La Pucelle: Tactics Review

Developer	Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher	Mastiff
Genre	Strategy

Over the last couple of years, niche genres like strategy RPGs have become a lot less “niche”, and games that would normally be labeled “cult” hits have become a lot more mainstream. Last year’s PS2 title Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a prime example of this. Whether this is because of gamers becoming more open-minded, developers putting greater marketing resources into unexplored territory, or gamers simply being desperate to find something new is a topic for a different time. But suffice it to say that in previous years, a quirky title like La Pucelle may not have been released stateside. But with last year’s release and surprising success of Disgaea, Culdcept, and other normally niche titles, it’s good to see La Pucelle getting the green light it deserves.

What you get with a title like La Pucelle is something that seems almost rudimentary on the outside, but has a distinctive charm and originality that makes it a must-have for those interested in the strategy genre.

Gameplay - La Pucelle is technically the prequel to Atlus’ more refined and somewhat more accessible Disgaea. I use the word “accessible” because that title gives gamers more of what they are familiar with in terms of gameplay and aesthetic. If you’ve played an overhead-view RPG in the last ten years, Disgaea isn’t quite the stretch that La Pucelle is. When not taking part in one of the hundreds of top-down strategy battles you’ll encounter in La Pucelle, you’re roaming around very simplistic side-scrolling environments that look as though they’ve been lifted from a decade-old game. It’s obvious that the emphasis was placed on the strategy gameplay and not the almost extraneous stuff that happens in between.

Speaking of extraneous stuff, La Pucelle is the story of a special team formed by the church whose job it is to rid the land of demons and such. Two of these demon hunters are orphan sister and brother Prier (whom fans of Disgaea may recognize) and Culotte. Joining them on their quests is their wise teacher Alouette. Throughout their journey, the same humorous dialogue (and by “humorous”, we mean geeky anime humor) that characterized Disgaea returns in La Pucelle, the main difference being that the plot is a bit more fleshed out and interesting this time around.

La Pucelle has a couple of unique gameplay twists that really help it stand out from what is quickly becoming a crowded genre. For instance, in order to increase your party’s member count, you are able to convince demons, monsters, and other general bad asses you encounter to switch sides and join your group. To do this, you must repeatedly “purify” them. Doing this will cost you a turn, but the end result could be adding an ally to your team.

Speaking of purification, running through each battle grid are dark portals that not only spawn new enemies, but also emit dark streams. Standing in these streams lowers the effectiveness of your attacks, but these streams can also be used to your benefit. By purifying the dark portal, any enemy standing in the dark stream will be injured, and if you are able to link a group of streams together to form a circle, all the enemies standing within the circle will be damaged.

These types of unique strategic elements really help La Pucelle raise the bar of what people have come to expect in strategy games.

Graphics - As mentioned earlier, La Pucelle’s most obvious shortcoming is in the graphics department. To be fair, strategy RPGs aren’t necessarily known for their stunning visuals, but even when comparing it to other games in the genre, La Pucelle manages to fall short.

Walking in the towns is a very basic sprite-based side-scrolling affair that takes a bit of getting used to and is a definite throwback to the 16-bit days. The battlegrounds themselves consist of undetailed grids that in no come close to the PS2’s potential. Again, this generally comes with the strategy RPG territory, but one can’t help but wish that visual presentation was a bigger factor in the design process.

Sound - On the other hand, the soundtrack is absolutely fantastic and almost surprising in its quality. The orchestration is highly dramatic yet never jumps out into the foreground. It’s rare to find such a remarkable soundtrack in such an obscure game.

The voice over work is also of a very high quality and should please most voice over snobs out there. You know who you are. But if you still cannot be pleased, take note that Nippon Ichi and Mastiff have left the Japanese voice work in there as an option.

Bottom Line - I’m incredibly pleased to see more and more of these games arrive in the United States and exposed to a whole new audience. La Pucelle: Tactics really shines in its charm, unique gameplay, and overall quality. Unfortunately, it may be a hard sell to graphic snobs and those who place a great deal of weight on fast-paced action. If you’re new to the strategy RPG genre and would like to get your feet wet, La Pucelle is a great place to start. That’s not to say that those already familiar with the genre won’t be pleased, because there are plenty of new and unique features to keep everybody busy. Between the bonus stages, hidden areas, and multiple endings, this game could keep you going for months.

Review by John Luedtke