diff --git a/shrines/cassettebeasts/articles/cassette-beasts-more-than-a-pokemon-clone.html b/shrines/cassettebeasts/articles/cassette-beasts-more-than-a-pokemon-clone.html index ace18357..4db07d0f 100644 --- a/shrines/cassettebeasts/articles/cassette-beasts-more-than-a-pokemon-clone.html +++ b/shrines/cassettebeasts/articles/cassette-beasts-more-than-a-pokemon-clone.html @@ -45,7 +45,7 @@

How Cassette Beasts is Much More than a Pokémon Clone

Written by Leilukin

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First published on 26 August 2023
Last updated on 13 September 2023

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First published on 26 August 2023
Last updated on 15 September 2023

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Furthermore, most of the battles in the main series Pokémon games take place in one-on-one formats, also known as single battles. In Cassette Beasts, you almost always battle alongside a partner, making two-on-two the format of most battles in the game, which in Pokémon is also known as double battles, which are underutilised in the main series Pokémon games. Two-on-two battles require more nuanced strategies than brute-forcing a single opponent in one-on-one battles.

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The move system in battles is also different in Pokémon and Cassette Beasts. In Pokémon, every Pokémon is limited to having four move slots, meaning each can only use up to four moves in battle. In Cassette Beasts, battle moves come in the form of stickers on monster cassette tapes; the base number of sticker slots varies between monsters, with 4 being the minimum, and can be increased by upgrading the star level of the monster tapes, up to a maximum of 8 natural slots. Some stickers have the bonus of adding sticker slots.

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Type Match-Ups

Both Pokémon and Cassette Beasts have elemental types on every monster, and how these types interact with each other is a core element in their battle systems. However, how said interactions play out in Pokémon and Cassette Beasts are different.

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In Pokémon, from Generation 1 to 5, only the Pokémon you send out in battle and optionally the Pokémon that holds the Exp. Share item will gain experience after winning a battle. This means that if you want to add a Pokémon you just caught to your party, you often have to grind for experience points for the newly-caught Pokémon to catch up with the levels of other members in your party. The games starting from Generation 6 solve the grinding issue by making Exp. Share becomes an optional item that will reward the experience points you earned to all non-fainted members in your party. Starting from Let's Go! Pikachu and Let's Go! Eevee, the effects Exp. Share are present from the start of the game.

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In Cassette Beasts, levels are tied to your human and your companion characters, while your monster tapes have their own level system in the form of star system, so gaining experience points means not only levelling up your human and companion characters, but also upgrading the star levels of your monster tapes. Some monsters can be remastered (the Pokémon equivalent is evolution) into stronger forms when being upgraded to 5 stars. It is worth noting that experience points are shared between all your monster tapes as well, including ones that have been broken (or "fainted") in battle, unlike Pokémon where fainted Pokémon cannot gain any experience points.

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Monsters with Alternate Colour Schemes

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In both Pokémon and Cassette Beasts, there is a rare chance you may encounter monsters with different colour schemes than their regular counterparts. In Pokémon, they are referred to as Shiny Pokémon, while in Cassette Beasts, they are called bootlegs.

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Shiny Pokémon do not provide additional benefits in gameplay, but bootlegs do, since bootlegs can be of any type, and have a higher chance of getting moves (or stickers) with additional effects, referred to as sticker attributes.

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In Cassette Beasts, levels are instead tied to your human and your companion characters. While monster tapes have their own level system in the form of star system, gaining experience points means not only levelling up your human and companion characters, but also upgrading the star levels of your monster tapes. Some monsters can be remastered (the Pokémon equivalent is evolution) into stronger forms when being upgraded to 5 stars. It is worth noting that experience points are shared between all your monster tapes as well, including ones that have been broken (or "fainted") in battle, unlike Pokémon where fainted Pokémon cannot gain any experience points at all.

Field Moves

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In Cassette Beats, it is your human character that learn these field moves by recording certain monsters. The game will provide hints to which monsters can give you these field moves through townsfolk gossips. Since it is your human character that uses these field moves, you do not need to worry about wasting any move slots in your monster cassette tapes.

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Monsters with Alternate Colour Schemes

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In both Pokémon and Cassette Beasts, there is a rare chance you may encounter monsters with different colour schemes than their regular counterparts. In Pokémon, they are referred to as Shiny Pokémon, while in Cassette Beasts, they are called bootlegs.

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Shiny Pokémon do not provide additional benefits in gameplay, but bootlegs do, since bootlegs can be of any type, and have a higher chance of getting moves (or stickers) with additional effects and enhancements, referred to as sticker attributes.

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Music

Both Pokémon and Cassette Beasts are notable for their soundtracks, and music is among the most praised (which is well-deserved, in my opinions) aspects in both, though Cassette Beasts does it differently in that it includes music with vocal lyrics: for the music of the main hub, Habourtown, the vocals play when you are indoor; for battle music, the vocals play when you and your partner fuse, which heightens the dynamic of the battles.

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Major Story Spoilers for Cassette Beasts
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Towards the end of the main quest, it is revealed that Archangels are egregores created from humanity's desires and ideas. The main antagonist and final boss of the main story is an Archangel that is an incarnation of conquest, and his goal is to leave New Wirral and cause chaos across reality.

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Towards the end of the main quest, it is revealed that Archangels are egregores created from humanity's desires and ideas. Aleph, the main antagonist and final boss of the main story, is an Archangel that is an incarnation of conquest, and his goal is to leave New Wirral and cause chaos across reality.

While Pokémon has its own fair share of sinister villains, the threat the main villain of Cassette Beasts poses is even greater in scope than any Pokémon villain, maybe except for Rainbow Rocket Giovanni from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, who shares the goal of ruling the multiverse.

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Moreover, even though the player character and their party are able to defeat the main villain in the end, the game makes it clear that since Archangels are not flesh and blood and born from human ideas, as long as humans are interested in conquest Aleph will return at some point. This reflects our world in that defeating a tyrant does not magically solve everything when the system that enables tyrants' rise to power still exists.