Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Sengoku Rance

[Van-d-all]

Nice timing. Finished it in ~2010.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Yes, you could have played the game years back with an English mod, but this is the first time we have had an official English release, plus the game was #75 in the RPG Codex Top 100 games just this year, making a 2019 review relevant. Not that the age on this really matters. I've been thinking about doing a Retrospective Review on the Magic Candle for years now, but decided against it since CRPGAddict covered it in depth already.

 

[Rodcocker]

What game were you playing? Rance VI was the blobber.

Based on what I vaguely remember from playing it a few years back all you can do is set your commander's formations before a battle and can't reshuffle your troops or swap places with troops. What I mean by blobber is something like Disciples 2 which I found extremely boring. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or just didn't play the game enough to unlock some real tactical options.

Sengoku Rance can seem quite lacklustre in the combat department at the beginning, and quite confusing from a story perspective too. You probably just needed to get further into the game to see the potential.

Overall it has simple systems that in the end provide huge complexity by the way they interact with each other. The combat never gets that complicated - but the units you have available in each combat (and your ultimate success) is decided by many other factors: the order you attack nations and obtain more powerful units. Which nation do you attack next? Do you try to take enemy terrority this turn or dungeon delve to get a good item? Add to this that story events could improve some of your units or even take them away, or drag you into a war you never wanted to start, and many of these story events are triggered by actions you did or didn't take. In the end, nothing is simple as it seems as every decision affects everything else. It's one of the few strategy games I've played where I felt that every turn was of upmost importance and not just micro managing busy work.

I've never seen such a perfect merging of tactical, strategic and story layers before.

 

[thesecret1]

it's also one of the few games where shitty JRPG menu combat is actually fun

 

[Bruma Hobo]

it's also one of the few games where shitty JRPG menu combat is actually fun

You mean blobber combat? Saying that it's kind of heresy around here, you know?

 

[TigerKnee]

I've been thinking about doing a Retrospective Review on the Magic Candle for years now, but decided against it since CRPGAddict covered it in depth already.

I love Magic Candle so you should do it anyway

 

[Morkar Left]

Quick question; is there a manual for the game?

I'm particularly interested which effect a level has, how I get more actions per turn and what Intelligence is good for

 

[Black]

Unfortunately I don't think we get a manual for this.
Level mostly affects only commanders in commander battles (how hard they hit and how much hp they have), also increases initial damage of the commander charge ability in army battle.
To get more actions per turn you have to spend Rance's satisfaction points, at 60 you can get your third fan, at 160 (I think) your fourth.
Intelligence dictates how well you defend against magic attacks and how much magic damage you do (if applicable, most unit types in the game can't do magic damage, but mages like Rizna or Magic obviously do). It also affects your tacticians, how well they apply their buffs. Ashigaru troops (foot soldiers) also benefit from it, they get more +defence ratio the more int they have.

 

[Jaedar]

Quick question; is there a manual for the game?

There's no manual, but there is a wiki.
This is the most relevant page for deep dive into game mechanics:
https://alicesoft.fandom.com/wiki/Sengoku_Rance:Parameters_&_Formulae

 

[TigerKnee]

Quick question; is there a manual for the game?

There's no manual, but there is a wiki.

The Japanese version had a physical manual that was expected reading which would explain a lot of the difficulty that new players go through.

It's a bit strange that it isn't offered in any form for the official English version though that lines up with how most people experienced SR through the fantranslation since that didn't translate the manual either but the wiki page is the closest thing.

 

[Silentstorm]

I´ve never played this game, heard a lot about it, but never played because of it's "Eroge" status, wait, that's not it, i have sadly played some, it's just i really really don't like rape and a lot of what i hear about this game has Rance being a massive rapist and that being treated as a joke with him almost just being a little rascal, and yes, i heard there are some cases of rape that are considered awful, but they seem to come from brutal rapists that aren't Rance.

Holy crap, i swear this game makes me turn into a SJW, the erotic parts just seem so borderline awful i actually lose all my will to even play the game, and yet it's apparently a masterpiece otherwise, can you at least beat the game without having Rance rape anyone?

Because that feels like the only way i would actually play the game.

