Monster Rancher Rebirth

(This title is just a place holder title.)

Monster Rancher For Wii U is exactly what the title says it is: a Monster Rancher game for the Wii U. It's a typical Monster Rancher game; you raise monsters and have them fight in tournaments in order to get yourself and your monsters to the top of the rankings. On top of that, there's a storyline present throughout the game and you get further through this story as you continue rising through the ranks.

Generating Monsters
There are three ways to get monsters in this game. The first is the classic CD/DVD method from previous Monster Rancher games, in which you can get monsters by using whatever CDs and DVDs you have. The second is the Magic Field/Magic Spell method from Monster Rancher DS, in which you draw images on the Game Pad's touch screen to get monsters. The third method of getting monsters is generating them from the book, another method found in previous games.

The Main Character
Like in previous Monster Rancher games, the main character is a silent character whose personality and actions are determined by the player. However, this character is not faceless and can in fact be controlled by the player, much like Phayne and Julio from Monster Rancher 4 and Monster Rancher EVO, respectively. On top of that, you can not only name the character anything you want, but you can also choose their gender as well as customize this character to your liking.

Customizing Your Character
Let's go over how customizing your character works. At the beginning of the game, you'll be tasked with creating your avatar before you do anything else. Here, you choose your character's gender as mentioned above and then you get to work on selecting your character's skin color, eye color, hair color, and hair style. As for the outfit, both the male and the female character are given preset outfits that you can change at any time when the game starts. You just have to buy clothes in towns and then put those clothes onto your character. The character's hair style and hair color can also be changed later after the game starts, however, what you can't change after the game starts is the character's skin color and eye color.

Your Breeder Assistant
After you're done creating your avatar, you then get to decide which Monster Association your character joins. You have four choices: IMA, FIMBA, AGIMA, and BOMBA. Which Breeder Assistant you get depends on which of these associations you chose, but they all the work the same as Breeder Assistants in other games; they tell you things like what point your monsters are at in their life spans, they let you know about bad things that have happened to your monsters like Injury or Sickness, and other stuff. One thing they don't tell you in Monster Rancher For Wii U is how tired or hungry your monsters are because you can see that stuff for yourself when interacting with your monsters at your Ranch. We'll get to this later.

Training Monsters
Monster Rancher For Wii U uses the very same schedule system from Monster Rancher 4. You set up eight-week schedules, one for each monster in your possession, that repeat again and again until you decide to change them. For each week, you can have your monster either train or rest during those weeks, depending on your choices. What kind of training your monsters can do depends on what you have. At first, your monsters will only be able to do things like Exercise, which increases Power, Meditation, which increases Intelligence, and other stuff that increases other stats. But, after you win the Official Rank E Cup and make Rank D for the first time, you will unlock Training Gadgets, which are much more effective. To better understand this system, it is recommended that you either watch gameplay footage of Monster Rancher 4 showing the schedule system or play Monster Rancher 4 yourself.

Training Gadgets
Speaking of Training Gadgets, let's go over how those work. In Monster Rancher For Wii U, after you unlock them, you will be able to buy and combine materials for Training Gadgets when you head to town. First, you'll need a Gadget Kit. This is basically the gadget itself and each kit affects a different stat or set of stats. Second, you'll need what's known as a Geonyte Tank. These tanks come in three different sizes and like the Gadget Kits, each Geonyte Tank affects a different stat or set of stats. Combine the Gadget Kit with a Geonyte Tank of your choosing and you'll have your Training Gadget. You'll then need to place the gadget on your ranch. The gadget can be placed anywhere on your ranch as long as there's enough space.

As long as we're still here, let's give an example of a combination for creating gadgets.

A Gadget Kit that increases a monster's Power combined with a Defense Tank can create a Training Gadget that raises Power and Defense. Another way to this sort of thing would be to combine a Gadget Kit that increases Defense and a Power Tank.

Another thing I probably need to address is what gadgets would be featured in Monster Rancher For Wii U. Well, all I can think of are the very same gadgets that were featured in Monster Rancher 4 plus new gadgets.

