Jeanne De'Arc - impressions

[flyinj]

Finally stopped playing Bioshock long enough to go down to BB and pick this up. I'd been looking forward to it for quite awhile, as Level5 never disappoints (well, kind of with Rogue Galaxy... but whatever).

I think it's fantastic. It has the best graphics I've seen on the PSP platform. Level5 are masters of their craft, and they brought that mastery to the PSP in full effect.

Loading times are very short, which is nice. The combat system seems fairly robust, with various nuances such as flanking and getting more defense by grouping your guys together. The interface is quite good as well, with full 3d rotation on the analog nub, as well as 45 degree increments. Turns go by fairly quickly, as the interface works so well.

As for character systems, you can equip your usual sword,armor,shield. On top of that, your character has 4 skill slots that can be filled with various gems that give the character abilities such as spells, stat mods, and affinity mods. The cool thing is, one out of two enemies so far has dropped one of these gems, and it looks like there are going to be a ton of abilities to tinker with. The frog from DQ8 is in your party as well, so I'm assuming he'll be used to combine abilites and items much like it was used in that game. He's just sitting around croaking in cutscenes now though.

Overall, one of the (and maybe -the-) best PSP games I've played yet. It really shows that Kuju is simply incompetent when it comes to programming on this platform... especially with their excuses about "being out of memory" as to why their game sucks. Level5 has made a gorgeous, solid, and extremely deep strategy RPG that looks and plays expotentially better than Kuju's effort. If you're trying to decide between the two, I can't praise Jeanne De'Arc enough.

EDIT: Sorry, the "other game by Kuju" is D&D Tactics.

[Dirt]

Kuju?

[Charles]

The other game you are talking about is D&D tactics or whatever? You don't actually specify.

That being said, I'm not really a turn based strategy fan... how's the story and character interaction? I'm always happy to get new handheld games but I don't know if I'll like this game.

[flyinj]

Err, woops. I thought I had mentioned Dungeons and Dragons Tactics by name before bringing up Kuju. They're the developer of D&D Tactics.

[flyinj]

The other game you are talking about is D&D tactics or whatever? You don't actually specify.

That being said, I'm not really a turn based strategy fan... how's the story and character interaction? I'm always happy to get new handheld games but I don't know if I'll like this game.

The story is good so far. Tons of well done FMV anime sequences between battles. It's kind of a standard JRPG storyline, but a little less juvenile than most. It's actually kind of interesting. If you don't want an spoiler that tells what the basic storyline is, don't read further-

The basic premise is that England is at war with France for years, and a warlock has summoned demons to finish off the French empire.

Keep in mind, though, that the gameplay is all turn based strategy. There are a lot of cutscenes both in-engine and FMV between battles, however.

[Balasarius]

I know there are many, many fans of JRPGs, but I just can't get my head around them. The story, the characters, the combat systems -- they all make me want to puke.

Every few years I pick one up thinking, "Well, maybe this one won't suck." And I'm always burned. I have Monster Hunter: Freedom to prove it.

D&D Tactics for me, weaknesses and all.

[Dirt]

I'm quite enjoying DnD Tactics. Sure, it lacks polish, but it's straight up the thing that most reminds me of the pen and paper dungeon crawls.

[slantz]

I know there are many, many fans of JRPGs, but I just can't get my head around them. The story, the characters, the combat systems -- they all make me want to puke.

Every few years I pick one up thinking, "Well, maybe this one won't suck." And I'm always burned. I have Monster Hunter: Freedom to prove it.
This isn't really a JRPG. This is a SRPG (strategy RPG), which is a subset of the tactics genre, with the difference being that SRPG's have persistant characters that you level up as you play, which seperates it from games like Advance Wars or Field Commander.

So don't expect this to be like Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior or Monster Hunter or whatever.

This is more like Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea or even D&D Tactics.

If you like D&D Tactics, this is in the same genre, but without all the bad/wonky design decisions and unfun pen & paper baggage. The going feeling is that this game is much better than D&D Tactics. (And $10 cheaper.) It also seems to be a lot better received than Luminous Arc, another recent tactics game.

[unbongwah]

I know there are many, many fans of JRPGs, but I just can't get my head around them. The story, the characters, the combat systems -- they all make me want to puke.
Thanks for sharing.

[BaconTastesGood]

Holy shit this game is awesome. Most polished tactics game I've played, best game I've played on the PSP as well.

