Let's Ranch Monsters!

Ah, that noble sport of cockfighting! Whether your fancy is monsters, demons, trading cards, robot parts, or anything else, it seems the only thing that can make collection more addicting is to find some way to do make them do battle.

In the Monster Rancher series, the sport of kings is monster battling. Even the low-ranking amateur fights draw sizable crowds, and, of course, there's lots of money involved. You play the role of a monster trainer who, at the beginning of the game, receives a run-down ranch and a plucky beginner assistant. From there it's pretty much open-ended. You take one monster at a time and train it for fighting, or maybe a challenge. Winning higher levels of battle grants you the privilege of raising some of the very strongest ones, but that's really a minor thing. The battles are one-on-one fights with a fairly unique real-time system (but I'll get to that later).

Unlike, say, Pokemon, Monster Rancher has no adventuring at all. It's not so much an RPG as it is a management simulator. Without questing, how can you possibly acquire new mons? That's where the series' trademark mechanic comes in: according to the in-game fiction, there are "disc stones" with the souls of monsters contained in them. They're actually CDs (and, later, DVDs). You put any compact disc in the world in your Playstation, and it'll fart out a brand new baby monster to be your pit-fighting cash cow. When the time comes for picking out monsters, I'll give you a choice from several that I have on hand, and go with the most popular. If, for some reason, that doesn't work out, I'll go with the next most-popular.

Your monster will age and eventually die, and it is expected that you'll raise dozens of them over the course of your career. And it is a career - as a professional monster rancher, you'll need to ensure that you earn enough in winnings to cover your expenses. That and training a monster that wins in the highest rank are your only goals, and there are as many ways to approach these goals as there are species of monster to raise (in Monster Rancher 2, there are at least four hundred).

Because of this, I will do pretty much whatever you guys tell me to. These games contain lots of secrets and hidden mechanics that I, at best a casual fan, don't know about. I'm going to play it without any sort of guide, so I am virtually unspoiled.

I intend to update every Monday with a summary of what's been going on. Before we begin, though, we'll need to know: what are we naming our monster rancher, and are we going to be a man or a woman? This makes almost zero difference, but it's nice.

Also, for our first monster, here's five CDs I've chosen at random. In case one of them requires that the trainer not be a rookie, you should specify a second choice.

1. The soundtrack bonus CD that came with Chrono Trigger DS
2. "Head Hunters" by Herbie Hancock
3. some Linux liveCD from 2007
4. Metal Gear Solid, disc 2
5. Grunt: Pigorian Chant

Next time, I'll offer you some wacky music CDs from the collections of my friends and relatives. Additionally, although I said I wouldn't rely on any guides, I am making an exception for the guide that lists rare monsters that can only be gotten from specific CDs; if I can track down any of those, I will definitely show off the results.

First update, with decisions based on your input, will be this Monday.

I look forward to this!

...

I liked the anime.

At the first possible (convenient) opportunity, you need to use Tiger and/or the Gray Wolf variant of him/her/it. (I have no idea what monsters are in the first game, but I'm confident at least one of them is, and those are my favorites)

Oh god I loved the anime.

Starting disc should be "Head Hunters". If that isn't rookie-level, MGS disc2.

Also, being that I'm a male, I vote the character should be male as well.

Female rancher named Meryl with the Metal Gear disk.

And if that doesn't work, the Linux CD.

Awesome! I remember renting this game and playing it with my older brother. The idea that any CD could be inserted into the console and produce a unique monster was just incredible. I'm definitely looking forward to this.

I don't have any name suggestions, but the character should be male, because I'm a masculist. Not really.

EDIT: First choice is Chrono Trigger, second choice, Metal Gear.

I, uh, liked the anime too. :I

Just to be contrary, I'm gonna suggest you go with the Chrono Trigger CD.

If I recall, the girl Holly from the anime acts as the helper girl for the third entry in the series, doesn't she?

Holly is actually your helper in the first game in the series (so, uh, this one if I'm reading things right) and she shows up as a rival trainer in 2. She might also be in the third, but I've never had a chance to play that one.

I'll go down for Chrono Trigger followed by Metal Gear - I know Metal Gear gives you a special monster in 2 but I don't know about 1 so I'd be interested to find out.

Hopefully we can get a Doodle at some point just because of the crazy stuff it does.

Edit:

Now this thread has made me dig out Monster Rancher 4 again (which isn't my favourite entry, but is the only one I have handy). Man I wish the DS games got localized, if only for the perverse pleasure of generating a monster from one of the GBA Pokemon games....

