Rance Series

[Bohrain]

Then program it into the game.

Isn't that usually just replacing japanese text with english in the game files? It worked that way when I tried translating games from english to my language, or modded games. Text was usually separate from source code, in assets, and changing it was as simple as just deleting the original line and writing the translation there.

I'm not tech savvy in any sense of the word, but the most common issue are character and memory limits when it comes to JP->ENG translations.
Most typical issue being that name fields only allow for something like 8 characters, which works out fine with kanji, but is next to nothing in English. Hence why demon types sound so unintuitive in SMT, character limit resulted to "bird of ill omen" to be changed to "raptor".
Then there is memory fuckery. The guy doing the hacking for Sengoku talked about it a bit in 4chan. The game had a bug where it seemed to always crash after you played for a while. Turns out that it purged some values in the memory after their allocated spaces filled, which of course happens faster with latin letters since they hold less information in the symbolic sense compared to kanji.

 

[KingDoofus]

Yeah, replacing text can be really simple or a huge headache depending on how the engine handles it. Sometimes it's as simple as just putting in new letters and watching the game display them. Other times it's watching the text display incorrectly, in the wrong size, in the wrong font, in the wrong alignment, or just straight up crashing the game. Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

 

[KingDoofus]

I think they have previously said they intentionally delay and stagger releases, because they think the market is small and they don't want to risk flooding it. Not sure how likely that is, but they might have seen some flooding tendency in their sales.

They definitely do stagger their sales and it is because of sales trends they've seen in the past. However, 90%+ of that has been in games that are strictly visual novels. They've been releasing Alicesoft games for a year or two now but it's still slightly uncharted territory for them - games that resemble actual games. I get the sense they're aware buying patterns may be different but hesitant to stray too far from what they know.

 

[Martyr]

MangaGamer is supposedly about quarter done with Rance X. Then again, they've been "100% done" with Sengoku like a year ago, and it's still not out, so I'd take their estimate with a heavy dosage of salt.

why the fuck did they pull the Rance 5D & Rance 6 bundle from their website? it could be purchased previously on MangaGamer, but not anymore. that's the case since maybe 3 days.

 

[Jason Liang]

https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/projectbook/190801a

Interview with TADA. Quite long and detailed. Hopefully someone will translate it

Oh. In the picture he actually does look kind of like a hanny.

They chose a Daiakuji screenshot for the center of the picture montage representing Alicesoft? Isn't Daiakuji... really infamous, even in Japan? Like all the other screenshots make sense if you want to evoke the history of Alicesoft games in 6-7 pictures...

That's all I've got since I can't really read Japanese.

Codex should try to interview TADA too. I live pretty close to Japan but I can't speak Japanese

 

[Bohrain]

Daiakuji sold well so they are probably pretty proud about it. And the loli aunt was a damn popular character for a long while, hence the Rance VI cameo (that wasn't patched in for the MangaGamer version for god knows why).
Daiteikoku is the one that was stuck in development hell and ended up shit in terms of quality and sales.

 

[Haba]

MangaGamer is supposedly about quarter done with Rance X. Then again, they've been "100% done" with Sengoku like a year ago, and it's still not out, so I'd take their estimate with a heavy dosage of salt.

why the fuck did they pull the Rance 5D & Rance 6 bundle from their website? it could be purchased previously on MangaGamer, but not anymore. that's the case since maybe 3 days.

Payment processor issues?

 

[thesecret1]

I wonder, is there anyone who actually liked the mechanics of 5D? It was one of the weirdest games I ever played, from the design perspective. The most RNG-dependent RPG out there for sure

 

[Jason Liang]

I wonder, is there anyone who actually liked the mechanics of 5D? It was one of the weirdest games I ever played, from the design perspective. The most RNG-dependent RPG out there for sure

I dig it
5D has crazy easter eggs
Only bad part is poor encounter design

It's also an homage to the predecessor of RPGs, adventure games like Zork or Infocom games.

