I consider myself a pretty open-minded guy; I'm pretty down for anything when it comes to entertainment. However two topics I can't say I had any real interest in are 1) the French perspective of The Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and 2) strategy games. Despite that, I found myself mysteriously drawn to the title Jeanne d'Arc ever since I first saw it on GameStop's shelves back in 2007. Perhaps because it was first party Sony title that hadn't seen much fanfare or appreciation in the years since until recently. Perhaps because it was female-led game, which had became a rarity in the early 00's. Perhaps the idea of a Japanese studio's take on the French patron saint like Joan of Arc seemed funny to me. Or maybe it was just because of that badass cover art. In any case, was I intrigued, but held off due unfamiliarity with the genre. And little money at the time. However now, nearly 20 years since, I've finally put on my big-boy pants and hopped straight in to "une autre histoire" to finally see if this game was actually well worth my time or an easy write-off I was right to make all those years ago.
Story
We begin with an anime intro, portraying the boy king Henry VI of England being read a bedtime fable by his loyal advisor the Duke of Bedford. However, said advisor turns out not to be so loyal, as he soon summons the fiend from the fairy-tale to possess the young King in his slumber, as a means of protecting him. And although interrupt by an old legendary knight, the Duke's plan is put into motion and the fiend is released. Meanwhile, the humble French village of Domrémy is alight with an evening festival. Two maidens, Jeanne and her childhood friend Liane, are sent to run an errand when they are suddenly attacked by demons lead by the English army. Cornered, a mysterious armlet magically latches on to Jeanne's wrist and she hears a disembodied voice commanding her to fight. With new found power, Jeanne fends off the attackers, but not without seeing her village razed to ashes. With no home to return to, Jeanne, Liane, and the amnesiac vagabond Roger venture off to join the army, with only revenge and the Voice to guide them.
Jeanne d'Arc describes itself a "Tale Where History meets Fantasy," so off the bat know that you are not going to get a one-to-one depiction of medieval European conflicts here. There will be dwarfs, elves, orcs, beastmen, and dragons frolicking about France, acting like they've always been there. However, that doesn't mean it's a complete departure. Key figures, locations and events of Joan of Arc's life are dramatized in the game, and you can tell the dev team cared to add authenticity to Jeanne's journey. You do indeed crown a dauphin, liberate Orléans, and get burned at the stake in this game. And it's well done! (the writing, not Jeanne) The first half of the game deals with the lost of innocence, the inhumanities of war, the squabbles of nobles, Jeanne's struggles with being seen as both a savior and a witch, and even a love-quadrilateral!
However as the stakes are raised, and we near the historic conclusion of Joan of Arc, the game's tone shifts from grounded to full-blown Anime JRPG. Eventually Jeanne's will overcome a giant evil being with the power a friendship. And while the second-half is a bit more generic and lack the charm of historic recreation the first half did, all the plot are well foreshadowed and well executed. And thankfully it doesn't go full-blown anime with it. The narrative is an earnest attempt to give a century-long tragedy a hopeful and optimistic ending. I didn't tear up, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the world with its characters.
Game Play
The best way to describe Jeanne d'Arc game play would be "simple, yet refined." Which is amazing considered this was Level 5's first foray into the genre. Everything is well tutored, and the dev team eases you into the mechanics in the first 5 or so encounters before cranking up the challenge. All the hallmarks of classics SRPGS are here: grid-based movement, Attack and Counter close-ups with percentage to hit, flanking and positioning to boost attacks, and weapon classes (6 in total). Throughout the course of the game you will assemble a militia of heroes all with their own niches and interest ways to play. All skills (with the exception of the armlets) are customizable as well, allowing to upgrade and outfit your army as you see fit to best fit your play style. And with strategy games, play style is key: there's no one way to solve each encounter as you have extensive arsenal of skills to carve your path thorough the battlefield.Each map is unique, with a varies of obstacles, objectives, win/lose conditions, and treasures to find. Jeanne d'Arc may hold your hand at the beginning, however it soon tosses it aside a shout 'En garde!" as each consecutive story mission ramps up the difficulty and puts your decision making skills to use. Of course, if you ever feel the heat may be too much, you're free to return to earlier stages with revamped scenarios to grind experience, gold and skill gems. And unfortunately levels do matter, as even a difference of 3 can be the difference between your character receiving paper cuts or get gouged to death. Don't be led astray though, in the end it comes down to strategizing and planning ahead on the players part. The right strategy can turn a daunting dreadnought of foes into quick work; the final encounter is proof of that!
Although Jeanne d'Arc was also Level 5's debut title on the PSP, they nailed down one of the more overlooked yet important parts of handheld gaming: the pick-up-and-play factor. The game is broken up into bit-sized mission of varying length, but no more than 20 minutes on each. You can save anywhere on the over world map, before a fight, and midway through a mission with quick-save. The game highly encourages you to use multiple save slots, since one you commit to an encounter it's either win or game over. And with story mission feeling like a hand-crafted boss fight, each victory or defeat feels like a good place to stop, place down the console and take break to recuperate. And recuperate I did! I took my time sometimes taking a week between sessions playing on original hardware. And something you need that downtime to cool off and revise a new tactic to beat that one enemy or kept that one squishy unit alive. Safe to say, it's not a game you can rush through in large sessions unless, you're just hardcore like that. Saving France takes a lot out of you!
