VN - Others - Completed - Rance Quest Magnum [v1.002] [Alicesoft]

Rance Quest is a game that can appeal to people looking for "old-school", but also those who favor a more casual approach to things. The first remark should be self-apparent after looking at some resources online, and realizing how much information the title is "hiding" from you. The second is born from the existence of a built-in cheat mode, that allows you to bypass some of the hardships. After that it's just Rance in all his glory, and you coming up the time to play this, because it's absolutely worth it, in my opinion.

Positive:
- The world of Rance - The way i see it, what they have done with "levels" (Humans - and more - are born with a certain potential, that translates to numerical values), is brilliant. The entire mechanic is just pure inspiration, whether we are talking about lore or gameplay. For instance, Rance being "weaker" makes him slightly less daring, and more prone to careful decision making in the first hours of the VN. You as the player will be working similarly, every time Rance is "level-drained".

- RPG - More than enough depth, lots of content, many (many) heroines, enough difficulty to make things interesting, so many fun missions, and associated H-scenes. Playing with your favorites is also thing (there are crappy characters, don't expect balance), which is always nice.

- H-scenes - Speaking of 18+ the creativity displayed here is impressive (remember the above mentioned levels, they play a huge part in this endeavour). They even went to unexpected tag territory (when thinking Rance) if memory serves. Rance Quest deserves all the praise in this parameter, and then some more.

Negative:
- Lack of information - Rance Quest being a difficult game, is up to your own consideration, but the failures that stem from lack of info are very much real. Basically, one of your main reactions during playing time will be: "How was i supposed to know, or guess that particular gimmick?" It's not the the right way of doing things, and it feels slightly beyond unfair at times (failures happen to spite you, learning process is not enjoyable).

Score: 7/10. As a VN it's complicated to look at this, and find any sense of direction, even so i was regarding Rance Quest as a game the entire time, hence the score. Recommended if you want a nice RPG with adult (sexual) content, and "Rance fans", should feel right at home. If at all possible, play this with ample time on your hands.

Quick summary:
There's no quick summary. Picture this website; Now the JRPG's you saw in it; Dwell on their quality/scale/playtime. All done? Rance Quest doesn't have to be better than those because they are not playing in the same league, and never meet. They just play the same sport. Let me be honest, I'm at a point where I don't read a review that takes more than 2/3 minutes of my time (and it better be on point too), and I can't convince you to play this with a short review. It's a "tru-blu", ethical conundrum, involving pains to my empathy, patience, and sense of justice.

Here's my bravest, swiftest, earnest attempt to tell you about Rance 8 (quest) from memory.

- Lore - There's a "boatload" of it. 7 other games (sort of...) before this one, and 2 more after. Do you care about worldbuilding, characters, setting, arcs, story? Welcome home, there's a lot to talk about, and if you are one of those players who "introspects", then goodness me, this game, and the entire series has so much subtext/commentary for you to discover.

The problem is continuation. If you just decide to play this one before the others (at least 3, 4, 6, and 7, you will NOT get the same value, or the references, or be as invested, or just understand why this "fuckeroo", keeps raping women, while also making them fall in love with him.

- RPG mechanics (combat) - It's a "grindfest", but there's a built-in "cheat mode", if you want to speed it up. Without spoilers, the game keeps abusing the "level drain mechanic", that you might have seen in other games. So to get stronger, you have to get weaker, but this also leads to many H-scenes, and is congruent with the rules of the world, (people have levels, limits and know about it) and the initial setting.

In actuality, this is just an excuse to extend gameplay, and be advised you could be playing this for dozens of hours, but it's also an intelligent way of doing it. And remember the different leagues mention above? Skills, equipment, items, progression, dungeon layouts... When I complain that "stuff" like that is bad in an adult game, this is one of my points of reference. Scale, resources and budget can go suck on an egg. Good is good, bad is bad.

- H-scenes - It's a stupidly high amount, there's all kinds of tags, and the art is great. Having characters that you know/like from the previous games, also improves things (same problem as above, unfortunately). Not selling it well enough? How about sex while holding out for dear life on a cliff. They go to places, literally.

