I N F O S O B R E D E M O
Desde hace unas semanas está disponible en toda USA una Demo del juego en inglés, que te dan gratuitamente en las tiendas de juegos como EBGames o Gamespot. En dicha demo se pueden jugar a dos niveles, uno el primero de todos y otro en la mitad del juego.
En ella podemos aprender algunas de las técnicas de batalla, como las transformaciones, la defensa conjunta o los puntos de ataque. Para quien quiera ver "en directo" como es el juego, solo tiene que probar dicha demo, que yo me he completado unas cuantas veces ya :P
R E V I E W S
IGN escribió:When it comes to French history, one of the largest legends for the country revolves around the tale of Joan of Arc. A young girl who believed she heard the voice of God, she managed to unite the country and eventually toss the invading English forces out of the country. But not many people know that she was aided with the help of mystical armlets, or that the English used hordes of monsters to subjugate the French countryside. At least, you wouldn't know it unless you played Jeanne d'Arc, Level-5 and Sony Computer Entertainment's alternate take on the classic tale, which is one of the best tactical strategy RPGs released on a handheld in recent history.
The premise behind Jeanne d'Arc starts much earlier than the Hundred Years War with an ancient battle known as the War of the Reapers. Humanity joined forces to fight a demon lord, and it was only with the help of five holy armlets and sacred gems that they were able to seal the monstrous power and its army away. Unfortunately, the evil was never fully destroyed, and as centuries passed, the opportunity for the demon lord to return became easier and easier. During the Hundred Years War between France and England, the Duke of Bedford manages to release the ancient evil, placing its spirit within Henry the VI. Hoping to wield the spirit's power through the king, Bedford unleashes a horde of creatures under the control of English commanders to crush the French countryside and its army. One of the first villages to suffer this assault is Domremy, which is the home of Jeanne d'Arc. While the attack seems overwhelming, Jeanne discovers one of the holy armlets from the War of the Reapers at the same time she hears the voice of God. As a result, Jeanne decides to throw out the English from her country, rallying the people behind her.
Fortunately, Jeanne finds that she isn't alone in her quest to rid her motherland of English reign. Initially, she starts out with two friends from her village, Liane and Roger, to help her spread the word, but she quickly gains allies that share her vision of a liberated France. Interestingly, not all of her party will be solely human; Jeanne will gain the help of mystical creatures like elves and beast men known as Therions as she battles across the land and eventually grows her allies to 14 distinctive warriors. Each one has their own unique personality quirks, such as a young archer that constantly bestows nicknames, a knife wielder that speaks with an over-exaggerated French accent, and a dog-faced Therion that sounds suspiciously like Scooby Doo. Each character has a specific weapon type they're allowed to equip, such as lances, axes or bows, which dictates various offensive attacks and limitations. For instance, lancers can attack from two spaces away, but cannot wield shields due to the two-handed nature of their weapon. The weapon classification also dictates the nature of the abilities that each character can wield within fights.
Whereas most strategy or RPG titles allow party members to acquire new abilities and powers as they level up their characters, Jeanne d'Arc takes a different approach to abilities. Characters never actually learn a static set of skills throughout the title; instead, their powers are enabled via magical items known as skill stones. There are four different colored kinds of stones that you can acquire: red, green, purple and blue. Red stones provide class specific attack abilities and finishing moves, such as multiple strikes with a weapon or specialized blows. Green stones imbue the user with magical abilities, such as the option to cast fireballs or lightning strikes. Purple stones provide class specific skills, such as the ability to immediately counter incoming melee attacks, while blue stones provide status boosts, such as increasing a character's attack power or increasing their hit points.
