Should I play Rance chronologically?

[Xykros]

So I've been trying to finish my backlog these past few days. I've been randomly selecting games from my wishlist and after a bunch of 'unfortunate' encounters (by that I mean encountering some horrible, horrible nukige), I've decided to just go ahead and play the ones that are actually well know and are well received by the community. Hence, I decided to continue playing Rance again. I just finished Rance 3 and the old graphics are kinda tiring me out. Don't get me wrong, it's still a nice game. I just encounter issues with the old game engine and it's a pain in the ass to fix them.

So back to the original question. Do you suggest I bear with it and play the Rance games chronologically or can I just go ahead and skip to Rance 5D?

[onorub]

From what i'm hearing, the only ones you have to play chronologically are 6 through 10. 4 and 5 are some of the most irrelevant ones.

[KainLegacy535]

Well i did played from Rance 1 to 6 (included 4.1, 4.2, y Kichikuou (freaking love Kichikuou)), my favorite game of the series is the third, but playing the fist one is a little complicated, honestly i only finished because i hate left things half way done (later i found out a version that its just the history with no gameplay), so if you like old rpg you should give it a try, in the other case go with the six one.

[Decay]

The chronology of the Rance series is actually kinda weird, in that Rance X leans on story elements that were inserted into the remakes of 1 and 3. And those remakes contain references to other Rance games. So the general recommended read order is the release order, with 1 through 4 being largely ignorable.

[baconaterswagg]

I would go to 5D and then 6. 5D is pretty short and was enjoyable for me. Also it's bundled with 6 too.

[Xykros]

Thank you for all your replies! I've decided to play Rance 5D for now. 

[Tweek91330]

Note that Rance 04 introduce very important characters from IX.

I'm saying this because i played IX without playing 4/4.1/4.2 (waiting for the remake actually ^^). It's not mandatory, but you souhld know that it should be nice knowing those characters beforehand.

 

Also, i strongly disagree that 1-4 are irrevelant though. you should at least read 3 (which you already did so...).

[Nier]

On 7/22/2018 at 2:11 PM, Tweek91330 said:

Note that Rance 04 introduce very important characters from IX.

I'm saying this because i played IX without playing 4/4.1/4.2 (waiting for the remake actually ^^). It's not mandatory, but you souhld know that it should be nice knowing those characters beforehand.

 

Also, i strongly disagree that 1-4 are irrevelant though. you should at least read 3 (which you already did so...).

 

On 7/20/2018 at 1:23 AM, Decay said:

The chronology of the Rance series is actually kinda weird, in that Rance X leans on story elements that were inserted into the remakes of 1 and 3. And those remakes contain references to other Rance games. So the general recommended read order is the release order, with 1 through 4 being largely ignorable.

Are you guys sure about that?

1. 1993 Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect

2. 1995 Rance 4.1 -Save the Medicine Plant!-

3. 1995 Rance 4.2 -Angel Army-

4. 2002 Rance 5D - The Lonely Girl

5. 2004 Rance VI - Collapse of Zeth

6. 2006 Sengoku Rance (Rance VII)

7. 2009 Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens

8. 2011 Rance Quest Magnum (Rance VIII)

9. 2013 Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari

10. 2014 Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution

11. 2015 Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas

12. 2018 Rance X: Showdown

Cause it kinda looks like a mess.

 

Wouldn't it be better to play the games in the chronological order instead?

1. Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari (not released in english)

2. Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens (fan-translated)

3. Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas (not released in english)

4. Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect (fan-translated)

5. Rance 4.1 -Save the Medicine Plant!- (fan-translated)

6. Rance 4.2 -Angel Army- (fan-translated)

7. Rance 5D - The Lonely Girl (released in english and bundled together with Rance VI by MangaGamer)

8. Rance VI - Collapse of Zeth (released in english and bundled together with Rance 5D by MangaGamer)

9. Sengoku Rance (Rance VII) (fan-translated and to be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

10. Rance Quest Magnum (Rance VIII) (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

11. Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

12. Rance X: Showdown (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

[Decay]

On 7/23/2018 at 12:30 PM, Nier said:

 

Are you guys sure about that?

