A timeless tactical RPG
A2ZOMG
In a series of RPGs of outstanding quality, Sengoku Rance is a title that especially manages to shine above the others. This game defies concise description, not only bringing quality eroge plotlines that AliceSoft fans love, but the game is generally one of the most intricate and challenging strategy games available for purchase even in modern day.Those who are enthusiasts of Sengoku era warfare should naturally find this game amusing as a parody of actual Japanese history, with many familiar figures re-imagined sometimes as the opposite sex. Throw the unapologetically brutish Rance into the mix, you have a premise that's perfect for conquering the entirety of NIPPON. While a few areas of context are clarified in previous games, the game itself is still self-explanatory enough to support itself.A word of caution. It must be made very clear that this is game requires a lot of personal investment to learn how to play due to the sheer complexity of the tactical RPG elements. It will be helpful to look online at the various resources people have compiled on general strategy if you are a new player to this game. The game features a lot of elements that simulate managing your relationships with various generals, and increasing the power of their battalions, as well as attending to various events that happen within your territories, all while warring with opposing territories to conquer them.That being said, Sengoku Rance is by any definition a game with unbelievable love and effort put into its design. It's the kind of game you are expected to play multiple times to maximize your experience not just completing routes but also uncovering new strategies. For anyone who wants a game that they can truly pour their heart and soul into, look no further.God bless AliceSoft.
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Beautifully crafted
Dewten
This game has an abundance of strong points, out of which replayability deserves a special mention because of all the ways you can go about completing it.Field battles aren't necessarily won by routing the enemy army, they were designed so that they wouldn't take you too long, so in case of a stall victory is decided after a certain amount of turns has passed. In some particularly challenging battles this is actually your only way to secure victory.On the other hand, going in more aggressively lets you sometimes capture enemy units, some of which are not generic and even have sex scenes, so you can recruit them and use them as your own. Note that a loss doesn't spell game over, you just lose a castle which you can conquer again later.There's also dungeon battles, where your commanders fight by themselves, and despite being able to only deploy 6 at a time, you can call more from the back, and there's no time limit. This is necessary as dungeons have many floors while single units have limited actions, so you need to switch characters when they run out.When defeated in either type of fight, your units can also die and permanently leave the party. There's actually more non-generic units in the game than you can carry so you don't really need to worry if it happens.Most of the non-generics, however, come from specific choices you make, and very few just join by themselves when advancing through the story, so you need to be proactive in looking for them. Having a lot of units is beneficial because you can only deploy each commander once per turn rotation, so if you get attacked during the enemy turn but have nobody to deploy the enemy will automatically conquer a castle.Given that you are left with plenty of freedom to choose where to go first, what countries to subdue or vassal, and most of all what events for bonus units, powerups and CGs to trigger, your character lineup is also likely going to end up being completely different in two different playthroughs.You'd think balancing a game with this many variables would be and impossible task, but the way Sengoku Rance does it is, and I get a little emotional here, nothing short of perfection. The game also has safety nets here and there to make you fall back on in case things get too rough, and they save you from having to trash your playthrough and start over.You're allowed to save pretty much anytime and reload a previous file if things don't go your way, but you're probably going to enjoy the game more in the long run if you don't do this. Because the way unforeseen events open up to more possibilities than you'd anticipated is a laitmotif of Alicesoft games.
