Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu

"Well, I liked it anyway"

Intro
I realize this game is not for everyone. Not any gamer can sit down and actually enjoy this game. I was one of the few that actually did enjoy it. It may not have been the greatest RPG. Heck, it may not even be an epic, but it is a worthy RPG in my book. At first, I was a bit skeptical about this game, but after sitting down and playing it, it became quite fun.

In the Vast Jungles...
In Jade Cocoon, you play as a boy named Levant who seeks to save his village from a curse. The only way he can save his village is with a certain herb that can lift the effects of the curse. He learns that me must venture into the wilderness where many wild monsters lurk. The only way he can battle them is to use the skills his father had used to contain monsters and use them to aide him in battle.

Well, it's Pokemonish, but Sort of Not
Yes, this has a Pokemonish feel to it. I've played Pokemon Red, used to own it, gave it to my niece. In comparison of the two, I enjoy Jade Cocoon a lot more.

What to Do
In Jade Cocoon, you run through the forest and use cocoons to trap creatures and use them for battle. You can have up to three creatures with you at a time. As you capture creatures, you have the option to use them for battle, bind and sell them, or mix them with the creatures you already have to possibly increase their stats and change some of their properties or even gain/lose some new skills.

Like many other RPG's, the attacks and skills are elementally based and geared toward creatures with certain weaknesses.

Combining Monsters
As you combine monsters, you can get some rather funny looking monsters. Not only do physcial appearances change, but so do your monsters' sizes. After a while, your monsters can become quite large compared to their original sizes.

Game Elements
This game had some great graphics. The only bad graphics were the ground during battle, which looked like a sick mix of pixels. The lighting effects were awesome. The sounds weren't too bad and the voice acting was average. The storyline was fairly unique, but seemed to drag at times.

I think the controls could've been a bit better. I was expecting something a bit more lenient. The controls are a lot like usual survival horror games which you must push the UP button to progress forward.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Some of the best graphics I've seen on PSX 10/10
Sounds: Could've used a bit of work 7/10
Control: Ugh! 6/10
Plot/Storyline: Not bad. Not extremely riveting, but not a completely horrid and dry story 8/10
Gameplay: Hunting and combining monster can be quite fun, actually 8/10
All Together: 8/10

Recommendations
For anyone who likes monster raising games, this should be pretty good. Anyone who doesn't like breeding games too much should at most give this a rental. I paid $20 for this game and I think that was a fair price.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/00, Updated 04/19/01