User:System Error/CnC 1: Additional Info

This is a supplement to Compare & Contrast 1: The Final Fantasy Legend, containing information that didn't make it to the final article, but is interesting enough to warrant existence anyway.

Monster Information

In this section, I'll give a brief description of all the monster families in the game, and for the hell of it, give a rough estimate of their usefulness too. They'll be sorted based off their mini-sprite group.

Every monster's sprite.

Goblins: One of the best, which is surprising for a common-ish monster. Onis are obtainable early, and pack a nasty punch. All of this class are well balanced, with high STR, a variety of attacks, suffer no weaknesses, and they even get good HP towards the end (a weakness of the earlier ones). They sort of look like giants or ogres.
Werewolves: Most of these guys sport oWEAPON. Again, no real weaknesses. A slight lack of variety, but what they do is good.
Wolves: High STR and AGI. Lacking in variety, but again, no weaknesses. Actually comprised of wolves and tigers.

Skeletons: The first three are nothing to write about, but the last three have a lot of variety. This is also home to one of the classes that has a fiend from Final Fantasy 1 as the final monster - in this case, Lich. Look pretty funny with what looks like a Zorro outfit on.
Zombies: Very high HP and STR. It's a shame they're stuck with the weak NAIL for attacking (though they got high strength) and some status moves - even the final two (which is a rarity), though the last three do get a draining attack. All sport oPARA.
Ghosts: Never really used them much, but they have high AGI and MANA, as well as plenty of resistances. The big problem with them seems to be their lack of offensive moves - though they're nowhere near as helpless as a Zombie. The final one doesn't even have a normal attack.

Birds: Their AGI. is way too high. By the fourth in the class, it's already at the max of 99! (Though it's worth nothing that Humans can actually go above and beyond that limit). Nothing really to note about them otherwise. Not bad, not good. They all have oQUAKE, and many have WARNING and/or STEALTH (prevents ambushes and allows you to have them respectively)
Griffins: The biggest thing of note is the third in the family, the Chimera. This thing has the 3HEADS attack. It doesn't sound like much, especially when there's a 4HEADS attack, but this ability is used by Ashura, and is like four times stronger than it should be. Shame the others don't get this, and have to settle with their high AGI. and MANA (which they can use, thankfully).
Dragons: Uhh...this is an RPG, and they're Dragons. Do I really need to say more? Tons of variety, high stats (except HP, which is suprisingly low in the highest classes), and all around domination. The only catch? You can only become one when you eat the meat of a fiend! (And only two of them plus all of their "revived" forms drop them). Tiamat from FF1 is the final in this class.

Bulls: Powerhouses with high HP, high STR., and the moves to back them up. Great for the whole game, and the final two get some Mana-based group moves.
Lizards: The big problem with this class is that the third in their class is a level 3, and the fourth is level 10, making it a "transformative trap" for much of the game. It's a shame too, as they aren't half bad, what with their good HP, good physical attacks, and high defenses and all. Once you hit the final two, you may want to consider them, however.

Slimes: The best class. They're one trick ponies, but what they do is incredible - high MANA, high HP, and their trademark MELT ignores all defenses and absorbs the damage done to the victim. It even works on the Undead and bosses perfectly fine, something which other draining moves don't! The last two get some support options in GAS. All of them have oPAR/WP. They were actually nerfed in the WSC release - MELT no longer absorbs damage.
Eyes: Similar to the Slimes: one trick ponies with high MANA, and a (weak) defense-ignoring group attack in BEAM. They also have a variety of status moves, including several attacks all named "GAZE". oQUAKE, because they're floating eyeballs.

