Songs I think are magic: pt 1

I'm halfway through Persona 3, and I've let it consume my very soul. I'm glad I decided to not write about it as I go, but I'm going through withdrawals. So, when in doubt, let's talk about music!

Believe it or not, I have interests outside of video games. My third greatest love is music. Yes, it turns out I'm still in high school! Way back then, though, I was hoping for a career as a musician. Sadly, I lack musical talent... I could neither sing nor play guitar, meaning I was a hopeless romantic. Still am, really...

Let's flash forward fourteen years, and there are a number of bands, albums, and singles that have deeply resonated with me. I've mentioned a few of them in this blog from time to time, but I've barely scratched the surface. I want to talk more about them now! As I've said in the past, I believe that a good song is the closest mankind will ever come to performing actual magic. We'll never summon fire, but Yasunori Mitsuda can compose Wind Scene, which is what I'd rather have. But Mitsuda-san and Uematsu-san are not alone in their sagacity! They may be the most prolific, but they're far from alone. And, and this may come as a shock, there are even more conventional musicians that can make me feel things I'm not comfortable with!

From: country to folk, metal to EDM, and even some vintage radio hits, my interests are wide and varied. Everything I'm hoping to write about can take me to the highest of highs and lowest of lows. They fill my imagination with strange sights and sounds, regardless of if they're nostalgic, depressing, hopeful, or otherwise. I have a Spotify playlist that I'm trying to update often, but here's what's on it and why. I'll be trying to theme these, either by writer or something else, so let's start with...

My favorite composer, Yasunori Mitsuda. Sorry, I'm starting off boring, but I don't want to bury the lead.

Yasunori Mitsuda is mostly known for his video game soundtracks. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are some of the most highly touted OSTs in the industry. He's also done Xenogears/Blade, Mario Party, and composed for the Inazuma franchise: both games and anime. He's also done a million other things that I won't get into here for time. Mitsuda is still making music under his Procyon Studios label. But what will always stick out to me are the multitude of tracks that made me realize music is magic. Loading up Chrono Trigger just to play Peaceful Days while I did homework was a gateway I leaned against in 2001. I'd blow it open fifteen years later, but it all started then. Without Mitsuda, I wouldn't care for OverClocked Remix, and my computer would have 3000 fewer mp3s on it. But, specifically:

"Wind Scene" was the first track I added to my "Songs I Think are Magic" playlist, and I've talked at length about how powerful this song is. But, here I go again... Wind Scene is first heard when you get to ???. It's a whole new world from the one you were just in. The town of Truce looks slightly different, and you can't find your house. No one knows about the Millennial Fair, and everyone speaks of the ongoing war. It's the exact opposite of where you just were. The opening notes bring forth a feeling of nostalgia, which is perfect since we later learn we're 400 years in the past. Nostalgia might be the wrong word for such a massive time skip, but it works well enough. The rest of the piece is oddly upbeat and hopeful for such a chaotic time. There's a war going on, a city that goes bankrupt, and a ghost haunts Chorus. Towards the loop, it almost starts to sound triumphant, even. Speaking of the loop, despite consisting of two very separate pieces, it turns back around on itself perfectly. If anything, it almost changes the feeling. The part I learned on guitar can start a song one way but can be drastically different the second time through. I don't know how it works, but it's a thing of awe.

"Memories of Green" is another overworld theme. This time for the present day. It plays outside of Truce. The song starts off with what I think are arpeggios, which become a background melody for the rest of the track. MIDI woodwinds come in after a few loops that lift the piece into a peaceful air of calm. But there's something about them that makes me slightly uneasy. I think the woodwinds play in a minor key, making me feel a little forlorn about this peace. It makes sense as we still don't know about the future yet. Compare this to the title track, which is definitely upbeat and exciting, and you hear the differences. It's the same melody played at the same tempo, but it just feels off. Even the more orchestral part, later on, doesn't provide me any ease. Or those unending arpeggios are more powerful than I think.

"Far Off Promise" is the fifty second loop that is Marle's theme. It might be the saddest song in the game, but it's a mystery as to why. Marle is an energetic Princess who'll stop at nothing to save her world, even if its destruction won't affect her. But it obviously does effect her. It has a musical box quality about it, which makes me think about Marle's late mother. We know that her death greatly affects our Princess, so I wonder if it's a callback to her. Would Marle's red portal have us learn more about the tune?

"The Day the World Revived" is a song you're not supposed to hear. It only plays when your party gets wiped, and it's fitting. The echo/reverb on the notes really reminds you that you suck and should be sad. It's an example of "less is more," and the best game over track in the entire art form. I wish I could say more about it, but it's outside canon, and I never die!

"Corridors of Time" may be the most remixed song ever, and it's deservedly so. It's another overworld track from antiquity, 12000 BC. But you first hear it when Melchior talks of the Masamune. CoT is the de facto theme for the floating continent of Zeal, a utopia in the clouds where its residents can use magic! I wonder if that's why it sounds middle eastern? If Arabia and the Levant are the birthplaces of "Earth" magic, then it makes sense why it would inspire the birthplace of "CT" magic. Even thirty years after its release, Chrono Trigger still teaches! It has a repeating melody that might get tiring, but the tune that plays over it stays exciting and can stave off any potential misery for at least an hour, at least according to my YouTube watch history.
 
"Schala's Theme" is another character theme. It's rare that a secondary NPC gets a track to themselves, but Schala deserves it. She's the key point in this planet's timeline and is more deserving of such an accolade than our party. It starts with a strange xylophone playing the backing melody, but there's an even stranger drum beat to keep this piece, ironically, grounded. The MIDI woodwinds that play over it ring and sustain out some of the saddest notes in a soundtrack filled with melancholy. And it all makes sense. Schala does not have a happy upbringing. She loses her dad at a young age, and her mother goes mad. She does not have a happy ending as she's a pawn in her mother's plan, and she gets abducted by an eater of worlds and banished to an area beyond time. And she deserves none of it. She's a kind Princess who thinks only of her people, the Earthbound populace, and Janus, her younger brother. She even asks us to forgive her mother. If Chrono Break ever comes to pass, it better end with Schala getting a happy ending!

From Chrono Cross:
"Radical Dreamers ~Le Tresor Interdit~" is the ending theme of Chrono Cross. I think this is the name of it, at least. Sadly, both Chrono games never got a set tracklist name from translation until it was too late, so now everything is jumbled. But this is a simple track that tells a not so simple story. Someone plays a barely tuned guitar while a woman with a great voice sings over it. The guitarist is "unpolished" in that we can hear when his fingers slide down the strings. Personally, I love hearing the flaws of the instrument, and it brings out more soul and emotion. I'll take raw blues talent over highly perfected orchestration any day. The notes themselves aren't anything to fawn over, but there's something special in how they're played and how they meld with the lyrics. The song is in Japanese, so I had to hunt down a translation. As far as I can tell, the lyrics are about searching through time and space to find someone. For some reason, the singer doesn't even know who she's looking for. This search brings love and pain, but it's something that must be done. This works perfectly for the Chrono series for a number of characters. Magus seeks Schala, Schala seeks herself and (maybe) Serge, and the players seek answers to everything! Or maybe it's just more vagueuity about the search for a meaningful existence when so much can go wrong.


"Dreams of a Shore from Another World" is one of four overworld themes in Chrono Cross. There's a mellow piano that plays a relaxing but somewhat fast piece behind a sad violin. I have mixed feelings on that weird chanting in the background, but it's whatever... "Dream of Another Shore" plays while we drift around the El Nido sea in Another World, and it gives me that wanderlust I crave. The aforementioned woodwinds play a slightly sad melody, giving this overworld tune a sting. We're not traveling for adventure in CC but to return home. We know that we'll suffer during our travels, but it'll be something we'll need to do. Before the song loops again, I get that peaceful feeling to keep my mind going in the right direction. I often forget about the bass playing in the background that occasionally chimes in to keep everything in order in this chaotic mutli dimensional universe.


