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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ziiGiHD.jpg)
yeah, how
What's Sengoku Rance ?
Sengoku Rance (SR from now on) is a turn based strategy adult game made by Alice Soft, a Japanese developper. In contrast to most adult games, the gameplay is the main selling point and Alice Soft is often called the Atlus of Eroge because they're one of the few (the only ?) company who make extremely addictive and deep adult games. This game is Japanese only, but some awesome folks released a fan made translation patch, god bless them.
The game has 2 main modes : the Normal mode, or story mode which I'll play here, and the Free for All mode, which is unlocked after you finish the game once. The FFA mode is a pure strategy mode, it contains no story, but allows you to play any country and faction you choose, and add building construction and deeper resource management to the game. It's basically a different game, still very good tho.
The normal mode is divided into 6 "routes", the true route in which you're locked in your first playthrough, and 5 "what if" routes with totally different scenarios that you can do in 2nd games by choosing certain new events. Well actually only 3 of those are real routes, the others 2 are a non winnable route and a route in which you kill the character responsible for starting the story very early, which means the chain of events of the main scenario never happens.
The story :
+ Show Spoiler +
Sengoku Rance picks up where Rance 6 left off. Rance, after saving the nation of Zeth from destruction, ran away so he wouldn't have to marry the princess. He and his slave Sill ended up in Japan for a hot spring trip, upsetting the power balance of Japan, and setting the unification of its provinces in motion. Meanwhile, an ancient evil power stirs from its slumber...Rance decides to conquer Japan, not for power, but because he wants to meet the most beautiful girls in Japan and make them his.
The gameplay :
+ Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FZAoky7.jpg)
this is what you'll see in your first game, your territory is this smal white thing in the middle
This is the main screen. From this screen you attack other territories, speak to people, manage your army, equip your commanders, explore dungeons... Here is a description of the different commands :
- Action Count : this is how many actions you're allowed each turn. Your first goal should be to increase that, and to increase that you need to gain satisfaction, and to gain satisfaction you need to meet girls. Every 10 satisfaction you're allowed to pick a satisfaction bonus and you're allowed to pick an additional action when you reach 50, 160 then 260 satisfaction. Your current satisfaction is displayed at the bottom of the screen to the right of "Sat".
+ Show Spoiler [Satisfaction bonuses] +
- Available actions : when you select a territory, it's displayed at the bottom right (in the screenshot it's Owari, your starting territory in story mode), and in the top left all possible actions attached the the territory are displayed. Most of the time, the only possible actions on territories that you don't own are declaring war or attacking. To access characters and story actions on a territory, you must own it (there are some exceptions).
Looking at the Owari window again, you can see that this territory has 4 sub provinces, meaning that you have to attack 4 times (and to spend 4 actions, that is if you win all battles) to fully conquer it.
- System : save, load, view unlocked scenes.
- Items : view your items and equip them.
+ Show Spoiler [Item screen] +
- Troops :
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JLQTOgJ.jpg)
This is where you manage your troops. Each line here represents a commander and his army. You can augment his max troops, replenish his troops after a battle, or dismiss his troops or the commander himself. You'll view his battle stats (ATK, DEF, INT, SPD are self explanatory) and his secondary stats, CONstruction, NEGotiation, SEArch and Cost. You can also see on the top left the detailed skills of each commander and his health, level and level cap. All battles aren't field battles of army vs army, you also have individual commander battles like when you go into a dungeon, in that case the level and health of your commander are the important numbers.
Commanders are the base of the gameplay, especially female commanders. The more they like you, the more powerful they are, and each named commander (there are A LOT) also has his own story, and if you complete it you get a "character clear" which earns you points at the end of the game.
- Prison : This is where you recruit captured commanders, using the negotiation of your commanders.
- When a battle happen, you get the battle screen :
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/iD4vbOf.jpg)
From 1 to 6 commanders on each side, turn based combat. Each fight is 24 actions maximum and you can see the order of actions to plan your moves and if no side is powerful enough to wipe the other in 24 moves, the top blue/red bar determines the winner. After a battle, commanders with zero troops can be captured or killed (it's random, but some skills influence this). If Rance loses all his troops, it's game over. Different terrains gives different bonuses to the defending faction, and usually the last territory of a province is a castle battle, which gives the defender a big advantage.
- The technique :
Graphics and music and very nice, I won't write too much about it but the music does its job. As for the design, I like it but to each his own =P
+ Show Spoiler [bahahaha] +
- Replayability :
This one strong point of this game. Dozens of characters, multiple routes and endings, even a strategy only game mode which is a totally different game, the game has hundreds of hours of gameplay. After your first game, you'll be able to run the game for points that you can use to buy bonuses for your 2nd game. You'll also be able to change the difficulty and have a taste of the 5 stars mode. There is always something new to do or to unlock, and you can play multiple times and each time discover new events. This game is incredibly deep.
