Let's be honest. The only reason why most people are interested in this game is because it is made by the same people who made DISGAEA ,(i.e. NIPPON ICHI SOFTWARE). If the people who bought and played this game continue to be honest, they'd have to admit that LaPucelle Tactics is quite lacking in quality when compared to Disgaea. But even without that comparison, LaPucelle can't stand up as a seriously good turn-based strategy game.
By "seriously", we're not talking about the storyline that is quite full of silliness. Hardly as funny as the dark humor in Disgaea, much of the script has to do with the teenage rants and raves of an overly aggressive sixteen-year-old girl. It's also quite hard to take the sophomoric puppy-love themes in earnest, as the writer seemed to enjoy the idea of little boys and girls having crushes on people who can be their grandparents (no lie).
Like Disgaea, the story is told in chapters. In LaPucelle, the entire tale is told in twelve chapters that seem to race by and come to a very abrupt halt, where we're supposed to assume and create jumps in character development that really aren't there. But it must be said that there is very much script in this tale and very much to read; at least in this story there are no confusing and unexplainable mysteries that we're supposed to accept as genius simply because we can't understand them. Sure, the childish story might be tough to bear for anyone above the age of twenty, but at least it's a story that gives clear messages.
The basic premise of the tale is based on the adventure of the aforementioned 16-year-old named Prier. She is a "demon-hunter" working for a church that is clearly and often used as a comparison to the game writer's interpretation of what the Church is today. It's the same old stuff: how the church supposedly represses others, the corruption and errors of the "holy book", angels and demons who seem much less than divine, blah blah blah. The truly "miraculous" part of the tale is that, through it all, Prier's church and beliefs are never abandoned. Up to the very end, Prier will call on demons to "repent", something that is an interesting twist on modern-day storylines, if we're supposed to look into that concept deeply at all.
But let's move on from the storyline, one in which every city and place is named after one French food or another. If we only wanted a story while playing a turn-based strategy game, it would be much cheaper to buy a book. How does the MEAT of this game—the strategy—fare in comparison to the other great strategy games of our time?
Sadly, as in Disgaea, the strategy mainly revolves around pure offense and attacking with as much power as possible in the first round. Every map is small, but then again there is no need for a big one since most of the fight will begin and end around the purplish-blue orb from whence the heroes can jump out and slaughter the bad guys.
The game enacts a very cool system in which players on one side can tag-team a single unit or group of enemy units. They can also stand side by side in a group while another enemy attacks to provide more defense and coverage. This reviewer would love to spend much time talking about this concept if it was actually more useful in this game. See, the reader has to understand that this mode of "regular" attacking and defending is entirely flimsy in comparison to simply unleashing a "special ability" on the enemy.
Not only is there no "chain" bonus for attacking the enemy in a group, unlike in Disgaea, but there is no use in doing so when the enemy will fall quite easily under a "special ability". Why have Prier perform a cheap-looking uppercut when she can make a demon flip in the air after a three-kick combination? Sure, every character has at least two different ways to perform the same basic attack, but if the requirement upon passing a level is to kill all of the enemies, most gamers will do whatever is most effective.
In the end, the game is boiled down to jumping out of the portal at the first move and using a powerful special attack that will pulverize anyone. No need to think of any great strategy; go out and use the biggest move against the biggest threat and move on to the next one. It's all quite easy, and with the exception of the bosses there will never be a serious problem in terms of difficulty. While Disgaea seemed to be too hard at times, LaPucelle is entirely too easy.
Like Disgaea, LaPucelle Tactics tries to make combat more intriguing by placing an abstract addition to the game's strategy. In FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADVANCE, it's the "card laws". In Disgaea, it's the "geo panels". In La Pucelle, it's the "dark portals", and the "streams" that come from them. Now let's ignore the debate about how corny and inexplicable all three of these examples are in terms of why they are even in the game. Let's just focus on the fact that, while the "card laws" and "geo panels" were actually something to be dealt with, the "dark portals" in La Pucelle can be completely ignored. Sure, they reduce the effectiveness of anyone standing on the streams that are emitted from these portals, but with the power of the "special abilities", these weaknesses are rarely felt. No gamer likes to make things harder on him/herself, but it's actually possible to arrange these streams in such a way as to make them emit a special attack when they are "purified". However, besides the benefit of having some of these special attacks revealed in the form of some kind of naked, buxom goddess, going about the job is a waste of time and unnecessary.
O.K., sure, these "dark portals" are connected to the gamer's ability to go to the "Dark World", a place that is similar to Disgaea's "Item World". The main purpose of the "Dark World" is to get more loot, rare items, and gain experience points. With Disgaea's difficulty, this was something that almost had to be done. Not so with LaPucelle.
Even enemy monsters don't really need to be converted to beat the game. It's interesting in that it's quite easy to do, however, by the same "purifying" process that is used on the "dark portals". On the other hand, training them is a MUCH toned down version than what it was in Disgaea, having mainly to do with entering given commands regarding...well... basically ABUSING the animal. Seriously: there is the choice to punch the animal or beast in the mouth, kick them in the groin, make them run a marathon, smack them with a weapon, and much much more. Throughout this process, they grow into stronger members of the team. Luckily, there are some "good" commands that can be given as well. This is because if the animal is abused too much, they'll run away.
That being said, the silly-looking bestiary outside of the "Dark World" is quite small. Many enemies during the game's short romp (don't buy the lie of there being "120 hours of gameplay" like it says on the back of the box; this game can be beaten in 30 hours) repeat themselves, and even some of the bosses look identical.
Overall, none of the graphics in this game are impressive. Sure, Disgaea may also be about hitting the enemy with "special abilities" over and over, but at least they looked fantastic. They look extremely basic in LaPucelle, hardly matching the PS2's graphical potential. But this is par for the course with this game; there is no part of this game that looks impressive graphically. In this regard, everything looks old-fashioned and drab.
Another somewhat lazy aspect of the game is the item and equipment system. It may seem complicated when one considers the fact that every item can have a lasting effect on their user if worn long another. However, it's odd that every character can wear every item there is. One of the characters, Croix, carries only a very obvious gun into battle. Strangely enough, he still equips staffs, gloves, and whatever else one can throw on him to increase his stats. But he still only uses a gun in battle. This goes for anyone else in the game, no matter what they look like. Inexplicably, some characters have ranged attacks while others simply don't because the game says so. Needless to say, this is odd.
But La Pucelle is an odd game on many levels, as this review hopefully has shown. Even the music quite often doesn't seem to match what's going on with the storyline. When the game does have its rare serious moments, we are greeted with music that sounds like something from a circus. To be fair, there ARE other moody tunes that seem to fit the various mini-love stories that exist in the game. People who played Disgaea will also recognize at least one track that is also in La Pucelle. Meanwhile, to properly hear the decent voice acting in English or Japanese, it's necessary to turn the sound effects and music down through the options, or else it's quite hard to hear Prier's screaming and Croix' mumbling.
Supposing that anyone of a mature age does have the patience to endure the yelling and whining of little girls (in English AND Japanese!!), a serious strategist won't be happy with this one. Perhaps this game will represent a sub-genre called "silly-strategy", but even those looking to find more of that unique gameplay found in Disgaea won't be entirely thrilled after spinning this game in their PS2.
