Jeanne d'Arc [PSP]

When it comes to French history, one of the largest legends for the country revolves around the tale of Joan of Arc. A young girl who believed she heard the voice of God, she managed to unite the country and eventually toss the invading English forces out of the country. But not many people know that she was aided with the help of mystical armlets, or that the English used hordes of monsters to subjugate the French countryside. At least, you wouldn't know it unless you played Jeanne d'Arc, Level-5 and Sony Computer Entertainment's alternate take on the classic tale, which is one of the best tactical strategy RPGs released on a handheld in recent history.

The premise behind Jeanne d'Arc starts much earlier than the Hundred Years War with an ancient battle known as the War of the Reapers. Humanity joined forces to fight a demon lord, and it was only with the help of five holy armlets and sacred gems that they were able to seal the monstrous power and its army away. Unfortunately, the evil was never fully destroyed, and as centuries passed, the opportunity for the demon lord to return became easier and easier. During the Hundred Years War between France and England, the Duke of Bedford manages to release the ancient evil, placing its spirit within Henry the VI. Hoping to wield the spirit's power through the king, Bedford unleashes a horde of creatures under the control of English commanders to crush the French countryside and its army. One of the first villages to suffer this assault is Domremy, which is the home of Jeanne d'Arc. While the attack seems overwhelming, Jeanne discovers one of the holy armlets from the War of the Reapers at the same time she hears the voice of God. As a result, Jeanne decides to throw out the English from her country, rallying the people behind her.

Fortunately, Jeanne finds that she isn't alone in her quest to rid her motherland of English reign. Initially, she starts out with two friends from her village, Liane and Roger, to help her spread the word, but she quickly gains allies that share her vision of a liberated France. Interestingly, not all of her party will be solely human; Jeanne will gain the help of mystical creatures like elves and beast men known as Therions as she battles across the land and eventually grows her allies to 14 distinctive warriors. Each one has their own unique personality quirks, such as a young archer that constantly bestows nicknames, a knife wielder that speaks with an over-exaggerated French accent, and a dog-faced Therion that sounds suspiciously like Scooby Doo. Each character has a specific weapon type they're allowed to equip, such as lances, axes or bows, which dictates various offensive attacks and limitations. For instance, lancers can attack from two spaces away, but cannot wield shields due to the two-handed nature of their weapon. The weapon classification also dictates the nature of the abilities that each character can wield within fights.

Whereas most strategy or RPG titles allow party members to acquire new abilities and powers as they level up their characters, Jeanne d'Arc takes a different approach to abilities. Characters never actually learn a static set of skills throughout the title; instead, their powers are enabled via magical items known as skill stones. There are four different colored kinds of stones that you can acquire: red, green, purple and blue. Red stones provide class specific attack abilities and finishing moves, such as multiple strikes with a weapon or specialized blows. Green stones imbue the user with magical abilities, such as the option to cast fireballs or lightning strikes. Purple stones provide class specific skills, such as the ability to immediately counter incoming melee attacks, while blue stones provide status boosts, such as increasing a character's attack power or increasing their hit points.

Now, the skill system is incredibly flexible for two primary reasons. The first reason is that before every single battle, you can change and tailor each character's individual skill set to make them much more capable of succeeding in a fight. For instance, if you feel like making one character a support character, casting plenty of healing and defensive spells, that can easily be done. Of course, you can balance things out by providing each character with a measured amount of offensive and defensive skills and send them out to the battlefield, making minor adjustments before every single fight. These changes can be further augmented with the inclusion of spirit affinities, which can impart one of three different "elemental" powers: Sol, Stella and Luna. The three act in a rock-paper-scissors setup, such as Sol being stronger than Stella and weaker than Luna. By equipping one of these elemental stones, you can increase the power of certain attacks and decrease damage taken from enemies.''