Rance Series

[Jaedar]

About the only good things about 01 are that a) it challenges you to beat the game in as few turns as possible (similar to Sengoku Rance) and b) "Royal Chaser" jams. 01 Doesn't have any real challenging or memorable boss fights

I disagree. I remember various segments like trying to get deep in the outskirts, the graveyard rumble, the one time in the entire series kanami is competent....

And I rather liked having to juggle the various cooldowns to make sure I never had a down turn (cus a single down turn at the end can be an instant kill). And since you had full control over your loadout, there was actual strategy to it especially at the end when almost all your slots are filled by uniques.

You program the actions you want to take each die roll in combat. It's not completely random and there is strategy to it.

You can only change it when characters level up (they're like pokemon: Rance is trying to learn a new move! But he already knows 6! Delete a move to make room for standard attack?). You can't focus attacks to prioritize threats, or strategically use buffs or consumables, no nothing.

Athena 2.0 > Sill, FITE ME!

Since playing 03 and having to listen to Sill VO, I will not fight anyone on Sill being good.

 

[Jason Liang]

You program the actions you want to take each die roll in combat. It's not completely random and there is strategy to it.

You can only change it when characters level up (they're like pokemon: Rance is trying to learn a new move! But he already knows 6! Delete a move to make room for standard attack?). You can't focus attacks to prioritize threats, or strategically use buffs or consumables, no nothing.

No, you can adjust your skills around anytime during camp. It's actually similar to setting up Macros in Phantasy Star IV. I hate to say it but usually when players don't enjoy 5D its because they never figured this out...

 

[Jaedar]

No, you can adjust your skills around anytime during camp. It's actually similar to setting up Macros in Phantasy Star IV. I hate to say it but usually when players don't enjoy 5D its because they never figured this out...

Ah. So It's like the autocombat in IV then: still bad.

 

[Jason Liang]

No, you can adjust your skills around anytime during camp. It's actually similar to setting up Macros in Phantasy Star IV. I hate to say it but usually when players don't enjoy 5D its because they never figured this out...

Ah. So It's like the autocombat in IV then: still bad.

It's light strategy. You basically set things up to counter a group of enemies' or a boss's special moves (for example, if they have a big attack on '5' you set up Rance to Defend and Sill to heal, etc...). But iirc you also use it to control which skills Athena learns from enemies (and lets her learn several moves by rotating them).

 

[Jason Liang]

Checking out some Alicesoft Album tracks:

 

[Sunri]

I looked Rance series on wiki, and they made some old ass anime lol

 

[Jason Liang]

 

[Jason Liang]

 

[Jason Liang]

"Royal Chaser" was originally Kanami's theme!

 

[Jaedar]

Damn, I'm kinda feeling like I need to give 5D another chance now, even though I'm still pretty sure it's shit, and I should probably finish 03/IV instead.

 

[Sunri]

Tried 01 not my cup of tea, are all other entries jrpgs? x looks like some kind of card game, but It's not even translated.

 

[Jason Liang]

Tried 01 not my cup of tea, are all other entries jrpgs? x looks like some kind of card game, but It's not even translated.

There is a Mangagamer English translation 01/02 bundle. Try haniho if you don't want to pay Mangagamer.
01 is mostly a traditional 1P jrpg with some weird combat/exploration mechanic twists and some text adventure bits. There is an OAV that does the basic story but if you really care about story/ lore then playing the game is better. Worth playing if you are confused by the "Fresh bread" posts on haniho.
02 is a straight up Dragon Quest clone jrpg. I would recommend playing it since it's very short and introduces 2 major characters, 4 minor characters, and a chubby nerdy girl with glasses.
III has an English translation and uses the same simplified goldbox combat as IV. It's a little longer than 02, is the first game that really establishes the series's world and lore. It's generally well liked, and there's a well known easter egg that trivializes most of the game's combat. I'd say about 8-12 hours and should be played unless you are waiting for the 03 English translation.
IV has also been translated to English but has no updated version at all. If you could endure III's combat mechanics you might as well play IV. Athena 2.0 is a very important character, yes! People who play IV also tend to play 4.1 and 4.2 which are a couple of short adventures but I skipped them because I don't give a shit who Pink Mask is.
Kichikuou Rance is the first truly great game in the series with mechanics kind of like Sengoku Rance except the battles are retarded instead of good. Definitely worth playing since it's an amazing and unique game. Play anytime before you play Rance X will work.
5D is a wacky rpg system as we've discussed with a lot of adventure elements. It's very short like 02.
VI is a blobber except it's the best blobber ever made since it has an awesome story.
Rance Quest uses a hybrid Wizardry/ Dragon Quest combat system also used in Evenicle. It's functional.
IX is a tactical rpg that fails hard to live up to its potential but is also functional. Despite the negativity it's still better than Rance Quest.

