Rance Series

[Maxie]

According to TADA (and therefore to be taken with a grain of salt), Kichikuou Rance was a system seller for Windows 95 in Japan.

I wouldn't claim that Rance is high art or anything, but it's a fun adventure fantasy series with a bunch of technological and narrative innovations to it. If you've see any anime in the last decade - you've seen something influenced by Rance. Because anime right now is pulling from Shōsetsuka ni Narō the way american studios pull scripts from Wattpad, and syosetu works pull a ton from Rance.

you had me before you had to copy-paste ethnic letters

 

[Longes]

According to TADA (and therefore to be taken with a grain of salt), Kichikuou Rance was a system seller for Windows 95 in Japan.

I wouldn't claim that Rance is high art or anything, but it's a fun adventure fantasy series with a bunch of technological and narrative innovations to it. If you've see any anime in the last decade - you've seen something influenced by Rance. Because anime right now is pulling from Shōsetsuka ni Narō the way american studios pull scripts from Wattpad, and syosetu works pull a ton from Rance.

you had me before you had to copy-paste ethnic letters

ごめん、犬さん。

 

[Maxie]

According to TADA (and therefore to be taken with a grain of salt), Kichikuou Rance was a system seller for Windows 95 in Japan.

I wouldn't claim that Rance is high art or anything, but it's a fun adventure fantasy series with a bunch of technological and narrative innovations to it. If you've see any anime in the last decade - you've seen something influenced by Rance. Because anime right now is pulling from Shōsetsuka ni Narō the way american studios pull scripts from Wattpad, and syosetu works pull a ton from Rance.

you had me before you had to copy-paste ethnic letters

ごめん、犬さん。

お前もっと謝れんだろが

 

[Jaedar]

I wouldn't claim that Rance is high art or anything, but it's a fun adventure fantasy series with a bunch of technological and narrative innovations to it.

Yeah. It's kinda unique both in being a three decades long game series with a mostly single continuity (minor retcons, inconsistencies and remakes aside it's still incredibly cohesive). I think it also uses the fact that it's XXX rated quite well, since it means that when it wants to go dark and have a horrible villain they can actually show it on screen instead of just alluding to dark lordness and terrible evil. They can just have a scene where the villain skins someone alive in excruciating detail.

I would call it refreshing if I didn't skip half those scenes, and put a hand between my face and the monitor so I can't see the CG for the other half. But it's kinda unique for the games I've played.

I suppose the played straight "fuck the chicks, defeat the villains" part of Rance works pretty well with the audience, but I find him more interesting when he's in out-of-the-box situations like the curse in 4.

Same. I think Rance is actually a pretty interesting character once they develop him a bit beyond brutal rapist.

 

[thesecret1]

Same. I think Rance is actually a pretty interesting character once they develop him a bit beyond brutal rapist.

I found him better in the older games, they kinda mellow him out in the newer ones. I understand why – OG Rance was downright evil at times (far more than usual anyway), but it made for a kind of character you don't actually see virtually anywhere else. A true anti-hero (as opposed to what's usually described as "anti-hero", ie. a normal hero character with some minor character flaw).

 

[Longes]

Same. I think Rance is actually a pretty interesting character once they develop him a bit beyond brutal rapist.

I found him better in the older games, they kinda mellow him out in the newer ones. I understand why – OG Rance was downright evil at times (far more than usual anyway), but it made for a kind of character you don't actually see virtually anywhere else. A true anti-hero (as opposed to what's usually described as "anti-hero", ie. a normal hero character with some minor character flaw).

Tori (3-7) wrote Rance as a brute, while Dice's (8-10) vision was as a more traditional hero.

 

[Endemic]

I found him better in the older games, they kinda mellow him out in the newer ones. I understand why – OG Rance was downright evil at times (far more than usual anyway), but it made for a kind of character you don't actually see virtually anywhere else. A true anti-hero (as opposed to what's usually described as "anti-hero", ie. a normal hero character with some minor character flaw).

