/vr/ - Retro Games

What's the appeal of these games, exactly? You're literally just navigating a menu to feed your Pokémon and watch barely interactive videos. There are no stakes and it's impossible for it to die or anything

Golem was based

>>9471326
Suezo is the only correct answer.

>>9471460

>Impossible to die

Bro, did you get past the tutorial? Death is a major part of the game.

>>9471505
based
>>9471460
what a long way to say "I've only played the game for 5 minutes"

>>9471510
>>9471538
Maybe through a lot of fighting but it's impossible just by mishandling your monster or fucking up with all the retarded Tamagotchi shit alone. I literally tested it and fast forwarded the game in emulator for in-game months or years without feeding the monster or letting it rest or anything and it was fine

>>9471505
Came here to post this, and I haven't played the games — only watched the show for a bit.

>>9471460
the music disc gimmick. that's it

>>9471549
The game has programmed funerals and tombstones for fallen monsters. I have played that game for hours and have raised many monsters throughout their lifespans. They literally die of old age or can succumb to injuries. There are plenty of variables and functions in the code that affect a monster's lifespan.

I don't know how you never noticed.

>>9471549
>>9471460
>attempting to convince monster ranchers there are no stakes and it's impossible to die

I've been playing Monster Rancher Advance 2 lately for some easy nostalgia, haven't been arsed to try and emulate the PS games but I played them back in the day.

My favorite monsters are Pixies, they're cool and cute

>>9471460
>What's the appeal of these games, exactly?
Raising monsters, breeding monsters, battling monsters. It's a monster raising/fighting sim, that's the appeal. I enjoy the process of training monsters, learning new skills, and winning tournaments

Also I think you didn't really play the game really, monsters die, two of my monster in MRA2 had to retire (they actually don't die in this specific game but they get too old to use) before I could get to the endgame, when this happens you can either make monsters coaches or use them for breeding a new monster and start from square one

Also aside from death if you abuse monsters they can get sick, run away, or just be shitty in fights all of which means big problems for progressing the game

>>9471762
I'm playing MRA2 as well. Do you have any tip for a first-timer?
>haven't been arsed to try and emulate the PS games
They're very easy to emulate, no need to configure anything. The fact you can use other ISOs as your generated monster is both a blessing and a curse though. Anyway, if that's not your cup of tea I recommend MR1/2 DX on Steam. They're not that bad and it's the perfect way to play the original Japanese version with English translation.

>>9471772
>I'm playing MRA2 as well. Do you have any tip for a first-timer?
Nothing really specific to this games campaign as I haven't really bothered with finding many secrets or anything, but some basic tips on raising monsters, you may already know all this but....

Always make sure you relieve monsters "stress" and "fatigue", always let it rest obviously but also use items like oil or mintcandy to remove fatigue after training and battles. Battling itself actually helps remove monsters stress. As you accumulate larger amounts of cash, it's definitely good to prioritize buying all the more expensive stress relieving, fatigue relieving, and sleep helping items you'll see in the shop like the cups and gems, as can afford them of course, don't skip out on them, they'll make it easier for new monsters. Also don't let your monster get fat or malnourished, fat monsters get fatigued more and underweight monsters get stressed more.

Also take it easy on baby monsters, just do the most basic training until its more mature aka when Holly tells gives you that cue that it's an "important time" or whatever she says, that's when you start the coach routines

Always focus on like 3, maybe 4 main stats to train your monster in. Having a balanced monster doesn't really work because there's only so much time you can put into training during its lifespan, you want your monster to excel hard in specific areas, not be average in many areas, so take that into consideration when deciding what monster you wanna raise and how you want it to grow/what moves you want it to learn

When you're stronger and start doing sparring with the intention of learning new moves specifically, it's not really worth it unless you're gonna learn a new move, so don't bother wasting the money and time unless it says there's a chance your monster will learn a new move, and honestly I say theres no shame in saving before and restarting until you learn the move

>>9471326
Jell
but the one I used to win with was Hare

>>9471460
>>9471549
What are you doing, dude?

>>9471326
Kato, named him Risk and built him pure agi and int?/tech?(the one that increases the damage of the green skills) and spammed the twister/tornado claw. Only been hit I think 5 times in his whole career. He’s also the one who got me to the last tournament(the invitational I think)
I also like the Hare and Durahan

>>9471326
pixie because I want to be dominated by an older woman

>>9472651
Kato and other agility monsters are easier to win with because they don't have to rely as much on HP. So you can focus on 3 (+.5) stats instead of 4. Also I think Kato's strong moves are relatively easy to learn. I know Hare is like that.

