#This one-and-done PSP masterpiece healed my aversion to tactical RPGs – Destructoid

I’ve began enjoying Jeanne d’Arc on the PSP as an experiment. I grew up loving to play on Sport Boy Coloration, Advance, and Nintendo DS, however I had by no means put my fingers on PlayStation’s transportable console. In 2025, I wished to depart my Nintendo fan-boyism apart whereas additionally enjoying a tactical RPG, a style I in all probability final performed on the DS in Remaining Fantasy Ways A2: Grimoire of the Rift.

I usually keep away from tactical RPGs as a result of they are usually lengthy, sluggish, and repetitive. I barely completed Unicorn Overlord’s demo as a result of I hate spending a number of minutes establishing models solely to later make a minor misplay that forces me to restart an extended fight. I’m extra of a Slay the Spire and Hades man. However this time, I used to be additionally happy with being just a little uninterested in a recreation if I assumed I’d really feel achieved on the finish.

On this try and detach myself from this self-imposed “I hate TRPGs” label, I made a decision that Jeanne d’Arc was value a strive.

However I used to be skeptical. Jeanne d’Arc has an 87 Metacritic rating and ranks because the Eleventh-best reviewed PSP recreation ever, however it by no means acquired a sequel or remake. The sport was solely ported to PS4 and PS5 in July 2024, 17 years after its Western launch. If it was that good, how did it not turn out to be a franchise like Ways Ogre or Disgaea?

Apparently, Jeanne d’Arc didn’t drive sufficient gross sales. It positioned a hundred and ninetieth on Japan’s best-selling video games listing of 2006, behind different TRPGs like Disgaea 2 (one hundredth) and Tremendous Robotic Taisen MX Moveable (166th). Its developer, Degree-5, ended up making different extra profitable franchises like Professor Layton, Ni No Kuni, and Inazuma Eleven.

What nonetheless makes Jeanne d’Arc a gem is the way it mixes issues up simply when it’s about to get boring.

Breaking the cycle

The sport begins off sluggish with a couple of tutorial battles, which is okay. It’s simple to be taught its rock-paper-scissors triangle of weaknesses in Stella, Luna, and Sol spirits. As characters be a part of your roster, you additionally be taught extra about their particular roles, like being a healer, a mage, or a situational decide for sure battles.

Nonetheless, I anticipated Jeanne d’Arc to fall into the boring TRPG cycle: verify the battlefield, place your models, transfer them round, and kill all of the monsters. Whereas that is the core of the sport, the shifting aims and assorted maps stored it from getting stale.

In most battles, you’re anticipated to wipe the board. That’s commonplace and practically unavoidable in tactical RPGs. However a couple of instances, Jeanne d’Arc forces you to flee the battle with out letting any characters die, like moving into the boats on the finish of the canal within the “Barging into Paris” story quest. Different instances, it helps you to ignore all of the trash mobs and concentrate on killing a particular enemy, like defeating Slinker within the “Brother Richard” mission. Essentially the most fascinating duties, although, come within the aspect quests—which I nearly skipped as a result of I often keep away from them. In Fortress Vilneaux, I needed to lure two highly effective pet-dragons again into their proprietor’s cage with out killing them or letting my workforce get wiped, and so they had devastating space spells. In one other quest, I fought 10 waves of more and more harder enemies in a single map in a colosseum.

Maps that add depth

The target variety in Jeanne d’Arc will get even higher with the map variety. No map was solved from the start.

In Langles Tunnel, I used to be caught in a sewer with a large golem barreling towards me. I couldn’t escape or outrun it, so the one resolution was to buff up beforehand and punctiliously place my models so the golem wouldn’t crush my backline. In Raillemont, I had to make use of the elusive rogue Colet to construct bridges throughout cut up rooftops to achieve a boss, all whereas my workforce was scattered throughout the world. Primarily, Jeanne d’Arc always pressured me to make use of totally different models to resolve totally different maps, and that ended up being enjoyable whereas additionally rewarding me with nice gear to assist in the primary story.

Even commonplace “kill all enemies” maps change issues up with their structure. Some maps are broad open fields, however others are stuffed with pillars and partitions that block ranged assaults, chokepoints that solely two characters can move by way of directly, or branching paths that power you to separate your celebration to take care of a number of threats directly.

These map and goal adjustments are what stored Jeanne d’Arc from ever getting boring, one thing I didn’t count on from a standalone TRPG. And whereas these are the 2 largest causes it breaks the style’s common cycle, it additionally options nice character flexibility. Your characters’ expertise are objects you possibly can equip and swap out earlier than every mission.

You may as well consider Jeanne d’Arc as anime and play it for the plot. An enormous a part of the sport’s story is manufactured from anime cutscenes, which inspired me for a 2006 recreation. You may watch the story on YouTube if you’d like.

Jeanne d’Arc, a recreation I assumed I’d by no means take pleasure in, turned one which I performed for over 30 hours throughout a number of weeks, and that made me need to play extra tactical RPGs. Please drop a remark with a few of your finest suggestions for related TRPGs!