Some historical stories just beg to be retold, and the life and times of Joan of Arc is one such tale. A French peasant leading an army against the English because she heard God telling her to do so? Sounds like there's at least a little something to explore in all that, right?
What about if we added magic and animal-headed companions and anime, though? Well, we'd get Jeanne d'Arc, the tactical RPG for the PSP, from the minds behind Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy, and more. Geez guys, just stop it already, let other developers make it onto this 1001 list, yeah?
Fun Times
Jeanne d'Arc is often regarded as a highlight of the PSP, and knowing it was on this 1001 list, I kept my eyes open for it in the wild. The closest I got was an empty box thrown out in the recycling. Gutted. People must love this game.
But why? I know nothing of Jeanne d'Arc, not even what it looks like. Everything I'm emulating here is all new. Except for the first ten minutes, because I had to learn about replacing the fonts in PPSSPP to get this game to look right. What are those ten minutes? Well, Henry VI of England is in bed on a stormy night, demanding a story to fall asleep to.
It's a tale of monsters and evil being vanquished by five heroes armed with magical armlets. As it happens, one of those heroes, the Duke of Bedford, is telling this very tale to little Henry. Right before the kid falls asleep, and the Duke reveals his evil plan to release that evil spirit unto the world once more, so that England may prevail.
He doesn't just reveal the plan, but immediately succeeds in carrying it out. Henry's eyes turn red and surely that's that. That's an English victory in the war. Have they even gone to war yet, or is that the next step?
Cut to Jeanne herself, accompanied by Liane on an errand for her father. Heading to the chapel they spot a knight fall from his horse, a mysterious glow emanating from a bag about his waist. Curiosity gets the better of Jeanne, as a magical armlet leaps out and takes hold of her, binding around her arm and going nowhere.
A rustling in the bushes reveals itself to be an orc. An orc intent on violence.
As you can see, these cutscenes look like they could have come straight out of an anime about Joan of Arc. It's not an incredibly flashy anime, but it does the job. The voices, not so much. Sometimes they read like the voice artists are only allowed to see ten words of the sentence at a time. If they're voicing a French character, zhey av a French accent that is skirting on the ridiculous, but they're thankfully subtle about it for the most part. Noticeably subtle.
But we're not watching an anime here, we're playing a tactical RPG, and it looks a little like this. Well, a lot like this.
The character models are a little on the chibi side, and the environment textures do clash with the way the characters look, but in motion, this doesn't look too shabby. A voice tells us to pick up a sword and get swinging. Can you imagine how that's going to go down?
It's a tactical RPG, of course you can imagine how that's going to go down. Grid-based movement, a list of possible options for your turn, from moving to attacking, using items and so on. Various splash screens reveal hints about how to play. Attacking from behind an opponent will, for example, do extra damage and reduce your chances to miss. It feels like a simple little game I can get behind, I know that much.
The D-pad moves the cursor around the map, which can be a bit fiddly at an angle, but the shoulder buttons shift the view, as does your analogue nub. Everything else is menu-based, so the controls are easy.
After a number of Orcs are slain and experience is earned, Liane and Jeanne both wonder where her sword skills have come from. There's no explanation. Something weird is going on. Voices in her head, magical armlet bound to her arm and, rushing back home, village burning to the ground.
Who are the English looking for? Why are they commanding the Orcs? I don't know much about the real story of Joan of Arc, and definitely don't know where Jeanne d'Arc is going to take it and twist it and turn it into an anime RPG, but I must say that, so far, I'm not desperate to see where the story goes. I can tell it'll be full of the unexpected, but will it be full of characters I want to spend time with?
Liane stumbles and is discovered by the Englishman and his Orcs, and the mysterious voice tells Jeanne to get a move on already. Do the thing.
Well, that's an unexpected thing. The armlet envelopes Jeanne in magical armour, increasing her skills and abilities, giving her new powers, and with that, new gameplay mechanics.
Jeanne's magical armour grants her the ability to move again after she has killed an opponent - an easy thing to do when it also ups her offensive stats. You don't just get to move twice on a turn, as I first thought, but run riot across the map, moving, attacking, killing, moving and attacking, again and again until you fail to dispatch an enemy.