Tecmo games get produce special monsters, don't they?

Yeah usually but the only one I recall off-hand in the first game though is Tecmo's Deception. I think most of the rest of the special monsters in the first game were on music CDs.

This is 2.

Oh man, I played the hell out of the first two installments in this series. Man, that was such a long time ago...this thread done made me nostalgic, son, and that's a whoppin'.

Man, I was looking forward to this one. Go for the Chrono Trigger disc, with MGS Disc 2 as a backup.

I also liked the anime.

Female trainer please.

As for the discs: I didn't know about the MGS special, so why not? #2 goes to "Pigorian Chant" cause the idea of pigs doing the chants is just hilarious.

I never realized the show had so many fans. Like me apparently.

Yea, in Monster Rancher 2, you get a Kasumi Pixie monster from the Dead or Alive disc. Some other games and soundtracks can get you unique monsters too.
I also watched the anime, but they changed the timeslot or started re-running episodes, so I never got to the end. =( I also borrowed my friend's gameshark to give myself a Moo monster.

Monsters rule.

Ah I see. Sorry about that as I couldn't really tell from the opening post. Just as well though as 2 and 3 are the ones I've spent the least time with. I'm still standing by my choices and looking forward to see where this goes.

Female trainer, Chrono Trigger, Linux

What happens if you use Monster Rancher 1 as a generator for Monster Rancher 2?

Another suggestion: Kefka's Domain, the US domestic release of the FF6 soundtrack.


Edit: oh right, trainer name. Uhh..... Breeches.
(Ok, running out of synonyms for pants.)

The world may never know. (Monster Ranchers 2 and Advance are the only ones I have)

I can't remember if you got something spectacular for the MR 1 disc, or something curiously uninteresting for it.

You get some kind of a freaky mutant Suezo from it, according to Gamefaqs.

What happens if you use monster rancher 2 in monster rancher 1? Do Time and Space bend into each other forming some sort of dimensial mobius strip in which they no longer have any meaning?

Or do you just get some random crappy monster?

Well, I know that putting the Monster Rancher 1 CD in Monster Rancher 1 gives you an unexciting Tiger/Hare monster.
And Gamefaqs confirms that putting 2 into 1 gives you a Golem. Just a regular old crummy Golem.

They chant in Pig Latin.

OKAY LET'S GET GOING





Hi!

"Please sign your name here."



"Breeches, you will be a new trainer, right? We're going to have you take the trainer type test. Please answer these questions."

As far as anyone knows, the outcome of this personality quiz makes absolutely no difference in the game, so you can just pretend that I answered exactly what you would have. They're all true-or-false.

1. I can mostly forget about an unpleasant experience by the next morning.
2. Before I start proceeding with something, I should make sure it's safe.
3. I believe that aliens exist.
4. In a battle, what counts in the end is mental power.
5. I have a valuable friend whom I never betray.
6. Sometimes, it's important for people to simply let something go.
7. When I am ordered to do something I like, I'm confused.
8. Once I determine a goal, I must accomplish that goal no matter what.
9. Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night, and cannot go back to sleep.
10. Unfortunately, or fortunately, in this world, money can solve most problems.

"Hello, Breeches. Thank you for waiting."



What, don't I get to see the results?



This is Coltia, Breeches' perky assistant. She does all the real work.

"She is the trainer assistant who is going to your place. She is still a bit childish, but she sure is a good girl. Here she is. Coltia!"



"Please call me Colt!"

Old Man: "You're gonna work with her for quite some time, so please try to get along with each other. Do your best to raise a monster well so that it can win the Major 4. I'm looking forward to your performance!"

Colt: "Yes sir! Well, Breeches, let's do our best!"

Colt offers a brief run-down of the basics. I will summarize the results.

Trainer Assistant: they assist trainers. The process of becoming an expert is very intensive, and as a consequence, a good assistant is very knowledgeable. This is a good thing, because Breeches lost the manual for the game.

Tournament: Monsters are mammals. Monsters fight all the time. The purpose of monsters is to fight in tournaments. The bulk of a trainer's income will be winnings from tournaments, and raising monsters to fight in them will be the bulk of the expenses.

The Major 4: You thought they were going to be like the Elite Four, but the Major 4 are just the four highest-ranking tournaments of the year. You need an invitation just to get in. The stated goal of the game is to win all four of them.

