Video Games Fanclub

[Killix]

My sentiments exactly, Ian.

The price is atrocious, and the fact that it's only available as a glorified rental is absurd.

Even if I wanted to pay $50 for any of those old games, they're not actually offering a one-time sale. They want us to continuously shovel out money to access to these games (many of which I already own on physical OG hardware...) and that starts to add up. (2 years of that sub is around $160 if you have the gross "family" plan that forces you to pay extra to share a service.) I'd rather spend that kind of money on something I'll own permanently.

[Blueysicle]

Killix : All that, plus the fact that it's bundled with the Animal Crossing DLC with no option without it also gets my goat. First, even though a lot of people have Animal Crossing, that doesn't mean everyone does, which means that there are a lot of people out that have to pay extra for DLC to a game they don't own if they want to play N64/Genesis games.

"Oh, but Bluey," you may say. "You have Animal Crossing, don't you? Then if you were going to get the DLC anyways, then it's actually a pretty good deal!" It would be, except that if I were to stop paying for the NSO Expansion Pass, not only does my access to the N64 games get revoked, but so does the DLC. Instead, I went with the option of buying the DLC separately, which means that I can play it forever. $30 for permanent access vs. $50 yearly to rent? Gee, I wonder what the better deal is?

Yeah, I like to own the things I buy, thank you very much. I know that's common in the gaming industry now -to basically rent games full-price to their customers and then yank said games away whenever the developer so pleases- but that doesn't mean I have to like it nor do I have to be happy that Nintendo is getting into it too.

[Blueysicle]

Nintendo Direct tomorrow at 5 PM EST / 2 PM PST.

If I keep hoping every Direct that we'll get a more in-depth look at the Breath of the Wild sequel, one of these days I'll be right, right?

[Blueysicle]

Just watched today's Nintendo Direct:

SPOILER: Click to show

Welp, R.I.P. to Mother 3 fans.

Personally, I think Nintendo will cave in someday and finally localize it. But it doesn't seem likely to happen in the immediate future, since releasing the first 2 games on NSO would have been the perfect time to announce it.

lol, Mouthful Mode Kirby is... kinda terrifying. xD I like Kirby as a character (He's been my overall Smash main since 64) but I couldn't get into his 2D games and I generally prefer 3D platformers, so maybe the Forgotten Land might be more up my alley.

This wasn't really a Direct that catered to me specifically, since nothing really struck me as "I HAVE to have that game ASAP!" (Even the aforementioned Kirby is more of a "maybe" for me) But that's more of a personal thing, and there did seem to be a wide range of things to make other people happy.

(Really, BotW2 is really the only confirmed game currently on the horizon that I'm keeping my eye on. Probably just as well for the time being; 2021 was a busy year for video games for me, and I could do with an off-year. xD )

[Ian Wolf-Park]

For those that have either a 3DS or a Wii U, the eShop will be discontinued March 2023. For more info, see this page

[Blueysicle]

A few months ago, I got Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX for the Nintendo Switch. As its name implies, they're remakes/rereleases of the first two Monster Rancher games that were originally on the PS1. I never played either of the originals (Since I don't own any non-Nintendo consoles) though I did watch the anime when it was airing on TV, and I have played Monster Rancher DS. (Though I've never been able to get past the S Rank tournament) I've mostly been playing 2, and I haven't touched 1 much yet.

For those that don't know, Monster Rancher's main gimmick was the way you would obtain new monsters. What you would do was insert CDs into the Playstation when the game prompted you to, and you would get the monster that CD "contained." Since the Nintendo Switch can't exactly read CDs through its itsy-bitsy cartridge slot, what the remake did instead was make a big database where you could type in the name of an artist or CD and pick whichever one you want out from a list. It's not just CDs, though; it seems that most current generation video games are included as well. And in keeping with the spirit of the original games, I've mostly been generating monsters from games that I own.

The results so far are... interesting.

So. Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Surely the monster you get from that must be something small and cute, right? Like a Hare, Mocchi, or Mew? NOPE! It's a Dragon, of all things.

The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy? To my immense disappointment, it doesn't give a Phoenix. (But Pokemon Let's Go Eevee does)

On the flip side, at least Bug Fables gives a Worm/Golem. (And you can turn it into a Beaclon, when one of the main characters of Bug Fables is a beetle) Stardew Valley gives Suezo/Plant, which I suppose the sub-breed makes it fitting enough. New Pokemon Snap gives Suezo/Worm, which kind of reminded me of a camera lens.

