Collection VN Others Rance Series [Ch. 1-2 Remastered, Ch. 1-7 + Kichikuou] [AliceSoft]

[Weed95ct]

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"The remake released in 2009, Rance 02, came in two versions: the first being a graphical update, retaining the exact same gameplay, storyline, script and engine to the ones used in the original Rance II from 1990. The second version, Rance 02 Kai, additionally contains a rewritten script and a slightly altered gameplay."

Tldr: You probably don't want to play without it if you want the complete package.


Sorry for getting the thread bumped lol, I got the Digest Editions added that were missing (they're old).

Thank for add the Digest Edition

 

[UnDoubleUpUhUh]

Is there any game in the entire series where the H scenes are actually animated?

 

[lastjournals]

what is digest edition?


still waiting for rance X xD

 

[Resti]

bumping this reminds me the hype of rance and i'm waiting for Rance X

 

[dusty stu]

it's not r@p@ if there's hearts in their eyes.

 

[Joo1077]

Which game is the best, or should I just start from the first one?

 

[lamba]

Is there any game in the entire series where the H scenes are actually animated?

Nope. Animation is ruinously expensive. Even an extremely popular VN like Muv-Luv could only afford a few minutes worth of fully animated cutscenes in Muv-Luv Alternative. And Alicesoft makes eroge which are understandably less popular. The trade off is that Orion makes some gorgeous still frames for the games.

 

[lamba]

Which game is the best, or should I just start from the first one?

Rance is a narrative heavy series. You definitely want to play them in numbered order. The only caveats with that are...

1: Rance 1 and Rance 2 still have their freeware originals circulating around and they are veeeeerrrry 1989. Although they're perfectly playable you should probably play the remakes and only return to the originals out of curiosity.

2: Rance 3's remake is still being translated into English, and the freeware original is a port from a PC98 game made in the early 90's, so even basic QOL features like support for anything resembling a modern monitor resolution isn't there.

3: Rance 4 doesn't even have a remake and likewise is pretty aged.

4: Rance 5 is weird and controversial. But you do, canonically, get shit faced with Hanny frat bros so there's that.

5: Kichikou Rance is a non-canon spin off. It's also the last of the pre-Orion era so it's got that mid-90's look to it. Iconic, but that can also be a turn-off.

6: I'm not sure you can even find the original version anywhere anymore but don't play Rance 8 without the Magnum expansion.

7: Rance 10 is an absolutely massive game that's still being translated. AliceSoft wanted to send off their flagship franchise with a bang and had been planning and setting it up since shortly after the original release of Rance Quest shipped.

You can absolutely start with whatever one you want- Sengoku Rance (Rance 7) was the English speaking world's first game and so when people recommend it first, that's usually why- and while it's perfectly playable it loses a lot of it's punch when this massive ensemble of characters Rance encounters over the series are being introduced with the expectation that you already have an idea of who they are.

what is digest edition?

The digest editions strip out the gameplay and instead operate like kinetic novels. A digest is typically the shortened, simplified version of something.

 

[Gicoo]

Which game is the best, or should I just start from the first one?

Best games are 6-9 and the not translated 10.

https://f95zone.to/threads/rance-se...-ch-1-7-kichikuou-alicesoft.456/post-14016049

 

[Boarborn]

you can watch the video of playthroughs of early games and start from rance 6
fortunately it seems they're not among lost heritage of poor adult gamers

 

[AtotehZ]

Are all of the entries here recommended? Like, is there a point to playing both the Remastered and original?

Are all versions like the Rance Digest version completely new content?

 

[lamba]

Are all of the entries here recommended? Like, is there a point to playing both the Remastered and original?

Are all versions like the Rance Digest version completely new content?

Anything denoted as a 'Kai' version is an update that changes some parts of the script and makes modest gameplay improvements. Anything denoted as a 'digest' has the gameplay stripped out in favor of a visual novel feel.


If you dislike gameplay in your porn games or typically just read a guide along side the game rather than read in your porn game, you may find the digests more enjoyable.


If you have played the game already and completed it, you won't get much out of the Kai versions, but if you're new, you should start with those.


Otherwise you should generally play the remakes over the originals (the benefit of 20 years worth of cumulated experience and the march of technology is obvious) and I would only return to the originals out of curiosity, or because you've played the franchise and decided you're a fan.


But broadly, yes, you should play them all in order. Even if you dislike the gameplay, most of the early titles don't stick around long enough to outlast their welcome and by Kichikou Rance the devs know what they're doing. I will repeat myself though, Rance 5D is divisive.

 

[Hereje]

friendly reminder; play Kichikuou Rance before X is translated(you have a lot of time, its the lazy fucks of mangagamer after all)... it puts into a whole other light what at that time was a complete miss, after playing Kichikuou you will notice how Rance 8 to X are the Kichikuou storyline but far more polished.

 

[Tarwion]

Not the jabait update

 

[Nadekai]

its the lazy fucks of mangagamer after all

... they are extremely slow with 03 too ...

 

[watdapakisdis]

Kichikou Rance is a non-canon spin off.

