Monster Rancher Advance FAQ By Windian Angel coneldore@hotmail.com ----------------------------------------- This is my first FAQ, so go easy on me! Table of Contents Section 1 - Getting started! (Basics) Section 2 - FAQ Section 3 - Creating your path of Champions Section 4 - Secret monsters and Passcodes Section 5 - Contact Information and Acknowledgements -------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is copyrighted to me. Don't even THINK about taking it for your strategy guide. Yeah, you heard right, Game Cave. Back off. If you want it on your site or whatever, just e-mail me. Chances are you'll get my permission. Just give me the credit. Latest version of this FAQ available at www.gamefaqs.com Version 2.3: A contributor named A Nelson had offered a great addition to the FAQ with a step-by-stepper to Spec Mods for a measley 800 G! He also added that there is one more fatigue level... Eek... I always raised (spoiled) monsters easily so I haven't seen it before. Sorry for the mishap! Version 2.1: I added a small part in the Advanced traits area with a step-by-step to getting Gold Gift easily. All you need is an eight letter tablet, Zan unlocked, and 2,200 G. Also added a couple FAQ questions. Version 2: I fixed the bad code on Durahan - I typoed and switched "Avenger" with "Selvan". Enter in Avenger to get your special Durahan now! I also updated the FAQ to include some thoughtful questions I got by e-mail that I thought needed addressing. And... finally... *drumroll* I added a traits and raising method section! Enjoy! 1.1 Background Welcome to Monster Rancher Advance! This game is about raising monsters on your ranch out in the boondocks and managing their growth from a just born creature to an elder creature that can call upon the powers of Heaven and Earth to wreck anything in their way. This series was inspired by the creature raising simulator Tamagotchi-Digimon and many of it's nuances are identical to Barcode Battlers. Pokemon did not come until a year later, so put all thoughts of this being a Pokemon cash-in out of your mind. While were at it, forget about Pokemon altogether - you're not going to be roaming the land, solving puzzles or any of that. Heck, the whole game is played from first person view and with menus. While the other Monster Rancher games worked on generating creatures from CDs, this one is based on words up to eight letters. Thats right, you can take every word in this FAQ and make a monster out of them. 1.2 Story Aroma and Zest are a brother/sister ranch team from Age Island in the southern ocean of the Monster Rancher world. When their parents were alive, the ranch flourished and they were able to make an honest living. But fate stepped in and they lost both of their parents, leaving them to fend for themselves and their ranch. Things went to hell for them quite soon thereafter, and the ranch became run down and they were on their way to poverty. Zest, in desperation, wrote a letter to a master breeder from the mainland to come to their ranch and set them right again. That breeder in question is you! At first the transition will be tough for you, but with friends like Bolzoi, Mr. Mardoc, and Ayase, hopefully you'll fit right in and set this ranch upon the path for greatness! 1.3 Lets look at the basics! Raising a monster is actually much simpler than all the menus you see before you would have you believe. It works like this: There is a time of month and year. The game I believe starts on the first week of June. Most of the commands on the menu before you are how you're going to spend this week. Training is the option you'll find yourself using most, allowing you to raise a monster's stats a bit. Rest will allow your monster to take it easy for a week. Special will open up a Special Training menu, whereupon you sign up for a month-long training session that may result in a new fighting skill. Battle will open up a calendar. Where the pointer is when you open it is the current week. See how one horizontal bar on the calendar is highlighted and the other bars are darkened? This reflects your monster's Class. You start in D class and can only enter D class tournaments. Chances are, you don't see a "D" anywhere on that horizontal line. Push R2 to scroll the calendar ahead a month to take a peek to see if there are any battle events next month. If there are and you want to sign up for one, just go over to the "D" in that month and push the "A" button. Aroma will ask if you want to reserve a place in the tournie. Say yes and she'll remind you a week before the competition. If you open up the battle menu and there is a battle on the current week thats in your class, you can go ahead and enter it. Time passes just like this: Enter command --> Monster carries out (or attempts to carry out) command --> New week begins --> Aroma reports monster's status --> Enter command --> Monster attempts to carry out command --> Etc. Easy, right? Push start and check the Monster data to get info on their stats, record, moves, age, and traits. An area of special concern are the moves. There are two movesets labeled in roman numerals. You assign the moves for those sets from your total move pool. From left to right are your moves for near, mid-range, and far away. Remember to take the time to set up your moves every time you get a new one added to your pool from Special training. 