Series Improvments: Spectrobes

In terms of variations upon the foundations of role-playing games, the monster-catching sub-genre is arguably one of the more appealing and accessible of the bunch. Claiming ownership of a party member is an enticing prospect, but the ability to customize both the individual and whole party, as well as the completionist mindset, allow for multiple layers of enjoyment. This sub-genre is one that has been around for a while, some games utilizing the concept as more of a combat motif, while the more recognizable titles use the idea to inform their aesthetic, narrative structure, and longevity. While we can all agree that the wildly popular and long-standing Shin Megami Tensei series acts as both the face of the sub-genre and a shining example of player accessibility and universal appeal, many other titles have risen to challenge and attempt to profit off of the monster-catching framework. Some, like Digimon, offer unique combination methods and multiple character routes, while others, like Dragon Quest Monsters, capitalize on the charming art style of a more recognizable franchise. We cannot forget about the more niche, forgettable series like Pokemon, either.

What many of these games have in common is simplicity- their ease of access kept low in order to encourage younger players to become consumed by collectible frenzy. This can be found in the presentation of their mechanics as well as their narrative structure, stripping away complex storylines for clear and concise objectives. Likewise, a number of these games stick to turn-based battle systems in order to allow for methodical planning and low-pressure combat. However, there is a particular, short-lived series that managed to do the unthinkable in its attempts to add yet another fold into the sub-genre, focusing on action-oriented combat and a much more convoluted catch system. The result was a series constantly at odds with itself, and over the course of three installments, many features would be tweaked, iterated upon, or removed entirely in order to try to increase accessibility and appeal. I am speaking of Spectrobes, the Nintendo-exclusive, Disney and Jupiter collaboration that appeared in two entries upon the Nintendo DS, with a final installment releasing on the Wii.

Spectrobes is not a successful series, likely because of its inconsistent quality. But it serves as a fascinating example of iterative change over a three-title period, as the games seemingly only share aesthetic and narrative cohesion, and even those connections are somewhat unstable. Over the course of this three-part series, I hope to highlight the aspects of Spectrobes that were genuinely appealing and enjoyable, but more importantly, focus on the drastic changes that occurred over a relatively short period of time- whether they were improvements, necessities, or otherwise.

Let's start at the very beginning.

Spectrobes (Release Date: March 2007)

A Rocky Start

A brief summary: Spectrobes is a science-fiction, monster-catching action Role-playing game with elements of active selection. When the Krawl, a dark-based, spore-like race of aliens invades the Nanairo system, its inhabitants must utilize the power of light-based creatures called Spectrobes to defend their home. Rallen and his partner Jeena, two Nanairo Planetary Patrol officers, discover a guy who looks suspiciously like Rallen in ancient stasis, he gifts them with the technology used to awaken the fossilized remains of Spectrobes, as well as the ability to seek the fossils and minerals that boost their strength.

There are space pyramids.

1) Central Mechanics

For an experimental title, Spectrobes has a staggering four different gameplay components, covering all its monster-catching roots: Exploration, Excavation, Incubation, and Combat. The most important distinction to make when comparing this title to other monster-catching role-playing games is that its combat and capturing mechanics are separated. Rallen only fights Krawl in the combat component of Spectrobes, so finding these creatures necessities the excavation system, which differentiates the series from its competition somewhat.

Exploration is rather base, taking place from a sort of isometric perspective that is very, very zoomed out. Rallen can explore areas and use his child-level Spectrobes to sniff out excavation points. Enemy encounters appear in the form of shadow vortexes, some following a specific path as an environmental hazard, while others home-in on Rallen when gets too close. The environments in Spectrobes are fairly standard- you have your city, jungle, desert, ice, and lava worlds. While each environment has a select number of Spectrobes, they vary a great deal in elemental affinity, so you won't always find a creature that corresponds to its surrounding biome. These environments are also very linear in structure and design, often featuring a single critical path with few shoulders or branches. The most obvious detail regarding the linear nature of these environments comes from the acquisition of the jetpack early in the game, which functions as a warp that returns Rallen to the ship.

While in the field, Rallen can call upon his support Spectrobe to scan the surrounding area for excavation spots. These spots can contain either minerals, an important resource for powering up and incubating Spectrobes, or the fossilized remains of Spectrobes themselves. Both kinds of excavation challenges function similarly, however, with the primary goal of excavating as much of the reward as possible in the shortest possible time. The excavation tools available are diverse and very enjoyable to use, which gives the impression that the most work- and most favored element of the game- was excavating fossils. Because all excavation occurs on the touchscreen, there is a tactile element to the process that makes digging through dirt an engaging and at times intense affair. Small touches like the length of time the player uses a drill increasing its intensity, or the delightfully satisfying method of blowing away debris by literally using the DS microphone go a long way to make this aspect of the game feel authentic.