Now, the skill system is incredibly flexible for two primary reasons. The first reason is that before every single battle, you can change and tailor each character's individual skill set to make them much more capable of succeeding in a fight. For instance, if you feel like making one character a support character, casting plenty of healing and defensive spells, that can easily be done. Of course, you can balance things out by providing each character with a measured amount of offensive and defensive skills and send them out to the battlefield, making minor adjustments before every single fight. These changes can be further augmented with the inclusion of spirit affinities, which can impart one of three different "elemental" powers: Sol, Stella and Luna. The three act in a rock-paper-scissors setup, such as Sol being stronger than Stella and weaker than Luna. By equipping one of these elemental stones, you can increase the power of certain attacks and decrease damage taken from enemies.
The other reason behind the system's flexibility is that you can easily combine the skill stones that you acquire to gain new skills or abilities. Players that have been familiar with previous Level-5 games know that combining items is a major part of the game experience, and Jeanne d'Arc is no different. Cuisses, the French frog that becomes part of your party early on, can perform an action known as Skill Binding, where he takes two stones and merges them to form a new stone. The game will keep track of any recipes that you've created just in case you want to create another copy after you gained new raw materials. With more than 150 different Skill Stones that can be acquired via fallen opponents, stores, battle objectives or Skill Binding, there are plenty of skills to be discovered for use in battle situations, even if you are limited to a total of six equipped skills at any point.
Speaking of battle, players will consistently find themselves taking on missions that bring them to battlefields in-between the various story events and equipping of characters at shops. However, not every mission is an eliminate all monsters on the field situation; Jeanne d'Arc mixes up the gameplay by throwing in different objectives, such as escort missions from one area to another, protecting specific items or locations or successfully getting your party to an escape point when odds are against them. You'll also be tasked with avoiding failure conditions, such as losing a single ally in battle. While that may seem somewhat normal when compared to other strategy titles, Jeanne d'Arc further keeps players constantly on their toes by forcing them to complete their objectives within a pre-determined number of turns. This prevents players from playing the game at a leisurely pace by slowly picking enemies off one by one, and ensures that each fight will be fast and furious, as well as challenging. Monsters will often use their ranged attacks, keep their weaker magic users at a distance and frequently go after your weaker party members, which will force you to rethink your strategy and placement if you want to survive a fight.
Battles initially start by placing characters upon the battlefield, either to support pre-selected fighters or to tactically take pre-determined areas. Depending upon the mission, you'll be able to field up to seven characters of your choosing to fight for you. Obviously, players can choose to use their best fighters during every single battle, constantly improving their stats and strengthening these characters. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about having a second string of useless warriors, as each unused character shares from a general experience bonus that you receive at the end of each successful battle, which will help to keep most fighters relatively close to each other level-wise. What's more, if you do decide to send a frequently unused character to the wolves, finishing off a monster or enemy soldier with them will result in an experience bonus, which may be useful for characters looking to quickly gain levels.
One tactic that will help your party members, regardless of their level, is the Burning Aura support tactic. Whenever players attack an enemy, a circular aura of energy is projected behind the target, further providing a reason to initially attack opponents from the flank or the rear to gain an advantage in battle. The Burning Aura intensifies both the likelihood of successfully landing an attack on a target as well as the amount of damage from a strike. What's more, if a party member happens to be behind the target when a Burning Aura is triggered, they can pick up and carry the aura with them, allowing them to maneuver to the best location to use the augmented attack. There are two caveats to this system, however, that help to balance out players that consistently spawn these energy fields. The first is that you only have a limited amount of time to use the Auras before they dissipate. Each one lasts for a single turn, and while they can be saved to help power up counter attacks whenever the enemy has control of the battlefield, once you take the field again, any pre-existing auras disappear. The other tweak is that monsters can take advantage of any Auras that you inadvertently create, so you need to be careful of spawning too many, or they may come back to bite you.
