Jeanne D’Arc (Sony PSP)
By: Peench
Long ago mankind levied a great war against untold demonic armies. Now in the 15th century, France and England are engaged in battle during the Hundred Years’ War. From the ranks rises an unlikely young crusader named Jeanne, commanded by unknown voices to seal way the demon king and turn back a rueful army to recover her homeland once and for all.
Raise your hand if you like role playing games. Now raise your hand if you like really good role playing games. If you have two hands in the air, you will enjoy Jeanne D’Arc for the PSP. I’ve played RPG’s for years. I have fond memories of the gold-boxed D&D games of old and managing multi-member parties through various sticky situations. If you are looking for a similar experience, Jeanne D’Arc will not disappoint.
General Gameplay
Created by Level 5, Jeanne D’Arc allows you to take charge of up to 14 characters as you play out a typical “save your Country” scenario. But Jeanne D’Arc is anything but typical. Chosen by unknown voices to lead counter attacks against demonic forces of evil, Jeanne embarks on a wonderful journey through the French Countryside beating up on bad guys all over the place. During this journey she is joined by more than a few colorful companions.
Those of you familiar with Rogue Galaxy for the PS2 will be somewhat familiar with both the simplicity and the depth of gameplay typically offered by Level-5. While you can approach any particular battle with a simple mindset of “defeat the bad guys,” and get by, you can also delve much more deeply into the abilities of any particular character and the magic that abounds in Jeanne D’Arc.
The opening scene to Jeanne D’Arc is great. You are introduced to a few evil and good characters and given just enough information to get you started. There are cut-scenes scattered throughout (though thankfully they are not as long as in Rogue Galaxy), which help the story along. There is also a fair amount of cheesy dialogue between characters. Gems such as those below offer more than a good laugh as you progress:
Cheesy text lines aside, I don’t typically play an RPG for its stellar one-liners. I play an RPG to control tactics through choice of members of my party and in how I approach any particular battle. In this regard Jeanne D’Arc shines.
As you move through the French Countryside you travel through various towns and locations. These locations both carry on the storyline and offer you a chance to battle (either as part of the story or as free battle for upgrading purposes), trade or simply pass through (once you’ve passed through the story battles for that area). As a battle begins you are given a clear outline of what you must accomplish for victory and what will spell defeat.
As you begin a battle you are given the opportunity to equip the characters in your party with equipment, magic and other upgrades.
From here you are taken to the battle field where you can place units to start the battle.
As turn based combat, each turn for your characters offers the ability to do various things such as move, attack, use items, etc. The battlefield is laid out in a large grid. You move characters towards the enemy as they are moving towards you. You can use areas on the map to your advantage (choke points, etc.) and must always think about how the enemy will approach you as you approach them. As in all RPG’s, tactics plays a large roll in Jeanne D’Arc. You must always be aware of what it takes to win any particular battle, as well as the tools at your disposal to reach your goal.
The battles themselves will last a varied set amount of rounds. Some battles are limited by the amount of turns available for you to accomplish your goals. Others give you plenty of time to wipe out the enemies or proceed to the set area on the map.
As I started the game I found myself playing rather cautiously. I used general attacks and did not think too deeply about them. For those of us who open a game and immediately pop it in to start playing, Jeanne D’Arc thankfully offers a great in-game help system.
With these help screens you will learn how different weapons interact and when particular weapons are more effective. For example, a lance can attack across two squares and there is no counter attack. When attacking someone, you will want to hit them from the rear or a side to increase the damage dealt. Once attacked, the square behind an enemy will light up giving an attack bonus to anyone standing therein while attacking. You will want to set up your attacks to take advantage of these facts.
In addition to traditional fighting you also have skills and magical attacks. You can also develop and utilize spirit affinities to further increase your odds in battle. Spirit affinities are set up in a rock-paper-scissors arrangement with Sol being strong against Stella and weak against Luna, and Luna being strong against Sol and weak against Stella. If you want a deeper battle experience, you can use these affinities to your advantage during battle. If you just want to dive in and battle, you can ignore affinities completely.
Like a true RPG, you also level up your characters by winning battles (for experience), gaining gold (to purchase items), and training new skills. Skills are picked up during battle and any three can be equipped for a character during battle.
As turned based battles, the gameplay moves as fast or as slow as you choose. I thought out my moves carefully and overall did fairly well. I did lose a few battles but always learned what I did wrong and changed my tactics for the next go around. Thankfully the battles were not all simple. I was challenged in a good way and was happy for that.
Tech Specs
Jeanne D’Arc offers great graphics and sound. The map and locations are well laid out and the graphics are outstanding. The ambient sounds are spot on. I was playing late at night and thought there were crickets in my room. I didn’t even consider they were part of the game until I turned the game off and realized the sounds were gone!
Sounds for attacks and other items are fairly linear and repeated often enough that you get to know them, but not too often that they become annoying.
Overall Jeanne D’Arc is a beautiful game with rich and perfectly fitting sounds. Even the voice acting fits (while being cheesy as heck most of the time).
Game Rage
I admit it, I lost battles. I let certain characters in my party fall in battle. I am ashamed as a leader. But then again, if I hadn’t lost any battles and had breezed through the game I would have been disappointed and felt cheated. The gameplay gets progressively more difficult as the story progresses and your characters level up. I was forced to delve deeper into the battle mechanics as the game progressed. That being said, Jeanne D’Arc did not induce any rage, but simply provided a welcome challenge.
Butt Groove
There is many a butt groove in my furniture as a result of Jeanne D’Arc. When the story line isn’t making you laugh (at the cheesy lines), the battles have you thinking about how to approach them for hours. I find myself thinking back to battles I lost and trying to determine where I went wrong or what tactic I could have changed. My couch and various chairs in my house have a deep butt groove since Jeanne D’Arc entered my home. In fact, I haven’t even let my wife have the PSP back so she can play Soduko. Quite a feat indeed!
Bedtime Rating
Jeanne D’Arc is rated “T” for Teen. While I did not hear any bad words in the spoken cut-scenes, there were a few colorful phrases in the written text. Then again, if your kids can’t read, they wouldn’t know any difference. There are battles, however, and demons and companions falling in battle. While I cannot recommend that parents buy the game for their young children, the content appears tame enough.
Achievements
No achievement points per se, but a sense of achievement every time to you win a battle!
Multiplayer
Aside from the ability to customize and control up to 14 different characters and up to 7 different characters in any given battle (some battles are limited to less), there is no multiplayer game mode in Jeanne D’Arc.
Since the PSP is Wi-Fi enabled, it would have been great to allow your buddies and you to get together old-school D&D style with one Dungeon Master leading the party and the rest of the crew controlling the different characters in the party. While this may be a bit of a lofty request, it would have made for a much more social experience and likely a gaming phenomenon.
Conclusion
I have been waiting for two things for a long time. (1) A great RPG that will pull me in and keep me playing. (2) a great PSP game. Jeanne D’Arc delivers on both. For RPG fans or for those of you who have been waiting for a great PSP game, I heartily recommend Jeanne D’Arc.
Category Ratings General Gameplay 
Tech Specs Game Rage Butt Groove Bedtime Rating Achievements
N/A
Multiplayer Overall Couch Count: 4 out of 5
Linear Mode