[Nick Walter]

Holy shit this game is awesome. Most polished tactics game I've played, best game I've played on the PSP as well.

Did you play Puzzle Quest on the DS then? ;-)

But yeah, this game has awesome polish. I feel it has somewhat shallow gameplay for the genre though, there's not a lot to do in terms of character advancement or customization compared to similar games. Most tactics games leave me hungry for a replay so I can stomp all over the game using my hard earned mastery of the skills/magic/materia/whatever system. In this game, I can't imagine a replay coming out any differently than the initial playthrough.

[BaconTastesGood]

Did you play Puzzle Quest on the DS then? ;-)

Why, yes, in fact I did.

I feel it has somewhat shallow gameplay for the genre though, there's not a lot to do in terms of character advancement or customization compared to similar games.

I don't equate complexity with depth. Chess is not complex, but it is deep. There are many games that are the opposite, with a lot of meaningless choices.

The polish on this is crazy over the top, and maybe the fact that it is "shallow", i.e. it's a lot more like Fire Emblem than say FFTA (and it's a lot better than FE IMO), is why I like it. It has that RPG progression element, but without overwhelming you to the point that you're playing a spreadsheet.

[tiohn]

I, too, am loving Jeanne D'arc. I LOVED FFT and am looking forward to the new one, but really appreciate the lack of complexity in Jeanne D'Arc. It feels really liberating, actually, not having to worry about jobs and whatnot. I feel like I spend more time playing and less time fiddling.

[shang]

I'm a stat freak in RPGs and especially SRPGs, but the lack of permanent character customization in Jeanne D'Arc doesn't bother me at all. There's lots of fiddling when preparing for a battle: which characters to use and how to distribute skill stones (lots and lots of non-trivial choices here). I'm always swapping stuff around before every battle to tweak each character to be optimal for the current situation and that easily satisfies my customization needs.

I love the mechanics, the setting, the cut scenes (except for the voice overs, which are awful) and the game is a lot more addicting than PQ for me. The negatives I've seen so far are that cut scenes don't have subtitles (I play with sounds off when on the move) and the loading times are somewhat annoying (when changing screens and in the middle of the battle before special attacks/dialog). I'm still waiting to get an old copy of Lumines so I don't have to play from this piece of shit technology known as the UMD ever again.

[chumpface]

Probably the best of breed.Even if you leave aside its great graphics and excellent mechanics, it has the feature to beat for japanese games-

SKIPPABLE FUCKING CUTSCENES!

[André Costa]

Hey shang, where did you order it from? Can't find it at amazon.uk or any other of my usual online shops ;_;

[Hanzii]

Hey shang, where did you order it from? Can't find it at amazon.uk or any other of my usual online shops ;_;

I second that question
Also I haven't been able to locate Puzzle Quest locally either and after Sony killed Lik Sang, that is closed...

[TriggerHappy]

Jeanne D'Arc is indeed awesome, and beats out Puzzle Quest PSP in my opinion. Then again, I had a max fire mastery Warrior and Deathbringer would lock up the PSP every other time I'd use it. Kinda pissed me off.

On topic, Jeanne D'Arc is the best SRPG I've played since FFT. Character advancement isn't as deep, but story, polish, and graphics are better.

[shang]

Andre & Hanzii: I ordered my copy from http://www.dvdboxoffice.com/

Items take a bit over a week to arrive, but other than that it's an excellent and cheap store to import US games.

[Nick Walter]

I don't equate complexity with depth. Chess is not complex, but it is deep. There are many games that are the opposite, with a lot of meaningless choices.


Chess isn't complex? For the board game world it most certainly is. But that's really a tangential topic I suppose, so I'll let that drop.

Regardless of the level of complexity required for depth, Jeanne D'arc is not deep. There are no meaninful choices to make in character development at all, and precious few to make on the battlefield. Once you've chosen which character to not bring on the mission the rest is pretty much automatic pilot. Mob enemies, use the attack command a lot, and make sure to cast the occassional heal. Pretty damn vanilla and not requiring a lot of thought.

It's a good game but it's candy to a tactical RPG fan, not meat. Satisfying at first in a small dose but alas not a filling meal at the end of the day.

[TriggerHappy]

The skills you equip make a huge difference though. I wouldn't say it's shallow at all, especially when I can tweak my skill equips and get past a tough mission that kicked my ass earlier.

