Ugh I gotta ramble a bit about the Cassette Beasts starters.
So the first NPC you meet asks you what your aesthetic is, spooky or sweet, which corresponds to the two starters, but you’re not actually shown what the starters look like.
And instead of an element type thing, you’re asked for your aesthetic. I just think that’s such a fun twist. They’re not even opposites!
And even the two starters tie into the lore of the first people to see the beasts/monsters, calling them angels and demons, bc they didn’t know what else they could be.
But the most fun part IMO is that Sweet actually gives you Candevil, the demon-esque beast, and Spooky gives you Bansheep, the angelic one.
Now, that’s oversimplifying things a little, because both starters branch at their first remaster (evolution), and go on to have a third form.
Candevil’s entire thing is like, colorful manic pixie dream devil. One branch turns into a demonic rainbow gumball machine; the other goes into bisexual flag -ish… alchemy witch. So the “Sweet” beast has demon and witch.
Bansheep, on the other hand, is emo, goth, and fluffy, yet angelic. Sort of. One branch remasters into what you’d expect — a ghostly halo-ed floating sheep. The other is uh. A black metal tombstone-hugging zombie ram. So Spooky does kind of go the way you’d think, ghost and zombie, except with sheep.
Aren’t these designs awesome? One of the main design philosophies for CB critters is “Don’t begin and end at ‘elemental animal’”, and I think the starters showcase this perfectly.
This is all a very long-winded roundabout way of saying, if you like creature-collecting games with non-cliched cryptid-inspired critters, interesting companions with their own character development, weird analog-ish horror, dialogue that really gets you thinking about the power of humanity and friendship, and they/them pronouns, please for the love of fuck, try Cassette Beasts.
Concept: monster battling game where the monsters get increasingly abstract and conceptual as they evolve. Like, you set out with a cute little sentient trash can as your starter, and by level 60 you're beating people up with the idea of Public Sanitation.
Did you guys know that Dragon Quest V was cited as being an inspiration for Pokemon and not the other way around. Did you guys know that Digimon was created by Bandai to go hand and hand with their Tamagotchi line as a 'Tamagotchi for boys'. Pokemon didn't invent the genre.
There are so many monster raising games that came before and after Pokemon that are on par or even better but the one we choose to support is Palworld and I'm very very very amused by that. I don't care if you play or enjoy Palworld I just think it's very funny.
When genre fans like me were like 'hey you should try out this or this it's super good' and then people in the West pissed themselves saying 'omg Pokemon clone' but now PALWORLD is the one that people changed their minds about. Actual peak comedy.
If you want some good Monster raising genre recommendations: Dragon Quest Monsters is incredible; all of the games are fun in some way. Fossil Fighters; Monster Rancher, Digimon World Dawn/Dusk and the Cyber Sleuth series, Monster Crown, Monster Sanctuary, Cassette beasts, etc.
NOT TO FORGET! One of my absolute favorites if not my favorite; Demi Kids. It's a more 'kid friendly' SMT spin off and it deserves the world. SMT in general came out way before Pokemon so ya know lol.
Also Ultraman had Capsule Monsters waaaay before Pokemon was even a glimmer in anyone's eyes. DBZ also had capsule based stuff very similar to Ultraman. If this is what makes people realize that Pokemon didn't invent monster battling then I guess that's okay lol.
I'm listening to "Face Down" in a loop and it made me draw my favorite Casste Beast! Lapacitor! I used it on my Last Playsession and it's really cool! Lightning Types in general are quite OP tho tbf xD
Also Medibang crashed on me, while I was working on it and I was doing my last touch on it! I got a mini-heartattack and thought I lost it all because I didn't save at all TwT But thank god Medibang saved it!
Hey you! Yes, you! Do you like TTRPGs? Monsters? TTRPGs where you catch monsters and have them fight with the power of friendship? If you said yes to any of these questions then A Monster's Tail might be the game for you!
A Monster's Tail is primarily inspired by the Pokemon franchise, but is also inspired by games such as Digimon, Dragon Quest Monsters, and Jade Cocoon.
This game comes with an entire region to explore with your friends and over 60 Genmon (the name for the monsters you will encounter) to battle, catch, and befriend! And potentially more if certain stretch goals are reached!
The classes/jobs of A Monster's Tail are called Journeys. Journeys do more than decide your stats and abilities as a trainer. They also decide your character's goals and aspirations!
Journey as The Champion to be the very best like no one ever was, to catch them is your test, to train them is your cause. A classic I'm sure you're all familiar with.
Journey as The Idol to show off the beauty, grace, and sheer adorableness of your Genmon! Become a shining star in the world of entertainment!
