So, I hate to say it, but I hated the Monster Rancher series with a passion. It was way too dark/depressing for me when I first played it. One of my friends had the original playstation version, and we would drink illicit beer and play. (I was older than she was and I could buy liquor and beer...her console and game came from her older brother...) I basically loved Pokemon to death while shunning the Monster Farm/Monster Rancher series - it was much easier to level grind than to decide what stats should be minimized or maximized. These gaming sessions finally came to a head when the girl kept hitting on me, and I decided not to pursue her. (It was a date at the CNE which made me realize that she wasn't good for me.) It also marked the first time I lost a monster due to stress and other factors - that pretty much traumatized me for a week. (The animation of the barn/ranch door opening and your monster disappearing.)
It also didn't help that we didn't have much of a supply of discs to try out in the monster generator. It was kind of funny, although, because the first monster I generated was a tiger...
My second exposure to Monster Rancher was a tad more...explicit. My grandfather ended up passing away, and my mother had to rush over to Hong Kong to see his funeral. I, being a spoilt brat, asked for a travel present - and ended up with a then new gba flashcart. It was one of the cheaper ones, with horrible Engrish in the menus and a horrible driver package. It also came with a huge reader/writer - which eventually failed pretty badly. But, I digress - the first thing I tried out was the Monster Rancher series on gba. All I remember is that I kept losing tourneys, and my monsters literally had nothing to eat most of the time. It was pratically a starvation simulation for those poor things. This period made me pretty depressed - I had no higher education, and no prospects for anything. Kind of funny, as the monsters were living my depression within the game.
I eventually swore off the Monster Rancher series, because it just seemed like too much micromanagement, and it was too realistic for me.
So, now - I'm massively tired of Pokemon. I haven't played anything but casual games on my ds for a long while, and I'm looking for something with meat and stragetgy in it. I wait for Monster Farm 2 to be translated, even though I still had nothing but loathing for the badly designed gba Monster Rancher. (It wasn't forgiving - you lose a couple of matches, and you literally had no money to heal or make your monsters better...) It finally comes out, and I'm not unhappy with it. I play for whole days, but don't manage to beat the S rank tourney until I decide to fuse a monster. It comes out pretty well, and thanks to the Internet, I have a couple of monsters that are halfway decent. I go on errantry, and unlock the Ninja sword for the Durahan combination. Luck is with me, and I also manage to unlock the dragons on it. I retire my monster - it was a -ish monster - the Gundam one. I get the magic spell unlocking generator - ended up playing with it and getting a Goldie the first try. I train it, and end up using that to defeat the S ranking. I ended up playing around a bit and finding a monster with a durahan sub type, and fuse the Goldie and them together.
The Pure Durahan rocks. It's a pretty powerful monster - but that's not just it. It's the combination of a variable rewards system (eg. you aren't sure that you win or you lose all the time), secrets, and a combination of chance make this game worthwhile, finally. See also - gamer maturity, I finally appreciate games that have substance, and a new challenge - there was no more challenge in Pokemon...
So, yeah, a personal history with games....say what you will - I like the monster generation tactics in this game....although, drills are annoying to try to learn moves with them.
It also didn't help that we didn't have much of a supply of discs to try out in the monster generator. It was kind of funny, although, because the first monster I generated was a tiger...
My second exposure to Monster Rancher was a tad more...explicit. My grandfather ended up passing away, and my mother had to rush over to Hong Kong to see his funeral. I, being a spoilt brat, asked for a travel present - and ended up with a then new gba flashcart. It was one of the cheaper ones, with horrible Engrish in the menus and a horrible driver package. It also came with a huge reader/writer - which eventually failed pretty badly. But, I digress - the first thing I tried out was the Monster Rancher series on gba. All I remember is that I kept losing tourneys, and my monsters literally had nothing to eat most of the time. It was pratically a starvation simulation for those poor things. This period made me pretty depressed - I had no higher education, and no prospects for anything. Kind of funny, as the monsters were living my depression within the game.
I eventually swore off the Monster Rancher series, because it just seemed like too much micromanagement, and it was too realistic for me.
So, now - I'm massively tired of Pokemon. I haven't played anything but casual games on my ds for a long while, and I'm looking for something with meat and stragetgy in it. I wait for Monster Farm 2 to be translated, even though I still had nothing but loathing for the badly designed gba Monster Rancher. (It wasn't forgiving - you lose a couple of matches, and you literally had no money to heal or make your monsters better...) It finally comes out, and I'm not unhappy with it. I play for whole days, but don't manage to beat the S rank tourney until I decide to fuse a monster. It comes out pretty well, and thanks to the Internet, I have a couple of monsters that are halfway decent. I go on errantry, and unlock the Ninja sword for the Durahan combination. Luck is with me, and I also manage to unlock the dragons on it. I retire my monster - it was a -ish monster - the Gundam one. I get the magic spell unlocking generator - ended up playing with it and getting a Goldie the first try. I train it, and end up using that to defeat the S ranking. I ended up playing around a bit and finding a monster with a durahan sub type, and fuse the Goldie and them together.
The Pure Durahan rocks. It's a pretty powerful monster - but that's not just it. It's the combination of a variable rewards system (eg. you aren't sure that you win or you lose all the time), secrets, and a combination of chance make this game worthwhile, finally. See also - gamer maturity, I finally appreciate games that have substance, and a new challenge - there was no more challenge in Pokemon...
So, yeah, a personal history with games....say what you will - I like the monster generation tactics in this game....although, drills are annoying to try to learn moves with them.