[André Costa]

Andre & Hanzii: I ordered my copy from http://www.dvdboxoffice.com/

Items take a bit over a week to arrive, but other than that it's an excellent and cheap store to import US games.

Hmm..my problem with importing games is that portuguese customs really pay attention to that stuff.

Anyway, @Hanzi: someone also told me about this site: http://www.videogamesplus.ca/

[Nick Walter]

The skills you equip make a huge difference though. I wouldn't say it's shallow at all, especially when I can tweak my skill equips and get past a tough mission that kicked my ass earlier.

I've never noticed that at any point in the game. The best skills to give someone seemed pretty obvious at every step so I never encountered any interesting choices in terms of skill equips.

[BDGE]

So is this game better than Bioshock or something...?

[Hanzii]

So is this game better than Bioshock or something...?

Everything is better than Bioshock, didn't you get the backlash-memo?

[André Costa]

Everything is better than Bioshock, didn't you get the backlash-memo?

Even System Shock 2? Maybe we should make a poll about it.

[BaconTastesGood]

Another thing I like is that you can just churn through the stages, and it's REAL hard, but if you're not up to the challenge, you can grind on a free combat stage and just level up your guys and get past the next stage. I like that element a LOT since I suck at these games (or, more precisely, don't have the patience to try a level for six hours to figure out the perfect combination of tactics).

[Kevin Grey]

Another thing I like is that you can just churn through the stages, and it's REAL hard, but if you're not up to the challenge, you can grind on a free combat stage and just level up your guys and get past the next stage. I like that element a LOT since I suck at these games (or, more precisely, don't have the patience to try a level for six hours to figure out the perfect combination of tactics).

Free Combats are kind of hit and miss. I've found pretty often that they can be really low level compared to the "real" stage you just finished and it can take forever trying to level up your second stringers when you're only getting 10 XP for a kill.

I'm pretty far into the game (Chapter 4, Mission 18 or 19) and I'm really enjoying it but I have to say I miss the meat of the mid-game in FFT. Job systems seem to go really well in Strat RPGs. Certainly one of the best strat RPGs I've played in quite a while but the original FFT is still king of the hill for me.

[TriggerHappy]

Some of the free combats are just completely brutal though. And get worse if you try them a second time.

FFT is still by far by favorite game in this genre, but Jeanne D'Arc is as good as I can imagine a jobless SRPG could be.

[shang]

I think Free Combats are there mostly for grinding skill stones for skill binding. The experience is just a secondary benefit.

[VegasRobb]

Finally tracked down a copy over the weekend. So far, it's very nice.

[TriggerHappy]

This game has surprised me, it's gotten consistently better with story, level design, and even tactical flexibility. I'm getting skill stones that can really make a difference, and the story is surprisingly unpredictable past a certain point.

[txa1265]

I think that to an extent the combat is a bit simplistic ... but beyond that this is one of the top games I've played on the PSP.

[slantz]

I will say, the first escort mission you have to do is exceedingly frustrating. Having archers which can one-shot your VIP makes me want to strange someone, especially when he chooses to move into the one square in their line of fire.

Other than that, the game is grand. I miss the job system, but it's still a hell of a game.

[TriggerHappy]

The mission did suck, but it's the only one that's that random/frustraing I've run into yet.

[BaconTastesGood]

The mission did suck, but it's the only one that's that random/frustraing I've run into yet.

That mission isn't random, it's just one of those annoying "Play it first to see what happens, then play it again to 'solve' it" missions. I only had to do it twice and the second time around I adjusted my strategy.

[fuzzyslug]

That mission isn't random, it's just one of those annoying "Play it first to see what happens, then play it again to 'solve' it" missions. I only had to do it twice and the second time around I adjusted my strategy.

The third or fourth mission was like that for me -- the one where you rescue the nobleman. First try, find out that I'm not fast enough. Second try, watch him die when the enemy gets a critical hit on him. Third try, beat it. :)

[mike]

The third or fourth mission was like that for me -- the one where you rescue the nobleman. First try, find out that I'm not fast enough. Second try, watch him die when the enemy gets a critical hit on him. Third try, beat it. :)

This one was weird and random for me - the third time, half the enemies attacks missed the guy, and his counter attacks always hit. First time, they never missed him.