"Fragment of Dreams" is a song I've always found to be oddly happy. You first hear it in Goldove, but I don't remember exactly why. Despite not being able to recall the exact plot point it appears with, it's made a strong impression on me. It's not the happiest of songs, of course, but it elicits emotions that bring about the good kind of nostalgia, even if those times will never come back. It's a perfect piece for Chrono Cross, as much of the game is about loss and how each character in both worlds overcomes that feeling. Of course, there's definitely something about loss in there, somewhere. And yes, I said the same thing about Reminicience a while ago, but multiple songs can have the same purpose.

"The Girl who Stole the Stars" is another theme about Schala, or, more apropos, Kid. We get some of the saddest notes played in the soundtrack, albeit different ones from "Schala's Theme" from CT. It's primarily on piano, but those woodwinds are with us the whole time as a backing track. At least, I think they're the backing track. There are times through the piece where the piano seems to give way, which brings to mind the duality of Kid and Schala. Two people with vastly different personalities but still have similar goals in mind. And a few other things, of course. There's a pre chorus here where a female vocalist sings "La La LaLa" for reasons I'm unsure of, but they don't distract anything and humanize these two people the song is about.

I probably could add a few more tracks of Mitsuda's, especially from Xenogears, but I'm forgetting melodies or plot points for a lot of possible songs. I'm unsure I should have kept "Fragment of Dreams" here, seeing as I've forgotten where it comes in at. And I even confused it for another song...  But I'm over 2000 words, so I feel like it's now a good time to move on anyway. Next time I'll be talking about a common theme from college, and it's someone who isn't from a video game. Although, I did hear about them because of a video game...

Maybe this was a bad game to blog about?

Persona 3 has three stages of its gameplay.
 
The first is what happens before and during school. This is usually straightforward and "I'm a student" stuff that's mostly an autopilot thing.
The second stage is after school, which is more involved. It allows you to explore the city, participate in capitalism, and do after school activities. I joined the kendo club! This is also when the social links that empower the Persona grow. You can also get a job and buy weapons from a cop.
The final stage is either you studying, sleeping, or going to Tartarus. You can't go into Tartarus every night, or your team will get sick and suck in battle. When you get low, study, but you sometimes can't do that well if you're too weak. Obviously, we then sleep and begin the next cycle. On days off, you can goof around a bit more. Junpei gave me an MMO today.
While in Tartarus, it's just your three members running around a maze, defeating enemies, and climbing the tower. Roughly, every five floors is a bosslike Shadow.

None of these progress any story. That's fine; I don't think the plot is what this game is about. Persona seems to be a simulator where you're a child who saves the world. If I were in high school, I'd definitely understand the appeal. I'd be less interested in the school sections of the game, but that's not a huge portion, anyway. That's also a me thing...

But, because of this, I don't know how to write about it. Neither a diary nor the updates would be worth reporting on, let alone reading. So, I'm at a loss. I'm having fun and don't want to drop it, but how am I supposed to write? Maybe I'll just do a boring review at the end, which is the only thing running through my mind. It'll be a bit of a break, and I won't stress myself out about how to write any of these. Sorry if you were looking forward to a "detailed" walkthrough where I share my thoughts, but I don't know if that's possible now. But, this way, I get to play the game longer and won't hold myself to lame time constraints while updating bland things. "Today I failed a math pop quiz, blew off Kenji to go to kendo practice, and studied all night after school." How exciting!

Maybe I'll finish Jeanne D'Arc after all but with cheats?

The duality of saving the world, and being a high school student.

How am I gonna write these updates?
 
Welcome to Persona 3 Portable! People over at r/jrpg rave about Persona 4 and 5, but I have no way of enjoying those titles. I want to explore this franchise, then I'm gonna have to start at an even older game. While playing through the tutorial bits tonight, I found myself wondering how I was going to go about writing all of these updates. The MC is a silent protagonist, and there is a vital day/night cycle. So should I do a diary? I haven't done one in a while. The problem is, I don't remember dates... To worsen things, a lot of the dialog almost seems tertiary. The important part of P3 is the gameplay, and the plot just adds to it. But....what if I did a memoir?

"This whole journey started a year ago. I had fallen asleep on the train to my new high school. The train was delayed, so I had nothing else to do. I had a dream then, and a voice told me something that I didn't understand at the time. Ii wondered if I could change the future. I'm warned that time marches forward, but I might be able to alter it, but I only had a year...

I woke up when the train got to the station, just past midnight. Despite being a bustling town with a number of malls and a corporate sponsored high school, it looked long abandoned and in ruins. The buildings were crumbling, and coffins lined the streets. But the worst part was the eerily giant, yellow moon. But it didn't bother me enough to turn around and run away. I went to where my dorm was, and it all looked fine enough. I stepped inside, and a creepy boy asked me to sign a contract. The document was just to make sure I took responsibility for my own actions. After I signed my name, the boy disappeared as though we were eaten by shadows. From where he stood, though, came a girl. This was Yukari Takeba. She was surprised to see me, but our upper clansmen quickly settled the scene down. Mitsuru Kirijo didn't expect me to show up late, but I was glad someone knew I was coming. And then I noticed Yukari had a gun... I asked her about it, and she said it's for self defense. Apparently, Takoda City has a crime problem. But it was late, so Misturu asked Yukari to show me to my room. It was the last door on the second floor. I was only expected to be here for a short time because my paperwork got eaten or something, but I would end up living here for the foreseeable future. I jumped right into bed once she left.

And then she woke me up in the morning. Yukari made sure I wouldn't miss my first day of school, even if it was because Mitsuru asked her to. The two of us rode the train to the school, and I was glad to see the city looked ...uh..."normal." Once we got to school, we went our separate ways. Yukari suggested I speak to my homeroom teacher, so I went to the bulletin board to see who that was. I couldn't find myself at first, but my second look over revealed that I was in 2-F. Yukari was also in that class. I walked to the faculty room and got a glimpse of my teachers for the year. Mr. Ekoda was throwing himself a pity party because no one respected him, not even the bread seller. Another, Mr. Ono, wore a samurai hat and congratulated a boy with a French accent that he had the "heart of a samurai" in him. But my homeroom teacher was Mrs. Toriumi, the composition instructor. She hadn't read anything about my past, so she read it aloud there. It brought up how I lost my parents ten years ago, so it was a little embarrassing...

Before class started, we had to go to the auditorium. The principal gave a boring speech, as they're want to do, but I had my first interaction with someone wondering if I was dating Yukari. After that, the rest of the day just went by. After class, another student, Junpei Lori, also asked me if I was dating Yukari. Well, he eventually got to that. He mostly wanted to introduce himself to make sure I didn't feel lonely. He was a transfer student a few years ago, so he knows how it feels. It was nice of him. It also seems that Jumpei and Yukari have been classmates together before. They have a ...decent... report with each other, which I gathered when she reminded me not to say anything about what happened last night. What did happen last night? The way she worded that did not quell any rumors... After this, I spoke with Junpei on the way back to the dorms and hit the hey again. The next day was much of the same... As was the next day, but that night...

Yukari woke me up just past midnight. She was in a panic because something was attacking the dorms. Mitsuru and the other student in the building, Akihiko, were fighting it, and the dorm mother wanted us to flee. I didn't know what was going on, but Yukari gave me a sword. It didn't help that I just had the strangest dream. I met Igor, a skinny Penguin from Batman, and his attendant, Elizabeth. Igor welcomed me to the Velvet Room, a strange elevator like place, but he didn't give me many details. Yukari and I tried to run, but the backdoor was under siege. We fled to the roof, but even that wasn't safe! Something climbed up the side of the building and attacked us! Yukari called it a "Shadow." but it had about ten hands and held a mask over its head. Not on his face but over it. And then Yukari pulled out her gun... She held it to her head and psyched herself up, but the Shadow attacked her. I don't know what came over me, but the gun was knocked towards me. I picked it up and put it to my head. Maybe I decided I was to die here and figured I might as well take it into my own hands? I pulled the trigger, but I felt no pain. Nothing went through me, but something came out of me.

