Rance 03 — Tester’s Corner Vol. 1 – MangaGamer Staff Blog
Look who’s back. Back again. Rance is back. Hide your friend.
Or at least, hide them if they’re a cute girl. Rance games don’t strictly fall into the cheating/NTR category, but according to Rance: “All cute girls in the world belong to me. Gahahaha.” Or something like that, with more enthusiasm.
Testing a Rance game is like wrestling with a pig in the mud. It’s good QA work, the pig likes it, it’s a lot of fun… OK, maybe testing a Rance game doesn’t actually have anything to do with wrestling a pig in the mud. But the games are filthy, at least. Rance 03 is no exception to the norm, though it is the longest one out of the remakes. Easily longer than Rance 01 + Rance 02 combined, Rance 03 takes the original title and more than doubles the runtime. And it has voices! Even Rance gets a voice, though it’s battle lines only. Which is a shame, because they absolutely crush the trademark gahahahaha’s.
So that means a nice, comfy test run with minimal issues? Well, actually, kinda. There’s always stuff that comes up during a test, but the Rance game tests tend to be more like what people probably think about when they think of video game QA. Examining gameplay, noting abnormal behavior, checking to make sure gameplay instructions make sense and more is all on the table – in addition to the standard localization work of helping with typos, clarity, etc from the excellent work of the TL and editor.
As with Alicesoft of late, the battle system in Rance 03 is pretty unique compared to the other games in the franchise. Players will select party members not by choosing who will be active, but by selecting which “skills” they’ll be able to use. Each character has four skills; any character can field 1-4 of them, up to the maximum limit at the time. It starts low and gets larger, but it never feels like enough. Standard for games with so many party members, perhaps. Some skills have cooldowns, others don’t, but the availability of skills, enemy lineup, and fun dungeon field traps will challenge players to find a winning combination against the latest challenge. And there are a ton, including optional dungeons and bosses.
So that means, as noted, a nice, comfy test with minimal issues – and tons of shop talk. Which skill for this boss, what lineup, where can we get this item, etc etc. But that’s fun in a way; it’s enjoyable to work on something together and share progression and tips. Testing Rance games in that regard is always a blast; it also helps to cathartically vent with the fellows on the project regarding… well, Rance games.
I personally hope you enjoy Rance 03! It was a treat to work on, and I hope everyone’s effort shines through to present an excellent adventure.
Rance 03 — The Fall of Leazas is out next week! Pre-order and save 10%!
