Jeanne d’Arc, a PSP game that combines tactical RPG gameplay with French history?!
The latest PSP title I’ve recently played through over the last several weeks is the classic tactical RPG, Jeanne d’Arc. The game was developed by Level-5, the Japanese studio behind such monster franchises as the Professor Layton series and the latest Dragon Quest games, Dragon Quest VIII and Dragon Quest IX. How did their first ever game in this genre and on the PSP turn out?
Joan of Arc?
Jeanne d’Arc is loosely based on the story of Joan of Arc, the French peasant girl who claimed to hear voices of God and led armies of France to many victories during the Hundred Years’ War between the French and the English. In Jeanne d’Arc, the primary character, Jeanne, pretty much a similar tale of French warriors banding against the English, but certain fantasy liberties are taken all presented in a Japanese anime-style format. The biggest difference between the game and history is that in the game, the English enlisted the aid of a demonic army all under control by a young King Henry VI.
The historical significance of the game is that several of the main characters in the game were all based on the real life historical figures, such as Gilles de Rais, La Hire, and John of Lancaster. The mixture of real historical figures and fiction do blend well to create an entertaining tale.
The story of Jeanne d’Arc is told through the in-game engine and anime cutscenes.
Why I Love This Game
Here are several substantial reasons why I found the game so enjoyable:
1. Actual Characters
In so many tactical RPGs I play these days (all starting with the original Final Fantasy Tactics), the members in your party have no personality and no character. They are randomly generated, can be assigned any job role, and then you just design them how you see fit. While some enjoy that freedom to turn their entire army into a squad of whatever over-powered class you can think of, I’ve always appreciated in RPGs the concept of classes and the inability to modify them. Such is the case with Jeanne d’Arc, which presents a roster of historical and fictional characters that join Jeanne’s cause and all have their own unique personality and class. This allows us to really grow attached to the characters, as we see them both during the cutscenes and during the gameplay. If you love playing RPGs where there are actually set characters you can get behind, Jeanne d’Arc delivers here.
2. Simple, Yet Elegant Tactical Gameplay
One of the things I love most about Jeanne d’Arc is that it allows me to play a tactical RPG game without going overboard. In other tactical RPGs there are all sorts of extra features and/or limitations that don’t necessarily make the game better. In Disgaea, you have the ability to throw opponents, you have to worry about chaining different colored squares on the level grid, etc. In the new Final Fantasy Tactics Advance tactical RPGs, we have Judges enforcing random Laws during each encouter so if you attack with swords in a level where it is against the Law, you get penalized. In FIre Emblem, if one of your party members dies on the board, they are dead forever and gone for good. What is all this? Do people find all of these extra limitations and features fun? I just want to play a tactical RPG like the good old days, and Jeanne d’Arc allows for that: pick a team, set them out on the board and have them just swap turns with the enemy units until one side is victorious. Unlike other tactical RPG games I’ve played, there aren’t dozens and dozens of tutorials to have to go through to understand how to play the game. Jeanne d’Arc keeps it simple, and it plays like a dream.
3. Plenty of Loot and Abilities to Find and Customize
Part of what makes Jeanne d’Arc so enjoyable is that gear is traditionally gear. There’s no finding resources and saving them up to build new armor or weapons (a time sink made popular by games like Monster Hunter) – you can buy new gear from shops or find them as drops and quest rewards throughout the game. The gear is simple and easy to understand, as it simply boosts stats that are understandable and straight-forward.
Outside of gear, there are also abilities that you can equip on characters. These abilities range from class specific ones for fighters, mages, archers, etc. that are unique to their class, or more general ones such as adding extra movement slots, extra hit points, increased experience point gain, etc. While the characters are set in their specific class, their equipment and abilities can be completely customized. An additional layer of depth is added to the management of abilities through the fact that you can combine abilities to make new ones. Sometimes this is the only way to find more advanced abilities, such as combining two level 1 Fireball spells to make a Fireball 2 spell.
Jeanne d’Arc navigates through the different stages via an overhead map.
Final Thoughts
Jeanne d’Arc to tactical RPGs is like World of Warcraft to MMORPGs – it is done so well that it’s basically a perfect game for its genre. It doesn’t go crazy trying to go over the top, and simply executes what it is supposed to be to perfection. What I love most about Jeanne d’Arc is that it is a simple, straightforward, yet well done tactical RPG told through an interesting tale. If you enjoy tactical RPGs of any sort, definitely check out Jeanne d’Arc. It’s already nearly 4 years old on the aging PSP, but it still is one of the top games on the system and one of the best tactical RPGs I’ve ever played.
Final Grade: A
