Jeanne D'arc
- Command up to 7 characters at a time and embark on a crusade in a 15th century fantasy setting of ogres, dragons and magical powers
- Explore ransacked villages and battlefields with visuals and cinematics that bring the world to life
- Tactics style action with unique team-based strategy of attacks and defenses
- Combine character skills to initiate special moves and generate powerful attacks
- Control up to seven characters during battle sequences
List Price: $ 29.99 Price: $ 8.40
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Finally a SRPG to make me glad I own a PSP!!,
With so many great looking RPG titles coming to my favorite handheld (the PSP) these past few months I have certainly had my hands full trying to play and complete them all (Hope I don’t get fired from my day job). Catching my attention this time is a “Level 5″ PSP exclusive title by the name of “Jeanne D’Arc.” This game is everything a Strategy RPG (SRPG) should be and more. Outstanding graphics, an intriguing story and an unbelievably easy pick up and play control scheme. So let get in to the particulars of this wonderful title…
Story: 8.0
The story, which is based very loosely on the story of Joan of Arc, because it is so loosely based on the real story, it is very entertaining. Jeanne D’Arcs’ story blends history and fantasy beautifully, it starts with a Young King Henry getting possessed by some demonic power. His father who possesses one of the five armlets that were created to defeat these demons centuries ago, tries to save him but is too late as the demon consumes King Henry. Then enter Jeanne a girl who witnesses her village being attacked by demons, comes across one of these armlets and also believes she hears a call from God instructing her to kill the demons that rampage her village. This ancient armlet is said to be able to transform it’s wearer into a great armored warrior. The story progresses mainly with three characters, Jeanne and her two friends Lianne and Roger. Many other characters throughout their journey are introduced and play apart in the main plot, but the majority of the time they are expendable at best. It is the three main characters and their interesting personalities; however that keep the story very interesting.
Graphics: 8.5
Jeanne D’ Arcs’ graphics are in a word, amazing. The 2D cel-shaded graphics used to bring the colorful and vibrant characters to life are absolutely gorgeous. The developers really impress by creating a product that can really show what the PSP is capable of. To start the adventure and throughout players are treated to some very beautiful anime cut-scenes, which are worthy of praise by any anime fanboy alive. This coupled with gorgeous backgrounds, magic spells, and Jeanne’s’ armlet transformations are enough to satisfy anyone craving some PSP eye candy. You honestly have to see this game in action to truly appreciate it; online screenshots do not do it any justice.
Sound: 7.5
Every thing as far as background music and battle sounds like arrows whipping and other attack sounds were great. If I was a little disappointed about anything though, it would have to be the voice acting or the lack there of. It would have been nice to here them shout out some of their battle cries as opposed to having to read them in a little bubble. This is a VERY minor complaint though; it just would have been nice to hear seeing as how the voice acting in the anime cut-scenes were so great. It is also a little unfortunate that the anime cut-scenes don’t include subtitles, because you’ll miss a lot of the story if you play with the sound off.
Gameplay: 10
This area is where Jeanne D’Arc shows that it belongs amongst the handheld Strategy RPG greats. I could not find any flaws in the gameplay, I repeat no flaws in the gameplay what so ever. This game competes with other Strategy RPGs, by using what has always worked. You’ll have at your disposable by mid game a small army, but in most cases you will only be able to take 6 in to battle. In some cases you may have less to choose because some characters are default depending on the battle. This of course adds to the tactical experience as to what members you want on the field and where to place them so you are victorious. Thankfully though the game allows you to re-visit some of the places you fought battles to make sure you can get to level up everyone in your party.
Like in any good SRPG these battles take place on a grid, and players are limited to a number of spaces they can move with an attack or use of an item/spell ends that characters turn. As players begin to find different characters with different weapons and abilities, the tactics will continue to change. Lancers, for example, can hit two spaces ahead of them, instead of one and Archers can attack from long distances causing more damage from above.
During battles, players can attack, use skills or cast magic spells. These skills can be added by collecting skill stones which players get when they defeat an enemy. Your characters can only carry six of these stones at any one time once again adding to your decision process before going in to battle, because there are more than a hundred of these stones in the game.With these stones you can choose different skills and put the on each of the characters before each battle. These skills can range from making stronger regular attacks, alter stats, or attack a number of enemies at once…
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|Great fun for tactics fans out there.,
There isn’t many tactics fans remaining, for the few us that remains, this is a great pickup. Since finishing up Advanced Wars on DS (which was awesome by the way), there hasn’t been a good tactics yet.
Got the PSP just for this game. Jeanne D’arc doesn’t break any new grounds, but everything it does, it does well. Music, Voice, Story, Controls, all very smooth and interesting, best of all, it brings back the good ol’ memory of FF Tactics.
Update – Just finished the game.
Wow, what an experience. One of the few games I’ve had the patience to finish thru completely. At first, the characters seems a bit bland, once you get past about level 20, then there is plenty of customization to do. Especially when you get the Bind Skill function, it adds a new level of customization.
Pros:
*Excellent story
*Controls are accurate, the rotating camera saves the day
*Plenty of customization
*Decent length, though when you play a good game, it’s never long enough
*Bargain price at $29.99, save $10 compared to the usual PSP releases
Cons: (it’s very minor)
*Kind of slow – The constant loading and final boss battle
*Some characters were never used, it was repetitive with others so that made them less useful
*Weapon – Whip, did anyone get to use this?
*Could of used few more extra side quests, battleground should of been a bit deeper.
Overall this is a great buy, now it’ll be really hard for D&D Tactics & FF Tactics to justify charging $10 more.
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|Strange but entertaining,
Jeanne D’Arc never tries too hard, and that’s what I found ultimately disappointing about the title.
The story, to begin with, never quite knows what it wants to do with itself. It begins by squinting at history and putting an interesting new fantasy spin on the old tale of St. Joan, but then decides to forget all that and obsess over a generic fantasy story replete with magic rocks, elves, and demons. Bizarre and imbalanced, you have tragic deaths alongside talking purple frogs, and historic acts of atrocity explained away by vaguely described rogue demons. While the characters are generally interesting and there’s a bit of growth as the story goes along, there’s no one in the cast we haven’t seen before in other games and stories.
The battle system is your standard SRPG fare, and rather watered down. Equipped elemental gems affect offense and defense but there are only three of them, reducing the system to an elementary game of rock, paper, scissors. Very simplified, the game lacks Disgaea’s geo panels and FFTactic’s job system, reducing customization to freely interchangeable stat stones that either give a spell, a special attack, or affect stats. The different characters have different base stats but deficiencies are pretty easily made up for with items that permanently raise certain stats. With battle so streamlined and options so very limited, the system seems like it was designed for younger gamers, making battles a breeze for anyone who’s finished FFTactics or Ogre Tactics. There’s an attempt to introduce artificial difficulty by limiting the number of turns available to finish a battle, but I never once reached this time limit.
Nevertheless, the game’s pretty fun thanks to very nice visuals and a catchy score. I’d recommend the game to anyone looking for a lighter, less strategic SRPG – an SRPG that can be picked up and played for ten minutes at a time while waiting for a bus.
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