Just a brief post about combining. So far, it's a lot like MRA2.

You can choose the result you want.

The subs are not part of the formula, so results are limited to the main types.

Monsters belong to Groups which appear to affect combining.

Not every monster type can be a sub of every other type. This allows for a wider variety of main types, and fewer color-swap subs.

Apparently, most monsters have at least one direction of combination with most other types. (With Joker, it winds up being primarily a sub.)So, for example, there is a Naga/Plant but doesn't appear to be a Plant/Naga. This way, the 330-ish monsters have a bit more variety, and we get more main types, in a timely manner. (If 30+ main types all had each other's subs, we'd have 900 monsters and the game would take 5 years to ship!)

I haven't tried combining my one rare yet, so I don't know if rares are a shrine option.

Lisa,

Are the sub-type monsters shaped different to reflect the subtype or just skinned differently? The pictures which are linked in a previous thread show what appear to mostly be skinning differences, not necessarily new models per sub-type...

Trousle

It depends. They are definitely more than simple color-swaps, some are skins, but some are whole new models. Overall, there is a lot more detail on all monsters, so there are a lot of differences between subs. Those pictures are kind of small, and low resolution, so you can't really see the level of detail involved.

there are differences, its hard to put a high resolution picture since my webspace is small... :)

Rares do appear as a choice during combining.

Of course, they also appear in your encyclopedia, for regeneration.