When Weekly Famitsuu promised the announcement of a major strategy RPG last week, and Japan's leading gaming publication did not understate. This week's issue of the magazine indeed featured a major original strategy RPG from Level 5, the makers of Dragon Quest VIII and Rogue Galaxy. Titled Jeanne d'Arc, the game will be loosely based on the story of the French icon Joan of Arc.

The game will feature turn-based strategy battles which will take place on various colorful maps including castles and forests. After selecting their active party members for the battle, players can freely move their units on those maps and then proceed to take down all enemies in sight. By rising one's party members, players will acquire attack and magic skills. Exactly how skills are acquired is not known at this point, but Famitsuu speculates that they will be obtained automatically when levelling up.

Jeanne d'Arc was originally announced by Sony Computer Entertainment and Level 5 in October 2004. Since then both, the publisher and the developer would not comment on the game. RPGFan will bring you more information on this strategy RPG as it becomes available.

Jeanne d'Arc will be available in Japan sometime this winter.