Monster Rancher Advance Speedrun FAQ

Monster Rancher Advance Speedrun FAQ

FIRST THING!
If you have never seen Monster Rancher Advance or the Monster Rancher series, a FAQ document on the game should be your first stop. I recommend the following Monster Rancher Advance FAQ by Windian Angel:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/516681-monster-rancher-advance/faqs/15165

Read it? Understand it? Good! Now that you have some understanding of the game in question (which I hope would apply to any speedrun stream you take interest in), you probably have other questions about the particular way I do things in this run, such as:

--Why this series? Why not Pokemon?
I like both series. I actually spent a lot of my childhood on Pokemon Yellow and Gold. It just never came to me that easily how to beat Pokemon games quickly. The Monster Rancher games are more accessible to beat quickly, in my opinion, while still providing a similar challenge. I've played Advance 1 as well as 4 on the PS2, and I've enjoyed both.

--Why Advance? Why not start with 1?
Advance was my first exposure to the Monster Rancher franchise. It's the one I'm most fond of. I also didn't need a FAQ to figure out the fast track to success in this game. That's why this is the first in the series I will run. I will probably run more in the future. Stay tuned.

--Why Suezo?
Suezo Beam is one of the most unbalanced attacks in the game. At Far range, it enjoys a damage rating of S, something that, to my knowledge, no other attack in the game can claim--and with average accuracy and manageable Guts cost to boot. There are other attacks that can get S damage in Near and Mid range, but they are either less accurate (Joker's Dark Flame, Naga's Pierce), more expensive to use (MocchiBeam, Lesione's Tsunami), or come with a penalty if used or missed (Psiroller's Megaroller, Golem's Dive Press). Add the Suezo's native Act. View trait to increase its accuracy and you can see why you would want to build around Suezo Beam. Add in the above-average accuracy, low-cost, Near range Lick and the above-average accuracy, above-average damage, easily-boosted Mid range P.K. and the decision should start to make sense.

--Why four Suezo in one instead of just one Suezo?
Combining newborns of the same species in this case happens to result in a better starting monster. More importantly, I'm able to get several specific traits all at once to raise my odds against the final boss. Hi-Sense lets me raise Intelligence to near 999 in order to 2HKO the final boss. Hi-Tech allows me to raise Accuracy to levels that allow Suezo Beam to be successful enough to 2HKO the final boss. Hi-Tough allows for greater boosts to Defense and Life in order to have ANY hope of taking the final boss's weakest attack. Mind Know is a time-saver as it gives the most powerful early-game attack, Telepathy, more chances at KOs, as well as allowing P.K. to OHKO most of Rank S.

--Why those passwords?
IGN user Eggie posted a FAQ in 2004 that goes into great detail about how the monster generating algorithm works. Rather than have me try to explain it all, you should read his FAQ instead:

http://www.ign.com/faqs/2004/monster-rancher-advance-ultimate-passwords-faq-554155

--Why focus on INT training?
My goal is to increase my damage high enough to get KOs. Training other stats would detract from that goal.

--Why the Accuracy and Speed Special Training, then???
Don't ask me how it works the way it does, but going through those specific sessions at those specific times gets me the specific techniques I am looking for. That first INT session gets me Lick (and on very rare occasions gets me Suezo Beam), the next ACC session gets me Telepathy, the ACC session after that gets me Suezo Beam, and finally the SPD session gets me P.K. (And no, I couldn't tell you why it has to be Speed...)

--Why skip the first two Official D tournaments?
They can't get you through the game any faster. It's faster to wait until you can shorten the battles themselves via KO.

Also, the final boss can only be fought on week 1 in July, and only after completing all of the other required tournaments. Here's a quick timeline to summarize what would happen if you won every required tournament at the first opportunity:

Year 1, April - Game Begins, Monster Rank D
Year 1, June - First Official D tournament
Year 1, October - First Official C tournament
Year 2, February - First Official B tournament
Year 2, June - First Official A tournament
Year 2, October - First Official S tournament
Year 2, December - Winner's Cup
Year 3, March - Greatest 3
Year 3, May - Age Monsters Cup
Year 3, October - E-1 Grand Prix
Year 4, July - Emperor's Cup

With the route that I use, the game still ends at Year 4 of July. Why would I struggle through tournaments I can barely win at the start if they don't speed up the progression of the game at all? Why not wait until I get an attack and the stats to KO everything, instead? That's my mindset behind the route.

--Why all those minor tournaments?
Stats. I need raw stats for the endgame for the strats I currently use. If I ever get to the point where there are no resets whatsoever and the run becomes single-segment, then I would cut the minor tournaments in order of length in order to try and shorten the run.

--Just how hard is the final boss with this strategy?
The odds of defeating the Diva / White Dragon, Dynast, can vary greatly based on the random AI and the random Defense boosts you receive. You could face a less than 1% challenge; you could face a 40% coin flip.

Best case scenario I have found:
Survive a Dragon Breath and respond with a 60% Suezo Beam and 65% P.K., a 39% probability. More often than not, you will NOT be able to survive a Dragon Breath and will instead have to dodge a 65% Dragon Combo as well, a 25.35% chance. That's assuming you don't have to take another attack.

In my first timed completed run, I dodged a 79% Dragon Wing that would have KOed me, hit a 61% Suezo Beam, dodged a 63% Dragon Combo that would have KOed me, and hit a 65% P.K.. The probability of that happening (assuming consistent damage) was .21 x .61 x .37 x .65, approximately 3%.