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Fossil Fighters: Frontier |OT| Intelligently Designed Action

ryushe

Member
It has some similarities with 2 and 3 due to being in the same basic monster collection genre but that's it, really.

I wish, Digimon World was all about deep interaction with your monster which this game doesn't seem to have?

It does remind me of Digimon World 2 though with the usage of a customizable vehicle as a major element.
Hmm, thanks you two. It looks interesting and it's the right price point (also knowing that it was localized by 8-4 is a plus) but I think I'll wait for some impression. I really wish it had a demo.
 
A review Not sure if they got to the post-game ending, probably not, but they aren't allowed to talk about the post-game anyways I think? Not even sure if they beat the game but it's a pretty fair review regardless so it doesn't matter too much I guess.

NWR's preview

EDIT: Forgot to mention, since the review mentioned "grinding"... You can actually beat the game without grinding much no problem if you fully understand the battle system, but if you get a new vivosaur lategame you do need to do tourneys for like half an hour to an hour to get it up to speed. However, you can just do Auto battles while watching TV so it's not a dealbreaker.
 
More people have the game now so I actually got to do a couple Ranked Battles. Pretty solid and fun, but I won't be doing more until I put my planned team together. ;P
 

CrovaxPSO

Member
Picked up my copy earlier and I'm just now starting to play. I went ahead and redeemed all the AR bonus stuff, but I'm not sure if I'll use them. I don't know if they're overpowered or anything and don't really want to just breeze through the game.
 
Picked up my copy earlier and I'm just now starting to play. I went ahead and redeemed all the AR bonus stuff, but I'm not sure if I'll use them. I don't know if they're overpowered or anything and don't really want to just breeze through the game.
They start at Rank 12 so yeah.

Once your own vivosaurs get past that point then they aren't overpowered anymore and using them won't break the balance.
 

BooJoh

Member
Picked up my copy earlier and I'm just now starting to play. I went ahead and redeemed all the AR bonus stuff, but I'm not sure if I'll use them. I don't know if they're overpowered or anything and don't really want to just breeze through the game.

The AR vehicle seems to be between the Light 4WD you start with and the 4WD you can buy, so you might want to go ahead and use that for a bit to save some money.
 
Had to turn down the music from the intro, but other than that, liking it so far. This is my first Fossil Fighter's game so it's all new to me.

For digging, what't the point of the drill? The hammer seems to be the way to go for excavating. Is there some nuance later that you have to be careful or you break the fossil?

Sorry if this is answered later on in the game.
 

BooJoh

Member
Had to turn down the music from the intro, but other than that, liking it so far. This is my first Fossil Fighter's game so it's all new to me.

For digging, what't the point of the drill? The hammer seems to be the way to go for excavating. Is there some nuance later that you have to be careful or you break the fossil?

Sorry if this is answered later on in the game.

When you're digging a fossil out, purple spots are where you've damaged the fossil. Your goal is to get as much light blue on the bar as possible. So while the hammer will get you to the white line faster, you'll damage the fossil and reduce the quality.
 
When you're digging a fossil out, purple spots are where you've damaged the fossil. Your goal is to get as much light blue on the bar as possible. So while the hammer will get you to the white line faster, you'll damage the fossil and reduce the quality.

Ah, cheers, that explains why my fossil was all purple.
 
Ah, cheers, that explains why my fossil was all purple.
Yeah, it's good to keep that in mind. The better the quality of your fossil the less FP the corresponding skill costs. Speaking of that, your Paleo Pals all start with 50 point fossils, the worst possibly quality. You can fix this by first digging up spare fossils; if a spare fossil helps out a Paleo Pal then they'll get it automatically instead of selling it for cash. This is worth it if you're going to use a Paleo Pal often because it means they'll take up less FP with their skills, leaving more FP for the rest of the team (including you).
 
PIcked the game up on my way home from work today. Just started it up and about to train on the Bone Buggy. I've played a handful of hours on the original and Champions, looking forward to spending some time with Frontiers. :)
 

john tv

Member
Glad to see some of you giving this game a shot!