I tend to define anti-hero as someone who puts his own interests and wants first, and remains detached as a result. IE a pure anti-hero couldn't really have the same arc Rance has had, he would be too mercenary. Nothing like the Kenshin subplot in Sengoku for example.

 

[thesecret1]

I tend to define anti-hero as someone who puts his own interests and wants first, and remains detached as a result. IE a pure anti-hero couldn't really have the same arc Rance has had, he would be too mercenary. Nothing like the Kenshin subplot in Sengoku for example.

I don't really care about the semantics of the expression. Mercenary "anti-heroes" are a dime a dozen nowadays, they aren't interesting whatsoever. Rance is a breath of fresh air.

Tori (3-7) wrote Rance as a brute, while Dice's (8-10) vision was as a more traditional hero.

Yeah, decline.

 

[Jason Liang]

For me what I like most about the Rance games is not that they are good games despite the eroge, but that the eroge allows the story and characters to be more mature and adult than normal video games or anime can hit. Like, adults fuck. A lot. Sex is a big part of adult life, and affects how adults interact with each other all the time. But most of the time games and other media are not allowed to represent that part of adult life, so it's shallow and pantomine. Like, actually Shakespeare wrote a lot about sex, wrote characters that fuck and think and talk about sex, which is why Shakespeare is great.

I don't have a great example but think about Bird. He's a guy that can't get laid, can't keep a woman. I mean, yes, you can have a character like that in a GTA game or an anime, but only Rance games explore the real misery of being a loser like Bird. Ok, maybe Bird is a bad example...

I guess what I'm talking about is a scene like what happens to Crook during the Mula Test in Rance Quest Magnum (which is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series). Can another series like GTA do a side story about how depraved sex cults are? Sure. Are there anime and hentai about sex cults? Sure. But they don't linger on it, come to existentially incarnate it the way that Rance Quest does. Like, the best a GTA game can do is condemn sex cults or mock them, boo hoo people do bad things, as Jane wouls say "It's a Sick Sad World", but it's all so surface compared to what Rance Quest did with it. GTA can't do gangrape like Rance games do gangrape.

It's not just the sick depraved hentai stuff either, but how some characters like Lia, Shizuka, Pastel, etc... are written. The way that characters can do genuinely shameful things and be ashamed of themselves that you don't find in any other video game. How petty and self-absorbed people are.

Like, I've been playing a lot of games on PS5 this year, and yes there are "adult" games on PS5 like Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding, Yakuza 0, GTAV, etc... but they are still operating at a level that is cartoonish and childlish compared to the Rance games from Kichikuou Rance onwards.

 

[Longes]

And we are back

 

[Longes]

Jason Liang You are knowledgeable.
I didn't take the Passage Permit from Rizna at the start of chapter 3, because the game auto-progressed me. Am I just softlocked now and need to restart? Or is there some other way to get a passage permit to get back into the castle?

 

[Jason Liang]

Jason Liang You are knowledgeable.
I didn't take the Passage Permit from Rizna at the start of chapter 3, because the game auto-progressed me. Am I just softlocked now and need to restart? Or is there some other way to get a passage permit to get back into the castle?

I'm not sure what you mean by auto-progress, and I never got soft-locked in 5D. You haven't put up the video yet so I can't see what you did. Ah nvm I think I know what happened.

I think it would be uncharacteristic for 5D to have a bug of glitch that leaves you in a soft-locked state, usually Alicesoft games are really robust. But also I don't think there is a second travel permit. I don't think the permit is essential. I think you can just kill the gate guards. Iirc it's not a panda battle.

Also wiki says you can get a permit from Waka, so maybe that works.

 

[Longes]

Jason Liang You are knowledgeable.
I didn't take the Passage Permit from Rizna at the start of chapter 3, because the game auto-progressed me. Am I just softlocked now and need to restart? Or is there some other way to get a passage permit to get back into the castle?

I'm not sure what you mean by auto-progress, and I never got soft-locked in 5D. You haven't put up the video yet so I can't see what you did. Ah nvm I think I know what happened.

I think it would be uncharacteristic for 5D to have a bug of glitch that leaves you in a soft-locked state, usually Alicesoft games are really robust. But also I don't think there is a second travel permit. I don't think the permit is essential. I think you can just kill the gate guards. Iirc it's not a panda battle.

