The perfect game for anyone looking for an SRPG on the go.
Check out Part 1, Suikoden, here.
I love to travel, I’ve been to 57 countries, and visited France 6 times. I won a History High Achievement Award back in high school. I also love RPGs and rate the PSP as one of the better places to find them, behind the PSX, PS2, PS4, Switch, and SNES, in my personal opinion, but still notable. So with all of that said, how is it possible I missed this game for so long? Released in 2007 by Level 5, developers of Dragon Quest 8, Ni No Kuni, and other hidden gems like Rogue Galaxy to their credit, all of which I loved, it is even more baffling that this continued to slip under my radar for so long.
Also known as Joan of Arc by some, Jeanne d’Arc is the story of a famous woman who leads France to victory over England in the 100 years war. While there is some historical accuracy, there is, of course, a lot of creative liberty taken in telling this tale in videogame form, such as the Duke of Bedford making a pact with the leader of a strong demon group. The Duke gets tons of powerful demon warriors, which aid him in gaining more territory, and the leader of this demon group gets to possess his nephew, Henry VI.
The story starts dramatically, showing this possession, followed by a small French village being burned to the ground by British troops. Jeanne, Roger, and Liane are the only survivors. That is just the first 15 minutes or so. But it works to entice gamers to continue. There are a few interesting twists, turns, and betrayals throughout the game. If you aren’t a fan of characters coming and going from your party of playable characters, it might be a good idea to check out a walkthrough to see who comes as well as when. It is possible to see this information while avoiding spoilers, and it will likely help in figuring out how to build your party.
There are a few things that are abundantly clear in these first 15 minutes. The music is top-notch, and the voice acting, despite a few cliche accents (I’ve never known a French person, of the many I befriended, to speak English the way they do in this game), is well done. There aren’t a lot of tracks in this game, and there are a few that play a lot, such as the music while you make preparations before each battle or while on the field. Thankfully, the most prominent tracks are both incredibly beautiful and catchy, so it isn’t a problem.
Those who have played games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre will feel right at home with this game, as battles are very similar. I needed a simple game for a recent 10-hour flight, and within 90 minutes of playing this, the day before the flight, I could tell this would fit the bill. Sometimes a game is great, in part, because it fits a current need. In this case, nothing is so complicated that resorting to a walkthrough is practically necessary.
That isn’t to say this game is easy. It can get quite tough. Even with gems that some of the characters get, being clever is exceptionally important. Characters Jeanne, Roger, Liane, Richard, and Gilles get different gems that allow them to transform and greatly enhance their stats, such as strength and HP, plus making it possible to use stronger skills. Plus, with each kill, they get to go again, something that is very important to take advantage of during the harder battles. I found that using these 5 characters as much as possible, plus Rose and Marcel, made the toughest battles a lot more manageable. As a hint, focus on building about ten characters; that way, you can be prepared for any curveball this game will throw at you, and it will throw a few, such as characters leaving for several battles or even chapters.
Much like Dragon Quest 8 and Rogue Galaxy, there is skill binding (crafting) in this game. Choose the first skill and see what skills are not greyed, but rather in white, and you can pick any of the ones in white. The result will either show as “???” or, if you have done the combination at least once before, it will show the result. I combined my skills whenever I saw the “???” and always made sure I had more than one of each skill. This allowed me to have fairly up-to-date skills as the game progressed. These skills can be equipped by all characters. The higher the character level, the more skills that can be equipped. Skills range anywhere from stat increasing, like adding to HP, attack, defense, etc., to spells, to stronger special attacks, and more. Thoughtful planning can be the difference between victory and defeat in some of the late-game battles.
There is also an affinity system where characters are strong against one of three phases and weak against another. Either Sol, Luna, or Stella. Would paying attention to this allow the battles to flow even more? I would imagine, but honestly, I didn’t pay attention to this mechanic and didn’t have many issues.
Instead, what proved challenging were the turn limits, at times. If you don’t meet the victory conditions in the stated number of turns, it will be game over, no matter how well you are doing. This game tends not to reward meticulous movement in battle. Rather, it is typically better to power on, even ignoring enemies if needed. Each battle has certain conditions. Usually, it is to defeat all enemies. Other times, you have to keep someone alive, usually Jeanne, but a few times an NPC, or make it to a predetermined place on the map to, for example, catch a boat or exit a city under siege. Other times, simply beating one specific enemy, even if there are ten or more, is what is needed. Still, I learned early on that it is often not the best idea to let the enemies come to you, but to keep pressing on.
Two other important components of battle are burning aura and unified guard. First, it must be stated that attacking enemies from behind leads to greater damage. From the side, there is slightly more damage, and face-to-face yields the least amount of damage. Regardless of where you attack, a yellow circle appears on the opposite side of the enemy that was attacked. Moving a character to this yellow circle leads to a burning aura, resulting in greater damage.
Transforming and using the special skill that only the transformed version of a character can use, on a burning aura, can lead to even greater damage. Keeping characters together is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it allows for a unified guard to lessen the damage of physical attacks. I am sure this saved my butt numerous times. But, later in the game, with more powerful spell-casting foes, it can potentially devastate your party. Taking out any spell casters quickly is super important; thankfully, they are generally very weak and can be crushed in just a few hits.
The player always goes first, and the turn ends either when all characters act or the player decides to end the turn early. It is possible to beat several enemy groups on this first turn, but usually, they are just out of reach to make this possible. The end of the battle leads to additional bonus experience for all characters, including those who were not used. However, this extra experience is not enough to help unused characters keep pace with everyone else. Bonus money and items are also gained after a battle.
For a PSP game, the graphics are good. In battle and on the map, they are cute. But where the game shines is the action-packed cutscenes. They are, in a word, awesome! Like other Level-5 games, Jeanne D’Arc has a distinct style.
Jeanne D’arc isn’t the most unique game, as it certainly draws inspiration from older strategy RPGs, but it has a neat story, and battles move at a decent, fairly quick pace, and are fun to figure out how to win. Plus, the music and skill binding are fantastic. Overall, if you want an SRPG that is not overly complex and serves as a good intro to the sub-genre, this is an excellent game to play while having enough interest to keep veterans of the genre glued to the screen for about 30 hours for the main game.
Wayback Wednesday Volume 1: Final Fantasy 7 and Chrono Trigger.
Wayback Wednesday Volume 2: Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Wayback Wednesday Volume 3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Wayback Wednesday Volume 4: Secret of Mana and Wild Arms
Wayback Wednesday Volume 5: Illusion of Gaia and Grandia
Wayback Wednesday Volume 6: Breath of Fire 3 and X-Men Legends
Wayback Wednesday Volume 7: Star Ocean: The Second Story and Super Mario RPG
Wayback Wednesday Volume 8: Demon's Crest and Dragon Quest VI