The game does a relatively poor job of explaining the intricacies of gameplay beyond the basics, so aside from putting PreyingShark on speed-dial (clearly your best option), I recommend taking 5-10 mins to read through all the entries at the in-game Help Desk. I learned a lot there myself.
 

prateeko

Member
Any idea how big a run this game is getting? I'm interested but don't really want to pick it up right now due to everything else I have.
 

jackal27

Banned
Any idea how big a run this game is getting? I'm interested but don't really want to pick it up right now due to everything else I have.

It's Nintendo so I'm tempted to say you should be fine, but that kind of depends on where you live as well. I frequently see copies of the first 2 games around in bargain bins and such.
 
Glad to see some of you giving this game a shot!

The game does a relatively poor job of explaining the intricacies of gameplay beyond the basics, so aside from putting PreyingShark on speed-dial (clearly your best option), I recommend taking 5-10 mins to read through all the entries at the in-game Help Desk. I learned a lot there myself.
Agreed.

I ignored that nice lady in the Japanese version until well after I had already beaten the game and the end result was that I had to spend a lot of time leveling up for a fight that isn't meant to be particularly difficult simply because I did not understand the whole Flying thing. I don't recommend doing that guys lol
Are all four parts for each species always in the same area, or might they be spread out into different areas?
Typically all four normal fossils are in the same area and all four rare fossils are in the same challenge route. There are exceptions, though, especially for rare fossils.
 

jackal27

Banned
Here's another review. The reviewer had someone "younger" review the game, assuming it's their child, but apparently their opinion doesn't apply to adults? I don't really understand this review.

I also don't really trust these early reviews because I know that review copies only went out about a day or two ago so I don't think that's enough time to accurately review a fairly large RPG.

http://www.gamesreviews.com/nintendo-3ds/nintendo-3ds-reviews/03/fossil-fighters-frontiers-review/
 
Here's another review. The reviewer had someone "younger" review the game, assuming it's their child, but apparently their opinion doesn't apply to adults? I don't really understand this review.
That guy basically said on Twitter last week that he thought the game was a bad Pokemon clone so he had his kid play it instead since the kid enjoyed it "for some reason".
 
It's Nintendo so I'm tempted to say you should be fine, but that kind of depends on where you live as well. I frequently see copies of the first 2 games around in bargain bins and such.

I thought the second one held its price fairly well?

Anyway, I've also been keeping my eye on it. I guess it's not too bad at Best Buy with GCU. May give it a shot once my gift card is processed.
 

CrovaxPSO

Member
Agreed.

I ignored that nice lady in the Japanese version until well after I had already beaten the game and the end result was that I had to spend a lot of time leveling up for a fight that isn't meant to be particularly difficult simply because I did not understand the whole Flying thing. I don't recommend doing that guys lol

Typically all four normal fossils are in the same area and all four rare fossils are in the same challenge route. There are exceptions, though, especially for rare fossils.

Ah, okay. I'm looking for the arms for Tarbo, not sure if he's considered rare or not. Went around the first area a few times and couldn't find it, so maybe they're in the next zone.
 
Ah, okay. I'm looking for the arms for Tarbo, not sure if he's considered rare or not. Went around the first area a few times and couldn't find it, so maybe they're in the next zone.
They're all in the same area. What's your scanner level?

One of Tarbo's rare (as in gold) fossils is in a later area though instead of on his challenge route like normal.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
I find the battle system to be more complex than it should be, and kind of a drag...it seems pointless to really spend time grinding via battles, and instead just use the strongest Vivosaurs you dig up, right?

On the other hand, I'm absolutely addicted to digging up fossils. :0
Also like learning about the dinosaurs in the Gallery.

But why do you need to exit the game to view the 'Dex?
And how come you can't check your Vivosaurs on the menu? Instead you need to go to the little Mechanic Station on the field.

Some confusing choices made with this game.
 

CrovaxPSO

Member
They're all in the same area. What's your scanner level?

One of Tarbo's rare (as in gold) fossils is in a later area though instead of on his challenge route like normal.

I just have the very first upgrade you can buy once you get access to the garage. Even though I just bought it half an hour ago I already forgot that the scanner level is a thing, haha. Maybe that's why I can't find it yet.
 
