Most of what I've said in Rance I's review (https://www.backloggd.com/u/OmiGCN/review/985650/) is pretty much applicable to this one. However, it certainly does improve a little bit over its predecessor, and just feels like it has more substance when playing.
Boring battles, now with partners!
The battle system largely remains the same, but now you have an actual party! What did you say? You want to control the other characters? Ahahahaha, nope, this game won't let you, the others will do whatever they please (Persona 3 flashbacks ensue), though it's honestly not that big of a deal for most of the game.
I only really had trouble with that at the final boss, due to barely having any healing items left, and Sill just constantly healing Rance, even if she was a hit away from death (for context, if any character dies, it's over).
What is actually annoying is that the strategy of just spamming your way through is the exact same since you have the same amount of control as Rance I, but now there's also somebody else to back you up. Therefore, for the most part it's just spamming attacks, then healing occasionally.
So, in other words, it's as shallow as ever, but at least it kinda felt more fun, I guess? Twice the people, twice the fun, or something like that.
As parodical as ever
The humour from Rance I returns, as expected, but I wouldn't lie if I said a couple of jokes caught me off-guard and made me laugh more than I expected. Tone-wise, yeah, it's still goofy as hell, with some 4th wall-breaking jokes, and other wacky gags, don't really expect anything else or you'll come out disappointed. Of course, sexual jokes are also quite abundant; this is Rance, so who am I to be surprised.
When it comes to its odd and yet-to-be explored amalgamation that is its setting, it still doesn't really go anywhere, much to my disappointment. However, it felt to me that the story is less tacked on and less of an excuse when compared to I. Hell, there's even a few scenes that actually felt serious and seem to delve a bit deeper into the characters, which is something I'll gladly take over whatever Rance I was doing when it got "serious".
Proper guidance? They still don't know what that is
Definitely use a guide for this game too. It's as obnoxious and confusing as the first game, and sometimes seems to heavily rely in having some insane sixth sense to guess stuff, or setting in the boredom by just not knowing what to do. Maybe this gets somewhat fixed in the remaster, but I wouldn't know.
General thoughts
I don't know if I'm missing anything important, but that's pretty much it. Overall, it's nothing mindblowing, but it is, even if barely, a passable experience, and it once again has its moments (they're arguably a bit more frequent than in the first game). At least I had a bit more fun playing this than Rance I, so that's enough for me.
I just hope Rance III finally delivers a bit more on the characters and world, because I can see the potential it harbours. For that, they just have to free the series of the shackles of being limited to just a mere parody of RPGs.
Will they? I don't know, but I sure hope so.
P.S. I should stop making reviews this long, for Rance of all series, I swear.
Boring battles, now with partners!
The battle system largely remains the same, but now you have an actual party! What did you say? You want to control the other characters? Ahahahaha, nope, this game won't let you, the others will do whatever they please (Persona 3 flashbacks ensue), though it's honestly not that big of a deal for most of the game.
I only really had trouble with that at the final boss, due to barely having any healing items left, and Sill just constantly healing Rance, even if she was a hit away from death (for context, if any character dies, it's over).
What is actually annoying is that the strategy of just spamming your way through is the exact same since you have the same amount of control as Rance I, but now there's also somebody else to back you up. Therefore, for the most part it's just spamming attacks, then healing occasionally.
So, in other words, it's as shallow as ever, but at least it kinda felt more fun, I guess? Twice the people, twice the fun, or something like that.
As parodical as ever
The humour from Rance I returns, as expected, but I wouldn't lie if I said a couple of jokes caught me off-guard and made me laugh more than I expected. Tone-wise, yeah, it's still goofy as hell, with some 4th wall-breaking jokes, and other wacky gags, don't really expect anything else or you'll come out disappointed. Of course, sexual jokes are also quite abundant; this is Rance, so who am I to be surprised.
When it comes to its odd and yet-to-be explored amalgamation that is its setting, it still doesn't really go anywhere, much to my disappointment. However, it felt to me that the story is less tacked on and less of an excuse when compared to I. Hell, there's even a few scenes that actually felt serious and seem to delve a bit deeper into the characters, which is something I'll gladly take over whatever Rance I was doing when it got "serious".
Proper guidance? They still don't know what that is
Definitely use a guide for this game too. It's as obnoxious and confusing as the first game, and sometimes seems to heavily rely in having some insane sixth sense to guess stuff, or setting in the boredom by just not knowing what to do. Maybe this gets somewhat fixed in the remaster, but I wouldn't know.
General thoughts
I don't know if I'm missing anything important, but that's pretty much it. Overall, it's nothing mindblowing, but it is, even if barely, a passable experience, and it once again has its moments (they're arguably a bit more frequent than in the first game). At least I had a bit more fun playing this than Rance I, so that's enough for me.
I just hope Rance III finally delivers a bit more on the characters and world, because I can see the potential it harbours. For that, they just have to free the series of the shackles of being limited to just a mere parody of RPGs.
Will they? I don't know, but I sure hope so.
P.S. I should stop making reviews this long, for Rance of all series, I swear.
4 Comments
Good to hear, might bite the bullet and start III soon-ish to see if it really starts picking up then.
It mustn't come out as a surprise to you but if the series has known such longevity it's because it inevitably picked up some steam eventually.
Rance III is where I say the series really starts, the first 2 games are just random adventures that didn't have much ambition (most likely because they were churning out games to prevent the company from bankrupting which is an entire story onto itself) but III is a much more ambitious title that's closer to the type of JRPG you could find on console.
Don't expect a masterpiece until Kichikuou though even I was shocked at how wild of a jump in quality Kichi was
Rance III is where I say the series really starts, the first 2 games are just random adventures that didn't have much ambition (most likely because they were churning out games to prevent the company from bankrupting which is an entire story onto itself) but III is a much more ambitious title that's closer to the type of JRPG you could find on console.
Don't expect a masterpiece until Kichikuou though even I was shocked at how wild of a jump in quality Kichi was
@Cani yeah, I started III a bit ago (not much progress yet though) and it feels like a way more realized game already, I've been enjoying it more than the last two, at least.
Really looking forward to Kichikuou, seems like that's going to be the game that will make me decide if I keep going with the series afterwards or if I just play the old timeline games and call it quits, only time will tell.
Really looking forward to Kichikuou, seems like that's going to be the game that will make me decide if I keep going with the series afterwards or if I just play the old timeline games and call it quits, only time will tell.
raisingcanes
9 months ago