1.4 Town Welcome to Town! Here in this virtual monster mecca is the heart of your monster organizing, experiments, and creation! You start here, so don't get too panicked! Best part about Town is that no time passes to visit or leave here and you can do all the work here that you need done without worry. This is a relaxation time, breeder! Shrine: Here is where monsters are born. You can create a monster either by Tablet (put in aforementioned words of choice!) or by the Book... (Hehehe, a little breeder humor there). Oh yeah... they won't generate a monster for you if you already have one in your current possession. But thats not a problem since you have a Studio! AGIMA: Don't worry about this place for now. I'll come back to it on the "Creating your Path of Champions" section. Its also a place to ditch monsters, if you're curious. Studio: Here is where you store unused monsters. Your monster inventory, you could say. If you're going to fight a human friend's monster, here is the stock where you draw it from. You can have up to twelve at a time. Choose "Freeze" to put the monster you currently have on ice and into one of your slots. Choose "Revive" to bring said monster back (No "Encino Man" jokes, please!). Delete to... well.... heh.... put the one of your stored monsters to sleep. The BIG sleep. Combine lets you take two stored monsters and mix them. 1.5 Monster care As nice as it would be to train a monster without thought, the monster IS a living creature before being your little battle beastie, and as such it has it's limits! It will eventually tire out and it will need a good diet to train well. Light drills, by the way, are Training that raises one stat and Heavy drills are Training that raises one stat by a lot, one stat up by a little, and one stat down by a little. Train (Light drill): Go to next fatigue level Train (Heavy drill): Jump down two fatigue levels Rest: Jump up four fatigue levels Battle: Jump down two fatigue levels Special: Jump down three fatigue levels Item: Free command (no time passes to visit shop or use items) Town: Free command 1. Aroma: (monster) looks very energetic! 2. Aroma: (monster) looks pretty lively. 3. Aroma: (monster) seems to be in good shape 4. Aroma: (monster) seems to be a little sleepy 5. Aroma: (monster) seems to be tired 6. Aroma: (monster) is really worn out 7. Aroma: (monster) is exhausted 8. Aroma: (monster) is exhausted. If we don't do something soon.... 9. Aroma: (monster) is about to collapse... * * Don't let it come to this point! Needless to say, you should not let it get down to 8 or your monster's health will be in danger and they'll get sick. Also do not fight if your monster's fatigue is 5 or below or their stats will drop drastically for the battle. The more often you let a monster rest, the longer it will live. Rest it too often and it'll get to be a weak, spoiled bum who doesn't work... but it'll live long. Get too stingy with resting, and the monster will grow to be a real bruiser but will die young. Finally, is the issue of feeding the creature. This happens once in the beginning of every month. Regardless of monetary concerns, you should feed your monster the food that is the most nutritious for it (all four green bars filled) but also something it can at least tolerate (at least two orange bars). This will ensure the creature will get the most out of training it can. After all, where would Jordan be without his Wheaties? 1.6 Battle Basics One of the first questions one will probably find themselves asking when they first battle is, "Whats going on?". Thats a good question. Don't sweat it. Relax. First of all are the two lifebars. The one on the left is yours. The one on the right is your enemy's. In the center is the time limit. Is this looking like a fighting game yet? The center of the screen, where you see yourself and the enemy is actually the LEAST helpful area on the battle screen, so turn your attention to the bottom. You should see a little icon of your monster and a little icon of the enemy monster and between them a red bar that seems to get longer and shorter. The bar is your distance from the enemy and vice versa. If that jerk has you up against the wall, pushing left or right isn't going to do any good. If you and the enemy monster are right up against each other, hit "R1" to back him off. Right under your icon should be three other icons. Those are your moves. Remember how I told you to set them up? In the bottom middle area are "Guts" and "Hit percentage". Guts are whats needed to make an attack and every move costs some from your pool. They regenerate throughout the battle. The higher Guts you have, the higher the Hit Percentage of the move highlighted and the lower damage the enemy will do if they hit you... Not to mention higher Guts will also improve your dodge rate. Whether to spend them as they come to try and attack or to save up and use them strategically is the heart of the battle system. Finally... to wrap up the basics... to get more moves you need to attend Special training which I've mentioned in passing above. The Special training will cost a month of your time. You have to fight a Teacher... Believe it or not, you do NOT need to beat this teacher to get a new move. You need