Orpheus! He attacked the Shadow and wiped it out. Some of it remained, so I decided to get involved a bit. Together, we took out the remnants. This was the beginning of the rest of my life. Although, I wouldn't learn any of it until I woke up in the hospital a week later. Yukari was sitting beside me and thanked me for saving her. She then gave me her life story about how her dad died in an explosion in 1999, and she doesn't have a relationship with her mother. She thinks the two of us have some similarities here. She knew of my backstory before I even got to the dorm, so she felt guilty. I wouldn't have minded, but she wanted to make it even, so she shared hers with me. She's a good cookie... By the way, it was during the time I was in the hospital that Mitsuru was elected to the student council.

Soon after, I met the man in charge of SEES, Shuji Ikutsuki. Jumpei joined us for this meeting, which we all found strange. But Akihiko found him crying outside the mall one night, a sure sign that he has "The Potential." But it was from Ikutsuki that I'd learn what my life would be like going forward. Between the hours of midnight and 1 AM, something called the Dark Hour happens. The Dark Hour is a period of time that isn't mentioned on any clock and time almost stands still... for normal people. For others, like myself and everyone in this building, we're aware of what's going on. We're not turned into coffins, but we're actually sought out by the Shadows. If we get caught, we become afflicted with something that the media has been calling Apathy Sickness, which takes the victim's soul and turns them into a vegetable. A girl in my school was struck by this shortly after I got here. However, members of SEES, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, are to hunt down the Shadows and stop them from ruining the city. We do so by summoning things called "Persona" into battle, which we call using that evoker gun. Even now, I barely understand it myself. Yukari had never fought a shadow before and was too afraid. Akihiko was injured in the fight, so he was out of commission for a while. He's fine, but it's hard to fight with injured ribs. Rather than waste time, we all went to high school during the Dark Hour... The normal and modest building my teammates have known for years suddenly transformed into something terrifying and grotesque. And Mitsuru wanted us to climb it!

The maze of Tartarus is filled with weak shadows, a perfect place for three initiates to learn how to fight. There was also a door to the Velvet Room, but I was the only person able to see it? Igor gave me instructions on how to combine Persona, but I, shockingly, didn't understand it at the time. I didn't understand that the strength of my Persona would be reliant on the strength of my friends. I trust Orpheus. Anyway, since this was a training exercise, Mitsuru only let us explore the first floor. It was a quick and successful mission. But it sure was exhausting...

We all went to bed and carried on with our lives for the next few days. Remember, we are high school students. It was during that time I made a friend outside of SEES. Kenji and I enjoyed a lot of good ramen from one of the shops at the strip mall. And that's the first two weeks of my junior year of high school."

Holy day one plot dumps, Batman!

Jeanne D'Arc is a terrible game.

Before I get to why, let's talk about the last thirty minutes I'm playing of this game.
 
As Liana and crew reach the gates of Paris, she starts a fight. Roger asks if she's out of her mind, but if the Parisians won't accept Charles, then the only thing to do is kill them. ...whatever...

The battle is actually two battles, and they both suck. We're with three new, random shlubs who die on round one. Also, it turns out Richard is also a shlub. There's a sniper on our team's right that will one shot him. Despite being four men down right off the bat, I managed to position my team in a way that kept most of us alive for a while. I was down to a four on two towards the end. Liane got it to a one-on-one, but the remaining enemy was an archer who kept running away to heal herself. She chased me to the opposite side of the map with only five turns left. Once I caught up to her, enemy reinforcement arrived... After Liana got paralyzed, I called it quits.

This game is getting painfully frustrating, and I don't like the story enough to keep going. While I'm interested in what happened to Jeanne and what's to come with Roger, I hate how half my team is gone. All I have left are terrible characters or those who are underleveled. The plot jumps ahead too much, and I feel like I'm missing something. And why do the people I keep killing show up the very next location? But the worst part is how unimportant the majority of the cast is. Marcel and Colet don't need to be here, and La Hire keeps forcing himself to be relevant. Will Beatrix and Bart get any better? My biggest flaw with Final Fantasy Tactics is how dull named characters get once they've joined your team. That is not the thing to emulate... The game is probably better than the chance I'm giving it, but I'm annoyed, and I'm not having fun. I'm going back to work. I was wanting to play this game for years, and this is how it ends... 

 

Either Persona 3 or Final Fantasy X-2 Friday (or Monday)!

Escort quest...

Jeanne really is dead, isn't she?

Between us and Reims is the bog of Vermonde. As you'd expect, it's a swamp. It doesn't poison your characters if you walk into it, fortunately, but it does slow us down. The goal here is to defeat Mawra, the catgirl, but we'll have to get through her backups along the way. Mawra is confused why Jeanne is here but quickly realizes "Jeanne" and Jeanne have a very different smell. There are five archers, but four don't move, and only the dark elf will. The rest of the mobs are orcs and crows. I waited a few turns and let the enemy come to us. Richard and "Jeanne" are mandatory, so I brought along Roger, Giles, and Beatrix. Mawra's backline took out Richard, but the transformed Liana took out the target the next turn.

We'll be in our tents, and Liana is exhausted. She's scared, but Roger manages to cheer her up. The two hold each other while Giles creeps on. I don't remember if it was after this or later, but Giles confronts Roger about it. Giles doesn't care about their relationship, so long as it doesn't interfere with the Charles thing we're trying to do.

We'll finally reach Reims, but it was an ambush the whole time. Mawra is waiting for us with her squad. We remain undaunted and plan to crown our King even with the threat of demons. This means we now have to escort Charles across the map.
 
I'm so glad I'm emulating this and can save state before every turn. Chuck is AI controlled and doesn't attack. He's also very fragile and dies in a stiff breeze. The plan is to stay ahead of him and try not to block him. The orcs on either side are probably far enough away that we don't have to worry about them if Charles runs an optimal route, but we're probably gonna have to kill them anyway. I brought the usual suspects, Marcel, and Beatrix along. I figured two ranged attackers would be great in the tight streets of Reims. At the very least, they might be a distraction, which Beatrix was! About halfway through the map, enemy reinforcements show up, but they weren't a big deal. There is an archer next to Mawra and another in a side street that were the worst part of this battle. Their range and refusal to attack anyone but Charles is reason enough to never play this game legit. I was just about to win when the side street orc archer took killed the Dauphin.

But, even so, I managed to win in ten rounds. Mawra will still want to attack, even when I reach the cathedral, but Blaze will show up to stop her. Blaze is the tigerman, and he reminds Mawra that she used to hate war. He asks her what changed as a hypothetical question since both know it was whatever Henry did to them. They both agree that they lost and return to their master.

We're back to some anime as we watch King Charles get his crown. Liana is clapping with everyone, but she's only thinking of Jeanne, glad she's fulfilled her dream. That night, Rodger has his dream again. He wakes us for Liana to walk in, ecstatic about what they did. What are the sleep habits of our teammates? Similar to last time, it is Liana who tries to cheer Rodger up. However, he tells her he's thinking about leaving the army now that the King has been crowned. Liana reminds him that the English are still around and pleads for him to stay. Despite wanting to find the place in his dream, a place he feels like he's been to, he agrees to remain with Liana.

We cut back to Henry and the three beast warriors who've been annoying us. Slider isn't around, but we hear him scream in the distance, an indication that he's probably just been killed. Henry is enraged that his plan failed again and now wants to take out his frustrations on his "pawns." Mawra is dragged away by the Duke while Blaze watches on. Henry tells a crow to fly to the party...

Charles, though, has opted to pull out. Liana is upset, even if it was, apparently, her idea to do this. I didn't really understand this, but the Duke of Burgundy is in Paris and may or may not be willing to kneel before the true King. Apparently, taking troops out of the field is supposed to sway him? Either way, Georges walks in, and there's a crow beside him. He suggests we prepare for war in Paris, and no one disagrees. ...It's an idea, alright... Before we head out, Giles says his farewells. Now that Charles is King, he has no reason to remain in the army. My party members are dropping! The map opens a trail to Paris, so we'll be heading to the Capital City of the World...

...tomorrow!

This game can be very frustrating, and I don't know if the reward is worth it. It also seems to make plot jumps, and I feel left out. I fear it'll get worse now that I'm out of important party members...

