#Monster Collector

[kipine]

[ruckis--rookie]

Since this has become a hot topic as of recent, in regards to the statement "support other monster collecting games that aren't pokemon"...

pLEASE!!please!!! PLAY YO-KAI WATCH!!! I am BEGGING YOU PLAY YOKAI WATCH!! ITS SO GOOD.

It's like if you took a monster collector, but instead of little monsters you have foreign ghosts with their own afterlives, unique backstories, and personalities! I loathe when people accuse it of being just a poke-clone because it's so much more than that!

Pros include many hours of laughs, playtime, variety in characters and content. Like seriously if ya'll thought things like Pokemon BW and their sequels had a lot of content worth going back to, the 3rd game in the installment should you choose to go the completionist route is 300+ hours. I'm *still* trying to complete it. Also if fever dream, random, cheesy type humor is your taste you'll like this series. It's one of my favorite comfort games that makes my autism go 😊 while I do enjoy the English dub I recommend the sub, not only is it easier to find but a lot of the humor is swept under the rug and a looot of episodes weren't dubbed because of difficulty translating more mature jokes. The anime's humor can be very bipolar. Which leads me to my next point!

Cons include: very bipolar sense of humor. This is mostly in reference to the anime. It gets more riske the more the show progresses, but its also victim to some hella childish humor. Especially early on. Its not a stranger to potty humor. If it gets to crude or tiring I just skip the episode lmao. a lot of it is lost media and it is SO hard to find the anime episodes as well as physical games, especially the English translations. Because this series flopped so hard initially in the Americas a lot of the English stuff has been lost, and those that are found are... spensive... I was lucky enough to have gotten a physical cart of Yokai Watch 3 before it shot up in price. It's easily my most expensive game of... the last I checked... 600 dollars..... oh also if you don't like pikaclones too bad there's duplicate Yokai out the rear. And the fandom rn is incredibly miniscule. If you're a completionest this series might be a nightmare for you because of how obscenely hard some of the things are to collect. I hope you're blessed by RNGesus

So don't wait! See if you like Yokai Watch today! I need more people to talk to about this silly little series that brings me so much joy! DONT LEAVE ME IN HERE MICHAEL-

[perlinnoisetexture]

[ID: a banner decorated by three creatures made of blue quartz with pointy, metallic legs. they range from small and simple to large and more intricate, giving a sense of progression. beside them is written: "Charmers verse on Neocities, visit us at charmersverse.neocities.org" end ID]

the charmersverse website exists to document the world of charmers, which i have been working on since i was a teenager. it has monsters called "denizens" and strange, dreamlike worlds called "zones". it would mean a lot to me if you gave it a look. i hope you enjoy.

charmersverse.neocities.org

[monstersholygrail]

Ever since I got more into monster fucking, I've been able to repurpose so many old OCs I was planning on selling and were collecting dust.

Ah hey, that’s awesome. Sometimes you make up OCs and they don’t quite fit in the story or you move on from the story, but those OCs can still have a use and a purpose and be used somewhere more fitting for them.

I don’t like to let go of OCs that often. I just got a bunch of them wrangling around in my head. It’s honestly only grown since getting into monster fucking. I have more OCs than ever. I cannot keep track of them all.

But it’s fun when one suddenly re-enters my mind and I get to remember them and think about them again. That’s a fun feeling

[supervgboy]

Remember when I said before people should try playing, shouting out, and supporting other monster-catching games so Pokemon wouldn't have a psuedo-monopoly over the genre?

I didn't want TPC to actually consider creating an actual monopoly over the genre through patenting BS!

I just wanted my favorite niche monster catching series to get more of a mainstream spot light and have lesser games in the same genre get more attention and have the biggest name in the genre get out of its' current dark age, not have any chances for improvement be dashed entirely!!!

[cassettebeastssource]

As part of the Steam Summer Sale, Cassette Beasts is currently 40% off on Steam!