to practice moves that fit the special training. Power: Use your strongest Physical moves (Moves that appear in red) on the Teacher Sense: Use your strongest Intelligence-based moves (Moves that appear in green) on the Teacher Technic: Use your most accurate moves on the Teacher. Speed: Dodge your teacher and use Guts frugally! Tough: Use defensive moves and try to survive your Teacher's assault! The better you do against your teacher will affect whether you get a move, but as I said before, it is NOT a requirement to open a can on your sensei if you're that powerful. In fact, doing that once during Tough training once made me fail to learn a move. Finally, this battle will NOT go on your win/loss record, so don't dampen your Hanes just yet. You now know enough to jump in the game and know what the heck you're doing. 2 FAQ "How do you save?" I covered this, but it is still a frequently asked question and as such, I'll answer it again. The game saves automatically when a week passes, or if you go to Town or back to the Ranch from Town. "What code word should I start with?" Whatever you like. Don't sweat it with your first monster if you can help it. "Pabs" will give you access to a rare monster early. So will "Ninja" once you have five letters. "Why is it telling me I can't raise this creature?" You just found the code to a Zan, Durahan, Dragon, or Joker. You need to earn those monsters in an Invitational Match which is basically a showdown with the monster in question. Win it to earn the right to raise them. To get an Invitational for Durahan or Dragon, hang around with an A class monster and Bolzoi will drop by with the invitation. To get an Invitational for Zan or Joker, hang around with an S class monster. "Is the Special Training Camp the only way to get new moves?" - Ralf Yes. Watch for what Francesca says about the possibility of your getting a new move from whichever training. "Can you unassign working coaches?" - Brendan Yes, you can, all you need is a coach to replace the one in the slot yours is. If its one of the AGIMA ones, it leaves forever - good riddance - but if its one of yours, they immediately return the original coach to you. Not that it should matter TOO much, because in VS battles against other humans, your coaches are counted in your battle/trade stock! "I ran out of money and can't raise my monster's rank! What do I do?!" - Crazy Horse Running out of cash in MRA (or MR3 for that matter) is no longer the end of the world. It just means you're gonna have to climb your way back. Fighting in AGIMA's official tournaments is the only way of raising your rank - do it when the monsters on the level you're on provide absolutely no challenge and not before then. This can assure you you'll make money winning fights. If you're in a jam where you have to feed the poor thing and are broke, sell some extra stuff or... wait until your monster gives you Elec Paint, Tauparin N, or a Monol Frag and sell that for 3,000/4,000 gold. It should put you back in the game in one shot. "Oh no! I missed the invitational battle and it dissapeared from my schedule! What do I do?" Whoops. Bolzoi will come back again next year around the same time he gave you the first invitational. Its not too late. "I think 'Spyro' gives you a dragon." - Rachel OK, its not really a question and I normally refuse password submissions, but this was too cute to pass up. Yes, Spyro gives you a Tiamat - Dragon/Pixie. Parappa gives you a Mogi type, as well as the Parappa CD giving you a Mogi in MR3. Intentional? Maybe. Enter "DOA" or any of the names of the Dead or Alive girls and you'll always get a Pixie. This is why the code system, despite it's random nature, is fun nonetheless. "Are there any expeditions in this game?" No. "Can a monster die?" Not in Age Island it can't. They used to kick the bucket all the time in the games before, but not here. They will grow too old to fight or train anymore though.. The time now is to save them for VS human fighting, combine them, or make them coaches. You can fight them a little longer, but they'll get stat drops at the beginning of every battle (Not permanent drops) "Why do my monsters seem to be at their limit barely after three years?" This truly varies from monster to monster. Joker will hit it's limit much quicker than Arrowhead. But general rules to keeping a monster active for a long time is to feed it nutritious food it likes, scold it when it doesn't finish training but let it go if it just didn't do well, rest it as soon as it hits fatigue level four or five, and don't let it get KO'd in battle. Battles make small cuts into their lifespan too, but unless they're tournie beasties it'll be by a negligible amount. Try treating it occasionally to a snack it likes if you're pleased at it's performance - it'll try it's best to do it again! "Is there any way to make more Freezer space? Is there a way to keep them from getting old?" As if this game isn't simple enough! No, and no. Use your monster storage wisely - don't fill it up with barely-generated monsters. Your Book will keep a close enough track of the monsters you can make. If you're gonna fight other humans, your coaches can be used directly as well. And keeping them from getting old? Tell you what pal, if YOU figure out the secret of living young forever, e-mail