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From The Entertainment Depot - http://www.entdepot.com Handheld
The iconic war between two of medieval Europe’s bitterest rivals has been given a slight twist with the addition of demonic forces. Yes, the rascally English weren’t content to simply impose themselves upon the poor French, oh no, they are also allied with an old and powerful demon. After years of peace, the great protectors of man have spread about, taking their powerful old-demon-killing amulets with them. Seeking to protect young King Henry VI of England, the Duke of Bedford, one of the original heroes that banished the ancient evil, has resurrected the malevolent powers to ensure the king’s success over the French. Naturally, things do not go well. Fortunately for Joan, she isn’t alone. She is accompanied by two fellow Domrémy villagers, her long-time friend Liane and a local mercenary named Roger. Those three are the initial band, gathering shortly after Joan comes into contact with one of the fabled amulets, but as she gains victories and word spreads of her prowess, her claims of hearing the voice of God, and tales of her powerful ornamentation, more join her cause. Some of the newcomers, like fellow amulet owners, will be welcomed as they bring strong attacks and the ability to transform into powerful suits of armor; others will be near worthless, seemingly included simply to satisfy that discerning gamer that needs their characters to be animal-human hybrids. Joan can use her amulet to transform as well, and as with the other amulet-wearers her transformation takes a certain amount of stones to initiate and each form is only being accessible once per battle. Along the way they will gain new and more powerful forms, with the cast quickly whittling down to this all-star group. Each character, even minor figures, are introduced in cutscenes during either combat or on the world map. Battles are fought in towns and designated areas, with some locations offering nothing more than side quests for experience while others contain shops or the ability to replay a battle via the ‘free combat’ option for victors that simply wish to level their characters or try to get some special loot. The party travels along designated paths to new territories within a world map, and it is from here that the game is saved, items purchased and equipped, and where gamers choose which kind of entrance for the territory. Once on an area, items can again be equipped and the game saved. If the cutscenes become too much – there are way too many cutscenes for my taste – they can easily be skipped by hitting pause and then triangle. I prefer not to skip an initial play of a cutscene, as tedious as they often are, but I do like being able to skip over the rigmarole when I replay a battle. There is one noteworthy quirk regarding saving, and that is that quicksaves are available to save progress in battle but are deleted once loaded; howoever, external saves made on the world map are limited only by the size of the memory stick. I appreciated this feature, though I keep my PSP charged enough so that I could simply power down without having to go through the steps to save and be just as content. Still, it is handy for those that are prone to let their batteries drain. I played Jeanne d’Arc so much that I had to recharge several times, so a few possible slip-ups aren't out of the question. The characters and story are nice, but they aren’t truly outstanding. Sure, wolf-men-things and dog-men that have irritating phonetic subtitles – “Raf! Rever fear!” – are something, but they aren’t something special – they aren’t the reason to pick the game up. Instead, it’s the battles: the layered combat system is really where Jeanne d’Arc shines. The combat system relies on several mechanics. The most basic of which is what weapon is used, because each has its own damage and range. Characters will have a proficiency in axes, swords, knives, lances or bows. An important but often overlooked aspect of weaponry is the accuracy with which they can be wielded, but here, accuracy is key. Opening up with a volley or lance strike, the two long-range attacks, and following with a few swipes of a sword and a rush of an axe quickly becomes the key strategy. Of course, the devastating close-up knife attacks and the various spells often throw the best strategies out of order. The game quickly becomes one of targeting mages and archers due to their overwhelming strength, though, which is one bit of balancing that I would definitely tweak; their lower hit point count is far less of a hindrance than it might seem considering how just a few can be so devastating. Getting close enough to do damage can be troublesome since the computer will keep their range units at bay, and the limited amount of squares that units can travel per turn can be pure torture as they get just so close to the pesky blizzard-casting Orca look-alikes. The long-range characters are more of a time-consuming nuisance though, and they certainly won’t ruin the game for anyone. Once combat gets going, it tends to go at a fairly brisk pace, thanks to an imposed turn limit, and the overall strategy begins to unfold. Army selection is done at the beginning of the round, and picking the proper troupe is vital, though it’s often a crapshoot due to no hard intel about the upcoming