Rance Series

[Jaedar]

But that's a consistent issue of comparing Rance 6-9 with Kichikuou (the superior Rance game).

Dems fighting words sonny.

I should probably try to slog through kichikuou at some point, but every time I try I can't help but think "wait, why aren't I playing sengoku instead?".

Sengoku has better gameplay, and you absolutely shouldn't play Kichikou unless you've already played 1-4. But Kichikuou gets so many things right and has such strong and concise writing that it's my favorite Rance game still. Even though Sengoku is probably a better game in an "objective" sense.

The time I got furthest in it I had conquered most of the free cities, but I felt like the plot was literally not moving forward at all from doing that, and then I started moving into JAPAN and if I'm literally conquering japan....

But I do wanna see how kichikuou compares, especially to X.
I've played every canonical rance entry except for 4.1 and 4.2 at this point.

 

[Average Manatee]

I played a bit with the VI patch.

On the plus side, less grind is great. I remember the gameplaying starting to grate about halfway through the first time I played it, so halving the encounters probably means it won't be as annoying as it was (although still not that fun for a lot of it). The mapping change is also great, needing to traverse literally every tile was a major pain.

Otoh, halving encounters means that the fatigue system becomes toothless, and that was the one good thing about VI's gameplay. I remember that the first time through I had to try fairly hard to optimize fatigue to beat the bandits in the forest. In the patched version I just did it in one go with plenty stamina to spare.

So it's a bit tricky to recommend. You'll spare yourself some annoyance and grinding, but you'll also miss out on seeing the cool parts.

Yeah, I think the encounter rate is fine for everything in Rance 6 aside from when you're trying to 100% map. Halving it seems a bit casual.

Doubled XP I'm not sure about. But I guess combined with halved encounters and faster mapping that's almost just an essential compensation tweak.

 

[Jaedar]

I wonder who is doing 03 translation. But this does seem to confirm that 03 will come out before X. Considering the speed they apparently paid for in translation and edit, potentially aimed at 2024 release?

 

[Maxie]

I wonder who is doing 03 translation. But this does seem to confirm that 03 will come out before X. Considering the speed they apparently paid for in translation and edit, potentially aimed at 2024 release?

Steiner has confirmed in his Q&A that the game will probably translated by the next year but he doesn't expect a 2024 release
03 is being translated by Maria and will come out first

 

[Jaedar]

Steiner has confirmed in his Q&A that the game will probably translated by the next year but he doesn't expect a 2024 release

I meant 03 in 2024. X in 2024 is not happening. 03 in 2024 might also be optimistic, who can tell.

03 is being translated by Maria and will come out first

Full circle eh

 

[KingDoofus]

I think the hope (for both Mangagmer and fans) is that it'd be 03 in late 2024 and X in late 2025. 03 might be doable, but X... Idunno. Last I saw it had the largest script of any video game ever made (not just hentai game, ANY game), and even if Steiner can get it done in the next two years (while he's also working on other projects which he has admitted have more immediate big paydays), editing it is going to be a monster. 2026 might be optimistic.

A big part of the reason this is going so slow is that they're hesitant to put more than 1-2 people on it at a time - Mangagamer has a small staff and until it hits sales they're not making any money on it, so too many salaries attending to it can really affect their bottom line. They're also going to have to figure out how much to charge for it, which will be its own challenge; this will likely be the most expensive hentai game to have ever been brought over (they['ve been paying Steiner in pieces for years). Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this game sold in Japan for the equivalent of $90USD. I don't expect it to be that much, but I wouldn't be shocked at $60-70.

Gird thy loins my friends. The trials of those who like good gameplay in their hentai games goes on!

 

[Longes]

Ungird thy loins my friends and hit the books. Learning Japanese will pay off better for you long-term/

 

[Jaedar]

but I think [Rance X] sold in Japan for the equivalent of $90USD. I don't expect it to be that much, but I wouldn't be shocked at $60-70.

9780 Yen in japan. which was indeed roughly 90 USD at the time.

But note that VI, sengoku, quest and IX were sold for 8500 yen. The japs are just willing to pay a lot more for their indie games than westerns. Which probably explains a lot of why japan can make real eroges and the west makes lewd cyoas.

Ungird thy loins my friends and hit the books. Learning Japanese will pay off better for you long-term/

Surely the ongoing AI revolution will make manual translation obsolete any day now

editing it is going to be a monster

Not just editing, but also testing it. X is a monster of a game in so many ways.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Tricked a few people this April Fools with a fake Rance game: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/deuce-traveler-is-making-a-video-game.146724/

It wasn't as good as my Oblivion April Fools joke that fooled the GamesBanshee staff (https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10259), but I still enjoyed getting a few folks riled up.

