Jeanne d'Arc (2006)

Trying out Jeanne d'Arc for the millennium challenge, it seems neat so far! Adding demonic rituals and anime intrigue to the Hundred Years' War is such a goofy idea that I'm immediately on board with the plot, and getting extra turns on KOs is always a solid gimmick in a tactics RPG. Very pretty for a PSP game, as well!

Fun and interesting tactical rpg. It does feel slightly dated, but I still had a good time experiencing the story and characters. The final battle was a large difficulty spike, but the rest of the game felt reasonable on standard difficulty. A mix of quirky and darker moments kept it interesting throughout.

I didn't find there was a need to grind and the turn limit kept it from feeling like you could easily cheese the game. Would recommend if you like tacticle rpgs and don't mind the retro feel.

This is one of those games where my level of enjoyment and the actual quality of the game don't match. I did not really have fun with this one, but it isn't really a bad game. I actually ended up doing more of the postgame than I originally planned to, but I'm going to stop because I don't feel like grinding to do more of it.

+Skill system is pretty neat, but unless you really become familiar with the skill binding you are going to miss out on a majority of skills.

+I like how the characters feel distinct, although it takes awhile for them to really start standing out from each other

+The armlets + godspeed is pretty neat

+Auras are pretty cool

-Pretty darn grindy. Even with the bonus EXP at the end of the levels, I still had to take the time to do free battles to feel like I stood a chance at some story battles. I ran into difficulty spikes a few times throughout the game. To be fair, this was exacerbated by my playstyle of equally leveling up all of my units as much as possible, but I still think it's worth mentioning.

-Permanently missable item upgrade for the MC. This one is super easy to miss because there really isn't an indication you can get it at all, so you're screwed unless you know about it ahead of time.

-It's really annoying how easy it is to softlock yourself in this game. Yes, the game warns you early on to have multiple save slots, but that doesn't stop it from being a problem. I'm lucky that I was able to beat the final boss, it took me several tries and I still barely beat it. There's about 4-5 levels at the end game, so it would have been annoying having to reload an old save just to grind before reattemping all of those levels from the beginning.

-I really didn't like any of the characters. I found myself warming up to them by the end, but at best I ended up having neutral feelings towards the main cast. And I still think some of their actions were really confusing at some points. Even the antagonist's motivations made no sense to me. The driving force for the story unfolding fell flat and that makes the story even worse.

-There are so many bosses that restore HP too easily. They either regen HP every turn or they have access to allies that will heal them for a ton of health. This felt like a cheap way to add difficulty and it just makes those battles even more frustrating if you are underprepared.

Beat on loan from my coworker. Jeanne herself ended at level 62. I do not remember which characters, skills and equipment I ended with, nor now much optional stuff I did. I enjoyed the game overall but it is nowhere near the masterpiece that is Final Fantasy Tactics. The armlet powers were a lot of fun to use and the core tactical gameplay was very good. What bothered me were the highly restrictive time limits and ridiculous loss conditions. The time limits make no sense whatsoever and is the main thing holding the game back. I did not have too much trouble with failing maps, but I absolutely despise being rushed. There were even times that I killed every enemy and did not win, because you can ONLY win by achieving the specific win condition. I was also not impressed by the animal people, dwarves and elves; they add nothing whatsoever to the plot, setting or gameplay. They just seem to be thrown in because fantasy. And the stupid frog character that uses a sword with his mouth; I didn't want to even use him but he gets an armlet.

I remember the final boss being a particularly harrowing fight because you use 9 characters. Most maps used 5 to 7, so I had a core team of 5 high levels, 2 slightly under leveled and 2 so low they were useless.

7.3/10.

Anyone ever play Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP? This was actually my first taste of the tactical rpg genre lol. I remember thoroughly enjoying this game wondering how it would even work out considering the history its based off of (Joan of Arc). And I gotta admit, it was pretty clever how they pulled it off xD. Still one of my favorite games from the PSP era.