The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic (REALLY BIG BATTLE SYSTEM UPDATE)

[RPGD]

Since I cannot play my fresh copy of Monster Farm 5 until my Japanese PS2 arrives, I'm just going to sit here and stare at it so as to ensure it dosen't rape me at night.

In the meantime, allow me to show you a video of the game in action:

TWO FLAVORS!

GAME OPENING

PROMO ANIME PREVIEW

TGS GAMEPLAY VIDEO

I'll be posting news and impressions here as frequently as possible.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

I'd ask you about the game but since you can't play it yet I guess I'll wait for your next update.

[RPGD]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

Looking through the instructions booklet and news tidbits, I can confirm some stuff. Ask away.

[Manji]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

is the instruction booklet in color? japanese games always come with color instructions.. american companies like to cut costs with cheap b&w... you notice?

[RPGD]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

Actually, all Western MR instructions booklets, at least from MR3 and beyond, are in color, sporting some nice art, nonetheless.

And yes, MF5's instructions booklet is in color.

Here's a random tidbit: The game has voice acting.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

Is it a little voice acting at key points or do you mean all character dialouge is spoken?

[RPGD]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

Not sure, but it certainly dosen't look like brief hints of dialogue.

[RPGD]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

My PS2 arrived today, and I managed to spend some time with MF5 at long last. Suffice to say, it's as text heavy as ever, but I am able to comprehend the jist of things and am slowly breaking into the game flow.

I gotta say, it'll take a little getting used to. However, I'm having a lot of fun doing so. Here's what I've found out so far.

In this game, your companion, Nayuta the shaman girl, will regenerate monsters from disk stones for you without the need for a shrine. Not only that, but she can re-seal monsters in disk stones for later use. This is a first in the series, and makes for convenient storage, as it acts the same way as a lab's freezer, only you can carry them with you. If you're tight on funds, you can reseal a monster in a disk stone and sell it for a nice ammount of cash at the disk market, depending on how strong it is. Furthermore, she can combine two monsters without the need for paying lab fees. Sheesh, where the hell has she been for the last four games?!

Backtracking, I mentioned the return of the market. Rather, the monster market. In MR1 & 2, you could choose between one of three monsters, with the third one being a seasonal one, to regenerate. In MF5, there's apparently one in every town. In the first one, you have a choice between three purebreeds (Mocchi, Golem and Suezo) and a weekly-rotating hybrid monster. This should make the game much more accessible to those with few disks to regenerate monsters from.

I managed to get into one tutorial battle, and the system seems a bit odd at the moment. The monsters don't move very quickly, but it looks like it was made to be effective with three monsters. You have to put your monsters in a certain formation to support each other, and can switch between them. The counterattack system from MR4 appears to be gone, too. It seems that when you reach a distance in which you can perform an attack, by hitting the X button, everything pauses and you get to choose one of the attacks for that distance in the monster's arsenal of moves. By selecting the move, the monster attacks, then we get back to the moving. Furthermore, to push a monster away, you have to hit [ ] repeatedly until a bar below the monster is full to knock the opponent away. In any case, I've yet to have more experience with battles, but it looks like it'll take some getting used to.

Now for the kicker; the transformation of the main flow:

First off, at the start of the week, you assign a monster to Julio (you), Marlene (bellydancer) and/or Gaufre (gentle giant). At the start, you can only assign a monster to Julio. This will change in a couple of months' time. Next, you assign the type of performance each monster will do (There are a whole slew of options for training, and I can't tell the difference yet. However, the blue option seems to be a solid base for me at the moment) with or without a performance gadget (In lieu of training gadgets), or let them rest. It's micromanaged in a similar manner to MR4.

Now, the difference here is that this training dosen't boost your monsters' stats at all, rather it increases the monsters' "Motivation". Motivation appears to be one of the most important aspects of this game, because it's a deciding factor in Show Time.

You see, Show Time is THE time your monsters' stats increase. Once every month or so, you can schedule a show. As soon as it starts, you've got a 30-second time limit to choose a monster for a performance.

Your monsters are housed in three clown head capsules. To choose one, simply walk towards it and it will pop open, revealing the training gadget you assinged to the particular monster, if any.

This is where the player comes in. Depending on the capsule you chose, you will play a type of rhythm game in which you must press the right buttons at the right time to play the accordian. The difficulty of this segment depends on the level of the training gadget, 1 being the easiest and 3 being the hardest. Fortunately, you can practice these as much as you'd like during Free Time.

Depending on how well you perform, you monster will get even more psyched up, and the score under the monster's symbol increases. If you do well enough, you'll see the familiar "Success". Otherwise, you'll get "Failure".

Either way, the monster will rest afterwards for later use, allowing you to move around a bit, collect any cash the audience tosses on-stage and select a new monster to perform. The 30-second limit stops whenever a monster is chosen to perform, so use this time wisely to have your monsters perform as much as possible.