me and it'll be our little secret. (NOTE: That was sarcasm. I don't want your Gameshark codes) "What is the best monster?" I forget who said this, probably Lisa-san from MR Metropolis, but whoever said "There are no bad monsters, only bad raising styles" is right on the money. If a monster really turns out to suck, you either raised it wrong or its just not you. Unlike many monster raisers, its actually deadly effective to raise your favorites over what LOOKS to be the best. "Does it matter if I combine monsters that have been raised?" Yes, it does matter. A lot, in fact. Combine two monsters that haven't been raised at all and you'll most likely get a monster that is weaker than either parent or has stats 'typical' for it's breed. Don't combine your champion with a fresh kid straight from the Shrine unless the kid has a trait you're dying to have. Even then, its probably better the critter first. There is no substitute for patience in this game. On the other hand, if the two monsters you're combining are fully raised, you'll likely get something decent from the combine. Try also to sort out the generations - two fully raised first generations combine to a second generation. Raise two more first generations and make another second generation. Raise the two second generations to make a third. This third will likely have ungodly stats for a starting monster. "Isn't this game just a Pokemon rip off?" ........ I thought I cleared this up, but let me reiterate: MONSTER RANCHER came a YEAR before Pokemon. If its ripping off anything, its ripping off Barcode Battlers. Don't come playing this game thinking you're getting a Pokemon-relive experience or you're going to go home very sorely dissapointed. "Can I fight Dynast more than once?" Yeah, but beating him only gets the credits shown once =( At least the battle music for him is pretty cool! "What are some codes for this game? My Codebreaker won't work on it..." I have no intentions of sharing codes. Not putting them on my FAQ, not buying into them. If you find the codes, great, then you won't need this rag... will you? You could just put in the "Beat Dynast and Conquer World at push of B button" code and it'll be done, right? Then go ahead and make your day. "How come my monsters just don't seem to get strong? I can't beat (whatever)!" Good time as any to plug the next section: Creating your Path of Champions! 3. Creating your path of Champions! This section is for those of you who are _REALLY_ stuck and need some help in raising monsters. Are the ones you have just not cutting it? The quality of road you take is as important as the road's destination! 3.1 Coaches As Einstein had taught us, you do not need to grow in a perfect environment with teachers willing to stimulate growth to become truly great. But it sure as heck doesn't hurt. The first thing that will stunt your potential are the Coaches AGIMA provides you. Don't rely on these rejects to help you raise your champion! These guys all have "400" or less in whatever stat they're training you in. To put your future champion in their hands is screaming "I really suck!". As well as AGIMA's intentions were in giving you these guys were, they're not going to raise you PvP worthy monsters. What to do then? Believe it or not, putting these bums out of a job and usher in new generations of champions is not at all hard. But it WILL be extremely time consuming. If you're patient enough to see this through, every monster you raise thereafter will likely grow to be excellent. 1. Choose the Light Drill you want to bump up to perfection 2. Generate a monster that is generally good in the stat you want (Example: a Golem for POW) 3. Train your monster EXCLUSIVELY in that stat (yes, with the wimp AGIMA sent) until it hits 999 4. Get it to B-class or higher... Go for the highest class you can. With a 999 stat, it won't be hard. 5. Continue raising it until it reaches it's limit. 6. Replace the Light Drill coach that even got him this far *evil grin* Do that for all six Light Drill coaches. Now with all your Light Drills being handled by 999 men, you'll already see a difference. You can stop here if you want. If you want to continue, follow the steps again, except train THREE stats as high as you can using your new Light Drill coaches. Set this monster up for a Heavy Drill. Fill up all the Heavy Drill slots now with monsters you trained exclusively for coaching. Now you're set - just about any monster you raise should now grow to be a serious butt kicker. 3.2 Traits Here are the basic traits Act. View - Makes it easier to hit fast monsters Suezo's natural trait. Very useful for almost any monster. If the computer gets "cheap" on you way too often regarding dodging you, put this trait on your shopping list. Armor - Increased defense level, less dodge Durahan's natural trait. It has the same description as Rock Skin and Hard Shell, but its the strongest of the three with the biggest speed deficit. It's abilities CAN be stacked on either one to create a near impenetrable tank. More on that later. Big Eater - Can eat two snacks a week Yay. I can give it two snacks a week. This is only good if you plan to work you monster to the bone - you can then give it two nitro berries to jump start it. Not a trait I'd get much use out of. Big Lungs - Improved Breath