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Jade Cocoon is a joint effort between developers Genki and Katsuya Kondo - whom is known for his work on on a number of Studio Ghibli animations. The game goes some way to capturing the feel of one, in particular I felt the story had shades of 'Nausicaa Valley of the Wind' with a dash of ... Read review
Advantages: Presentation, design, merge monsters, voice acting, 2-player mode Disadvantages: Battles a bit short of depth, no real puzzles, lacking in exploration
...save them.
Jade Cocoon is a joint effort between developers Genki and Katsuya Kondo - whom is known for his work on on a number of Studio Ghibli animations. The game goes some way to capturing the feel of one, in particular I felt the story had shades of 'Nausicaa Valley of the Wind' with a dash of 'Princess Mononoke'. There are a handful of anime sequences here which, although they look great, the lack of subtitles meant it was difficult ... ...is limited.
Jade Cocoon can be finished in less than 20 hours, which is not bad as there is a two-player mode where you can pit your Minions against each other. Unfortunately me and my brother never gave this a go despite our appreciation for RPGs which goes to show the impression that this game failed to leave on us. The game might appeal to the younger audience but I felt the monsters would be hard to identify with; picking the ones ... more
Please note that my review and rating does not take into account the multiplayer aspect of this game.
Despite the conflict between the people of Parel and the monsters known as Minions residing in the forest, the village of Syrus would eventually become one to coexist with it's surroundings. However, when many villagers were put into a deep sleep by a sudden attack from the Locusts of Apocalypse, it would be up to Levant, the new Cocoon master, to save them.
Jade Cocoon is a joint effort between developers Genki and Katsuya Kondo - whom is known for his work on on a number of Studio Ghibli animations. The game goes some way to capturing the feel of one, in particular I felt the story had shades of 'Nausicaa Valley of the Wind' with a dash of 'Princess Mononoke'. There are a handful of anime sequences here which, although they look great, the lack of subtitles meant it was difficult for me to pickup on what the narrator had to say. The voice acting is well decent although Levant never says anything which takes away from the feel of the game.
The genre of this game is that of an RPG involving monster management. As a Cocoon Master, Levant can capture Minions to spin into silk to sell for money, but he'll also need them to do battle for him against others. There are over 150 monsters which you can encounter, however as you can only store about twenty of them the emphasis is not so much on "Gotta Catch 'Em All" - to put it in the phrase of a similar game, but to see what you can make of the monsters by merging them as you choose.
A number of all the monsters appear the same but in different colours, covering the four elements which lend the battles to a rock-paper-scissors nature. In the field contact between Levant and a Minion brings about a battle, and you can be up against as many as three although unfortunately only one can fight for your side at any time. Battle is turn-based but can be slow as you have to watch Levant go through the same motions again and again. However, it is one game where you'll actually use the defend command as it recovers magic.
Elsewhere, other elements are missing in action. The game is linear and is devoid of any real puzzles; it never feels like you are exploring, simply just wandering around. The village, which you will be coming back to time and time again, is not there to be explored. The graphics however are decent, with the pre-rendered backgrounds looking nice. The music is alright but is limited.
Jade Cocoon can be finished in less than 20 hours, which is not bad as there is a two-player mode where you can pit your Minions against each other. Unfortunately me and my brother never gave this a go despite our appreciation for RPGs which goes to show the impression that this game failed to leave on us. The game might appeal to the younger audience but I felt the monsters would be hard to identify with; picking the ones which stood out to me would be like going into the back-garden to find insects that I would love to bring up. Who knows what kids like to get up to.
Advantages: Some interesting ideas, and monster breeding Disadvantages: Poor graphics, dodgy sound, strictly linear
The game begins as our hero Levant comes of age, marries his childhod friend and Nagi woman, Mabu, and takes up his father's role as the village monster tamer. His father vanished in the forest when he was a child, leaving his wife to raise their son. All monster tamer's wives come from the Nagi tribe, which have the ability to purify monsters, allowing tamers to use them for battle and create silk from them. Unfortunately the villagers believe this ... ...the basic idea of monster taming, the game's rather linear plot revolves around an ancient tribe, a curse and a divine war between light and darkness. There are no secrets, hidden areas or multiple endings, and your actions cannot change the path of the story. Unfortunately by about halfway through there are no likeable characters left in the game. Also, it is actually possible for the game to make no sense as it assumes you have taken actions you ...
tirial 29.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Jade Cocoon (PlayStation)
Advantages: Interesting Storyline. Disadvantages: Can be repetitive at times.
'JADE COCOON Story of the Camamayu' I bought this game because as a great lover of Adventure RPG's I go out and buy games and experiment and see if they're any cop. I noticed this game on the shelf and it sounded like it might be worth buying. Well... It was but then again it wasn't. There are good qualities to the game and there are bad qualities to it.
Ok here is what the game is about:
You are Levant, a young boy soon to become a cocoon master. ... ...to be destroyed by the mystical Storm of Destruction and as you may well guess you have to prevent this from happening (which you will if you are determined to continue playing this game.) A cocoon master is someone who has the power to tame and breed monsters. By the way this is a bit like pokemon (yes I 'did' like pokemon) so I got this game. The story is set out neatly and you soon learn about Levant and the people around him who have stories ...
Babytigerjess 20.10.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Jade Cocoon (PlayStation)
Advantages: Cool gameplay, merging monsters, good graphics for the time, cheap/ Disadvantages: Poor graphics compared to newer consoles.
Jade Cocoon is an RPG that revolves around capturing monsters, merging them and using these monsters in order to progress through the storyline. The storyline revolves around trying to save you're village from destruction at the hands of a mysterious evil force.
Jade Cocoon is quite similair to Pokemon in many aspects, especially pokemon colleseum. The player or his monsters must fight of against groups of enemy monsters using abilities and moves ... ...very good title, and it is considerably better than it's sequel Jade Cocoon 2. Also it is very cheap, with copies selling for around £5-10. The dated graphics and sound are more than made up for by the great gameplay, and for that reason I highly recommend getting this game. ...
JamieJCO 01.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Jade Cocoon (PlayStation)
Advantages: good storyline turn based gameplay Disadvantages: minority audience, a little too specified
...good as the original. Luckily Jade Cocoon is in that 1%. Admittedly they didn’t have a huge amount to live up to as the original was no masterpiece. Jade Cocoon still feels slightly child Esq. but more grown up and with ugly beasties. The story is a simple but effective one with the main character Kahu wanting to become a man. He heads out into the forests. You are first given as in all these games a choice between three eggs. An egg containing a ... ...Just a clue take the rat as the fire type is the only ones that can attack. Anyway you head out into the world with some neat narration from a cell shaded elf. Kahu soon gets into trouble and is cursed by an ogre so he has a split personality and will flip when angry –kinda like the incredible hulk except less dramatic. His quest then becomes one to remove his tale. Lukily the same orbs that will remove his tail will restore balance to the forests ...
uregod 13.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Jade Cocoon (PlayStation)
