Customer Reviews

Jade Cocoon

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one great RPG, I recomend it to anyone who likes the old style RPG's with the elemental powers. There is something new in this one though, not only is there text but speach as well. The graphics are really good, and all over is a great game. Its even more fun if you have a friend that owns the game as well. It took me 18 hours to beat, though you might think that is a little short there is a forest with more powerful monsters. If you liked Pokemon you will probably like this as well. You can catch, train and even merge monsters. The merging is really neat, you can make a wealth of new monsters. If a friend has the game than you can fight your friend with which adds many hours of time. The plot is great, and the magic powers are really cool. One of the other great things about this game is that not only can your monsters fight, but so can you! Overall a great game buy it, now!

Never. That's what I thought about the catch and train monster games. With Pokemon nearly smothering the genreral public with merchindise and Monster Rancher chasing it's tail I thought that I would be the last person to fall into the insane craze of monster games. I do however enjoy stunning visuals and wonderful storylines, which is why RPG's intrance me so much. What lacks in graphics usually compenstates in plot and game play, with Jade Cocoon, I found myself emersed for hours.

I put the game in and literally watched slack jawed at the amazing opening sequence. It was beautiful animation, and that was followed by a captivating narrative. There was text, and spoken dialouge, which I don't mind reading, but I was impressed. Most conversations had spoken dialouge, not just in key moments of the game, but everwhere. The other element of the game that caught my eye was the stunning visuals. I was so happy to see that the characters weren't sprite-like people walking on maps with heads bigger than their bodies.

Now to every gamer, you will find faults, and I found a few, but compaired to the pros, the cons couldn't make me stop playing. As lush and beautiful the backgrounds were, they were also dark. Objects sliped by many times, and sometimes there were parts of the background that looked like paths that weren't. Minor complaints to a great game, despite the fact that it's based on capturing and combining monsters dubed minions.

Additiced is all I can say now. After I had captured my first monster, and began merging and fighting I became emersed in the game. The story had me, the graphics and animation had me, and I hate to admit it, but I kind of liked the whole Cocoon Master concept.

This is one of the very few RPG's I've played more than three times. (The other notable mention is Final Fantasy VI.) If you take Pokemon, strip out 90% of the childish nonsense, give it beautiful music, dreamlike landscapes, a plot, character development, and interresting monsters that can take on a multitude of forms, you get Jade Coccoon.

Jade Coccoon has a dreamlike fairy-tale quality that I enjoy. There is character development and an actual plot. The sound track is beautiful; I wish I could find it. The character Po tells some good stories (the first about Alcana is the best), which is a nice diversion. My favorite element of the game is that there is no clear "good guy" and "bad guy", there is conflict on both sides. It also touches on some theological questions in an interresting way. The graphics are also quite good for a PlayStation game, and actually add to the mood and setting rather than just act as flashy eye-candy.

My only problem with this game is that it seems slightly rushed in development. There are elements in the story that seem as if they will be developed, and they just "go away". There is also a slight bug: If you save a game while carrying firefly coccoons and turn off the PlayStation, when you re-start, the special abilities and spells of the creatures in the firefly coccoons will be erased. (However, sometimes this works to your advantage for breeding.) Purified coccoons left with Mahbu are safe. The game has also crashed three times on my PS2 (twice when Levant is summoning the first Minion of a fight), but for 50+ hours of play, that isn't bad.

First of all, I rented this game-but got pretty far so i get the idea. This game is a mix of Final Fantasy (the newer versions) and some sort of Pokemon, Robopon DWM catch em all game. When I say Pokemon-i dont mean real cutsie-pie cuddlie wuddly...I mean MONSTERS! These are all the bad things: Cut scenes and talking talking takes WAY tooo looonnng annd sllllowws time downn, moving controls are hard(looks like youre walking drunk) , monster designs arent that great, and (might be just on my copy) but most menu items are blank! but that wasnt to bad...The best part is when you take two monsters, you can merge them to create a better skilled and looking guy without worring about the cost, gender or level! And for guys you already have or dont want, you can have your girlfriend spin them into silk and then sell them! Another thing is that most characters talk! not just text but real speech! Overall, this game is a must have or must rent for a really long time... Hope this helps!

