Help! - "Monster" games

[Turner]

Help make a list of pokemon-like games!

Okay... I'm seeking information about all "monster" games... That is, games where you "own" monsters or creatures (similar to pokemon). Oh, and this does not include web-based games, such as neopets.com, or subeta.org.

I'd like ya'll to post any "monster" game, what system it's for, and any info you have on it (opinions, etc).

*begins to make a list*


Title: Pokemon (and all branches of it)
System: GBA, GB, N64, GameCube, DS, and GBC.
Review: I think this one is self explanitory to anyone using this forum.

Title: Monster Seed
System: PS
Review: This game I found to be rather boring... You hatch a monster "seed" and fight with it in an arena, and you go through a dungeon to get more seeds... I never understood the dungon, or much of the game.. if I had a little more info (and instruction book would have helped - silly used games), then I'm sure I'd like to give it another try... The monsters were both cute and monsterous, kinda' like pokemon. Oh yeah, in this game, there is no story line at all (as far as I could tell).

Title: Dragon Warrior Monsters (1 and 2)
System: GB
Review: These games were very fun, and I'd recomend them, especially #2. It's set in the "dragon warrior" world (knight in shining armor sets out to save the princess from the evil dragon sorta' thing), and instead of a knight, you're a kid who sets out to be a monster tamer. You battle monsters out in the world and as you fight them, you can feed them.. If you manage to impress a monster enough, it might start to follow you after you beat it up enough. Then, you go through the whole game with your monster pals following you, and helping you defeat evil. It's really addictive. Especially the breeding, which allows you to get new monsters in the game - and you can even trade monsters with friends.. Oh yeah, as a "bonus" they also have an arena, where you can fight in friendly battles. Again, I highly reccomend this game - I hope they'll make a new one.

Title: Monster Rancher
System: ??
Review: I've never played this game.. info please?

Title: Digimon
System: ??
Review: I've never played this game.. info please?

Title: Azure Dreams
System: GB
Review: This game is VERY addictive. You go through the "monster tower" with your dad's monster pal, and every time you go in it you start back at level 1 (both you, and the tower itself)... Your monster(s) however, stay their level - so you have to rely on them... Not only do your monsters fight, but you fight too (with your sword, and magic) and it's in real time rather than selecting your move from a menu. When wandering the tower, you might stumble upon an egg, and you can take it home and hatch it. To get brand new monsters, you may fuse two of your monsters together to get a new one (which is a bit of a risk, because you loose them both). The entire time you play the game, you can win the favor of a girl, battle your rival, and even help build the town - or your own home. Oh, and another thing, after you beat the game, it's not done! There's 30 levels in the tower for sure, but there are also 99 levels in the basement! ... If you played the game correctly that is. I highly reccomend this game, it's a ton of fun. Oh yeah, there's also a storyline about the death of your dad, but that's not the fun part.

Title: Azure Dreams
System: PS
Review: This is similar to Azure Dreams for the GB, but it's different in a few ways... First of all, the pictures of the monsters are icky. Second of all, there aren't nearly as many monsters in this game as there are for the GB (like... less than half)... And third of all (and most importantly), they left the 99 basement levels out of the game! This means you can't complete the story-line! If you're gonna' get Azure Dreams, be sure to get it for GB, not PS.

Title: Ultima Online
System: PC
Review: You can only really have monsters in this game if you're playing as a "Tamer", that is, somebody with the skill to tame animals and monsters. There's not really a storyline, as it's an MMORPG - but storyline isn't the point of the game, the point is the fact that you're in a whole nother world, with real people, and the real people make the storyline as they go along. When taming monsters, you can also train them (with a lot of work), and have them fight by your side against the evil forces of the world (or the good, if you're a bad guy). A year ago, I would have recommended this game to everyone, but recently the world inside it has been slowly corrupt (with powergamers, rather than roleplayers) - and I'm waiting for the game company to fix many problems that have been occuring (such as an unbalance of power, and the game being item based, rather than skill based). But the "taming" part of the game is still fun.