[Lee Johnson]

I'm beating my head against the Tourelles mission early on. Taking down the enemy commander would not be a big deal--except for the bullshit requirement that I'm not allowed to sustain any losses in the process. Oh, yes! and they get reinforcements! I've gotten close, but... :-/

How have other players approached this mission? I didn't see any 'ladder points' for 'thief guy' (Colet) to scale. Did I miss something?

[BaconTastesGood]

I'm beating my head against the Tourelles mission early on. Taking down the enemy commander would not be a big deal--except for the bullshit requirement that I'm not allowed to sustain any losses in the process. Oh, yes! and they get reinforcements! I've gotten close, but... :-/

How have other players approached this mission? I didn't see any 'ladder points' for 'thief guy' (Colet) to scale. Did I miss something?

The ladder points are like little yellow diamonds IIRC.

When a mission is too difficult, I highly recommend grinding once or twice to level up your characters. A level disparity of even 1 is significant, so if you have some folks at a level threshold it makes sense to do a Free combat and push them up one level and try again.

I found this out in an early mission, where I was just ran through and got my ass kicked with a bunch of party members between levels 7 and 9. I did some grinding, hit level 11, and it was a breeze (I could have realistically done it with most of my party members at level 9-10 though).

[mike]

Free Battles for the win. EXP for the weaker guys, and you usually get some goodies along with it. Also, keeping your units grouped is helpful for the defensive bonus.

[BaconTastesGood]

Free Battles for the win.

One thing I really like about this game is that you don't HAVE to grind if you don't want. If you're insanely good you can just challenge yourself with weaker characters, but if you suck (like me) then you can grind up and still have a reasonable chance of completing a mission, even if it's just by brute force.

Also, grouping for the def bonus is good 75% of the time, but there are some monsters that have some pretty vicious area of effect spells you'll want to avoid.

[txa1265]

One thing I really like about this game is that you don't HAVE to grind if you don't want. If you're insanely good you can just challenge yourself with weaker characters, but if you suck (like me) then you can grind up and still have a reasonable chance of completing a mission, even if it's just by brute force.

Not only that, but I like the different things they drop on you in Free Combat in some places - makes for some interesting challenges to go through at least once.

[Lee Johnson]

The ladder points are like little yellow diamonds IIRC.

When a mission is too difficult, I highly recommend grinding once or twice to level up your characters
I remember what they look like; I just don't remember seeing any. I don't think they're even visible if Colet isn't in your party, but I could be mistaken about that.

Anyway, I think I'll wimp out and take your suggestion to grind a level or two in a free battle. Thanks. :)

[Adam Altmann]

Over the weekend I picked up one of the new piano black PSP-Slim handhelds. (One of the local Target stores had them on the shelf early. I thought I was going to have to wait 'til this week. A pleasant surprise.) I bought the handheld specifically for games like this, and I was a bit wary of dropping $200+ on all the stuff.

After playing for a few days, I'm not regretting the purchase at all. This game is exactly what I hoped it would be, and it's really making me look forward to the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics. I was worried that games on a handheld might be rather short in duration, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. I've played this one for several hours, and am still getting the occasional tutorial pages describing more of the system.

It's awesome! A few of the cutscenes/dialog are pretty damn long, and occasionally nonsensical...but your companions are varied and reasonably interesting, and the story is pretty good. Combat is fun, the sound is good, and the graphics are prettier than I had hoped for with a handheld. I'm really digging this game so far.

[Adam Altmann]

I cannot put this game down! All I do is play it!

Last night I got to the first free stage. Dragons! At first, I thought for sure I'd get my ass handed to me by them. After all, they've got eight hundred hit points, and they fill nine squares! Let me tell you what an awesome discovery it was when I used Impale! to hit one, and found out that area-effect spells will hit them on every square they cover. Cyclone II FTW! This stage is awesome for powerlevelling characters. Make sure your weaklings get the killshot, and BAM! they gain three levels.

Does anyone use Rufus? I never do. I find his Scooby Doo mannerisms less than endearing. I mean, shit, at least La Hire is huge-looking. That counts for something. Still, I rarely take the axe-wielders. It took me a while to warm to Colete, but now I love him...haven't had an opportunity to use his ladders/bridges much though. Marcel I take almost every battle. Bertrand, I also don't use that much as there's nothing special about him...or I haven't made him special enough with skills. I'm hesitant to keep using Roger and Lianne, because I keep expecting one of them to die. (Don't spoil it for me!!!)

