This game is probably one of the easiest I've ever experienced, it pretty much plays itself until you reach the difficulty spike that is the penultimate boss. Even then the boss isn't really much of a challenge, just tedious because if you die you have to sit through a very long scripted fight before getting another attempt. Then the fight immediately afterward is incredibly easy; truly some immaculate difficulty balancing. The game somewhat makes up for its awful gameplay with a decent story and a fun cast of characters; I appreciate the grander story they were trying to tell, even if some of it feels underdeveloped. The music is also pretty good and the quality of the CGs and character portraits is a decent step up from the other PC-98 games, though the character sprites, backgrounds, and other assets look pretty ugly. Overall, this game is okay. It does introduce a couple of interesting ideas and I'm hoping that the later games expand upon them, while also having some decent gameplay.

Having played this after consuming the digest versions of Rance I & II available, I believe, as part of a release of Rance VI, III was my first proper experience with the series. And honestly, it's a lot better than I'd anticipated it being for a 1991 doujin RPG. The comedy is genuinely really consistent and reminds me of a blend of early Dragonball, Urusei Yatsura and Golden Boy. The dungeons left a bit to be desires and I guess you could argue that the gameplay is banal, but I found it really fun to casually play while listening to a podcast or dicking around with friends in voice calls. It's cool to see even here how Alicesoft was trying to tie events and plot beats from the first two games into III to create something larger - and with an ending that crazy, I had no idea what to expect as the credits rolled. Art also saw a massive step up as well, and a few of the tracks here are pretty catchy. I had a better time with this one than I anticipated!

the gameplay is an improvement compared to the second. lots of ridiculous moments, but it doesn't take away the seriousness of the plot. though the walking system can be a pain at times if you're not adjusted to it. it also took forever for me to figure out how to camp anywhere (it might just be a me thing realized it was right on the swords eye).

pretty charming and you can really begin to tell how passionate alicesoft is over this series and it makes a pretty solid jrpg for the time. though good luck recommending this to anyone without getting weird stares LOL

Surprisingly good game, it has the better gameplay out of the first 3 games imo (counting the remakes) since it plays more like an actual rpg. The plot is the best so far and the visual presentation, while obviously dated and somewhat unpolished since this IS a Doujin game, was actually pretty nice and has a certain old school charm to it. Haven't played the remake since I don't know japanese so I can't speak on that but in my experience this is an enjoyable game even if you only played 01 & 02.