What made Monster Rancher special is how you found monsters. So while y’all were going ga-ga over Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon in the late ’90s and early 2000s, I was into Monster Rancher (and Spellfire, but we won’t speak about Dungeons & Dragons‘ ill-fated Magic competitor here). Now, I have a maddening tendency to avoid the popular stuff while finding something similar-yet-different. Monster Rancher made its debut 23 years ago yesterday (that’s Friday, July 23, for y’all reading this after its publication). This is a welcome time for a game like Fae Tactics, and I hope I keep digging its world as I keep playing it over the next few weeks. I can’t remember the last time I was looking for bike parts in an SRPG (though the game’s description, noting the tension between humankind and the fae, is an omen for more ominous happenings). I found myself playing for about 2 hours one night, and the cute and positive tone revitalized me (I don’t know about y’all, but the pandemic has sure sapped my spirits).Įven the early quests are cute - you’re looking for bike parts, but the shopkeeper tells you they’re having problems because of bandits. The music is a breezy bop, and the visuals are retro-gorgeous. I imagine battles will get harder as I delve deeper into the story and encounter stronger adversaries. So far, combat has been stimulating, if not that challenging. Element attacks are part of the battle system, so you should factor these into account as well as your characters’ abilities when putting together your formation before a combat begins. So far, they’re all elemental attacks, like a fireball spell. They have timers, not mana or other resources, so you need to plan when you use them and how long they’re be unavailable after you cast the spell.
The summons give your more units on the battlefield. It didn’t take long before I had added a mischievous gremlin to my stable (they like to steal things). You have points (little orbs, really) that you spend on them, and as you defeat enemies, you can pick up cards that they drop in their wake to add them to you roster. Peony is a mage, and she can summon animals and monsters at the beginning of combat.You units can also perform combos when attacking the same unit.
You choose your facing after an action, and even the grid glows in a manner akin to Final Fantasy Tactics when showing your range of movement (or for attacks, their area-of-effect, if any). You then decide to move, and when you get to that spot, you can perform an available action (or you can stay put and cast a spell, make an attack, etc., too, if you’re in position to do so). When it’s a characters turn, you can see their available actions on a field in the top-right of the screen.
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