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not as good as you\'d think
Negoksa
while the rance universe is something worthy of your time, this game does not respect your time.some reviews praise the hundreds of hour you can put in this game, but there is definitely some sunk cost fallacy.the story is great, the gameplay is fine. but every battle is made to waste your time, ramping up numbers in enemy units just because.while some may enjoy the "challenge", be warned that even with unlimited money, you can't win easily. the game faces you with enemy units of a power you cannot attain, hence the 'tactical' nature of the battles.you could be fine by waiting to get beefier unit and explore the many events and cgs of the game, but no. if you do this the game will punish you in the long run for doing so.the game also isn't gonna help about the different units and stats you can use, it's pretty much figure it out yourself.the sheer amount of complexity can be fathomed on the alicesoft fandom website, so i wouldnt recommend the game unless you're a die hard strategy games fan.final verdict is a 2/5, a game too complex for its own good
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I burned out
Rikika
I really wanted to like this game, I loved Eiyu Senki and it seemed so much like it and there are things I really do like about Sengoku Rance, but as a package it just does not work for me. After 7 hours of play I was not even halfway and I did not find it enjoyable anymore.I felt the game was downright hostile toward my attempt at liking it and I will try to explain.Let me get what I like out of the way.I love the spritework, setting and the music, it had no right to be so good.But other than that the game is kind of a mess.Many things are left unexplained and you are thrown into the thick of it right from the start, no tutorial or easy starting area at all. Things are not intuitive and even with a tab with the wiki on the side it was overwhelming. I have no doubt if I invested more time I would eventually grasp the gameplay, but I have sunk several hours into it and find myself no longer enjoying playing after reaching turn 45 and being nowhere close to done. While tried my way with trial and error I found the time it takes from ending a turn until you get control again takes forever even with the settings to skip a lot of it and I just became frustrated. There can be so many events triggering and long scenes playing that when I got back to gameplay I had to reexamine everything cause I had forgotten my options.The sex scenes are sadly mediocre and some annoyingly triggered when I was just getting into the gameplay. I ended up skipping through most of them.The menus are a complete mess. Would have benefited from a general list of available events rather than having to check each territory and events that I am short by some criteria off should show up grey explaining what I lack rather than just being removed. Events are what control the game, but you get little to no explanation what they are, what they do, how to make them appear and how they work. Save scumming should not be a safety net I have to use so often. At least I have not found an event like in big bang age where after a new turns it will cause you to face an instant gameover if you do not expend time on a seemingly pointless event. I should not have to look on the wiki to find out what different stats do or what commander levels are, what they do and how to get more. That is a fault of the game to fail to properly inform. Or how dungeons work, am I suppose to retreat commanders to call in new ones? Why not let me swap out between floors? Some commanders were interesting, but ultimately could not save the mediocre story. They did however contrast the bland main character. I just don't get him, is he suppose to be funny? A sort of parody? For a character to be to prominent and yet feel utterly unrelated to the narrative going on on top of his unlikability drags everything down for me. The possibility of them dying I was not aware of, but I feel like I would save scum if I lost any. An option to remove it would have be nice.A personal gripe was the point turn tracker, I hate being seemingly punished for not playing how "the game is supposed to be played", I like to explore and it frankly frustrated me seeing it tick down like a timer, another thing I hate. This on top of the forced events which trigger at certain times forcing the story along while I mostly did not feel prepared for them or just wanted to explore what options were open to me at the time.Tl:dr: The game is slow, a single playthrough taking way too long to complete. It does not allow exploration as events trigger outside your control. The sex scenes are mediocre. The gameplay is not intuitive and there too many elements that needs explanation, but does not get one. The main character is bland and unlikable. And it seems the game wants to be played in a very specific way, but never tells or teaches you what that way is.If someone got any guide that is an easier read than the wiki I might give it another go, but as it stands I don't think I will play it anymore.
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Brilliant
inethil
I came to the Eroge genre for obvious reasons, I wanted erotic titillation to spice the rewards for competent and creative gameplay. What I found were simpering graphic novels disguised as games, tedious puzzles whose only real redeeming feature was the erotic lure at the end of the rainbow, but then...Alicesoft.For fans, I can say no more, for those like me searching through the genre for the best of both worlds, Eroge and Gameplay, this company is amazing. The balance struck in Sengoku Rance is nothing short of superb. Strategy, story, impactful decisions, meaningful tactical considerations and resource management. Honestly, I have to agree with one poster above, it is one of the best games (of any genre) I have ever played.Alicesoft, well done.Mangagamer, please get us the rest of the series!!!!! Util I play through every title my every gaming moment will be spelt R-a-n-c-e!
