Re: Gachaste! Dino Device (Red and Blue)
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:18 am
Has anybody played this besides me? I love this game but it's pretty hard to figure out at first if you don't read Japanese. When I figure the goals out better, I'll write some sort of a walkthrough for it.
When you first start the game, you're asked to fill out an address book type entry for yourself.. name, gender (note: whether you pick male or female, the protagonist is male), birthdate, address, bloodtype, phone numbers, etc. plus input the current date. What for? Well, mainly think Monster Rancher.. your Dinomo (the robots/monsters of this series) are spawned from these address book entries. Also, Dino Device's main menu, a device called the Planet OS, carries the following options:
DinoDevice (the main game)
Data Save (saves the game)
Communication (link battles or trading; DinoDevice works on VBAlink with this)
Minigame 1 - shooter (a lot like Xevious)
Minigame 2 - minesweeper (not the same as the computer version)
Minigame 3 - feed Dinomo (run around giving the right food to whiny Dinomo)
Music List (the game's soundtrack.. 20 tracks, kind of short but good)
Memo (write whatever here)
Finances (keep track of your savings and spendings)
Calculator (a calculator >__>)
Schedule (a calendar)
Timetable (another calendar, I forget which does what though)
Address Book (where all of your address entries are stored)
A fairly useful collection for one GBA cart, wouldn't you agree? Also I love the menu music.
Anyhow, once you start the game, you are given your first Dinomo.. depending on version, it is either Centaurus-Agena (red) or Centaurus-Toliman (blue). Now, Dinomo are arranged like.. there are 30 main types in all, all named after constellations. Each of these main types has five sub types- normal, fire, water, thunder, and earth. These subtypes are named after stars in that constellation. These subtypes all learn the same moves and can use the same equipment as each other, their typings just seem to determine strengths/weaknesses against weapon types. But yes.. with 30 Dinomo divided into 5 types each, that's 150 you can get in all.
After you get your Centaurus, you're asked to generate a new Dinomo based on whatever your address book entry was. You watch a scene of the protagonist sticking a card in a toy dispenser machine - you know the ones you put 50 cents in and a plastic ball comes out with a toy? - and.. Gachaste! A Dinomo comes out. What kind? Well, I can't tell you. It's different for everyone. When I first played I got Aquarius (a spikey turtle), probably because of my birthdate. The subtypes that come out when you generate Dinomo this way are random, so you can keep using the same address entry if you want all the types of a certain kind.
Then, things get a bit confusing. Basically you're hired by this girl to build houses for Dinomo, she shows you how to build a house, put a Dinomo in, take a Dinomo out, and demolish it, then you're left to your own devices for a while to go around building houses and stores and generating Dinomo until she yells at you to build a Stadium. This is the part where I initially got stuck.. because I didn't have enough money to build it and she stopped paying me while she was yelling.. Oops, new game -_-"
Once you build the stadium, you can participate in battles. Battles are sort of a cross between Battleship and turn-based fighting.. honestly they're hard to describe, so I've got a couple videos showing how they work kinda:
Centaurus-Agena, Leo-Algieba, and Libra-Elgenubi
Cancer-Praesepe, Lepus-Arneb, and Scorpius-Sargas
(my favorite team, I've got an old unfinished drawing of them here.)
Also, besides generating Dinomo from address book entries, occasionally a "wild" one will assault you (it runs up to you HOWLING) and you can have a one-on-one fight with it, if you beat it you can keep it. I think this is the only way to get certain rare ones.
Oh man I almost forgot weapons and stuff.. There is some ridiculous amount of weapons and armors, all of them coming in the same types as Dinomo do. You can outfit them with as much stuff as they can carry, although different "body types" have different things they can hold. The ghost-like ones (Ophiuchus, Gemini, and Perseus) are basically a head with arms, so they can carry one weapon and one shield. Sea creatures (Scorpius, Cancer, and Cetus) can carry two weapons and a head shield, if I remember correctly. Also, different body types have different effects on the battlefield.. sea creatures generate a fog in the squares around them so the enemy can't see their position, plant-like ones can lay two beartraps down instead of one, birds can swoop in to assist a partner, etc.
I'm not sure what the ultimate goal of the game is.. once while just playing through, I was invited to go to a Battle Convention. There were other people there and I fought my way through the ranks, expecting to win a rare Dinomo or something but.. nothing special seemed to happen. I only saw the place once so I dunno how often that happens or what triggers it. I still have a lot more to learn about the game.
