One of those mystical untranslated RPGs that you seemingly know everything about despite not being able to play it in English until just recently.
The game is open world and reminds me a lot of the Metal Max games. There's a time and season mechanic which is interesting and the economy is based entirely around monster materials which are used for equipment, healing, and making money. There's a lot of interesting ideas - most of which are squandered here.
What you'll actually spend a lot of time doing is just walking around catching monsters, and that's about it. The game loves to gate you behind grinding. Literally, characters will say "come back when you're level 3" or "come back in 6 months" which, in the game's defense, is needed in order for you to actually catch all the monsters, but it quickly becomes tiresome.
There's three scenarios each with no major gameplay changes aside from revealing more of the plot. The three hours I spent in Scenario A - the shortest and easiest one - was excruciating. Reading that Scenario B almost doubles the requirement, and then that Scenario C triples it is what made me ultimately quit this.
The combat is very simple and there are some interesting mechanics. Some animals have strengths and weaknesses based on the terrain and season, but as it typical of many JRPGs of this era hammering that attack command is what always gets the job done. There's not really any capturing mechanic here - just defeat the animal and you'll capture it. It appears that some of the later animals require special conditions to find them which is interesting but you're a loooong way from ever seeing any of that content.
Graphic wise the PSX version looks dull and washed out compared with the more colorful and charming PCECD version. The anime cutscenes are nice and no doubt you've seen the excellent concept art floating around on the internet which is the best part of this game. The music I found mostly repetitive with a few decent tracks.
As for the plot, who knows! What's the point when they keep it locked behind something so boring and repetitive? Read the Let's Play if you're curious.
The game is open world and reminds me a lot of the Metal Max games. There's a time and season mechanic which is interesting and the economy is based entirely around monster materials which are used for equipment, healing, and making money. There's a lot of interesting ideas - most of which are squandered here.
What you'll actually spend a lot of time doing is just walking around catching monsters, and that's about it. The game loves to gate you behind grinding. Literally, characters will say "come back when you're level 3" or "come back in 6 months" which, in the game's defense, is needed in order for you to actually catch all the monsters, but it quickly becomes tiresome.
There's three scenarios each with no major gameplay changes aside from revealing more of the plot. The three hours I spent in Scenario A - the shortest and easiest one - was excruciating. Reading that Scenario B almost doubles the requirement, and then that Scenario C triples it is what made me ultimately quit this.
The combat is very simple and there are some interesting mechanics. Some animals have strengths and weaknesses based on the terrain and season, but as it typical of many JRPGs of this era hammering that attack command is what always gets the job done. There's not really any capturing mechanic here - just defeat the animal and you'll capture it. It appears that some of the later animals require special conditions to find them which is interesting but you're a loooong way from ever seeing any of that content.
Graphic wise the PSX version looks dull and washed out compared with the more colorful and charming PCECD version. The anime cutscenes are nice and no doubt you've seen the excellent concept art floating around on the internet which is the best part of this game. The music I found mostly repetitive with a few decent tracks.
As for the plot, who knows! What's the point when they keep it locked behind something so boring and repetitive? Read the Let's Play if you're curious.