In years past, there was an immense battle known as the War of the Reapers. It was a time of darkness, when a great evil plagued mankind. The Reapers were monstrous creatures led by a demon lord (that physically resembles a ghost made out of a pillow case). Many died in the war and the outlook was not good for mankind. Then, five magical armlets were created and given to five brave warriors. The valiant warriors took the armlets and used their power to subdue and banish the demon lord; thus, ending the reign of evil and restoring peace.

As time passed, the evil was forgotten by most. The world, however, was troubled when the 15th century came about. France and England continued to battle in the Hundred Years' War. One of the former five heroes strongly believed that the only way to save England and protect its prince (Henry) was to unleash the power of the demon against France. Another of the five heroes attempted to stop his former friend, but was unsuccessful in stopping him. The demon lord was released and an evil presence once again came to the world.

Enter Jeanne D'Arc (who is commonly referred to as Joan of Arc in American literature). Jeanne D'Arc was a common girl from the small village of Domremy (French). While at a festival celebrated by all the village people, she left the celebration with her friend Liane to look for Roger. In the woods, she found a dying soldier and a magic armlet that bound itself to her right arm. Then gruesome beasts came from the woods and a voice instructed Jeanne to defeat the enemies, to fight, and to use the sword. Afterwards, Jeanne, joined with by Liane and Roger, left the small village to save France from an impending evil.

The game play follows a turn-based format common to many other strategy role-playing games (strat-RPGs). The battle field is divided into tiles; it is a grid. You can control up to seven characters (depending on the stage) and navigate the battle field by moving a number of tiles (limited by the character's move range). When in range of a target, characters/monsters can use melee attacks, ranged weapons, magic, and items. The goal is to defeat all of the opponents and prevent all of the good guys from being wiped out. Like most strat-RPGs, this requires you to really think and plan your attack, potential retaliation, and subsequent attacks/retaliation.

While Jeanne D'arc's battle system follows a common strat-RPG format, it has a few enhancements, "burning aura", "unified guard", "transformation", and "elements". "Burning aura" provides you with an opportunity to do some serious damage. When you attack an enemy, a golden glow will appear in the adjacent tile. If another character within the same turn attacks from that glowing tile, they will attack with increased power. This technique is really important to wipe out some of the tougher foes. "Unified guard" is a passive, important technique to protect your characters. When the good guys are standing near each other and they are attacked, they get a boost in defense.

"Transformation" is the key enhancement to the game's tactics. Certain characters with a magic armlet have the ability to transform and gain higher attack power, better defense, and additional skills. Transformations are limited to a fixed number of turns, after which the characters revert to their normal forms. What really makes transformation special is Godspeed. When a transformed character defeats an enemy, Godspeed is automatically cast and they are given another turn. Utilizing transformation and Godspeed properly can make it possibility to wipe out an entire army in a turn. The last enhancement is "elements", which is pretty common in RPGs. There are three elements and one is stronger than another. In that respect, some characters will be stronger (or weaker) than some enemies.

Another important and somewhat intriguing aspect to the game is the skill development. Characters are not limited by the types of magic or skills they can use (with the exception that one class cannot use another class's skills, e.g., a swordsman cannot use archer skills). Skills/magic are given to characters by equipping skill stones. The use of skill stones is not permanent, so you can change it as you see fit. New skill stones are bought in stores and found in battle. Advanced skill stones can be created by binding two stones together.

Overall, Jeanne D'arc is a solid strat-RPG. It offers an easy-to-learn battle system that is common to other games of the genre, but also incorporates a few changes to keep the game play fresh. It also promises a lot of game play, as there are twenty-six different stages and a multitude of "free combat" stages that can be replayed over and over again to level up characters. Another driving factor is the game's storyline. It is a pretty rich story that is supplemented by high quality voiceovers and animated cut scenes. On a somewhat related note, I loved that you are able to skip cut scenes (sometimes you die and don't want to watch the long cut scene again). In the end, Jeanne D'Arc is a solid game and with a thirty dollar MSRP definitely worth getting.