Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Sengoku Rance

[thesecret1]

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.

It's not about conquerors. They simply ran with a genuine villain hero, something few media have the balls to go with – usually, when you get promised something like this, you get some anti-hero whose whole "anti" spiel boils down to being rude. Here, Rance is genuinely a villain, with all the shit that comes with it, yet still manages to be the lovable hero of the story. It's quite rare, which is why it's so refreshing and why Rance is such an iconic character. You get to play as a dick, you get to have fun being an unapologetic asshole, and you don't get some shitty moralizing speech condemning your choices.

 

[Bohrain]

Rance is a somewhat nuanced brute. He is violent, thinks about nothing but sex and is often easy to manipulate, but rather than being utterly incapable of empathy he is horrified to show any emotional vulnerability. He is dumbfounded when Kenshin shows genuine affection towards him from the get go, which is an almost alien concept to him. His typical way of treating his friends and lovers as subordinates is also something of a facade that comes off every time someone he cares about is in danger, particularly Sill.

 

[Jason Liang]

What I like about Rance is that he's quite smart and crafty, especially for a Warrior. Usually only villains get to be diabolical plotters and schemers, and the protagonist is forced to play into the villains' plot (typical biowarean). Rance is actually politically astute and is a big picture schemer, the best example is Rance VI. He shows political cunning and can actually can see through duplicity, which is nice as well.

Also AliceSoft does a good job contrasting Rance with the noble but Lawful Stoopid tools in the world, like Bird (at least in 02), Arios and Gandhi.

 

[Jaedar]

What I like about Rance is that he's quite smart and crafty, especially for a Warrior. Usually only villains get to be diabolical plotters and schemers, and the protagonist is forced to play into the villains' plot (typical biowarean). Rance is actually politically astute and is a big picture schemer, the best example is Rance VI. He shows political cunning and can actually can see through duplicity, which is nice as well.

Did you play the same game as me?

Spoiler

rance gets fooled by obvious apostle into breaking maginot line, makes half the country dead/refugees. Then, showing the full width of his emotional maturity, spends a few weeks in the refuge train moping about what a failure he is.

He does possess a form of low cunning, but if he gets dangled a pretty girl he is pretty trivially manipulated.

 

[Jason Liang]

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.

It would be really difficult as you rape the three lesser princesses (Nekohime) if you conquer any province without conquering the enemy state.

Off the top of my head the expansions you could do are Tokugawa (choose Ieyasu), Imagawa (reveal the secret), Takeda (Shingen plot), Tanegashima and Iga. Hara you could vassal, possibly Tenshi Sect and Akashi as well. Note most of these options are impossible on a first game as well.

You wouldn't be able to do:
Uesugi
Hojo
Miko Temple (since Rance rapes the Mikos before he gets to Natori)
Asakura
Ashikaga
Takuga (you can't even seal the gate)

You could probably do it (ironically) by going Kenshin IF route while starting with Uesugi house bonus. I don't think there's any rape along that route.

Did you play the same game as me?

I remember it a little different...

https://alicesoft.fandom.com/wiki/Aurora

Rance helps destroy the power generators for his own selfish reasons and he knew in general what was going to happen. Aurora didn't really influence him.

 

[turkishronin]

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.

It's not rape because when Rance dies in game Sill becomes depressed and goes to become a nun

 

[turkishronin]

I do appreciate the humour, Black.

But I am legitimately pissed about this.

It's definitely a better game than that disco garbage

 

[Pharad]

Finally an informative review!
Got so hyped up, cannot wait to try this as soon as possible

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Got so hyped up, cannot wait to try this as soon as possible

Just remember to ready your hyperweapon.

 

[Bohrain]

He does possess a form of low cunning, but if he gets dangled a pretty girl he is pretty trivially manipulated.

Most of the time his plans work not because they are particularly cunning, but because his opponents wrongfully assume that anyone would stoop as low to do "that".

 

[visions]

Another faction is led by a giant creature called a raccoon dog and his army of smaller furry ninjas.