Fortunately, players can somewhat protect themselves from being decimated by enemy attacks or misplaced Auras by the use of the Unified Guard defense tactic. Simply put, characters gain a defensive bonus based on the number of friendly party members that are nearby. You don't have to be physically standing shoulder to shoulder in a line to receive this bonus either; characters can be diagonally nearby to one another in relative proximity to strengthen the defense against any melee attacks. While the Unified Guard doesn't protect against area or magical attacks, it can sometimes be the difference between life and death in most battles, particularly when you're waiting for your skill points to replenish themselves so you can trigger an attack, spell or innate ability. See, at the beginning of every battle, all of your characters are curbed to a set number of skill points, which dictates whether they'll initially be able to pull off a basic skill or not. As each turn continues, their skill points are constantly replenished, which forces players to wait a bit longer to pull off more powerful attacks.
Similarly, characters that happen to have the holy amulets slowly acquire spirit points which can be used to unlock the power of the mystical devices, transforming them into holy warriors with special powers. These changing states, which are dictated by sacred gems placed into the various amulets, provide your characters with unique skills that allow them to land heavy damage at a high skill point cost. There is one bonus to transforming your characters, however; any enemy that is defeated by a changed party member provides you with a free turn to move that character into position to attack a different opponent. This means that if your party sufficiently weakens enough monsters around them, a transformed character can mow down multiple enemies in the same battle sequence. Even though the amount of time that a character can be transformed is limited to two or three battle turns, this is perhaps the one facet of the game that is radically unbalanced. A character can potentially smash through every enemy by themselves in certain stages, seriously weakening some of the challenge that you might face on a battlefield.
Once you've cleared a battlefield and received that stage's rewards, you have the option to return to that area to take part in free battles. Unrelated to advancing the story, characters can take these fights to level up weaker characters or use them as a practice arena to try out new arrangements of skill stones for parties. For the most part, your parties should be able to walk through these areas rather easily, although there are some exclusive free battle areas that are designed to seriously challenge even the strongest party. While these fields come stocked with high-level monsters, there's a definite bonus to fighting your way through each space, as you can earn rare items and stones by successfully completing them (if you manage to survive, that is). The same can be said of the coliseum that you unlock midway through the game, which throws you into ten consecutively harder battles. While it's a challenge to survive these optional fights, the rewards are definitely worth it.
Regardless of whether you embark on these optional battles or follow the engaging storyline from start to finish, you'll experience a visually striking anime-influenced world. Characters are eye-catching and distinctive, from their character models to their attack animations, including some special moves that project large shards of energy from the ground or propel characters into the air. The same can be said of the enemies that you face off against, with everything from obese dark elves and pig-faced orcs to massive dragons and towering golems. The game features a number of animated cutscenes that transition between in-game story elements, and while the cutscenes are incredibly crisp, some of the in-game visuals can sometimes appear pixilated, which throws off the beauty of the title. Most of this pops up when you're zoomed in tight on a character or during an animated attack that is hidden behind an environmental object, but since you can easily readjust the responsive camera, this isn't a serious issue.
The voice acting also manages to back up the gameplay quite nicely, with a balanced performance from all of the characters. The actors manage to deliver their lines with a French accent that isn't too subdued or over-exaggerated. Since it's spread out between cutscenes, it's a nice addition to the gameplay. The sound effects are quite nice as well, with resounding clangs, crackles and other effects representing successful hits or spells being cast. If there were a fault with the sound portion of the game, it would have to come with the music, which can get a bit repetitive. The battle theme, in particular, you may find yourself becoming bored with after you've heard it fifteen or twenty times in a row.
Closing Comments
Extremely deep gameplay. Balanced tactical strategy and fast paced action with rich game mechanics. An intriguing twist on a well known tale. These three statements only scratch the surface of Jeanne d'Arc, which manages to deliver on all of these fronts. Packed with challenging strategic play and tactical action, Level-5's latest title is a phenomenal game that will keep you engaged for hours. If you've been eagerly awaiting a game to end the Strategy RPG drought on the PSP, look no further: your title has arrived.
9.0 Presentation
A unique twist on a classic story, Jeanne d'Arc merges fantasy elements with historical action to create a unique experience.
