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This is actually Jade Cocoon 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love playing this game. Its consuming me. But I'm renting it and I want to own it! And by the way, its Kahu (kaw-hoo). And I did find in Game FAQs lots of info on all the levels for this game so I'm not even close to being half way.

Fun..Easy...Complex

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The fact that you can have so different combinations with this game makes it playable over and over again. Name your beasts, watch them grow. Fight with them and watch them evolve. Care for them and merge them. You have four different elements to play with. Easy to learn. The menus are easy to use. Overall the game is easy to learn. But with how many different beasts you can use and how you merge them makes gives the game more depth. There also numerous side quests.

Enjoy!

Light hearted RPG with some flaws

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Jade Cocoon 2 is a refreshing RPG because it does not take itself too serious. Where most RPGs are about saving the world or something else that is very serious, Jade Cocoon 2 is just fun. There are plenty of strange and humorous characters that you will meet up with. From the Sweet Knights to a professor and his little wild man, there is plenty of people to interact with. The dialogue is among the funniest that I have seen in a game, which is both good and bad. I found myself laughing out loud at creatures as they made silly threats at you when you prepared for battle.

There is a wide selection of creatures to find in the game, with some being very unique in design. They also change in appearance as they go up levels. A creature can go change twice for a total of three different looks. This is very helpful as some of their early designs are pretty silly (one is an egg with legs). One bad thing about the game is that when you merge creatures, their appearance does not change. Bummer.

The game does get a bit repetitive as most of the levels look identical and there is too many random battles. The side quests do add some value and the arena is a nice touch, but you soon grow tired of wandering around the same levels, fighting again and again.

Overall, this is a fun game that could have been much better. I like the humor and I think the characters are entertaining. The dialogue is silly, but enjoyable. I just wish there was more put into level design and more control over your creatures. Now that the game has come down in price, I think it is a good purchase.

As they say, the sequel is never as good....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The short version: Pokemon [take-off].

The detailed version:
The original Jade Coccoon is one of my favorite console games ever, along with Final Fantasy 6. When I saw an ad for JC2, I was aglow with delight. I read the reviews, I downloaded the previews and comercials, etc.

I bought the game.

I started complaining.

This is a rather sad sequel to what was a very good game. I think it's very revealing that this game was *only* released in the US, and *not* Japan, where the first was more popular. This game was designed to sell to young American kids who think Pokemon is fun, and it makes this very obvious.

The game play is OK. In JC2, Divine Beast breading is more like an industry. Some elements of the original carry over, which is neat. The portrayal of Levant a thousand years after Mahbu died is very interresting. Ra, Mu, and Kikinak are also back. I also have to ashamedly admit, I like the sassy fairy. The graphics are quite good, and the music is good.

The plot is almost non-existant. The first game delt with issues like "why does man suffer?" and the fall from grace of both Man and Spirits. The sequel deals with such thought-provoking issues as "Kahu likes girls, but they think he's a dweeb". Late in the game, there are a few points where the plot gets interresting, and there is some very good dialogue. Then, it's as if the writers thought, "Oh, no! Too much thought! We'll loose the interest of sponge-brained American children! New scene! New scene!"

For light entertainment, this game is OK. If you think Pokemon is cool, you'll probably like this game. If you want something as good as the original, the total selling-out to the Pokemon mentality will sorely dissapoint you. I was waiting throughout the game for any of the characters to use the prase, "Gotta Catch 'em All!" (Thankfully, they didn't, but I would hear it in my head every time I'd play.)

Disappointing, monotonous, not like original Jade Cocoon

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am sorry to have to say this, but this sequel to the highly entertaining and original Jade Cocoon is not only totally unlike its predecessor, but it is without doubt the single worst RPG that I have ever played. (And I did finish the game, because I didn't have the heart to stop playing the sequel to one of my favorite games without really giving it a chance.)

Why? First of all, all of the features that made Jade Cocoon fun and interesting, such as catching monsters and breeding them and coming up with totally new monsters, breeding monsters to have a variety of available attacks within one elemental power, and upgrading armor and weapons of the player character as the game progresses are TOTALLY ABSENT FROM THIS GAME. Instead of catching monsters and then breeding the monsters you catch to come up with a wide variety of different results, you have certain "Divine Beasts" (not "minions" anymore) that you hatch from eggs, and then you go and defeat a limited number of certain kalma (evil divine beasts) to get cocoons that you then PAY a FEE to merge with the beasts that you hatched from the eggs. This does not seem to affect the look of the beast or what it turns into at all. Furthermore, a beast can only have one ability in any one elemental area at a time--it cannot have more than one different earth special attack, for example.

Also--and this really bothers me--the battle system is totally different from the battle system in the original Jade Cocoon. You cannot select which enemies your beasts attack when you are fighting, if there are multiple enemies; and your beasts can only use the type of elemental attack that they are aligned with on your beast amulet. If a beast is currently on the fire side of the amulet, it can only do fire attacks--and it can only have ONE fire attack. As if having tremendously frustrating battles weren't enough, these battles are constant. You are constantly getting into stupid, very rarely avoidable little fights with the annoying little beasts that are roaming about everywhere. It is very repetetive, monotonous, and unsatisfying. Also, any battles that are supposed to be difficult are merely a matter of waiting until your enemy's MP is totally drained--then, even the bosses are ridiculously simple to beat.

