History YMMV / AliceSoft

** On the male side of things, Rick went from a character who was simply meant to serve as the CrutchCharacter and AlwaysSomeoneBetter to Rance to one of the most iconic characters in the series and Rance's best male friend by the later games. Being a CharClone helps.

* LGBTFanbase: Although the games are aimed at straight male players, they do attract no shortage of Achilleans, due to the large amount of well-built male characters among the cast. Characters such as Patton, Katsuie, and Gandhi, who are portrayed as unattractive in-universe, have plenty of male fans who find them attractive regardless. On the opposite end of the gender spectrum is Mineva, the musclebound female commander of the Helman 3rd Army who swears like a sailor and is covered in scars. She's so masculine that popularity polls count her as a male character, but sapphics love her.

** The Goddess Eve in ''Evenicle''. Her laws are such that rape victims are automatically married to their rapists, and even worse, ''gang''-rape victims are given '''''the same punishment''''' as the monsters who assaulted them because it technically counts as infidelity. You are never given a chance to RageAgainstTheHeavens. Her strict laws ultimately made humanity so vulnerable to temptation that when [[spoiler:the Snake Crest kidnapped Croix and disabled Eve's commandments for a few days,]] civilization fell apart in an orgy of degeneracy that would make [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Slaanesh]] proud.

* SequelDisplacement: Many outside of Japan believe ''Sengoku Rance'' was the first, if not the ''only'' installment in the ''Rance'' series.

*** [[{{Sadist}} Fiend Medusa]], one of Kaybliss' top lieutenants, is a cruel PsychoLesbian who enjoys raping women to death. In ''Rance X'', she was put in charge of invading the Magic Kingdom of Zeth and freeing Camilla (who was captured in ''Rance VI''). [[OrcusOnHisThrone Leaving]] most of the legwork to the Great Monster General Zedong, Medusa hijacks Zeth's Magic Vision network to broadcast her brutal rapes and murders of kidnapped Zethan women in order to demoralize the populace and its defenders. Should Rance take too long to defeat her, [[spoiler:King Gandhi and his assistants Kaoru and Wichita try to assassinate her but fail due to her invincibility field, and she livestreams their grisly demise to the nation, [[DespairEventHorizon pushing]] his daughter Magic into making a DealWithTheDevil. Rance also finds out that she had kidnapped and raped [[TheWoobie Rizna]] to the point of catatonia, such that [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness he immediately executes her]] upon defeating her, even after she tried bargaining for her life with sex.]]
*** [[MookCommander Great Monster General]] [[GeneralRipper LeMay]] in ''Rance X'' [[AbsoluteXenophobe absolutely hates humans]] and would love nothing more than to exterminate them entirely, even against his masters' [[LoopholeAbuse schemes]] to avoid giving the Hero System too much power. He employs inefficient [[KillItWithFire scorched earth]] tactics in his invasion of Helman in order to maximize human casualties, and relies on flying monsters to [[DeathFromAbove drop bombs over enemy territory]], regardless of strategic importance. Should he be driven to a corner, he always goes down DefiantToTheEnd, trying to [[TakingYouWithMe take as many humans with him]], unlike his fellows who can suffer humiliating defeats. If Rance does not personally defeat him, [=LeMay=] leads a final charge to drop the [[FantasticNuke m Bomb]] on Helman's capital, but is foiled by [[WarriorPrince Prince Patton]] and [[TimeAbyss Hunty Kalar]]. If he conquers Helman, [[spoiler:he kicks his extermination campaign into overdrive, flushing out and killing every last human in Helman, while allowing his troops to torture and humiliate the defeated ruler Sheila Helman as a reward, though he'd rather her be exterminated along with the survivors instead.]] Compared to the other Great Monster Generals who are more eccentric, petty and indifferent in their cruelty, [=LeMay=] [[ItsPersonal lives only to see every human a burning corpse]].