Rance, despite some of his actions, is a very likable character. The game isn't well known but it's worth playing, and most people I know who tried it ended up playing it a lot, sometimes more than 200 hours. The new game+ is a whole new world, you have always a new character or dungeon to try, there are some very difficult challenges available for those who like difficulty. I recommend this game to anyone who likes video games.
By the way, this is still an adult game, don't let your kids play it.
Some good ressources :
http://alicesoft.wikia.com/wiki/Sengoku_Rance
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/936089-sengoku-rance/faqs
The gamefaqs' Walkthrough is turn by turn and isn't very pedagogic, but it's usable if you want something to guide you for your first game, as it'll show you a lot of events. The faq is very complete on the other hand and explain a lot of things.
PS : to install the game in english, insert the DVD or mount the game image (don't install from the DVD/iso), then run the english patch you'll find here http://web.archive.org/web/20100819152344/http://yandere.gray7.com/?p=652 , it'll detect your DVD and install the game by itself, patched to the latest version and in english. If you have some numbers who appear as weird characters, use Microsoft's applocale to run the game (on win7 and 8, you have to install applocale as an admin), or you can install the Japanese langage pack from Windows.
For other OS, the game shouldn't be hard to play with a virtual windows.
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I'll start the let's play in the next part !
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Sill's glorious fluffy hair is a miracle of the universe.
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This is the longest Rance review ever written without the word "rape" in it.
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I love this game. One of the best VNs out there. My fav is definitely Uesugi Kenshin 
Also I hate Rance lol (and Nobunaga too. Seriously fuck you Demon King)
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Seems everyone knows this game already =) Well it's starting to get old now !
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On August 14 2013 05:48 MrCon wrote:
Seems everyone knows this game already =) Well it's starting to get old now !
Old VNs are often the best though. I'm still playing F/SN, Sengoku Rance, Higurashi, Utawarerumono, Tears to Tiara and Eien no Aselia like a mad man right now
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You never mentioned anything about the real reason people play this game.
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On August 14 2013 09:28 a176 wrote:
You never mentioned anything about the real reason people play this game.
Deep engaging plot.
Obviously.
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On August 14 2013 05:41 Skipper240 wrote:
This is the longest Rance review ever written without the word "rape" in it.
^
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Somehow you actually managed to write a lengthy post about a Rance game without even mentioning sex.
My hat goes off to you.
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On August 14 2013 09:28 a176 wrote:
You never mentioned anything about the real reason people play this game.
Actually I did. The sex part isn't the best and is mostly text based with a fix image. In our redtube times this is a joke for people who wants sex. This is just a better game than most super productions you'll pay 60€, this is a game you'll spend more time on and you'll enjoy more =) Yeah, there are some sex scenes in this game, but who cares.
Most people reaction when they discover and finish SR is : are there other games like this ? And they're not talking about the sex scenes (usually =p).
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United Kingdom3685 Posts
On August 14 2013 15:35 MrCon wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2013 09:28 a176 wrote:
You never mentioned anything about the real reason people play this game. Actually I did. The sex part isn't the best and is mostly text based with a fix image. In our redtube times this is a joke for people who wants sex. This is just a better game than most super productions you'll pay 60€, this is a game you'll spend more time on and you'll enjoy more =) Yeah, there are some sex scenes in this game, but who cares. Most people reaction when they discover and finish SR is : are there other games like this ? And they're not talking about the sex scenes (usually =p).
Totally agree with this. Rance was one of the first VNs I played and I loved it for the gameplay more than anything else. I'm currently playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister and have the same feeling. The gameplay is awesome and sex scenes are meh so I just fast forward through them. It's a shame that a lot of good games like this get dismissed out of hand just because of the adult aspect.
Rance does have some pretty brutal rape/NTR scenes though, which has deterred me from replaying it :/
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There are so many of those games around where I work (Tokyo Akihabara), I might as well give it a try. One of my friends gave me a VN ero "game" for my birthday a few years ago, it was so bad I was really shocked.