battle; going along for twenty minutes only to find out that the current ensemble won’t cut it is never fun. Party comprises can often be worked out, thanks to the transformation ability of the amulet-wearers and the various character powers. Characters, regardless of whether they are designated magic users or not, can be assigned spells that are picked up from fallen foes and purchased in stores in the form of skill stones. These stones can do anything from allow a character to cast ‘cure’ to give ten additional magic points. Skill stones can even be combined with each other to create skills, with recipes saved for later use. Using a skill or spell comes with the added bonus of keeping the target from counter attacking. The counter attack is a very important aspect of combat, often making the difference between victory and defeat. Whenever a party character is about to attack an enemy, the attack power and chance of landing the hit is displayed as well as the counter attack’s power and chance of hitting; rushing into combat will often lead to death thanks to an enemy having a counter attack that is far superior to the initial blow. Throughout all of this casting and swinging are characters weaving in-between each other trying to get the optimal side or back blow, each offering a significant advantage during combat; though limiting movement to passable squares only would’ve greatly cut down on time, saving from having to wade through areas that were impossible to reach or be on. Surprisingly, height plays only a minor role, keeping some attacks out of range but not really counting towards what would be expected, namely archer fire. Teamwork plays a large role in terms of support and defense as well: areas opposite a blow become charged, increasing the ferocity of an ally’s follow-up attack, while damage can be mitigated by grouping units together. But there is even more! In addition to the weapons’ specialties, spells, skills, terrain and angle of attack, characters can also be endowed with spirit affinities. In place of skill stones are affinities that correspond to elements, and they interact in a paper-rock-scissors fashion – sol, luna, and stella all interacting in a manner that makes one superior to one and inferior to the other. I really appreciate the fact that this is optional, because the game really does throw enough at you to keep you busy, and this element might have made the game too much for some. Characters gain levels fairly quickly during combat, and as part of the loot from victory, characters that sat the bench will get to level up as well, which keeps the worthy characters fairly even. Aside from more magic and hit points, additional skill slots become unlocked, allowing for further tweaking. When a character outgrows a weapon or skill they can then be sold, often for decent sums of cash, to finance the purchase of the updated versions. All of this is easy to follow in a handy menu system that clearly states the stats affected by armor and weapon change, as well as the benefits of select skills. There is one real drag about combat, and that is the condition randomly imposed that states that an ally cannot fall in combat. Aside from it not making much sense – why was it okay in the five previous missions? – it can also grind the game down after having the computer gang up on one character and be a bit too lucky during combat. This condition is arbitrary and pointless. Thankfully, it’s one of the very few things about the game that is. One aspect that might not be obvious is how aesthetically appealing the game is. The screenshots might look cute, what with nearly super-deformed characters running around in armor and smacking around demons, but they don’t properly convey the thoroughness of the design. This is one of the few 3D PSP titles I have played that did not have numerous and noticeable polygon seams. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any. This is actually very important and often understated – it’s hard to be immersed when it looks like the environment is being sliced up. The colors are also vibrant and the character designs, save for the silly armor transformations, are still charming despite being fairly typical. The voice-over work was often hammed up, sometimes with really bad fake French accents, which will be borderline silly and grating for many. I often muted as subtitles allowed and listened to the lightly dramatic battle tunes. But the look is consistent throughout, down to the Comic Sans font in the comic-style tutorial screens. The animated cutscenes are also well done and should be a treat for anime fans. Overall: 9/10 Jeanne d’Arc is nothing if not an extremely solid title. The game could use a bit more refining in terms of balance, control, and narrative though. It’s important to keep in mind that very little would need to be done as the game is fantastic as it is. Some of the changes would be out of streamlining the process – remove the ability to walk on spaces that are impassable (e.g. rooftops) – and others are a more personal nature, and of that I’m primarily referring to trimming some of the fat off the cutscenes and story. The positives far outweigh the negatives, though. A rich combat system complimented by a unique setting and a strange cast of characters rounds out an impressive 40-hour journey that is sure to please any strategy fan. |
