Beginners Guide to Monster Rancher 2
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It’s not perfect, but I wanted to make a small, to the point guide on Monster Rancher 2. I’ve played this game almost every year since I was 9, so I like to think I know a bit about it. I hope this guide is simple enough to not scare people off as well as keeping the mysteries of the game intact.
Monster Rancher is a hard game. It’s grindy and there is no real “fast” way to “complete” the game. It’s a Japanese game from the 90s so expect a struggle. In the beginning you need 2 things, to raise your rank and to earn money. The best way to do this is pick a monster and stick with it til it dies. Maybe even repeating this multiple times. So in the beginning, don’t battle until you get its stats up. Start off by feeding it either potatoes or milk only. See which it prefers, it will make a gesture if it likes or dislikes it. If it does nothing, then it’s fine. Once your stats are highish (figure everything above 100, and at least power or intelligence over 200), fight in the IMa official tournament D cup. Win and from here, just do the small battles that give you 2000-3000 gold. This will give you a lot of gold and items you can sell. (I recommend keeping the statue and the pot) Keep a good balance of battles and training. (figure a battle every 3 months) Do not fight in additional IMa official tournaments.
First big thing is pick out a monster you want. The monster you pick will determine on how you should raise it. Some monsters are better geared towards intelligence and others power. All monsters you get will start off with stats in the 60s-100s so don’t waste time trying to find something better. If you want an easier to raise monster though, check it’s monster stats. If you check this and go to the right, you can see it’s likes/dislikes and it’s attacks. More than 2 attacks is good. Bonus if they like potatoes/milk or have a good nature.
Monsters like Pixies, Monols and Suezos are better suited for intelligence. Monsters like Hare, Tiger and Zumms work better off of power. Intelligence determines how much damage intelligence-based attacks do and how much damage you take from intelligent attacks. The smarter it is, the less those attacks damage it. Skill being accuracy, speed being dodge, and life being hit points (nothing to do with life span).
Next there’s 5 invisible stats you really want to pay attention to. Spoil, fear, fatigue, nature and stress. Spoil and fear represent how a monster sees you. Too much of either are bad for your monster. If your monster is even, meaning both spoil and fear are about the same, your monster will listen to you in battles more. You achieve this by making sure you appropriately praise and scold it. My advice is always say no to play or a treat (when it says “I want a ____”), always praise it when it does good and always scold it when it does bad. Nature kinda plays a role in this. Bad natured monsters are more likely to cheat and fail. This will change naturally as you raise your monster, so don’t worry about it much.
After that is stress and fatigue. Fatigue is always going up until you rest a monster. When it goes up, stress goes up. Whenever the game says “____ is stressed out”, that means your monster’s life span has gone down a little. Most monsters will live to 3.5-4.5 years. When they’re too stressed or fatigued, they can run away, get hurt or get sick. In the beginning, most of this doesn’t matter. When you can afford it (at least over 5k gold), buy some mint leaves. Give one to your monster at the beginning of every other month.
Your goal in the beginning is honestly just to farm money. Other things fall in place as you go. Your first big goal is to win either an E rank IMa official tournament or a D rank one. After doing this, on July 1st, you’ll be invited to the IMa vs. FIMBA match at the end of the month. Win this tournament, and you can attend the meet on August 4th. You don’t have to win or lose, just entering it unlocks 4 new monsters. Once you have this, make sure you have a B rank or higher monster and over 20k on May 4th. Do this and a builder will come and upgrade your house. Repeat this again next year and your barn will be upgraded, unlocking 3 more monsters.
From here on, just have fun and play the game! The higher your trainer/monster rank is, more cool things will happen! There’s tons of hidden events and surprises so go out there and find them!