I have to admit I haven't been using the transformations that much at all. I think I've used them in two battles.

Enough with Talbot already.

I'm just now starting to get some pretty cool skills/spells. I can't wait to see what stuff is coming up. I love this game. I can see myself playing through it repeatedly. I'm pretty happy I decided to take the plunge and get this PSP.

[Dirt]

Historically, Talbot was pretty important. Almost as important as Jeanne was to the French.

I always take Liane and Robert. La Hire too because he cause good damage. Rarely do I take Gilles, because of his history.

[Nick Walter]

Does anyone use Rufus? I never do. I find his Scooby Doo mannerisms less than endearing.

I didn't like him either but I ran across a tip on the net that Rufus has stat growth that leaves everyone else in the dust. If you powerlevel him he will turn into an uber killing machine. After that I started using him and just pretended not to notice his horrible case of ScoobyDooItis.

[slantz]

Much to my surprise, my top guy BY FAR is Colet, the thief character.

He walks around the board one-shotting pretty much anything short of an ogre, dragon, or boss, and since he now has movement of 9(!), that means he can one-shot pretty much anyone anywhere. Not to mention with physical attacks, bad guys a 5% chance or less to hit him.

The trick is to get his special dagger ("Assassin's Knife"), which I got from one of the dedicated free-play hotspots. I also equipped him with Movement+2, Attack +20, Preemptive, and HP +150.

And the most important part is the "2 hits" ability, which is now the only action ability I keep on him. Once you have his max MP to at least 168, you can use this every single turn, and I usually do 200-400 damage (with 100% crit now), and have hit for almost 600 on units with low armor.

Oh yeah, and because he hits twice, he gets 10 xp every single attack, which is double what a normal attack generates when attacking someone of a low level. As a result, he now has the highest level in my crew -- 54 or so I think.

[slantz]

Also, has anyone used the "Two Rounds" passive ability? Or more specifically, do you know what it does?

I haven't noticed any effect at all since I've started using it. But that may be because I put it on Colet, and I'm using the "Two Hits" action ability every single turn, so maybe they do the same thing, but aren't cumultive?

[slantz]

And sorry for the triple post, but I wanted to correct/amend something I said earlier.

Characters get 25% of their mana each turn, but with a max of 50/turn. This means that for any character using special abilities (which should be pretty much everyone), you should rush to get their mana to 200 ASAP, but after that all you're doing is raising their max capacity, not their regen rate. I encourage you to keep this in mind and shuffle around your +mana skill gems when your casters no longer need them to hit 200 mana.

It also means that any skill below 50 cost can be used every single turn once you're deep enough in the game. I've noticed at least one skill with a cost of 51, which I'm sure was quite deliberate...

[Wendelius]

Anyway, @Hanzi: someone also told me about this site: http://www.videogamesplus.ca/

I'm really late to the party as I just got this game in the post yesterday and I love it. As has been said, production values are great and, not being a FFT veteran, I'm enjoying the nice smooth learning curve.

Also, the crazy story is tons of fun.

For Europeans who fancy playing it, I can recommend the videogamesplus.ca site. I always use them to import and they are not only reliable but they are also customs friendly (they will mark down the value of the game so it goes through without being taxed).

Wendelius

[Charles]

I bought this game after not being thrilled with FF:Tactics. This game is awesome! It's FF:Tactics without the suck, and with far more polish.

edit: so far the only thing I don't like are the bobble head dolls. I wish they hadn't done that.

[Dirt]

You just say that because you're Quebequois.

[Charles]

You just say that because you're Quebequois.

... Except I'm not.

[metta]

I traded in my DS Lite and my DS games for a PSP Slim and a bunch of PSP tiles, including this one, and I'm enjoying it enormously.

[Chris Nahr]

First you get rid of your PC, and now the DS? Why do you hate systems with games?

[metta]

First you get rid of your PC, and now the DS? Why do you hate systems with games?

I have a problem with your math, maybe if you could show me your scratch paper...

We still have a few DS systems in the house, and the Windows PC, well, yeah, that's long gone, and not missed at all.

The PSP finally has enough of a library of games I want to play plus a re-design of the unit, plus a price drop, plus our strong dollar made the purchase less of a gamble.

