"Spinning cocoons yields our daily bread.
"Prayer brings purification.
"These are the laws for living in harmony
"with the forest."
In Jade Cocoon, you assume the role of Levant, a young Cocoon master. Your village, Parel is being tormented by the Minions from the Curse of Alcana. You are the son of the Lion of Perel, Riketz. He was the Great Cocoon Master, but disappeared several years ago. Now, it is up to you to save Parel from the Minions.
Your village is then plagued by the Onibubu, or Locusts of the Apocalypse. They put everyone in the village to sleep, and it is now your duty to save the village, for you are the son of the great Riketz.
In battle, you are not to kill the enemies. You are to capture them with your flute and store them in an empty cocoon. When you capture an enemy, or minion, you take it to Gerai, the Old Nagi Woman who has taken care of your soon to be wife, Mahbu, since childhood. Gerai will purify the cocoon. After that, you have several options. One of these options is to spin the minion into silk, which can then be sold at the item store. Another option is to merging two or more minions to create and even better minion. There are over 160 monsters to catch, so the possibilities are pretty much endless.
You can bring up to three minions to fight with you at a time. However, once you summon a minion, it takes your place in battle. At a glance, this looks like a rip off, but actually, the minions are way more powerful than you. Therefore, it's a good thing they take your place.
This game doesn't have much of a plot. There isn't much gameplay either, unless you count The Corridor, in which you can capture minions that you could not before. The battles are cool once you get used to them. And once you get the hang of merging your minions.
Some people describe this game as a cross between FFVII and Pokemon. I thought the game was entertaining and do recommend it (thought Legend of Legaia is better).
