Dokapon - Monster Hunter (GBA)

Another day, another RPG. Well, better than i review another shooter game, right? Anyway, this time it's one-man RPG on Gameboy Advance: Tycoon Corporation's Dokapon - Monster Hunter (2001/2002). 

Or just Dokapon in the title screen. I think there's complete title in cover art. Turns out, Dokapon is a RPG series. I played the PS2 ones which is hybrid of one-man RPG and Monopoly. It's quite interesting. Moreover one of the shopkeeper is cat with mage attire and speaks line "What do you purrfer?". I digress, sorry. There's not much setting  on main screen. You can change language setting if you feel want to. So let's hit new game.   

Here's the story. A boy can take a test to become an adventurer, when he turns 11 y.o. The rule is certainly nicer and lighter than that harsh conscription in Crusader of Centy. It's optional to heed and probably well paid because adventurer can into treasure hunting! I'm on it!    

 

Then my childhood friend is picking on me. Good job, game. This is the second time, my female childhood friend become annoying at the start of the game besides in previous RPG. Is this want JRPG players want? Having annoying girl childhood friend? But later she apologizes and encourages me to sign up for the adventurer test. 

 

Thus i go to the 3A which is the Poponga adventurer guild and i have to register my name to this guy that more looks like foreman or carpenter than proper administrator. Maybe because of his simple shirt and large posture. The test is i get <Diramond> in a <Mine> outside of a town. He adds that i have to accept said test otherwise the game won't progress. Spy_goodjob01.wav

 

It's "You're". Not Your, madam.

That guy is currently being held still by his wife because he wants to get into tavern. Because either the booze is really addicting or the waitresses are attractive bunny girl. I let you decide.

 

I keep talking to NPC as that big guy suggests. Then i meet this granny by the church who tells me that adventurer will be revived here and most of them feel frustrated because they fail at their quest. By giving this auto-life item, she hopes that i don't be like them. Engineer_thanks01.wav

 

Finally i find the shop on building with shield and sword sign which houses both the usable item shop and the equipment shop. It's one of JRPG cliché where NPC building's interior grows twice or even more than from it looks from outside. Anyway, the shop has limited stock and so far the most useful is Recover1 which is the usual healing item. Stronger item makes you deal more damage for 1 battle. Harder makes you take less damage from 1 battle. Speeder makes you more agile from 1 battle. Recover1 costs 50 gold each and -what do you know?- i have exactly 100 gold to buy 2 of it. Unless you want to buy the stats-boost item which is inadvisable because it only affect for 1 battle.

 

As per usual the town's exit is on south. Once i exit the town, i enter the world map. I pick the destination by using D-Pad. The mine is on the north so i press "up" on D-Pad to pick the place. Simple.      

 

So here we are, at the first dungeon. The dungeon's floor consists of corridors, wide areas, and a stair to go to next floor. This pretty resembles dungeon in Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded especially when the enemies are visible. While in the narrow corridor my vision is limited to 2-3 blocks.

 

Eventually, i find the first encounter. Weasel ain't no big rat but kind of the same tier in RPG bestiary somehow , i think. Every battle mode started with choosing between these 2 card. One allow you to attack first while other forces you in defense's turn. I ideally prefer to get into attack's turn as soon as possible but it's 50-50 chance.

 

All right! I'm attacking first. By pressing "select" button, i can see combat data. On center panel, you get to see our stats. Left numbers are mine while the right ones are my enemy's. From top to bottom: Attack, Defend, and Agility. Even i'm still level 1, my stats are better than weasel. On the right panel, you can see the enemy's skills. He has 2 unused slot which is big advantage to me as i talk about it later.

 

Here's my attack skill. The most top is the basic attack while the rests are the special skill. Using special skill doesn't cost MP, mana, or what have you (as opposed to the Dokapon Kingdom, the PS2 game). But the success rate is determined by rock-paper-scissor system, literally. From second top to bottom is slot for: rock, scissor, and paper. If you see the enemy's skill from before, he doesn't have slot for rock and paper. Meaning he can only do skill in scissor slot which mean you're most likely win if you use skill on rock slot!  

 

But i choose use basic attack instead because my skill on rock slot is only good to add defense power. But i pretty much win anyway here. Basic attack always win against any defensive skill. While basic defend will reduce the amount of damage inflicted by the basic attack. Many offensive skills are interesting like the one that can halves the enemy's hitpoints if succeed to add temptation to use them instead of basic attack. But personally i prefer rely on basic attack because i think using skill only gives the enemy breather due to rock-paper-scissor system. 

