Cassette Beasts took a bit of time to get into. It has a pretty steep learning curve as the attack and monster types have a lot of different interactions. Before you have a good understanding of the battle system it can feel like every enemy is applying debuffs to you and you're constantly applying buffs to them. But if you stick it out and learn how it works, it becomes very deep and rewarding!
Anyone who grew up on Pokemon and is wishing for a more challenging and sophisticated version, this is it. You have all the core functionality that you'd expect from a Pokemon game, but the types interact is various unique ways beyond just more or less damage. Type interactions will lower defense, or give contact damage, or steal AP, or, my favorite, give multitarget (single-target attacks now hit the whole team).
One build that I'm very proud of involves a monster that has a passive which gets multitarget at the beginning of the turn, then using a move that deals a hit of electric and a hit of air damage, plus it's a rare move that deals splash damage. So we've got the entire team of 3 people getting hit 2 times each, which each of those hits also dealing splash damage to the other two enemies. For a total of 18 hits from one move.
Attacks are determined by Stickers which can be removed and placed onto different monsters at will (as long as they can use the move), allowing you to easily make very precise builds of exactly the moves and passives that you want. It also serves to make monsters viable from the moment you record (catch) them. Even a brand-new monster can have exactly the moves you want it to have. Stickers also can be uncommon or rare and have additional effects based on its rarity. Rare stickers can be very powerful and make for some great combos.
Recording is also improved over catching, as the game always starts the recording at the beginning of the turn, and your recording chance goes up every time you deal damage. Not only that, but you cannot kill a monster that you are actively trying to record. You are free to try to reduce its HP to 1 without fear of knocking it out.
I really like the art style of the monsters and NPCs, I do no care for the low-poly 3D environment of the overworld. I find that they clash. The music is good but too repetitive. Especially the song that plays in the town, which has lyrics and I really enjoy, but then it just plays on repeat for the entire game until you hate it. It's a bummer, because it's a great song. But I don't want to listen to it for 30 hours over the course of my playthrough.
Anyone who grew up on Pokemon and is wishing for a more challenging and sophisticated version, this is it. You have all the core functionality that you'd expect from a Pokemon game, but the types interact is various unique ways beyond just more or less damage. Type interactions will lower defense, or give contact damage, or steal AP, or, my favorite, give multitarget (single-target attacks now hit the whole team).
One build that I'm very proud of involves a monster that has a passive which gets multitarget at the beginning of the turn, then using a move that deals a hit of electric and a hit of air damage, plus it's a rare move that deals splash damage. So we've got the entire team of 3 people getting hit 2 times each, which each of those hits also dealing splash damage to the other two enemies. For a total of 18 hits from one move.
Attacks are determined by Stickers which can be removed and placed onto different monsters at will (as long as they can use the move), allowing you to easily make very precise builds of exactly the moves and passives that you want. It also serves to make monsters viable from the moment you record (catch) them. Even a brand-new monster can have exactly the moves you want it to have. Stickers also can be uncommon or rare and have additional effects based on its rarity. Rare stickers can be very powerful and make for some great combos.
Recording is also improved over catching, as the game always starts the recording at the beginning of the turn, and your recording chance goes up every time you deal damage. Not only that, but you cannot kill a monster that you are actively trying to record. You are free to try to reduce its HP to 1 without fear of knocking it out.
I really like the art style of the monsters and NPCs, I do no care for the low-poly 3D environment of the overworld. I find that they clash. The music is good but too repetitive. Especially the song that plays in the town, which has lyrics and I really enjoy, but then it just plays on repeat for the entire game until you hate it. It's a bummer, because it's a great song. But I don't want to listen to it for 30 hours over the course of my playthrough.