Jeanne d'Arc

Ive never played a SRPG, mostly because Ive heard that this genre is heavy on combat and lite on exploration. Is it different with this game? Can I travel the french countryside, visit hamlets and town and cities. Meet with local townsfolks and mayors. Explore dark dungeons? Anything like that?

No.

No. For some reason it's impossible to add a little exploration time to these games, although Shining Force did it over ten years ago with pretty simple technology.