 

Now is my turn to defend. I don't have useful defensive skill. All i have are the one that just negate the effect of enemy's offensive skill. I like the "Cut It Out" because it's metaphorically true.

After some battles...

 

i level up for the first time and i get 3 points to boost between my 4 stats which can be considered outnumbered. 1 point will boost 1 number of stats except for HP that will be boosted by 5 instead. Attack power obviously determines the basic attack's strength while Defend power will determine damage taken from enemy while further enhanced the effect while using basic defend. Speed determines the accuracy of basic attack or the evasion rate against enemy's. There's no exact accuracy/evasion info. It works like this: If your speed higher than the enemy's by 10 or so, you have fairly chance to dodge enemy's basic attack and apply vice versa. The bigger the difference of speed stats, the bigger the chance to dodge basic attack. My build stats is mostly prioritizing Attack and HP. Then i prioritize Speed to make sure my basic attack is accurate enough and Defend get the least priority which means my character will be fragile and relies on basic attack instead of special skills.

 

My weapon and shield can also gain level up by defeating enemies and they can increase their offense/defense power by 1 for each level up. Within their first several level up, my equipments can replace skill with new one to whatever slot that i like. I reckon Speed up is not so important so i replace it with Attack up.

Once i descend to next floor, i can't go back to previous floor. Usually on next floor, enemies are harder than before. Enemies spawn pretty frequently so it's good idea to grind for experience before go to next floor. This Orko(s) is new. Let's fight them.  

 

Turns out, they're Miner. I can see wild animal want to bring harm to me because i probably interrupt their habitat or they just being wild. But i don't see the reason behind this poor people fighting me. Maybe this mine is quite dry and temptation to mug an innocent 11-years-old adventurer, looks quite alluring. I mean look at me there. Looks like clueless dummy, right? Fortunately for me, i have higher level than the miner and i can defeat him. Scout_domination01.wav  

 

Some usable item can be bought at the shop but other can only be obtained within dungeon whether from defeated enemy's or bag/treasure chest's loot. One of them is compass that can makes me fly to nearest next floor's entrance. Demoman_sf13_influx_small04.wav

This frog-looking slime has higher speed than me so my basic attack sometimes misses against him. Using the skill can be the obvious solution but it's not reliable thanks to Rock-Paper-Scissor system. Or maybe because i'm bad at Rock-Paper-Scissor. If you happen to choose the same slot, you have to do the Rock-Paper-Scissor again. Most enemies will draw the same on first retry or maybe even on second try. But after that it's pure all around 1/3. Some more simpleminded enemies most likely insist on their choice throughout the battle. The sensible one sometime chooses the counter of the first draw. The trickier one throw a curveball at you by choosing the counter of the counter of the first draw! It's pretty jarring. Really.

 

On the 3rd floor, i find the Diamond Diramond. All i have to do so, i approach it nice and easy...

 

Then boss appears, obviously. To be fair, this BossMole works with the Adventurer's guild to give me the final test and not just mindless monster. The problem with the BossMole is his defend is significantly stronger than my attack. Plus he loves to boost the already big defense power even more with his skill.

 

I have no problem with lesser enemies but i have big trouble with BossMole. I thought he was going for defense-boost skill again, turn out he used obliterating offensive skill and i'm down. Like hinted before that i revive at the church and my gears are replaced with starter equipment and my gold is all gone. The thing is: all of my inventory is gone including my equipment. Luckily, i keep my level. It's the opposite Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded. So what's the solution to this problem? Return to town, is good idea. But the thing is without usable item called "Homer", i can't go back there. There's no access to previous floor! Moreover, this "Homer" item is extremely rare. Shop doesn't sell it (as far as my playthrough here). You can only obtain it from limited chest or item bag that you can find in dungeon. You probably think that saving my progress so far is another good solution. Yes. There's manual saving on option menu but it will be overwritten by (invisible) auto-saving that the game has. Maybe because there's something wrong on saving system or maybe down to emulation. I'm not sure. So my solution should you play this via emulation is: rely on save/load state. Without doing so, you're basically playing The Dark Soul of the RPG here.

After several use of save/load state...

