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Beating it feels like a great accomplishment. For $20, this was a great investment. This was my first introduction into the RPG world, and i loved every minute of it. The graphics are tremendous (way better than FF Tactics, and Disgaeia), and the story line is creative. If you own a PSP, and never played this game, do yourself a favor and try it. The game came highly recommended and it didn't disappoint considering the only type of games i had previously played were action (God of War), shooters (Syphon Filter) and platformers (Daxter, Ratchet & Clank). I never spent more than 100 hours on my other games combined.The Turn-based strategy will stimulate your mind so that you feel like you are sometimes playing a game of chess.
To all those pointy-hat rpg fans out there (like me). But, what I can say is, this game has an engrosing storyline, together with very addictive gameplay and is just very well put together. considering buying this game; you know when you play an rpg and you are left with that 'oh i so want more.' or 'when's the sequel.' feeling when you complete it, well thats what Jeanne D'Arc gives you. Jeanne D'Arc is a very good tactical rpg. I am not gonna go one about every detail like others do, there are a 'few' flaws, but all games have them.
A note that, like other tactical RPG's, the battles can be short 10 minute affairs or longer 25-40 minute affairs--depends on a variety of factors so consider this aspect as well.The difficulty level is not really high--but there were places where underleveling could cause you major issues. After Avalon Code for the DS (which was very new, unique, and innovative although not a tactical game) I was ready for some good old fashioned tactical gameplay. Do yourself a favor and don't miss out on this one. Count me in as I'm all sorts of good with that.
That's o.k. At the current pricepoint this game would be my top pick (along with the 2 Star Ocean games and Brave Story) for the PSP in the field of RPG that someone without a ton of RPG experience should pick up. Jeanne D'Arc is a fabulous game. Everything about it just shines. Jeanne delivers in spades. Killing trolls, ogres, and mages.
I had a very tough time with the escort mission around Stage 10 but I went and leveled up and then it became doable for me. Gameplay is truly where this beauty of a game shines--the controls are exceptionally tight. My only (admittedly minor) complaints would be shopping for equiptment and weapons requires you to use the L/R button to scroll through characters and feels a bit awkward at first and that sometimes the little box on the left (your characters stats and info) that appears on the screen when you select that character for movement obscures your view of the field (they would have been better putting it on top left instead of bottom left). After that it is not difficult to pick up and play for whatever period you can--there are regular saves on the map and a quick save in battle. The graphics are excellent. I found it easy to get into--with a little more "meat" than some others--there is some story you have to get through the first hour or so and I recommend when you start you allocate like 2 hours for play time. It is true it doesn't stretch the genre (Tactical RPG) or provide anything really new or innovative.
The menu and battle systems are top notch--clear, easy to understand and use, and fairly intuitive. The story was interesting--it started off more historical but then threw a bunch of fantasy components in--so those who want a true historical game will be disappointed. with me because I just wanted to have loads of fun with a game and not with figuring out a new idea or concept. The cut scenes were extremely well done to include the voice acting (not so much common in RPG's).
They add a nice dynamic. Instead of earning larger and larger chunks of exp to fulfill larger and larger level requirements, Jeanne does everything on a base 100 system. The Story:Is corny, yes. There is music, a battle cry, and little twirling stars. That said, there are ways to avoid countering, through units like the mages, pikemen, and archers, which balances things nicely. Characters can be customized with weapons (pretty standard) and skill stones (tell me more).You want to know more.
And there are also things like burning auras and the unified defence. If you happen to be comparing it with moronically difficult SRPGs from days of yore. Personally, I don't have a problem with it. Then you'll be disappointed it isn't War of the Lions. Experience system: This is my favourite aspect of the game, which is why it gets its own section. Keep your standards at the video game writing level (that is three steps below the Nora Roberts level and one below the Twilight level) and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the story. Counter is in all caps because it is one of the things I look for in an SRPG.
The Bad: Can be described in one word: waiting. Load times to save annoy me. While nice to have, the armlet wielders are not essential to a good party. You can also create new skill stones through mixing your old ones. It's very nice. I sincerely hope every RPG after this will rip-off this system. Fine.