The raccoon dog is a real animal species that lives in Japan and elsewhere in East Asia (and in Europe as an invasive species). This sentence reads like a raccoon dog would be some kind of made up fantastic creature whereas it's just an anthropomorphic game version of the real animal.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

It's also called Tanuki.

 

[baud]

I tried it this year, but I wasn't a fan of the Grand Strategy side of things, between the limited amount of actions and the surprise the game sprung on me (you see this territory you've conquered 5 turns ago: now you've lost it, no backsies, just lost it and had to conquer it again. Or hey, now you've got a rebellion in all your territories, have fun spending your limited actions on preventing the rebellion to raze your province improvements!). Another matter is that it was never clear (to me at least) which stats were useful for the unit combat. I agree with the review on how memorable the characters are. Also it's refreshing how unapologetically evil Rance is.

 

[Jason Liang]

Generally speaking, the Grand Strategy part is most interesting since you are basically in the Hitler position - you are stuck in the middle between two powerhouses (UK and SU for Germany, North and South JAPAN in Segoku Rance). So military expansion gets really difficult really quickly since neither wading into the deadly Northern triangle or heading south to get smashed by Mouri are appealing options.

If you've never had to deal with revolts and province flipping then clearly you've never played EU...

 

[samuraigaiden]

How much rapes are in this game and are they optional?

 

[CappenVarra]

if you pick her up early and use her often enough

 

[thesecret1]

How much rapes are in this game and are they optional?

Endless mountains of mandatory rape. For Rance, rape is not a crime. It's a way of life, like for this soldier:

 

[Jason Liang]

How much rapes are in this game and are they optional?

There is one pretty famous optional rape in the game, where you can choose to have Rance rape a woman to get her clan to declare war on you, or you can choose a different option if the war is inopportune.

 

[Tyranicon]

How much rapes are in this game and are they optional?

There is one pretty famous optional rape in the game, where you can choose to have Rance rape a woman to get her clan to declare war on you, or you can choose a different option if the war is inopportune.

Ah, who said it was hard to integrate story and gameplay mechanics?

 

[GarfunkeL]

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.

Impossible.

But as you noted, the game treats rape with two different standards: there's the joke-rape that Rance performs which almost always has a happy ending in that the victim ends up liking it and it isn't violent or brutal. It's nothing worse than a light BDSM non-consensual scene. However, in the world of Sengoku Rance there is real and tangible evil which also commits rape, and that rape is monstrous and terrible and painful to watch. The villains also commit murder and torture so it's not just about rape either, but Alicesoft writers went with the stereotypical Japanese grimdarkness when it came to that topic. And you can't avoid that shit.

 

[thesecret1]

Stop being such little bitches about rape in japanese cartoons, holy shit. I wouldn't say anything if it was something disgusting like scat, but you're getting your panties in a twist over fictional women getting the dick while going "Oh noooo, I will get pregnant, but why do I enjoy this? OwO"

 

[Silentstorm]

I...i would say rape is more disgusting than scat actually, not to look at, but i assume scat means both parties are, you know, willing, and for people who don't like rape, Sengoku Rance really doesn't seem to be made for them though it seems to take a more cheeky approach.

Which is mostly Rance until the latter entries(they seem to get much more serious) as i have been looking at the series and the setting, and while you do have something like one or more of Rance's kids being raised to avenge their mothers due to them being raped, it flips around to Rance getting friendly even with those kids and them not actually caring that much about the fact their mothers were raped.

And it's fine, like you said, they are fictional characters and i have seen and liked some fucked up shit in my life, that being said, i just don't like rape at all unless it's used for drama, it's just a taste of mine, hence why i asked.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

Rance is an ally of Justice loved by all cute girls. An ideal person.
All the rumors about him being an evil rapist are fabrications from beta losers and "nice guys" like Bird. Don't be like Bird guys.

 

[thesecret1]

Indeed. Don't take it from me, take it right from the horse's mouth:

 

[Black]

take it right from the horse's mouth

Andyman Messiah's dead, bro