attacks This trait is worthless on most monsters, but is a boon to a few. Pixie and Dragon, who both can use Fire Breath, will get mileage out of it. Tiger might too, if it's Blizzard/Ice Bullet count as a breath move. Cold Proof & Cold Resistance - Better evasion/defense against ice If you know your opponent is going to definately be a Tiger, you can use these traits to prepare a counter for it. Dark Aura & Light Aura - Better evasion/defense against Magic The former is Joker's natural trait. Combining the two will get the Advanced trait Dusk Aura, but regardless these are excellent to have together or individually. If you know your enemy is to be a Joker or Pixie, this will put a damper on their offense. Earth Know - Improved Earth attacks Psiroller's natural trait. Use it on a Psiroller, Golem, or Mogi. The latter will probably get more use out of it, considering Rollers/Golems are rarely raised for intelligence fighting. Elec-Proof & Elec Resist - Better evasion/defense against Thunder Elec Proof is Ducken's natural trait and Elec Resis is Tiger's. Again, good if you know your enemy is a Tiger. Fire Know - Improved Fire attacks Like Big Lungs, this is good for Dragon or Pixie who uses Fire Breath a lot. Fire Know combined with Big Lungs will make one nasty firebreather, if not a one-trick pony. Flex Tail - Improved Tail attacks Zuum's natural trait. In all honesty, tail attacks suck in damage. If the monster you're raising uses it's tail a lot and you're raising a turtle, it might be worth something. Could also be used as a temporary boost for a Dragon or Zuum when they're first starting out, but there are better traits. Footwork - Improved evasion, but lower defense Hare's natural trait.... if Tecmo only saw fit to include him! The other side of the coin from Hard Shell/Hard Skin/Rock Skin/Armor. Like them, this is stackable onto them as well, though most of the time the two cancel each other out. If you're raising a speed demon such as a Pixie, its good - but watch out, because its a double edged sword. Grace Step - Improves Dance moves and increases evasion Mogi's natural trait, appropriately. The evasion boost is negligible, but its still nice to have. Mogi himself, obviously, will get the most use out of this trait, but the evasion boost is still nice. Hard Head - Improves Head attacks Perfect for when you want to give the opponent some head *drum rimshot*. OK, that was bad. Anywho, various monsters can make use of this, but I don't use head attacks simply because of it's inaccuracy. Hard Skin & Hard Shell - Improved defense, but lower evasion Antlan's and Arrowhead's natural traits respectively. I'm pretty sure these two offer the same level of trade-off. Heatproof & Heat Resist - Improved evasion/defense against fire moves Heat Resistance is Dragon's natural trait. Is your rival across the street using my FAQ to build a Dragon/Pixie that is going to use that Fire Breath with Big Lungs/Fire Know thing to you? Then put it on your trait shopping list so you'll be ready. Hi Power, Hi Sense, Hi Tech, Hi Tough, Hi Speed - These each offer a small boost in training whatever stat. Combined they give the rare trait Gold Gift! This'll make life easier for you. Hi Resist - Resists status changes Good on everything except Zan, who NEEDS a status change to make use of Caution. Either way, if your opponent likes to Addle/Stagger you a lot as their strategy, you'll need this. Ice Know - Improved Ice moves Did I say Tiger? Iron Fist - Improved fist/punch attacks Too bad Hare isn't in this game. He'd love this trait. Anyways, this is a great general-purpose move for monsters that use their fists a lot such as Antlan or Golem. Iron Heart - Training doesn't cause as much fatigue Great, great general purpose trait that will add 100's to your monster's final stats. Combined with Gold Gift, it'll give you a shot at getting a perfect monster. Life Know - Improved Healing moves If the monster you have, such as Pixie or Joker, gets a move that saps the opponent's life, its a good trait to have. It'll mean that you'll do more damage, as well as get more life from that damage. Hilarious when there is five seconds left on the clock your life is in the orange, you do a life drain, and the opponent is is in the red and you're back in the green. Loud Voice - Improved scream moves Mew's natural trait. I can't honestly say any monsters that do this come to mind except for Lesione, Mew, and possibly Ducken. This trait isn't anything to write home about. Ltng Know - Improved Thunder moves .... Yes, I did say Tiger, didn't I? Magic Resis - Better defense against magic Combine this trait with Dusk Aura, and you'll be in a comfortable position to fight enemy Jokers or Pixies. Magic Know - Improved Magic moves Joker. Pixie. Goodnight! Mind Know - Improved Psychic moves A must have if you're gonna raise a Suezo. It makes some of their stronger attacks uber powerful. Fear the Suezo with Mind Know. Rock Skin - Improved defense with lower evasion Am I seeing a pattern here? Anyways, it's tradeoff is higher than Hard Shell/Skin but lower than Armor. Golem's natural trait. Sharp Bld. - Improved moves involving weapons Hmm... What monster uses any weapons? Mocchi? Bah. Very, very obviously used for Durahan's and naught else. Sharp Claw, Sharp Fang, Sharp Horn - Improved