La Pucelle: Tactics is a strategy RPG in the same vein as other Atlus games such as Disgaea: Hour of Darkness or Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for the Playstation 1. During battle, every character and enemy appear as a separate entity, rather than clumped into two groups, and can move on their own and perform their own attacks and spells. There is much more depth and strategy involved in each battle as compared to the usual RPG. La Pucelle carves its one niche in the strategy RPG genre by giving you a very distinct anime flavor. The style and humour provided represent a departure from similar ventures such as Gladius or Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation 1.
Gameplay
The meat and core of every Atlus game! La Pucelle: Tactics does not disappoint in this department. You start the game controlling only three characters, but that number increases as the game progresses. In addition, your main source of character recruitment will come from the same pool of enemies you fight! During a battle scene, you can command a character to spend their turn Purifying a monster instead of attacking it. This makes it more likely that the monster should join your retinue. In order to be successful, you need to perform purification several times by different characters until you are informed that the enemy will join you no matter what, and that's when you proceed to clobber it to submission. Once achieved, your former foe is at your disposal to equip, train, and ultimately send to battle to fight by your main characters' side as you command.
Each character and monster has their own unique skills and abilities, and more are available as the game progresses. Some characters excel in physical attacks and have devastating special kicks or sword slashes, for instance, while others rely more on the divine and mystical arts, and therefore specialize in spells that heal damage or cause it themselves with magnificent bolts of lightning or searing balls of flame.
One aspect of combat is combo attacks. When you position several friendly units next to each other, then can all gang up on the same enemy during a single attack in order to overpower it while reducing the enemy's own retaliation against you. Of course, the enemy is no slough in this department either, and will use its own combination attacks again your own squad! This makes unit positioning a fairly crucial element of each engagement. You don't want to be overwhelmed by the enemy unless you're willing to take a beating...
Height and terrain elevation also play a part in the strategy. Enemies attacking from a descending slope will have an advantage in terms of offense if your unit is below them. You'll need to stay on the same level, or preferably find a higher spot if you wish to stand your ground and gain the upper hand (pardon the pun.) In addition, attacking from the sides or rear of a monster will net you more devastating results against your foes. They'll have a harder time defending and you'll have an easier time hurting them.
Unique to La Pucelle: Tactics are the new energy portals. These are streams of colour that originate from a diamond-shaped opening somewhere in every battle map, that flow along the ground until they arrive at the end of the map or an enemy or friendly unit. When a unit stands on top of an energy flow, the direction it faces determines the direction that the energy flows. Generally, when friendly units stand on the flow, they receive penalties, but when
monsters do, they receive bonuses! It's important to devise your plans accordingly. The most important element of these portals, however, is that they, too, can be purified. However, unlike when purifying monsters, the results are quite different. Purifying a portal will cause the energy flow that emanates from it to be deceased, and any enemies standing along its path take damage. Furthermore, if the energy flow goes around in a circle (or square, to be
more precise) and manages to surround some enemy units, purifying the portal will cause a summoned entity to appear and deliver a massive blow to them! This is definitely worth planning for, since it will help you gain more money and improve your equipment (see below) as you manage to perform bigger and more complex portal purifications.
As for character growth, they are mostly influenced by which equipment items you've given them. A unit equipped with a powerful sword will gain more strength points as it levels up. This allows the player to tailor the development of their character as they see fit, and offers a tremendous amount of customization. Also, when a character performs purification on energy portals (as explained above) the growth parameters on their equipment increase, making the bonuses they receive even greater. This is very highly recommended if you wish to raise your characters to be effective heroes.
All in all, the many factors and challenges presented to you in each battle make every fight deep and engrossing.
Story
La Pucelle: Tactics is a story about Prier and her unit of demon hunters who strive to cleanse the world of evil. Prier is a teenage sister in the holy divine church, and accompanying her is her little brother Culotte, and Alouette, the slightly older and more mature sister. Prier is somewhat wild and tends to speak her mind without much regard for the consequences, but she has a good heart and her intentions are always honorable. This causes her conflict
with sister Alouette, a more "by the book" sister who doesn't appreciate nonsense, which often results in the latter smacking Prier over the head with a large holy bible and scolding her for her inappropriate behaviour. The dialogue is laced with thick humour and the chemistry between the characters is quite apparent. You'll laugh with them, you'll cry with them, and you'll even feel anger towards the villains who will inevitably show up and try to make life
difficult for our heroes. The variety of characters they'll meet along the journey is quite quirky and irregular, and you'll have a fun time getting to know them all. Some will become friends, other will become foes, but all will be entertaining and memorable!
Graphics/Sound
In keeping with its anime roots, La Pucelle: Tactics is 2D sprite-based as opposed to the more modern rendered 3D graphics. This fact may not appeal to those who like to show off their Playstation 2's capabilities to their maximum to their friends, but they are very serviceable as far as gameplay is concerned and are quite fetching if you're a fan of this style. The characters are well drawn and animated, and the colours used are vibrant and lovely. They have an
undeniable cuteness and humourous look, at times, to them. It's quite a breath of fresh air!
As far as the music is concerned, its quality ranges from mediocre to stupendous. Some songs help keep the mood somber in the more drama-filled
scenes, while other keep the mood upbeat in the more exciting battle scenes. Other times a song will make you wonder what the heck they were thinking.
It's a bit of a mixed bag, for me, but for the most part I enjoyed the majority of the music offered here.
The voice acting can be toggled between Japanese and English, which is a neat option. I'm more of a fan of dubbed dialogue, personally, and I can vouch for the quality of the translated conversations in La Pucelle. Every character's voice is infused with personality and charisma, and it's hard to find one that falls short of excellence. The sounds in combat are nothing special, though. Also, one of the characters speaks very quietly during battle and it's difficult to make out what they're saying.
Play Time/Replayability
It took me two weeks of around 3 hours a day to complete La Pucelle. I'd say that's a fairly normal time for the average game, but it doesn't seem as long when compared to other strategy RPG's. Of course, there are extra challenges in there that will keep you occupied if you wish to milk La Pucelle for all its worth. Most chapters in the game have multiple endings that can be achieved, depending on various challenges of varying difficulty. Some of them are
quite challenging and may require you to put in some extra time battling and beefing up your crew. There are also extra dungeons to conquer if you're feeling up to it, and those will probably require a generous investment of time as well. You could easily spend over a month of dedicated play if wish to totally master every aspect of the game. The only sore point, in my view, is the lack of a "cycling" option that lets you start over once you finish the story
with your old characters intact. Something that was very nice in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness or the old Chrono Trigger and its "New Game+" option on the Super Nintendo.
Final Recommendation
If you're a fan of strategy RPG's, RPG's, or even totally new to the genre, La Pucelle: Tactics is a great starting point. For veterans, it offers several selling points that you've likely never seen before (energy portals, purification, etc) that will keep you interested. The storyline and characters on their own are enough to satisfy anyone who loves a good story with a bit of humour served generously on the side. I definitely recommend picking this up!
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