Rance (ランス Ransu) is a series of Japan-exclusive eroge role-playing video games by Alice Soft featuring the title character, Rance. Starting in 1989, the series has lasted for 20 years, making it one of the longest running adult themed games ever.
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Rance: Hikari o Motomete (Rance -光をもとめて-, "Rance: Quest for Hikari") was Alice Soft's debut title[1] and was first released in July 1989 for the MSX. It was also later released in 1990 for Windows 3.x. An English unofficial translation patch for Rance: Hikari o Motomete was released on January 21, 2011. In this game, Rance, with his magician slave Sill Plain, are searching for Hikari, the missing daughter of a noble family who was kidnapped from her school.
The story is pretty simple - Hikari ("Light"), the red-haired girl that is seen in an opening clip, has been kidnapped. And Rance get the mission from his boss (the bald guy) to investigate the case. Rance is something like a detective in this story. This also turns the whole game more into a detective like exploring than into rpg or more less rpg/strategy to which the gamers of the latter games of the series are used. Rance isn’t alone in his job he has a helper – 16-year-old Sill helps him. She actually is Rance's slave. She was from a rich family but later got kidnapped by some bandit and the sold in an auction. The one who bought her was Rance of course.
Now with her help you (Rance) have to solve this mystery, bring Hikari back and pay back the ones that are at fault.
[Taken from the AliceSoft Wikia]
Rance II: Hangyaku no Shōjotachi (Rance II -反逆の少女たち-, "Rance II: Rebel Girls") A complete remake is included in Alice2010, the Alice Soft 20th Anniversary Project[2]
Ten years ago in the town of Custard four young girls were appointed as disciples to the old mage Ragithis. They were to be raised as mages and then to work as town's guardians. But after the ten years of training due to unknown reason girls rebelled against Ragithis and killed him. During the harsh magic battle a whole town was entombed in the underground and a barrier spell was put on town preventing everyone from going out.
This is when Rance appears with Sill by his side, and takes the job of defeating the magician maidens and saving the town. But after some research he finds out that the actual villain was Ragithis himself, who put four magical rings on four maidens. The rings give a great boost of magical power to their bearers, but are also able to steal magic power from virgin sorceresses and after collecting the magic power of 40 maidens, anyone could use these rings to obtain unlimited power. The leader of the girls, Masou Shizuka, figured out Ragithis's plan and rebelled against him but it was too late - the cursed rings could not be removed and the curse started to drive the maidens crazy. Now they are sheltered in the labyrinth beneath the town, abducting young girls from the town and killing everyone who tries to go into the labyrinth and stop them. It seems that the only way to release them from the curse of the rings is to steal their virginity from them, and the only man up to this job is Rance.
[Taken from the AliceSoft Wikia]
Rance III: Leazas Kanraku (Rance III -リーザス陥落- Ransu III -Rīzasu Kanraku-, "Rance III: The Fall of Leazas")
Leazas has fallen due to an attack from Helman, and Lia has been captured! Kanami finds Rance and ask him to help.
[Taken from the AliceSoft Wikia]
Rance IV: Kyōdan no Isan (Rance IV -教団の遺産-, "Rance IV: Religious Heritage")
After the events of Rance 3, Rance and Sill find themselves on a floating city.
[Taken from the AliceSoft Wikia]
Rance 4.1: Okusuri Kōjyō wo Sukue! (ランス4.1 ~お薬工場を救え!~, "Rance 4.1: Save the Medicine Plant!")
This is a side-story in Rance series, released shortly after the fourth game, but dedicated to an entirely different quest. All kinds of troubles are happening to a factory where a new Happiness Medicine is being developed. The mercenary Rance is hired by the manager to investigate the source of these troubles. First task: clear the factory of the monsters...
This is a RPG with turn-based combat and strong adventure elements (menu with command verbs such as "Examine", "Talk", etc., at every given screen). Unlike the previous Rance games, the battles do not allow free movement on the screen, and are carried out in a more traditional Japanese-style way. There is no physical movement in the game; hostile areas (dungeons) are also explored by choosing menu commands. As in all other Rance games, there are explicit sex scenes in this game.
