This is what I wanted Rance to be from the beginning, and more. Don't know if I prefer this or Kichikuou more yet. Also, I'm a bit burnt out so I won't be playing Mamatoto, I'm done with visual novel homework.

Rance IX was the Rance game I was most excited for since before I started playing. It most closely resembled another favorite series of mine (that being Utawarerumono) in terms of gameplay and premise. It seemed to have an OST style that's more my jam, having more modernised gameplay and gorgeous art. And, after finishing Kichikuou, I wanted to see more of Helman, and I can say with confidence that as of pre-R10, it definitely is the most interesting country in the Rance universe for me.

Rance has been a very strange series for me, there are games I loved (Kichikuou, Sengoku, 03), and ones I really despised which made me question whether the series was for me (such as 5D or 4.x). When people tell you about stories where "trust me bro, it gets good", they usually don't mean a series where, not counting remakes, the first good games you'll play are either the sixth main entry, or what is now an IF route made by the company when they thought they were going to go bankrupt. In a sense I am sort of a "fake Rance fan" because my favorites have generally been the more modern stories covering larger conflicts with more modern gameplay systems, rather than perhaps the more fundamental character interactions like in IV, VI or Quest that Rance fans usually value. That being said though, it's not like I dislike Rance's characters or slice of life. I think they have a lot of heart. It might be a combination of gameplay elements I'm not a fan of such as first person dungeons and episodic structure. Still, when the series hits for me, it really hits, and I say this as someone who was very skeptical of Rance having more to it, especially knowing how the main character is (which has been covered enough so I won't go into that at this point).

But all that aside, Rance IX is genuinely one of my favorite JRPGs ever. The gameplay may be simple, but I found it satisfying regardless. It's got stakes, exciting and emotional moments alike, good character writing, some of the best JRPG world building (as expected from Rance, I suppose), beautiful visuals and music (despite Shade leaving the series as a composer). I might even do the thing that I almost never do and do another play through just to see some extra content myself, rather than just watching on YouTube, if that.

My Rance journey began cautiously at the beginning, I didn't expect to like some entries in the series this much, even though I'd long since started trying to not judge things by their cover. It's definitely become one of my favorite series now, though. Now, I am ready to tackle the behemoth that is Rance X. I am so excited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJqKDz_2kwM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSYghgpzlwA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZiU9DgtEH0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-L8VzdCdzk