 

[Jaedar]

Tried 01 not my cup of tea, are all other entries jrpgs? x looks like some kind of card game, but It's not even translated.

The problem with playing the best game in the series first is that you'll have to lower your expectations for the rest.
(Some people argue X is as good but they are wrong, although it is the 2nd best of the ones I played. But no english translation yet, not even an interface patch)

Rance Quest uses a hybrid Wizardry/ Dragon Quest combat system also used in Evenicle. It's functional.

I think it's pretty good, much better than evencile. Having 50+ characters and all of them having limited moves per dungeon elevates it a lot. Not quite enough to be good fun for the entire game, but it's a lot more enjoyable than the VI gameplay imo.

 

[Jason Liang]

What does it say about Rance Quest when



is the most memorable battle in the whole game :/

 

[Sunri]

Tried 01 not my cup of tea, are all other entries jrpgs? x looks like some kind of card game, but It's not even translated.

The problem with playing the best game in the series first is that you'll have to lower your expectations for the rest.
(Some people argue X is as good but they are wrong, although it is the 2nd best of the ones I played. But no english translation yet, not even an interface patch)

Rance Quest uses a hybrid Wizardry/ Dragon Quest combat system also used in Evenicle. It's functional.

I think it's pretty good, much better than evencile. Having 50+ characters and all of them having limited moves per dungeon elevates it a lot. Not quite enough to be good fun for the entire game, but it's a lot more enjoyable than the VI gameplay imo.

I'm not saying that the other games are bad, I just hate jrpgs grind and combat, so its personal preference.

 

[Jaedar]

I'm not saying that the other games are bad, I just hate jrpgs grind and combat, so its personal preference.

This is fair and I don't like it either. Rance is a japanese rpg series though, so the combat tends to skew jrpg, especially for the early titles.
In terms of canon importance I think 2, 3 and 6 are the biggest.

 

[Jason Liang]

I'm not saying that the other games are bad, I just hate jrpgs grind and combat, so its personal preference.

Ironically the earlier games have very little grinding.
01 is designed to be beatable in a minimum number of game days. It's more of a puzzle/ adventure game than a rpg. However you will probably do some grinding on your first playthrough.
02 occasionally you'll need to spend 10-20 minutes grinding some levels or gold, mostly at the start and end.
III you can rush through 80% of the game using the easter egg aka Feliss and probably do about 20 minutes of grinding to get levels up before the last part.
IV you get a lucky can can at the start of the game so you are pretty good to go.
Kichikuou Rance is like Sengoku Rance so there's no grinding and character levels make almost no difference anyway.
5D you have limited turns in each chapter so there's no grinding, the game forces you to move on or else game over
VI has Orb grinding instead of exp grinding. You don't need Orbs to advance, they are used to unlock character scenes, but autists grind them anyway in fear of "missing" content. As far as level progression goes, you are either strong enough to complete the current mission, or you fail and try again now with more experience. It's very organic. I was way underleveled when I beat the Hanny King so it's a matter of how challenging you want to make things.
Rance Quest Is notoriously grindy but I think the most remarkable quality of the game is each player plays the game their own way. Some people beat the game way over leveled and some beat it way underleveled. The game records each player's statistics after completing the game and comparing them the numbers vary by a shocking lot. Pretty much everyone has a different set of "most used" characters. As well as character deaths, gold gained and spent, etc... So it's really up to you how much you want to grind.
IX only has set battles that you can repeat if you want to grind or get achievements. The issue in IX isn't grinding. The issue is that there is too much VN and far too few battes each chapter. So replaying battles is... playing the game. The difficulty curve does spike a lot from one battle to the next, so grinding is probably needed to make battles easier.
X has no random battles and a set number of turns before the game ends so there's no grinding. It also adjusts the difficulty depending on your success so the game is good at remaining beatable without being too easy.

 

[Jaedar]

Rance Quest Is notoriously grindy

It is, but considering that the english release has an offical "double xp" mode, it's kind of an outdated notoriety. Just enable that mode and it's fine (although still not a short or spectacularly varied game by any means).