I really won't call it that. Kichikuoh is more of a summary/speedrun of the Rance storyline after 4. It's understandable they did that since Alicesoft thought it would be there last game. They just expanded the story events in the later games (eg. Kichikuoh's Zeth = Rance VI, Kichikuoh's JAPAN = Sengoku Rance, Kichikuoh's Helman = Rance IX, etc.)

If I have to recommend just one game, it would be Kichikuoh Rance. Unfortunately, the game has dated graphics.

 

[Jstain]

Which game is the best, or should I just start from the first one?

Rance Series Cannon:

We're still waiting for 03 and X to be translated.

A good post that outlines all this better than I can:

Play Rance III, IV, 4.1 and 4.2 despite the old graphics, III and IV especially are great games despite the 03 remake and IV having no remake. 4.1 and 4.2 are pretty short, but enjoyable adventures that are referenced in later titles. Chronological order usually isn't recommended at least in terms of playing the remakes first primarily due to some changes made primarily with 01 and 03 both narratively and gameplay wise. 02 even with the Kai update is very similar story wise to the original game and doesn't change much while the other remakes make references to newer titles and change scenes to reflect the tone of the newer games. The most common referenced way is release order via two methods.

The first method is the Japanese releases thus being I > II > III > IV > 4.1 > 4.2 Kichikuou > 5D > VI > Sengoku > 02 > Quest > 01 > IX > 03 > X. This gives you the intended progression as you can really see how the game evolves over time both in terms of technical things like gameplay and also how the story and narrative evolved as the world fleshed out. The developers had a lot of elements thought out about the world during the titles pre-5D and wrote a lot of notes on them, but some of these wouldn't be fleshed out until the post-5D titles hence why people usually recommend to play the originals before the remakes or at least alternatively "play" the Digest for Rance I and Rance II. Since 01 and 03 have hints of the newer elements that were fleshed out in newer titles. Kichikuou is a big one though. You should play Kichikuou even though it is not canon, in fact many fans usually split the Rance canon between "old" and "new" canon with old being Rance I to Kichikuou and new from 5D to X(including the remakes). As narrative wise the remakes replace the old titles to fit better in new canon. Kichikuou was created because the developers had so many ideas for the world they didn't think the series would continue long enough for them to complete and they wouldn't actually finish the series until about 22 years later. Kichikuou has the best pay off if you have played I, II, III, IV, 4.1 and 4.2 before it because it is basing everything on that old canon and in many ways Kichikuou in its current state is a great peek at the many ideas they had that would basically get remade and expanded upon in later entries being 5D, VI, Sengoku, Quest, IX and X.

That brings me to the second method, the official English release order which is typically recommended for people who don't want to bother with the older games so this just means playing the games in release order but only the new canon titles as MangaGamer has been pretty consistent with releasing the Rance games in the same release order as Japan. The only exception being Rance 01 that released bundled with 02 for MangaGamer's release between Sengoku and Quest while in Japan 02 came after Sengoku and 01 after Quest, but it is fine to play 01 between Sengoku and Quest alongside 02 regardless. This order gives a better idea of the evolution of the series as 5D is basically a shorter game and a similar narrative style to 4.1 and 4.2, but is also important in setting up the new canon and being basically a prologue chapter for VI while also planting seeds for Sengoku. We continue to see this progression in VI which really shows off the new canon with an epic adventure. Sengoku is less relevant overall narrative wise aside from some character and relationship setup, but it really ties things together and because it is less relevant narrative wise it helped being an entry point for the long period of time when it was the only title translated. Sengoku features many references to older titles and even some returning minor characters from the old canon with direct references to those events. This is one of the major drawbacks of only playing only the new canon as IV, 4.1 and 4.2 have no remake, those games are continued to be the only way to experience those stories. If you were to play them it is usually recommended to just play them after whenever you play III or 03. MangaGamer is likely already working on 03, but will continue to follow the Japanese releases of doing it after IX, but before X which makes sense as 03 contains references to Quest and IX plus is the only title with voice acting.

Since you already played 01 and plan to play 02, I would just suggest playing the original Rance I and Rance II and using a guide or at least playing the digest versions then playing the rest of the games in release order which is basically chronological order at that point from III to IV to 4.1 to 4.2 to Kichikuou to 5D and so on.

I decided to play the series in order of Japanese release (including non-cannon), here is my personal playlist order:

I've heard some say to start at VI so where I have the Digest Edition can also be a good starting point.

Also the games found in the OP are missing patches found

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from what I can tell. Such as the 2.05 patches by TADA.

 

[cannon9009]

Swear to god I thought that was a white MF Doom in the update thumbnail.

That's all I have to say, I never actually played any of these. Goodbye.

 

[davederick]

I was expecting Rance X... sad.

 

[SymbolicSalad]

What's the Kai add-on and why would I want to play without it?

Rewrites the script but it's a pretty inferior script. You can tell they just wrote it after the success of Sengoku so they try to shove as many memes they had in Sengoku as possible, bird will see some girl getting tortured to death and go have a sweet potato snack break because haha they ate sweet potatoes in sengoku. It's a weird version and you're better off playing normal 02 or just 2.