* JustHereForGodzilla: Plenty play the games not for the porn, but rather the story and gameplay, to the point where [=MangaGamer=] released a "streamer patch" for ''Sengoku Rance'' which removes the [=CGs=] from sex scenes and covers up any remaining nudity (nude character portraits, etc.). There are even plenty of mods that skips the porn in the visual novels. There are also growing group of people who want Alice-Soft to do away with porn altogether and provide a purely-story-driven visuap novels.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Plenty play the games not for the porn, but rather the story and gameplay, to the point where [=MangaGamer=] released a "streamer patch" for ''Sengoku Rance'' which removes the [=CGs=] from sex scenes and covers up any remaining nudity (nude character portraits, etc.). There are even plenty of mods that skips the porn in the visual novels.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Plenty play the games not for the porn, but rather the story and gameplay, to the point where [=MangaGamer=] released a "streamer patch" for ''Sengoku Rance'' which removes the [=CGs=] from sex scenes and covers up any remaining nudity (nude character portraits, etc.).

* BrokenBase: ''Beat Blades Haruka'' being the first [=AliceSoft=] game to receive a commercial release internationally caused this. While the fanbase was for the most part ecstatic about the company finally opening itself up to foreign waters, others were disappointed that the launch game wasn't a ''[[BreakoutCharacter Rance]]'' title. Fortunately, this quickly became moot, as the ''Rance'' games, starting with ''5D'' and ''IV'', quickly followed suit, along with some of their other games such as ''Evenicle.''

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The original ''Rance'' games were considered amazing at the time for being H-games that featured actually sophisticated gameplay rather than just sex scenes. By today's standards, not only are the graphics dated, but the gameplay is hugely underwhelming and boring, to the point of making the first three games nearly unplayable by modern gamers. This is being fixed by remaking them, and completely overhauling the gameplay for the first one.

* MemeticMutation: Whenever Sill is being discussed by the fanbase, there is a tendency to mimic Rance and act {{Tsundere}} towards her. Also, whenever Pink Mask is brought up, expect multiple people declare that "Sill's at home!".

* GameBreaker: Rick in ''Kichikuou Rance'', due to having an excellent special attack from the moment you get him and being available almost immediately. He was also a borderline example in ''Rance IV'', but was at least mitigated by [[DeusExitMachina a number of mid-game puzzles or events forcing you to bench him in order to advance]]. While these helped lead him to his EnsembleDarkhorse status, it also led to complaints about him making these games too easy, causing his following playable appearances in ''Rance VI'' and ''Rance Quest'' to make him a late game EleventhHourSuperPower.

* GameBreaker: Rick in ''Rance IV'' and ''Kichikuou Rance'', due to being level 50 with a fantastic special attack from the moment you get him and being available pretty much immediately. While these helped lead him to his EnsembleDarkhorse status, it also led to complaints about him making the games too easy, causing his following playable appearances in ''Rance VI'' and ''Rance Quest'' to make him a late game EleventhHourSuperPower.

* TierInducedScrappy: Cocona from ''Mamatoto'' has low stats and a lackluster special ability that is overshadowed by more or less every other character. While other characters balance out their weaker special abilities with strong stats or talents, Cocona is generally useless. However, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration her aversion to following in her family's footsteps of becoming a warrior and desire to become a chef may make this intentional]].
** Senna in ''Daibanchou''. While she's actually really good, possessing an ability that has passive HP regeneration, high stamina and attack, and a mid range, she requires you to give up the far more threatening Kunagi to use in the national chapter. The primary reason to use her would be to see the large differences in her route and to get the characters exclusive to her route for character clears.
** In ''Sengoku Rance'', generic characters have a varying amount of utility as filler until you get stronger unique units, but you'd be hardpressed to recruit generics that aren't [[StoneWall Ashigaru]] or [[SupportPartyMember Tacticians]], because unique characters are often stronger, and these two classes don't have many strong unique characters until later in the game. Occasionally, you might find a Diviner with [[SingleUseShield All Guard Shikigami]] or a Musketeer with [[OneHitKill Commander Snipe]], but you can't always count on finding them.
*** For more experienced players, the age and [[GameFavoredGender gender]] of your recruited generics becomes another deciding factor, as Rance can progress the affection of young, female generics to "Love", character clearing them and scoring you endgame points. Young male generics aren't too terrible as you can eventually unlock the Sex Change Temple in the Morocco province, allowing you to [[GenderBender change their gender]] so they can be cleared, otherwise males generics will always be stuck at "Trust" and cannot be cleared. Old generics, male or female, would just be be passed over.
*** However, the worst unit type in ''Sengoku Rance'' would be the Animal class, which despite having very high troop counts (also meaning they have high national cost), are pathetic in battle ''and'' they don't recover their troops between turns, forcing you to waste lots of gold reinforcing their inevitable casualties.