Presentation
Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised considering it's a Sony first party release developed in tandem with Japan Studio (miss you guys), but damn! This is probably the polished game I've ever played on the system. The art, both the 3d in game models and the anime cut-scenes done by Studio 4°C is amazing. The cut-scenes were short, very fully voiced acting and appeared frequently enough through the game (about 80% of the time when an important event took place, a cut-scene would accompany it) The colors are bright and pop, the character designs are memorable and distinct yet not so outlandish that ruin the medieval fantasy tone the game is going for. The UI is crisp and clear, telling you exactly what need and when, while being intuitive enough to easily flow though 7 or 9 units in the larger battles. The musical score is beautiful if a little limited (really needed some more tracks by the second half). All the story maps are unique, even including single use textures, mechanics, or enemies! Even your units will have mission-specific dialogue bubbles, written with each specific character voice in mind. For a PSP game, and one that hardly gets talked about these days, this is quite impressive. This was made back when Level-5 were a force to be reckoned with in the industry, and it shows in spades.Speaking of dialogue, be warned. I played the original North American release with the English dub. And the voice acting we get, as sparse as it is, it actually great (getting A-listers like Kari Wahlgren, Yuri Lowenthal, and Fred Tatasciore to pull out French accents for this must not have been cheap.) However the written text takes some liberties with the dialogue. Most pronounced being heavy usage of eye dialect. Examples of that being dwarfs 'who start evewy wetter in a wentence with the w' or Colet with the corniest stereotypical French accent ever put to print. Quirks like these are sure to irk some folk. However, I was raised of authors like Brian Jacques and Andrew Hussie, so I'm used to it.
Highlights and Low Lights
Talbot: What a brilliant asshole! Probably the one antagonist that pushed my shit in the most in that game. Just a dude with a bid sword, big health bar, and doesn't know when to quit. Love him.Replay Value: Good amount; there are a couple of branches you can make in the main storyline which unlock one of two alternate units you can chose from. Also an extensive post-game with a fairly touching but understandably non-canon epilogue for one of the main characters.
Therions: The plot line dealing La Hire, Blaze, Mawra, and Slinker kinda just evaporates; with no resolution or even climax? It's like the writers just forgot to return to it.
The Final Boss: Locked behind two prior missions, the finale can be quite bullshit if you aren't prepared for it. Luckily the guide by Luuthian on Gamefaqs recommended to get your units up to level 60. Otherwise I can definitely myself jumping in head first, hitting a brick wall, and then having to exit out, grind, then redo the prior two missions again to succeed. and that's no fun.
Sol/Stella/Luna: The game has a rock-paper-scissors system where some units are arbitrarily assigned a type, and you can counter this with your own equipped type. I don't know, it hardly provides a bonus and you can easily ignore it. Might be more important if you lean more towards magic however.
Godspeed!: The main gimmick of the game are the transformation armlets, which provide stats boosts, shinning armor, and new stronger abilities to certain units. In addition, when a transformed unit defeats an enemy unit, the ability Godspeed activates which gives them an extra turn. This is fucking addicting. Lining up your opponents, wearing down to their last legs, and then send an armlet user out sweep through them all in a mad rush to smash the enemy commander is the best feeling in the world. And you can have 5 of these guys running though the battlefield! Simply amazing, and quite an ego boost when you pull it off.
The Wrap Up
So I haven't played Fire Emblem.Or Front Mission.
Or XCOM.
Or any of the big SRPG franchises. I am sure veterans of the genre have their agreed upon best-in-class games or good-starting points for newcomers and that's all well and jolly. But I have to say, if any of them play half as well as Jeanne d'Arc, then sign me up because this game was phenomenal! Everything just clicked for me, and after putting 50 hours of sweat and tears into this one, I am open to not just more SRPGs, but diving into the true of La Pucelle herself. Hell, I even kinda of want to visit France now, and any game that leaves enough of an impact to tip you into doing something IRL is a game worth remembering. As of last year, Jeanne d'Arc was made back-compatible for PS4 and PS5 with PS Plus, trophy support, and it's first ever European release. So it seems someone up top at Sony remembers it fondly as well. Not enough to green light a sequel though, but of well! Jeanne d'Arc isn't the type of game that really needs a revisit anyways. It's a one-and-done silly and somewhat wild retelling of one of the more gruesome eras of human history, coated in veneer of anime and magic that I can't help but smile upon fondly at. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone whose even somewhat curious. It wont steer you wrong. Anyways, Sony always has Ark the Lad if they ever want to venture back into the SRPG space again. But those games suck frog legs.
Bonus Video:
Pros
- + Unique concept
- + Easy to pick-up and play
- + Polished to a sheen
Cons
- - Official English Translation takes some liberties
- - Might need to grind
- - No sequel
9
out of 10
Overall
Near the top of the list for must play PSP titles. Easy for anyone to dive into and experience a laudable take on the genre.