Journey as The Professor to research and uncover the mysterious secrets of Genmon! Become the nerd you were always meant to be!
If all this isn't enough to convince you, here's one last thing...
One of the Starter Genmon is a magic Pomeranian called Pomiraiden that can shoot lightning.
*mic drop*
...
*picks mic back up because I'm not done yet*
As of the time of this post, you have 17 days to back A Monster's Tail. Fund it while you still can!
Who do I need to talk to about making a monster taming game but it's all about collecting prehistoric aquatic (and semi-aquatic) life from across all of geologic time? (OK and some modern sea life, mainly my freaky dudes from the abyss)
Like, who do I need to give my money to???
I will help!!! I have no game dev experience but DO offer a hyperfixation on marine life, paleontology, and a love of monster collecting/taming games. And lots of creativity.
YELL AT ME ABOUT YOUR OG NOVELS PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Well... If you say so...
The Rise of Winter is a fantasy, (totally not heavily influenced by TDP in any way) where there are four tribes of elves, all based on the four seasons, each having a corresponding Saint that they worship. The Flamebound elves have Saint Autumn, The Thornwood elves have Saint Spring, The Wavewatcher elves have Saint Summer, and The Stormblood elves have Saint Winter. At the time of the story, the land is healing from the last conflict, a horrible war waged by corrupted Necromancers, who were normally a peaceful type, helping perform proper burial rights and things like that. But the land hasn't fully healed, allowing the corruption to creep back in. And the main group of Heroes has to try to figure out how to stop the corruption, which is slowly affecting Saint Winter.
To Tame A Monster was actually heavily inspired by Snake Boi Callum and Kaz Brekker, morally gray characters like that. It's a dystopian future where there really isn't government or order anymore. Survival of the fittest, killer or be killed. The only rulers are gang leaders and mercenaries. The main character, Marc, is a famously ruthless mercenary, who's killed many people, but simultaneously hates what he does, seeing himself as a monster, no longer a man. A female operative, Lissa, has to help him on a mission, and it goes horribly wrong, forcing them to stay together for support throughout disaster after disaster.
Blood and Devotion came from my idea of writing something like Twilight or like the romanticizing of the werewolf legend, but with the Wendigo. It's set in British Columbia, in this rural town where a group of friends noticed that there's several missing persons in the area. Due to this, the local paranormal authorities come in to try to take care of the situation, only to find that they are way in over their heads. The way I bring in the romance approach to the Wendigo, is that it's a spirit rather than a being, so the one to go Spirit actually possesses several people throughout the story, one of the hosts actually ends up being the boyfriend of one of the leads.
Feel free to send me another ask for a snippet from any of these, or all of them if you like!
rune factory has some of the cutest low level monsters....
pomme pomme has a wonderful design and as a mount it will roll itself like a barrel just dragging you through the dirt. i love it
and the winter version. chefs kiss
palm cat with its cute anime eyes i also love.....though this is an untameable red variant from the enemy territory. the enemy of this game is called Sechs, they never acknowledge the (assumed) pronunciation double entendre, and you cant imagine my disappointment to discover you cannot tame the Sechs monsters, which includes a "Sechs Sorcerer". need them in my arsenal
rf5 has these little vegetable sprites that ive never been able to tame because theyre too fast but yeah theyre great
It's been awhile, how are y'all doing? I'm doing great, just kinda forgot to post this, even though I've had the pics in my phone for almost 2 MONTHS. The playthrough of the game is suddenly going a lot smoother thanks to a trainer on the 2nd floor of all the Pokemon Centers.
For context, I was reading the PDF for the game, along with Update logs, and learned about easy EXP battles you can have with a nurse in the Pokemon Centers. She uses the Chansey line, making for some AMAZING EXP yield, and her team grows as you do. They don't know any attacking moves so just keep chipping away until you defeat her. Upon every defeat, she'll also award you 5 Rare Candies, which is great for other members of your team!
Thanks to her, I was finally able to get everyone to a stable level to take on Lt.Surge, who is now a Love-Type trainer. Most of his Pokemon were easy, but damn, THAT RAICHU was annoying!
Finally, I obtained my 3rd badge. Then I...stopped playing for a bit 🫠 Kinda felt burnt out from the game, so I focused on my Switch games. I'm gonna come back to it though!
got back into rf5 again and i picked up right where i left off which was putting the tune crystals back at the different areas and i did that and then got to the part where im like oh, everlasting darkness? psh. piece of cake! ;3 and immediately got one shot like GODDAMN Σ(゜゜) like okay ghost bitch. ill bee back.....😔