 

Eventually, i can defeat him easily though i'm not sure how. Maybe because i keep deny his defend-strengthening skill. Anyway, BossMole admit my greatness and allow me to pass the test. The buff guy behind the counter doesn't seems satisfied with BossMole's performance and he retaliates by calling the man gorilla. Then the guy swears with symbols and such. Watch your tongue, mister!  

 

The shops restore their stocks so i can buy more from them. There's option to attack the shopkeeper and the game keeps questioning your violent decision here. I don't see the benefit of it so i just stick with fair trading method.

 

I bought Bowie knife from the weapon shop, because it also boosts my speed. Leveling up weapon increases its attack power but not my speed. So there's the reason i bought the knife. Besides, it has better weapon skills than the beginner's sword.

 

I decide to re-visit Mine before move to another place for just in case. By pressing "select" button, you can bring this automap. Each time you visit the place, the floor's layout is randomized. Your vision may be limited while traveling but you can monitor everything (including chest and enemy) within the automap. So it's very useful on your exploring.   

 

BossMole is still on the 3rd floor of the mine. But this time BossMole has accompany a mole carrying chess called "Phon-Du". Very funny. You can refuse to re-fight him but that makes him dislike and even underestimating you. The choice is yours.

 

BossMole is pushover now thanks to Bowie Knife, mostly. It only takes 1 hit to defeat him. Scout_revenge08.wav

 

To prevent the lost, you can use deposit chest to store your equipment and item on your house (which is near the center of the town). You also can put your gold on this piggy bank(?) but the minimum amount to deposit is 1,000. If you have less, you can either bring it along with you or you can spend it all and put the purchased item at the deposit chest.

 

My first mission is to get Allie the daughter of blacksmith that went to forest earlier and also there's report that suspicious person is in there so she may or may not be in danger. In this forest many enemies has assistant to back them up. There's a way for me to get companion for myself but i will talk about it later. Anyway, the companions don't do combat on their own. In attacking phase, they only cast extra offensive skill when their main buddy has successfully hit me with its offensive skill. While in defending phase, they only cast extra defensive skill when their main buddy fails to counter with its defensive skill.   

The forest is filled with landmines! While ironically the mine doesn't have any landmine at all. :P

Luckily, i happen to have anti-trap item within my inventory so i can dodge this landmine. Anti-trap item works automatically and have chance to break when used.

I also happen to get bow that weaker than Bowie knife but gives me more boost on my speed and has more interesting weapon skills especially Prize Up that when used to defeat enemy, i will get more gold drop. But i will be honest i will replace it with Tornade that will decreases enemy's attack power when successfully hit.  

 

I forget to mention that you will start a roulette if you pick on chest/weapon/shield/item bag that lie on dungeon's floor. Fortunately, i get the item that whisks me to town "Homer" that's pretty rare. Demoman_sf13_influx_small04.wav

 

If you're really bad at roulette, you can get landmine inside the chest like i do here. Medic_jeers01.wav

 

So the blacksmith's daughter Allie is the annoying girl childhood friend of mine. Good to know. She spot some kind of pirate enter the temple ruin over there. Unlike what damsel in distress do, she goes after the pirate and i'm forced to get inside the ruins as well.  

 

Inside the temple, i encounter with this spearwoman and she took my super rare automatic-revive item. Heavy_jeers04.wav

 

Like in Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded, the maximum capacity of my inventory is 30 (equipped gears also take space on inventory) and i'm already out of inventory's space. So i use "Homer" and it makes me fly and drop me to near my house. Soldier_thanksfortheteleporter02.wav

 

Fortunately, the shops have restock their goods. I mention before that Homer is rare item and i can't buy it from shop. But i happen to find this "Store-It" item within the shop's inventory. It allows instant access to my chest on home. So you can retrieve or store item at dungeon safely. But remember that it's one use item. So make sure you transfer items necessarily and correctly before ending the use of the item. 

 

My bow get level up and i get to choose to replace current skills with either Red Card that makes enemy surrender within 25% chance and Pick-It that steal item from enemy. I remember the latter is the one that spearwoman used on me. I like to have direct revenge but i don't think it's worth it.   

