So you’re one of the few who’ve found the quirky charm of Monster Rancher 2 appealing, but the problem is that you’re having a rough go of it achieving the fame, glory and popularity you crave. Not to mention the cash rewards that goes with being a top breeder on the island of AGE. Hopefully this guide will help you the aspiring breeder achieve a solid foundation, in order to propel you to achieving legendary status for your monsters, your ranch and more importantly, yourself.
Your First Monster
It’s time for the first big decision of your ranching career: choosing a monster. This is a deeply personal matter, as you should strive to choose one that matches your style of play and personal preferences. Your first monster should also be able to grow powerful enough to be a consistent moneymaker and yet easy to train at the same time. Another consideration is that you cannot just play any monster from the beginning, as you have to raise your breeder level and renovate your barn to a larger size for the more powerful beasts. Personally, I recommend either the Cyangaru or Tiger as your first monster. Both of these can achieve rank A and possibly S with minimal training in only three stats and yet still rake in the cash The codes for those monsters are “OCT” (case sensitive) and “Nopi” for the Cyangaru and Tiger respecively.
Specialization
If you only take away one tidbit from this guide let it be this: thou shalt not train in more than three skills. That’s right, it takes only three skills to make your monster a killing machine on par with Godzilla. Your most important stat will be your damage stat, which will be either Power or Intelligence depending on the attacks you prefer to use with your monster. It may be tempting to try to raise both Power and Intelligence if you have a monster that can handle both, but don’t try it, else you’ll find your monster’s damage output hobbled at higher levels. You need to find which move(s) you like the most then train the appropriate damage stat.
The second stat the demands attention is Accuracy (Acc). After all, what good is the ability to deal out damage if you can’t actually hit the target? There’s a definite synergy between the two stats and keeping just those two stats as high as possible can make your beast quite formidable.
The third stat you should raise by training is Speed, which allows you to dodge incoming attacks more effectively, but should not be confused with Defense. Raising your Defense stat only reduces the damage when you are hit, and if your can’t hit you (thanks to your Speed rating), then they can’t do any damage.
Training
There are three distinct types of training that can be done. Each has, of course, its own distinct advantages and disadvantages detailed below:
Self-taught – This is pretty self-explanatory; the monster teaches itself. This type of training is easiest on the monster as it induces little stress or fatigue. However the reward is minimal as only one stat is raised and only moderately so. This type of training should be used mostly when your monster is young or you haven’t developed or hired any coaches. This type of training lasts for one week.
Coach Training – This is the type of training that is the backbone to any serious monster rancher. Coach training is (obviously) provided by a monster coach that either you have raised previously and made into coach, or one that you have hired under contract from AGIMA. Due to the higher intensity of this training, your monster’s fatigue and stress levels will rise much faster than if it were self-taught. This type of training will affect three different stats. Two of the stats will rise, with the primary stat being trained raising almost twice as much as the secondary. However, a third stat will drop slightly. There’s also is a chance that during coach training your monster will gain a trait to enhance its ability. There are 12 types of coach training each taking one-week each. Coach training is best used on monsters in their middle-age cycle of development.
Sparring – This is the most intense type of training there is. However, only by sparring will you be able to learn some of the highest level fighting techniques. The biggest downside to this form of training is its prohibitive cost. This cost can be offset by waiting until AGIMA is holds training, which comes in at 1/3 of the normal cost. Anytime you are able to train for the reduced cost, don’t hesitate to jump on it, even if it means missing out on a tournament or special event. Another way to defray the cost of sparring is to have a ranch coach spar with your monster instead of an AGIMA coach. This shaves 20% off the cost. There are five types of sparring, which will raise two stats on par with coach training, though there are three major differences:
1. There’s a chance that your monster could learn a new move. In fact, this is the biggest reason to make the sacrifices necessary to use sparring as a training method. One special move can make what was once a decent fighter into a near invincible moneymaking machine. The best way to tell if there’s a chance for your pet to be granted a new move is by listening to the AGIMA rep, who will tell you that if you monster’s likely to pick up a new move. However, I’ve seen monsters be granted new moves even with the AGIMA rep saying it wasn’t probable or even possible. In sum, any time you can spar for cheap, go for it.
2. This training will definitely fatigue and stress your monster, requiring you to give it plenty of rest. You will take a chance on injuring it if you go into battle to soon afterwards without appropriate amounts of rest time.
3. Training will last for a full month, that’s four long weeks out of your monster’s development schedule. Any tournaments or special events will be missed during this time, but it is that important that you spar. Even if you’re told it’s unlikely you’ll learn a new move, go ahead and spar, you won’t regret it.
Life Cycle and Training
There are three distinct cycles to a monsters life. For lack of better terms I’ll just call them youth, middle age and elderly. To obtain the maximum effectiveness from your training I suggest the following plan.
When you’re just starting out (youth) self-taught is the way to go. When Holly gives you a message like “Now is an important time to watch (pet name) growth,” your monster is hitting middle age. This will be when you’ll receive the most substantial stat gains. Take advantage of this by using coach training at this time to raise your three primary stats as high as possible. This should also be the time when you’re entering tournaments to build up your bank account. If possible, buy items at the Item Shop to help ease monster stress and fatigue, i.e. The Silver Cup. While these items may cost a bundle, they are well worth it in the long run.
The day will come when Holly will come to you and announce that its time for you to be thinking about your monster’s future. This is a sure sign that old age is about to hit. Stat gains will be minimal at this time; however, this is the perfect time to start sparring more if you have the cash to pay for it. This will give your monster more moves, which can be combined to create more powerful attacks. Having more moves for combining means there’s a good chance that the new monster will have one or two killer attacks right off the bat, making it much easier for your monster to fight its way up thru the ranks.
Coaches
To get the most out of your ranch, you need to hire or raise coaches and develop a training program that plays to the strengths of your coaches. A good coach-training program can take any monster you raise to the next level and above. Coaches are hired at AGIMA HQs in the town screen. Each coach has an upfront contract fee, which is an expensive first time cost. Contracts are renewed every 2 years for literally chump change, which helps offset that first time cost. As a breeder you are allowed only so many coaches on the ranch at one time. As your breeder level rises likewise does the number of coaches you can have under contract at any one time. First time contract fees run the gamut, from 3,000-15,000 depending on how strong that particular coach is. Trust me when I say you get what you pay. Sometimes you can find a bargain if you’re looking for a coach to raise just one particular stat, and you may luck out and get a cheap coach with strength in that specific stat. Don’t hold your breath waiting though.
There are two alternatives to the normal coaches. The first is the Super Coach. These guys are worth every penny and you’ll be saving a lot of pennies to afford them. All the Super Coaches have an upfront fee of 30,000, but they are the cream of the crop and able to raise your monster’s stats appreciably more than normal coaches over time. The good news is that their renewal fees are the same as any other coach; the bad news is they are very limited. A Super Coach will appear only in even-numbered years and only for one month at AGIMA. So you need to make a monthly pilgrimage into town to nab them when they come out.
Another alternative, which is far more time consuming but also far cheaper, is to raise your own coaches. When your monster gets to old to fight you can go to AGIMA and have it registered as a coach. This way you can raise monsters with certain stats and skills in order to pass on their skills to future generations.
After you’ve picked up a coach, you’ll be asked to assign it to specific training routines. Always place a coach in the training it’s best suited for even if it’s only suited for one stat. If it’s limited to one stat, then use it to train only that stat and you’ll achieve fantastic results.
And thus ends this Monster Rancher 2 strategy guide. I hope this guide will be helpful to any gamers aspiring to be great Monster Ranchers. Good luck in your quest to be top breeder in AGE!