- Use a guide - Every rose has it's thorns, and Rance 8 is no different. There are some obnoxious, rage-inducing, blood-boiling, screen shattering quests in this game. For the love of whatever deity is above (or below, you do you) keep the wiki page open, and check the quest you are about to do. This is really important. We are talking about a mentality that you will not appreciate, and that feels completely unfair (requires prior knowledge or equals a reload to mission start). There's a number of quests that feel "criminally Japanese". Let's go with that.

Ok, have your congratulatory pat on the back for reading this far: *Pat, pat*. I'd be bored already, what stamina!!!

Let's say that you don't know Rance 8: Only play this game if you are a fan of everything that comprises a JRPG, and if you have a LOT of time on your hands right now. With all of this in mind, and by virtue of comparison this a 10/10 (as far as adult videogames go) , and I deeply regret not addressing the VN part of it, but it's also pretty good.

(Where the hell is Sengoku Rance btw? It's absence feels like a punishable offense against users of this website. It's the best one damn it... maybe)

One of my favorite Rance games in the series. It introduces some of my favorite characters and plot points. Crook is an S+ character, Reset is an adorable little gremlin, and the in-depth look at the AL Church and the Kalars is amazing.

I enjoyed the combat system a lot in this game compared to others like VI and IX, and the questing system was more my style.

While playing this my jaw almost fell off from uncontrollably laughing at this game. Loved every bit of it, EVERY. SINGLE. INCH. OF. THIS. GAME.
Might as well play all rance games ;-; should've played previous games too.

I feel like I'm being overly kind to give this game a 3 star but it is really subjective.

There are many things to like about this game:
-A good story
-The expansion (Magnum) was well done and definitely improve the game
-Many cutscene are pretty fun
-Many characters to play
-Reset is cute
-No bug as far as I could tell

So what's the problem?
-The grind
-An awful pacing

Seriously, this whole game is very grindy. You want to make your character stronger? They have to lose levels.
You have a limited number of attacks and defense so you will do several map several times.
Etc.

This slows the story, which is pretty good with the Magnum extension.
So yeah, it is that kind of games. If it wasn't a Rance games, and if it wasn't coming after Sengoku Rance, I'm not sure the game would be popular at all.

It's not really a bad game, and I can see why people rate the game pretty well.
But I really didn't have fun with this one. Sorry for the 3/5.

Melt the ice, asshole.

Game has 70 recruitable characters. Ridiculous, but it works somehow. Only problem is that no matter who your favorite char is, there probably won't be as many scenes as you want with them. However there are plenty of scenes overall and the characters are generally likeable, with solid writing & translation (i.e. feels like Rance).

Plenty of replayability, with more to do than Sengoku, though more isn't necessarily better.

Easy recommend.

Though I'm looking forward to seeing more of some characters in future games, this has gotten me a lot more interested in previous games, as I've only played this and Sengoku thus far.

Edit: Forgot most important thing.

Top Waifu: Copandon Dot
Top Hottie: Aegis Kalar (honorable mention Biscuitta)
Top Joke: Meg or Matilda
Top Daughter: Reset

I have been waiting 9 years for this game to release. Original translator stopped due to Mangagamer obtaining rights. Wonder what happened to him.

8th game in a series. If you don't know what Rance is or want to know where to start, head to Rance 01.

The wait was worth it. the game is grindy, so I did cheat engine it (don't judge me, I have a life). I enjoyed finally getting to see Reset, while i did play Kichikuou, and all the antics that came with Rance having a child.

I felt kind of sad when I beat it. I'm close to finishing a series i've had stakes in for almost a decade, a huge part of my life. I forced my cousin into the series and he loved it, and I loved playing it with him. I look forward to Rance 9 in about 2 years (a joke, I hope) and Rance 10 after.

Overall its a good game. Maybe not the best of the Rance Series, but still a 5/5 for anyone looking for an old school RPG game with some sex scenes in it and the best protagonist in any game ever.

Pros:

• Has Rance.
• Important new characters.
• Great gameplay (old school RPG with pretty deep mechanics)
• Great and funny writing.
• Cool quests, feels like you are actually exploring.

Cons

• Not for newcomers, with all the fan service. Also since this game is so character centric many jokes will fall flat if you havent played Sengoku and VI.
• Main story not that important but enjoyable.
• Lot of grinding.
• No voiceovers.
• Sex scenes are only a still image.

