Rance Quest:Game mechanics

Quest System


Available quests are listed at the resting base, which (according to the first tab) is dubbed as "Rance's Castle." As the story progresses, more and more quests will be avalaible for Rance to carry on his high jinks. Also, quests, besides certain storyline ones, may be repeated to satisfaction; therefore, players need not fret about missing delicious events or vital items. After choosing a quest, you proceed to the party selection (which is detailed later), and then the quest, for H-ing more women, begins.



Some quests cannot be brute-forced; they are not so straight-foward. Even Rance does not simply waltz into Mordor. Often times, special events, which appear as on the example, must be done to advance the adventure. Try not to miss events (whether they are battle or recovery events) as they appear on the map. Otherwise, Rance may end up lost in a gloomy cave with—gasp—no attractive girls to knock up. And eventually his party will run out of actions for battle. But note EXP is retained even when a quest has failed.



Moving on—as in Rance 6, and other classic role-playing games, there are random monster-encounters, and special battle events (represented by red spiky icons). However, Rance Quest's battles have time limits—if you cannot defeat all enemies in time, the battle prematurely ends, and you will received less EXP. It is analogous to prematurely ending sex, so try to meet the time limits, and reap the good feelings. (Us Rance fans have our minds forever in the gutter.) A counter is displayed on the lower right corner, and it will decrease per anyone's action (as in Sengoku Rance); battles end when the counter reaches zero. However, it is possible boss battles will either have no time limit, or will result in game over if you fail to win in time. In any case, act wisely in battle.



Next, quests are cleared by defeating bosses, reaching the destination, et cetera. Moreover, clearing a quest will unlock new quests and areas, and will give Charisma Points—explained later. Rance and his mates will then return to the earlier mentioned base. After all, our hero deserves some leisure time for eating, sleeping, and—if you get the drift—stuffing pretty ladies as if they are Thanksgiving Day turkeys.



Of course, not all quests involve kicking ass, and delivering a world of pain to pathetic monsters. Some quests are to know your mates better, which Rance prefers to do in bed when beautiful women are involved—Gahahaha!!! What else do you expect? Everything is a quest in this game. Everything is Rance Quest!!!

Party Organization System


Continuing from the previous section, the party may be chosen after selecting a quest. Your initial party may consist of up to five members—three frontliners and two rears. The former should ideally consist of aggressive melee fighters such as Rance and Kenshin. And the rear should (also ideally) consist of ranged/support fighters such as Megadeth, Prima, and Lia. However, defenders, such as Sachiko and Rocky, may guard allies from any position; although they cannot attack from the back row. Take this into account when forming a party, which Rance prefers to be women-only. Yes, Rocky, we are looking at you; take your ass out, and make room for more women—Gahahaha!!! Those not selected become reserve members who may be swapped in later. In this example, Prima, Mahoko, Kenshin, Kou, and Lia are reserves. They will stand prepared to fight in place of a tired or fallen party member. But swapping members has limitations as explained soon.



Then kick some ass in battle—Rance Attack!!! But there is a catch; a skill has limited usage count per quest (since no one has endless stamina). Once a skill is used up, it cannot be used until refilled at the base, which means waiting until the next quest. So plan wisely; perhaps you should save stronger skills for tougher monsters or the boss. Unfortunately, it gets worse. Even basic attacks have limited usage count; they are not exceptions to the previously mentioned rule. (But basic attacks generally have higher usage count.) So it is possible to run out of actions, thus becoming—



—unable to act at all. Such members are sitting ducks, and will need to be swapped for another; they can also be used as meat shields if you are cruel enough. Precisely, expended members will be marked with the text 「行動不可」 as shown above. Members may later be upgraded, probably through events and items, to have more actions.



Anyway, this is when reserved characters come in—to substitute expended members. This screenshot, for instance, shows Mahoko being dragged to replace Megadeth; it is similar to replacing SP expended members in Rance 6. And likewise, it is important to strategize which character to bring in for another.



But wait—note the counter, in the lower right, dropped after Mahoko was swapped in. This counter indicates the number of swaps allowed, which is governed by the Charisma Points gained by completing quests. Finally, your quest may fail if all current members become tired. So keep an eye on expended members and the swap counter.

Battle System


This is the battle screen. Although this features a fight involving individual members (rather than armies as in Sengoku Rance), the turn-based battle system remains the same. At the top is an order of which characters will take action, and acted characters will be re-listed accordingly to their speed. Moreover, characters like Sachiko resemble Footsoldiers in Sengoku Rance. They can take hits intended for others according to the guard percentage, which may be raised through skills. Hopefully, your party includes a medic to heal them as well. Note only members expertised in practices such as archery or witchcraft can generally attack the enemie's back row. And any rules applying to the player, apply to the enemy as well; melee monsters cannot target your rear either. At last, after battle, everyone alive in the party will receive EXP, Gold, et cetera; those with high levels received inflated (reduced) EXP. Incidentally, arrows next to a character's portrait indicate buffs, which are color coded as in Sengoku Rance. Red, blue, purple, and green respectively represent attack, defense, intelligence, and speed.

Exploration System


Map exploration, as the screenshot shows, is rendered in 3D, as in Toushin Toshi III, with an overhead view. Rance is controlled either by mouse-click, arrow keys, or WASD keys. Furthermore, the view can be zoomed in or out. And the mini-map may be turned either on or off. Maps may be littered with events, so keep an eye out for those special icons. Also, be cautious with any treasure chests on the map; some may be trapped—not that Rance would care.