Raising up monsters is one of my favourite game play mechanics, but I don't see it done much. Some of my favourite games ever are Jade Cocoon for playstation and the original Dragon Warrior Monsters for GBC.
Anybody else got some awesome monster collecting games? I enjoy pretty much anything where you put together a large team of characters to train like Fire Emblem, but primarily I love seeing a ton of different types of monsters with many different appearances and abilities.
I've played and enjoyed many kinds of pokemon of course, Red, Blue, Silver, Diamond, Stadiums, etc but I've always felt those games were kinda limited, vastly preferred JC and DWM.
What really makes these kinds of games great are awesome breeding systems. I absolutely LOVE how you combine monsters in Jade Cocoon and the resulting monster will retain not only combat attributes of both parents, but would also would visually be a cross. Like if you combined a cat monster with a bird you might get a cat with wings or some crap. DWM / Joker's breeding systems are a ton of fun too. That's one thing I've felt Pokemon is missing somehow, it's breeding system doesn't speak to me at all.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
Pokemon breeding is all about moves/nature and it's so boring and tedious that you need to not have a life in order to get the good stuff.
That's something they really ought to work on with future versions. Something that makes breeding fun as opposed to the mindless chore that it is.
There should really be a WiFi event where you get an Everstone and a Ditto of every nature, preferably with good IVs. That would solve like 80% of the problem with breeding. Honestly if you're willing to settle for IVs that are merely GOOD rather than PERFECT, just getting a Ditto/female of the appropriate nature cuts out most of the tedium.
Getting the right moves isn't really an exercise in tedium because it doesn't have that random element of breeding for nature.
-- SuperNiceDog didn't have to reconcile his name... But Dauntless Hunter is now MrGreenonion
What really makes these kinds of games great are awesome breeding systems. I absolutely LOVE how you combine monsters in Jade Cocoon and the resulting monster will retain not only combat attributes of both parents, but would also would visually be a cross. Like if you combined a cat monster with a bird you might get a cat with wings or some crap. DWM / Joker's breeding systems are a ton of fun too. That's one thing I've felt Pokemon is missing somehow, it's breeding system doesn't speak to me at all.
Have you played Monster Rancher? The breeding system is pretty similar to that.
-- Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan
I have DWM Coby's Journey too, yeah. It was good, but so was Joker. The original is by far my favourite though. The way the story was structured in that tree made progressing so satisfying, along with random environments all the time. Cobey's Journey was repetitive on subsequent replays because they went with static levels to make each stage feel unique, which was good the first time through but not the ffith.
And yeah trust me I replayed the **** out of these games because I absolutely love them.
Reminds me of another game I played called Final Fantasy Legends. You had a party of 4 that you could populate with 3 types. Humans, which were you equipped gear on like normal, and improved their stats by buying them in a store. Like if you wanted more strength on your human you bought a potion called Strength and fed it to him and it would increase his strength by 3 or whatever. The second type was Mutants and they used equipment too. Except they increased in power by doing stuff. Like if they did lots of melee attacks their strength would increase, or if they cast a spell their magic would increase. I thought these were neat, but I loved the third one. Monsters. You would feed your monsters the meat of enemies you slew, and they would completely transform. They could be like any monster in the game, but unless you had a guide (which I did not) you had no idea what they would turn into. They could turn into an Oni and be completely badass or they could turn into an Alabaster which was a weak ass bird and suck. So it was risky transforming them. I almost always had a team of four monsters because I just loved it.
UNFORTUNATELY I got my copy of the game from my cousins and it was bugged or something. There's this tower you have to get into and you play around in this region for awhile until you fight this whirlwind boss named Genbu. He's supposed to drop a key stone or something to let you into the tower (which from what I understand is when the game truly begins), except after the fight I go to the tower and I have no such keystone and I can't get in >_>. I've restarted that game many times and played through up to killing Genbu and I still can't get in. Every couple years I pop the game into my GBC, GBA, SP, DS, whatever, and think, this will be it, THIS IS THE RUN. But nope, I always end up with four messed up Monsters at the tower that won't let me in.
I should emulate it or something maybe.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
Is there actually a good Monster Rancher game? I actually watched the anime when I was a kid and I ended up getting a game for christmas because I thought it would be exactly like DWM but it ended up being some kind of archaeological adventure game or something, nothing to do with raising monsters.
Since then I have never dared hope a Monster Rancher game would give me what I wanted
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
Monster Rancher games tend to be less about going on adventures and are more simulation based. You raise monsters on a farm and manage their training over the years while entering tournaments and other stuff. I think there are some games that diverge from this, but that's what I remember them for. I played the second game for the Playstation and thought it was pretty great.
-- Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan
Hmm, just reading descriptions of Monster Rancher games is getting me fired up.
Here's the description of Monster Rancher 4 from Gamefaq's page for it:
Mocchi, Suezo, and Golem are back in Monster Rancher 4. This entry in the Monster Rancher series features an expanded breeding and training program, full customization of training facilities, and an interactive action adventure element. Breed and train multiple monsters simultaneously with a variety of training equipment to choose from. The more efficiently you plan out your training facilities, the better you will be able to train your new monsters. You can also pop other Monster Rancher CDs and DVDs into your disc drive to unlock new types of monsters.
I don't know what this all means but I WANT TO DO IT
Hmmm. The latest one I see is for the DS. Would I be better off ebaying a PS/PS2 Monster Rancher or get the new DS one?