Topical Unguent: My favourite feature of the Jeanne story is that the English are actually evil; that Henry is possessed and under the control of a warlock.

[txa1265]

I bought this game after not being thrilled with FF:Tactics. This game is awesome! It's FF:Tactics without the suck, and with far more polish.
I completely agree ... I had expected much more out of FF Tactics based on what I was reading before ... still solid, but I like Jeanne better.

[DrCrypt]

I loved every second of Jeanne D'Arc, but I was particularly tickled with how deftly they explained away the historical "death" of Jeanne and how they left a game with a pretty set plot arc wide open for a sequel. Hey, I was wondering why Jeanne spent most of the game hanging out with that dreamy guy who just happens to be European history's first serial killer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_rais).

[Robert Sharp]

It's hard to take a view seriously that suggests that FFT sucks, but I admit that I'm looking forward to this one. How long is it? I'm trying to decide whether to Gamefly it or just buy it.

[Podunk]

IHey, I was wondering why Jeanne spent most of the game hanging out with that dreamy guy who just happens to be European history's first serial killer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_rais).

Holy crap. That is disturbing.

[TheWombat]

It's hard to take a view seriously that suggests that FFT sucks, but I admit that I'm looking forward to this one. How long is it? I'm trying to decide whether to Gamefly it or just buy it.

Rather long, unless you nerd out and play 24/7. I tend to play a mission or two a night, and I've been playing for several weeks. I think there are over 30 missions plus the unlimited "free play" battles. Depends on how long you spend binding skills and stuff. Definitely worth the purchase I think; it's a fabulous game.

[Dirt]

I loved every second of Jeanne D'Arc, but I was particularly tickled with how deftly they explained away the historical "death" of Jeanne and how they left a game with a pretty set plot arc wide open for a sequel. Hey, I was wondering why Jeanne spent most of the game hanging out with that dreamy guy who just happens to be European history's first serial killer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_rais).
That's probably why they changed the name slightly in the game.

[DrCrypt]

No, that's the reason why they...



...had him suck in the soul of Gilvaroth at the end of the game



They're obviously planning on using him as the main baddie in a sequel, based upon his historic penchant for serial murder. It's quite ingenious, actually.

[slantz]

I would like to see a deeper skill system. I'm not asking for the FFT job system, and we all know it'd be impossible to beat that, but the skill system felt a bit flat and I'm ready for something new.

[TheWombat]

I would like to see a deeper skill system. I'm not asking for the FFT job system, and we all know it'd be impossible to beat that, but the skill system felt a bit flat and I'm ready for something new.

I haven't played FFT, only FFT Advance, but I found the skill/job system there pretty intimidating. That's one reason why I found Jeanne D'Arc pretty engrossing--it was easy to get my head around. I do plan to try FFT but only after Disgaea, which is sitting here with the Double Jump guide just waiting for me to finish Jeanne....

[slantz]

The FFTA system sucks compared to the FFT system, which was very elegant and had that special something that everyone loves.

[russellmz00]

when i lose a battle there is a one minute gameoverscreen/loadscreen/title/load/hitcircleto acknowledgethatthepsphasloaded/loadingscreen/loadworldmap/load/skipcutscene/load level.

is there anyway to skip all that, so if i lose, i am either at the world map or restarting the battle instead of the title screen? at the very least, the ability to skip the unskippable "game over" screen would shave ten seconds off.

[LeSquide]

The FFTA system sucks compared to the FFT system, which was very elegant and had that special something that everyone loves.
Ok. I love me some FFT, but that's ludicrous. The original FFT job system is full of confusing abilities, asymmetrical costs, unintuitive prerequisites, and a laundry list of subpar choices that can end up with a player making seemingly decent decisions, and ending up with a crap set of characters.

Add in a pair of stats that can totally undercut any other development a character may received (which are themselves totally unbalanced), and a complex system of zodiac interactions...it's a testament to the rest of FFT's gameplay and storyline that the game ever got played.

There are a lot of things I don't like about FFTA, but I think in many ways the gameplay is superior.

[Qenan]

I'm only a year late to the party, and I'm only four or five missions in, but... who designed the save system? Not only does it not just automatically start up where you left off (unless you were _in_ a fight when you quit), but telling it to save is not enough -- you have to get to a town, press save, select a place to save, and tell it to save. Good grief. I admit I'm an idiot about games, but I've turned it off multiple times thinking I've saved only to find I have not.

