|
 Monster Rancher Advance is a game within the Monster Rancher series, which you may know from some certain LP's. Monster Rancher Advance 2, or MRA2 as I'll be abbreviating it, is the second of the GBA Monster Rancher's. While the main series is quite difficult, MRA2 is notably easier and is considered a good entry point. While that's not to say it isn't confusing or without a chunk of hidden mechanics, the game is a fair bit easier to learn and work with. For the uninitiated, Monster Rancher is a series about breeding and raising monsters. It's infamous for some bizarre, hidden mechanics and I will do a write-up on anything in this game that I can if asked. It also used to be known for the methods of generating monsters, namely putting a disk in the PSX drive while it's running and a monster would generated using some unique labels. This being a GBA game, the method of generation is quite different and I'll get to that later. Typically, this is a hard series. The games have a massive amount of variables and that can really throw people off. Luckily, I've played this game far too many times and encountered innumerable glitches, bullshit and frustration. That might be enough to let me pretend I know what I'm talking about, huh?  This is going to be an informative LP. I said this was a complex game, but I know a good deal of it. I'll be going through this game and trying to explain mechanics, monsters and some general strategies. If there's anything in this thread that doesn't make sense, just ask and I'll try to explain. This game was never fully documented though and there's some info that's missing. Oh yeah, don't worry about spoilers. It's Monster Rancher, not Kingdom Hearts. Not much story to ruin. Main Chapters Welcome to AGIMA Ranch and Fred Durst Fred's First Day Fred's First Tournament Fred's First Victory Fred impresses someone! Fred's New Friend? Our First Rival - Hunter Extra Info Suzurin Info Other Monster Rancher LP's Mr. Swoon's Monster Rancher 1 LP Mr. Swoon's Monster Rancher 2 LP Mr. Swoon's Monster Rancher DS LP(technically DS2 but DS1 never came out over here) FredMSloniker's Monster Rancher 4 LP Mysticblade fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Jul 10, 2015 |
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 04:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 23:26 |
|
|
  Welcome to MRA2.  Just a name to get through this first update.  : SA! Now you're a real breeder! Congratulations! Chairman Mardoc of AGIMA will be here shortly. ….. AGIMA is an acronym that means something. Doesn't really matter, but they're one of the organisations. : Thank you for waiting!  : I know things might get tough sometimes, but work hard and raise some good monsters! I'd like to introduce you to your assistant. This is Holly. : Holly was a breeder in FIMBA until recently. She's talented and popular. Top of her class. She'll be your assistant, but your senior too.FIMBA is another orgnaisation involved with raising monsters. Ima is the last one.   : That's in the past.Yeah, this game now has different faces to express emotions. Can't actually remember if it was in MRA1. That game is not very fun to play after MRA2.   : But you're a famous breeder! Why wouldn't...?Holly was actually in some of the older games. She was your assistant in MR1 on the PS1.  : No I've thought about it a lot... I want to start again from scratch. That's why I got involved with AGIMA. Pay no attention to any of that, SA.: I don't know about you. Or that FIMBA Chairman, Mr. Karnab, either. After all your hard training...Remember, we're with AGIMA. : But oh well. You're lucky to get such a good assistant. SA, we have high hopes for you.: Now, about a ranch for you... I've managed to find you a great location. That's the third expression we've gotten from Holly. She's here to stick around. : I hope you like it. Maybe once you get settled, you could even remodel the barn! We at AGIMA will be behind you all the way.  : I hadn't planned on saying for a while about the fact I used to be a breeder... : Anyway, let's take it one step at a time. Let's go to the shrine to decide on a monster! This is our menu for the town. Lot of interesting things here but the Shrine is where we generate monsters. We're off. : Hello? Holly introduces us. Not sure I need to transcript every little piece here.  : The pleasure's mine. I'm Bolzoi, the supervisor of the Age Shrine.For the longest time, I thought this dude's name was Borzoi. Oh well. : Is this your first monster regeneration?: Yes, it is. How does it work?: Allow me to explain. This place is the Monster Shrine of Age. We have all the equipment to create monsters. Let me tell you about ways to regenerate monster here on Age. In Tablet Regeneration, you create monsters by using words inscribed on tablets.I'll explain. You enter a random code in and it'll give you a monster. Different combinations will result in different monsters with different stats and abilities. : Wow! I've heard about Tablet Regeneration... It's totally different from FIMBA and Ima's Saucer Stone Regeneration.I don't actually remember if we ever play as a FIMBA or Ima rep.  Expressions, yo.  : Ima's systems?: Huh? Well, uh... I used to be with FIMBA... : This system is actually rather unique. It's small, but his expression does change here. : … Ahem! Where was I? Oh, yes. According to my experience, different words produce monsters with quite different characteristics. Try many tablets to find a monster you like.This is actually a bad idea, but that's a story for another day.  : Enter any word you like on the tablet, and raise the monster from it.There are two types of generation. Book and Tablet. Book allows you to summon monsters that have already been summoned by Tablet. Tablet is the name for summoning with a code.  Monsters with more letters in their code tend to be stronger or have more unique moves/traits. For now, we're stuck with up to 4 characters in our code.  Not all codes work the first time. Some monsters can't be raised until you unlock them somehow. This was one of them.  Mono-character codes give you pretty weak, but basic monsters. We'll be rolling with this just for the introduction.  Looks doofy, doesn't he? We can give him a name but for now, he's got the default name.  Quack. E is the monster rank. They go from E to S. Reliance is how loyal they are, and whether they'll listen to your orders in battle. Other two things are age and whether they're spoiled or discipline. That'll change depending on how we raise them.  These are traits. Traits are things that can be on the monster at generation or be acquired from raising them. They do things.  These are the abilities that get used in battle. When we get to a battle, I'll explain these.  These are the basic stats. POW - Power. Affects how much damage POW-Based moves deal and how much damage you take from them. INT - Intelligence. Affects how much damage INT-Based moves deal and how much damage you take from them. ACC - Accuracy. Affects how accurate your powers are. Usually a pain to deal with. SPD - Speed. Affects how well you can dodge. DEF - Defence. Reduces the damage you take from all moves. LIF - Life. It's HP. As you can imagine, monsters have to decide between POW/INT. They also need to decide between DEF/SPD. Ducken here is a INT/SPD monster. Accuracy and Life are necessary for all monsters. After that, we get dragged back to the AGIMA building to deal with coaches.  There are many different types of training. These are more effective than the basic ones we haven't seen yet. Better coaches, more effect from training. For now, I'll take care of this when we decide on a monster. To the Ranch now.  Before we can do anything, Ayase here interrupts us. She's the mail-lady and is pretty happy to see Holly. We'll see her again.  Anyway, welcome to Monster Rancher Advance 2! I'll need you to pick a name for our protagonist. Also, some codes would be nice. These are the characters you can use. Up to 4 characters for now. Please, go ahead.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 04:14
|
|
|
Hey thanks for playing this because I tried about 5 years ago and just dropped the ball. Name yourself Dennis. Code is either FART or BUTT. Fart Butt monster to be named Garshasp.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 04:33
|
|
|
Don't mind the character name or the ranch name, but our first monster must be something worthy of the Goon name... Something like Goon
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 04:34
|
|
|
Clearly you must summon the noble Butt. And then name it butt. With a ranch called Butts. Also name yourself Bartz. What I'm saying is that it should be butts all the way down.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 04:45
|
|
|
Fish
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 11:27
|
|
|
Use the code LWTX
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 13:13
|
|
|
Use the code YOLO. And then purposefully murder the unlucky monster.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 13:31
|
|
|
I would prefer a worldly monster which has been immersed in the rich cultural heritage of the Yiddish language. PUTZ, a nobler beast there never was.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 16:28
|
|
|
I second Goon.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 17:04
|
|
|
I've played the first Monster Rancher Advance a few times, but never got very far. Will be nice to see some of the more advanced monsters. As for names, trainer should be Zanzibar Ham fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Jan 2, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 17:12
|
|
|
GEOP and Geop.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
We simply must bring Ducken back to life. Ducken4lyfe. Let's use the Duck 4 digit code for now. He shall just be a fragment of the ultimate Ducken for now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2015 18:32
|
|
|
Edit: Geop, for the name. DUCK for the code.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 04:32
|
|
|
Geop as well for the name, Pal for the code. After all, we want our very first monster to be our pal and thus, prove the power of friendship, right? Also, glad to see another MR thread going - I think the GBA ones don't get enough love and being from a PAL region, I still curse the NTSC-only MRs... which is almost all of them 
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 04:39
|
|
|
If we want our monster to be the most powerful elite out there, there's only one option: The code must be LLJK!