02 occasionally you'll need to spend 10-20 minutes grinding some levels or gold, mostly at the start and end.

Iirc as long as you get a single mimic encounter that drops gold, you'll be set for the entire game.

VI has Orb grinding instead of exp grinding. You don't need Orbs to advance, they are used to unlock character scenes, but autists grind them anyway in fear of "missing" content.

I honestly recommend just getting cheat engine after the first 5 hours and then setting your orb counters to 3 whenever you feel like it.

The issue in IX isn't grinding. The issue is that there is too much VN and far too few battes each chapter.

I'm very glad I didn't try to play this in Japanese.

 

[Sunri]

Ok, I watched an animated version of the first game https://hentaihaven.xxx/watch/rance-the-quest-for-hikari/, so I will try 02 now.

 

[Sunri]

You need 40lv to fuck a level up goddess in rance 02 I knew this games will be grindy I had 20 something lv in last location.

 

[Jaedar]

You need 40lv to fuck a level up goddess in rance 02 I knew this games will be grindy I had 20 something lv in last location.

I skipped all that stuff. The final boss is fairly easy, and as you say, grinding levels for optional content is not acceptable.

Ok, I watched an animated version of the first game https://hentaihaven.xxx/watch/rance-the-quest-for-hikari/, so I will try 02 now.

It's ok, but you do miss out on Lia's backstory, which humanized her quite a bit for me, even if it's only like 4 lines in the VN.

 

[Sunri]

You need 40lv to fuck a level up goddess in rance 02 I knew this games will be grindy I had 20 something lv in last location.

I skipped all that stuff. The final boss is fairly easy, and as you say, grinding levels for optional content is not acceptable.

Ok, I watched an animated version of the first game https://hentaihaven.xxx/watch/rance-the-quest-for-hikari/, so I will try 02 now.

It's ok, but you do miss out on Lia's backstory, which humanized her quite a bit for me, even if it's only like 4 lines in the VN.

I installed auto clicker to just walk around and spam attack, after 2 hours it was done it seems that 03 remake is not translated

 

[Jaedar]

You need 40lv to fuck a level up goddess in rance 02 I knew this games will be grindy I had 20 something lv in last location.

I skipped all that stuff. The final boss is fairly easy, and as you say, grinding levels for optional content is not acceptable.

Ok, I watched an animated version of the first game https://hentaihaven.xxx/watch/rance-the-quest-for-hikari/, so I will try 02 now.

It's ok, but you do miss out on Lia's backstory, which humanized her quite a bit for me, even if it's only like 4 lines in the VN.

I installed auto clicker to just walk around and spam attack, after 2 hours it was done it seems that 03 remake is not translated

Yes, only III. 03 got picked up by MG this year, so expect it to release at some point before 2030.

 

[Sunri]

You need 40lv to fuck a level up goddess in rance 02 I knew this games will be grindy I had 20 something lv in last location.

I skipped all that stuff. The final boss is fairly easy, and as you say, grinding levels for optional content is not acceptable.

Ok, I watched an animated version of the first game https://hentaihaven.xxx/watch/rance-the-quest-for-hikari/, so I will try 02 now.

It's ok, but you do miss out on Lia's backstory, which humanized her quite a bit for me, even if it's only like 4 lines in the VN.

I installed auto clicker to just walk around and spam attack, after 2 hours it was done it seems that 03 remake is not translated

Yes, only III. 03 got picked up by MG this year, so expect it to release at some point before 2030.

Is 9 translated? I only found a version with translated UI

 

[Jaedar]

You need 40lv to fuck a level up goddess in rance 02 I knew this games will be grindy I had 20 something lv in last location.

I skipped all that stuff. The final boss is fairly easy, and as you say, grinding levels for optional content is not acceptable.

Ok, I watched an animated version of the first game https://hentaihaven.xxx/watch/rance-the-quest-for-hikari/, so I will try 02 now.

It's ok, but you do miss out on Lia's backstory, which humanized her quite a bit for me, even if it's only like 4 lines in the VN.

I installed auto clicker to just walk around and spam attack, after 2 hours it was done it seems that 03 remake is not translated

Yes, only III. 03 got picked up by MG this year, so expect it to release at some point before 2030.

Is 9 translated? I only found a version with translated UI

No.
Official translations: 01, 02, 5D, VI, Sengoku, Quest.
9 is *probably* coming out at some point next year but I wouldn't be surprised if MG delays it to 2024 out of sheer spite.
Fan translations: III, IV, Kichikuou (not canon).