This was the starting point for the majority of Rance fans for many decades. Even if it's the seventh chapter of the big story, you can start here without problems, but of course you will be confused when some people or situation just happen and you have no idea of what is going on. Don't even think for a second that, just because is an h-game is stupid and easy. This game is hard, very hard, it's almost impossibile to reach what you want without a deep knowledge of the game. Hell you will probably not even manage to finish the game on your first couple of playtroughts going completely blind. If you want to get something (a girl, yeah) specific or you want to follow some specific route well... you will need a guide at the 99% of times. Everything is tied to time and places, you need to know what to do where, when and how and the game gives you absolutely nothing. Not that there is a problem with this, all old japanese games worked like this, but you will find after 20 hours with a game to restart, even if you think you have done everything good. Buyers beware.
Considering the genre and the quantity of predecessors is very difficult to ignore the flaws of this game. Sure, the presentation with the good models, the astonishing backgrounds and general ambience yeah they are above average for the genre, however the rpg and gameplay mechanics are too much basic, i mean i can find better customization of a spellcaster on a game from 1980 and better diversity between classes and party characters. In this genre of games few is not good. Itemization is convoluted and redundant, there are too many items which difference is +1 on a stat. Puzzles are good but the encounters are incredibly boring cause the game considers you can change all your characters (from the stats to ability) every time you want, so there is basically no difficulty, if you fail an encounter you can just respec and counter it completely. It's very bad seeing a mindset like this, considering you are binded to do every encounter since they are numbered and there is no respawn. The story is good, the characters are ok even if some of them lose interactions over half the game. Its a good game but very flawed if you have some background of the genre, i really hope for another game with more depth on the gameplay and not only on the visuals.