*** ''Rance IX'': [[CorruptPolitician Prime Minister Stessel Romanov]] of Helman seduces the empress to have her bear his child and gets her addicted to an aphrodisiac to make her dependent on him, before [[TheCaligula running the country into the ground]], intending on handing it to fiends for power. Manipulating his daughter and ruining the rightful heir, Stessel lets millions die in a plague outbreak before trying to seize total control and awaken the Wargod MM, a super weapon with which he will use to dominate all he can. Upon nearly losing, Stessel simply attempts to [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum exterminate everything with it]]. Sheila's "bad ending" also has him, winning the war, getting his own daughter addicted to drugs (because ''he doesn't want to allow her to have even a sliver of free-will'') and turning her into his blindly-obedient SexSlave. Sheila gets so broken by Stessel's abuse that she eventually [[ShootTheDog begs her own servant to kill her]] in a SuicidePact.

*** ''Rance IX'': [[CorruptPolitician Prime Minister Stessel Romanov]] of Helman seduces the empress to have her bear his child and gets her addicted to an aphrodisiac to make her dependent on him, before [[TheCaligula running the country into the ground]], intending on handing it to fiends for power. Manipulating his daughter and ruining the rightful heir, Stessel lets millions die in a plague outbreak before trying to seize total control and awaken the Wargod MM, a super weapon with which he will use to dominate all he can. Upon nearly losing, Stessel simply attempts to [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum exterminate everything with it]], and should he win, will keep his own daughter as a SexSlave.

* FandomEnragingMisconception: While many eroge are dismissed by those outside the visual novel scene as simple "porn games" with no plot outside of "you have to bang the girl", the ''Rance'' series gets hit especially hard by this notion, with many non-fans assuming any story it might have is simply an ExcusePlot for the hero to go around raping women, which paints a bad picture of the fandom, including those who enjoy the series for non-sexual reasons.

* ViewerNameConfusion: Aristoles' name is often misspelled as "Aristotles" among western players, due to its similarity to that of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

* BrokenBase: ''Beat Blades Haruka'' being the first [=AliceSoft=] game to receive a commercial release internationally caused this. While the fanbase was for the most part ecstatic about the company finally opening itself up to foreign waters, others were disappointed that the launch game wasn't a ''[[BreakoutCharacter Rance]]'' title. Fortunately, this quickly became moot, as the ''Rance'' titles, starting with ''5D'' and ''IV'' quickly followed suit, along with other games such as ''Evenicle.''

*** ''Sengoku Rance'': [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Xavier]] is a Fiend sealed away long ago. [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Garnering a hatred of the Japanese]], Xavier possesses UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga to slaughter his way across Japan and massacre monks to prevent any more sealings. [[AbusiveParents Abusing, torturing and raping his own daughter]], the goodhearted Kurohime, Xavier attempts to massacre as many Japanese people as possible before ultimately simply attempting to [[FinalSolution wipe the country out]].

* BrokenBase: ''Beat Blades Haruka'' being the first [=AliceSoft=] game to receive a commercial release internationally caused this. While the fanbase was for the most part ecstatic about the company finally opening itself up to foreign waters, others were disappointed that the launch game wasn't a ''[[BreakoutCharacter Rance]]'' title. Fortunately, this quickly became moot, as the ''Rance'' titles, starting with ''5D'' and ''IV'' being released stateside, along with other games such as ''Evenicle.''

* BrokenBase: ''Beat Blades Haruka'' being the first AliceSoft game to receive a commercial release internationally caused this. While the fanbase was for the most part ecstatic about the company finally opening itself up to foreign waters, others were disappointed that the launch game wasn't a ''[[BreakoutCharacter Rance]]'' title. Fortunately, this quickly became moot, as the ''Rance'' titles, starting with ''5D'' and ''IV'' being released stateside, along with other games such as ''Evenicle.''