9.5 Graphics
Visually impressive with animated cutscenes, eye catching characters and great animations, the pixilated issues are a minor snag on an otherwise excellent title.
9.0 Sound
Voice acting and sound effects are excellent. Unfortunately, the music can be quite repetitive.
9.0 Gameplay
With the exception of transformed characters sometimes being too powerful, Jeanne d'Arc is an extremely balanced strategy RPG.
9.5 Lasting Appeal
The skill binding system and free battles, coupled with the various combinations of parties and skills you can use, will keep you busy for quite a while.
FINAL ---> 9.0
GameVortex escribió: Graphics & Sound:
I've been going out on a limb lately with a few reviews. About a month or so ago, I brashly proclaimed Persona 3 to be one of the best RPGs to hit the PS2. Well, I'm at it again, only this time I'm upping the ante a bit; Jeanne d'Arc isn't just the best Strategy RPG (or RPG) on the PSP, but one of the best to come out for any console.
Visuals are the first thing that really pops out about Jeanne d'Arc. The game opens with a beautifully animated sequence that fills you in on the game's backstory and introduces you to Jeanne and other supporting characters. This transitions to cel-shaded in-game visuals that come really close to matching the animated intro. Though they aren't a perfect match, the use of color and general style flow and work together really nicely.
Sound follows the visuals perfectly. Most story sequences are well-voiced and the writing is really good. The accents manage to sound appropriate to their country of origin while not sounding like a stereotype. Music is equally appropriate and always fits the situation perfectly.
Gameplay:
Jeanne d'Arc is a loose retelling of the legend of Joan of Arc, the girl who united France and crowned the dauphin. Jean still finds herself receiving a holy mandate, leading the French against the English and crowning the dauphin; however, this retelling also ties in a number of fantasy elements such as beast-men, elves and magical armor.
Playing as Jeanne, you lead a rag-tag band of soldiers on a mission to not only run the English out of France, but defeat a mysterious demon king who was banished long ago by a group of heroes. The characters that make up your army all have their own distinct personalities as well as weapon types. Although you can equip more powerful weapons throughout the game, units can only use a particular type of weapon that defines their play style. Swordsmen can only attack from close range, while those equipped with pikes or bows have a little more range to their attacks.
Battles take place on a grid-based map, similar to other Strategy RPGs. You can rotate the camera around the map or zoom in or out. Both are very important since battles rarely take place on a flat field - and even then there's usually some sort of set piece present to give it some character. Battlefields are never so complicated that you can't see what is going on, though there is usually a lot going on. Even the more "cluttered" fields are still clear thanks to the game's clean, colorful visuals.
One addition Jeanne d'Arc brings to the genre is the turn counter. You are typically given a limited number of turns to complete your mission. This greatly affects how you approach battles since there are times where you simply can't defeat everyone on the screen, instead forcing you to develop new strategies. This also helps speed up the game's pacing, something that plagues many Strategy RPGs. You'll also earn mana with each passing turn, further quickening the pace.
Two other notable additions are the guard and aura abilities. When characters are grouped together, they receive a defensive bonus. The ability is very useful, though it leaves you wide open for attacks with a wide Area of Effect. Another addition is the aura system that leaves an "echo" of an attack behind an enemy. If one of your characters is standing in the aura (which only lasts until the end of your turn), they receive an attack bonus.
While the bulk of your troops are typical soldiers, you will also recruit a few special units who are armed with special armlets that allow them to transform into powerful characters. Transformed characters can quickly turn the tide of battle; they can usually either kill or heavily damage characters in one hit and, if they do manage to kill an enemy, they get an extra turn. The trade-off is that you need to "warm-up" these characters before you can use them by using them in battle. In addition, the power only lasts a few turns. The only downside is that your transforming characters will quickly out-level your other troops, which can lead to some bad situations if you aren't careful.
