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Yuck...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Fun?! ZERO
Since I can't properly rate this, I'll have to rate it here in the commentary.

How much fun is this game?.......... ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO
How do you rate this game overall? ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO

The story may be fine in my opinion of what little I've seen in this bought game, but the game mechanics itself is AWFUL! You're allowed only a set of a few turns on every map and I'll understand that if the map's conditions require it. Like if I have to get out of the area before backup for the bad guys show up and such...

But EVERY STICKING Map has this turn limit in IT!!! I truly enjoyed the PSX Final Fantasy Tactics, because the creators knew of that idea and limited the turn limit to a few nerve racking stages. Good Lord those d'arc idiots didn't have the common sense to have a menu selection option to shut down this insane concept!

>:<

Strange but entertaining

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: September 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Jeanne D'Arc never tries too hard, and that's what I found ultimately disappointing about the title.

The story, to begin with, never quite knows what it wants to do with itself. It begins by squinting at history and putting an interesting new fantasy spin on the old tale of St. Joan, but then decides to forget all that and obsess over a generic fantasy story replete with magic rocks, elves, and demons. Bizarre and imbalanced, you have tragic deaths alongside talking purple frogs, and historic acts of atrocity explained away by vaguely described rogue demons. While the characters are generally interesting and there's a bit of growth as the story goes along, there's no one in the cast we haven't seen before in other games and stories.

The battle system is your standard SRPG fare, and rather watered down. Equipped elemental gems affect offense and defense but there are only three of them, reducing the system to an elementary game of rock, paper, scissors. Very simplified, the game lacks Disgaea's geo panels and FFTactic's job system, reducing customization to freely interchangeable stat stones that either give a spell, a special attack, or affect stats. The different characters have different base stats but deficiencies are pretty easily made up for with items that permanently raise certain stats. With battle so streamlined and options so very limited, the system seems like it was designed for younger gamers, making battles a breeze for anyone who's finished FFTactics or Ogre Tactics. There's an attempt to introduce artificial difficulty by limiting the number of turns available to finish a battle, but I never once reached this time limit.

Nevertheless, the game's pretty fun thanks to very nice visuals and a catchy score. I'd recommend the game to anyone looking for a lighter, less strategic SRPG - an SRPG that can be picked up and played for ten minutes at a time while waiting for a bus.

fun but leaves you wanting

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

when i first picked this game up, it was a blast. the graphics are pretty, battle grounds are very detailed, and adding a fantasy twist to a part of history anyone who took high school history should be familiar with added to the charm of this game.

but, several hours into the game, i was getting annoyed with jeanne's constant complaints about how everyone is a coward and such. i understand she was a passionate lass in a man's world having to fend for herself, but still...

also, the tactical element of the game didn't quite satisfy my appetite. i mean, you can be as tactical as you want, but you don't always have to be. simply put, jeanne d'arc is one of the easier tactical rpgs i've played so far.

i definitely recommend this game for those of you who want to try out the tactical rpg genre though. if any game will get you hooked to the genre, jeanne d'arc would be it. it is beautiful and a lot of fun, but for hardcore tactical rpg fans, i think this game would leave you wanting more as it did me.

Great graphics and storyline. Wished it was more challenging and a true epic.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I had more fun with Jeanne D'arc than I've had with other RPG's, except for Final Fantasy 3 and 7. The graphics and gameplay are fantastic, although I wished that the game was more challenging and the story a bit longer. I spent a total of 25 hours to beat the game, and after getting the hang of it, I found the levels less challenging to beat the FF series. But if you want a shorter RPG that's a lot of fun, Jeanne D'arc's a good one. It exceeded my expectations.

