Well, I have been raising my Henger with my new gadgets, and shrining more of my CD and DVD collections, and trying to combine my Joker with everything to see if I can make a Joker/anything. One day, out of the blue, the carpenter came to my ranch and made it a lot larger. The gadget guy returned, too! So I got another gadget, re-arranged, and got myself a bigger house and barn. So, right now I have what looks like a big wooden kiddie-pool, the book on wheels, the target cart with rocks, a giant bellows with a trampoline on top, and a massive punching bag.

I also had more visitors, including an old explorer (whose name is simply "?????" at first). A cave opened up on the side of my ranch, and expedition was added to my end of the week menu options. I decided to try going in, and found my 'bland boy' character running around in a large cave, with a treasure chest ahead and some bats flying around. I ran up to it, and opened it and got an item I could buy at the item shop. There was also an icon for an item through what appeared to be a small hole in the wall at the floor. My henger wouldn't go in, so I couldn't get the item. I tried some menu options and wound up ending the expedition.

Back at the ranch, I recalled that maybe it would help to have another monster, so I decided to try the shrine. I was allowed to make 2 more monsters. I chose and Ogyo/Zan (it just looks sooo cool) and a Jell/Joker (thinking it could go into odd places).

I took all 3 back to the ranch and checked out the menu system. It is pretty simple, the same as with one monster, it just switches pages for the other monsters when you hit L1 or R1. You still set up the schedules in advance. After the drill or rest, you can still run around during 'free time' and praise or feed each monster. Switching is pretty easy.

(Jell aside paragraph: I have seen some cool Jell animations! When you run in the caves, he is the bike. When he rests, he becomes a hottub with an umbrella and person inside, holding a drink and apparently smoking a cigar. When you feed him he becomes a big glass and it looks like bits of things are flying out as if you tossed in ice cubes too hard and fast, then it blends down into a spinning top shape.)

I then went back into the caves, after a few weeks of training. It turns out that none of my monsters were helpful, none could dig or crawl into small holes. (looks like I am gonna try Mogi and Garu, maybe) I did get attacked by several monsters and got to test the 3 on 1 battle system. Essentially, it's like battling with one monster, except that you can hit L1 and switch out monsters. This way, if one is low in Life, or isn't hitting well, you can try another monster. (The baby Jell did really well, I was amazed!) There is no time limit, so it is possible to see the opponent KO several or all of your monsters. If they all get KO'ed the expedition is over. If one or two go down, then they are no longer available in battles for the rest of this expedition.

I lost a few times, and alternated with ranching to raise stats. I still need to access three treasure areas, so I have not completed the first cave system. I did get a couple of coins and wool balls, and I think I am learning more. Hopefully soon I can add some more techs to my monsters!

That sounds very awesome!!
Thank you Lisa for the information.

Oh, MAN, I can't wait for this game!!

Sounds excellent.
Kudos for all the info Lisa.

what does it look like when u are being attack does the monster run up to u or is there like a little cut scene

What does the Ogoy/Joker looks like? Does the Ogyo have the same kind of moves?

I haven't seen Ogyo/Joker, don't know if it exists. Ogyo/Zan is all black and sorta like as if an Ogyo decided to be in a matrix movie and wear a black rubber outfit.

When you get attacked, you are walking/running through the tunnels and suddenly the screen flashes and goes white (sort of like when a worm coccoons in MR2) with a starburst. Then suddenly your monster (whatever one you had on main view mode at the time) is facing an opponent. The setup then looks a lot like a tourney setup, but you are clearly still in a cavern. Once you win, you see a WINNER screen with your monster cheering, then a technical screen showing the life-bars of all your monsters, then it's back to dungeon crawling.

Yeah...I meant Ogyo/Zan

Sounds like Final Fantasy cave crawling.

Two questions to clearify:

The battles arn't three at once, you have to switch them out of the fight, correct?

and secondly, do you gain any stats/items for the random incounters in the caves?