Free Time and Weekend
These are also taken right out of Monster Rancher 4. After a week starts and you have everything set up, you can then begin your monsters' training. After the results of the training are shown, you then move on to Free Time in which you take control of your character and have him or her run around the ranch to interact with your monsters. You move the character using the control stick on the Game Pad or whatever controller you're using. When your character walks up to a monster, hit the A Button and then you'll be able to perform the following four actions: praise your monster, scold it, feed it, and give it a present. You can performs these actions once each with each of your monsters, except for feeding, which you can do multiple times depending on how hungry your monster is. Once you decide Free Time is over, it's then on to Weekend. Here, you can enter a tournament, run around a town, go on an adventure after you unlock that mode, or just move right on to next week. However, in Monster Rancher For Wii U, there's also a new mode in which you can play minigames with your monsters. These minigames, if everything goes well, can increase your monsters stats even more and also raise their bond with both you and the other monsters in your roster.

Adventure Mode
This is another mode in which the player takes control of their character and has him or her run around places. During Weekends, you and up to three of your monsters can explore a dungeon. During these adventures, you can find items, battle wild monsters, and, depending on what point in the game you're in, battle bosses.

During adventures, there's an energy meter that decreases as you move around. As long as you have energy remaining, your monsters can be healed slowly but surely as you move around the dungeon as long as they haven't been KO'd. Unlike in Monster Rancher 4, though, you can refill this energy gauge with the use of certain items in Monster Rancher For Wii U. You won't be forced to end the adventure if the energy gauge runs out, but you will need to be more careful when battling wild monsters unless you have a good stock of healing items.

Speaking of items, there are treasure boxes scattered throughout the dungeons that contain items. Be careful, though. Sometimes, when you open a treasure box, that treasure box will be revealed to be a Jack-In-the-Cho and you'll be forced to fight it. Only when you beat it will you get the item.

Speaking of battles, to battle a wild monster in a dungeon, you walk up to an enemy silhouette on the field. Once you come into contact with an enemy silhouette, the battle begins. You can gain an advantage if you come into contact with an enemy from behind, but if the enemy comes into contact with you from behind, they'll have the advantage, so be careful. If your monsters win the battle, your monsters gain experience and you can sometimes find items. When a monster gains enough experience, they'll level up, and as your monsters continue to level up, they gain Traits, which are basically passive skills, as well as new moves to use in battle. But, if all your monsters are KO'd, then the adventure ends. You can also end the adventure manually by accessing the menu and selecting End Adventure.

Other features of Adventure Mode include a map screen, being able to ride on certain monsters like Dragon or Lesione, and...actually, that's pretty much it. The only other thing I need to explain is that playing Adventure Mode is mandatory for completing the game.

Battle System and Moves
The battle system in Monster Rancher For Wii U works exactly like previous games. Your monster and the opposing monster move back and forth on a battlefield and try to knock each other out before time runs out. In tournaments, you have the option to let the monster fight on its own or take direct control and use the moves yourself. Either way, the last monster standing is the winner.

To use a move, move your monster either toward or away from its opponent and hit either A, X, or B when your monster is able to attack. Each button affects the move you use. If you press A to attack, your monster's chance of hitting the enemy and how much damage its attack will do when it does hit will be pretty normal. If you hit X to attack, your monster's attack will more damage, but it'll be less likely to hit. If you hit B to attack, your monster's attack will be more likely to hit, but it'll do less damage. Sometimes, however, a move won't be triggered when you hit either button. This can mean one of three things. Moves are also divided into different ranges: Long, Mid, and Short. Thus, each move can only be assigned to certain panels when choosing what moves you want your monsters to use in battle. Speaking of that, let's go over the moves themselves. Each monster species can learn a large array of different moves to use in battle. When you first get your monster, it won't have many moves to use. But, as mentioned before, as your monsters battle wild monsters in Adventure Mode and level up, they gain new moves. Your monster has three sets of panels and each panel can hold one long range move, one mid range move, and one short range move. This means your monsters can use up to nine different moves in battle. To switch between panel sets during battle, hit Up or Down on the D-Pad.
 * 1) The monster doesn't have enough Guts saved up. Guts are basically your monster's power in battle. Different attacks use different amounts of Guts. The Guts meter charges up on its own, so all you can really do is wait.
 * 2) The monster is confused. The risk of this happening is higher when you and your monster don't have a strong bond yet. Bond with your monster and this'll happen less often.
 * 3) Your monster is in a position where it can't attack. By that, I mean the monster is either on a panel that has no moves attached to it or your monster and its enemy are too far away from each other to do anything.