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Excellent game but not for me
DonnyJoe
I have to say, Sengoku Rance is everything people say it is. I am sad to say that it just isn't grabbing me, primarily because it feels much more like a turn-based strategy game than an RPG.There's nothing wrong with a turn-based strategy game, but it's really overwhelming at first. There are so many things you can do each turn, and very few of them are explained in any detail. The intention, I think, is to learn by trying a bunch of different things out. The game will continue to progress as time goes by, so even if you choose less optimal paths, eventually you'll be forced to confront the key enemies that get revealed over time.Prepare to get game over a lot at first, and to be confused by the many game mechanisms that aren't explained super carefully. I really felt overwhelmed on my first playthrough, and eventually quit and started over, putting to use what I'd learned on a new playthrough. This isn't a terrible idea, honestly. The game is really designed around replaying multiple times, and in fact it's impossible to unlock every CG and see every possible character and story element with a single play.I guess I find myself really preferring the more RPG-like Rance games, where you explore a map, accept quests, grind for XP, etc. I'm not a huge strategy fan, even though I recognize that Sengoku Rance is well crafted and well balanced.There are definitely some RPG elements in the game, and of course there is lots of the trademark Rance humor and wackiness. Rance definitely meets a lot of hot women and gets to know them better, as you'd expect.
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The Best Eroge of All Time
Alex
I first played Sengoku Rance about 13 years ago, back before it was officially released in english. Since then I have replayed it many times, about once or twice a year, and still this game comes up with ways to surprise me.Make no mistake, Rance 7 is the perfect mixture of porn and game. The story is hilarious, callous, and yet sometimes endearing. It appears simple on the surface, but gets much more complex the more you get to know about it, much like the titular character himself.Basically, the game is civilization meets xcom meets person. It asks you to take over the nation and get all the babes. Unfortunately, the nations of Nippon aren't willing to roll over. Some are weak, some are strong, some have some tricks up their sleeves, and some will crush you beneath overwhelming might. Every faction has their own unique abilities and charm, from the weak Hara, which is constantly weakened and undercut by the lord's hot, bitchy wife who is in dire of need of some spanking, to the crazed Mad Max-like Mouri house which will easily steamroll you if you end up provoking them, in large part to the three devastatingly powerful Mouri maid sisters. In order to fight later houses on equal footing, you have to play smart and build your forces, gather weapons, and recruit commanders of houses you previously defeated.It's all very engaging, and the game challenges you by keeping score of your run. After you beat the game, you unlock bonuses that you can unlock with points, the total of which is your highest score plus 5 of every story route you completed beforehand, which in turn gives you a chance to earn a higher score next round. (My highest after I reset my save for the MG release was 230)That said, Sengoku Rance can be crushingly difficult at times. My advice; keep things slow but steady. Try to take out one of the main houses once every twenty turns (you can check which house is a main one by looking at System Info under the points on the map, under Tenshi Gourds). Don't feel too pressed to take houses, instead explore dungeons and explore optional events. It's impossible to fully clear the game in one run, so trying to do so is futile.As for the meaty bits, non-con dominates in this game. Rance's wants them ladies, willing or not, and he's not the worse piece of scum in this series, shockingly enough. He constantly takes the women of the houses as prizes. Some he ties up and "tortures" (has sex with, light bdsm, much to the annoyance of the old steward of Oda), others he beds on the spot. Most tend to just resign themselves to his whims, but others have to be coaxed by recruiting them and getting them to like Rance before he ravishes them. Most tend to at least enjoy it, even if one or two try to kill him afterwards, but there are a a small handful of scenes where misery is rampant, though these tend to be without the protagonist. One optional scene is particularly violent, though the odds of obtaining it is quite rare for someone who doesn't know what they're doing, though it did blindside me on my first run so what do I know?All in all, I heartily recommend Sengoku Rance to anyone with an interest in eroge. A must play.
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