as they spread the RPG love to another platform.

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