I have been playing for a week. I have also been reading the posts on this, and other, boards - both before and after the game's release. Here are my thoughts.

I reject the few extreme opinions that this game is an abomination, or an attempt to turn monster rancher into a pokemon clone. Sure, there are more cute monsters; sure, there is more of a quest component to the gameplay. However, the nagas still look like nagas; the pixies still look like pixies, etc. The battles still unfold as battles have in all the MR games. The stats still go up in old familiar ways. This game fits solidly into the Monster Rancher tradition.

The recurring theme has been how easy the game is. I agree - fighting the strongest game monster, beating him, and watching the credits roll has never been easier. I beat MR1 in yr 1060; MR2 in yr 1070. [rounding the numbers]. I am in year 1010 now, and if my current 2 year old S level naga doesn't do it, the monster who gets his heart certainly will. Same with unlocking - I never did unlock the MR1 ghost, and the henger took me forever. In MR2 I never did unlock the beaclon; i didn't find the joker mask until the 1100s somewhere. Here, I am down to zan and joker, and if it takes me another 20 years to unlock them, I will be amazed.

But does that mean the game is easy? Or that it will be lacking in long term appeal? I can't say for sure. I know that the time i spent "beating the game" in MR1 & 2 was a very small percentage of my actual gameplay - 60 game years out of 450, more or less [13%]. There are a ton of monsters to raise, and a ton of techs to learn - maybe I will spend 450 more game years doing it.

I think that whether I, and others, play this game long term will depend on whether it draws in the "Monster Rancherish" qualities in us. Long term Monster Ranchers tend to like being rewarded for patient, methodical accumulation of small advantages, which can then be translated to lasting advantages in monster bloodlines. They like the process of raising monsters far stronger than is needed to "beat the game". They like having choices available to them, and they like seeing their monsters turn out with different strengths and weaknesses, and different abilities and characteristics as a result of making those choices.

Here is my bottom line. Short term: I love the new game already. It is engaging, addicting, and distinctively Monster Rancher. I love being able to "play a cartoon". Long term: Depends on the monster strengthening and choice-making process. If getting techs and enhancing monster's lifespans and training times is like MR1 and 2 - with methodical improvement being primarily in the hands of the trainer [albeit with some randomness built in] - then I will happily play the game long term. If the process is like getting the mixed breed cards in battlecards, however - an endless circling of famiiar places, hoping that a random event will finally occur, with little or no control over whether or not it does - then I will quit.

Well, I have been avoiding all MR3 info like the plague. I want to delve into the game and experience it first hand. I even skipped over most of Torey's post. 8^)

Now, I haven't discovered all the ins and outs yet (nor am I looking for your two cents at this time), but here are my initial impressions.

The intro was reasonably okay. Fleria's entry into your gaming life was kind of amusing. Sort of reminded me of Dharma of Dharma and Greg, but more edgy. The background history was pretty good. It keeps the scope of the original two games while introducing a whole new gaming evironment. I appreciate that. I was afraid they would just throw out all the original game info. Instead, it was a nice side-step.

I decided upon a random Saucer for my first monster. Dark Cloud was at hand, so I tossed it in. I was very surprised to get a Dakkang which I promptly named Waddles.

Well, after the initial round-a-bout with Gadamon, I got down to training. I'll reserve judgement on this area until I get more experienced at it. It was at least amusing so far. Especially with Waddles' eyes bugging out at every effort.

Finally, I was able to bring Waddles on a 'venture. Its an interesting mixture/twist of errantries and explorations. But, since I have only gone on one, I cannot say much about this either.

Overall, the first hour of gameplay was interesting, I'll give it a thumbs up so far. But, I will add more once I get some more time in.

varthlokkur - for your consideration - one solution to your problem [wanting relevant info to your game situation, but wanting to avoid spoilers] is to drop into chat in the evening. lisa, barronbrad, feylon, and several others have been very helpful. then you can leave to avoid hearing things you dont want to hear yet.