Flies: They have high AGL and high DEF, the latter of which is surprising considering they're goddamn flies. Low HP, but some of them have a draining attack, and the HORNET has the semi-unique HONEY (healing move like Softboiled in how it can be used out of battle, though not like Softboiled in how it doesn't hurt the user), which can heal in and out of battle. They suffer from similar transformative problems to Lizards, sadly, but the final two have okay variety. xICE and oQUAKE. They look pretty sweet too - pretty much something out of a horror movie.
Clippers: They're kind of like scissorbugs or antlions. High DEF and AGI., but the other stats suck. Generally have xICE. Okay attacks, I guess.
Crabs: Like the birds, their DEF is too high, and the second-to-last and last class both have 99 DEF. Good HP, and some okay variety towards the end. Most of them have oFIRE and xELEC, except for the ICE CRAB, which is immune to ice instead (and the last one has no weaknesses, of course)

Demons: I guess they're supposed to be magical attackers given their attacks, but their MANA (and all their other stats for that matter) isn't too hot. Many have oQUAKE and/or oFIRE. They basically look like weird gargoyles.
Condors: Uhh...never really paid any attention to them ever to be honest. Like ever. Their attacks show good variety, though, and they all have oQUAKE.

Worms: Very high HP, and they're goddamned worms. Not a lot of variety until the end, however. Most have xICE.
Snakes: Decent stats all around, but only get good at the final three, when they get variety.
Medusas: No real weaknesses or resistances (though the last gets oDAMAGE). They're really all over the place at first (I mean moreso than usual for the monsters in this game), before finally settling into the magic attacker category, which serves their high MANA well. The next FF1 fiend is the last in this class - well, it's been translated as LILITH, but it is indeed Marilith in the Japanese version.

Fish: Almost no variety to speak of (the first four have at most 1-2 moves total). At least they're good moves, and they improve greatly upon the final two classes, but still, oh man. What a waste of decent stats. They all resist fire, and the first four are weak to Electricity. The ELEC EEL, resists it though, and the LEVIATHN does neither.

Octopuses: Balanced stats, but really don't have much in the way of variety, until that good 'ol final two. The last FF1 fiend is the last in this class - Kraken. On a side-note, Warmech is in the game too - complete with the same sprite (albeit under the monkier of "MACHINE" in English), and is actually the only boss who isn't a fiend.
Plants: That's right, plants. They're mostly status causers, but they got high HP, and the final DARKROSE gets DRINK (which is like MELT). It's oft-named by some as an acceptable substitute for a HI-SLIME on the final boss. Similarly, it was nerfed in the WSC release and doesn't drain HP anymore.

Golems: One of the best. The final three resist everything but Quake. They've got a variety of moves - strong moves at that. This is all topped off with decent stats all around - especially STR. and MANA.

And there you go. If you're interested in the non-playable/humanoid monsters...

Guards: Imagine a robotic knight. It's got a hand-cannon and a sword arm. That's the Guard class. They usually come at you with martial arts (the monster versions, which differ from the ones you can buy and use) or hi-tech weapons like the rockets or L-Saber (yes, lightsaber).
Wizards: Have the weirdest looking mage's robe on ever - part pirate, part vampire, and part Shakespearian actor, circa 1741. They cast magic, except for the final one in the class, the VAMPIRE, who has a variety of monster/mutant abilities.
Muscular Thug-Type Guys: One of the weirdest. Some of them are martial arts experts, there's the PIRATE (who can steal GP and use a rapier), and then the last two, "KELLER" and GANG, wield all sorts of bizarre stuff for destroying you, most of which you can get as drops.
Ninjas: They use swords and certain Mutant abilities. Notable is the last of the class, MUSASI, who uses tons of powerful and even the otherwise unique swords that he may conveniently drop for your human's/mutant's personal use.

The Actual Monster Leveling System

In the main article, I described a faulty leveling system that works in 90% of cases or so. Here, for your entertainment, the actual one is described.

Every monster in the game has two invisible levels. The first of these is the monster level, also known as either the party level or the meat level. This represents the potency of a monster's meat, as well as the monster itself. This level is used when comparing your level to the monster meat: the higher of the two is chosen. The other is the target level. It is used when checking to see which class in the family you transform into upon eating meat. The difference between the two is subtle, but distinct. The two levels don't necessarily have to match. The reason why the "one level above" rule seems to exist in the faulty system is because so many monsters have a target level one below their party level.

If you were a REALLY attentive reader, you would've thought about what would've happened if you transformed into a monster family at an insufficient level to reach its base class. Well, all those are of target level 0, hence, allowing you to become them. If you don't understand this, here's a quick example to show what I mean.

