マスターオブモンスターズの動画｜Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia Game Sample - Playstation

Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia Game Sample - Playstation

Original Air Date: (Unknown、 End of 2007. Revised Today!)

Several lucky Westerners are familiar with SystemSoft’s ”Master of Monsters” series、 a hex-strategy game originally intended to be the fantasy-equivalent to their own successful ”Daisenryaku” series、 through the successful Sega Genesis/MD port、 but MoM has been around prior to that version and has since been released on many platforms. Originally released for MSX and PC-8801、 it has seen numerous sequels、 revisions、 updates、 and ports over the years. From PC-Engine to PC9801 to Genesis、 Japanese PCs、 Sega Saturn、 Playstation、 and more、 one would think that the series would go down as an all-time classic. Alas、 this is not exactly the case.

MoM never quite garnered the same kind of success as Daisenryaku and after the release of the PC-Engine and Genesis/MD release、 it seemed the games never felt quite right... it’s as if something was just slightly off、 the games were too easy and ignored its strategic origins、 or as if the games ignored years of progress in the gaming industry which、 for better or worse、 caused the game to live in more superior strategy titles’ shadows. One such case is ”Master of Monsters: Disciples of Gaia”、 which was originally made for the Sega Saturn in 1996 (under the name Master of Monsters: Neo Generations) and was later ”enhanced” for Playstation in ’97.

Largely heralded as a terrible strategy game full of bugs and ambigious elements、 MoM:DoG would not re-introduce MoM overseas with a nifty 32-bit coat of paint. Instead、 the game has bland audio/visuals、 fairly long load times (not as long as I’ve heard in and of itself、 but long enough)、 and、 most importantly、 an utter lack of strategy. While the strange English dialogue and terrible、 sporadic spoken bits don’t help、 one couldn’t blame this game’s inability to succeed solely on a questionable localization. Nay、 this game was problematic from the very beginning.

It sounds pretty cool on the surface. Once you watch the cool opening movie、 you get to play the story、 a cool enough 4-player versus mode (with prizes that can be won-- pretty neat)、 a map mode、 or mess around with limited options. Being led by Iros、 a young fifteen year old lad with a magic pendant、 you send one of six disciples with different stats and characteristics (as well as marginally different dialogue、 though the main story is the same) into battle to stop ”Gaia”、 who wishes to conquer Earthland. Each master has their own thin reasoning for going against the one they each called master.

You can summon and fuse monsters、 cast spells、 gain items、 conquer towers、 use three different types of characters which behave differently between night and day (Law、 Neutral、 and Chaos)、 increase in levels、 and check up on a whole bunch of other statistics that mean little to nothing in the grand scheme of things. With all of that in its favor、 even if the graphics and sound are subpar、 why exactly is this game disliked so much?

Well、 you don’t need much more reasoning other than the absence of strategy and practically 16-Bit quality audio/visuals to dislike the game、 but if that isn’t enough、 how about ”misleading” attack percentages that cause fights to drag (which are stated to not be random、 but actually predetermined、 so if you save and load、 things always end up the same)、 a bug that crashes the game if you get characters like the master to Lvl99 (which is easier than it sounds; the Masters are incredibly over-powered)、 gaining new monsters with higher levels that can be summoned on newer maps (making leveling most monsters seem irrelevent)、 and unnaturally slow pace of the game、 even when using shortcut commands and just bumrushing your way to the bosses. The only reason it wasn’t done here is to illustrate some of the things you can do.

Master of Monsters just never seemed quite the same since the titles from the early 90s. I can’t say I’ve played them all、 but I’ve seen and read enough about the ones I haven’t played to know that I probably wouldn’t enjoy them as much as the early titles. The only one I’m still really interested in is the Japan-only ”Masumon Kids” (but that’s because it features the cute illustrations of Kokomai、 who designed characters in Queen of Duellists Gaiden、 Crime Crackers、 etc.). As it stands、 the game probably isn’t ”as bad” as I’ve heard、 (I had it for years、 but never got around to playing it until recently; ripped the opening years ago) but it pales in comparison to quality strategy titles of a different nature like Final Fantasy Tactics、 Tactics Ogre、 Vanguard Bandits、 Vandal Hearts、 etc.

This is a video of the first map、 taking things slow to show different units and skills in action、 with only one real edit (as I paused the game to step out、 but it picks up right after that pause). This video is our first real test of YT’s new time limit、 though you shouldn’t expect us to make many videos much longer than fifteen and a half minutes. Enjoy.