I find the battle system to be more complex than it should be, and kind of a drag...it seems pointless to really spend time grinding via battles, and instead just use the strongest Vivosaurs you dig up, right?
Once your vivosaurs and Paleo Pals' vivosaurs reach rank 10+ you can just grind on 2-star tournaments. Start a battle, put the game on Auto, go watch a couple minutes of a show or stream or something. Rinse and repeat. When your vivos get stronger you go to a harder tournament for more points per battle. And you just keep doing that while barely paying attention. You occasionally *will* have to do some hardcore leveling, mainly because the game has a lot of Paleo Pals and sometimes, especially post-game, you'll have to use ones you may have ignored and thus may be underleveled. EDIT: I rarely had to do leveling for more than half an hour though. Also, here's a hint if you want to avoid some grinding post-game, though it's a minor spoiler:
Raise a Tarbo.

That said, the battle system isn't *that* complex but it does take some getting used to. Also, if you haven't already, read the tuts at the help desk. It shouldn't take too long and it helps explain what the window that shows during attacks means. This is a very useful thing and is a must to understand how to utilize Support Shots effectively. It also explains other useful things, like how to deal with those fucking Pterosaurs.
I just have the very first upgrade you can buy once you get access to the garage. Even though I just bought it half an hour ago I already forgot that the scanner level is a thing, haha. Maybe that's why I can't find it yet.
Yeeeeeah that's why lol.

Also, when Sunday hits, do grab the radars that day's tourney gives out. They let you see the Fossil type, have colored element icons, and other cool shit. They also take up less weight than the equivalent normal radar.
 
Just recieved my Warden license. :) I'm kind of sad they ditched the blowing into the microphone mechanic from the other games, I always thought that was a cool little effect.
 
So let's rock until our skivvies fall off!

Agreed, although a gentleman should never been seen in public without his undergarments.
My mind is telling me not to laugh at this but my body is disagreeing with me >.>
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Just read they removed all the Vivosaurs based on ancient mammals and stuff...

Boo.
 
Just read they removed all the Vivosaurs based on ancient mammals and stuff...

Boo.
Yep. A month and a half ago or so I was asked to make a list of all the vivosaurs that were cut. Naturally I complied. Doing this made me sad because if my math's right it's over a hundred entries long... ;_;

Speaking of lists, locations and stuff will be up either later tonight or tomorrow afternoon-ish. It depends on how long I'm stuck on this one fight. I also have the max rank stats of most vivosaurs, but some aren't in the vanilla Japanese version so I couldn't get those. Naturally, the location whose name alone is a huge spoiler will be censored as "SPOILERSSS" for the foreseeable future and the vivosaurs that I consider story spoilers, however small, are gone for now (there aren't too many of those though and they are all AR Cards anyways).

EDIT: Just changed up my Support shots and nailed it. Locations tonight it seems!
 
Locations

For Challenge Routes, numbers in parentheses = corresponding radar level. It's like, if you want that specific body part then you go in with that specific radar level. Or something like that. That's how it worked for me at least. Rare fossils = gold fossils = new skill options.

And it's spoiler-free, well, at least as spoiler-free as possible. As for Max Rank Stats (Minus Zoryo), there are some vivos this version has that my JPN copy didn't so I couldn't get the stats and that's all you need to know. I have the rest, though, and I'll add in the English names tomorrow. As for the missing rare locations... They also weren't in my JPN copy so what can ya do, ya know?

So I can go to bed now right

EDIT: Added at the bottom that I used a couple of JPN wiki's to get things started and then verified and made correction by checking things out in my copy of the game. Just because I forgot to do that. *Now* for bed, and then tomorrow I can start playing much more leisurely. <3
 
God fucking dammit, so close to my first 4x 100...
vURl9u7.jpg

Why purple spot, whyyyyyyyy?
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Honestly though, I don't mind a smaller amount of Vivosaurs since it seems like completing all the fossils will take long enough as it is.

And since I haven't played any of the other ones, it doesn't sting as much. Guess they put a lot of time into updating the graphics and the truck so they didn't have time to do all the Vivosaurs. Oh well.
 

jackal27

Banned
How many dinosaurs would you guys say are in the game?

Also, could I live out my dream of creating a Dimetrodon that crushes all in his path?
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
How many dinosaurs would you guys say are in the game?

