Does the game pickup? if so when?

[WanderingHero]

Played the demo it wasn't bad but it didn't really impress me, the combat didn't seem strategic and the story didn't grab me. I know the demo ends right when you get fusion but it feels like Fusion is mostly someting you'd do in boss fights anyway. Is there something I'm missing or is the game not for me?

[InevitableCheese]

Beginner perspective here.

I would say the game definitely picks up after the first train station. I was able to do quests at my leisure and explore afterwards (with some restrictions of course, it's not fully open world). I've been wandering around finding chests/stickers and resources and doing quests as I run into them and it's been pretty fun.

So far an additional 3.5 hours in, the combat hasn't changed a whole lot. If that part doesn't click for you I'm not sure it will. It opens up with more elements and interactions, but the gameplay loop doesnt change. I wish there was a toggle for skipping animations.

[Pandaniel6324]

It's like Pokemon but with a better (imo) type system that adds a lot of strategy, and more things to do. If you like Pokemon, you'll probably like this as it's basically a better Pokemon game. If you don't, then this game isn't going to change your mind.

[@R+5]

Originally posted by Pandaniel6324:

It's like Pokemon but with a better (imo) type system that adds a lot of strategy, and more things to do.

Could you list more specific examples of those things you think are better in this game? and also how the battle system and combat is better in this one?

i havent played much pokemon games (or pokemon-like games) to know the lore properly, but the one thing i like the most if the freedom to explore and wander (which is common in the level deign among more traditional rpgs). I didnt feel that freedom when playing the demo of this game, but i did in this other one (which also restricts how far you can go, but not as much as this one):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218210/Coromon/

btw, that game did felt closer to "pokemon style", probably could be considered almost a ripoff, but it was ok. the combat mechanics in pokemon, imo, were meant to focus in simplifying traditional rpg combat mechanics, as a way to lure younger players into the rpg market, and later to appeal a bit more to western players.

the one thing i like about this game (Cassette Beasts) is the way it uses the "2.5D style" to mix 3d effects with sprites. the music isnt great imo (feels bland imo), but is not terrible. if someone figures how to make music mods, sprite replacement mods, and maybe level design mods, this game could become a lot more interesting through community adjustments and tweaks, which is the only reason i still check occasionally if theres something like that going on.

[Morphic]

Originally posted by @R+5:

Could you list more specific examples of those things you think are better in this game? and also how the battle system and combat is better in this one?

Well the Type system is better than pokemon, IMO. In pokemon, say you use fire breath on a grass type; you'll do 2-4x more damage because "It's Super Effective!" as grass is weak to fire. Against a water type Fire breath would do half or less since "It's Not Very Effective". In cassette beasts, instead of doing 2-4x more damage, fire breath would do normal damage but apply 3 stacks of Burn(take damage at turn start) since fire beats grass.

Then there's different interactions, like using water against ice causes the ice type to gain defense bonus... Or grass types applying leach against earth. Basically, it makes the interactions more interesting since Types are no longer about the damage, but rather about the effects they can do.

With regard to Combat overall, there's significantly more options and general strategies you can do in cassette beasts compared to pokemon. Iirc Pokemon only allows a single pokemon to have ~6 moves tops. Whereas cassette beasts you can have 10+ depending on the evolution and sticker bonuses(like +1 slot). So you could have 1 monster use nothing but buffs/passives that it shares to your second monster; who is all about damage. I could go on.

TLDR: Overall, both games have, IMO, big flaws but from a combat/customization perspective I think Cassette Beasts is much better than Pokemon.

[Rocket2049]

where did demo end exactly? if it ended RIGHT after the first boss battle that shows fusion ooh boy that didn't even get ANYWHERE deep into the game systems...
in fact RIGHT after that fight is the when game actually opens up with a dozen of different objectives, about 3 different partners (immediately, there's more than 3 later on)
the fusion system doesn't even start being crazy until you have the abilities to charge it FASTER, use it LONGER, and various bonuses from relationship with current partner.
the only time i use fusions is on battling other fused monsters and bosses, but you do see quite a bit of fused monsters in the wild (prob always show up at random not sure yet)
also teh difficulty settings, oh my god, i WISH POKEMON HAD THAT.
level scaling adjustments, have it scale a little, scale a LOT (up to matching your level in every fight) or not even scale when its at 0 if you don't want it
the ai difficulties i have it set to "skynet" since i started the fights get intense.
there's a LOT of open world in this game the game never gives you a single MAIN objective, there's no "do this to advance story" lots of the quests advance the story, honestly i'm wondering if any of these are optional, since they always unlock something or give me a new partner or give new abilities like glide, fly, swim, climb, dash, etc. or a new shop or a new town to access,

there's a LOT going on in this game, again idk where the demos ends but once you get past the first angel fight in train station, the game becomes vastly more open and much more crazy stuff starts happening, battle and story wise.