Difficulty:
Although Jeanne d'Arc is a Strategy RPG, a genre that is typically one of the least friendly types for newcomers to get into, Jeanne d'Arc manages to provide a game that is easy for anyone to get into, though still challenging enough for long-time fans. The difficulty can't be adjusted, though the game manages to stay on-pace with your party's level progression. There are few "cake-walk" battles, though you will rarely face a number of really hard battles one after another.
Even the most difficult of missions can be completed by simply changing tactics which are defined by mission goal. A mission may require that a certain character make it to a specific point on the map, so your goal should be to get that character where he needs to be rather than focusing on clearing a map of enemies.
Game Mechanics:
Although your character's main form of attack is limited by their weapon type, Jeanne d'Arc features a flexible ability system that lets you expand how each is used in battle. Ability gems, which can be looted or stolen from enemies, can be equipped and grant any number of special abilities. Some grant passive abilities like stat boosts while others allow the use of magic or special attacks. Characters can only equip a limited number of gems, though the number does go up as they level, giving you enough room to experiment.
Selecting which gems you give to characters will also depend on their alignment. Some are better suited as spell casters, so you'll want to give them the better gems. At the same time, you may want to have a healing spell attached to a warrior just in case. You can also use stat boosting gems to balance out a unit's inherent weakness. Gems can even be combined to create better ones, but you'll have to give up two gems to do so, which can be a little risky.
In addition to adding abilities, you can also alter a character's alignment to one of three elements. Strengthening an alignment to one type will, of course, make that character weak to another, though it can really help during some battles.
Except for a few minor balance issues (mainly in regards to transforming charcters), there is little that Jeanne d'Arc does that doesn't work. Though I usually don't suggest Strategy RPGs to those who aren't a fan of the genre, Jeanne d'Arc is something that should appeal to much broader audience. Granted, it won't appeal to everyone, but if what you've read interests you, it is definitely something to check out.
[bFinal Score ---> 97% out 100%[/b]
GameSpy escribió:There are a lot of obvious things to complain about with Sony's new handheld RPG. Jeanne d'Arc departs from its historical context of the girl who crowned the dauphin early, despite the fact that you will, actually, crown the dauphin. Characters can't switch weapons, limiting how they can be deployed. And true success requires the repeating of fights to harvest experience points and other resources. Those points acknowledged, Jeanne d'Arc is as extraordinarily potent an experience as its namesake and Level-5 has another powerful general in its struggle for RPG supremacy.
The Sword of God
As mentioned in our previews, Jeanne d'Arc is a retelling of the legendary story of Joan of Arc, retold in a world where beast-men (Therions) and elves fight alongside humanity. Pushed to the corners and crooks of history by humanity, the elves and Therions are joined by orcs, dark elves, necromancers, and other assorted regulars of the fantasy world monster circuit in filling the ranks of both the English and French forces.
A demon king lurks in the corners of the world, having been defeated and banished from the land by five heroes one generation before. It's a world even more conflict ridden than actual historical France during Jeanne's time, which makes it a perfect fit for a strategy RPG. Your ever-expanding selection of warriors distinguish themselves by the weapon type they wield, chosen primarily from knives, axes, swords, bows, lances, or staves. Each has its own unique set of advantages and disadvantages, alterations to the character's base damage, critical hit chance, accuracy, and range.
You can't change the weapon a character wields, but that's a lot less important than it sounds. Weapons are, essentially, a core part of the characters' abilities. Instead, you can set the various abilities they possess for a dreamy level of customization. Although you gain more ability slots as you level characters up, you'll never have enough for everything you want your warriors to be able to do, nor enough ability gems to fill those slots.
Basically, when you beat an enemy (or rob them), they'll drop ability gems (merchants sell some sub-par ones for excessive amounts of cash). These are either weapon-specific active or passive abilities, magic spells, or passive boosts. A good example is compass -- the axe ability that costs you energy but attacks everyone around you -- but only an axe wielder can equip it. They can also equip desperation, a passive axe wielder ability that reduces their defense but raises their attack capacity.