Now let's go over battle formats. Aside from the regular one-on-one battles, there are also two-on-two and three-on-three battles. There are also three-against-one, three-against-two, and two-against-one battles. Each and everyone of these multi-monster battles happens in a tag team format. To switch between monsters during a tag team battle, hit the L and R buttons on the Game Pad. Also, if you go a while without attacking, your monsters will be ready to Team Up. When the Team Up status activates, if your monster lands a blow on an enemy, your monster's partners will also attack the enemy one by one. Be careful, though. If your monster fails to trigger an attack or its attack misses, you'll have to wait until the Team Up status activates again.

Speaking of battle statuses, I understand that there are other statuses that afflict your monster during battle and these can either help or hinder your monster. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what any of the other statuses do, so I can't explain them.

Another thing you can do in battle is counterattack. When the enemy attacks, you can hit the L button on your Game Pad as well as which of the three attack buttons you think the enemy used. Do it right and your monster will not only save itself from damage, but it'll also inflict damage in the enemy. Do it wrong and your monster gets hit indefinitely.

Tournaments and Rankings
Just like in previous games, different tournaments have different ranks, just like you and your monsters. When you first get a monster, it'll be limited to competing in E Rank tournaments. But, as your monster climbs through the ranks, it'll be able to fight in tournaments of higher ranks. To raise your monster's rank, it needs to win Official tournaments; the Official Rank E Tournament, the Official Rank D Tournament, and so on. Also, tournaments come in two different formats, those being round robins and elimination tournaments. You should know pretty well what these are. Also, aside from one-on-one battle tournaments, there are also two-on-two and three-on-three tag team tournaments. If you do manage to win a tournament, you will win an item, some prize money, and your monster's fame will go up.

Combining Monsters
Just like in previous games, you can combine two monsters to make a new one. You do this by freezing the two monsters and then, well, combining them. In most games, only main breeds are taken into account when combining. In Monster Rancher DS, however, you can also take sub-breeds into account when combining monsters. For example...

Suppose you were to combine a Diana (Pixie/Dragon) with a Saga (Zan/Naga). You could put Zan into the main breed slot and and Pixie into the sub-breed slot to get an Aya (Zan/Pixie). Or you could put Zan in the main breed slot and Dragon in the sub-breed slot to get a Homura (Zan/Dragon). On top of that, you could also put Pixie in the main breed slot and Naga in the sub-breed slot to get an Allure (Pixie/Naga). What you can't do, however, is put a sub-breed into the main breed slot, so don't expect to get a Niezheg (Dragon/Naga) or anything like that as a result of that fusion. Anyway, I was thinking the combining system in Monster Rancher For Wii U could work just like this. To better understand this system, it is recommended that you watch gameplay footage of Monster Rancher DS showing this combining system or play Monster Rancher DS yourself.

Another thing you can do while getting ready to combine monsters is apply certain items. These items have different effects such as providing a boost to the new monster's innate stats, increasing the new monster's life span, or even changing the result of the fusion to something else entirely like a Phoenix or a Xenon.

Now, one thing you don't want to do is combine your monsters too soon or else the new monster won't turn out so good. You'll want to wait until a certain point in your monsters' life spans. By then, your monsters' stats should be plenty high and you should have a good bond with your monsters. When that certain point in your monsters' life spans comes, your Breeder Assistant will let you know.

Bonding
Not only can your monsters bond with you if you treat them nicely and take proper care of them, but if you have multiple monsters, they can bond with each other as well. The monsters bond on their own, but, as mentioned above, you can also increase both the bond between you and your monsters and your monsters' bond with each other by playing minigames. If your monsters have a significant bond with you, then they'll do better in battle and if your monsters have a significant bond with each other, then when your monsters fight in a tag team battle, their team attacks will be stronger when they use them.

Taking Care of Monsters
One thing your Breeder Assistant won't tell you about in Monster Rancher For Wii U is how tired or hungry your monster is getting. This is because you can see these things for yourself when interacting with your monsters at your Ranch. Fatigue and fullness are measured by meters. The fatigue meter rises as your monster gets more and more tired. This makes it a good idea to put rest periods on each of your monsters' individual schedules. As for the fullness meter, this lowers little by little as the weeks go by. When it gets low enough, that means it's time to feed your monster. You can only do this during Free Time. Make sure your monster likes what it eats or at least doesn't mind eating it because feeding your monster a food it doesn't like can have a negative effect on your bond with it.

(This page is incomplete. More will be added later.)