Rakenzarn Tales

Rakenzarn Title — Rakenzarn Tales title screen

Rakenzarn Tales (also known as RT for short) is a fanmade RPG that features numerous crossovers from different franchises.

Story

The story involves a boy named Kyuu from Detective School Q who stumbles on a mysterious book that transport him to an alternative world where every fictional character from the real world is real. Characters include ones from Nintendo, Sega, Square-enix, and Nippon Ichi along with anime and cartoon characters. Kyuu, since he's from the real world, is able to recognize these characters and befriend them. Eventually, he joins a guild where he would work alongside them.

Unfortunately, he soon discovers that Rakenzarn is cursed by a mysterious plague, spreading different plagues across each region. If nothing is done, the entire world will be destroyed. After giving it some thought, Kyuu decides to help to restore Rakenzarn back to its former glory. And so, he sets out on a journey to purify Rakenzarn with the aid of various characters he's befriended along the way while, at the same time, trying to find the way back home.

However, unbeknownst to Kyuu, the book contains a dark history and has a mysterious connection with him, which may endanger his very existence.

Gameplay

As Kyuu, the main objective is to repel the mysterious plague across the world. Rakenzarn consists of three large continents, with each one having different regions to explore and also meeting characters from many series. In addition to canon characters, there are several original characters from different authors as well.

Like your typical RPG, players can explore through various towns and dungeons. They can also talk to people to learn interesting information and examine objects of interest. In addition to exploration, there are countless puzzles and riddles. This is where Kyuu's intellect comes in, as players need to use his deductive skills to solve riddles along the way. Some are optional, but some need to be solved in order to unlock new paths or continue the story.

Throughout the game, there are times where Kyuu is confronted with different questions from different people and forced to do certain actions. Depending on the player's choices, it can align Kyuu either to Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic. The three alignments can change Kyuu's inner thoughts and even his personality. More importantly, characters can also react differently to you depending on the alignment. Some can be friendly but some can be hostile.

The game utilizes RPG Maker's default battle system. In battle, it requires different tactics as each party member has his or her strengths and weaknesses. The party members can be defined by their types:

Adept: Balanced. Good at everything, the best at nothing.
Spellcaster: Uses offensive spells. They are vulnerable to physical attacks.
Supporter: Uses healing and buff spells. Almost no offensive capability.
Speedster: High speed stat and can hit multiple times, but low offense.
Fighter: Focuses on inflicting damage and weakening enemies.
Technique: Good at striking weak points, but lacks offense otherwise.

It is also the same with the enemies. The player needs to discover different effective tactics and figure out their weaknesses in order to win the battle. There will be a total of 90 playable party members. Only nine will join over the course of the game while the others will require specific tasks to recruit them. Be aware that your Alignment can also affect them, as some will only join when you're at a specific Alignment.

In addition to the battle system, Kyuu needs to train himself due to his inexperience in actual battle. To increase his status capacities, the player needs to digest certain seeds, train with others or complete special tasks.

There are two ways to learn new skills. One is to train under various masters & experienced heroes, who can be found all over the continents. The other way is finding information sources, which are thoroughly hidden throughout Rakenzarn. Kyuu's class, the Arxus Rogue, has an uncanny ability to wield various weapons and use multiple skills. There is a catch though: some skills can only be used when a certain weapon type is equipped. All weapons you can use have different types and each has different effects on the enemies.

Throughout the adventure, you will be given some quests/jobs given by various people in Rakenzarn. While most quests are optional, there are some quests that are related to the story.

Players can also date various girls from different series. This will not affect your alignment but it will reward you with an 'epilogue' moment. There are a total of ten girls.

Development

Rakenzarn Tales was first conceived by Dark Kyu sometime in 2007. Gradually developing over the few years since, it took off with the use of RPG Maker, spending a few years before going public with Version 1.1.

Release History

Version 1.1: April 25, 2013
Version 1.2.1: June 15, 2014
Version 1.2.2: November 11, 2014
Version 2.1.1: October 14, 2015
Version 3: October 5th, 2016
Version 4: July 10, 2018

Story Arcs

The First Journey

Relic Hunters

Madness Syndrome

Chapter 9: Madness Syndrome
Chapter 10: Among the Wolves
Chapter 11: Deep Hatred
Chapter 12: Cry Vengeance

Makai Tournament

Chapter 13: The Tournament
Chapter 14: The Preliminaries
Chapter 15: Darkside of the Mirror

Dark Future

TBA

Journey to the North

TBA

Finale

TBA

Side Story Arcs

Adventures in Equestria Arc

Part 1: Unexpected Company
Part 2: Magical Mystery
Part 3: The Return of Harmony

Kingdom of The Fabled Arc

Part 1: The Queen and the Detective
Part 2: Fabled History

Trivia

Rakenzarn Tales was originally a fanfic before it was heavily refined and turned into an actual RPG Maker game.
- Its original title was simply "Rakenzarn", then "Rakenzarn Stories."
The game's creator hints that there is an overarching plot on works beneath all the arcs and story.
In September 2015, all of the arcs were supposed to be ready, spanning into 10 story arcs. However, the director has a line of better ideas that will fit into the game's lore. As a result, he has to rework all the arcs except the Morning Glory, the Veryl Tournament, and the side arcs.