 

Inside the temple ruins, there's Ostrich that looks like Pink Flamingo instead. I like to show you that but he runs away as soon as he get his attacking turn! Engineer_specialcompleted03.wav

 

Eventually i catch up with the pirates. They fight as main and assist. One of them snatch shield which i have a lots on my bag. So he helps me make space on my inventory. Demoman_thanks02.wav

 

The pirates are not tough to crack although they have lethal weapon skill. Then their leader named Ms. Vira comes out. Allie comments that Vira always get angry to her subordinates and she will get wrinkles soon. Can't accepting that, Vira  call her lion pet and attack me. Well done, Allie. [Temple of Doom-sized Sarcasm]  

 

Yeah sensible. Let your vicious pet to channel your wrath on me and not yourself do it. Sure, coward. As the appearance suggests, Damien the lion has brute strength. But he has low speed so if you build your character to have high speed stats, you have fairly good chance to dodge his basic attack. I can't capture proper screenshot of this boss fight because it's over pretty quick before i realize i don't take necessary screenshot. All i remember is, i can predict his offensive skill with consistent and i give him solid blow of my basic attack. The boss fight last for 3-5 rounds. 

 

After Damien is defeated, the pirates run with their tails between their legs. Allie wonder why pirates don't have ship and are in the land instead of wandering in seas. One of the pirates returns to explain that they don't have money to buy ship. They're comedic villain but they will come back for sure.

Next morning...    

 

Tobias the blacksmith is pleased that her daughter is return in one piece. Now her blacksmith service is open. I can combine unused gears to make (hopefully) better ones. When you picked one of equipment to combine, there's some equipment that will be in bold blue which signify that the crafting will make the more powerful gear if combined with it. Not only i get access to blacksmith service, but also i get 1,000 gold from Allie. Then she asks me to go with her to circus. Why not?

 

Turns out that the pirates run the circus and it's up to us to investigate that. By us, i mean i do all the exploring and battle while Allie practically does nothing. Anyway, i can capture enemy around here by using Trapper and Apple Food item. You can walk around elsewhere (but don't go to next floor!) and hope that someone get trapped. Some enemies chase after you when saw you so you can lure them. But most enemies run around randomly. Naturally you can set another trap to increase the chance but you need another 2 spaces in your inventory for that. Placing the trap on junction like here can be considered good idea to boost the chance. You can monitor your trap in map screen. There's message when someone get caught within your trap. So the game gives you decent feature in capturing enemy department.

 

I get myself some clown girl as my companion and i accept her for the sake of my nostalgia. Ok. That's it for now.

 

Tycoon Corporation's Dokapon - Monster Hunter (2001/2002) is unique solo RPG on Gameboy Advance. The gameplay can be difficult and rough especially when you start new game. It doesn't take itself too seriously. There's some 4th wall breaking comedy or simple funny humor. I suggest you play this via emulation because bad saving system that i mentioned. I like the battle system that alternate between attack and defend turn which makes me consider about upgrading my defense. The guessing nature of skill is pretty finicky to me. I mean you can see the preference from each enemy with trial and error. But it's fairly often that they have more than 1 preference on choosing their skills. To make things worse, it seems enemies on later section have deadlier offense skills on every slot. Here's the example: On circus, i meet mini mouse that look adorable but very hard to deal. First, he has higher speed stats so my basic attack isn't so reliable. Second, he has so many skill that deal damage and the one who makes me stunned thus winning the rock-paper-scissor game becomes very difficult because i can't predict which one that he will cast. You can escape the battle pretty easily unlike other RPG that's determined by unseen random chance but you will drop random item on your inventory everytime you escape the battle which is fine by me because i always fill my inventory with lots of stuffs. On the other hand, enemies will drop item when they escape the battle but you gain no experience and gold. There's lots of unique yet rare use item like Store-It (that allow you to store/retrieve items from your chest in the middle of dungeon), Revival, Homer, Magic Eye (that allow you to see the starting turn cards on battle), or drink that allow you to move faster than the enemies in dungeon thus allow you to avoid them. The offense and defense skills are ranged from bit trivial to very interesting. The music may be grating but i like the battle theme. It's cheerful and full of spirit.   

Overall, Dokapon - Monster Hunter (2001/2002) is pretty obscured and interesting RPG. It's easy to learn but the difficulty is pretty random thanks to the Rock-Paper-Scissor system of the skill. On top of that the unfair saving system makes the game arguably unwinnable. But on the bright side, you can't totally lose the game as you keep your level. I would like to give this game A-grade recommendation but i give it B-grade ones instead. You can give it a go on note that you better has save/load state on your disposal. I also like to impart you with some tips should you play this game: Use "stronger", and "harder" item before any hard battle. It will save your time in battle big time.

Lastly, i like to apologize that i publish this article very late. My new job makes me away from my laptop for very long time. But i promise that i still keep writing.