When you first start the game, you're asked to fill out an address book type entry for yourself.. name, gender (note: whether you pick male or female, the protagonist is male), birthdate, address, bloodtype, phone numbers, etc. plus input the current date. What for? Well, mainly think Monster Rancher.. your Dinomo (the robots/monsters of this series) are spawned from these address book entries. Also, Dino Device's main menu, a device called the Planet OS, carries the following options:
DinoDevice (the main game)
Data Save (saves the game)
Communication (link battles or trading; DinoDevice works on VBAlink with this)
Minigame 1 - shooter (a lot like Xevious)
Minigame 2 - minesweeper (not the same as the computer version)
Minigame 3 - feed Dinomo (run around giving the right food to whiny Dinomo)
Music List (the game's soundtrack.. 20 tracks, kind of short but good)
Memo (write whatever here)
Finances (keep track of your savings and spendings)
Calculator (a calculator >__>)
Schedule (a calendar)
Timetable (another calendar, I forget which does what though)
Address Book (where all of your address entries are stored)
A fairly useful collection for one GBA cart, wouldn't you agree? Also I love the menu music.
Anyhow, once you start the game, you are given your first Dinomo.. depending on version, it is either Centaurus-Agena (red) or Centaurus-Toliman (blue). Now, Dinomo are arranged like.. there are 30 main types in all, all named after constellations. Each of these main types has five sub types- normal, fire, water, thunder, and earth. These subtypes are named after stars in that constellation. These subtypes all learn the same moves and can use the same equipment as each other, their typings just seem to determine strengths/weaknesses against weapon types. But yes.. with 30 Dinomo divided into 5 types each, that's 150 you can get in all.
After you get your Centaurus, you're asked to generate a new Dinomo based on whatever your address book entry was. You watch a scene of the protagonist sticking a card in a toy dispenser machine - you know the ones you put 50 cents in and a plastic ball comes out with a toy? - and.. Gachaste! A Dinomo comes out. What kind? Well, I can't tell you. It's different for everyone. When I first played I got Aquarius (a spikey turtle), probably because of my birthdate. The subtypes that come out when you generate Dinomo this way are random, so you can keep using the same address entry if you want all the types of a certain kind.
Then, things get a bit confusing. Basically you're hired by this girl to build houses for Dinomo, she shows you how to build a house, put a Dinomo in, take a Dinomo out, and demolish it, then you're left to your own devices for a while to go around building houses and stores and generating Dinomo until she yells at you to build a Stadium. This is the part where I initially got stuck.. because I didn't have enough money to build it and she stopped paying me while she was yelling.. Oops, new game -_-"
Once you build the stadium, you can participate in battles. Battles are sort of a cross between Battleship and turn-based fighting.. honestly they're hard to describe, so I've got a couple videos showing how they work kinda:
Centaurus-Agena, Leo-Algieba, and Libra-Elgenubi
Cancer-Praesepe, Lepus-Arneb, and Scorpius-Sargas
(my favorite team, I've got an old unfinished drawing of them here.)
Also, besides generating Dinomo from address book entries, occasionally a "wild" one will assault you (it runs up to you HOWLING) and you can have a one-on-one fight with it, if you beat it you can keep it. I think this is the only way to get certain rare ones.
Oh man I almost forgot weapons and stuff.. There is some ridiculous amount of weapons and armors, all of them coming in the same types as Dinomo do. You can outfit them with as much stuff as they can carry, although different "body types" have different things they can hold. The ghost-like ones (Ophiuchus, Gemini, and Perseus) are basically a head with arms, so they can carry one weapon and one shield. Sea creatures (Scorpius, Cancer, and Cetus) can carry two weapons and a head shield, if I remember correctly. Also, different body types have different effects on the battlefield.. sea creatures generate a fog in the squares around them so the enemy can't see their position, plant-like ones can lay two beartraps down instead of one, birds can swoop in to assist a partner, etc.
I'm not sure what the ultimate goal of the game is.. once while just playing through, I was invited to go to a Battle Convention. There were other people there and I fought my way through the ranks, expecting to win a rare Dinomo or something but.. nothing special seemed to happen. I only saw the place once so I dunno how often that happens or what triggers it. I still have a lot more to learn about the game.