 

[Jason Liang]

TADA's bio on the Alicesoft wiki has been revamped and expanded enormously with details.

In particular, it refutes the narrative that Kichikou Rance was intended to be a swan song before Alicesoft hit bankruptcy. Also humbling to think that Rance 3 was made by a team of less than 10 people, and 5D five people. Also how Rance IX came to be makes a lot more sense considering Purin's first game was DALK.

 

[Jaedar]

In particular, it refutes the narrative that Kichikou Rance was intended to be a swan song before Alicesoft hit bankruptcy.

Which is weird, why did they decide to declare it noncanon if it was just a release like any other? You'd think this would be pretty notable, but it's not mentioned at all.

 

[Maxie]

In particular, it refutes the narrative that Kichikou Rance was intended to be a swan song before Alicesoft hit bankruptcy.

Which is weird, why did they decide to declare it noncanon if it was just a release like any other? You'd think this would be pretty notable, but it's not mentioned at all.

my pet theory is that after the few botched attempts at producing Rance 5, TADA was really considering to give up on this series but 5D somehow managed to reignite his interest, also someone else took over writing duties (further driving the creation of the remake canon)

 

[Nirvash]

I must admit... rance 9 is a shit game, i lack the will to do even a single side stuff.

Quest was already VERY forgettable.

 

[Jaedar]

I must admit... rance 9 is a shit game

Shit is perhaps overstating it, but it's not a very good one.

Quest was already VERY forgettable.

I've actually had the occasional jonesing to replay this.

 

[Bohrain]

TADA's bio on the Alicesoft wiki has been revamped and expanded enormously with details.

In particular, it refutes the narrative that Kichikou Rance was intended to be a swan song before Alicesoft hit bankruptcy. Also humbling to think that Rance 3 was made by a team of less than 10 people, and 5D five people. Also how Rance IX came to be makes a lot more sense considering Purin's first game was DALK.

It doesn't state that they were in financial distress, but they probably would've been had the game bombed considering they used the entire company to produce it. Probably what started the rumour.

 

[Terra]

I enjoyed Quest a lot, but I'm sort of just plodding through 9 at a pace of an hour or two every few weeks. Still not too far in, it's alright I guess but I don't feel super compelled to push through it quickly or anything. Some fancy blonde knight just joined and seeing Rance trying to kill him was amusing enough. Having Nagi show up again and discovering the identity of Russian are keeping it interesting enough so far but it overall definitely is shaping up to a weaker entry.

 

[Tyrr]

Quest was fun because of all the characters and places from the older games. That's what R9 is missing.
There aren't that many old characters in the first place and the new ones weren't that interesting (and way to many male characters). The places you visit were limited to only a small part of the world and mostly boring. Also surprises in the story.
A game with such a small scale story would be ok before Quest, but after all the story lines started in Quest (and Magnum), 9 feels like a letdown. I wanted to see what happens next in the world and with everyone but was blueballed.

 

[Jaedar]

There aren't that many old characters in the first place and the new ones weren't that interesting (and way to many male characters). The places you visit were limited to only a small part of the world and mostly boring.

I think they just dropped the ball entirely with the characters and setting. It's like they saved all the good character stuff for the alternate routes and also helman wasn't fleshed out at all. I wasn't expecting another VI, but I was hoping we'd at least get something in the same vein.

Quest was fun because of all the characters and places from the older games.

I think it's also fun because each quest is basically a self contained story, which leaves a lot of room to flesh out characters and the setting because the small stories never need to compete with the main plot for attention. The crazy amount of characters, and the game mechanics encouraging using a large amount of them certainly help as well.

 

[Nirvash]

I did 100% quest.
But i forgot nearly everything about it, i barely remember reset and pope and that's it.

I remember 6 way more.

 

[Longes]

I liked 9 a lot more than Quest. Quest felt like it really drags. 9 had a weak middle (Dr. Oama is basically just filler side-quest), and the combat is too undeveloped to be engaging. But I liked most of the writing and IMO the story got really engaging once we got past Oama and to the approach to Lang Bau. And I liked the routes so much that I recorded all of them for the let's play even though I wasn't initially going to.

I also started a let's play of Tales of Arise immediately after IX, and Arise has a similar premise of gradually rebelling against a corrupt empire. Boy, that really put into perspective how Rance has really god-tier writing. Arise is so fucking bad you guys.

