Capture. Breed. Fight. Repeat. Build up your magical friends. Watch as they magically fall. Mourn briefly, then forget, then begin again for there are evils to be suppressed. There are elemental badges to be won. And there’s something deep down in your DNA that inexplicably, irrationally compels you do it again and again and again to become the best darn breeder you can be. From Monster Rancher to Pokémon Crystal, countless epics have been written and sung of the tragically repetitive life of the monster breeder. Jade Cocoon 2 is yet another…though even retired breeders who’ve long since hung up their Pokéballs may consider coming out of retirement once they hear this song. In Jade Cocoon 2, you play the role of Kahu, a young boy with a spring in his step and great dreams of becoming a master trainer of Divine Beasts. Early on in his pursuit of Beast Mastery, Kahu has a confrontation with his future self—a demon-dragon boy with a stylish tail—and discovers that unless he finds the four Elemental Forest Orbs, he is doomed to one day becoming this generally unpleasant half-human abomination he sees before him. Kahu’s quest for the Orbs takes him deep into four elemental forests of vast repetition in both layout and look. Each forest has a none-too-creative theme (earth, wind, fire, or water) and dozens of simply laid-out “floors” of increasing difficulty. You dive in, monsters at your side, get as far into the forest as you can, then return home with your booty and your experience, hatch new eggs, breed new creatures, and merge them with existing ones…and then dive back into the forest once more and see how far you get this time. Then do it again. Then again. And again. It’s the kind of quest that could quickly become a crushing bore, though Jade Cocoon 2 somehow manages to make the task not only fun…but also almost impossible to refuse. Jade Cocoon 2’s biggest draw is its unique, compelling, and hugely varied battle system. Here’s how it works: Each Divine Beast in your kennel has an earth/wind/fire/water elemental base, and each base has a different characteristic: For example, Wind inflicts status attacks, Water heals, Fire Beasts are the most powerful, and Earth creatures are used primarily as defense. As you merge Beasts and watch them evolve, secondary Elemental traits can be added. Pretty standard, so far but put your Beasts into battle formation, and things start to get really interesting. Battles find Kahu at the center of a squarish circle with eight positions, each with its own elemental attribute. Each position can hold one Beast, and as Kahu’s rank increases, so does the number of Beasts you can take out with you at a time. To attack, you select an elemental “side” of the circle containing up to three Beasts in a row, and the monsters on that “side” will each perform their duty, chaining combos like sleep/heal/hurl lightning or suck life/create rock barrier/blind depending on their placement. The way the creatures complement each other is pretty ingenious; coming up with seemingly endless formation strategies is extremely fun; and every time you advance in rank and are able to hold one more monster in your ring, you’re required to completely revamp your thinking. Plus, watching as your Beasts transform from spiky eggs with legs into insane helicopter dogs, or from cute lil’ pink mice into giant, vicious, toothy, evil, pink demon-mice, is a ridiculously satisfying thing indeed. Aside from the truly remarkable creature system, there are plenty of other nifty highlights that help extend Jade Cocoon 2’s longevity. A Job Bulletin Board ensures that every time you delve into the forest, you have some auxiliary goal in mind—whether it’s finding rare Fire-type eggs, or collecting monster dung to make new products at the store. The freakish character designs, wacky creatures, and 2D line art (by Princess Mononoke/Kiki’s Delivery Service artist Katsuya Kondou) explode with weird personality, the dialogue is actually funny, and the voice-acting—shockingly enough—is among the finest on the PS2 to date…an extra good thing since every single line of dialogue in the game is spoken aloud (with the option to skip, of course). The rest of the graphics have a high-quality, polished, late-generation PS2 look—but you’ll quickly tire of seeing the same rooms over and over again, grow weary of battling on the same boring battlefields, and sadly wonder why you can see only three members of your monster posse at a time during a battle. The battle sound effects are pretty cool, too, and there’s a nicely varied, ambient acid-jungle jazz soundtrack to keep you company during your extended safaris. The epic of Kahu is different, rewarding, intelligent, funny, and filled with memorable characters and weird creatures. It’s damn fun, too, and will keep you performing the repetitive duties required of a monster raiser for far longer than you’d ever imagine. It’s just too bad there’s not more variety in the Elemental Forest designs—it’s the only thing that keeps Jade Cocoon 2 from being a timeless creature-breeding classic.
