Looking for specific types of Monster Collecting games

Glass.Cannon

I've always liked the idea behind Pokemon, but I don't like the usual turn-based JRPG setup. The most fun I've had so far with a monster collector is when I played through Final Fantasy Tactics by making the main character a Mediator (class that can invite other people/monsters to join the party) and played through the game using only him and monsters. I'd love to play something like Pokemon that takes place on a grid, but I have yet to see one.

Alternatively, I'd also enjoy an action game. So far, nearly every collection game I've seen has been turn-based and focuses more on the numbers than the strategy. The only examples of an action version I've seen so far are Gotcha Force and Zoids. The former has a good game at its core but was very lazily made, while the latter is just outright bad. There was also Pokemon Rumble, but they obviously weren't even trying there.

If anyone knows of a good game based around collecting various creatures that's either more strategic than the usual or is set up like a decent fighting game/platformer/overhead adventure, please tell me about it.

Zombiemambo

Might want to look into the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. Grid-based combat with collectible monsters.

bowen

The original Monster Rancher on PS1 was a fun little game if you can find it.

bsjezz

folklore on the ps3 is an action-rpg that relies on collecting 'folk' (monsters), upgrading them and using them as part of special attacks and combos. it was a cool game with a couple of problems, but for an early-this-gen title it's pretty good, and matches what you want exactly

corky842

You can capture enemies in Disgaea by throwing them on the spawn square.

UncleChet

Demikids also, it's a SM:T game on the GBA they had a light and dark version

MetroidZoid

Lost Kingdoms I & II are Gamecube games that were basically collect cards - summon monsters in mid combat. No turns. The first one seemed a lot better. And they have their problems; boring landscapes, kind of generic story. But hey, it's good for a day or two.

cj iwakura

You want the Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha games. They're real time action RPGs with lots of demons to collect, fuse, and what not.




By the by, DemiKids is a turn-based RPG, and is the exact opposite of what the OP wants.


Also, Folklore was made by Cozy Okada, the godfather of SMT, so it's probably solid.

Donovan Puppyfucker

Uh, Jade Cocoon isn't exactly what you're looking for, but it is a bucket load of fun.

It's more like a Pokemon style of fighting, turn based and using elements against one another. The best bit of the game was breeding your little monsters into big ass-kicking hell beasts.

Peff

Eternal Eyes for PS1.

It's tactics style and revolves around your puppets (monsters), which you level up, evolve, combine, etc. We always called it Tactics Digimon.

Spectral Swallow

Rhapsody a musical adventure (despite being REALLY easy) had some collection elements to it (and it was an SRPG to boot).

Satanic Jesus

Spectral Swallow wrote:

Rhapsody a musical adventure (despite being REALLY easy) had some collection elements to it (and it was an SRPG to boot).

The DS version, however, was turned into a turnbased rpg.

Glass.Cannon

Thanks for the suggestions. There's quite a few in there that I've never heard of.

I'd like to point out that one thing I really don't like in monster collectors is a mandatory breeding system. I tried the newer Dragon Warrior one (Joker I think?) and it had that system where you train two monsters, combine them, train two more, combine them, train the combined ones, combine them again, etc. This means that the amount of grinding I need to do gets exponentially worse as the game goes on, and it will often be impossible to make the earlier monsters worth anything. Restricting the available monsters to one "endgame" set defeats the whole point of having a ton of possible characters to play with.

There's also that whole immersion thing going on, where you pretend that this little monster is YOURS and you're going to train him and have adventures together and win tournaments with the power of friendship and all that. Chucking him and the rest of your team into a machine so it can spit out a bigger monster just acts as a constant reminder that you're not training monsters, you're just carrying around little sacks of numbers that you occasionally have to pour into one another so you can have a bigger sack of numbers.

Also, games like Monster Rancher that are part action and part numbers (or in this case, 1% action and 99% numbers) won't work for me. They need to be either full-action like a fighter or overhead adverture, or they need to be a deep strategy/tactical game. I have this quirk where I get REALLY annoyed when I'm moving around and throwing out attacks in real time and the game tells me that I missed. I'll avoid otherwise awesome games like Secret of Mana for that alone. In fact, I just don't like a heavy emphasis on randomness in anything.

Feel free to suggest anything you like though. I've been considering playing Jade Coccoon sometime because it DOES look like fun despite not being the type of game I normally like. There's always the chance that something that looks boring at first glance will surprise me.

XenoZergie

The Tales of Symphonia game for Wii is an action RPG where half the party at any time consists of collectible monsters.

mightyjongyo

XenoZergie wrote: »

The Tales of Symphonia game for Wii is an action RPG where half the party at any time consists of collectible monsters.

If I remember correctly - I haven't played it in a while - yes, you can collect monsters, but it's not the main focus at all - more like an alternative option to human party members.