I would say the Naga, maybe because of my favorite unit in pic related or maybe the snake design.

>>9472690
>pixie because I want to be dominated by an older woman
bro she won't make it to 8 years old

>>9471326
Would be kinda fun to host a tourne for monster rancher on here or /v/.

>>9472785
>infant/toddler in an adult woman's body
Oh, japan

Game was ahead of its time. I picked it up as a kid in the 90s. Played this shit for hours. Joker was my favorite since it was edgy as fuck. Durahan was sick too.

>>9471659
I'm not talking about scripted lifespands and losing battles but your Pokémon dying because you didn't care for them properly, which is literally the entire game

As I said, you can completely ignore your Pokémon for in-game years, never let it rest and it won't starve or anything from it

>>9471762
>Raising monsters, breeding monsters, battling monsters. It's a monster raising/fighting sim, that's the appeal
That sounds very exciting when omitting the fact that all of that is a small generic menu with two different backgrounds

Literally a time wasting simulator for retarded people

>>9472962
You clearly never actually played the game, first of all If you don't raise your monster right, not only will it be useless but it's lifespan will be prematurely shortened and it will die early. Second of all, the game is not an adventure game, it's not supposed to be, you raise monsters on the ranch and you fight with them in the arena, that's the point of the game. It's fun to raise strong monsters and win battles, that's it. It's no more a "time waster" than any other kind of game. Maybe you should stick to NBA Jam, "home boy".

>>9473058
I """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""played""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" it (it's just menu navigation). And when I can ignore my Pokémon for a whole year besides making it train, no rest, no food, no whatever, and nothing happens, the game is missing stakes for me and it's boring. By the time they can die you will have multiple ones and nothing ever matters

So which one is the best today? Are the remasters good?

>>9471981
>Jell
my man
>>9473257
They're not really remasters, but ports of the original Monster Farm games with an English translation slapped to it. The only thing I don't like personally, is the fact you can't skip training animations, but at least there's an option to fast forward. Among the other changes (which make the game more challenging and fresh to be honest), you can generate monsters with the name of songs and artists instead of the old disc gimmick. It's a neat and faster way compared to the scan of CDs or even ISOs. That's pretty much it; either play this version or emulate the PS1 game. Both are viable choices.

>>9473221
ok you didn't play the game

>>9473305
>literally wants to skip the game
>it's a good game btw.
Stop shilling these awful "games"
>>9473307
ok you are retarded

>>9473349
The training animations are the game in the same way that the animation for picking flowers in RDR2 is the game.

>>9473349
I don't see the issue in skipping a glorified loading time, the game is more about fighting and raising your stats anyway.

>>9473594
Glad you see the issue in that being a forced part of the game and it NOT letting you skip it, though

>>9472690
you have to get rid of that simp Blue Mountain first

>>9473305
They're ports of phone ports- MR1+2 DX is a lazy-as-fuck cash grab. MR fans are so desperate they'll take anything, however

>>9471460
Planning, routine, growing stats, and getting attached to your creature.

There's also exploration and battle. Simply describing the gameplay and pretending it's bad is a retarded way to argue. Just say "it's not for me" and move on

>>9473221
>and nothing happens
Something does happen, you're making your monster weak and slowly killing it. You didn't raise a monster and you didn't fight in tournaments, so you didn't play the game. You're a retard.

>>9473747
The training animations are part of the charm and theme of the game. The Western PS1 release sort of "spoiled" this factor for many of us because you could skip everything. You can argue that it is a quality of life feature, but that depends from the perspective.

>>9473221
You realize that the same retarded criticism can be applied to 99% of the games, right?
>In Mario 64, I can ignore Mario for a whole year, not making him run, nor jump, and nothing happens. Thus, the game doesn't have any stakes. By the time he can die I can just use another life or load my game and nothing ever matters.
>In Doom, I can ignore Doom Guy for a whole year, not making him run, nor shoot, and nothing happens. Thus, the game doesn't have any stakes. By the time he can die I can just use another load my game and nothing ever matters.

>>9473257
2 is the best one. 1 is very similar to it but has fewer monsters, a couple different ones I think, just less in all regards.
3 is very cool looking imo, come to think of it I want to play it, cause I never did, but it was considered worse than 2 and has less features/content I think.