I still haven't managed to get monsters from a lot of the games I own, actually, because there's still a good amount of monsters breeds I haven't unlocked yet. (Mostly the ones from expeditions) The first game I attempted to get a monster from was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and I still don't know what it gives yet! xD

[Killix]

Nice!
Monster Rancher 2 is one of my favourite games of all time. I own the first four games in the franchise and I still play MR2 to this day. 8D (I've even been streaming a playthrough of the 1999 original on the NTWF Discord.)
I was quite interested in picking up MR1&2DX, buuut then KT decided to only release it to Nintendo Switch for consoles. X'D

Going through your CD collection to see what monsters would pop out was definitely one of the most fun things about the original Monster Rancher games. Along with the excitement of unlocking new monsters and re-trying those old discs that had previously given the locked message. XD I remember sitting in front of my PS2 for hours with stacks of music CDs... Hm. Now that I think about it, Monster Rancher was probably directly responsible for speeding up the "disk read error" death of my original model PS2.

Anyway, if anyone picks up MR1&2DX, I can probably answer any gameplay related questions. I've been playing MR2 for decades, and my knowledge is vast and nerdy.

[Blueysicle]

Killix : You said you own the first four games; have you played a lot of Monster Rancher 1? I'd like to play that one more eventually and I think I got a good enough grasp on how 2 works. Is the day-to-day monster raising mechanics more or less the same between the two games?

The training pattern I've been using in 2 is Heavy-Light-Light drills, alternating between Nuts Oil and Mint Leaves every week, and rest once every 15 weeks or right before a battle or errantry. I've been seeing pretty good success with that pattern, and I can usually get a monster strong enough to beat the Legend Cup that way. I'm just wondering if my methods for 2 would translate well to 1, though.

[Killix]

Monster Rancher 1 is something I haven't played in a fairly long time, but its mechanics were a bit more simple than MR2's.

Raising methods and strategies between the two games are different due to a number of factors. In MR1 for example, you can give as many items per week as you want, while in MR2 you can only give one.

This means there are a number of methods that work for MR1 that you can't do in MR2, due to the item limitations. A No Rest method is always the most effective for either game, though.

[Blueysicle]

Killix : I see, I see. Being able to use as many items as I want in 1 sounds like it could get expensive quick, but still useful to know. xD

A MR2 question: I'd eventually like to raise a monster specifically for expeditions (So I can finally see what most of my game library has! xD), so are there any specific monsters you recommend for that? Right now I'm leaning towards Centaur, since its stat gains in Life, Power, Intelligence, and Skill seem workable enough, and I have one in the Lab waiting for something with good enough chemistry to combine it with. (At the moment, I've got Bajarl, Baku, Beaclon, Centaur, Dragon, Gali, Golem, Henger, Metalner, Mew, Mock, Niton, Phoenix, Undine, Worm, and Zilla unlocked. I also have the Stick for unlocking Ghost in my inventory; I just haven't gotten around to using it yet)

[Killix]

Blueysicle

Oh boy, one of the best things about Monster Rancher is that all monsters are viable, it's really up to your personal preference and training style/method as to what works for you.
That said, some monsters are definitely more effective at the expeditions than others. XD Since INT is required for finding items (and finding good items), LIF dictates how many steps you're capable of lasting before you have to head home, and POW is required to break obstacles that block paths.

Colorpandora is a great option for MR2 expeditions, and the main breed I often used for raising a good money-maker. They have excellent LIF gains, which means more steps in an expedition, and the CP/CP has a whopping 500 week lifespan. Training one up might seem slow at first, but if you stick with them, they can become very good monsters over time, as they live such long lives.

Centaur is a solid choice. It has excellent INT gains, which will make finding items easier.
(Though, most of its techs are POW type.) I honestly haven't raised too many Centaurs, so I'm not as familiar with them, but I'd still recommend trying one out as an expedition monster.

Undine might be a monster to consider as well. Its gains are similar to Centaur, but 90% of its techlist are INT type, meaning the INT stat is well used. It is not good at POW, but the majority of obstacles in expeditions don't require a high level of POW to break.

Gali is a good candidate with its all around decent gains, and excellent INT gains. You can train both POW and INT easily, which is great for expeditions.