Jade Cocoon is agreat game. If you like pokemon then you'll definitely love this game. I bought it without any clue about the game, and it turned out to be great. Jade Cocoon is one of the best games I have ever played. It definitely should be bought.

Yes you do fight with monsters and yes you are a kid. But this game has a rich storyline with many character relationships. Different from pokemon you can fight yourself. Although the graphics are bit out dated they still look awsome and the anime videos are fantastic. The music works well with the game and the voices of the characters are well placed for those who dont want to read. Overall its a great game and well worth the money.

I saw a video demo of this in my OPM Mag and was blown away! So, Almost a year after, I bought it..., I played it 3 hours straight....and beat it...The game is super-short, but its like Pokemon without all the little cute cuddly thingy's. Buy it if you kinda like Pokemon, but the game is WAY too short. Graphics are good, but i really do wish it would be longer, but it gets boring and repetitive after a while....Catch Minion....fight minions....build up minions.....catch minions....etc.

With its measured pace, a storyline filled with ritualism andlegends, and limited number of choices, Jade Cocoon may not be for the average modern gamer. Those who are hoping that this game is the Playstation equivalent of Pokemon will be deeply disappointed, because the only element Jade Cocoon has in common with Pokemon is a rich library of creatures to capture and train. However strange this may sound, Jade Cocoon has more in common with the old Endless Quest books.

The graphics are one of Jade Cocoon's strongest facets. The rich, well detailed backgrounds wil not fail to impress, despite the fact that the predominant color is the uninterrupted green of leaves (make sure you like that color). The graphics do deteriorate slightly during the battle scenes (the parallax makes the separate graphic planes advance one by one, as if the parts of the surroundings take small steps in various directions as the view zooms in or rotates), but, thankfully, the turn-based combat does not involve much camera work (the game has no camera controls and does not need any). Arguably, some of the cut scenes are too long and I found myself pressing buttons to end them, and the items are very hard to see when they are hidden in the shadows of incredibly large (and much more vibrant) greenery.

Sound is also on the game's side. The voices do seem overdone (the characters seem to overemphasyze every word, leading to an audible staccato beat during conversations, and there is too much focus on voice texture - every voice rasps and creaks). Sadly, during the entire course of the game your character never speaks. The music is quite characteristic - it's almost all drums, flutes, and such folk instruments, adding to Jade Cocoon's brooding, absorbing atmosphere. Sound effects are few, but well done.

The story may attract some but annoy others. It is not the standard "save the world" fare, thankfully. A large amount of attention is paid to mythology and spirituality.

The control, however unimportant to RPGs, is something to get used to. Although menu navigation is very easy, walking is slow and pressing direction buttons may lead to unexpected effects. Thankfully, you cannot kill yourself because of a wrong step (off a cliff).

The gameplay is rather limited, as your only tasks are scouring the enormous forest in search of its secrets and training your collection of creatures that you can summon to your help in combat or sell for money, but the world in which you perform that task is very large.

For those who will buy Jade Cocoon and then be annoyed by the mechanics, I will describe them here in a concise form:

Jade Cocoon is an action/RPG. You get to control the main character plus your minions. Combat is turn-based and includes both standard attacks and magic. You may switch between minions in combat, but no more than one may fight at a time. Minions gain levels with experience, but your character only increases in his ability to capture wild minions (make sure to buy better equipment as it becomes available, or you're roast). There are plenty of items to buy and find. You may merge two minions to create another that shares some of the abilities of its parents (and looks like a mixture of both). Mixing monsters for the strange appearance of the offspring is a big part of the fun. After the standard mode is completed, the "Endless Corridor" will open up wich allows players to focus solely on the capturing/training/merging part of the game. There is also a versus mode, where two players pit their minions against each other.

Hopefully this review gave you enough information to choose whether or not to buy this game.

The first thing I thought about this game: Pokemon. Until later in the game, that is. It is extremely fun, ecpecially when you are in a battle or merging monsters.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good game, but I would recomend renting it before you buy it. The game gives it its all, and it really tries hard to be original, but it has its drawbacks.
It IS over too quick. The monsters are sometimes very creative, butt after a while, you begin to realise that the "150 base minions" are just the same, with four different elements (water, wind, earth and fire). The story line is original, but you can see the end coming a million miles away.
You will probably complete it in under twenty hours, but it would take you a long time to catch all 150 minions! If you are looking for something new, give it a try: it is an original game.