power with moves involving claw/fang/horn Probably Tiger's good karma coming back for the many ways you can resist his ice/lightning. Obviously other monsters such as Zan or Dragon can use Sharp Claw, but this three-set was obviously made with Tiger in mind. Sniper - Improved projectiles A very cute trait. Many monsters use projectiles, so its worth something. If you use a speed turtle, it might be good for annoying the enemy by shooting stuff at them. Soft Body - Damage to you is lessened Mocchi's natural trait. Err... not much to say. Its why Mocchi is huggable. Still though, less damage without strings attached is nice. Soft Smell - Improved Charm/Guts Down moves Pixie's natural trait. I won't lie to you - Soft Smell's original literal translation is "Pheremone". Yes, Pixies use their female pheremone in battle. Heh. I can't think of anything to say except that if you're gonna use a Witherer, its a necessary trait. Sweet Vox - Improved Sing moves Maybe Jigglypuff could use it. But it isn't in the game. So the customers looking to pick up this trait are likely all to be Mew trainers. If you rely on Recital a lot, pick it up. Water Know - Improved Water moves I didn't see too many Water moves in the game. Lesione can keep it, I don't think most other monsters will get much out of it. Waterproof & Watr Resist - Improved defense/evasion against water Lesione's natural trait. Unless your enemy is Lesione or you want to give this trait to outside furniture, its not really worth it. Wind Know - Improved Wind moves A few monsters use wind moves, such as Dragon or Antlan. Wind moves are accurate, but not powerful. Wind Know does do a lot for them. Wind Resist - Better defense against Wind Your enemy is using Wind Know to pump up their "gusty" monster? Better use this as your storm shelter. 3.3 Advanced Traits Make one or more of these a MUST HAVE on your traits-to-get list. They're all very very good and I recommend them to most monsters. The only way to get an Advanced Trait is to get the traits that I list next to each name. The best, surefire way of doing this is through combining, but if you do so, make sure that the new monster's traits won't be filled up - leave one extra space - to ensure you get the move. Otherwise you'll probably fail. This is the time to use those Lethe Rx items you buy from the store... One more thing: Save some empty book entries. In other words, don't fill up your book at the Shrine. If you get an Advanced Trait, combine it with something you don't have an entry for and you can get an entry with an Advanced Trait on it. Excellent. Dusk Aura - (Light Aura + Dark Aura) Is rarely affected by non physical attacks If you're using a power-hitter monster with lower intelligence, you'll definately, DEFINATELY want Dusk Aura. Its probably the easiest Advanced trait to get, so go for it ASAP! Spec Mods - (Fireproof + Coldproof + Waterproof + Elec-Proof) Rarely affected by Fire, Ice, Thunder, or Water moves Sweet deal. Good for the turtle in all of us. Was going to work up a guide for this, but screw it now. A Nelson has one for ya if you go down a bit. Fairy Knowledge - (Ice Know+Fire Know+Wind Know+Water Know+Earth Know+Ltng Know) Improves the power and accuracy of any elemental move Wow. What can I say? If you use any Int. type moves involving the elements in some way, make this a must-get. It looks like an intimidating list, but Fairy Knowledge is actually pretty easy to get - put in "Infinite" to get Diva, the last boss, and he'll start with Fairy Knowledge, so there is no excuse your INT type attacker shouldn't have it. Gold Gift - (Hi Power+Hi Sense+Hi Tech+Hi speed+Hi Tough) - Easily raises any parameter One of the most talked/asked about traits in MRA lore. Extremely tough to get, but it pays off in spades. I can brag that I have two book entries with Gold Gift, one of which I gave a new player to start his game with. My Karma is now balanced. The difference between a Gold Gifted monster and a non-Gold Gifted monster starts small, but the monster so blessed will be worlds away in terms of overall power. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to get Gold Gift: The EZ Way Ingredients: Able to use eight letters on the tablet Zan unlocked 2,200 G Some patience to see this through Thats it. Also when following this, make sure you combine IN THE ORDER they appear. Remember, Tiger+Zuum is NOT equal to Zuum+Tiger. You could probably get similiar results messing with this order, and if you do, thats great but it'll be your fault if you mess up. Also, if you know a different approach with different monsters holding the Hi-traits to combine, thats fine too. But this guide is for the breeders who want someone to walk it through for them, and I understand how they feel. 1. Revive Fankung with the passcode "Football" 2. Revive Kamui with the passcode "Papas" 3. Combine Fankung with Kamui to create Gullkung (100G) 4. Remove all traits from Lekkung except the Hi-traits using Lethe Rx items bought from store except for it's natural trait (Elec-Proof) (600G) 5. Revive SilverFace with the passcode "Torble" 6. Revive a Lesione using the passcode "Tochikan" 7. Combine Lesione with SilverFace to create a Lebian (100G) 8. Remove all traits except for the Hi-traits and it's natural trait (Water Resis.) (300G) 9. Combine