If you just want to fap, this game will disappoint you. But if that is secondary to you, it has some awesome scenes.

I'd rate this somewhere around 4 stars as a Rance title... which means it's easily a 5 star title in terms of average site submissions.

Plot-wise, the game has some good character moments and pretty fun twists, but struggles with overall relevancy. A lot of things players might expect to see resolved or advanced in the 8th game of the series might feel somewhat inadequately addressed. That said, at least one or two of the new characters feel pretty damn significant, so I really can't say you could just skip this game even if you only played Rance for its overarching plot (and if you do... who are you, and what is your life like?)

Gameplay wise what's here is about on par with something like Rance 6, and not quite up to the grand scale of Sengoku. It's fun to manage class and ability combinations, respeccing has become a core part of the game experience, which promotes experimentation pretty freely, and the game isn't afraid to let some of its bosses get hard.

If you like what Rance has been doing for a while, you'll most likely like this. If you're looking for a leap on Sengoku on par to what Sengoku was to 6 though, you might be a little let down. Still, easily a 5/5 game compared to what else is coming out.

This game is basically a hot garbage.
I´m notsure what makes this game so good compared to other rance series.
Basically if you love to grind this game is for you.
Storywise this game have little to no relevance to main storyline.

TLDR : If you wanna fap, go grab a low end nukige from the bazillion choices you got here. If you like retro-rpg, you can dive in blindly.

Scenario : Basically the continuation of Sengoku. This game is a huge tribute to the Rance Serie, featuring characters from all previous games. I highly suggest to play Rance 6 and Sengoku Rance, or at least read a briefing on the wikia. If you like 6 and Sengoku, you could get your grubby fingers on Rance 1 and 2, those two are tribute to old games tho so if you don't like retro gaming skip it. If you jump in Rance Quest without any prior experience in the serie, you won't enjoy the game as much. So I won't elaborate in the scenario since it would be spoiling the two other games, but I really enjoyed the usual absurd comedical vibes slowly turning into more grim and serious tones with an epic climax (as with every Rance games)

Characters: There's a ton here. All with their specific personnality and quirk. The main cast is enjoyable, and Rance is Rance, without any limiters.
I saw some people complaining about how he's even more of a douchebag here than the two previous games, but it's perfectly normal that he's way more evil here due to the past events he endured in Sengoku Rance. He "lost his limiter", and Rance never was some kind of good guy hidden through a jerk tsundere like chara.
He's the worst, and he's ironically the one saving the world indirectly, and that's why it works. If you tried to recognize yourself in Rance... Well, to each their own, but I think that's not the point of the game/serie. This game isn't about "projection" but "visualization". You're a spectator.
Anyway, the cast has a lot of personnality and it's a damn good point.

Gameplay : It plays like an old school RPG (as if the Main Screen and its OST wasn't enough to make you realize it's a tribute to the old ways...).
It's grindy, some things make no sense and some parts of the gameplay, which could be seen as frustrating, are directly pointed by the characters in a comic way, as if the devs were saying "yes, it's like an old RPG, with its flaws, we advertised it this way, what did you fuckin' expected morons ?".
Personnally I enjoyed it. It's not something you'll play to fap, but a retro vibe game you'll enjoy if you knew how RPG worked 25 years ago (if you were born, that is) or enjoy it nonetheless even if you didn't grew up in that era.

You'll grind gears and levels like your typical FF/DQ/Insert Old fashioned RPG serie.

Sex: There's a lot, but at the same time not so much. The scenes are short and not the main focus of the game. As for the tone of the sex scenes, there's a bit of everything, from the comedic light hearted situation (Like the very first scene you unlock) to seriously disturbing ones (Like one with a a girl beaten to death with baseball bat after getting raped.).


Conclusion : All in all, this game will be a damn good experience for all Rance fans. It won't seduce newcomers tho, and those should instead direct themselves toward Rance 6 or Sengoku first.
You won't fap alot aswell. If you want to relieve some stress through fapping, Rance serie as a whole isn't really what you're looking for. Got grab some Taimanin or other Nukige for that, and don't complain about it.