Everyone hates Jeanne!

Sorry for not updating over the weekend, but I was busy playing Smash Ultimate with friends. I'd like to congratulate Covid for winning the war on Covid. Unlike our best friend virus, I was unsuccessful at winning many games with my friends. But I had fun, and that's all that counts. Could have edited, though...

We're still on the march to Reims to crown Dauphin Charles King. On our way to the city, we come across Potay. We're stopped in our tracks, though, by the great and powerful John Talbot... Blah blah blah. The three beastmen we saw speaking to King Henry the night before show up and kill him. The tigerman seems to know La Hire, who I'm still not using, but the catgirl and the foxman are just here to kill us. But they're lazy, so they sick their henchmen on us. A pantherman, Bartolomeo, enters with his entourage, and this fight sucks.

We have to kill everyone, but there are two sets of reinforcements. Each time they spawn, they bring in five monsters: two crows, two orcs, and a giant. There are also two wizards and three archers we need to contend with. Stick to the low ground for now and let them come to you. After round two, we'll meet a new archer. An elf enters the battlefield looking for Bart, but he's not too happy to see her. Regardless, Beatrix becomes playable, and she's okay enough, I guess. Nothing really set her apart from Marcel. I can't give any strategies for this fight since I was left with only Jeanne, Giles, Liana, and Colet (and his seven HP) at the end. Expect to die! When the dust settles, Beatrix will tell everyone that she's the fiance of Bart. Bart, meanwhile, hates humans, and he blames them for ruining his race. Beatrix convinces her beloved that we're cool, and they both join the team. I was more concerned with Talbot's well being. I killed him five times, so why couldn't I get the final blow? Later on, Roger is in the midst of a nightmare while Liana watches over him. Jeanne enters the tent, and Liana tries to talk to her about Roger. Jeanne, though, thinks Roger is fine and blows the both of them off. As our main character goes to a strategy meeting, Liana yells "I hate you" at her.

The next location is the city of Troyes. On the Dauphin's behalf, we ask to spend the night, but the whole city is loyal to the Duke of Burgundy. Jeanne tries to convince everyone in town, but she ends up blocking a traveling friar. As she lets him by, he tells her to meet back here after dusk. Rather than wait, Jeanne runs after him. Giles knows the man as Richard, the greatest strategist in France. We couldn't find him, so we return to the gates of Troyes. The mayor comes out to meet us and informs us he's changed his man and will let us stay. As we enter the city walls, the gates drop, and we see Slinker behind the local militia. Slinker is the foxman who probably didn't kill Talbot, and he's convinced the entire city to kill Jeanne. The whole thing was a trap, and now we need to defeat Slinker!

The traitor, Richard, is standing before us. Giles asks him why he'd betray France, and Richard reveals that he's got an armlet. He activates his armor and gains a stupid hat. He then turns on Slinker. This whole thing was a setup for a setup! There are demons behind us, so get into the city as soon as possible. The humans are pretty weak, so they're mostly here to be annoying. I tried to focus everyone on Slinker, who runs away on turn one. Try to keep Richard close to him if you want to minimize French casualties. Rich's transformation lasts four turns, allowing him to get two special moves off. Slinker is a mage character, so he'll probably heal, but he's gonna stay away from us regardless. It took me five turns, and no demons got involved. Sadly, I had to kill a few humans.

Slinker will run away, and we'll have a talk with the mayor again. He gives up his resistance, real or otherwise, and will support Charles going forward. Jeanne will wonder why Troyes, a French city, would fight against the French with the English on the doorstep. Are Burgundians French at this point in time? Richard joins the group to fill them in on what Talbot never did. The Kings of England are descended from the French. This entire war isn't about nationalism, but it's more about the ruling class fighting a war for themselves. The commonfolk are suffering because rich people have always sucked. Jeanne becomes enraged at this, but nothing comes from it yet.

She's still marching to Reims, but another city, Chalon, lies between us. Once again, Slinker is convincing the mayor to turn against us. But he has to do so with force this time. He beats up the mayor, which does the trick. Jeanne and the crew reach Chalon, but the mayor still hates us. When he runs off, a random dude shows up saying he supports us. The whole town does except for that guy pretending to be the mayor. The real mayor has been kidnapped and replaced, so Jeanne promises to save him. The dude opens the gates, which triggers the mayor's attack. The random dude warns us that the fake mayor is about to kill us, so Jeanne kills the threat. The whole town gets up in arms because he killed their mayor. The random dude turns into Slinker to reveal that his plan worked. Jeanne doesn't want to spill French blood, so she plans to escape the town. The amulet agrees...

The goal here is to reach the cracks in the walls and leave. I only brought in Jeanne for this to make sure I didn't cause a traffic jam. I also wanted to kill as few humans as I could, but I get the feeling it wouldn't have mattered. Anyway, I went to the left side of the fountain and then ran up the middle. Past Slinker is an escape panel. Because everyone is focused on one person, they can't all get in range. Killing the trolls two battles ago got me an HP recovery skill, which did wonders. I also popped a movement up item and one that increases evasion by twenty for three turns. After a few counters, I saw an opening to transform and kill a deer, activating Godspeed. If you can make a chain of death, awesome, but I managed to escape the massive horde and reach the penultimate square. I ended up getting paralyzed just before the exit, but Jeanne was able to tank that round and get free the next. As we leave, something attacks Slinker...

The group is on the road again, but the catgirl catches up. She stops us and attacks Jeanne, not doing any damage, it seems. She and Jeanne have a mock battle while everyone looks on, but then Mawra gets attacked. Slinker hit her, and they both pass out. They both want the glory of killing us and taking the armlet. Just then, more townsfolk catch up to us. We switch to some anime, where they have us surrounded by a cliffside. Jeanne is trying to talk them down, but they've already begun to attack us. We're defending ourselves, and only La Hire is really doing any damage, but then Liana tells Jeanne to stop being naive. Jeanne's "French First" attitude doesn't always work, and she can't save everyone all the time. Talbot is never going to not be relevant, is he? From behind some stuff rises a man with a crossbow. He takes aim at Liana, which causes Jeanne to act. She pulls out her sword to defend her friend but gets shot for her trouble. She ends up rolling down the cliff, barely holding on to a rock. It gives after a moment, and Jeanne falls. Liana manages to save her, but her strength is already wavering. Liana promises she'll never let go, which causes the armlet to change. It glows and places itself around Liana's arm. Just then, the grip of both women give, and Jeanne falls. The death of the Pucelle really kills the mood, and all three parties go their separate ways. The townsfolk return home, the monsters return to England, and we go to Chapter IV.

Mawra, Slinker, and Blaze are before King Henry, and he's upset. It's entirely because Jeanne died in a boring way, but also because he didn't get his armlet. Mawre promises to get it for it, "even at the cost of death." Henry then attacks his underlings, so he's getting madder and madder as time goes on.

We're with our party now, and Marcel and Rufus are crying because their friend died. Colet is annoyed because he hates kids and dogs. Richard, though, goes to speak to Liana... Some days pass, and we're before Charles. Giles walked into their tent earlier and called Liana, "Jeanne..." Richard wants to keep the Pucelle's legend alive, and Liana will now play the part of her dead friend. Charles is an idiot, by the way, but we're still going to make him King. But that'll have to wait until...

...tomorrow!

Had William the Bastard not hated his epithet, would we have gotten this game. Should have stayed in Normandy, Bill!

A free Orleans!

Jeanne is before her knights on the evening of this decisive battle. She informs them she couldn't have made it this far without them and thanks them. She stands before them, yells "Charge," and everyone runs out to Tourelles. Liana hangs back for a moment, though... Major warning if anyone is playing along: there are two battles in a row tonight with no ability to return to the world map between them. Welcome to Jeanne's Wiegraf fights! Hopefully, without the difficulty.