Lebian with Gullkung to create Lekkung (100G) 10. Remove all traits except for the Hi-traits and it's natural trait (Elec-Proof) (300G) 11. Revive a normal Zan with the passcode "98%SPEED" 12. Combine Zan with Lekkung to create Kagura (100G) 13. Remove all traits from Kagura except the hi-traits (Zan has no natural traits) (300G) 14. Revive a Melon Suezo with the passcode "Cheese" 15. Remove Melon Suezo's Flex. Tail (300 G) 16. Combine Kagura with Melon Suezo to create Bui (100G) 17. Look at Bui's traits...... =) ~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~ Bui Pow: 179 Int: 122 Acc: 202 Spd: 201 Def: 110 Life: 110 Traits: Act. View Gold Gift ~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~ There you have it. You have a Zan-type with Gold Gift, not bad starting stats, and Act. View to boot. Combine Bui with a book entry you don't have and.... you'll have a book entry with Gold Gift! Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Nelson's Guide to getting Spec Mods Easy Spec Mods: Need 800G and at least seven characters with Durahan unlocked. 1) Revive a Piyokkung with the password Strange, freeze it. 2) Revive a Lemlaria with the password Babbag, freeze it. 3) Combine the two with Lemlaria as the main monster to get a Wickerman (100G) 4) Go to the ranch and use a LetheRx3 on it to remove Loud Voice. Back to town to freeze it. (300G) 5) Revive a Lezaal with the password rmorsea, take it to the ranch. 6) Use a LetheRx2 on it to remove WatrResist, take it to town. (300G) 7) Combine Lezaal with the Wickerman to get a Kelmadics. (100G) Kelmadics Pow 171 Int 104 Acc 129 Spd 74 Def 198 Lif 123 Armor Hard Skin Spec Mods Note from Windian Angel: Give A Nelson props for this! 800 G for a great trait like Spec Mods is a great deal, plus the resulting Kelmadics is nothing to sneeze at. The person who e-mailed me 'bout Spec Mods and anyone who doesn't feel like collecting paint, here you go! A Nelson: amn001@bridgewater.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4 Raising strategy Let me begin by clearing up a mistake that new players make all the time, myself included. Do not raise stats evenly. Do not raise stats evenly. Do not raise stats evenly. Oh.... and... DO NOT RAISE STATS EVENLY! I know the reasoning for the impulse to do this - you want to work to get every stat at 999. Noble, but its not likely going to happen! Most monsters have certain "inclinations" built in that makes them more effective in one kind of training and really bad in another. You do not have all the time in the world to raise a monster. It starts with very small stat gains, they slowly get bigger, they hit a huge jump at it's peak, then they slowly decrease with age. That means you have a limited amount of time to get the creature to it's full potential, so you need to play to the strengths of the monsters while compensating for it's weaknesses. That is the way to win, no two ways about it. You need to tell yourself this every time you feel compelled to raise stats evenly. You need to take a risk, usually the payoff is more than worth it. To help you, I'll include some formulas to give you ideas. You'll need to find your own way of doing things. What I do is take several methods, break them down, and combine them to create something better, such as two types of Turtles. What are Turtles? Read on. Finally, Gold Gift is not going to appear on any recommended traits. Why? Because it kinda goes without saying. Turtles: Recomended Traits: Hard Shell, Hard Skin, Armor, Dusk Aura, Spec Mods Raising a Turtle, the idea is to capitalize on defending yourself, not much effort will be going into attacking powerfully or even accurately. It sounds terrible on paper, but in practice it creates a consistently winning monster because even the worst attacks done to it will rarely reach two digits. Seeing-Eye Turtle: In addition: Act View, Sniper An Accurate turtle, focused less on the traditional Turtle approach and daring to venture into fighting. Make sure Acc is high. You'll still win easily because if you can hit the opponent once, you'll win... the opponent will do nothing to you! Suggested with: Antlan Switzerland Turtle In addition: Hi-Resist, Magic Resist Raise only Defense, Life, and Intelligence. Forget about hitting the enemy entirely. Maybe just smack him once or twice with an Int-type move and then just kick back with a cocktail for the rest of the fight. Its extremely unlikely the enemy will hurt you with anything, and even if they do, it'll be the chip of a chip of your lifebar. With high Intelligence, you can probably deliver a crushing Int blow as well! Suggested with: Arrowhead, Joker Mach Turtle Omit: Hard Shell, Hard Skin, Armor Focus on Speed, Defense and Intelligence or Life. Mach Turtles will drive your opponent absolutely nuts, and very funny to use in a fight against a human. You see, the idea is that next to nothing will hit your Mach Turtle and what does hit will be negligible at best. Try raising a Mach Turtle if you want to hear choice expletives from your friend. Suggested with: Psiroller Apocalypse Turtle In addition: Iron Fist, or any move improving a physical hit of some sort An Apocalypse Turtle is hard to raise, to say the least. Their accuracy is probably going to be lower than other Turtles. Its highly recommended you