* BrokenBase: ''Beat Blades Haruka'' receiving a commercial release internationally caused this. While the fanbase is for the most part ecstatic about the potential for the company to finally open itself up to foreign waters, others are disappointed that the launch game isn't a ''[[BreakoutCharacter Rance]]'' title, especially due to the partnership leading to the indefinite halting of two nearly completed fan translations.
** Fortunately this wasn't the case as ''Rance'' titles from ''5D'', along with ''Evenicle'', are picked up for localizations. And in 2020, [=AliceSoft=] themselves announced that the localization for ''Evenicle 2'' will be self-published.

*** [[MookCommander Great Monster General]] [[GeneralRipper LeMay]] in ''Rance X'' [[AbsoluteXenophobe absolutely hates humans]] and would love nothing more than [[KillEmAll to exterminate them entirely]], even against his masters' [[LoopholeAbuse schemes]] to avoid giving the Hero System too much power. He employs inefficient [[KillItWithFire scorched earth]] tactics in his invasion of Helman in order to maximize human casualties, and relies on flying monsters to [[DeathFromAbove drop bombs over enemy territory]], regardless of strategic importance. Should he be driven to a corner, he always goes down DefiantToTheEnd, trying to [[TakingYouWithMe take as many humans with him]], unlike his fellows who can suffer humiliating defeats. If Rance does not personally defeat him, [=LeMay=] leads a final charge to drop the [[FantasticNuke m Bomb]] on Helman's capital, but is foiled by [[WarriorPrince Prince Patton]] and [[TimeAbyss Hunty Kalar]]. If he conquers Helman, [[spoiler:he kicks his extermination campaign into overdrive, flushing out and killing every last human in Helman, while allowing his troops to torture and humiliate the defeated ruler Sheila Helman as a reward, though he'd rather her be exterminated along with the survivors instead.]] Compared to the other Great Monster Generals who are more eccentric, petty and indifferent in their cruelty, [=LeMay=] [[ItsPersonal lives only to see every human a burning corpse]].

** The Goddess Eve in ''Evenicle''. Her laws are such that rape victims are automatically married to their rapists, and even worse, ''gang''-rape victims are given '''''the same punishment''''' as the monsters who assaulted them because it technically counts as infidelity. You are never given a chance to RageAgainstTheHeavens. Her strict laws ultimately made humanity so vulnerable to temptation that when [[spoiler:the Snake Crest kidnapped Croix Eve and disabled Eve's commandments for a few days,]] civilization fell apart in an orgy of degeneracy that would make [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Slaanesh]] proud.

** Early in the game, Colpis gets gangraped by a group of Outlaws. Due to the divine laws set by Eve, this makes Colpis herself an Outlaw, and marks her with a black ring. In desperation, she attempts to cut off her finger to keep the black ring away from her. When stopped and told that the ring will just reappear, she begs the player's party to cut off all her fingers and toes. It still won't help.

** Eventually, Snake Crest [[spoiler: shatters all the rings in the world,]] and encourages humanity to indulge in its darkest, most beastial desires in a world with no consequences. Civilization totally falls apart in places, where all-too-literal orgies of rape and murder take place in the streets.

** The Goddess Eva in ''Evenicle''. Her laws are such that rape victims are automatically married to their rapists, and even worse, ''gang''-rape victims are given '''''the same punishment''''' as the monsters who assaulted them because it technically counts as infidelity. You are never given a chance to RageAgainstTheHeavens.

*** [[{{Kitsune}} Omachi]], the strongest of Dokuganryuu Masamune's [[BattleHarem wives]], is widely considered the strongest Onmyouji/Diviner. Instead of default Shikigami attack, Omachi can instantly strike all enemies with [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], or use the Large Lightning ability that functions like a faster and stronger Shikigami attack, but requiring 2 Shuriken attacks to interrupt. The only issue is that she's only available after annihilating her unit (no easy task, even by savescumming assassinations), defeating the One-Eyed House, recruiting Masamune and character clearing him, if you didn't take the One-Eyed House NewGamePlus bonus.

* ToughActToFollow: This is the problem Alicesoft had after the huge success of ''Kichikuou Rance'', which not only saved them from bankruptcy, but is also the biggest game yet with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters with their own endings, huge amount of lore and an open world map completely free for the player to choose. As a result the staff temporarily put the ''Rance'' series on hold and created ''Daiakuji'' instead, which managed to become a success in its own right.