Goblin (ML-0) + Zombie (ML-0) = O-Bake (TL-0, but ML-1)
O-Bake (ML-1) + Albatross (ML-0) = Oni (TL-1, also ML-1)
Oni (ML-1) + Zombie (ML-0) = Phantom (TL-1, but ML-2)

If there was simply one level, Oni + Zombie would've seen O-Bake at level 1 and became it, but since its target level is 0, it sees the Phantom instead.

Here's another example: I stated that the final two classes of each family of monster are all equal. However, this is not exactly true. While the final levels all have monster and target levels of E (hexadecimal for 14), a similar system is not in place for the penultimate level. Roughly half have a monster level of C, and target level of B. The others have a monster level of D, but a target level of C. Either way, no matter what you eat, you will still never go down a level.

Misc. Transformation Info

Remember when I said that sometimes, when you eat meat, you'll find that nothing happens? Well, here's a more detailed explanation - every minisprite group has exactly four "incompatibilities", consisting of all that are in it, and some additional to fill the empty spots (there are never more than three in a group). Following our Skeleton example, it not only shares its mini-sprite with the Zombie family, but also shares it with the Ghost family. That's a total of three. Thus, they are also unable to eat Golem meat. Of course, those don't necessarily have to go both ways. For instance, a Goblin (or any in its group) won't transform if it eats the meat of a Slime, but a Slime will transform if it eats the meat of a Goblin. The meat of each monster family has 1-2 incompatibilities.

Interestingly, it is, in fact, possible to transform into the same family of monster that you are currently in. For example, if a monster of the Snake Family eats meat of the Clipper Family, it will transform into the Snake Family. It's even possible to transform into the same monster you currently are, with all the benefits (HP and ability restoration). A few examples...

Anaconda (ML-6) + Atom Ant (ML-8) = Hydra (TL-8, but ML-9)
Triceras (ML-7) + Gunfish (ML-8) = Behemoth (TL-8, but ML-9)
Watcher (ML-B) + Stoneman (ML-8) = Watcher (TL-A, but ML-B)

The transformation tables are laid out in another interesting way - there are "tiers" of sort, meaning that you can only become a family of a certain "tier" by eating the meat of a monster of that tier or higher. This seems to have no bearing on the general strength of the monster families.

Tier 1: Lizards, Goblins, Skeletons, Birds
Tier 2: Flies, Clippers, Rhinos, Slimes, Zombies, Ghosts, Werewolves
Tier 3: Fish, Wolves, Snakes, Worms
Tier 4: Condors, Demons
Tier 5: Octopuses, Crabs, Eyes
Tier 6: Griffins, Plants
Tier 7: Medusas, Golems
Tier 8: Dragons, Fiends

Note, again, that the only way to become a Dragon is to eat the meat of a fiend.

The Game's Plot

Well, it's still too big even for this. There was a topic on GameFAQs a couple years back discussing it, however. Check it out if you're interested.[1] I will make a note of one of the more interesting points, however. In one of the floors in the tower, you find a library, each bookshelf with a word on it. It spells out: "Ashura is controlled by", with the last word being unreadable.

In the Japanese version, however, each of these bookshelves has a name, floor number, and date on it. The last one has your main character's name on it, sans the floor and date. It makes all the more sense with the twist at the end.

Some of the side-worlds are neat, so I'll bring a couple of them up. The first you get to is this hellish world where demons rule over others. There's several places where you can see people who believe that world to be paradise. Two of them are a pair - an Octopus world, and a human's world. The humans have clogged their lake with garbage, leading to flooding, also affecting the Octopuses' world by causing it to dry up. You can unclog it if you wish, fixing both worlds.

One of the creepiest is this bunker near the end of the tower. You walk in and see a number of dead children. You can go down and read the last diary entry of their father, explaining how they had run out of food and water, and where he begs for The Creator to look after the children. Then you get a NUKEBOMB for a reason that was probably lost in translation somewhere. It's a one-shot weapon that does 600 damage to all enemies. All these places really add to the atmosphere of Tower, instead of making it just the way you get between the main worlds.