Also wiki says you can get a permit from Waka, so maybe that works.

It's not a fight, I just get auto-killed by the guards.

The episode goes up in an hour, hopefully you have some advice!

Otherwise, it's Toushin Toshi 2 next on the LP block.

 

[Jason Liang]

huh

Can you just Load Chapter from start of Chapter 3?

 

[Longes]

huh

TIL that you "Scene Select" is the load feature and not the CG gallery

 

[notpl]

So wait, is Rance 03 Kai available in english or nah? Mangagamer lists it on their site but without any actual details, such as a price or release date.

 

[Zurbo]

So wait, is Rance 03 Kai available in english or nah? Mangagamer lists it on their site but without any actual details, such as a price or release date.

It's being translated. Here's listed progress for ongoing projects, though the last update was in May:
https://blog.mangagamer.org/project-status-2/

 

[KingDoofus]

Steiner officially at around 70% translation for Rance X. Only 5 more years till release!

He said he's translated all the side stuff and vignettes, so only the main story and the h-scenes remain. Be wary though, the last time he thought he had made significant progress, a coder found a substantial amount of hidden text.

And the game's "edited" progress? 5%.

(Rance 03, which I think Maria is working on, is at 55% translated, 41% edited)

 

[Maxie]

Steiner officially at around 70% translation for Rance X. Only 5 more years till release!

He said he's translated all the side stuff and vignettes, so only the main story and the h-scenes remain. Be wary though, the last time he thought he had made significant progress, a coder found a substantial amount of hidden text.

And the game's "edited" progress? 5%.

(Rance 03, which I think Maria is working on, is at 55% translated, 41% edited)

the fuck is Maria doing it's barely moved

 

[Jaedar]

Steiner officially at around 70% translation for Rance X. Only 5 more years till release!

He said he's translated all the side stuff and vignettes, so only the main story and the h-scenes remain. Be wary though, the last time he thought he had made significant progress, a coder found a substantial amount of hidden text.

And the game's "edited" progress? 5%.

(Rance 03, which I think Maria is working on, is at 55% translated, 41% edited)

the fuck is Maria doing it's barely moved

It's not like MG are updating it live. Or like they're going release it before 2025 either way.

 

[KingDoofus]

Steiner officially at around 70% translation for Rance X. Only 5 more years till release!

He said he's translated all the side stuff and vignettes, so only the main story and the h-scenes remain. Be wary though, the last time he thought he had made significant progress, a coder found a substantial amount of hidden text.

And the game's "edited" progress? 5%.

(Rance 03, which I think Maria is working on, is at 55% translated, 41% edited)

the fuck is Maria doing it's barely moved

Working on other games/media, some of which is for Mangagamer. She's been translating manga recently too, also I think for Mangagamer. That's the challenge with the size of these games, they're so large and take so long that neither her nor Steiner can work solely on Rance (Steiner has been very upfront about this). The paydays for these are coming years down the line, so both have to work on other titles in the meantime. So the delays on these aren't just that the games are huge, it's that rent was due and they needed to get paid for releasing something.

When I wrote "only 5 more years till release," my intention was for it to come off as a joke. Maybe... maybe I shouldn't have had that intention.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

What is happening at Alice Soft? They haven't released any game since 2020. I am worried

 

[Maxie]

What is happening at Alice Soft? They haven't released any game since 2020. I am worried

gacha happened

 

[Longes]

What is happening at Alice Soft? They haven't released any game since 2020. I am worried

Most of AliceSoft's top talent retired due to them getting old (TADA, Orion) or overworked (Gyokai). Gacha consumed the rest. One division that was making an actual game went rogue and is now a separate company - IMYUIC.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

What is happening at Alice Soft? They haven't released any game since 2020. I am worried

Most of AliceSoft's top talent retired due to them getting old (TADA, Orion) or overworked (Gyokai). Gacha consumed the rest. One division that was making an actual game went rogue and is now a separate company - IMYUIC.

Does it mean it's over?