summary, the game gives you a LOT of exploration very quick (right after the first boss, porb a little more into when the game points you to beating the master trainers which you can take in any order you wish, a whole lot of ground to find and explore things, plently of objectives with none of them being really a SIDE quest, far as i see anyways.
lots of difficulty settings from no scaling dumb AI, to always at your level super smart AI

btw maybe i haven't played some the newer pokemon, but they did NOT have much freedom to explore, it was always, go to gym 1, go to gym 2, now 3... so on till gym 8 and now elite four and champion, i never saw ways to skip or tackle them in different orders, they all felt super linear, pokemon could've bee much better WITH more freedom, like maybe i wanna take on the fire gym before the rock one, or maybe elite four without doing all 8 gyms (obviously harder but the OPTION would be nice)
pokemon ALWAYS having only 4 moves makes me mad, it could be a MUCH more strategic game but nope 4 moves, and one monster at a time MOST of the games (i wish pokemon had every fight just be 2-3 at a time)
the monster games i LOVE though, for example, dragon quest monsters in general were always 3(or 4) of your monsters at once, and they had no move limits (or if it did it was a lot more than 12 moves from my memory)

[Rocket2049]

i should also mention for the last 3 times i played cassette beasts i literally wandered around randomly finding new monsters, new areas (since getting the flying, climbing and swimming all unlocked that's pretty much the whole map)
there's so much stuff to explore that isn't marked, chests that open by switches/puzzles, hidden areas, places you'd never think would have something unless you happened to walk by it.
i haven't completed a quest in a while i'm just exploring the entire map now since i can swim that unlocks literally HALF the world on the left side that you couldn't reach before.
i'm at lv40s and from my memory i've beaten two of the guild trainer masters (whatever they're called) out of 12? and 2 archangels (2nd of which was an optional angel fight apparently)

btw not saying it takes THAT LONG to fight another boss, i'm saying i've been exploring THAT MUCH that i haven't felt the NEED to advance the story yet.
you can easily follow the quests and rumors to quickly advance through,
but me, i like to explore everywhere i can explore, and this game is NOT really blocking off that much.

[Rocket2049]

Originally posted by InevitableCheese:

I wish there was a toggle for skipping animations.

you can activate the cheat menu, and hold Y/triangle to fast forward, and all dialog can be rapid scrolled by holding B/circle
also in that same cheat menu, you can activate randomizer modes and permadeath WITHOUT beating the game first, the randomize settings change the game A LOT.
i really don't like to CHEAT in any game but wow the options THIS games cheat menu gives you is absurd lot of them aren't even cheats more like changing things in the game, like your character size, whether monsters chase you on sight, and actually makes me wanna play the game MORE to be honest

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by Morphic:

Well the Type system is better than pokemon, IMO. In pokemon, say you use fire breath on a grass type; you'll do 2-4x more damage because "It's Super Effective!" as grass is weak to fire. Against a water type Fire breath would do half or less since "It's Not Very Effective". In cassette beasts, instead of doing 2-4x more damage, fire breath would do normal damage but apply 3 stacks of Burn(take damage at turn start) since fire beats grass.

The damage actually does change, but it's a much less punishing 1.3x that tends to get overwhelmed by differences in defensive stats. The net effect is the same: there are times when the type disadvantage just plain doesn't matter.

[Mirasein]

Originally posted by @R+5:

Originally posted by Pandaniel6324:

It's like Pokemon but with a better (imo) type system that adds a lot of strategy, and more things to do.

Could you list more specific examples of those things you think are better in this game? and also how the battle system and combat is better in this one?

i havent played much pokemon games (or pokemon-like games) to know the lore properly, but the one thing i like the most if the freedom to explore and wander (which is common in the level deign among more traditional rpgs). I didnt feel that freedom when playing the demo of this game, but i did in this other one (which also restricts how far you can go, but not as much as this one):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218210/Coromon/

btw, that game did felt closer to "pokemon style", probably could be considered almost a ripoff, but it was ok. the combat mechanics in pokemon, imo, were meant to focus in simplifying traditional rpg combat mechanics, as a way to lure younger players into the rpg market, and later to appeal a bit more to western players.

the one thing i like about this game (Cassette Beasts) is the way it uses the "2.5D style" to mix 3d effects with sprites. the music isnt great imo (feels bland imo), but is not terrible. if someone figures how to make music mods, sprite replacement mods, and maybe level design mods, this game could become a lot more interesting through community adjustments and tweaks, which is the only reason i still check occasionally if theres something like that going on.

The game is filled with awesome mods... Battle Arena, Infinit Railway... Custom music player... etc. https://modworkshop.net/g/cassette-beasts