Monster Viator Game Length

[Tanuki]

Forgot to take a screenshot (may take one later), but it took me about 16:30 to beat the game with about 2/3 of the sidequests done (not including Tower of Rao). Counter shows 18:15, but I had a bit of AFK time.

Nice (albeit grindy) game overall, I liked the experimental gameplay systems and that exploration was actually worth the effort (i.e. no throwaway items as treasures). It’s also the prettiest Kemco game I’ve come across so far.

[LemmyTheLenny]

You need to post a screencap of your time to validate your claim.

[LemmyTheLenny]

So monster viator is actually a pretty damn good game. Beat all sidequests, got all monsters, and attempted the Tower of Rao but didn't like it that much.

It feels like an improvement over Legend of Tetrarchs where its much more concentrated into 2 humans and 2 monsters and since all of the monsters use the same equipment, this makes swapping out monsters easy and you don't have to worry about equipping all of the monsters. You have to worry about making sure the 2 monsters that are in your party are properly equipped. The graphics are pretty good in this game as they utilize shadows and lighting to improve the atmosphere of the area you're in though the same cannot be said for the battle screens which is just a blur of colours. The ability to strengthen your equipment on the spot using gold is carried over from Tetrarchs and its just as satisfying as it was in that game (and previous Hit-Point games) giving you the pure feeling of power when you're all decked out with +5 gear. Each monster and character class do have their roles and they all feel unique in the way they operate and attack each with their own benefits and shortcomings. The element system actually matters as you have a noticeably easier time making a team of monsters with elemental attacks that are strong against the monsters in the current dungeons. Lastly, the side quests actually feel worthwhile because even though there are only 9 SQ, they all have their unique dungeons and rewards that makes you want to explore more. The fact that the loot is actually good from the treasures with passive bonuses really helps the exploration.

But it's not all good. The random battles take longer than usual because it feels like you're in a mini boss and this becomes tedious the longer you play through the game and with the battle speeds being only 1x and 2x instead of 3x Tetrarchs has, it really does drag on for longer than it should. A good chunk of the boss battles do need strategy (which is good) but there are also sizeable chunks of boss battles where its luck-dependent on making sure you don't get stunlocked or insta-critted. (It did lead to some intense boss fights but still, its not fun if you lose and feels like a bulls*it death) Another problem is that it seems having more HP is more important than defense which makes you feel like getting all the shields isn't worth it and this becomes apparent if you do all the optional content which hands out HP-increasing treasures like candy. A minor nitpick is that you never see the final fully-upgraded stats of the weapon when you strengthen them so you may end up wasting money on upgrading a new sword only to find out its weaker than your current weapon. Another issue with the battle system is that skills feel more expensive than they were in Tetrarchs which makes some monsters and character classes outright useless because they have expensive skills and awful SP recovery. Not to mention that items being taken away also means that you have to hope that your main healer doesn't die because you have no Phoenix Downs/Revives to get them back up or potions to take over healing. You have to get lucky and hope that you have enough agility and SP to get the heals out. The variety in monsters and carminas can also quickly become overwhelming as there are a lot of choice and you end up staying with the carminas that you had since the start of the game. The classes are also lackluster as you cannot swap them out on the fly (you need to go to a statue to change classes) and most of them are underwhelming in the skills and bonuses they provide. Lastly, while I liked the story for having a detestable villain, it really feels out of place that your protagonist isn't angrier at the villain given that he tends to do some pretty depraved things.  I get that they're kids but it just feels so jarring that this is a kids story with a villain who crosses the moral event horizon multiple times that you have no reason to ever give them the benefit of the doubt (He essentially a poacher but worse).

Overall, a fun game but can get frustrating and this is one where having a difficulty selection would have helped make the game less frustrating by making random battles less of a slog.