Desacrating history is loads of fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First off, it's a mistake to compare this game to FFT, when it's predecessor is quite obvious. If you liked Tactics Ogre, you'll enjoy this game thoroughly. The game is beautiful, the animations even though few and far between are amazing. The sounds are great, although the soundtrack, for me, is quite lackluster and one of it's lowest points (save a few tracks, the music is sorta off.... but Tactics Ogre wasn't memorable for it's soundtracks either) The voice acting is awesome, although most of the characters speak with an "outrageous french accent" which is quite funny at times. The control scheme is quite comfortable. Now for the good stuff:
The storyline takes a draw from the best known episodes in history in regards to the Lady of Arc and gives it some nice twists. Demonizing the English isn't fair, but it's fun anyways. If you dislike politic-heavy storylines, or dislike when they mix history with fantasy, you might not enjoy this romp.
The characters: although the characters feel uneven in the battlefield, all the characters so far are memorable in some respect. Awesome character development. Truth be told, I had my doubts about a lion-headed behemoth being your ally, but La Hire is awesome. Character building is quite different, most characters are set in their roles by a sort of predetermined character growth (some charachters are just better spellcasters than others, or have higher HP and defense...just because) and you can't mix and match weapons. So there's no job system to speak of, to remind you of Tactics Ogre for GBA. In short, some characters rock, and some don't. But you'll be using all of them, I assure you. And they all have their roles, even if those roles aren't quite clear.
Gameplay: so, the way Tactics Ogre works is (for those of you reared up mostly on FFT): the player has a turn, you move all your characters and act, then the enemy has a turn at the same thing. Turns are called phases, come to think of it. The good news is, you move and then act, so you can try out all the possibilities during one turn, and then actually execute them, without worrying about the outcome. The bad news is, once you act, you can't move if you didn't. Character growth is done through a sort of crystal system: you equip some abilities, or stats (say, HP+50...guess what that does) and later on, you can combine abilities to come up with new abilities (HP+ 50x2 gives you...HP+100)
There's also a story driven feature in the battle system: some of the chracters have bracelets that allow them to... morph? I dunno, at least it's not over the top.
Now, some nitpicking (neither good nor bad):
-there's an elemental affiliation system that I, to this point, don't get. It sort of works like FFT's zodiac system. Truth be told, at this early stage, I guess it makes little difference. Plus, the stella, luna and sol abilities are useful for combining skills.
-there's too few slots for skills.... but you make do with what you have
- some of the more necessary spells, like resurrect, cost an incredible ammount of MP, and some of the most basic spells do so too. Healing is a process too, you have to even think twice about it.
-like I mentioned, characters strengths are unbalanced: for example, Colet, the thief, is awesome, and will almost always never get hit, and some of the brutes, so I end up using him all the time, then I have Jeane, whom I never use, because he's there to ... take up space? As support? I dunno
-archers can shoot arrows through stuff, like rocks and buildings..... not even over them, as it sometimes happened in FFT. Or through your allies for that matter. That makes it too easy to like archers.
- some of the skill animations are weak sauce.
- the sprite animation is all cutesy and misleading; it personally doesn't bother me, but I can imagine some people either shunning it for this, or some people buying it for their kids, and therefore submitting their kids to a great title that might go over their heads.
-Death has become an issue with this title, and for good reasons: characters die pretty much in a permanent fashion. I haven't seen any resurrection items yet, and like I mentioned before, the spell to bring anyone back is very costly
- every character is a story character, there aren't any nameless foot soliders that you can shape into killing machines. I dunno how I feel about that one...I mean, not every character is incredibly important, but so far, out of 13 characters you can take to battle, 8 are pretty important. There's a lot of emotional investment to the characters, I must say.
-The main antagonist (or who seems to be the main antagonist) is a kid...you deal with that how you will.
-The storyline is religious heavy, so...you decide on that one too.

Overall, this game is awesome, easy to pick up, not necessarily for everyone, and if you're a tactical RPG buff, this one should be among your repertoire.

It had me at "Ho ho! Attendez!"

Interesting, but cut scenes are annoying

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is my first PSP RPG so I don't have anything to compare it to. I do think the gameplay has potential. What I do find annoying however, is the goofy anime-esque characters and the mechanical cut-scene animation. But all in all, it seems to be a solid game. I think WOW has popularized this new breed of cartoon-ish RPGs and I'm more in favor of traditional RPG settings.