Title: World of Warcraft
System: PC
Review: I don't play this game, so I don't know much about it - but I do know it's similar to Ultima Online in many ways, that if you get a character that's a "hunter", you can tame animals.

Title: Ragnarok (spelling?)
System: PC
Review: This is another MMORPG... The "monster owning" isn't a big part of this game at all - it's just a little extra they threw in. After you defeat a monster, it might give you an egg.. if you hatch it, it can follow you around... That's pretty much all it does, it just looks neat. I personally find the game boring, because in order to do anything in the game you have to kill LOTS of stuff (and only kill stuff, even if you're a merchant).

Title: Monster Hunter
System: ?? (I think it's for PS2)
Review: I'm not even sure if this is a "monster owning" game... Or if it's even a part of it, but.. I heard rumors that it is (that is, you might find an egg in the wild and raise it)... help me settle this?

Title: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
System: GBA
Review: I've not played this game myself, but I've heard that if you play it right you can "catch" monsters, and raise them in a stable... and be able to "summon" them later on. More info would be helpful.

 

[Yamato-san]

Title: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
System: GBA
Review: I've not played this game myself, but I've heard that if you play it right you can "catch" monsters, and raise them in a stable... and be able to "summon" them later on. More info would be helpful.

In several SRPGs I've seen or heard about, you have the ability to recruit (or create) enemy characters and add them to your army. Aside from FFTA, it's also featured in the original Playstation Final Fantasy Tactics (but unlike Advance, you don't raise them in a kennel and collect souls to have one of your characters transform into them, you just recruit them into your party outright). Pretty much all the NIS games (Rhapsody, La Pucelle, Disgaea, etc.), Ogre Battle, and some others feature it as well. But let it be known that in several of the games listed, monster characters don't seem to act much different from the human soldiers you're capable of adding to your army. They can equip weapons, armor, etc., and don't expect to breed them or participate them in some special tournaments. FF Tactics is an exception to most of this, but they're horribly, horribly limited in that game (they don't compensate for their lack of equipment, also their "breeding" is an egg randomly being added into your party).

Speaking of traditional RPGs that offer monsters on the side, I think I heard that Legend of Mana, the Arc the Lad Collection, and some of the Lufia games offer something like that. There's also a character in Chrono Cross who's able to transform into nearly every monster in the game.

Title: Dragon Warrior Monsters (1 and 2)
System: GB
Review: These games were very fun, and I'd recomend them, especially #2. It's set in the "dragon warrior" world (knight in shining armor sets out to save the princess from the evil dragon sorta' thing), and instead of a knight, you're a kid who sets out to be a monster tamer. You battle monsters out in the world and as you fight them, you can feed them.. If you manage to impress a monster enough, it might start to follow you after you beat it up enough. Then, you go through the whole game with your monster pals following you, and helping you defeat evil. It's really addictive. Especially the breeding, which allows you to get new monsters in the game - and you can even trade monsters with friends.. Oh yeah, as a "bonus" they also have an arena, where you can fight in friendly battles. Again, I highly reccomend this game - I hope they'll make a new one.

They did make a new one in the form of Caravan Hearts. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Square-Enix never decided to get the ball rolling with localized Dragon Quest releases until Dragon Quest VIII. Speaking of unreleased games, there was also a Playstation remake compilation of Dragon Quest Monsters 1 and 2, which features colored, 2D graphics.