On a side note, I guess the game I got that ruined MR for me was Monster Rancher Explorer. How cruel of them to trick me with a game like this and deny me what sounds like an amazing series of monster raising games!
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
From: ExThaNemesis | #002 Pokemon breeding is all about moves/nature and it's so boring and tedious that you need to not have a life in order to get the good stuff.
That's something they really ought to work on with future versions. Something that makes breeding fun as opposed to the mindless chore that it is. What he said. Don't go into Pokemon for this angle in particular.
-- K | H | A | Q | Q | A | H | K "we're about 50 years behind the rest of western society." -icon on B8
Btw, CoolCly. My ex f***ing LOVES Monster Rancher, and I think you would too. She has similar tastes (adores Jade Cocoon) and likes Monster Rancher even more.
-- K | H | A | Q | Q | A | H | K "we're about 50 years behind the rest of western society." -icon on B8
Monster Rancher 2 is pretty good. You don't raise "teams" of monsters but you do raise one. And yeah once you raise 2 monsters you can combine them to get a monster that has techniques/attributes based on the parents and will have a hybridy look, so yeah it seems to be everything you want.
On the other hand I haven't heard good stuff about 3 so I probably wouldn't recommend that. Didn't even know 4 existed so your guess is as good as mine.
-- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love!
There should really be a WiFi event where you get an Everstone and a Ditto of every nature, preferably with good IVs. That would solve like 80% of the problem with breeding. Honestly if you're willing to settle for IVs that are merely GOOD rather than PERFECT, just getting a Ditto/female of the appropriate nature cuts out most of the tedium.
Pokesav cuts out all of the tedium. >.>
-- We can't stop here. This is bat country. Brace for the G's, and fast heel-toe work.
Although uh the hybridyness of the look is like... palette swaps. For instance if you combine the eyeball dude with a dinosaur, you're either going to get an eyeball with a scaly exterior, or a dinosaur with one eyeball. It's not anything super dynamic like a giant eyeball with dinosaur claws and a tail. I mean you can get some interesting looks out of it but I'm just saying all of the 400-500 monsters are going to fit in one of the 60-80 or so "bases"
-- No problem! This is a cute and pop genocide of love!
Anyway, you kind of raise monsters/dragons in Bahamut Lagoon, and it's a pretty awesome game, but it's not exactly the kind of monster raising you're talking about. It's a strategy RPG, and the dragons are more of a side project for helping you in battle. The dragons also come to you at set times, like after you complete a certain mission.
Yeah I think I'm gonna get the DS Monster Rancher and see where that takes me.
I might look into Bahamut Lagoon, I do like side raising of monsters too. I spent an ungodly amount of time playing Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for the Gamecube, and I don't even want to know how much of it was spent playing in the Chao Gardens raising my little Chao friends.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
I've played most of the series, and Monster Rancher 2 is definitely the highlight. It's probably my favorite PS1 game. I don't know much about the DS version, but part of the fun of the early Monstet Ranchers was trying every CD in the house to see what monsters came out, and I doubt the DS game can compare to that.
Also the Persona series, in a way. You fuse different Personae to make new ones, and moves and stats carry over. And your social sim levels give them EXP bonuses after fusion depending on their type.
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"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto
Digimon World is pretty awesome. No breeding, but how your Digimon evolves is completely dependent on how you play. When I originally played it, I kept ending up with that one awful slime Digimon...but once you get the hang of it things get a lot better. That and I think I'd do a lot better now then I did when I was 12 or so...
God I wish I hadn't sold that game.
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*Lives in the Future* http://img.imgcake.com/vaga/0vvvwgifem.gif
Reminds me of another game I played called Final Fantasy Legends. You had a party of 4 that you could populate with 3 types... I loved the third one. Monsters. You would feed your monsters the meat of enemies you slew, and they would completely transform. They could be like any monster in the game, but unless you had a guide (which I did not) you had no idea what they would turn into. They could turn into an Oni and be completely badass or they could turn into an Alabaster which was a weak ass bird and suck. So it was risky transforming them. I almost always had a team of four monsters because I just loved it..
The Final Fantasy Legend series (there are three of them) are actually part of the SaGa series, just renamed for marketing purposes. You may be interested in the Playstation 1's SaGa Frontier. One of the playable main characters is a Monster that uses that exact system and I think every main character gets at least one Monster...at least, I don't recall them being particularly rare party members.
Not what you're looking for, but I couldn't help bringing it up since you mentioned loving that mechanic. Pretty sure all 3 Legends games also let you build your own party including Monsters and I don't think the games are connected, so you may want to just try one of the sequels at some point.
-- In this world which will someday fall to ruin... ...dreams and hopes don't matter at all.
I never tried JC2, one reason being I could never get a hold of a copy and also I think there was another reason I don't remember. I think maybe it's cause I heard the merging isn't as awesome?
I played a Saga game once. I think it was Unlimited Saga? It was literally the worst game I have ever played. Like Big Rigs bad. Soooo I've never tried another Saga game since.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
I know I've been spamming the board with it the past few weeks, but the game I've been making, sandquest, is exactly what you're looking for.
It's a game where you personify inanimate objects to be party members, so far in the demo you can recruit a stalagmite, a cactus, a pair of bunny slippers, a giant hentai figurine.
....tell me more
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
Judging anything based on Unlimited Saga is so bad, I can't even think of an appropriate analogy... "like judging Sonic based on Chronicles" is the closest I can get. Both are horrible games that have nothing to do with their respective series.
-- In this world which will someday fall to ruin... ...dreams and hopes don't matter at all.