Excellent choice for tactical RPG newcomers

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Jeanne D'arc is the first PSP RPG from developer Level 5 (Dragon Quest VIII, Dark Cloud 2). This time they tried their hand at the tactical role-playing genre, instead of their usual action-RPG and standard turn-based offerings. The result is successful in all respects. The combat system works well and offers plenty of tactical options. The special attacks, spells, and other abilities equipped by characters via skill stones that are dropped by enemies or purchased in shops; are varied, and have a significant effect on combat. The game-play balance is well-tuned to the mid-range. Experienced players will rarely have to play a stage more than twice, but the difficulty level won't frustrate those playing a grid-based tactical RPG for the first time. Except for enemy reinforcements that magically appear in inconvenient places in a couple of stages, Jeanne D'Arc never feels cheap; but you feel as though you earned your victories. The story isn't epic, but its fanciful take on the
hundred-years war and the tragic figure Jeanne D'Arc, is more than interesting enough to give you a reason to keep playing through the stages.

If I was going to recommend a grid-based tactical RPG to someone that never played one before, this is the one that I would recommend; more for the things that it doesn't do, than the things it does do. The developer generally steered clear of a lot of the more tedious game-play elements of well-established tactical RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, and Disgaea; making it a good introduction for new players.

For example:

There is very little need for level-grinding in Jeanne D'Arc. Maps completed in story mode often become Free Combat stages that can be used to level up and accumulate gold, but it really isn't necessary. Free Combat stages usually have different enemies, and item drops, than they did when they were visited during a mission; so they are worth visiting again, but only once. Completing the stages to advance the story, and completing each Free Combat stage once; will provide about all of the experience points that you need to complete the game. Occasionally it may be useful to play a handful of free combat stages to level-up a rarely-used character, but even characters that are never used in combat receive significant experience points. None of the characters are generally more than 7 or 8 levels behind any other character, and they will close the gap quickly if used for a few battles.

There are no character deaths in Jeanne D'Arc, except ones that are scripted as part of the story. Characters that fall in battle are all full revived when the stage is cleared. If you don't clear the stage, the game is over anyway. That means that you don't have to replay stages that you've cleared, over and over, until you get through them with all of the characters that you want to use later still alive. There is, on the other hand, no way to revive fallen characters during a battle.

Gold-farming is almost pointless in Jeanne D'Arc. You can get plenty of cash by selling unneeded skill-stones dropped by enemies, especially if you use the skill-stone binding system to combine common skill-stones into rare ones. Past the mid-point of the game you will rarely buy anything from the shops except for healing items. All of the really good items are acquired free as rewards when you complete certain combat stages the first time. You don't have to play stages over and over again, just to get enough gold to buy the best armor and weapons. I finished the game with over 15000 gold pieces, and over a hundred spare skill stones left; without making any effort to accumulate money. There just wasn't anything else to buy.

There is no wandering around the game-world for hours trying to find the one location to visit, or one person to talk to; that will move the story forward, and open up the next area. In Jeanne D'Arc, pressing the Objective button from the world map display at any time will tell you exactly where you should go next to advance the story. You are free to visit any location that is visible on the world map, but you always know where to go when you are ready to move on. This removes the exploration aspect that is important to some RPGs, but most tactical RPGs don't place much emphasis on exploration anyway.

Overall, once you start Jeanne D'Arc, the game tries not to give you a reason to put it down and play something else for a while; which is a good thing.

From a technical perspective, everything is fine. The graphics are similar to PS2 tactical RPGs, and the music is serviceable; if not inspiring. Most of the cut-scenes have no voice-acting, but the voice-acting that is there is very good. The animated cut-scenes are also well done. Not as impressive as Valkrie Profile Lenneth, but still very good for a game that isn't from Square Enix. Jeanne D'Arc isn't a long game by RPG standards, but it is reasonably long for a PSP game. There
are about 40 hours of solid game-play, and the game shouldn't require more than 50 hours to complete. With a list price of $29.99, the game is an excellent value.

People that have spent 100 hours or more grinding their way through games like Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics will probably find Jeanne D'Arc too short and basic for their taste; but everyone else Jeanne D'Arc is a well-made game, with an interesting story, that is an excellent choice for newcomers to the tactical RPG genre. It is also one of the best titles in the PSP library.

Excellent choice for RPG Fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Great game for any RPG Fan. And a must have for PSP RPG Fans. Loading times and cut scenes can be a bit annoying, but all in all a great game. Simple to pick up and learn. Fun to play, easy to follow and understand. Great graphics.

