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General Info
Genre: Card battle game
Platform: PlayStation Vita DIGITAL only for NA and EU.
Players: 1-2 (Ad-hoc, Network play)
Release Dates: 5/27/2014 (NA), 6/4/2014 (EU)
Publisher: Idea Factory International, Inc.
Developer: COMPILE HEART
ESRB/PEGI: Mature/12+
PAL availability: For a full list of PAL region countries the game is available in, please check the SPEC tab on the official site.
Things below here might be regarded as NSFW depending on one's tolerance. I've tried to keep it as tame as possible image-wise, so use discretion when clicking images!
Official Site
The Plot
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Set in the world of Yafaniel, a land where humans and "monster girls" coexit, the story follows May Esperio, an Academy student working to become a "master" of monster girls. When one of her best friends, Elza, becomes afflicted by a curse and turns evil, May pursues her across the world in an attempt to cure her.
- The story mode takes place on the World Map lined with routes and populated with story events and battles. From the World Map, players can access the Academy which includes the Card Gym, Shop, and Museum.
The Board
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- The field is composed of 7x3 spaces, with each player possessing 3x3 spaces on opposite ends.
- When units are summoned, they move forward automatically and attack enemy units in front of them.
- Games are won by reducing the enemy's HQ durability to 0, most likely by having living units make it to the other end of the field and inflicting damage directly.
- Summons are tied to a mana system. Mana automatically increases by 3 each turn, but can also be increased by skills and Aura Bonuses.
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In addition to an HP, ATK, and INT value, a Monster Girl card possesses the following:
- Roles: Melee, ranged, healer, and buffer.
- Mana cost: How much mana it costs to summon.
- Species: Units of the same species can be fused together creating one unit with the added stats of the original units.
- Aura: Determined by the color of the card border, consecutively summoning units with the same Aura color triggers the Aura Bonus causing beneficial effects such as increased Mana or increased unit stats.
- Potentials: Appears to be reactive effects that occur on opponents turns, such as counter-attacks and being immovable.
- Skills: Appears to be active effects that can be activated on your own turn, like healing allies and damaging enemies.
- Card art: Illustrations contributed by many different mangaka and dōjinshi artists. A few notable names like Mota (7th Dragon) and Wada Rco (Fate Extra) are listed as well.
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- Monster Girls' skills can be leveled up using First Crush ♥ Rub mode, where players "send magic power into the card by rubbing." Rub P, a currency obtained from battles, must be spent to activate this mode.
- The goal of First Crush ♥ Rub is to cause the Tension Gauge to hit max within the time limit. As a Monster Girl's tension rises, so does Otton, a rub fairy that detects monster girls' tension.
- Technique is important, as each Monster Girl has different weak points and react to different touch styles which include rubbing, touching, poking, and pinching.
- When the time is right, Extreme Love can be achieved causing a Monster Girl's tension to rise even faster. This mode requires a wholly different hand technique from before, only achievable thanks to the innovative front and back screen tech of the Playstation Vita.
- Monster Girls' costumes come in three levels*: Heavy Armor, Light Armor, and Swimwear, but it appears that certain monster girls can transform into a different monster girl after the third level. *Some monster girls progress to only 2nd level because lol.
- Players can battle online or through Ad-hoc and obtain Master Rings. One Master Ring is given when entering a fight, and another is given for winning. A set of 6 rings can be turned in for a rare card pack, Seal Stone, or Rub P.
- Certain Monster Girls have their First Crush ♥ Rub sealed away, and must be unlocked through Seal Stones.
- Battle conditions can also be customized by the host.
The Reviews
Hardcore gamer
Regardless, if you can get past the inherent creepiness that permeates Monster Monpiece on a number of levels, then there’s no denying that this is an intelligent, fulfilling card game. 3/5
Gamestyle
Monster Monpiece will be a divisive game, you may well get plenty of odd looks if you played it in public. Yet the core game mechanics just about win out over the shame factor. 7/10
The DLC
Did some searching and it seems like the cards you can get from "Pack 1" are available in the post-game normally. That leads me to believe the subsequent packs might be entirely new cards. The + packs contain the same type of card as the non + packs, but they come already upgraded. Similarly for the ++ packs.
This is what I remember from playing the game last year:
You can obtain seal stones in normal gameplay but they are somewhat rare, you can also earn them from online battles. They're probably not worth buying because you still need enough points to upgrade cards, and the game isn't so hard that you need a bunch of top level cards.
Don't buy the rub points, you earn plenty through normal gameplay.
The in-battle items (like the one that says it moves your units forward 1 square) are just a money grab, the game is not difficult.
There are some interesting items like the one that lets you upgrade a card without having to do the rubbing minigame, but at 50 cents a pop, it's not worth it. Unless you really hate the rubbing minigame. Even then, you'd need a lot of those items over the course of the game.