Also, could I live out my dream of creating a Dimetrodon that crushes all in his path?

I read there's only like 70, and I think a lot of them are just rare palette swaps?
 

woopWOOP

Member
Yep. A month and a half ago or so I was asked to make a list of all the vivosaurs that were cut. Naturally I complied. Doing this made me sad because if my math's right it's over a hundred entries long... ;_;
Jesus, what? Checking Google, some of those looked kinda neat too. So the first European release is gonna have a mangled dex...

Dangit Red Entertainment, you're supposed to ADD a crapton of worthless collectible monsters each entry, not remove them!
 

Penguin

Member
First first impressions... surprised this isn't some type of "cross-media" property. I mean it has dinosaurs. It has cool cars. And well "hip" young kids. Would have watched if I were a kid.

Second impressions. Really fun game for the most part. I find myself enjoying driving around and finding fossils more enjoyable than the actual combat. I wonder if it's because such low EXP... big numbers just seem cooler. And still in the first area so Vivos aren't too tough.

So random question... will this game have actual AR cards or is that just a holdover?
 
How many dinosaurs would you guys say are in the game?

Also, could I live out my dream of creating a Dimetrodon that crushes all in his path?
All non-spoiler vivosaurs

After you add in the spoilers the count clocks in at 80-something. And yes, Dimetrodon is a thing. :)
So random question... will this game have actual AR cards or is that just a holdover?
Doubt it since we don't have any sort of magazine to distribute them like Japan did. Even then I'd like to say that Japan didn't have actual cards either, just scans in a magazine. They also put them up on their official website later of course.
 

jackal27

Banned
Yep. A month and a half ago or so I was asked to make a list of all the vivosaurs that were cut. Naturally I complied. Doing this made me sad because if my math's right it's over a hundred entries long... ;_;

WHAT!? That's awful! If you're going to make a Pokemon clone you need at LEAST 150 or so! I really hope there is a sequel with all of these cut Vivosaurs and more. What would you say are the chances of that?

Also, could the reduced numbers mean that this is meant to be a bit more of a reboot? This game just seems a bit different from the other 2 which were pretty similar.
 
It's kind of like a reboot, but it makes a reference to a past game that indicates that it's in the same timeline so yeah, sequel.

And yeah, a Frontier 2 of sorts would be great. They have some great things going on here and it would give them an opportunity to add more vivosaurs. It also did surprisingly okay in Japan, considering that it launched at like 60K but then kept on selling for a while and ended at... I'd like to say a bit under 200K. So a sequel's actually possible, though not guaranteed of course.

On a completely different note, I checked the Fossilary earlier and it uses a 1 meter = 1 foot conversion ratio, compared to the JPN version at least. Uh okay lol.
 
Shit I just remembered something important.

I need a pic of the signs in the Asia Market, the ones you can poke your head through. There's a reason for that: Post-game, eventually somebody you need to talk to is hidden there. I got stuck for 10+ hours because I didn't notice that person and it seems other people are going through the same thing.

I can do it I guess but it would take me a while so I thought I would see if somebody else can help.
 
Got to the credits. That was some good shit. That said, the Max Rank in this game is 30. Final result of the vivosaur I used for the last few fights:

Ptera JP
Rank: 29
Pts to Next Rank: 1

Well played, game. Well played.

Also, the credits in the JPN version have a vocal song, but in the ENG version there are no vocals. I'd like to say it's just the karaoke of the JPN song but I'm not sure.
 

jackal27

Banned
Reviews are pretty good. Given how much I have to play and how little I have to spend I think I'm going to give this one a wait. I'll definitely pick it up this year sometime, but maybe when it goes on a small sale or something.
 

Fandangox

Member
Didn't know this was coming to N.A A friend told me about this series, although I have never played them, is there any multiplayer, what is the core of the game?
 
So other than the cars being so fucking stupid, I'm digging the rest of the changes. Battles are WAY more complicated and strategic now and I actually died a couple times before getting the hang of it which was never even a fever dream in the first two games.

That said, the localization team must've just been handed a single sheet of paper that said "Whatever" Not to say it's bad, because it is far from bad. It's just ridiculous.

All Nate's butt talk becomes hysterical once I named the plot dinosaur Dildophodon.
 
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