[ouarmy]

Egg

[ghoulcaclulator64]

some more creachers, served alongside doses of lore to complement them

[hellkerbecs]

an image @rigatonizepjones and i made in an attempt to explain what a hobbyani is in the simplest way we could.

here is a longer definition

[wallyhastoomanynuzlockes]

Playing another new spectrobes game! The budget for this game is so much higher than the last two.

Also, has spectrobes secretly been Stargate all along??

[markerofthemidnight]

I’ve just finished watching its latest video and I have to share this project with you all:

Ladies and gentlemen, go fucking watch this playlist. It’s a collection of concepts for a monster collector game called Apocryphal, which can only be described as “Pokemon if it was an eldritch horror game that took place in the Victorian era.”

In what is a surprise to absolutely no one, this concept fucking rocks.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Have i ever ranted about Jade Cocoon on this blog before? It was such a wildly ambitious little game, between jumping on board the monster collector train so soon after Pokemon, having Studio Ghibli's Katsuya Kondo do the art, and to top it all off having the really fascinating monster fusion and pedigree system.

See, you could fuse monsters and get a mix of elemental types, stats, and a body and skin type(similar to Monster Rancher) AND there were model traits that would be merged as well. So on the one hand, you can fuse a dog and an ogre, and get a dog body with an ogre skin, or an ogre with dog skin BUT you would also get either a dog body starting to stand upright, or an ogre body starting to get on all 4s, and if you were to continue fusing those body types into that fusion, the posture would also shift according to the pedigree.

Because each monster could actually keep track of 3 distinct generations, 2 parent monsters, and 2 pairs of grandparents whose distinctive features would remain active in the monster's build, until pushed out of the pool by newer fusions. AND those features all have a youth and adult phase and grow into them accordingly with leveling up.

So for example, the first half of the first dungeon had 5 basic monsters...

And those 5 monsters could make 25 distinct fusions, including purebreds.

And technically, in the English version, each monster in each dungeon also has a less common color/elemental swap....

So ignoring redundant genetics from different parentage that's still 89 distinct fusions. And that's just fusing purebred wild monsters. ALL of these 89 distinct monsters can be further fused to make new fusions unlike anything already shown. And like I said, that's just the monsters in the first half of the first dungeon. And there are 136 basic monsters, purebred, named, and obtainable in the wild throughout the game(admittedly that's including recolors)

If you've never played it, and have a healthy tolerance for PS1 3d game jank and a love of cool monster collection games, I really cannot recommend Jade Cocoon heavily enough. It's a genuinely unique experience in the genre, and that's without even touching on the story.

[sylvidaen]

The base 50 creatures for a fake creature collector game idea (they’re called Wiovos)

[fourhornedsatyr]

I love Cassette Beasts.

As someone who is an avid fan of Monster Collector games, and who most fondly remembers Pokemon B&W and Digimon D&D from the DS era, I only have good things to say about my first four hours of playing Cassette Beasts by Bytten Studio.

So, I'm gonna talk about it.

Gameplay

The Transformation Mechanic & Record (capture) mechanic

Unlike most games of the genre, you do not summon/control the monsters you use to fight, but rathee you become them -- digimon frontier style. Your avatar & a companion fight using cassettes that have copied the essence of the monsters you encountered (captures work like an alternate of the data copy mechanic of the digimon turn based rpgs).

You effectively have two health bars, that of your monster form & that of your human self, and once your monster form takes enough damage the cassette will break. Upon breaking you will revert to your human form and take on any overflow damage. If you are attacked before it is your turn to select another cassette, then you will receive damage and hence have to worry about your own health. There is no way to replenish the health of human characters in combat, at least none that I have accessed.

Furthermore, many of your status effects, buffs, & debuffs carry over from one transformation to another. This leads to a lot of stacking possibilities, but also means that one much be cautious, think wisely, and manage their defence and type matchups.

When recording/capturing monsters as well, you have to leave your monster form and are vulnerable. Despite having a good chunk of hp it is still wise to protect your human characters via walls & taunts to improve your chances of successfully copying a beast & sustaining minimal damage. This adds an enjoyable complexity to the capture stystem.

Type Matchups & Dynamic Interactions.

