|
Monster Rancher Metropolis: Monster Rancher 3 Archive (PS2): Battles & Tournaments: Nate's Battle Strategies: The Next Generation A whole new style of play, tech acquisition, and level of strategy awaits. Can I handle doing Battle Strategies for all these monsters, too? Well, there are less than in MR2, so I think I have a good shot at it... For those who weren't around or just didn't know, I did a complete list of tactical analyses for all the monsters in MR2, though it did take me about a year to get through it all. This may take more or less time, though I'm busy enough in school and possibly working in a completely new environment next semester that it may take awhile to put them all up. I'll do my best, though. ANOTHER WARNING: These are put down in no real order, other than when I raise them, and even that isn't really the case. So I may begin with Beaklon and not get to ColorPandora for months. If you like, though, I'll be posting all the monsters separately, so I can re-organize them as I go. Anyway, I should start with a refresher on some of the terms I use: *Tank: A monster that relies heavily on Defense and the ability to absorb damage to get through battles, rather than Speed and dodging ability. *Speed Demon/Speedster: The exact opposite of the above. *One-Hit Wonder: A monster whose entire battle strategy consists of blasting the opponent with a high-powered, accurate attack for an instant win. Can be good against either Speedsters or Tanks, though a really good version of either who survives/dodges could give you problems. Good against Combo Kings, bad against Antagonizers. *Combo King: Relies on a series of weaker, lower-cost moves to wear down an opponent. May have trouble with Tanks and One-Hit Wonders, but good against Speedsters and Antagonizers. *Antagonizer: Wins by constantly keeping the opponent's Guts too low for them to attack effectively, and waiting out the clock. Good against Tanks and One-Hit Wonders, but not very good against Speedsters and Combo-Kings. *Guts Regen: Short for "Guts Regeneration," which is how quickly a monster's Guts number rises. *I used to use the terms "Short, Mid, Long, and Far Range" for attack positions, which caused a little confusion until people got used to it. Since MR3 only has three ranges, there should be no problem. In their place, I have a few other terms, like... *Jump-In/Out Moves. There are certain techs that bring a monster to a different range than they started the move in, which can be used effectively for offense or defense. More information on those later. *(I'll probably add more terms later. Luckily, I can just edit them in.) A few other notes: The addition of Characteristics radically changes the way this game functions, not to mention combining Skill into Speed. As for the characteristics, MAKE SURE YOU RAISE SOMETHING WITH SHARP EYES. If nothing else, a Suezo breed suffices, but I've been lucky enough to find a few other monster types with it. Sharp Eyes can and should be passed down through every Heart Stone you get. It is absolutely crucial to Antagonizers and especially Tanks, who would otherwise suffer much more greatly from Speed being tied in now with accuracy. Also, the ____ Wisdom and ____ Secrets characteristics can really improve matching techniques, with Secrets being clearly more powerful (though you can have both on the same monster for super fun!). I'll refer to them as ___ W/S (for instance, Earth W/S or Wind W/S) when I can. There ARE characteristics that don't match this wording pattern, like Lung Capacity (which improves breath-based attacks), or Sniper (which helps shooting-based attacks), but when I bring them up, I'll note them as W/S techniques, since they serve the same purpose. Regardless of name, these characteristics can noticeably make up for a lack of Power or Intelligence when using their kind of move, and also seem to slightly increase accuracy (or greatly, in some cases), Gutsdown, and even the activation rate of the special effects of that technique. More on this in the strategies....which I should really get around to, but hold up just a little more. As far as another big change from the older games goes, I am extremely saddened that I can no longer get all the moves for my monster. Following the blasted Pokemon example, they've made it so a monster can only know 4 techniques at a time, which forces you to be much more choosy. Some may welcome this, as it means that a computer-controlled monster won't stupidly use Pow-based techniques over and over when it's supposed to be using Int-based ones (which has killed many a Phoenix, Kato, Tiger, or Plant, I assure you). The funny thing is, there are no longer any battles in the game where you CAN'T control your monster! So it really only helps in Dex Drive tournaments. I suppose it can be a welcome advent, though, as it allows one to create a "mastered" monster much easier. But it also leaves you that much more open to having "blind spots," or places where you can't use a technique. Then again, it applies both ways, and many enemies have the same problem! So there's always a silver lining. ANOTHER WARNING: The old "Guts Miser" strategy is now the *only* way to fly in most cases in this game. That means hanging back and letting your Guts build up to a healthy amount before launching attacks. In the other games, it mildly helped your accuracy, damage, and other effects. In this game, the difference is unbelieveable! If you compare using a move with the absolute minimum guts versus attacking with the same move at nearly full guts, you can see more than a 50% difference in damage and good chunk more Gutsdown. Plus, even without attacking, just look at the accuracy gauges next to your moves rise as you pile on the Guts. It's crazy! And most of the time, whoever takes the first move seems to miss, so unless otherwise adviced, never strike first...but strike hardest! Now, let me get down to this:
|