[From Moby Games]
Rance 4.2: Angel Gumi (ランス4.2 ~エンジェル組~ "Rance 4.2: Angel Group")
Kichikuō Rance (鬼畜王ランス Kichikuō Ransu, "Brute King Rance") - an "IF" story not part of the official timeline.
This game is not part of the official Rance universe timeline, forking off after the events of Rance 4.2, as a "What if" episode.
The prelude starts with Rance leading a band of bandits in rural Helman Empire. The Imperial Patrol crushed his band with overwhelming force, and captured his slave, Sill. Rance fled to the borders of Leazas where he was rescued by Kanami, personal ninja of Lia, queen of Leazas.
Eager to take revenge upon Helman and rescue his slave Sill, Rance agreed to marry Lia. As the new king of of Leazas, Rance set his first step on a path that eventually leads to world domination, or death.
[Taken from the AliceSoft Wikia]
Rance 5D: Hitori Botchi no Onna no Ko (Rance5D -ひとりぼっちの女の子-, "Rance 5D: Lonely Girl")
Rance 5D, the seventh entry in the Rance series (counting two games making up Rance 4 and Kichikuou Rance), begins in an embarrassing way for the hero: he is lost in a huge dungeon, with only his loyal and lovely slave Sill to help him. Little does he know that escaping the dungeon will be just the first part of a new adventure, which will involve invoking ancient powers, meeting an old rival, and of course, having fun with various girls.
Rance 5D introduces new features to the standard gameplay formula of the series. The dungeon navigation is done from a "wheel screen"; the player has to spin the wheel, and as a result Rance and his party will advance to a new location. Even though the player can choose the speed of turning the wheel, and field representing different locations are displayed on it, landing on a new location depends mostly on luck. Rance can encounter a random enemy, find a treasure chest, trigger an event, etc. The battles are somewhat simplified, using a standard turn-based engine without the strategic element of moving on the battle field. As always in Rance, expect to see some hardcore erotic images.
[From Moby Games]
Rance VI: Zesu Hōkai (Rance VI -ゼス崩壊-, "Rance VI: Collapse of Zeth") was released on August 27, 2004. It features new (relative to the Alice Soft's games) 3D graphics for exploring dungeons.
After offending a high-ranked magic user in the kingdom of Zeth, Rance was ironically thrown into the slave camp while his magic-using slave Sill was treated as a VIP. Vowing vengeance, Rance joined up with an underground resistance group determined to overthrow Zeth's government (and be reunited with Sill).
[From the AliceSoft Wiki]
Sengoku Rance (戦国ランス Sengoku Ransu, lit. Warring States Rance) is the 8th game in the series and was released on December 15, 2006. It is the first game not to have a number in the title, even though in-game the name "Rance VII" is displayed on the background of the title screen as well in the main map. This game takes place in a land known as "ＪＡＰＡＮ" (spelled that way in Japanese using fullwidth English letters), which is partially modeled on Sengoku period Japan.
The story takes place during the 4th Sengoku (warring states) era of Japan, an area of the Rance World which parodies medieval real-world Japan.
Sengoku Rance picks up where Rance 6 left off. Rance, after saving the nation of Zeth from destruction, ran away so he won't have to marry the princess. He and Sill ended up in Japan for a hotspring trip, upsetting the power balance of Japan, and sets the unification of its provinces in motion. Meanwhile, an ancient evil power stirs from its slumber...
The game includes alternate reality versions of Oda Nobunaga, Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mouri Motonari, Hojo Soun, Yamamoto Isoroku, and Saint Francis Xavier among its cast.
Rance Quest (ランス・クエスト Ransu Kuesto) is the sequel to Sengoku Rance. It is a dungeon crawler RPG released in Japan on 26 August 2011.
It continues from where Sengoku Rance left off. The story centers around Rance going to the Kalar Forest located in the west of the Continent near Demon Realm borders to find a way to unfreeze his slave Sill who was trapped in a boulder of ice because of the Demon King Little Princess during the events of Sengoku Rance. While at it, Rance finds even more female companions and as usual engages in adult activities with them.