combine two Turtles before going for an Apocalypse Turtle. Anywho, to cut to the chase, focus most on Power/Intelligence, Defense being secondary. See where this is going? You may not be able to score as many hits with Accuracy being neglected, but what does hit will _hurt_. In order to beat the Great Three, you will have to deal with a nasty Apocalypse Turtle named Bastian. Use him as an example to raise your own. Suggested with: Antlan, Golem Speed Demons Recommended traits: Dusk Aura, Footwork, Spec Mods, Soft Body Speed Demons are extremely risky, with Speed and Accuracy being the focus. If the enemy hits you, its practically over. Speed Demons are still very popular to raise because they're focused on taking the enemy down quickly, accurately, and nastily. A Speed Demon's fame is sure to rise quickly, as most of their fights shouldn't last more than twenty seconds. Ninja Demon In addition: Grace Step Focus on Power/Intelligence, Accuracy, and Speed. Thats it. You're in deep trouble if you get hit even once, but the idea is to take the enemy out before they can hit you. Get the most powerful move you can and execute ASAP. If you've been raising Power and Accuracy a lot, you'll likely get a one hit KO. If not, the creature will be crippled enough for you to use a low-guts-but-accurate move to dispatch them. A very popular formula, this one. Suggested with: Zan (he was built for it! "Zan" means to execute by beheading), Tiger Alakazam Demon In addition: Magic Know/Mind Know, Fairy Know Almost the same as above, but Intelligence instead of power. Alakazam Demons are less at risk than Ninja Demons because if the enemy hits them with an Int-type move, it'll be treated as though the Alakazam Demon were a Mach Turtle! If you're a Pokemon player and felt most comfortable with a Psychic sweeper like Alakazam, this is the setup for you! Suggested with: Pixie, Suezo Thats all for now. Raise a few monsters following the schemes I provided and combine them. You'll surely eventually get one that'll wreck the opposition. 4. Secret Monsters and Passcodes All right... here you go. The rare monsters. Very good material to raise a Coach for. I got these codes from Monster Rancher Metropolis. Go to http://www.monster-rancher-metropolis.com and give them a visit! Asterisk means that they were a former enemy in MR2! Pixie: "Ultra" - Altima (From Final Fantasy Tactics to you!) "Nature" - Nymph Golem: "Luminous" - Naskar "Crystal" - Crystallia Mew: "Polar" - Polar Mew "Paleo" - Ballad Mocchi: "Rouge" - Soft Pink "Pabs" - White Mocchi* Dragon: "Infinite" - Diva (This is Dynast!) "Kawrea" - Magmaheart* Arrowhead: "Torble" - SilverFace* "Cyber" - Stalgunner Suezo: "Tesca" - White Suezo* "ONLIGHT" - Jagandi Ducken: "Strange" - Piyokkung "Football" - Fankung Zuum: "KEEPSLY" - Chrono "Luxury" - Glarlie Tiger: "Leaf" - Remus "Papas" - Kamui* Naga: "LIKETEA" - Punisher* "Killer" - Dogmar Octopee: "Sausage" - Vienna "Snow" - Yuppee DJ Mogi: "Jackson" - Thrillie "WAKE UP" - Oricon Psiroller: "Cabbit" - Rabiroller (Ha ha ha -_-;;) "MOTOGP" - Motoroller Durahan: "Avenger" - Selvan "Paladin" - HolyKnight Joker: "Project0" - Gespenst "MEGADETH" - Skull Gold Momo: "Citrus" - Valencie "Santa" - Momorien Lesione: "SEAINSUN" - Irassie "Jungle" - Grilief Zan: "Alien" - Ibuki "Predator" - Setsuna Antlan: "Justice" - Moon Light "Ninja" - Ninja 4. Contact Information E-mail me at coneldore@hotmail.com if you have any information or if you have questions. If its a question I've already covered in much detail, you can expect to be ignored, but if you need something clarified, just say the word! If I didn't say it before, I'm saying it now: Don't send me password submissions saying you found some ultra-secret monster. I have all the secret monsters right over this Contact Information. Your Tombstone is a standard Joker/Golem. OK? And I don't care if you don't have the game yet, its not my job to try passwords for you before you own it. Thats why the game was made - so you can try all sorts of nifty words on your own. Also remember to include a subject line! If I get an e-mail saying "(No subject)" I have no way of knowing you're not an ad, or a virus or something and I'll trash the sucker. However, I will put in your additions to the monster raising formula. Got something better than Turtles and Demons? I'll hear you out. If you want to make a super special one that revolves around a specific moveset and trait list, I might see fit to include it. If you do any of these, make your creature unique so it'll be a joy for others to try your method! Credits: Thanks to Fade for creating Monster-Rancher.com. Thank you to Lisa Shock for establishing Monster Rancher Metropolis, which is without a doubt the best place to look for detailed information on this series. Thank you to the Monster Rancher dot com EZ-board and thank you to the Monster Rancher Advance board for supporting me as one of you. A special thank you to Spinneroni for asking so many questions as to build up my Guts in making a FAQ! Thanks to Cjayc for giving me a place to post my FAQ Thanks to the multiple people who noticed my stupid Selvan/Avenger typo! Thanks to A Nelson for the mega-cool Spec Mods guide! Finally, thank whatever deities created the Universe because its a peripheral without which this game may not run!