Each character has 5 or so skill slots (the characters grow more over time) in which you can place skill stones, granting them attacks and abilities, like more exp per enemy, health regeneration, and the ability to counter an attack without being hit. In Jeanne, your characters (and their enemies) won't sit around like passive babies and let the enemy hit them; they'll hit back. "It's too eeeeeaasssy" they snivel. I didn't know how awesome this system was at first, and when I found out (by creating an HP recovery III stone) I nearly wet my pants.There are also five armlets given to, predictably, five characters, granting them the ability to change into demi-gods with big attack boosts and the ability to continue their turn if they kill an enemy. Think of something more difficult than pokemon, but not as crazy as FFT. Jeanne lacks the job classes of FFT, but makes up for it with its 14 characters.
Yes it is a mockery of history, yes the twist is predictable, yes the writers decided to write Colet's accent phonetically, yes Gilvaroth is every fantasy villain personified, but in a world where Fallout 3 can get nominated for a writing award, Jeanne D'arc is storytelling GOLD. Jeanne D'arc's difficulty is actually at a nice level for modern games; you can progress through the story without taking a break to mine exp. As far as Strategy Role Playing Games go, Jeanne doesn't go much outside the tried and true formula. In a lot of SRPGs, you send your character out at his/her own risk. Anime cut-scenes are well-done and the pictures that accompany the dialogue bubbles are always welcome. Also, if you decide to equip HP recovery stones on all of your characters (as I did) you'll be doing a lot of waiting. You use them. You'll probably like it.
5 exp. The higher the level you are, the less exp creatures give you. Thrown together, they form their own sort of rough job classes, and while you cannot change the class of each character, you can customise each class to reflect what you want (Screw everyone else; Colet and Jeanne get the exp). Battles are fought on closed grids with each character moving 5-9 spaces, depending on how you customize them.
The conclusion:This is the best SRPG I've played so far. I love pictures. A lot of the whiners grew up with FFT, and that's okay, but what you should realise is that FFT is a very poor benchmark for a modern game (you'll know why if you've played anything over a decade old). This is important.
The game offers a very polished take on the SRPG genre, but is bogged down by a few aspects.Difficulty:A lot of people whine about the difficulty of Jeanne D'arc. If the enemy can reach them, they get a free hit. For being challenging without making me waste my time on stupid random battles, Jeanne gets an A+ for difficulty.Customisation:Another area where there is much whining is customisation. Unless you're an FFT fanboy directed here from War of the Lions. I won't judge you.
If you're an RPG developer and you're reading this, please steal this system for your game. I'm here to say that Jeanne D'arc is, in fact, an easy game. Jeanne packs a lot of challange if you decide to abstain from free battling for exp. Battle: Is standard SRPG battle with COUNTER.
It is every fantasy cliché rolled into one. But they're no counter. That's 5% of a level. I love it. And when you have 5 characters out, it can get very tedious. You need 100 exp to graduate a level. At the beginning of each turn, you have to watch about a 5 second animation of your character healing. Because forcing players to spend time fighting meandering battles on a different tangent than the story is so 90s.
You like them. I loved the system because it let you see how quickly you were progressing. You have your mages (for magic stuff), your archers (for archery), your pikemen (for attacking two squares ahead), your thief (for sneakiness and evadiness), your therions (for SMASHING), and your typical soldiers (for awesomeness). I got along fine ignoring 4/5 of them.
The anime cutscenes are very well animated too.The game can get frustrating though.I just cannot stand the escort missions. Its not your traditional srpg story. One of the better things I liked about it was that dialog wasnt just portraits of characters talking to each other all the time with a lame picture of scenery (which I cant stand). To be honest I really didnt care much for Joan of Arc stories during history class, but this game made it way more interesting even though it has fictional monsters in it.
I got this game maybe a month ago and I love it. You will not get to control whoever you escort. It actually shows character models with body language in 3d. Its very addicting and will keep you busy on a long ride.
Its a really simple SRPG system as well. Sometimes they end up walking straight towards enemies, end up getting killed and MISSION FAILED.All in all I like this game alot and its totally worthy of a buy. The story is neat and different. Its actually based on Joan of Arc.
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