Finally, there are two other major problems with this game. 1. The localization is not that great. Characters say things that sound unnatural. For example, they often say, "Yow" or "Yeow" to express surprise when a more natural translation would be "Yikes" or "Wow." (This happens a lot in translating from Japanese to English, with this particular word, as you will notice if you read any mangas. Don't ask me why.) 2. There is practically no plot. It is a common problem in current RPG's to have too many cutscenes, but this game goes to the opposite extreme--there are practically none. What little plot there is is simply uninteresting.

So, if you're looking for a good monster-breeding RPG, play the original Jade Cocoon. I regret to say that I would not recommend this game to anyone, especially fans of the original game.

Light and darkness its all good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

THE GOOD:
A vast aray of monsters to train each with their own stlye and flare. A few old favorites make it to the PS 2 like Levant, Mu, and Ra. The Sweet Knights are cute (they remind me of misty and her sisters from pokemon). Battle in tournaments. Take up jobs like a bounty hunter. Find a vast amount of different and unique items (like sweet knights collectables). Evolve durring a battle to give you the edge.
THE BAD:
Merging is possiable but you have to merge with a base set and it doesn't change their apperence all it does is cause them to revert back to their baby form. You can't capture any more you have to find or buy the eggs. The main character can't fight normaly like Levant could. The beast amulate battle type in my opinion is'nt as good as the original battle type from Jade coccon one. No anime cut scene like the originals opening. Your monster can only know two fighting techs at a time.

SUMMARY:
In my opinion this does not stand up to the original. This kid will always live in Levant's shadow in my eyes.

Not for mature gamers

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: September 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Jade cocoon is cute. Graphics are above average. Creating strange looking beasts was interesting. The girl rock stars are adorable. On the other side of the coin, the cartoon bubbles depicting the characters while speaking are redundant and annoying. Lack of variety in character's movements is boring. In my opinion the creaters of this game should have rated this game for a younger crowd. It's too slow for a mature gamer.

POSTITIVLY ADDICTIVE!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is amazing. I think it must secretly relese some addictive substance into the air while being played! I spent something like 5 consecutive hours playing and i had no idea it had been so long! The plot is by no means deep, and the animation is in no league close to FFX (another great game) but it's still fun. Battles are tough enough to hold intrest but not so hard that you are ready to turn the disk into a frisbee. One of the things i love about the game is that your monsters constantly evolve and oyu can merge them as many times as you like to make them stronger. Plus, by merging, you can either upgrade their skills or give them new ones. There is a huge selection of beasts so you can choose what your ultimate team will be- there is no "best or storngest", you make your monsters what they are. If you want hours of entertainment without a lot of stress and anger, this is the game for you!

Solid adventure

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: May 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Jade Cocoon 2 won't win any awards for being a deep, meaningful RPG. But it is a solid adventure that'll please fans of other creature-catching games like Monster Rancher, Digimon or Pokemon.

The story starts in familiar territory for the genre with a young boy taking his first steps to become a master of monsters (in this case, a legendary Beast Hunter). The plot takes a refreshing twist into uncharted territory: you become possessed by an evil spirit and end up being hunted by the very hunters you're trying to join.

Despite the engaging storyline, there's too much repetitive gameplay. Most of the time is spent wandering through maze-like forests, battling a few monsters and Beast Hunters until you find the key that gives you access to the next area. That's about it. Its saving grace is that the environments look amazing. The games visuals are great-- anime style character designs and nasty-looking beasts.

JC2 has a unique battle system. You surround yourself with monsters you've caught or bought and place them in a circle around you based on their elemental strengths. Depending on which element is in front, you can attack, defend or heal. Although it has a good amount of strategy, it unfortunately lacks the ability to let you decide which attacks are used on specific members of the enemy's party. You just send your front line into battle and hope they use an attack to do some damage.

Jade Cocoon 2 is a pretty fun monster catcher game. The repetitive environments lose points, but it's story, strategic battle system and graphic style make up for this.

Got Monsters?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: March 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Jade Cocoon 2 is the kind of game which invariably will be explained, failingly, in comparisons: Final Fantasy X, Monster Rancher, Pokemon, etc. It is no less fabulous for the seeming inability of gamers to describe its pleasures for what they are. If I were to compare JC2 to another game, the title that springs to mind would be Okage: Shadow King, and that simply on the virtue of its irreverent charm and heavy stylization, for be assured that the gameplay stretches leagues and leagues deeper, and the experience becomes far more addictive than that relatively lukewarm RPG. JC2's prime offering for you, prospective customer, lies in the endless drip feed of pure RPG dungeon crawling, monster evolving joy -- and the game's developers have stuffed JC2 with enough side quests, arenas, dungeons, and monster variations to keep your thumbs rooted to the dual shock for just one more level, one more merge... Before long, you'll start marking time with your bladder. Critics who whine about repetitiveness apparently have never spent an afternoon with Monster Rancher 3 or Phantasy Star Online -- and even those games are enjoyable. After all, who cares about going back for seconds if the game makes it so entirely worth your while? Other selling points include JC2's cute character designs (including a faux girl band with a dead ringer for Scary Spice), inspired voice acting (yes, probably better than FFX) and very nice graphics throughout, from the actual battle animations to the high-res boss cut scenes to the anime narrative bits. JC2 is every bit worth your time and money, and for all the love that went into this title, it's also well worth yours too.

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