Mocchi might actually be a good option, too. Mocchi is very easy to raise, and it's pretty much a jack-of-all-trades monster.

I'd steer clear of Ghost, despite their promising INT gains. They have atrocious LIF (and POW and DEF) gains. Not great for expeditioning.

[Blueysicle]

(Apologies for taking so long to reply. xD)

Killix : The first Centaur I had was physical-focused, and I had a good enough time with it as far as battling went, at least. I'm mostly the kind of player that only needs a few reliable techs to get by, and Cross Slash and Triple Stabs did the job in that case. Though I couldn't get that particular one to the Legend Cup, since it was having too much trouble with the Greatest-4 battle (Mostly Loveless, really...) and there wasn't enough time left in its lifespan to bring its stats up, so I just kind of gave up. xD Did beat the other Major 4 battles, though.

On that note, I think I will commit to using a Centaur for expeditions. I've combined the one I had into a new one (Who is also a purebreed Centaur) and will probably start training it before too much longer. For when I need to retire it though, I'll also keep Gali and Mocchi in mind for when I need another expedition monster. (Pokemon Brilliant Diamond gives a Gali/Hare and Undertale gives Mocchi/Pixie)

[Killix]

(No problem!)

Blueysicle

Monster Rancher 2 is interesting in that you don't really need a ton of techs to get a monster into M4.
I learned long ago that it's possible to grab a Hare from the Market and take it all the way to the top, only really needing to learn one specific tech (Bang) from errantry along the way. That one tech has A hit% and B damage. Since the Basic tech 1-2 Punch is already pretty good, that combo is really all you need.

The only thing is that some monster breeds have less than stellar Basic techs, and others have their best techs hidden at the end of tech chains. x_x So for some monsters you really have to rely on multiple generations to grind out tech chains, or fill out the list so you can guarantee getting better techs without wasting too much lifespan.
(and then there are Plants. Plants are INT based monsters with terrible POW gains and a techlist full of POW techs. They only have two INT techs... Why devs, why??)

So some breeds are definitely easier to get a 1st generation individual into M4 for that reason, while others are far better to work on through generations of combination for tech and stat inheritance. (in the original 1999 release, there was a bug that calculated lifespan loss from an errantry twice. So there was no way to fill a techlist in one generation without destroying your monster's lifespan. X'D I think that bug was fixed in DX, at least.)

Good luck with your centaur and your expeditions!

[Ian Wolf-Park]

*sighs* Looks like I'm going to cancel my preorder of Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp, thanks to the game being delayed indefinitely due to the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war (thanks, Russia, for doing that). I think this is the first time in a while that I've cancelled a preorder.

[Blueysicle]

The Breath of the Wild sequel got delayed to next year, looks like. While of course I'm a little disappointed, I just need to remind myself of how many times the original got pushed back and how it ultimately turned out in the end. Insert that famous Shigeru Miyamoto quote here.

In other, personal news: So things went well with raising that Centaur for expeditions in Monster Rancher 2 DX! It's been a couple of weeks now, so the memory is a little fuzzy, but I almost think it ended up reaching the minimum stat requirements for finding all the items before it even entered its prime, lol. (It did help that when combining for it, I used some Pixie Disc Chips to give its intelligence a boost) So I spent that period of time getting it strong enough to get into S Rank for my own personal satisfaction. With that and all of the monster breeds unlocked, the Centaur basically just hangs out in the freezer til I need it for farming Gold Peaches. xD

So now I know what my whole game library holds! Some notable ones:

- Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate has Wracky/Durahan. It wears armor, wields a sword, and lives to fight monsters, so that's good enough for me.

- Monster Hunter Rise has Kato/Joker. It's an evil cat thing, and Magnamalo is darkness-themed tiger-dragon, so I suppose it's fitting? (This is what I'm raising currently and I did name it Magnamalo, so...)

- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster has Joker/Golem. Considering that the Fiends are a big thing in that game, I think this is just about perfect. (Though a Pixie would have been a nice reference too, since your first demon is also called Pixie)

- The Great Ace Attorney has Jill/Hare. One of the main characters in that game makes these animal-themed charms for the other characters, and Sherlock Holmes Herlock Sholmes' charm is a hare, so good enough.

On the flip side into just "WHAT" territory, the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD has Beaclon/Ducken. 0_o I try to name the monsters generated from Disc Stones something related to what they came from, but I haven't the slightest idea what to call this one...