1. 1993 Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect

2. 1995 Rance 4.1 -Save the Medicine Plant!-

3. 1995 Rance 4.2 -Angel Army-

4. 2002 Rance 5D - The Lonely Girl

5. 2004 Rance VI - Collapse of Zeth

6. 2006 Sengoku Rance (Rance VII)

7. 2009 Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens

8. 2011 Rance Quest Magnum (Rance VIII)

9. 2013 Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari

10. 2014 Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution

11. 2015 Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas

12. 2018 Rance X: Showdown

Cause it kinda looks like a mess.

 

Wouldn't it be better to play the games in the chronological order instead?

1. Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari (not released in english)

2. Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens (fan-translated)

3. Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas (not released in english)

4. Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect (fan-translated)

5. Rance 4.1 -Save the Medicine Plant!- (fan-translated)

6. Rance 4.2 -Angel Army- (fan-translated)

7. Rance 5D - The Lonely Girl (released in english and bundled together with Rance VI by MangaGamer)

8. Rance VI - Collapse of Zeth (released in english and bundled together with Rance 5D by MangaGamer)

9. Sengoku Rance (Rance VII) (fan-translated and to be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

10. Rance Quest Magnum (Rance VIII) (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

11. Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

12. Rance X: Showdown (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

Sorry for the late reply. You can get away with reading it in that order if you really wish, but it is not the ideal order. You will miss references to later rance games in the remakes. And also there will be a lot of waiting involved for the translations.

Rance 5D and 6 represents what is basically a fresh start for the series. It still feels like you're jumping into a well-established fiction but they do a decent job at getting new players into the world of Rance and rely on almost none of the previous games' stories.

Alicesoft made 01 and 03 in particular expecting a significant number of their players to have played 5-8 but not 1-4 since those are super old and dated. Basically, they expected their player base to be unfamiliar with the old games but still play each new game as it comes out, and wrote/designed them accordingly. (I'm not including 02 because that is largely the same as the original actually)

Edited July 25, 2018 by Decay

[Tweek91330]

On 23/07/2018 at 6:30 PM, Nier said:

 

Are you guys sure about that?

1. 1993 Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect

2. 1995 Rance 4.1 -Save the Medicine Plant!-

3. 1995 Rance 4.2 -Angel Army-

4. 2002 Rance 5D - The Lonely Girl

5. 2004 Rance VI - Collapse of Zeth

6. 2006 Sengoku Rance (Rance VII)

7. 2009 Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens

8. 2011 Rance Quest Magnum (Rance VIII)

9. 2013 Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari

10. 2014 Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution

11. 2015 Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas

12. 2018 Rance X: Showdown

Cause it kinda looks like a mess.

 

Wouldn't it be better to play the games in the chronological order instead?

1. Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari (not released in english)

2. Rance 02: The Rebellious Maidens (fan-translated)

3. Rance 03: The Fall of Leazas (not released in english)

4. Rance IV: The Legacy of the Sect (fan-translated)

5. Rance 4.1 -Save the Medicine Plant!- (fan-translated)

6. Rance 4.2 -Angel Army- (fan-translated)

7. Rance 5D - The Lonely Girl (released in english and bundled together with Rance VI by MangaGamer)

8. Rance VI - Collapse of Zeth (released in english and bundled together with Rance 5D by MangaGamer)

9. Sengoku Rance (Rance VII) (fan-translated and to be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

10. Rance Quest Magnum (Rance VIII) (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

11. Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

12. Rance X: Showdown (To be released Soon™ by MangaGamer)

Yep, 2nd list is the right playing order.

First list is the parution order, without 1-3 originals which aren't canon anymore and kichikuou which wasn't canon to begin with .

 

Decay is also right for somes references in the remakes though. I started rance with the remakes and it is definitly the right way to go (at least for me), i didn't even noticed there was references to later games so...

Edited July 25, 2018 by Tweek91330