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 04:58
|
|
|
I vote for Geop and GEOP
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 07:08
|
|
|
Some code ideas: SS13 GOKU LWTX 9/11 5ACE DUMB
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 19:12
|
|
|
PKMN
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 20:15
|
|
|
Mysticblade posted:I don't actually remember if we ever play as a FIMBA or Ima rep.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 21:04
|
|
|
Clearly this is a prequel to Monster Rancher 1 cause Holly doesn't seem any worse for wear Geop and BUTT. Make it happen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2015 21:19
|
|
|
Alright, we're Geop and we're summoning with the code BUTT. I'm not sure if I want Geop to notice this thread now...  I've used worse for codes.  Eh. A Suzurin isn't great but I've used one before. Fairly reliable but I guess we won't be seeing too many OHKO's from him. I could do a write-up on this breed later if anyone wants one. Otherwise, I'll just give you the quick details in the actual update.  Now we need a name for this guy. I'll pick the one I like the most. Offers?
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 01:51
|
|
|
Heh. Rolling butt.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 02:14
|
|
|
"Rolling"? Name it Fred Durst
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 02:15
|
|
|
Looks like a Jirachi.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 02:22
|
|
|
All names should be puns. RollRin!
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 03:01
|
|
|
Alabaster White posted:"Rolling"? Name it Fred Durst
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 04:35
|
|
|
Fred Durst +1 Fred.D if there's not enough room.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 09:23
|
|
|
CheeseThief posted:Fred.D if there's not enough room. Freddy. Subtlety is key.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 10:10
|
|
|
I'd like some species write-ups if possible. The title does say "sperg" afterall and I've always been fascinated by, yet terrible at, these games.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 11:14
|
|
|
Isn't there a famous or maybe infamous Pokemon move with Roll in the name? That could be a name if it doesn't end up too long.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 12:37
|
|
|
Optimus! Because it's time to transform and rollout
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2015 12:45
|
|
|
 I have no clue who Fred Durst is but let's pretend I do.  Training involves spending a week on improving your monster's stats. There are different types of training for different stats.  You've got your basic training which trains one stat and reduces your energy. Then there's more complex training which trains two stats but reduces another. That costs a lot more energy and there's another thing that affects training at this point in their life. Monsters early on are going to get less stats from training, going pick up Gluttony as a trait and that's going to rocket up their weight. Being fat makes your monster run out of energy quicker while being thin stresses out your monster. Being too exhausted or too stressed reduces the lifespan of your monster. Do not push your monster while it's young.  This is the first page of two for advanced trainings. You have 12 in total. There's a lot of these advanced trainings. Not every combo exists but there's usually enough to work with. You need to assign a coach to each individual advanced training and a better coach will give better results. The coach you start out with has 300 in every stat. Free but terrible. You'll want to get an actual coach before you can think about hitting the end-game.  Resting just gives your monster time off. You lose a week but they restore energy and it reduces stress. It'll depend on what your ranch has and what items you have. If Holly says the monster is tired, best plan is to just let it rest. Once again, too much exhaustion hurts your monster's lifespan.  Sparring is pretty neat.  