The first battle will introduce us to the man Talbot hates, Glasdale. He pretty much tells us he was a terrible general because he wanted Talbot to fail. Go figure... We'll have fifteen terns to kill Glasdale, but he's protected by two walls and a small horde. He even gets reinforcements. As is usual, keep your team together. I accepted the first wave would surround me, and I took out the closest of them as soon as I could. Besides the usual four, I brought Marcel, who'll be a mainstay after this. and Colet. I thought Colet would let me climb the walls, but he did not. Bring someone else. Probably Jean... After a few turns, gargoyles will begin to spawn near the first door. These guys are surprisingly weak, and these are the only two who'll show up. I wonder if that's what all those purple lightning rigs are for? Once you've taken out the soldiers outside the wall, make for the door. If you want to, take pot shots with magic at the two guarding mobs the next door. You probably should, as destroying the first wall will bring four reinforcement from each side of the battlefield. Fortunately, no one outside of your range will attack you. This also means a spear user with Impale can attack the door and any mobs on the otherside of it. Giles was how I killed the archer next to our target before I even broke the second wall. Getting passed said wall will also bring more reinforcements. Glasdale can't even kill Marcel, so you might as well take out his backup for maximum EXP. He'll die, and our party will pay no heed to him and go deeper into Tourelles. If you bring Jeanne and Roger together, they'll have a unique conversation where Jeanne says he's her best friend. And they promise to stay together until the very end.

The next battle is against the undead Talbot. I've killed him four times already, so I assume he's a zombie. Blah blah blah... I took out the four enemies on the middle portion, but I don't know if you have to. The quick way to reach Talbot is to go to the left. The layout of this stage is a bit confusing, and it leads to some interesting ideas. Once the knights are down, I had Marcel and Giles give chase to the priestess, who took the weird side path. Sadly, I used La Hire for this fight, but he's still bad. I need to find a fifth ASAP. From the balcony in front of Talbot, I had Marcel take aim at the enemy archer, who didn't fight back. Once you get close to the target, the battle gets difficult. There are three swordmasters in the back, and they're as tough as any English general. I tried to skip them and just transformed to take out as much HP as Talbot had. For the fifth time in Jeanne's life, she killed the undead king! ...actually...

Jeanne and Talbot are having a conversation because she still wants to know more about that scene I was too angry to retain. Talbot gives us a vague answer to what he meant by "same ancestors" (not those words), but he warns us we'll soon find out. Rather die with honor, I think he throws himself off the ledge. I think, at least. We return to Orleans, the un-conquering hero. Giles suggests Jeanne should smile, but she's crying. I can't tell if it's from happiness or if something Talbot said upset her.
 
We (the camera) cut back to the throne of King Henry and the Duke of Bedford. Henry is upset that his plan is ruined, and he seemed to have taken a liking to the "whiskered man," which is why I think Talbot is finally dead. The Duke calls forth three new toys that Henry had altered...

As we cut to the Dauphin's study, Georgios is upset. Everyone wants to crown Charles the official King of France, and they suggest we do that in the city of Reims. Unfortunately, Reims is deep in English territory. Regardless, an official King would do wonders for the French moral and give them a clear nationalist leader. Chuck is down, as is his knight, Richemont. Georgies isn't because he's lazy and is about to be an antagonist. Regardless, Charles is the one who gets to decide, and he says we're going. While Georgios complains to himself, Roger feels that deep evil again... Georgies and Richemont bicker before we jump to the next day. We're waiting for Charles to show up, but Georgie is going to come along. Richemont and Giles let us know that they go way back to when our lancer was a mere squire, and we all set off for Reims. Which I'll reach...

...tomorrow!

I hope Talbot is dead and that I get a fifth character soon. Our beastmen suck, and I've left Jean and Bertrand behind in levels. I need another amulet user!

John Talbot is immune to dying!

Historically, Joan D'Arc turned the tide of the losing French in the 100 Years War when she lifted the siege of Orleans. Will she do so in this game?

We march north to Orleans and see guards patrolling the area. I thought a siege would need more people than this. Jeanne is ready to rush headlong into battle, but Giles stops her. Well, a friend of Giles. Jeanne runs right into the stout body of a lionman. Which reminds me, there were beast men in that opening cinematic about the Demon War. I didn't realize what side they were on until now, and I guess humans and beastmen are cool with each other. Anyway, the lion's name is La Hire, and he speaks in the third person. Hiding behind a tree is the dogman, "Beast Warrior." He tries to tell everyone his name, but he's shy, and Jeanne is too into lifting this siege to care.

From here, the battle begins, and all we have to do is get Jeanne to the door on the otherside of the river. You don't have to kill everyone, but your turns are limited again, so make haste. I've forgotten the limit and how many I took. I went north and crossed the river near the wall. The fishmen stayed at the bottom for a few turns, so I think this was a wise choice. Crossing the river takes about three turns, so keep your team together. Once the fishmen got close, I had Jeanne transform and rush the gate. Some of our backlines were looking scruffy, so this needed to end. She killed the priestess and tried to take out the swordsmen in her way. I find it odd that they totally ignored her to walk as far as they could to gang up on Giles. Sadly, La Hire kinda sucks. His accuracy is too low to be useful, and he doesn't have a massive HP or defense pool.

Despite leaving so many alive, we've lifted the siege! The townspeople of Orleans are there to meet us with cheers and confetti! After the revelry, we (the camera) cut to an English tent. Talbot is there to insult another English general, whose name I didn't get because he didn't stick up for himself. There were several scenes between the two of them tonight, and they were all the same. Back to Jeanne, the nobles are still unsure this maiden can lead them, but they're at least ready to see if she can. We learn that Orleans is surrounded by three strategic locations, all held by the English. La Hire thinks we should rush the largest first, but Jeanne decides to take them one by one in order of least defended. We prepare for the morning and hit the sack. But we're awoken by Roger after sunrise. Some of the nobles are already at the Bastille, attacking it. The arrogant nobles didn't think they should wait on this crazy peasant lady, so they went ahead. Everyone rushes out, except for the sleeping Liana, who does catch up for the battle. It is this scene where "Beast Warrior" says he's ready to die for France. Jeanne, though, wants him to live. We also learn his name is Rufus here.

When we arrive at the Bastille of St. Loup, the fighting is in full force. We see Giles, who says he's gotten here himself. La Hire takes the blame for starting the fight early, but it is the nobles who are leading this assault. And they're doing poorly! The French are getting picked off by archers, so it's up to us to save them!

There are not as many archers as I expected. Take out the force at the front, then wait for their backup to arrive. There are three archers, and they can hit you in the courtyard, so stay outside the gates until you're ready. The map gives you the option to take a side route, but there's only the one staircase to the upper levels. Watch out for the swordmaster, who's a tricky kill. He can "counter" your attacks, which means he can stop you from attacking him by striking first. It's a bit cheap this early in the game... When we win, our forces will be running around with excitement. La Hire is shooting off cannons from the spire in the middle, which should have been Jeanne's role. But she's chill, so it's cool. We'll get another transformation gem for Jeanne after this.

The next location is the Bastille of Augustins. and it's after some anime. The whole army is trying to climb siege towers and ladders to scale the walls, and it's going as well they do. Jeanne is trying to encourage the knights, who are starting to come around to her, from a siege ladder. She's the flag bearer, but she wants to do more. She recalls a previous conversation where the nobles didn't trust her. What might be worse is her friends weren't entirely behind her. Jeanne's a very aggressive leader. Probably too much so. Giles or Roger want her to slow down and be less gung-ho about this. Returning to the present, Jeanne climbs on the siege tower and becomes even more boisterous. Sadly, she's forgotten all about the adversary. While she's cheering on her troops, Talbot shoots in the back with an arrow.

Roger is carrying the injured Pucelle into the medical tent, but it's not looking for her. La Hire brings in the physician, but he says she should be moved to a safer location, of which none exists. As if by possession, Roger brings his hand over Jeanne's body, and a strange dark poof billows from it. It's magic! He does this a few times before he collapses to his knees. We cut to Giles in the strategy tent with the rest of our team. He informs them that Jeanne is likely to die. Towards the end, though, walks in a perfectly fine crazy girl. There isn't even a scar, and it's all thanks to Roger. At some point tonight, Rodger and Giles had an argument about what Jeanne meant to them. Rodger is always worried about her and thinks Giles is pushing her too much. He goes so far as to assume Giles sees us as pawns for his war. In response, Giles accepts that he is the pawn in Jeanne's war. Or at least her God's war. Before we return to the Augustine, Rodger admits he's too tired and weak after what he did to fight. He tells Liana that he doesn't even know what he did. Because of that, he's sitting this battle out. Out of friendship and concern, Liana also stays back.