On this fiery map, with these easy controls and straight to the point gameplay, blasting through opponents with your magical armlet armour feels great. Jeanne d'Arc may not impress with the plot, but I'm liking its gameplay.
What to do when your village has been burnt to a crisp, your loved ones are dead, and the voice of God is telling you to go to war with the English? Why you get angry, cut off your hair and join the army!
Jeanne d'Arc has an overworld of sorts, linking its bite-sized battle maps together on a vague map of France. Each location offers a chance for you to shop for items and equipment to arm your party with before progressing into what battle takes place there.
You can equip arms and armour, as you'd expect, as well as skills which give you additional attacks, or the ability to heal people from a distance. Skills can be taken from fallen foes or are dished out at the end of a fight as a reward, and you can give them out to and take them back from any party member, should you find a better use for them elsewhere.
To skip the plot along a little, folks don't believe a word that Jeanne says about God telling her to kill the English. Besides, there are more pressing matters at hand.
This battle introduces more mechanics. Some battles have turn limits where you must meet the victory conditions in the allotted time. Burning Auras increase the amount of damage you do if you're standing in them when you attack, which promotes the idea of flanking the enemy and attacking as a team.
There is also something going on with the Sun and the Moon, in some kind of rock, paper, scissors deal. I've not been told about it yet, or I have and skipped over it. At a guess, you do better against certain opponents than others.
If you feel a little bombarded by all these new things, I'm not done yet. Two new party members have joined us, with Jean armed with a spear or a pike or something, which increases your attacking range, and can even skewer two enemies in a line. Also, Jeanne's armlet needs to be powered up before it can be used, and then only lasts for a few turns.
All of these mechanics are still easy to get a handle on, because of the nature of tactical RPGs. Yes, there's a turn limit I have to keep an eye on, but for the most part, I'm free to just plan out my moves, undo them if they don't quite work, and just see how I can get my party to fight together.
Another mechanic is the Unified Guard, where characters next to fellow party members share their defences, kinda, making it harder for the opponents to hit you. This, along with the turn limit, encourages you to kind of leapfrog across the map, sticking together for the defence bonus, but also making sure you can maximise your attacks with Burning Aura's.
Party members can fall, and while you can revive them in the future, right now they're just going to have to sit the battle out and watch the rest of the party level up. Everything you do gives you experience points, and so saving the killing blow for the party member you want to level up faster is a wise choice.
Many an Orc down, we were left with one final English Officer to deal with. They're quite tough. I got a few more characters killed off by him before I managed to do enough damage to win the battle.
After an hour in France, I was pleased by what I'd seen and done in Jeanne d'Arc, and I get the feeling I've barely dipped my toes into what it has to offer.
Final Word
I do like tactical RPGs, despite having played basically none through to the end. Thanks to this 1001 list, I've seen so many that I want to see much more of, and, yes, Jeanne d'Arc gets added to the list.
In terms of its story and characters, even in terms of its look, I wouldn't say that I'm desperate to play the game above any other tactical RPG, but when it comes to gameplay, Jeanne d'Arc may just edge ahead. It feels approachable to novices like me, even though there is so much going on.
I've absolutely no idea where the story will take me, but there looks to be a sizable amount of France for us to traipse through, the voice of God as our guide. Is the map full of padding and repetitive levels? Will I need to grind my way to better stats to stand a chance in the late game? I hope the answers are no.
If you can get your hands on Jeanne d'Arc, I reckon you'll have a good time. It may not be the absolute best game of its genre, or may not align with your tastes in terms of presentation or gameplay, but it does an awful lot right for me to keep it in mind. I do wish I found the contents to go along with the case so that I could play it on my PSP, though. Oh well.
Fun Facts
I knew there was something fishy with the voices. Main roles were ultimately given to Americans helped along by a French vocal coach, with minor roles being voiced by native French speakers.
Jeanne d'Arc, developed by Level-5, first released in 2006.
Version played: PlayStation Portable, 2007, via emulation.