Also a big plus in my book is the ability to put the game down for awhile, then pick it up later and not be "lost". Which happens a lot with RPG's.
All in all Great game.

A surprisingly good game with a strange historical inspiration.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Jeanne D'arc is one of those games that I initially blew off. The cover art and basic premise of the game left me really skeptical about the quality of game that was contained within. I have to say that I am glad one of my friends showed this game to me because I otherwise would have ignored it.

Basically, Jeanne D'arc is a fantasy retelling of the Joan of Arc legend and the 100 years war. I'll admit, it took a bit of getting used to seeing the great deal of liberty taken with the story, but overall it is quite good. The game is a turn based strategy game a la Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Vandal Hearts, and Fire Emblem games. As far as turn based strategy games go, I have to say this game ranks among the best and fans of the genre should pick it up.

Pros:
+ Vibrant graphics (usually)
+ Compelling (albeit quite weird) storyline told with animated cutscenes.
+ A deep character customization system that doesn't require users to micromanage for hours on end to build the perfect party.
+ The ability to go into free-battle mode on a number of maps in order to gain treasure and experience.
+ Individual battles are usually fairly quick, ideal for portable play.
+ Some absurd but funny French and English stereotypes.

Cons:
- The frame rate is kind of jerky at times
- For history buffs, seeing Joan of Arc fighting orcs, lizardmen, and dark elves takes a little bit of getting used to.
- Some levels have atmospheric effects such as fog that look just plain ugly.
- Some absurd stereotypes and a few really annoying character designs that make you say "Hmmmmmm..."
- The menu controls are not as intuitive as other games in the genre
- Battles usually limit you to a small number of characters on the battlefield. On the plus side, battles don't drag on forever and ever.

Overall, this is an excellent game and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the strategy RPG genre. The game obviously contains some very religious overtones due to the source material (Joan of Arc) but approaches the subject in a relatively inoffensive manner.

A nice looking JSRPG that is only held back by slow pacing.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Lets face it, even some of the greatest JSRPGs of all time can be a bit slow. (FFT,Disgaea) Jeanne D'arc also suffers from this issue, the problem is magnified however by the CPU AI taking a very long time to complete even the most basic of turns like a "wait, wait, move 2 squares,wait, attack" etc...

The game has very sharp and cute graphics one would expect from this noted developer. Unfortunately we are stuck with only 2 perspectives, far away, and very far away. This results in a sometimes obstructed view of the battlefield.

Another issue, while there is auto leveling of characters you do not use, they don't level nearly enough and you will find yourself either completely ignoring 2-5 characters or wasting time leveling up in free combat.

The game does provide customizable characters in a sense that you have skill slots and the ability to fuse skill gems into other skills. The problem is the first time you fuse 2, you don't know the outcome. This can often result in a final gem that you don't want or need and a wasted powerful/useful gem.

This is further magnified by the inability to change class types. I had many fighter types, far more than I needed by chapter II and no ability to change them to casters. You can slot them w/ caster abilities and it works ok, except you won't have access to the "staff" weapon type which also allows more caster abilities.

I am really nitpicking and you can see how the developers really focused on balance. Battles have a turn limit. No more infinite leveling up like in FFT etc..., you must finish the battle in say 12 or 20 turns (larger battles allow more turns)

Many of these battles can become too easy once you discover fusing skill gems. Unfortunately the process of fusing skill gems consists of selecting one gem, selecting a second, pressing a button and then watching the animation of a frog swallow, chew and spew a new one. This animation can take a few seconds each time. It doesnt sound like much, but when you want to create say a +100 hp gem and are starting with +25 it can quickly add up to a sizable amount of playtime for a portable game.

By the time you are done "binding skills" as the game calls it, your train ride may be over.

Even tho I find these flaws a real drag to the pacing, overall this is a very addictive, visually pleasing and fun game w/ a neat spin on one of histories most classic war fantasies of a young girl called by god to liberate a nation.

Throw in some monsters and anthropomorphic beasts and its a very Dragon Quest looking RPG that can be quite cute and enjoyable.

Definitely a game for JSRPG fans only, and those with patience for battles that are slowed down by pointless CPU AI not moving quickly enough.

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