Colet is mandatory for this battle as he has a special skill. He can construct ladders and bridges to give us access to the other areas of the wall. The goal here is to kill Talbot for the third time. I had Colet build a second ladder to the left of the first one, and I kept all my men on the left side of the man. This stayed the mass on the right away from us, and the priestesses stayed away, for some reason. We can knock down the wall before us, but climbing is faster. We can also guide a character to the lever, but it's a waste of a turn. Once Talbot gets close to us, go after him. He's no joke, and you'll need to focus on him. I brought in La Hire and Marcel for this battle. Marcel can take decent potshots from afar, but the lionman kinda just stood there. This is the last time I'll be using him. Jeanne's new transformation can ruin our lich enemy.

Roger and Liana are still alone, and Liana lets it be known that she knows Roger is in love with Jeanne. I sense a love triangle forming with a number of interesting twists, but the two don't get much time to talk about it. Giles returns to the room, and Roger gets mad. Did Giles abandon Jeanne? Nope, she's celebrating her victory at the fort, and Giles only returned...for...reasons... Everyone heads to Augustine. Night has fallen, and Jeanne has won over the nobles who hated her a few hours ago. But we're not safe. The immortal Talbot has somehow scaled the walls of the fort he lost along with a number of his human troops. We now have to kill him for the fourth time in a very tough fight.

We need to kill all enemies and not just Talbot. Six are outside the walls, but there's a handful inside. I should have grouped everyone up on the left side, but I was worried an enemy could open the gates with the lever. Besides the immortal John, the archer beside him is a menace. But I suggest you take out the wizard on the outside asap. He can use an AoE spell that deals over 50 damage. Not fun... There's a priestess besides him, so you gotta take him out in one round. Marcel from the ramparts and a magic attack did the job. Have Jeanne and Giles transform to kill Talbot, hopefully before the gate is destroyed. Roger and Liana were slain, and Giles nearly died, but I managed to win in 11/15 turns. Talbot will run away again, and Jeanne will chase after him. Not to kill him for a fifth time, no, but to ask him a question. He mentioned something mysterious that I didn't pay attention to because I don't pay attention to men who's died multiple times. Talbot doesn't answer, though, and we let him return to the English.

I'm upset at this, so I didn't pay attention to what was said afterwards. I don't think it matters, and the scene that follows is what introduces us to skill crafting. Cuisses, the toad, can combine two skill stones to form something stronger, but I'll experiment with that and the final siege of Orleans...

...tomorrow.

How many times am I gonna kill this nerd? It's ruining the enjoyment of this game! Surely there are other English generals in the area? Hell, make some up! Beastmen are okay, but random leaders are off limits?

This game isn't called Joan D'Arc...

It's Jeanne D'Arc, you moron. That's your stuffed animal wife's middle name; you should know that!

Soir Valley is less a valley and more of a bridge over a chasm. It starts with our new teammates, Colet and Marcel, getting some screen time. Marcel, the bowman, calls Colet "Colette," which annoys the thief. This whole scene gives us the basics of their personality. Marcel is a bit of a wuss with odd interests, and Colette doesn't like Marcel. Or people as a whole. He also has a very thick accent. We're in the middle of France, though, so shouldn't everyone pronounce "the" as "ze"? After bickering, to Jeanne's annoyance, they rush off. The crux of the argument was because Colet is surprisingly indifferent to his homeland, the opposite of our main heroine. That and Marcel wants to show the Dauphin a bug he's found. This causes Colet to run ahead, and Marcel goes after, but the rest of the team hears a scream from his direction. The two have been stopped in their tracks by an English soldier named Talbot. He starts off somewhat cordial, even calling off one of his demons because a woman is with them, but then he reveals he's here for the amulet.

For some reason, we can't fight our way out. We have twelve turns to get to the otherside of the map, and if anyone dies, we lose. I kinda hated this. The first time around, I defeated all the mobs that surrounded us. I started with the ones on the bridge, their backline, and then let the ones behind us catch up. I left Talbot for last. Sadly, even after you clear the map, you still need to reach the yellow squares. On my second attempt, I still went with the genocide plan. The difference was I was more aggressive toward the guys behind us. Talbot hits hard and has a lot of HP, so try to get him with range and spells. He'll go after Marcel if everyone's at full HP, so keep Liana with a Heal in her pocket. I managed to kill everyone and reach the destination on my final turn for a big amount of bonus EXP and gold. But...
 
It didn't matter. The next zone, Aeoleon Hill, will act as though we did the bare minimum anyway. Our party will be out of breath and speak as though we've been running all night. What's worse is Talbot will be waiting for us. But, unlike before, everyone knows we can't keep running. We'll have to fight here, so a battle begins. We had nine turns to win, and I ended it on eight. All we have to do is defeat Talbot, but he's got a horde of small fries, two mages, and some new brute minotaur monsters. I waited a turn to let the mobs get close to me and took out a few on round two. As we end that turn, a new member will appear.

Giles will spawn on top of a rock and urge Jeanne to never give up. He'll then put his arm in the air and call out to his armlet. Gules will undergo his magical girl transformation and return in new mighty armor. He, too, had a god armlet. From here, take out the small mobs between the spawn and Talbot. You'll probably have to kill the mages who keep healing him, which I used Jeanne's transformation to accomplish. Giles is AI controlled, so hope he doesn't do something dumb.

After the battle, we'll all have a chat. Jeanne will ask if Giles will join the team. In response, he'll ask if we came here to obey the voice or of our own free will? "It was my choice." Giles will go ahead to join us before the Dauphin.

Before the previous fight, we (the player) got a scene with the Dauphin. Charles VII is playing chess with Georges, who I think is a priest, when a knight interrupts them. It sets up that Chuck doesn't care about the English attack on Orleans, and he cares even less about the rumors of the "Pucelle." At the end, Georges sets up a plan to ruin us...

Giles is outside the castle of Chuck, and he's annoyed. He warns us of the test Charles has planned, and the only clue he tells us is "what color is noble blood." We have to find the Dauphin in a sea of nobles. Colet is afraid to go in because we'll all be laughed at for being peasants.

As Jeanne enters, we switch to some anime. Our party walks through a mass of nobles, all of who are laughing at us. Alina thinks she's found our target, but Jeanne keeps looking. Eventually, she finds Chuck, and he's absolutely stunned. We return to a normal party setting, and Jeanne pleads for the Dauphin's aid in defending Orleans. He's unsure, but she tells him that he's the only one who can help. This somehow triggers him into thinking Charles is God's chosen. No one cares until Giles begins a sarcastic clap, which gets everyone excited. Meanwhile, Roger sees Georges, which causes him pain. The priest is upset that we're going to ruin his plan.

That night, Roger has the nightmare again. When he wakes up, he overhears Giles and Jeanne talking. His armlet has been passed down through generations, but it doesn't speak to him like Jeanne's does...

We enter chapter two with several nobles around a table in a war room. Jeanne enters to prepare for the defense of Orleans, but no one cares. Giles rouses everyone to attention, but they still don't partake in the strategy meeting. No one believes they can win, so why bother? Jeanne leaves in a rage, ready to do everything herself. Jean and Bertrand agree to follow her, and we'll save Orleans...

...tomorrow!

We get levels like crazy in this game... But gold, though. Also, there was a toad.

Totally accurate 100 Years war simulator

Or, what the game calls itself, Joan D'Arc!

I've had this game in my backlog for years, but it was always strange with emulation. It's a font thing, but I fixed it when I played Lunar a few months ago. It always annoyed me, so I didn't get very far. But with that fixed, I can finally play a game like Final Fantasy Tactics! Joan D'Arc is a tactical RPG akin to the aforementioned Final Fantasy game or Tactics Ogre franchise. I've heard nothing but good things about Joan D'Arc, so let's, after several years of delay, finally see if the hype is real!