Disc Stone: They're CDs, and they have monsters on them. At the shrine in town, you can get a monster out of them. Whatever is on the disc determines not just the species of monster, but also its stats. Try all your CDs. (One thing I regret is that we'll be unable to replicate the experience of sitting around on a lazy Sunday morning just trying every CD you can find with a friend. Ah, good times....)

Ranch: This is where we live. More importantly, this is where monster training happens.

"Then, let's go find our monster!"



This is the town. From here we can go to the Market, the Shrine, the Lab, save or load, or return to the Ranch (but only if we have a monster).

The Market sucks. You can get some generic monsters there even if you have no CDs, but that's not a problem for us.

The Shrine is the most important place in town. That's where we turn CDs into monsters. It's our first stop.

We'll be spending some time at the Lab later. In the Lab, you can put monsters into suspended animation, and you can combine two frozen monsters into a new baby monster with features of both parents and generally stronger stats. Monsters don't age while they're in the Lab, so you can wait as long as it takes to get exactly the monsters you need to breed. You can also just leave them there if you get bored of a good one and bring it back later. Since you don't get to keep the parents after you combine monsters, you have to be careful.

TO THE SHRINE



"I am Chaille, a priestess of this Shrine. We reproduce monsters from disc stones (CD) and slates (backup data of 'Monster Rancher')."

A word on Slate reproduction: you can load monsters from Monster Rancher 1 into Monster Rancher 2 by choosing this option. Since I don't have Monster Rancher 1, you won't ever get to see it. Sorry!

By popular request, we are going with the Chrono Trigger DS bonus soundtrack CD thing.



I can hardly wait!



"...this rare monster can be reproduced only by an authorized IMa trainer. Please come again...."

Guys, we need to level up before we can go with the Chrono Trigger monster. So the second choice was Metal Gear Solid, disc 2. Let's go with that one.

(A moment later) "I regret to tell you that this rare monster" FUCK.

Unfortunately, this is a big problem in the early game. We haven't yet proven that we can handle the really strong monsters. So... the third choice seems to have been: The Kubuntu 7.04_x86 LiveCD.

And here it is, the moment of truth:

"I regret to tell you" GOD DAMN IT ALL

Okay, we're just having bad luck is all. We'll try Head Hunters next. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that Herbie Hancock will be too cool to produce a monster lame enough for a newbie like Breeches.





"Curious looking monster."



Hell yes we are taking this monster to our Ranch. We went through like fifty (four is like fifty in that they are both numbers) CDs trying to get that guy, and it looks like he doesn't suck.

A breakdown of the stats. There's more to it than there, but the simple version is like this: Life is HP; Power determines the damage done by physical attacks. Intelligence is both damage by and resistance to non-physical attacks; Skill is accuracy; Speed is dodging power; Defense is resistance to physical attacks.

Every monster species has a type (which dictates the model and the general shape of the stats) and a subtype (which dictates the texture and skews the stats); each type and subtype corresponds to one monster family. This guy is a member of the Suezo family, those little buy-eyed things that are the series mascot, and the purple coloration marks it as having a particular subtype that I don't know what the name is.

Notice how small the newborn monster is on this screen.



Right. This will be Breeches' very first monster, guys, so make it a good one.

I won't ask you to provide too much input for our general raising style, but do be advised that there is a continuum of strictness with which we can raise our monsters, based primarily on what we punish or reward them. These approaches have different effects on some monsters - some need a loving and supportive atmosphere, and some need a firm disciplinarian to keep them in line. This influences the monster's Loyalty stat, which comes into play during battles, as well as its overall levels of happiness and stress, and a number of other minor effects. Since you guys are more Breeches than I am, I want you to make the broad decisions about raising style, so: should we go for strictness, leniency, or what?

You'll get to see the results of your choices next Monday, by which time this little tyke's training regimen will be well underway.

Hard ass taskmaster baby all the way! They don't stop till they're dead.

I think it's only appropriate that we name the beast Herbie.

Purple Suezo freak

No monster being surrogate raised by me is going to look that patently ridiculous. Name him Mosh-Pit and have him tossed to the wolves!

Or forced into hard labor for chump-change.

We can't be too soft on the ugly beastie. Otherwise, it'll never win its fights. Never.

For sure.

Look at that ridiculous creature. It's obvious what we should call it!

Tails. You know, cause of it's huge tail.

Honest opinion, guys. The screenshots: too big? I can deinterlace them. (The videos will all be Youtube size, so you can't tell me what to do with those. Bleah.)

When we're done with this guy, we'll be feeding the wolves to him.

Well, some of them.