>>9474717
I liked 3 a lot when I was younger. The art style is cool, but it's also where some monsters lost their original look and became too cartoony. Monster sub-species being based on the different training locales was an interesting idea.
But it's horrendously easy. I was playing it again last year, for the first time since the mid-2000s, and I was blowing through tournies. I didn't even know the optimal way to train, but I made it to S rank with my first Hare. I also didn't trigger any storylines, which I'm still not sure of why. I think maybe I didn't spend enough time in one location for them to start? I don't know, it was weird and it felt empty.

>>9474725
Doesn't sound terrible desu if I were to play it for the graphics and nostalgia. 4 too. The biggest flaw of 2 is that you kind of need a guide to know what to do, otherwise it takes a lot of trial and error, and even then there's an element of randomness so you'll have to reset and try again like to get new moves.
When the PC ports came out the thing I was looking for was a way to automate buying nut oil and mint leaves or at least mass buy them lol. It's cool for beating the game a few times but there's so many monsters in 2 I didn't fuck around with cause I'd simply played the game so much already.

>>9474742
I still really like 4, though I understand why it's divisive. At least I think I've learned it's divisive in recent years. I didn't interact with internet fanbases at all when these games were fresh.

>>9474130
>Something does happen, you're making your monster weak and slowly killing it
So I can just start feeding it and taking care after literally ignoring it for one year.

The point is this game is too easy and shallow for this shit to be any fun. It's not hardcore enough

>>9474347
>You realize that the same retarded criticism can be applied to 99% of the games, right?
Yeah but you would be mentally retarded to do this since other games have level design and actual gameplay besides menu navigation lol

Holy shit what a braindead fanbase

>>9474340
>The training animations are part of the charm and theme of the game.
You literally just complained about not being able to skip this boring forced trash right here >>9473305 and now you defend it because you feel threatened in your shittaste for video games and low standards

This game takes a negative amount of skill and there is no way to fail it. It's an actual time waste simulator for annoyed parents who want to keep their kids busy. Everything you must do in this game is obvious

>>9475631
>So I can just start feeding it and taking care after literally ignoring it for one year.
One year off your monsters life is essential...it's a challenge to even keep monsters alive long enough to do what you need to do with it. To get to the end of these games you have to raise your monsters pretty meticulously and do every single detail right....and you didn't even start the game until you've already burned through one monsters life
>The point is this game is too easy and shallow for this shit to be any fun. It's not hardcore enough
There is no way you could beat this game with the level of intelligence you've shown, and you didn't play the game, you have no idea what you're talking about. You sound like a braindead monkey, go back to wherever you came from, twitter...world star hip hop comment section...just fuck off.

>>9475636
>Everything you must do in this game is obvious
This is a joke. MR2 is specifically known for ridiculously autistic cryptic shit in order to achieve certain things and trying to breed monsters effectively is full blown a math project.

>>9475664
He's just baiting (You)s at this point. Better to ignore him

>>9475632
>moving the goalposts
You can explore dungeons, play minigames and fight other monsters. Doesn't seem like it's all about menuing to me.

>>9475634
Reading comprehension my dude. I didn't complain about anything, if you can skip it or not is still fine by me. No need to explain why precisely, since you would just abuse my patience, cherry pick my words and distort the meaning.

>>9475664
I mean for the important things like keeping your monster alive and winning fights. Also what you describie is a bad thing, games shouldn't be that cryptic where things don't follow logically

>>9472776
Nagas are based. Also based for aesthetic breeding of other monster types. Nagas and Monols make for cool looking monsters.

>>9475636
I would say failing in this context means not raising a monster strong enough to at least win the S rank of the main tournaments. You can definitely fail in that. Plus there's harder challenges after, some that I didn't even know about until recently.

>>9478150
As soon as that (other?) guy mentioned Tamagotchi, the argument should have ended. He went in expecting a different game and then complained it wasn't that game.

>>9472690

>>9480008
slut

>>9471326
Crab Saurian

>>9473221
You can only have one at a time.

Did you cry when your monster died?
Did you freeze it in some vain attempt to keep it alive?

>>9471326
These things because they were my first monster, but all arrowheads are bitchin'.

>>9482471
I was shocked because I didn't think it was possible. Whenever a monster died I would either skip the cutscene like nothing happened or endure the sadness. My coping mechanisms were quite lacking in that regard.

>>9471326
Are these actually worth playing if I don't really have any music CDs? Do other PS1 discs work?

>>9483190
>Original Hardware
Any disc will work (even movies, music, etc.)
>Emulator
Any ISO will work (probably other file extensions as well)
>Director's Cut
No need for CDs, you just need the title name of a song.