An anime plays as we start on a dark and stormy night. It's bedtime for a small boy with a questionable English accent. A creepy man who shouldn't be anywhere near children is telling the boy a story about the Demon Wars, a period when humanity when nearly wiped out by an otherworldly monster. The only thing that kept mankind alive were five magical armlets that sealed away the Demon King. DK had a name, but I've forgotten it. Anyway, we return to the boy's room, and the creepy dude gets even creepier. He blacks out the boy's room as his ward falls asleep. Creeper goes on to insinuate he's about to possess Prince Henry with the same demon that was sealed away. It's for the sake of Henry, so it's cool! Some magical glyphs are written, and incantations are spoken, but an old knight rushes in to stop all this madness. Creeper and Knight fight for a moment, but Creeper gains the upper hand because magic is always stronger than old age. It's revealed that both of these men are of the five that sealed away the Demon King. I'm pretty sure we also learn that Creeper is the Duke of Bedford. While this is happening, the summoned demon takes control of Henry. The knight manages to get free of Creeper's tentacles and stop the demon, but it's too late. Henry opens his eyes, but they're not his eyes anymore...Welcome to a fantastical retelling of the 100 Years War between England and France!

We cut to a happy festival scene with musicians and dancers around a file. People in this quaint village of Domremy are celebrating something, but we have to take a break. Two women, Jeanne and Liana, hear Jeanne's father running towards them. Dad was working late to prepare for the festival, so he forgot to do something about the church. Rather than do it himself, he asks us to do it. We head to the chapel, and Liana brings up a man, Roger. He's not from the village, and no one liked him when he first arrived. But that's all changed, and people think he's a swell fella now. As they approach the church, a slumped over knight on horseback "walks" before us. The girls are shocked and rush to see if they can save the knight. Jeanne is holding the man when she notices his pouch start to glow. Light bursts from it and wraps around Jeanne's hand until it normalizes into a golden armlet. Before either of the girls can wonder what happened, the knight's horse comes up to them and signals that they should check his bag. Inside is a giant toad... They can't dwell, though, because they hear monsters in the forest. From out of the trees comes a goblin. Even more alarming is the random voice that Jeanne hears. It tells her to pick up the knight's sword and fight. Jeanne does so, and we start our first battle!

It's a short tutorial battle against three monsters. All we can do right now is attack, and that action will suffice. Through on screen images, we learn about the basics. I know some people don't like it when the game blatantly tells you the controls, but I don't mind. It's sometimes faster this way. After the battle ends, Roger runs towards the church, hoping they'd be alright. Liana asks how Jeanne knew how to fight, but she's not sure either. She's never even held a sword before. But as before, before any further rumination can be done, we all hear a scream from the village. Jeanne is the first one to make a move back home...

Which means she's the first to see the fires. Jeanne, Liana, and Roger dig through the burning rubble to find survivors, but they can't. The only thing they manage to discover is who attacked the village. An English Soldier is commanding several demons, and he tells his squad to kill us. Before the fight, the armlet speaks again, telling Jeanne to hold it aloft.

The second battle is a lot like the first but with more enemies, and the soldier has a lot of HP. After round two, Jeanne gets a new trick. She'll be reminded to hold her hand up again. When she does, she transforms. Her peasant cloches turn into a suit of shining armor. While in this form, Jeanne gets access to new spells, increased stats, and the most OP move in gaming: Godsend. Godsend activates when Jeanne gets a kill, and it lets her to act again. I got to three times in a row in a later fight tonight. It makes even me want to pray. Despite being so strong, Liana died and didn't get the extra EXP from the end of battle spoils. Gotta keep your characters alive!

We cut to the next morning, and our three party members have scrounged up some gear for their journey. It's as basic as you can get, and it's not even enough to fully deck out everyone... Regardless, it's better than the stick Liana had. Seeing the English soldier command demons last night has created an intense hatred for the English in the heart of Jeanne. She wants to join the army and help get them out of France, her homeland! Liana has no home, so she's just gonna follow Jeanne. Roger is an amnesiac, so he's also got nowhere else to go. Before they leave, they overlook their village one last time. Jeanne sheds a tear, pulls out a dagger, and cuts off all of her hair. It was down to her back, but now it doesn't even reach her hair. And she left the sides, so it's really bad. Why, girl, why? I think it was at this point where we get a scene with Henry VI (?) and the Duke of Bedford. In the real world, the Duke's name is John, so I'm just gonna call him that. Henry is playing with a cat (I think it's stuffed), and he's clearly insane. John informs him that his plan failed, and Henry doesn't get that upset. He sent weaklings, so what did he expect? Both try to take the blame.

From Domremy, they head north to Vaucouleurs. The scene starts in the middle of Jeanne trying to join, but she's not allowed. Not only is she a peasant with no fighting experience, but that whole "vagina" thing tends to make its user weak. Jeanne tries to argue that she should be allowed to join because she has a magical armlet that talks, but the recruiter considers that a third strike against her. Suddenly, a soldier enters the room to inform them that the English are attacking Neufchateu. Unfortunately, there are no soldiers for the General to send as they're all preoccupied with another plan elsewhere. But we'll learn more about that later... Because Jeanne really hates the English, she runs out to help the town. Before the camera leaves the room, the guy in charge asks two people to be in town: Jean and Bertrand.

As we get to Neufchateu, we hear screaming from the church. We all look over to see a man and woman being assaulted by an English Soldier. But there's a small squad of demons before us. Jeanne tries to transform, but it doesn't last long enough to get even a single attack in. She's stunned and feels helpless unarmored, which leaves her wide open for a fish's spear attack. It misses, but then another spear comes from behind the fish. This is Jean, and I already hate that he and Jeanne share the same name. Bertrand comes from behind us, and they join the team.

We have twelve turns to end the battle, but the mobs are as strong as before, so it's not a concern. Jean has a spear, meaning he can attack from two panels away. We also learn about hotspots, Burning Auras, which appear behind an attacked enemy. When we stand on them, it'll vastly boost our damage output. I think it's there to entourage surrounding a single target, which you should already do anyway. When we kill the final soldier, a man will come out from behind the church. It's the same guy we saw before, but the woman with him is dead. Out of grief, he jumps off the cliff (I think). The team is sitting on the stairs, and Jeanne is besides herself. Her amulet failed her, and she's nowhere near as strong enough to help her countrymen. She feels powerless and tries to break the armlet. Roger tries to cheer her up and reminds her that she saved him, but Jeanne hears her armlet talk again. It tells her to go to Nancy. And just like that, she snaps out of it.

Between Vaucouleurs and Nancy is the Forest of Fraude. As we approach, Liana laughs at how carefree the frog is. She's named it Cuisses, which is thigh armor. This annoys Jeanne, who's a super serious woman. She only wants to make the English pay and can't bring herself to laugh or have a better personality at this point. Deeper in the forest are more English Soldiers. We come upon them assailing a nobleman and his single guard, and Jeanne prepares for battle!

If the nobleman dies, we fail the mission. So bring whoever you have equipped with Cure over to him. If you haven't bothered with skills yet, now is probably the time to do so. We also get a tutorial about the Fire Emblem-esq triangle thingy, but it doesn't seem that vital at the moment. I split my party into two: Jean, Bertrand, and Liana went right, while Jeanne and Roger stayed left to distract the mage. Watch out for her, and don't get surrounded. Keep the nobleman healed, and you should be fine. He will die if you don't save him! Sadly, we can't do anything about his friend. Should Jeanne transform, we'll hear him mention that "she has the same power." Wonder what that means...

After the battle, we'll mourn the loss of the guard, and the noblemen will ask about the armlet. Before Jeanne can answer, though, another knight will join us. Jean and Bertrand fired a signal to let people know we were here, and the garrison knights were quick to act. The knight takes the nobleman away, and we automatically head to Nancy. There we meet the Duke of Lorraine. Before we talk to him, we see the noblemen leaving. We don't get to speak to him, though. The Duke summoned us here because he heard that we were in possession of the armlet. He had hoped we could use it to heal him of his ailment, but the talk with the nobleman, Giles, has changed that. "Another addition years to an old man's life means nothing to France." Instead, he asks us to fight for France!