Dragon Quest V and VI feature monster-raising aspects as well (however, as with the strategy RPG examples, your monsters act like regular party members for the most part. They can equip weapons and armor, and in Dragon Quest VI, they can even take on job classes). Dragon Quest VII also has a Monster Park, but you don't actually use any for battle. Dragon Quest VIII, meanwhile, features a monster arena, and I think the monsters you catch for that can also be summoned in regular battles (you don't actually level them, though. I think their strength's based on the main character's level). There's also a dungeon-crawler featuring Yangus, a character from Dragon Quest VIII, as a child, and from what I know, you can recruit monsters in it (BTW, it's interesting to note that in the Dragon Quest Monsters games, the main character is a younger version of someone from the main RPG series. Terry is from Dragon Quest VI, while Keifa is from Dragon Quest VII. The only exception to this seems to be Lucca and Ill from Dragon Quest Monsters 2).

Title: Monster Rancher
System: ??
Review: I've never played this game.. info please?

Monster Rancher is a breeding simulation. You raise a monster, train it, feed it, and compete it in tournaments. Unfortunately, your monster is capable of dieing of old age. Also, until later games, you could only raise one monster at a time. What could arguably be the most interesting aspect of this franchise is the fact that it reads monsters off of CDs. You go to a shrine, the game tells you insert a different disc into your Playstation(2), which could be a music disc, a DVD movie, or even a different game. It reads the disc, you switch it back to your Monster Rancher disc, and the game produces a new monster based on the data it just read. There are currently about 5 installments of the main series, and 2 Game Boy Advanced games (which opt for a password system to produce monsters, obviously unable to read discs).

Title: Digimon
System: ??
Review: I've never played this game.. info please?

There're actually several Digimon games, and almost all of them feature a unique playstyle from the others. Digimon World features a V-pet simulation with RPG elements (like Monster Rancher, only one monster at a time, and it can die). Digimon World 2 is more of a dungeon crawler with a free recruitment system (in other words, you catch wild Digimon). Digimon World 3 plays more like a traditional RPG, and rather than free-recruitment, you get 8 Partners through events, and then unlock different forms that they can be capable of evolving into. Digimon World 4 is more of weapon-based RPG, featuring Digimon like Beelzebumon and Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, whom are prone to using weapons like guns or swords. As a result, the amount of Digimon is limited (you only get 16 altogether), and there is no tamer, you play as the Digimon themselves this time.

The Wonderswan games, which were never released here (obviously because the Wonderswan never made it), seem to be a lot more similar to one-another in terms of gameplay, unlike the Digimon World series. For some part, they play like typical RPGs with a free monster recruitment system (with the exception of Brave Tamer, in which you get a set amount of Digimon through events, like Digimon World 3). They all follow the story of a tamer named Akiyama Ryou (who later ends up in the anime series Digimon Tamers, with his final game, the afforementioned Brave Tamer, explaining how he ends up there). Other than those RPGs featuring Ryou, Wonderswan also had D-Project (a game seperate from the ones featuring Ryou), a game featuring a V-pet system like the first Digimon World (except you can raise three monsters at a time). Lastly, the Nintendo DS has Digimon Story, which was just released in Japan very recently. Don't know too much about it at the moment.

Now, as for other monster raisers, I highly recomment Jade Cocoon 2. Its predecessor, Jade Cocoon, is alright, especially if you're into heavy customization, but I really like the second one. Yu-gi-oh! Falsebound Kingdom might be another example. Probably one of the only times you'll be able to play with your favorite battling card monsters in a more RPG-like setting. I might think of more later.

 

[Valkerion Moonshadow]

as yamato-san said i would also recommend the Jade Cocoon game cause you find egg and such you raise battle and evolve them as well

 

[Juputoru]