 

[Black]

It's not Rape if it's Rance doing it.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I´ve never played this game, heard a lot about it, but never played because of it's "Eroge" status, wait, that's not it, i have sadly played some, it's just i really really don't like rape and a lot of what i hear about this game has Rance being a massive rapist and that being treated as a joke with him almost just being a little rascal, and yes, i heard there are some cases of rape that are considered awful, but they seem to come from brutal rapists that aren't Rance.

Holy crap, i swear this game makes me turn into a SJW, the erotic parts just seem so borderline awful i actually lose all my will to even play the game, and yet it's apparently a masterpiece otherwise, can you at least beat the game without having Rance rape anyone?

Because that feels like the only way i would actually play the game.

It would be challenging, but maybe you could if you don't conquer places like Hara House and insteasd make them vassals. Someone has had to try it at some point.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I´ve never played this game, heard a lot about it, but never played because of it's "Eroge" status, wait, that's not it, i have sadly played some, it's just i really really don't like rape and a lot of what i hear about this game has Rance being a massive rapist and that being treated as a joke with him almost just being a little rascal, and yes, i heard there are some cases of rape that are considered awful, but they seem to come from brutal rapists that aren't Rance.

Holy crap, i swear this game makes me turn into a SJW, the erotic parts just seem so borderline awful i actually lose all my will to even play the game, and yet it's apparently a masterpiece otherwise, can you at least beat the game without having Rance rape anyone?

Because that feels like the only way i would actually play the game.

I feel bad for not liking every porn genre.

 

[lightbane]

It took decades, but finally, one of the greatest JRPGs ever is finally reviewed by the Codex!

What is the meaning of this? A review completely omitting one of the main points of the game? Where's the erotica review? This is an eroge game - how is one supposed to make an informed decision about whether or not he'll play the game, if he's provided no information about half the content?

As many probably know, one of Rance's satisfaction objectives is to fuck 300+ women, which is actually doable to do.

 

[Jaedar]

Holy crap, i swear this game makes me turn into a SJW, the erotic parts just seem so borderline awful i actually lose all my will to even play the game, and yet it's apparently a masterpiece otherwise, can you at least beat the game without having Rance rape anyone?

Would make for an interesting challenge run, especially if you include the offscreen ones (H book ++ events).

Just close your eyes and mash the enter key during the naughty bits.

 

[Morkar Left]

I´ve never played this game, heard a lot about it, but never played because of it's "Eroge" status, wait, that's not it, i have sadly played some, it's just i really really don't like rape and a lot of what i hear about this game has Rance being a massive rapist and that being treated as a joke with him almost just being a little rascal, and yes, i heard there are some cases of rape that are considered awful, but they seem to come from brutal rapists that aren't Rance.

Holy crap, i swear this game makes me turn into a SJW, the erotic parts just seem so borderline awful i actually lose all my will to even play the game, and yet it's apparently a masterpiece otherwise, can you at least beat the game without having Rance rape anyone?

Because that feels like the only way i would actually play the game.

Since almost every sex with his slave Sill turns into some kind of rape I think it's not possible. And judging by "modern" or "hip" criteria of what is rape there is basically not a single sexscene that isn't rape. Or maybe there is, I'm only turn 70.
But you shouldn't identify with Rance as your main protagonist. He's just the main actor in a huge story which seems to end in tragedy instead of being funny/lol. Think of Game of Thrones japanese style.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

The thing with Rance that I like is that authors didn't even try to pretend that conquerors are the good guys. It's pretty refreshing. In most games/movies/ books conquerors would give lofty speeches about uniting the land and ending the wars. When in reality most of them weren't that different from Rance.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

The thing with Rance that I like is that authors didn't even try to pretend that conquerors are the good guys. It's pretty refreshing. In most games/movies/ books conquerors would give lofty speeches about uniting the land and ending the wars. When in reality most of them weren't that different from Rance.

Rance VI also has a better depiction of class segregation than most movies or vydia, and Rance's revolutionary "motivations" were machete rape gang tier.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Rance VI is still on my list to play, but this sounds interesting

 

[Alex]

We are reviewing hentai games now? Shit, this place has really gone to the dogs.

 

[Black]

Shut the fuck up, 2007 newfag.

 

[Alex]

I do appreciate the humour, Black.

But I am legitimately pissed about this.

 

[Morkar Left]

I do appreciate the humour, Black.

But I am legitimately pissed about this.

But it's a good game.

 

[Bohrain]

We are reviewing hentai games now? Shit, this place has really gone to the dogs.

No one plays Sengoku for the porn.