That night, Roger has a nightmare. He looks like Zack from Final Fantasy VII in anime form, by the way. He's on a table surrounded by futuristic machinery, which wakes him up. He sees Jeanne staring out the window and comments that she looks like she hasn't slept in days. She hasn't because of all that's been going on. She's become unsure of herself, though, and wonders if she should fight. They hear a knocking on the door, and Gilles' voice calls out. It's been a long night for me, and I've forgotten what he said, but he manages to reassure Jeanne that what she's doing is correct. She will join the fight at Chiron, which the General in Vaucouleurs mentioned when he turned us down. We say farewell to the Duke, who reminds us that we're also fighting for God. The path to Chiron goes through the Soir Valley, but I'll do that...

...tomorrow!

Hey, you know what's harder to remember than Japanese names? French names!

The best Dragon Quest?

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was an interesting experience, and I don't really know where to begin describing it. I had fun, so I'll start by saying that. The last two Dragon Quest games were a mediocre affair that soured me on the franchise, which is unfortunate because my first foray into them was great! Rather than tell you what I liked and hated about it, though, I'm gonna do something different. I enjoyed comparing Final Fantasy X and Chrono Trigger, but what if I compared Dragon Quest IX to all of them? In order of what's most important to me:

The story:
Dragon Quest IV: Chapter of the Chosen had a clear plot. The main villain was introduced early on, and there wasn't much change from it. We always knew the target and what we were supposed to do. The story is hard hitting, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride did not have a clear villain. In fact, the game was more about the life and time of our main hero. We saw him lose his father at a young age, become a slave for ten years, get married, have kids, get turned to stone, be saved, and save the world with his family! The two games take very different approaches, but both have a straightforward plot. The story can get deep, has twists and turns, multiple options, and a happy ending.
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation started out with the same plot as DQIV. We know we're chasing after Mudo, but after we slay him, the game falls apart. We begin to randomly walk across two worlds looking for... whatever. We realize at the end that some of the bosses we fought were linked to the last minute final main antagonist, but they're so inconsequential when you first meet them. What's the difference between Gracias and Master Nu'un? There is no story for the last three quarters of the game, and it's not very rewarding.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a mix of all of them. We start as an angel who gets trapped on the planet that she's to protect. We want a way back to the Observatory, which means we're gonna walk around the planet for a while. The start of the game is similar to the middle portion of DQVI, but we still have a goal in mind then. Next up, we're to find the fyggs that Yggdrasil dropped. It's a collection quest, but it's still something. After we find them all, we finally get introduced to a primary villain. But it turns out they're just pawns themselves, and the real BBG is someone else. However, that guy gets mentioned at the very start of the game, and you can learn a little more about him before the fygg hunt. There is no ending, though...

The characters:
DQIV's characters each have their own introductory chapter. During them, we learn about their personality, backstory, and goals. We gain an understanding of their connection to the main villain and world at large. Once they join the party, though, they all become silent protagonists.
DQV is all about the hero and his family. From his dad, his pet, his girlfriend, their kids, and his extended family. It is the most character driven game (that I've played) in the franchise. Everyone has their personality and role, and it makes the game feel alive!
DQVI has four characters who seem to matter and a handful more of extras. Of those four, two of them left me wanting to know more, but only because they never gave us anything of substance. The trail is there, but why didn't they give us a good finality of Muriel and Barbara?
DQIX's characters are irrelevant. The only one that matters is the main character, but they're silent and forced to agree to everything. Their backup has no bearing on the world or personality, either. They are simply archetypes to use in battle. Plot is carried by the secondary characters for the entire game.

The music
IV lacked anything that wowed me. I struggled to find a favorite song, and I can't remember any melodies despite playing it two weeks ago.
V only had a hand full of tracks, but each of them was well crafted and enjoyable.
VI had two great overworld themes, and I liked the town themes.
XI just wasn't very good. It has the same issues as IV, but it's just worse. According to fans of DQXI, the music there sucks, so I wonder if Sugiyama got worst with time. He was getting up there around the release of DQIX. How's VII?

The gameplay/battle system:
DQIV's characters have a single set of magic and skills to learn, and the player can't change that at all. Each character has their role, but it's often muddy, and some are useless.
DQV characters also have their set stats and magic/skill gains, with the player having no say. The main characters have their obvious role and have a place on the team, but some of the secondary characters are there just to make the game feel like you have a choice.
DQVI has a job system that the player can change whenever they reach a specific area. Changing jobs has no real negative consequences other than statistical changes based on the job. Any skill or magic learned will carry over to a new job, and you can unlock new roles are you master older ones.
DQIX has jobs you can change, but there is a catch. Magic isn't carried over, so switching roles can be a bad idea. I wanted an Arnamentalist, but they don't have any attack magic. And since mage spells don't transfer over, you lose all elemental damage. Swamping roles weakened my team too much, and I felt like I wasted time! But you can still make your team however you want.

Side characters:
IV only has a handful, and none of them have any real meaning to them. Orin, Taloon's Wife, all the people Alina and Ragnar helped are just scenery.
In V, the side characters become party members. And the ones that don't are usually important people. Dad, Prince Henry, etc.
DQVI has a trove of tertiary characters that usually are more important than the people in your party. Tania, Buddy, and Somnia's King and Queen instantly jump to mind.
DQIX is dependent on its side characters. Fortunately, many of them are hard hitting and interesting. I loved Simona, and the Wight Knight. Cat and Phlem nearly got to me cry, as did Marion and Marionette. I wish I could have spent more time with the angry dragon, Greygnarl.

Villains:
Saro from IV is around the whole time, but there aren't any secondary antagonists. No thieves groups or rival gangs are present.
I don't remember who DQV's main villain was... It was Ninzo, and he's not terrible, but I can't, in good conscience, give him points if I forgot him. 
Deathtamor from VI was late to the party. We meet his underlings throughout the game, but there isn't a clear connection between them all.
Corvus from IX is spoken about early on between Aquilla and Colombia. We get an idea of him with his gravestone, and Serana gives us his backstory before we meet him. In fact, Corvus got a full ten points in my "best villain spreadsheet." We know he revived the Gittish Empire when we face Godwyn and his underlings, so there's even some evil depth here. The fygg antagonists are a product of their own dreams, which I found to be interesting.


But was it fun?
IV had its moments, and I never felt like I was aimlessly wandering around. Most of the time, the game directs you where to go as best a game on the NES can.
V is all about the novel story of a kid growing up, finding love, and saving the world. It's a tale that I don't think gets told very often (at least in this way), and I couldn't put it down. All I wanted to do was explore and find love!
VI has us walking around too much, and I hated it. Why did I baptize that kid!?
IX has a great plot, fun battle system, a litany of side quests, alchemy I wanted to do, and jobs I wanted to get. I put over fifty hours in it, and most of that was me bumbling around. Use the Action Replay cheat to make text go faster, though.


Having taken these seven categories into consideration, I can finally reach a conclusion to my favorite Dragon Quest game!

With a commanding score of 23 points, Dragon Quest V is still on top! I started strong, went way down, but Dragon Quest IX revived my interest. It's my second favorite, getting 18 points. That's two more than a surprise third, DQVI, with 13 points. I thought I hated VI, and I still do, but maybe it's better than I thought? ...no...no, I refuse... The lack of a meaningful main party in DQIX, as well as the music, really tanked its score. IX got two 4s and two 3s, while V got four 4s and two 3s. DQIV didn't get a single top mark. I also can't stake how disappointed I am that spells don't carry over to jobs in IX...

But, at the end of the day, I have more Dragon Quests to play. I don't know if I will, but I'm thinking I'll rush through the Eldrick Saga next year. I've heard VII is 120 hours long, which seems too much for me these days. And the other games are gonna be a bit tougher to get a hold of for several reasons. Keep in mind, it's also possible I mixed up the rankings; I wasn't paying that close attention, so don't feel bad if your favorite isn't mine. It's okay to be different.

Joan D' Arc...eventually...