Dragon Seeds - An old, apparently obscure, game for the PS1. You generate dragons by using combinations of keywords after selecting a species(more of which open up with time), and after waiting for them to hatch(time passes in 3 hour chunks - most things you do take up time, and you can rest at your home to pass time as well, even up to the next day if you have nothing else to do), you start raising them to do well in battle. Your dragons gain stats from fighting(either at the official tournements(which are standard gain-money-depending-on-how-well-you-did battles) or the come-in-anytime battles(which involve betting), from training at the training center, resting(which is only good for gaining HP...and weight, which is a whole other story) or from special items sold at a junk shop. Losing is literally NOT an option - if your dragon loses all its health in battle, it dies. End of story. Your dragons can also die simply from old age, although it *is* possible to get an immortal dragon.
Another aspect you must consider is your dragon's weapon and shield(referred to as a "reflector" since its main purpose is reflecting long-range attacks back at your opponent) - depending on the stage of life your dragon(baby, adult, or senior), you're restricted to certain catagories(small, medium, or large) of equipment. A unique aspect of this game is that you can "catch"(which is simply selecting the dragon you want from a small list) wild dragons - they cannot be used in official tournements, you can't tell their exact age, they actually DON'T age, and they come with their own equipment. Furthermore, specific saved games on your memory card can create special wild dragons.

I myself like the game, but as I said, it's obscure, and there really isn't much to do outside of training your dragon, fighting with it, and getting better equipment for it. I'd go for the Monster Rancher series first if you're looking for monster-raising games - there's a greater variety of things to do and mosnters to raise, and the MR games will probably be easier to find. I'd recommend starting with Monster Rancher 2, although MR 1 is great if you can find it, and MR4's pretty good too. Nothing against MR3, it just doesn't have the same feel that the other three do.

 

[Yamato-san]

oh yeah, I also recall browsing through the list of games on Gamefaqs long ago... there were these PS1 games I took interest in, which were fortunately never released outside of America (not only that, but there were no reviews or guides or anything on Gamefaqs, so I can only guess what the gameplay's like from a few screens). They are Monster Collection, Monster Complete World, and Monster Complete World Ver. 2. I recently decided to look these up on Japanese Yahoo! auctions (since I never saw them on import sites)... Monster Collection's there. However, it looks like one would be a lot more hard-pressed to find the Monster Complete World series. All I could find on auctions were guide books for them, but not the games themselves.

Here is the auction for one of those guide books, which features some screenshots of the pages. From what I can grasp, it seems as though these games use CDs like Monster Rancher. However, I think it uses CDs to generate new dungeons, and not monsters themselves.

 

[Zora]

FFTA:

You can catch a monster using a hunter (Huma). Then you can use a Morpher (No Mou) to temporarily gain that hunted monsters abilities.

 

[Willow's Tara]

Um Dungeon Keeper 1 or 2, they do have evil monster there.
Console: PC
Info- Techinally it reversed on the evil and good thing, you play as an evil master who trains these evil little creatures/monsters to fight the good guys who comes storming into the Dungeon
Rating: I thought it was pretty good
DIt's not that easy, mon the first few klevels it is, but its gets harder.

But this game is really hard to find no9wadays since it was created in like 1997

 

[Turner]

All of this is -very- helpful! I'm going to certainly have to get ahold of Jade Cacoon (one or two, whichever shows up first in a second-hand store)... Should I update the list at the top? Or should I just let it grow from here on down..?

 

[dkrolickm]

Robopon, and some dino one...

 

[Captain Castform]

Title: Azure Dreams
System: PS
Review: This is similar to Azure Dreams for the GB, but it's different in a few ways... First of all, the pictures of the monsters are icky. Second of all, there aren't nearly as many monsters in this game as there are for the GB (like... less than half)... And third of all (and most importantly), they left the 99 basement levels out of the game! This means you can't complete the story-line! If you're gonna' get Azure Dreams, be sure to get it for GB, not PS.

No, the 99 basement levels where not "Left out" of the game, because the PS1 version came out way before the GBC version.

If you want more games with monsters raising.... well, it seems most of the ones I would have mentioned have been covered already... SO I'll just go ahead and mention:

Bomberman Tournament
System: GBA
Bomberman Generation
System: GCN
Bomberman 64 2: The Second Attack
System: N64

Well, really, many of the current Bomberman games have a form of monster raising system. It's really simplistic in that you raise the stats of whatever monster you have equipped by picking up items. You also engage in monster battles every so often which really just plays more like Rock-Paper-Scissors. In BomberMan 64 2, however, your only monster is Pommy, who follows you around and can be used by a second player. It can change into different forms depending on how you raise it.

