Part 3: Bonus Update: Destiny of a Monster

Bonus Update: Destiny of a Monster

The first little bit of playing has seen a lot of changes in Cupi, so I'd like to take the opportunity by my essentially having the day off to talk about what I've been doing with it.

I mentioned in one of the first two updates that there's a great deal of cheese factor in the monster class if you know where to look, propelled by the fact that when there isn't a monster of the right level to upgrade to, the game looks UP first rather than down. What this means is that you don't actually have to continually find stronger monsters to upgrade your own, you just have to keep eating meat that will result in a transformation to a level that's missing an entry but has one just above it. There are a total of 14 levels of monster, so...observe:



These are two good monsters to start the process out with. On the left we have the humble Were-Rat, which can be picked if your starter is a monster. This is the option I went with. If you picked a human or mutant, or picked a different monster to start with, you pretty much want them to become a Goblin like the picture on the left.



The first meat we're looking for is Zombie meat, which can be a bit difficult to find. Zombies are relatively uncommon on the world map, and if you don't get meat from a kill it can take a while to find another one. They are, however, relatively common in the Bandit's Cave. Going from a Were-Rat to an O-bake is a bit of a downgrade, while going from a Goblin to an O-bake is more of a lateral transfer.



Finding and eating an Albatross, which are all over the world map and easy to find in the Bandit's treasure room, gives us a substantial upgrade to an Oni. Essentially the monster just went from level 1 to level 3 with this move.



Another bite of Zombie gets us a Phantom, which is a pretty good monster aside from that glaring weakness to fire. oChange is a catch-all status resistance that includes most status changing spells. This is the monster that I used to kill the Bandit/P-Frog.



This is another easy transformation, since Goblins are all over the place. The Gecko is nothing special, but is still another step up.



It's kind of like a Zombie buffet in here...next transformation is to a Red Bone, which you can probably see is similar in power to the Gecko.



Redbulls present a bit of a problem, as they're quite uncommon on the world map. Your best bet is probably going to be the first floor of King Sword's Castle. The Honey ability is actually a fairly useful one, as it can be used for free healing.



It's also possible to stay in the same area and find some Lizard meat. The Catwoman isn't terribly impressive, but the resistance to weapons would make her very useful against human opponents.



Staying in the King Sword's castle is pretty handy, since that's also a great place to run into skeletons. The Eagle might not have as much HP as the Catwoman did, but the resistances and passives on it are dynamite. Warning makes it more difficult for you to be surprised, while Stealth makes getting a free initiative more common.



The above mentioned castle is also about the only place in the first world to find Were-Rat meat, which can be obtained by fighting the guards. The Mosquito is distinctly underwhelming, but it won't be with us for long.



Another bucket of Kentucky Fried Albatross results in the Beetle, which is pretty close in HP at least to what your humans can reach on this level of the tower. Really noteworthy is the fact that it has the SAW attack. Unfortunately, right now this isn't much use to us.



Zombie BRAAAAINS...er..excuse me. The Ogre is the next link in the chain, and is a pretty solid all-around attacker. At this point, he's pretty much outclassed my humans until a good bit into the next world.



Doing this is probably endangering the local zombie population. The buruburu is a Japanese ghost that takes the form of an old person with one eye that lurks in graveyards and forests. It can attach itself to people and give them a chill up their spine, and in extreme cases make them die of fright.



Another heaping serving of Were-Rat and we're really talking. The Behemoth is a beast, and would probably be able to help me cruise through the next world at the very least. But we can do better.



While we're in King Sword's castle we might as well pick some more Skeleton meat and transform into a Giant. That strength stat is insane, and it's got no noticeable weaknesses.



Iguana Bob's Lizard Parts transforms Cupi into a Warrior, a very special monster if you're intending to try to use monsters to beat the game. While the Warrior has less raw power than the Giant, the Saw and other attacks goes a long way toward evening things up.



Finally, a chunk of goblin brings us to Salamander. This is the last upgrade we're going to have before I ask for some input from you guys. Right now, Cupi is at the second highest level a monster can be at. The good news about this is that at this level there's a monster in every category available, so it is impossible to transform into a weaker monster from this point onward. There is, however, a higher tier of power if we can get ahold of some meat from one of the Fiends that controls each floor. We have something like 17 options to turn Cupi into, so I'm interested in knowing what you all want to do with it.

As a note, the bit about it being impossible to get weaker is true at the highest level as well. If the monster you all choose ends up sucking, changing it isn't a problem. That said, here are our options:

Susano-o, Lich, Phoenix, Ganesha, Hi-Slime, Revnant, Basilisk, Anubis, Fenswolf, Scarab, Mantis, Ghost, Athtalot, Gigaworm, Jorgandr, Nike, Leviathan, Beholder, Kraken, Dagon, DarkRose, Ki-Rin, Mazin, Lilith, and Tiamat.

I'm not going to go through and do stats on all of these, since I think it's probably more interesting to choose based on concept or name recognition than anything else.