 

[TigerKnee]

The funny thing was that RQ and R9 were originally swapped in order but they decided to go with RQ first - I think it had to do with the "seriousness" level going into R10, but I don't have the sources any more to confirm the reasons.

 

[Maxie]

i just dont like patton and dont find helman interesting
i liked rance 6 much much more

 

[Jason Liang]

i don't want to be a Rance 9 apologist, but Rance 9 makes more sense if you consider it a Purin game with very marginal contribution from TADA. Purin makes squad tactics games and has a handful of pet characters

Character Designer (Barres Province, Rick Addison, Cordoba Burn, Ex Banquet, Kinkaid Brambla, Asuka Cadmium, Pegasus Fort, Jibul Makutomi, Sakanaku Tenka, Dodge Evans, Leazas General Soldier, Leazas Knight, Lelyukov Berkov, Aristoles Calm, Minerva Margaret, Nero Chapet VII, Rolex Gadras, Convert Tax, Maha Margaret, Tami John, Helman Guard, Helman Knight, Patton Misnarge, Hunty Kalar, Hubert Lipton, Freak Paraffin, Toushin Omega, RedEye, Babolat, Kite, Caesar, Monsters)

mostly from Helman that he developed. Rance 9 was basically Purin being given the opportunity to create a definitive version of the tactics game he's been refining since DALK as well as finish telling the stories of his characters. It's a game that inherits both its gameplay and scope from early 90's computer games. So it was destined to be an odd duck and fall short when compared to Rance 6 or Sengoku, when it's basically stuck in the Rance III period. It's meant to be an improvement on Mamatoto and Widenyo, not on Sengoku.

As for the game itself, well it's a mixed bag. I liked several of the battles, especially the ones where you have to split up into several squads, and the challenge is pretty good if you do not over level and/or give yourself a handicap like no items or common items only. The rpg elements are fine - characters are not created equal, and I'm glad that characters like Rick and Shizuka in the game reflect how busted and heroic they are in the diegetic Rance universe. The story has strengths and weaknesses. There are plenty of cool and epic moments, but the final third felt very anti-climatic as the Outlaw squad basically went around the 3rd Army and avoided the 2nd Army altogether. The story could have used maybe 3 more chapters toward the end and a longer and more painful conflict with the 3rd Army. You can also see the potential for a much better and more ambitious game, if they had implemented the heroine route splitting throughout the game instead of only the final chapter. Like, if only there were 3-5 different ways each chapter could play out, depending on which heroine route you choose, the game would be infinitely more replayable. That one improvement would have made Rance 9 one of the top games in the series.

Ultimately where Rance 9 fell short the most for me was that I really missed the other regular characters a lot. The cast is good, although some characters like Crook, Maria and Alkanese really didn't matter much. But I ended up really missing Copa, Magic, Rizna and Pastel, among others.

 

[Longes]

the final third felt very anti-climatic as the Outlaw squad basically went around the 3rd Army and avoided the 2nd Army altogether.

I am going to disagree with that, as the finale was the part I liked the most. From the start the Outlaws were set up as scrappy underdogs winning largely through cunning and the enemy's corrupt incompetence. So avoiding tough fights to rush the objective felt in character. "Capture-the-flag" format also made sense since both royal candidates are on the Outlaws' side, so you can see how taking out Stessel and Pamela would put an end to it. Convert isn't the character to go all in and finish off the Outlaws after they take the capital, and while Mineva is - she dies in every route.

 

[Jaedar]

Rance 9 was basically Purin being given the opportunity to create a definitive version of the tactics game he's been refining since DALK

Considering R9 the definitive version of anything just makes it more sad if anything.

The funny thing was that RQ and R9 were originally swapped in order but they decided to go with RQ first - I think it had to do with the "seriousness" level going into R10, but I don't have the sources any more to confirm the reasons.

X basically begins with (very minor spoilers of things you learn 2 hours into a 100+ hour game) the human nations on the brink of collapse against a genocidal force, with 10s of millions of civilian casualties already having occured. .
After quest, I kinda wish there were more light hearted rance games.

i just dont like patton and dont find helman interesting
i liked rance 6 much much more

I've said it before but I will say it again: the real problem with rance9 from a writing perspective is that they dropped the ball on helman. They're the oldest human nation and two members of the royal council are immortal, one having lived to see the first demon king and the other being the sole survivor of the holy magic sect. There's so many cool lore things they could have added to flesh out the setting and helman but they mostly drop the ball on it. There's some neat lore on MM rune, but it's told via disconnected loredumps.