Monster Crown, the latest game from Studio Aurum, is a loving homage to the monster-catching games popularized by Nintendo's Pokemon series. It boasts many of the turn-based, RPG systems that made those games beloved by fans around the world and adds a few additional features of its own that give the game its own distinct style.
But with all that's packed into this indie game, it can be expected that many players won't experience everything it has to offer. From overlooking useful systems to disregarding coveted items, here are some of the common mistakes players make while journeying through the world of Monster Crown.
10 Leaving Party Experience On
Party experience can be a valuable tool for boosting up an entire monster team and keeping them at the same level. It also comes in handy when trying to build up a weaker monste r to catch them up to the rest of the team.
However, it splits any earned experience among the entire party, slowing monster development down. This can cause problems when running into stronger monsters and tamers down the line. With all the experience scattered, players can find themselves without any strong monsters to rely on.
9 Keeping The Same Team
The Pokemon series of games encourage players to take their Pokemon with them on their entire journey, training and evolving them to take on powerful opponents. Monster Crown encourages the opposite, noting early on that some monsters will always be weaker compared to others.
Players might be inclined to hold on to monsters they've spent time with, but Monster Crown isn't as concerned with the emotional connections between tamer and monster as its triple-A counterpart. The breeding system reinforces this, as it suggests that players should be replacing their monsters with their more versatile offspring.
8 Not Breeding
Breeding in the Pokemon games is a fun addition that sees most of its use from the competitive community to create Pokemon that know rare and powerful attacks. Monster Crown takes this style of breeding and makes it all but necessary to survive in its harsh world.
Players familiar with Pokemon's style of breeding might think that Monster Crown's system can be ignored without repercussions, but breeding in Monster Crown is far more vita l. Players who overlook the breeding system will have a difficult time taking down the game's tougher enemies.
7 Missing Chief Tamers
Monser Crown is not a game that's interested in holding players' hands, and this is evident in how much attention it draws to the Chief Tamer in each town. It's all too easy to breeze through a town without any character even mentioning the local Chief Tamer, a sharp contrast from the in-depth theming the Gym Leaders get in Pokemon games.
The problem here is that monsters can't grow past certain level gates without defeating each Chief Tamer, essentially halting progress until the Chief Tamer can be found. Most of them blend in with the general populace of each town, but a few require some creative exploration to actually reach.
6 Getting Too Far Ahead
There aren't many obstacles in Monster Crown that require specific abilities to overcome, so it's all too easy for players to get ahead of themselves and end up in an area that they're not properly trained to handle.
The story moves through each new town quickly, urging players on to the next location shortly after they've made it to the current one. But each new region also features stronger monsters and tamers, and if players haven't spent some time training they might find themselves overwhelmed.
5 Overlooking Dropped Items
The world of Monster Crown is littered with items across every region, but they can be pretty easy to overlook. They often won't stand out from regular pieces of the environment, and the game doesn't offer any clue that these items can be interacted with.
But picking up dropped items, including healing items, lost backpacks, and even stat-boosting medicine is the best way to restore a depleted inventory and stock up on easy money. Items are also randomly generated, so there's no limit to how many a player can find.
4 Not Forming Pacts With New Monsters
It can be tempting to stick with a solid team through the whole game or swap monsters out with their freshly hatched offspring, but not capturing new monsters limits the effectiveness of any monster team. New monsters will have different attacks, base stats, and offer a wider range of breeding options.
Even if the player has no interest in bringing this new monster into their active party, having a strong monster in reserve can come in handy for later on in the game. It can take the place of a monster that hasn't been holding up in battle, or be used in breeding to create an even more powerful counterpart.
3 Paying For Healing
Monster Crown leans heavily on the grinding aspect of any RPG, and it might seem prudent for players to simply visit the local healer in town and pay them for their services. But money isn't easy to come by in Monster Crown, and there's a free way to heal monsters without having to go too far out of the way.
If players return to the Farm they can visit the bed in their room and heal their entire party for no charge. It's a freely available service that's only a short Storklift ride away, and it's a far preferable healing option than paying out $15 every time the party starts getting a little fatigued.
2 Not Using Monster Scan
Monster Crown introduces two abilities the player's lead monster can perform while following them around in the overworld: standing still and Monster Scan. Monster Scan is by far the more useful feature as it allows players to skip battles entirely while still earning all the experience and rewards.
It's an easy ability to just ignore because this functionality isn't clearly explained, and getting it to work isn't always easy. But its utility is undeniable as it drastically reduces the time and tedium of grinding out experience for the team.
1 Not Checking Base Stats
A monster's stats dictate how much damage it will deal out, how fast it'll do it, and whether or not it can take a hit from enemy monsters. A monster with high stats will always beat out weaker monsters, but having high stats currently doesn't mean they'll always be that way.
The combat in this kind of RPG is based on the stats of these monsters, and not paying attention to them can result in players investing time and resources in monsters that don't have great battle potential. Finding monsters with good potential early on can prevent a lot of frustration toward the end of the game.