 

[thesecret1]

I wonder, is there anyone who actually liked the mechanics of 5D? It was one of the weirdest games I ever played, from the design perspective. The most RNG-dependent RPG out there for sure

I dig it
5D has crazy easter eggs
Only bad part is poor encounter design

Oh, the writing and easter eggs and similar were great, I'm talking about the combat and the RNG-defined encounters.

 

[Bohrain]

5D was supposed to be a big RPG that was stuck in development hell, the D comes from the fact that it went through three revisions.
After they pulled the plug from 5C Tada just wanted to do a short, dumb game where everything is decided by luck.

 

[Jason Liang]

The combat is a fresh concept. I think it made the combat too easy but it does give it a unique tactical element that allows you to make battle plans while still having a luck element. It is an interesting compromise between luck-based and pure strategy.

i now divide the Rance games between the short, light adventures (01, 02, 5D) and the epic adventures (03, KR, VI, SR, RQ, IX, X)

 

[KingDoofus]

I enjoy 5D as a palate cleanser, a distraction game to play in short bursts. I wouldn't want to play it for extended sessions but an hour or less and I enjoyed it. I think releasing it with 6 was great - 6 is a long game and you could take a break with 5D for a little bit.

 

[Bohrain]

It takes like 3 hours tops to complete if you know what you are doing.

 

[KingDoofus]

I have never been accused of knowing what I am doing.

Really lets me stretch out my gameplay time.

 

[Bohrain]

Sengoku' scheduled release is on the 12th.
BUT there is a caveat with them having their payment processing system being borked for over a month now.
Also they are planning to release 01 and 02 in a bundle. Former has already been translated.

 

[Martyr]

Sengoku' scheduled release is on the 12th.
BUT there is a caveat with them having their payment processing system being borked for over a month now.
Also they are planning to release 01 and 02 in a bundle. Former has already been translated.

they've also erased the Rance 5D & 6 store page, as well as the entire RPG section of their website earlier in August. I wonder why they did that.

 

[Rodcocker]

I don't want to put people off MangaGamer - as they are the heroes bringing Rance to the west. But I got my credit card blocked for fraud several days after making a purchase from them - somebody on the other side of the planet tried to make a purchase. They don't have a payment processor days before a big release? Their whole operation is a shambles.

 

[Haba]

I don't want to put people off MangaGamer - as they are the heroes bringing Rance to the west. But I got my credit card blocked for fraud several days after making a purchase from them - somebody on the other side of the planet tried to make a purchase. They don't have a payment processor days before a big release? Their whole operation is a shambles.

They are kind of fucked.

Payment processors are deplatforming everything left and right (mostly right). Plus MG probably has to deal with a lot of chargebacks etc. just due to nature of the product that they sell.

 

[Jason Liang]

Quelplan

 

[CyberModuled]

Inevitable but still disappointing. Guess I'll just continue playing the free version in the meantime.

 

[Bohrain]

Sengoku Rance is getting released tomorrow now that the payment situation got fixed.

 

[Rance]

Buy it now!
https://www.mangagamer.com/r18/detail.php?goods_type=1&product_code=1132

Or I will steal* your girlfriend, gahahahahahahaha!


*) Again

 

[Martyr]

payment only via credit card, when in the past PayPal was an option
fuck these incompetent hacks.

edit: the suggested way of buying MG points via PayPal and then purchasing the game using these points, worked.

 

[Haba]

payment only via credit card, when in the past PayPal was an option
fuck these incompetent hacks.

PayPal Acceptable Use Policy

Prohibited Activities, section two

relate to transactions involving (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) cigarettes, (d) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity, (e) stolen goods including digital and virtual goods, (f) the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime, (g) items that are considered obscene, (h) items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction, (i) certain sexually oriented materials or services, (j) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (k) certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law.

Now pray tell how is this their incompetence?

If credit card really isn't an option for you, I'd recommend contacting the customer service. In past at least there were other solutions to those problems.