La Pucelle Tactics once again has gamers playing as a selfish, immature youngster. This time your protagonist is a female demon-hunter-in-training named Prier. In the beginning the storyline seems to just be an excuse for the fighting, much like Disgaea. As the quest continues a compelling and surprisingly dark tale emerges that will genuinely keep gamers interested, but it's still full of clichés. The storyline is much more in the forefront this time around, and it manages to hold up decently well. Certainly much better than it's cousin, Disgaea.

Still though, even if the title were just a long series of battles with no storyline, the game would sell, and for good reason. The gameplay is where the title truly shines, and what draws people to the genre in the first place. La Pucelle isn't doing anything drastically different. Battles still play out on a grid where things like elevation and character direction must be taken into consideration. The game's major twists are the purification system, and the combo system.

All your core characters (and your recruited characters, if you work with them) have access to a 'Purify' command, which can be used in the place of an attack or spell. If you purify an enemy enough times before dispatching it, it will join your team and be available to you in subsequent battles. Obviously the stronger the enemy, the more you want them fighting for you, but this is exactly what makes the system interesting. While spending turns purifying a strong enemy instead of killing him, he's wasting no time dispensing damage of his own. More than once an enemy we were attempting to purify because of his strength ended up showing us the 'Game Over' screen, when we could have survived if we just concentrated on killing him.

Every map is littered with Dark Portals, which also require purifying. If left alone for too many turns, a fresh new baddie will eventually materialize out of the portal, which is why some battles turn into much lengthier affairs than they initially appear to be. Just like the Geo Panels in Disgaea, these portals can be used to the player's advantage, to set up massive chain attacks when purified, or even set off special attacks if a long enough chain is created. In the beginning of the game this entire aspect of the battles can be ignored, but by the end some very clever manipulation of the Dark Portals will be needed to progress.

My biggest gripe with La Pucelle Tactics (and with Disgaea) is that the level of your characters seems a much better indicator of success of failure than your actual skill. If we lost a battle, very rarely were we able to retool our approach and achieve victory in subsequent attempts. Instead, we simply had to go back and buy some new equipment or spend a bit of time leveling. Strategy is still the name of the game, but it's less important here than in say, Final Fantasy Tactics.

Glancing at one screenshot will show gamers that La Pucelle Tactics is technically inferior to... just about everything. But, technical prowess can only carry a game's graphics so far. What the game does have is a great sense of style, and a wonderful art direction. The game's color palette is extremely wide. Is anyone really playing tactical RPGs for the graphics anyway? The enemies and protagonists alike are varied in their appearance, and all feature a quaint hand-drawn look that should take many gamers back to a time when 3D wasn't the norm.

Sound, on the other hand, is top-notch. The soundtrack itself is one of the best that we've heard in the genre, and the voice acting is markedly superior to Disgaea's. It's not often that a musical track from a SRPG will actually get in your head. The music is generally just something stuck there because it has to be there. With La Pucelle, this clearly wasn't the approach. The original Japanese vocal tracks being left in is wonderful addition for the hardcore.

Our first impression after playing about five hours of La Pucelle Tactics was that this game was similar to Disgaea; very similar. More playtime revealed some key differences, but the experiences remain noticeably alike. Characters once again have four equipment slots that can be used how they see fit, and once again choose for themselves when they want cheaper or more expensive items made available. In battles themselves, gamers are again rewarded with much more damage by placing characters next to each other. Plenty of other game mechanics are shared as well. Still, Disgaea was a fantastic game that most felt ended too soon (even though it was plenty lengthy), and there are several new twists that La Pucelle adds to the tried and true formula. If you're reading this review as a Disgaea fan wondering whether La Pucelle is worth the money, stop now and head to the store. La Pucelle is a good purchase, whether you've played every SRPG, or are new to the genre.