Anyone can equip the healing or attack spells, but you'll probably want your high magic users to get the cherries of the lot. On the other hand, you may want your high hit points, low magic Therion to have that heal, since they'll live long enough to insure it gets cast. Lastly, passive stat boosts can help specialize a character (like a +5 attack for our axe wielder) or help cover their weakness (like a +10 mana for our healing Therion).
The customization options don't really include weapons or armor, sadly. The only real choice there is to buy the best, as quickly as possible. But they do include which gems you choose to merge with each other. Mixing gems together can create new ones of previously undreamt of power (hello, +30 mana) but it means giving up two gems for one, and experimenting with new combinations may cost you a rare favorite. You can just save before you experiment, but that's a cheap way to play.
The Scythe of the Lord
And one more layer adds to the customization tree, as you can use Sol, Stella, or Luna stones to align a character to one of those three elements. That renders her weak against one, and strong against the other. It's a gamble, but adding elemental affiliations to characters before a battle can be key to beating certain fights. But expose the weakened character to their antithesis element, and the affiliations can be key to the AI's victory.
Before you do any customization, you'll get to experience one of the most, most cogent stories told in a tactical RPG. It's not the deep drama of a Final Fantasy nor the open-world scope of an Elder Scrolls, but it is a strongly told tale. Crafted in both exquisite anime cut scenes and talking-head interludes, the story of Jeanne and her companions is none the worse for being told in a world of elves and possessed kings.
Once you've gotten your party ready, you'll bring between two and seven of them into combat. Based on a square grid and a 3D engine, manipulating and controlling the field of battle is a dream. The two zoom levels are just right, getting to a view that gives you the information you need is intuitive and fast, and the menu selections are all easy to get to. Jeanne will make you appreciate a well-designed UI and camera system, particularly if you've played EA's The Lord of the Rings PSP tactical RPG.
Jeanne will also help you appreciate the importance of design; each enemy and ally is beautifully detailed and easy to pick out. You won't spend time squinting or zooming in when you least want to to try and figure out who is who, and although the design of the characters is a bit goofy to us (they're big headed), it works within their cartoon world. The sound is up tot he same quality standards. Special moves give you a second or two of animation, insuring that you get some small reward for daring, but also keeping combat moving at a brisk pace.
Once you're in combat, the easiest innovation to spot is the turn counter. Usually, you have no more than 20 turns, each split into your phase and the enemy's, to achieve victory. Missions where time is limited might only give you ten; missions that are intended to be savage might give you 30. This helps the game's pacing immensely, even when you finish well before the time limit: turtling just isn't an option. Since you gain mana points for your spells and abilities every turn, keeping the player from turtling is even more necessary.
In combat, the enemy forces show a combination of tactical cunning and savage blood thirst. Enemies will group up on a weakened foe, clog choke points by stunning your troops and raining damage down, keep their magic users just at attack range, and mercilessly hammer down special attacks. Their bloodthirsty definitely makes victories sweeter.
The Grave of Heaven
There are a few missteps within that AI, though. Primarily, it just isn't aggressive enough, letting some troops hang back when pressing the attack could win victory. It's easy to say that, though, when we've spent a good ten hours mercilessly re-fighting old battles using the open combat option, grinding up levels and ability gems. And even with that grinding, when the story moves from one chapter to the next, we found a very satisfying increase to the difficulty curve. Our first encounter with dragons, for example, was our last mercifully quickly.
Changes to the formula include burning auras and the unified guard, as well as transforming heroes. Burning auras are spots opposite an enemy you've struck that turn in melee. Attack using them and your damage is increased drastically. Unified guard kicks when your characters are adjacent to each other drastically increases their defense against physical attacks. One encourages skirmishing and loose formations; the other tight, slow formations. They don't turn the combat upside down, but they add substantial layers to fights.
