Monster Rancher
Release Date: July 24, 1997
Strategy, fantasy, turn-based, RPG elements, for 2 players, life sim, splitscreen, multiplayer, singleplayer
Strategy game with elements of RPG and life simulation, in which the player plays the role of a monster trainer. His creatures are exposed to other monsters, allowing them to gain experience and gradually confront stronger and stronger opponents.
Monster Rancher is a strategy game with RPG and life simulation elements, developed and published by Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo).
Story
The action of Monster Rancher takes place in a fictional universe where people coexist with the title monsters; creatures were created by the God centuries ago in order to save the world from the effects of a global cataclysm. Because of the fact that the creatures did not met his expectations, the deity decided to enclose them in stone disks, so that they would disappear from the pages of history. Years later, people began to find them in ancient ruins - the creatures are revived, trained and sent to battle in the arena. The player takes on the role of a trainer, who begins to climb the steps of this unusual career.
Mechanics
The overriding element of the gameplay in Monster Rancher is the training of title monsters. Each creature is described using six stats that reflect the strength and accuracy of their attacks, their defenses, reflexes, and their resistance to damage. The value of individual stats can be increased both through training and feeding our monsters with vitamins (which can have undesirable effects, for example in the form of shortening the health bar); new attacks are learned by monsters during visits to experts. However, it is worth remembering not to overdo it with training - in this way it is easy to spoil the mood of the creature, and in extreme cases, we can even lead to its death from exhaustion.
The risks may be worth the it, though, because creatures can be sent to fight other monsters; battles in special arenas take place in a turn-based mode, and the role of the player is limited to the selection of subsequent attacks. Monster's morale has an influence on their behavior during battles - a creature loyal to its trainer is more likely to land critical attacks, while a rebellious fighter can even give up fighting.
Game modes
Monster Rancher can be played solo or against another player, thanks to the presence of the local multiplayer mode.
Technical aspects
The most interesting element of Monster Rancher is the way we acquire new monsters. We do not find the creatures roaming the game world, like in Pokemon games , but acquire them from data discs, and not only game discs for PS1, but also CD-ROMs with music, movies or even games released on other platforms. What's more, the title is able to recognize their content, so that after inserting a CD with Christmas songs into the drive, we can get a monster reminiscent of Santa Claus.
Last updated on May 1, 2020
Monster Rancher Summary
Platforms:
PlayStation 1
Developer: Koei Tecmo
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Age restrictions: none
Similar Games:
Dragonseeds