The rest of the game is OK. It doesn't seem as good as Fire Emblem (the gold standard for this sort of thing), but it holds my interest.

[Dave Long]

Um... how are you "turning it off"? Because if you don't let the battery run down, you should always be right where you left off when you turn the system back on. The PSP suspends your game state in every game.

[Qenan]

Nope. If I turn off while I'm in the middle of cutscenes, or in a town, I fall back to the last saved point -- typically before a fight. Maybe it's because I use it to play music in between?

[malkav11]

Um... how are you "turning it off"? Because if you don't let the battery run down, you should always be right where you left off when you turn the system back on. The PSP suspends your game state in every game.

If you just tap the power-off, sure. If you hold it, the PSP will actually power off - much easier on the battery and what I mostly do unless I have a specific need to suspend.

[Dave Long]

I always suspend and I didn't understand why someone would do otherwise. But I guess if you use it for other things then I can see the problem.

Still, the game allows ample place to save, so it really shouldn't be an issue.

[slantz]

If you just tap the power-off, sure. If you hold it, the PSP will actually power off - much easier on the battery and what I mostly do unless I have a specific need to suspend.
Actually, the PSP's suspend mode is remarkably efficient -- far more efficient that the DS.

The DS has a longer battery life in terms of game time. But the DS's suspend will drain mostly-full batteries in 2-3 days, where the PSP can go a week or two without being completely drained. A friend said he left his for a month and it was still in suspend mode with a little juice, but I can't vouch for that directly.

I literally only use suspend mode on the PSP and DS unless I know I'm not going to be playing for quite a while. So I have lots of practice with them.

[VegasRobb]

I can vouch for 2-3 week periods in sleep/suspend mode.

[Kevin Grey]

Actually, the PSP's suspend mode is remarkably efficient -- far more efficient that the DS.

The DS has a longer battery life in terms of game time. But the DS's suspend will drain mostly-full batteries in 2-3 days, where the PSP can go a week or two without being completely drained. A friend said he left his for a month and it was still in suspend mode with a little juice, but I can't vouch for that directly.

I literally only use suspend mode on the PSP and DS unless I know I'm not going to be playing for quite a while. So I have lots of practice with them.


That is completely the opposite of my experience. My DS holds far, far better in sleep mode than my PSP does.

[Charles]

Nope. If I turn off while I'm in the middle of cutscenes, or in a town, I fall back to the last saved point -- typically before a fight. Maybe it's because I use it to play music in between?

You will be exactly where you were when you saved it. I don't know what you are doing, but if you save in a town, you'll come back to the town, and if you save during a fight, you'll be right back on the turn during a fight.

Why would you think you'd go back to where you were if you hadn't saved? Putting it in to suspend doesn't save anything -- it just saves power. The game is still in memory. If you quit, all of it gets wiped.

[slantz]

That is completely the opposite of my experience. My DS holds far, far better in sleep mode than my PSP does.
Maybe your PSP battery is on the verge of death. Because that is far, far from the norm.

[Dave Long]

Maybe your PSP battery is on the verge of death. Because that is far, far from the norm.
You have links for this? Because I've also found what Kevin says to be true.

[Charles]

I'm going to join in about the PSP's stellar standby. I'll leave mine in standby for a week without the battery bar changing. I've left it two weeks before just to say "Oh shit, I should go save or charge it" and it's still got plenty left.

[Kraaze]

Both of my PSPs have had stellar standby life as well.

[Kid Socrates]

Add me to the growing chorus. I STILL have War of the Lions on standby at home -- I played a few turns last night after putting it down three weeks ago. (I'm charging it back up tonight so I stop tempting fate.)

[malkav11]

Considering how terrible the battery life is when active, I'd just sort of assumed that I'd want to conserve every jot of it whenever possible.

But I also pingpong between uses pretty frequently, so I can't say as I'd want to long-term suspend anyhow.

[fuzzyslug]

Maybe your PSP battery is on the verge of death. Because that is far, far from the norm.

My experience is the same as yours. I never turn my PSP off. It'll last around two weeks without charging in stand-by mode. My DS lasts about 2 days if I just close it.

[slantz]

Considering how terrible the battery life is when active, I'd just sort of assumed that I'd want to conserve every jot of it whenever possible.
Yeah, it really is horrible when it's running. But in suspend mode, it's gravy.