 

[Sonozaki Maya]

Ragnarok Online, dearie.

And Hunters of World of Warcraft can have pets of all sorts of varieties, that can fight alongside you (someone I know IRL has a L60 hunter with an L60 wolf pet). There are also "Non-Combat Pets" which just follow you around and don't take part in any fighting.

Captain Castform was right, PS1 version came out ages before the GB version (I own the original PS1 version, since in 1997 or something).

 

[General Blaze]

Hmm...I seem to recall seeing a monster game for the PS2 in GameInformer, only you raise robots instead. If I recall, it's kinda simler to Pokemon....I'll have to look it up.

 

[§åmμråï Lïñ¢ðlñ]

Title: Spore
Console: PC
Review: It isn't out yet, but just by the E3 preview, and other things make it look awesome. You go through different stages of evolution, from a single cell to a full monster. You can modify your almost limitly. The game animates your monster realistictly, well if monsters can be real. You go from then into tribes, cities, and then the final frontier, space! They called it Massively Single player, as the game updates your galaxy with monsters made by actual people, but you're never playing online. You can edit practically everythings. Future Best Game Ever. Its supposed to comd out Fall 06 to Winter 07. Check You Tube, or Google video for the movies.

 

[Turner]

Wow... that "spore" game looks quite impressive.. I want it... I looks a lot like they re-made SimEarth.

Also, I'm still hoping to get ahold of a copy of Jade Cacoon, or Jade Cacoon 2.

 

[§åmμråï Lïñ¢ðlñ]

It does look sweet

I can do those last two games

Title: Monster Hunter
SystemS2
Review:This game is awesome. Sadly, you don't raise monsters. Just kill. The eggs belong to wyverns. You have to bring them back to your base, with a wyvern in the areas. You get different parts for carving monsters. You use those parts for armor, weapons, and items. The monster range from walking cats that steal things, and dirty pigs, to enormous wyverns, and dragons even bigger than them.It's online too.Weapons can be bowguns, shield, and sword, dual swords, lance, hammer, and greatswords.

Title: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
System: GBA
Review: I've not played this game myself, but I've heard that if you play it right you can "catch" monsters, and raise them in a stable... and be able to "summon" them later on. (You just summed it up basically. You use a Human only class called Hunter to catch a wild monster, the weaker the easier. They go to a farm. You can go visit the farm, and feed your monsters items. The more items you feed them, the more they like you. The more they like you, the better in battle they are.Also, instead of summoning, it's morphing. Morphers use orbs you get from catching them to master the morph abilities.)

 

[Turner]

*adding another game I've just heard about*

Title: Lost Magic
System: DS
Description: The main character is a wizard boy who captures monsters to help him fight. (And he can actually cast spells and fight along with them/heal them and such.) And the monster designs are rather cool--especially the wolves and the fish men, so far.

 

[BattleFranky~40]

I was expecting a discussion about a possible game based on the "Monster" anime.

I was greatly disappointed

 

[Shinin]

Title: Pokemon (and all branches of it)
System: GBA, GB, N64, GameCube
Review: I think this one is self explanitory to anyone using this forum.

For systems, you're forgetting DS and GBC.

 

[Turner]

I was expecting a discussion about a possible game based on the "Monster" anime.

... what?

For systems, you're forgetting DS and GBC

Edited.

 

[Sneaky]

Monster is an anime that features some deranged doctor or whatsoever. Anyway, here's another game.

Devil's Children

It's pretty old and it's a lot like Pokemon, except that the monster are different and the battle system is different from Pokemon(at that time), having a battle system where you can be attacked by two monsters at once.