Jeanne d'Arc Dev Team Q&A

Questions (and more questions) answered by
the Jeanne d'Arc dev team

Ahead of the pack as usual, G.A.P. members are getting ready for the forthcoming Jeanne d'Arc by asking the dev team the hard questions. Check out the Video Q&A below. You'll find out how they mixed history and fantasy to concoct this unique and all-new game for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.

Watch the video Q&A

Read the video Q&A

Hi, I'm Nao Higo, producer of Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Jeanne d'Arc is a turn-based RPG based loosely on the story of Joan of Arc. It's made by Level-5, the developers of the Dark Cloud™ series, and Rogue Galaxy.™ I'm here to answer some questions from the Gamer Advisory Panel, a group of our most loyal PlayStation fans.

Our first question comes from SolidusPrime, who asks:

Were there any challenges and/or benefits to creating a strategy RPG game for the PSP?

Benefit-wise, a strategy RPG works well on the PSP for a few reasons. The first reason is the screen. The PSP's screen size and pixel count make it possible to create detailed environments, and we're able to display a large number of characters on the screen at once. The PSP works particularly well for strategy RPGs because the menus needed for this type of game take up a lot of real estate on the screen. Having the wide-screen format helped out a lot.

The other aspect is that strategy RPGs are something that you can play for 15-30 minutes at a time. Each stage takes approximately that long to clear, making it optimal for those who want to play the game while on the go.

The biggest challenge in creating a strategy RPG was that this was the first strategy RPG Level-5 has worked on, so everything had to be built from the ground up. There was a lot of experimentation done in the early phases of production to see what worked.

Next we have a question from joelg-gundam, who asks:

What made you decide to go with a strategy-based RPG (like FF Tactics) instead of the traditional Action RPG that your company is so well known for?

I went into this a bit with the previous question, but in terms of the PSP platform, it works well for strategy RPGs. But more so, Level-5 wanted a new challenge by trying out a new genre. Level-5 is known for action RPGs, but I think this shows that they aren't a "one-trick pony."

Here are a few from Dagger_32, who asks:

How will you be able to customize your characters to make them your own?

The way you can customize your characters is through the skill stone system. Each character can equip up to six skill stones and you have a wide range of skills to choose from. There are active skills like special attacks and magic, as well as latent skills that give you additional HP or countering/evasion abilities.

By combining the different skills together, you're able to customize the character to your playing style. For example, you can set up one of your characters to be a tank, with high HP and HP recovery skills. Then, you can have that character draw the attacks while you take out the enemies from afar.

Or, you can have a balanced team to take advantage of the Burning Aura, a system where you gain more power by sandwiching the enemies.

How you want to set up your team is up to you.

What are some examples of the different character classes?

Divided broadly, there are four species—humanoids like humans, dwarves, and elves; Therions, which are human-beast hybrids; monsters such as orcs and dragons; and demons.

Within each species, you have different character classes. For the humanoid and Therions, they range from swordsmen, lancers, axe wielders, mages, as well as bowmen. The type of weapon they wield determines the type of attack, attack range, and mobility. Each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, a bowman is able to attack from afar, but he lacks any countering abilities, so if the enemy gets right up on them, they are pretty much helpless. There are other weapon types as well, so explore to find out!

I like the idea of medieval warfare, the retelling of the Jeanne d'Arc story mixed with knights, castles, dragons and wizards. However, in the true Jeanne d'Arc story there are no dragons and wizards. Just what is meant by "loosely based on the story of Jeanne d'Arc"?

We mixed a lot of fantasy elements into this game. It's not meant to be a historically accurate account of the Hundred Year's war. So basically, if you're writing a report about the life of Joan of Arc, don't base your information on this game.

We've also put a twist on Jeanne's fate in this game. In real history, she was burned at the stake, but in this game, she has a slightly different outcome. But you'll have to check out the game to find out what happens.

That's it for our Developer Q&A session. Sorry we couldn't get to all of them. But hopefully this gives you a bit more of an insight into Jeanne d'Arc—I hope you guys will like the game! Thanks again.