What happens is that you pay some cash and you get to fight your coaches with your monsters. Depending on how well you do in battle, your monster will get bonus points in the stat you're training and some life. Power = POW Sense = INT Technic = ACC Speed = SPD Tough = DEF The stat gains also differ depending on the strength of the coach. Getting stomped by the starting coach with 300 in all stats will give you like 20 in the primary stat. Getting stomped by a 999 stat monster will give you something close to 40. Beating that 999 coach will give you something in the 60 - 70 range but that's pretty hard and we don't have a coach like that yet. Not going to be able to make one for a while either. Sparring also has a chance to let your monster pick up traits from the coach or learn new moves. It's not really easy or reliable to manipulate traits via this method but moves are a lot more predictable. There are requirements for each move you want to learn. These requirements include hitting a certain benchmark in the right stat and being a high enough rank. While you can get them without perfectly hitting the requirements, it's much less likely to happen. I'll put them up with the monster write-ups but for example, a Suzurin can learn DoMiSo by having 500 INT + being B rank when doing Sense training. We might get that on Fred Durst. No promises. Sparring is pretty expensive. 3000G per pop unless you go on a discounted month and we only have 10000G to start. It'll stop being a problem later but for now I'll only be going on discounter months unless something special is happening or I've just got way too much money.  We can sign up for Tournaments here.  Tournaments happen at a certain time, as this shows. Going in a Tournament takes up all your time for that week. These are the monster battles you might've seen in the other LP's. Tournaments come in two different types. Round Robin and Elimination. Round Robin has you fight everyone else and the person with the most victories wins the tournament. Elimination is where you advance to the next stage if you win, but you drop out of the tournament if you lose. We're going to have to come back here. You need to beat the Official AGIMA Tournaments hosted at the end of a few months to have your monster advance to the next rank. Higher rank means more money but it also means stronger opponents. You can only compete in tournies that are the same rank as your monster.  Item? We can use items we have here. We get that from winning certain tournaments, buying them from the shop or a certain mechanic we don't have access to yet. Got no cash so there's not much point in going to the shop yet.  System is Save/Load. Nothing special here. That's the basics of our Ranch. There's more to it, but I don't think 1500 words on a ranch is particularly thrilling. The early stages of raising a monster aren't amazing either. Now that you've seen the training, which stat do we focus on first?  Every 50 point increment increases the level of the stat. Increasing the level makes that stat have more effect, excluding Life. Fred Durst is primarily going to be an INT/ACC/SPD monster from his breed. Which do we push to the next level first? Will make that write-up on Suzurin's. Just felt this was needed before I got into monster details.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 05:16
|
|
|
CH'YEAH!! Let's train INT because god knows we'll need some after listening to Limp Bizkit for a month straight.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 05:24
|
|
|
We need more power. Our monster needs to kill things good.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 06:42
|
|
|
ACC because my past Monster Rancher experience has left me in a state where the very idea of attacks missing causes my blood pressure to rise.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 06:48
|
|
|
Monk E posted:ACC because my past Monster Rancher experience has left me in a state where the very idea of attacks missing causes my blood pressure to rise. Agreed. Every monster needs ACC.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 07:33
|
|
|
Seconded. ACC and LIF to start as a baby, since they are always such a pain to get up. I'm a fan of using your brain over brawn which is why I love my Phoenixes. e: What's the average lifespan of Fred Durst here?
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 08:17
|
|
|
MonotoneMorgan posted:Seconded. ACC and LIF to start as a baby, since they are always such a pain to get up. This sounds good.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 09:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 23:26 |
|
|
I don't know about y'all, but I always build my monsters to have POW-or-INT plus ACC, and nothing else. The enemy almost never attacks in the first half-second of a fight, so spamming A usually lets you get off a killshot right away once you spend about a year training and pick up one good move.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2015 12:36
|
|