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On August 14 2013 17:50 Sayle wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2013 15:35 MrCon wrote:On August 14 2013 09:28 a176 wrote:
You never mentioned anything about the real reason people play this game. Actually I did. The sex part isn't the best and is mostly text based with a fix image. In our redtube times this is a joke for people who wants sex. This is just a better game than most super productions you'll pay 60€, this is a game you'll spend more time on and you'll enjoy more =) Yeah, there are some sex scenes in this game, but who cares. Most people reaction when they discover and finish SR is : are there other games like this ? And they're not talking about the sex scenes (usually =p). Totally agree with this. Rance was one of the first VNs I played and I loved it for the gameplay more than anything else. I'm currently playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister and have the same feeling. The gameplay is awesome and sex scenes are meh so I just fast forward through them. It's a shame that a lot of good games like this get dismissed out of hand just because of the adult aspect. Rance does have some pretty brutal rape/NTR scenes though, which has deterred me from replaying it :/
Ha ! Alchemy Meister is the next one, actually I only discovered it yesterday, now I can't wait to play it =)
Yeah, there are 2 or 3 scenes that are hard to watch in Rance, especially one which is very moving and just pierce your heart  But in 2nd games you can go another route and it doesn't happen so it makes you happy :-)
On August 14 2013 18:16 samurai80 wrote:
There are so many of those games around where I work (Tokyo Akihabara), I might as well give it a try. One of my friends gave me a VN ero "game" for my birthday a few years ago, it was so bad I was really shocked. Yeah try it, you can be pretty sure you'll be happy (it's a common result of making people discover this game ^^). People who like turn based games can be certain they'll appreciate this game, it's also well written and translated. And people who like min/maxing games will enjoy this one for sure too.
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On August 14 2013 17:50 Sayle wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2013 15:35 MrCon wrote:On August 14 2013 09:28 a176 wrote:
You never mentioned anything about the real reason people play this game. Actually I did. The sex part isn't the best and is mostly text based with a fix image. In our redtube times this is a joke for people who wants sex. This is just a better game than most super productions you'll pay 60€, this is a game you'll spend more time on and you'll enjoy more =) Yeah, there are some sex scenes in this game, but who cares. Most people reaction when they discover and finish SR is : are there other games like this ? And they're not talking about the sex scenes (usually =p). Totally agree with this. Rance was one of the first VNs I played and I loved it for the gameplay more than anything else. I'm currently playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister and have the same feeling. The gameplay is awesome and sex scenes are meh so I just fast forward through them. It's a shame that a lot of good games like this get dismissed out of hand just because of the adult aspect. Rance does have some pretty brutal rape/NTR scenes though, which has deterred me from replaying it :/
Kamidori eh? That game is pretty good too. But leveling up characters and weapon levels take a shit ton of time and can become pretty dull later on. Still a game I would recommend to anyone who likes VNs with tactical gameplay.
And I agree. The sole reason I hesitated to play Rance at first was because of those rape/NTR scenes that my friend warned me about. Absolutely hate them. Its gameplay is great nonetheless. After all we should all enjoy VNs for the gameplay and story, not for those H-scenes.
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I finally started to upload my let's play. It won't include H scenes obviously, but everything else is here, in several playlists :
- The first game, true route with a score of 81, which I upload daily right now
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLucXtE6MrbQK-wOGqfZNX47OC_rdY6twU
- Second game in kill the monkey route, only to capture the Takeda generals and unlock their bonus (I won't finish that game, it's there only to show how to unlock the bonus as it's one of the hardest things to do it seems from the number of people asking, and there is no walktrough for it anywhere)
- Ran route in 1 star to score some points
I'll then do all routes, including a 5 stars kill the monkey trying to reach 295 points.
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I'm curious about how you will actually score points on an actual first game, considering it's the hardest because you don't have any second game bonuses. I remember ending up with only 5 points just for the route.
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I finished it already, I just have to upload it (and edit the H scenes), I know the game very well so it's not that hard, also I take end game points for everyone (well I took dungeon scout for Suzume as it's required to have enough SAT for a 3rd action fan in 13 turns) while in a first game people don't do that usually and pick up various battle friendly bonuses. With most of the roster character-cleared, the 300 women bonus, the Masamune bonus, the 30000 troops bonus, that's 30 points already, with characters clear, carnival, end game points, I made 81 points (76 points scored, +5 for the route) while finishing in 103 turns (so no points at all from time). Also I used the 3 fans in 13 turns opening, so I had 3 actions (then 4) per turn very quickly, which saves a lot of time.
I just finished my second game, 1 star ran route with 193 points (I should have gone for 2 stars tho ><), so I have now 203 points to spend, which is just enough to try a 5 stars kill the monkey going for 295 points (which allows to buy every bonus with the +20 points from each route). I could have optimized a little bit better (I kept 3 of the 4 Takuda generals for instance, they have a passive so no end game points), I also kept Ranmaru (not cleared) and Kenshin and AI (only one is clearable and no end game point possible) but it's good enough, and perhaps I'll do Kenshin and Isokoru routes so I'll have 213 points before my 5 stars playtrough.
By the way, as the game is in 4/3 format, youtube doesn't allow more than 480p and the quality is average/good but still far from my original high quality If someone knows how to fix that just tell me !
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