Speaking of type matchups, the type interactions are marvelously impressive & complex!

There are 14 types that are inspired by both naturally occuring aspects/materials/elements of the world and anthropogenic ones. Many of these typings can be thought of with a twisted pokemon logic (ground beats lightning, fire consumes poison, water & air put out fire), but we also have the celestial type, which draws from the natural typings and is weak to anthropogenic typings such as metal, plastic, & poison (it thematically (& vaguely mechanically) reminds me of holy & dark digimon types).

Furthermore, many type interactions include buffs & debuffs. Earth slows down plastic types, poison fuels fire types, lightning electrifies the air, and celestial absorbs the energies of natural typings.

BUT THERE'S MORE! Metal types can be coated in poison after interacting with poison type moves and can then deal poison contact damage! When fire types attack air types an updraft is formed that gives the air types a shield! I HAVEN'T EVEN MENTIONED TRANSMUTATIONS! When fire types attack ice types, the latter will gain the water coating effect and will become water types! Likewise, electric attacks can turn ground types into glass!

The dynamics of type interactions is amazing, and makes gamplay so enjoyable.

(Type matchup chart, wiki.CassetteBeast.com/wiki/types)

Fusion

As far as I am aware all cassette beasts are monotype unless they are fused. This is a major mechanic in the game that serves to create a new monster during a fight that shares most of the moves of you and your companion's monster forms.

Yet, while you can do this after filling up a meter that takes, usually, multiple fights to fill, the wild monsters can also do this. These Rogue Fusions pose a unique threat as once defeated they will defuse with full hp and you will then have to fight the two that were fused -- just as what happens when you defuse.

Though there are unique fusions that do have interesting and enjoyable dynamics I have not yet acquainted myself with too many and will not delve too heavily into this topic.

One aspect of the fuse that I will discuss further is the music.

Atmosphere & World Elements

The Music

The music in this game is amazing. The music for the basecamp village of Harbour Town is amazing and nails the theme of the town and the initial emotions of the game wonderfully. Much of the music in combat is dynamic and will change depending on the state of the battle, often playing wonderful vocal pieces after drawing first blood post-fusion (the music changes depending on the fusion too). I fucking love it.

The Land Keepers

There are vampire landlords called landkeepers that you fight in the game to keep them from gentrifying the island.

(Wiki.CassetteBeasts.com/wiki/Landkeeper)

Look at that freak! They are capitalist estate agents whose only goal is to setup an exploitative economic system on the island of New Wirral. One of your companion's whole quest line is shutting them down!

●●●

I love this game.

[satoshi-mochida]

Cassette Beasts ‘Multiplayer’ update launches May 20

From Gematsu

Publisher Raw Fury and developer Bytten Studio will release the “Multiplayer” update for open-world monster collection RPG Cassette Beasts on May 20, the companies announced. A Moonstone Island collaboration event and mobile release is also planned.

Get the details below.

Multiplayer Update

-Players can look forward to the Multiplayer update coming on May 20. Through the update, players will be able to:

Party and explore the world of Cassette Beasts with up to eight friends, all visible in their world.

Join a “Play With Friends” mode where players can match with anyone on their friends list via an invite code

Challenge their friends in player-versus-player battles and assign custom rules to their battle such as enabling / disabling sticker attributes.

Team up for two-player cooperative raids against Rogue Fusions, and trade tapes with each other.

-Additionally, any existing game owners interested in checking out the Multiplayer update early can access the Beta via the beta branch on Steam now until May 20.

Moonstone Island Collaboration Event

Beginning on May 20, fans can jump into an in-game collaboration event with Moonstone Island, which includes Moonstone Island-themed costumes, as well as a Cassette Beasts‘ Pombomb added to Moonstone Island‘s Spirit roster.

Mobile Launch Announcement

Cassette Beasts will launch on mobile devices soon, bringing the experience to new audiences worldwide. More information will be released within the next month.

Cassette Beasts is available now for Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store). It is also available via Xbox Game Pass.

Multiplayer Update Release Date Trailer

Cassette Beasts Showcase

[evandale-wrightersblok]