Once the time is up, the show ends and the results screen appears, displaying money earned and the monsters' statistical boosts. Furthermore, unlike normal training, the stat gains from Show Time are astronomically high (total increases can reach three-digit numbers). The higher your monsters' motivation from the prior weekly training, the higher the gains.

That's the jist of it. It's a really interesting new way of training monsters, and I certainly enjoy it.

I'll tell you when I get to try the new ventures in this game. It's looking really good.

Happy Ranching!

EDIT: Oh, and I have yet to encounter voice acting. But the music is sweet!

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

Sounds different but a lot of fun.

[The Dark Jester]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

I cant wait to play it.

[hitogoroshi]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

I'm most exitied about the show time aspect. The battle thing, which must be a letdown for some, sounds pretty cool to me, being a fan of slow paced stategy.

[RPGD]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic

After much Vs. mode experimentation with one, two and three monsters, I believe I now understand the new battle system.

It turns out it's not unlike the battle systems of previous entries in the series, maintaining the bar battling standard, however it possesses very subtle differences in certain areas.

First of all, before every battle starts, you choose which monsters you want to use (you can choose up to three). Then, you decide where you want your monster(s) to be on the battlefield; right up front, hiding someplace in the back or somewhere in the middle, you can position them anywhere you want. Once you've done that, you can assign them an item (outside Vs. Mode. I haven't experimented with this yet). When you're ready, the battle begins.

In this game, all monsters appear on the battlefield at the same time and share the same Guts bar, starting with 50 as usual. You use the left and right directional buttons to move your monster as per normal, but this time you only have to tap it in the direction you want for it to move, and it will do so until you press X, 'till it reaches the far back or comes to grips with the opponent. More on the latter later.

If you're using more than one monster, you can use the shoulder buttons to switch between the monsters you're controling. It is noteworthy that any moving monsters won't stop if you switch to another monster. This ability to control all three monsters simultaneously during battle in real time adds and interesting strategy element, allowing you to go on the offensive while keeping weakened monsters out of harms way.

As you've no doubt noticed from screenshots and videos, there is no move bar under the Guts bar. This is because distance is no longer an issue, as attacks have been split into two categories; close range and far range, I shall dub them for now.

Far range moves are what you'll be doing whenever you aren't up to grips with the opponent, encompasing near mid, far mid and far ranges. By hitting the attack button (The O button in this game), time freezes and a move menu pops up, in which you get to choose an attack to use. You can have up to four moves in this range, excluding Union Attacks (more on that later). If you don't have enough Guts to use a certain move, that move will be blanked out. In any case, after selecting the move, you will be prompted to select the monster within range to use the attack on. This will cause the monster to excecute it as per normal.

As for close range moves, you can use these when you come to grips with the opponent by simply moving up right in front of them. This will trigger a chime and cause both monsters to have red glowing circles appear below them so as to indicate that the monsters are deadlocked, stopping in their tracks. In this position, you can also have up to four moves. The move execution here is identical to the manner of move excecution in far range. At least apparently, these moves are significantly more powerful than the far range moves.

Of course, the opponent wouldn't want to be in this position, and in some cases neither would you. Fortunately, you can push the enemy back by repeatedly tapping square to fill a bar under the monster. Once it's full, the monsters break away and get pushed back.

If more than two monsters are deadlocked, when you hit O, you will be able to select moves for all your deadlocked monsters. In this respect, you can have them all gang-attack the same monster. Useful for taking out the biggest threat quickly.

Furthermore, there's the concept of Union Attacks. These moves are extremely powerful and require a great ammount of Guts (Usually over 60) and for the monsters to be in a certain position, either deadlocked or not (So far, I've only been able to use it while deadlocked). The Union Attack is differentiated from the Pow and Int attacks by a red color. It attacks all three opposing monsters for massive damage. However, you can only use it a certain number of times. I am currently unsure as of which values influence it's effectiveness.

Furthermore, it is also noteworthy that Spd serves an additional property; that being it also influences how quickly your monster moves about the battlefield. If your monster has low Spd like, say, below 100, it will move very slugishly. On the other hand, if it's Spd is very high, it can practically skate around the arena.

Also worth noting is that foolery returns again, this time bearing the symbol "?!". Depending on whether it's Bullishness or Timidity, your monster will move forwards or backwards, and won't stop if you press the X button. You can still excecute attacks, though, but the accuracy and/or damage will be fairly minimal. I've never landed a shot whenever I tried to get my bullish monster to strike.

There you go, an extensive analysis of the battle system at a glance. Still fast and exciting, yet adds a very intriguing real-time strategy element. I trust this will make for some very interesting battles.

Happy Ranching!

[Denmo]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic (REALLY BIG BATTLE SYSTEM UPDATE)

Who is that white cat guy and where have I seen him before?

[RPGD]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic (REALLY BIG BATTLE SYSTEM UPDATE)

Oh, that's Toro-kun, the Sony mascot. He appears as a breed in this game.

[Denmo]

Re: The Official Monster Farm 5 Topic (REALLY BIG BATTLE SYSTEM UPDATE)

Sony has a mascot?