>>9483190
>>9483204
Should say, it depends on which one you play. I’d imagine the PS1 games can only read CDs, so music CDs and other PS1 games, and not DVDs. The PS2 games could do all three.

>>9483316
iirc you just need a CD that has something in it, for example I used to generate monsters with DVDs as well.

rancher bros....

>>9483427
Nah, Worm -> Beaclon, or other monsters with worm subtype depending on the game

>>9483190
Yes, and there is also a hack that makes the shrine scan the date and your name to birth a monster.

>>9483427
ftfy

>>9484028
Who the fuck is that dapper fella?? Never seen him before.

>>9471326
Durahan all the way

>>9484028
Kek

>>9478150
>not raising a monster strong enough
This sure sounds awesome when you say it like that, even though the truth is you just select 'feed' and 'train' and 'rest' in a shitty chepa menu for 50 hours

>>9484083
Ghost. Gotta have a monster die and go through a series of interactions with the shrine to get the fusion item to unlock it. Solid guts, kinda shit otherwise

>>9471326

How is 2 better than 4? 4 looks much better and has faster loading. Also lets you skip training

>>9490825
You can skip training on 2 as well, although only in certain versions of the PS1 game. 4 is generally frowned upon for plenty of different reasons, which are too long to even discuss, but if you have played both you'll probably understand why. MR2 is simply way more replayable due to its complexity and depth, whereas MR4 has certain flaws which cannot be overlooked. Aside from that, I still think it's a great, underappreciated game though.

>>9471326
Angel! Beat MR1 and MR2 with these back in the day. Always loved Galis and Nagas, too.

>>9471772
>The fact you can use other ISOs as your generated monster is both a blessing and a curse though.
Can you elaborate on this?

>>9492317
It's easier and quicker to select an ISO (or every other PS1 format) with your PC, but at the same time you need to have a lot of roms on the computer just to make good use of the feature. Back in the day you weren't limited to your PS1 collection because you could scan any CD, even movies and music. Of course this isn't an issue if you are a big pirate who downloads rom collections or that sort of stuff.

>>9474717
3 has a shitty roster of monsters

>>9493220
I see I see

>>9471326
kino

>>9471762
>haven't been arsed to try and emulate the PS games but I played them back in the day.
i don't wanna be that guy, but the remakes are actually really good (though $30 is a bit much for them.)

Perhaps man is the real monster.

>tfw you win a rank festival entirely on forfeits

>>9483190
I have it on disc and play it on my PS3, and you can generate monsters with Blu-ray discs as well.

>>9483190
There’s a hack that “ Instead of generating a monster based on the inserted CD, the shrine CD function now generates a monster based on the current year, season and the player name. The type and statistics of the monster are similar to as if a random CD was inserted. The original restrictions still apply, so it may not always be possible to generate the chosen monster. The probability of generating a unique monster is ~1%. A few non-CD obtainable monsters have been added to the group of unique monsters, such as those obtainable by slating or obtainable in other versions of the game ” for monster rancher 2 you just have to google it yourself

>>9471326
So can we discuss something....

That Triceritops looking monster on the cover doesn't fucking exist does it?

>>9496946
It's supposed to be the tiger/zuum crossbreed.

guys...

>>9496946
>>9497079
…I never really thought about.

Dinos or Zuum? Not gonna lie, I always felt like Dinos were the cooler ones because they were the ones prominently featured in the anime

>>9499372
I like how slim and pointy the zuums look. That makes them radder than dinos to me.

>>9471326
Spotted dino. First monster in MR1, got it from my favorite cd at the time. I saved my game and never played that file again when he was set to die of old age(i was too young to realize the freezer).

>>9493220
LegendCup has a generator that can make .cue and .bin files a lot faster than downloading ISOs. IIRC they just added a random function if you want to keep the spirit of things

>>9472690
>>9480008
There a quick way to get this semen demon early in mra?

the fatal frame exclusive pixie and the gamepro dragon

>>9500551
Just try different passwords, there is no restriction on breeding pixies, or at least their shouldn't be....i never played the first MRA but pixies are generally allowed to be generated from the start of the game

>>9497940
hot

>>9500874
>there is no restriction on breeding pixies

>>9471326
This dude

I find something about 3 to be unsatisfying. I've put about 14 hours into it over the past week or so, and it just isn't grabbing me. I don't know what it is. I used to really like it as a kid.

>>9502901
Must have been some guy's name. Some guy named Gaboo.

>>9502901
potato man

Weird game