Some of your characters will have magical armlets, which allow them to transform into more powerful fighters for a limited amount of turns once per battle, per transformation type (each armlet will eventually allow three transformations, with leveling up). The transformation is moderately powerful, but its real push comes from the fact that if you kill an enemy while transformed, the character gains an immediate extra turn, with no limit.
Since killing enemies is the best way to get experience, you'll find your transforming characters' power rapidly outstripping the rest of your troops. Fortunately, even a small level advantage drastically reduces the experience gained in combat. That keeps your armored juggernauts from pulling too far ahead, while keeping the focus on them. Since they're the "heroes" of the story, it's a fair cop.
The tactical RPG is a tough genre to gush emotionally about, as slow-paced and deliberate as it is. But Jeanne manages to capture perfectly what we want from a tactical RPG: to make us care about the characters through a well-done but not distracting story; to give us enough choices in customization to make preparing for battle and spending our resources meaningful; and in providing us with battles that feel like certain doom from the first turn, even after we've won dozens of them.
Pros
Character customization; story; graphics and sound; cutscene quality; quality changes to formula.
Cons
No difficulty options; limits to customization; not enough arms and armor choices.
FINAL ---> 4.5 / 5 (9.0)
GameZone escribió:There was a time when a vile demon king had risen up to terrorize the country. Five heroes countered the hell-spawned threat, using armlets imbued with the power of God. But as time passed, things changed. One of the heroes is now the “uncle” and advisor to the boy-king of England. It is his desire that the young king lives forever and rule supreme. To that end, the English have begun a campaign to conquer France, using all manner of creature – from beasts to elves.
But it was not enough. The advisor decided that for his king to rule forever, the old power of the demon must be called forth, and the boy used as a vessel for that demon king. There were few to oppose the plan, and the one that did was quickly and quietly disposed of.
However, even the best-laid plans can sometimes be put awry by unexpected resistance from unlikely places. One of the ancient wristlets fell into the hands of a young French girl, who used it to call upon the powers of Heaven to encase her in ethereal armor, unleashing powerful attacks upon the enemies of her homeland.
Jeanne D’Arc is a tactical role-playing game from Level 5, published by SCEA and released on the PSP handheld system. The game has approximately 40 hours of gameplay, with 14 playable characters and the ability to customize them. Death is simply a matter of not finishing the level and gaining the experience bonus awarded at the successful conclusion of the stage.
The backdrop for this tale is the Hundred Year War between France and England. The story is loosely based on the exploits of the French heroine, Jeanne D’Arc (known by the English name of Joan of Arc). The story begins in a small French village where a young girl and her friend (Liane) are asked to deliver herbs to a local church. They are almost there when a sound comes from the forest. A knight rides out of the woods, injured, and he falls to the ground at the foot of the church. Tied to his waist is a satchel, emitting a glow. The young woman, Jeanne, reaches her hand tentatively toward the satchel, drawn on by the glow. Something snakes from the bag and wraps around her wrist, glowing brightly. She is alarmed, naturally, but unhurt. When the glow stops, she finds that a wristlet has attached itself to her.
No time to admire it, foul creatures attack and a voice (which the young Jeanne calls the Voice of the Lord) tells her to grab the fallen knight’s sword and attack. She does and quite successfully, too. It is not until the next battle, in the burned-out village of her family, that the wristlet shows its power, transforming Jeanne’s humble clothes into a brilliant armor, bearing some resemblance to what one might suppose an avenging angel would wear. She is well protected and a formidable force, now set on the path to ruin the plans of the demon-imbued boy-king.
Told through cut scenes, done is the typical Japanese anime style, the game has a building curve, taking the player deeper into the tale. You will gain more companions on the journey, but can only place five into a battle (at the start of the fight).
