I've raised myself to Breeder Rank B, and I now have a Great House and Hut, which lets me raise 5 monsters at once!
I have a Garu, a Pixie/Durahan called a Joanne, a Dolphin/Ripper, a Golem/Henger, and a Ripper/??. The Garu and Ripper are new monsters. The Garu is a furry bipedal wannabe-werewolf, colored orange with white and black, with bushy eyebrows. His attacks are power kicks, claws, and bites, some of them starting out with a Fire effect. The Ripper is kinda like a bipedal squirrel, white with black & purple. Nasty critter, mostly magical attacks using his huge tail.
The best part? I can take all 5 monsters on adventures with me! The higher their 'adventuring level', the most skills they learn, including special tricks to search places you normally can't reach, like on top of pillars/trees and under water! You gain 'adventuring levels' by fighting Wild Monsters in the area you're adventuring inside. Also, the more you adventure, the more attacks you learn. My Garu has nearly all of his possibles, and he's only a Class C!
What really makes it sweet is how you can use those attacks. Instead of having only 3 or 4 possible for a battle, there is now a 9-slot wheel that you can fill with attacks. R1 moves the wheel forward to chose the attack you want, and X, O, or [] button executes it. The X is a normal attack; the O is weaker, but hits more often; and the [] button is a power attack with a lesser hit chance. All attacks either have an Elemental Effect, or one can be added to it when your monster learns the skill granting that ability
There is also the Counter. When you are given the chance, you can press L1 and either [], O, or X. If you've hit the same button the opponent hit, you counter the move and hit them instead. If you guess wrong, you don't even get a dodge but are hit with Critical Success. I dont' use it, since I raise monsters with high Dodges whenever possible. I also don't like the odds of missing the Counter. My opponents have always missed their Counters so far and get K.O'd, which does little to recommend the feature to me.
There is also the HitCombo feature. If you use the same button twice (or more) and the attack hits, your damage is multipled. Note: this doesn't mean you have to use the same attack, just the same button to execute the attack. You can rack up several multipliers, just like in Mortal Kombat or other fight games
Finally, there are the TagTeam Battles. When you have two monsters of equal Class, you can enter them both into a TagTeam match. L2 switches the monsters in and out, and you can also combine your hits into a 1-2 punch for more damage. I'm working on getting two monsters up to that level right now.
Now, there is one drawback. Every computer game CD I've tried to get a monster from has given me a 'Mushroomy' (plant/??). I don't know if it's because of the copy protection or what, but it's the same for Command & Conquer series and NeverWinter Nights Gold. I gave up trying, didn't even bother with KotOR or SidMeyer's Pirates.
However, the Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus gave me nothing but new, powerful monsters, including a Sealed one that I have to gain a few levels to get.