The combat phase, itself, is pretty straightforward. The battleground begins with a load-out section, in which you can change weapons or armor, or even distribute skills to those in the group. Then an area lights up and allows you to place five members of your troupe into the scenario. There are conditions for the battle and then it begins. You get a chance to move each of your team. When they are selected, you are given a grid over the landscape, which shows the extent of their movement. You move, can decide whether to attack, use a skill (which drains a bar that is equivalent to mana), use an item from your inventory – like a healing herb, or wait. Once you have gone through all of that, your turn ends. An attack will sometimes lead to a counterattack, depending on the type of unit you are attacking. If, for example, you get within one square of an archer and melee attack, the archer – needing to be two squares away for the bow to be of use – will not retaliate.
Jeanne also has the ability to transform into her heavenly armor. However, she can only do this once within a scenario, and the power of the armor lasts only a few turns. If, though, she attacks an enemy, and kills it, she gets a bonus that basically gives her another turn. This is demonstrated effectively in an early level where you can plot your moves and take out quite a good portion of the enemy force before the power fades.
Almost everything yields experience points, which translate into new levels, as well as the ability to use different armor, skills and weapons. There are also free combat areas and you can always revisit areas you have battled in as you move around the map.
Some of the problems occur early in the game. The AI seems to take a vacation when it could actually do you in. This is a game that plays out like a chess match. You make all your moves and then the enemy AI makes its turn. As the phase plays out, you can start to see holes in your strategy, and may actually cringe when you see how open you have left a member of your team (there is a unity defensive bonus when team members are in proximity of each other). Sometimes, though, the game does not pick up on it and you can escape the error. If you fail a scenario, it is game over, and you have to reload from the last saved point. This means waiting on load times.
The digression from the true story of Jeanne is for the sake of gameplay and as this is a fantasy tactical RPG title, it works well. The game has a small(ish) learning curve, but is a visual delight. The gameplay itself is addictive and the game is recommended for those PSP owners looking for a good game – whether you are a fan of Japanese RPGs or not. This is fun stuff.
Review Scoring Details for Jeanne D’Arc
Gameplay: 8.8
The difficulty curve ramps up as you progress through the game and the controls are easy to learn and use. There is some suspect AI at time, especially when you realize you’ve made a tactical error and the game’s AI does not take advantage of it, but the game still provides a range of mission types as well as a lot of entertainment.
Graphics: 9.0
Sure, they are basically a 2D scheme juxtaposed with an isometric (and rotatable) camera to give the impression of 3D, but while some of the cut scene material is tried and true, the game still gives a very bright and lush rendering that is – as far as eye candy is concerned – absolutely delicious on this platform.
Sound: 7.4
Solid music and some of the in-game effects you’ve heard before. A decent supporting cast member but nothing that truly shines on its own.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Nothing overly complex here. This is a tactical RPG, which means you have to think your moves through, and level up (and equip) your party members appropriately. Those that have played this type of game before should not have a problem with the concepts presented; those who have not will find the learning curve small.
Concept: 8.5
A handheld tactical RPG that is visually wonderful and does a great job in terms of gameplay. Give Level 5 credit for taking some of the best elements of the genre, combining them with a few new ideas and dropping them into a solid gaming backdrop.
Overall: 8.9
The game has a few minor problems but when looking at the overall scope of the game, and what it achieves on the handheld platform, this is a pretty impressive title. It plays well, you will find that the characters have a bit of personality (yes, even Liane – whose value is definitely in the role of healer or spellcaster), and the game’s missions are diverse enough to give you a reason to keep moving the story forward. This is a terrific PSP title.
T I E N D A S . O N L I N E
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Pues nada, otro hilo oficial y lo mejor de todo es que es de otro juegazo que se avecina ^^
El primer trabajo de Level 5 para PSP, y la primera maravilla que hace. Como veis en las reviews, todos ponen al juego como de lo mejor de PSP, y me he dejado muchas más atras (hay sobre 10 reviews que le dean un 9 o más).
Solo quedan 4 días para su lanzamiento en USA y poder disfrutarlo en inglés. Esperemos que la espera no se haga muy larga 
Salu2!
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