There is also a decent difficulty curve, as players must discover which tools will help expedite their excavation most efficiently and become familiar with the relative shapes of each kind of fossil and mineral, as they will appear embedded at different angles. Familiarity also helps with avoiding using the scan screen, which when used repeatedly or for extended periods of time can detract from your overall excavation score. The efficiency of the excavation time and the relative damage done to the fossil or mineral determine the excavation score, which is then converted into experience and money. While the player is required to obtain an excavation of at least 95% going the distance and attempting 100% excavation often grants greater rewards. Leveling up one's excavation rank improves their ability to quickly excavate and access new tools.

When a player has found Spectrobe fossils, they may awaken and then incubate them back at their ship, which functions as a base of operations throughout the game. Awakening once more uses the DS microphone in a sillier fashion, but it gets the job done. Placing Spectrobes into incubation rooms allows the player to interact with them by feeding them minerals and petting, which help contribute to their overall level and state distribution. Spectrobes of any age- child, adult, and evolved- can hang out in incubators, but adult and evolved Spectrobes benefit from direct combat best for leveling up. Even so, improving stats helps maximize the particular potential of certain Spectrobes. In terms of the complexity and frequency of use, the incubation mechanics are simplistic, but contribute a great deal to the growth and progression cycle that forms the basis of gameplay. The most critical flaw of this system, however, was the inability to track growth progression. Often, the player could only incubate their Spectrobe and keep feeding them minerals until the Spectrobe showed literal signs of evolution. The process of training these beasts of light more than often amounted to shots in the dark.

2) Critical Flaws

You may note that combat was not covered in the previous section, and not without good reason. Or perhaps bad reason. Combat is the weakest element of Spectrobes, which is truly a shame, because on paper, the concept is fascinating. That Rallen fights alongside his Spectrobes with a variety of weapons, as well as the unique and more savage designs of the Spectrobes themselves, gives the impression that combat will be fast-paced and savage, but this is far from the case. Upon entering a battle, the flaws are glaring- Rallen and his two equipped Spectrobes move around in a horizontal, linear formation at all times, and the characters seem to slide across the floor awkwardly. While Rallen can command his Spectrobes to wait, they must still be manually aimed at enemies in order to execute their attacks. While every Spectrobe has their own unique properties and attack types, the only type of attack that truly benefits from this combat system are area of effect in nature. By holding the charge button, the player can add energy to the CH gauge, which can be spent on Spectrobes' special attacks, which are still difficult to use, or saved for a combination attack, which triggers an animation and deals damage to all enemies.

Rallen's attacks are useful for little more than support, and because many of the enemies are slow enough to literally run circles around, the gameplay simply devolves into a game of cat and combination attack, where the player strafes around enemies until their CH gauge is full and deals massive damage to them. While the player is certainly welcome and able to attempt to master the convoluted aiming and execution mechanics, the sad truth is that Spectrobes' battle system is woefully unbalanced and broken based on its fundamentals. This is unfortunate, as it makes the very inventive and diverse monster design (as well as the lackluster enemy design) a moot point.

Not entirely, though. You could stick around with the same two adult Spectrobes from the start of the game, but even then, you'd have to nickel and dime your way to victory at a much slower pace. Even with its broken combat mechanics, Spectrobes still has an elemental triangle to work with, so raising the Spectrobes that will deal the most damage to the current Krawl species is important. Likewise, making sure Rallen is able to survive a stray hit or two is also important, as he is far weaker than his battle partners in just about every respect. Although the combat isn't mindless, it is very close to it, which is especially unfortunate for a first attempt at a popular genre.

3) Narrative Cohesion

Spectrobes narrative is largely a result of its aesthetic and genre inspirations, with characters that do little more than embody their character archetypes. That being said, the lore and concept behind the title is much more engaging than the actual moment-to-moment narrative beats.

Much like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, most of the game is spent trying to reclaim the means to defeat the main antagonist in a similar fashion to the methods used long ago in the past. Unlike Breath of the Wild, this game takes place in space. Well, more than just that. Spectrobes relies on an ancient character granting Rallen ancient technology to call upon ancient creatures in order to find an ancient ship that can fly through a cloud of darkness to defeat the present antagonist. These revelations occur one after another in a very straightforward fashion, with the only real twist being the attack on the Planetary Patrol headquarters midway through the game.

Another similarity to Breath of the Wild is the nature of the antagonist- the Krawl are a fungus-like invasive horde that threatens to swallow the entire Nanairo system in darkness. However, the exhibit no personality and have no other motive than pure instinct- even the final boss is nothing more than a massive spawning point for the rest of the species. While some of the Krawl have interesting designs that contrast a great deal with the Spectrobes, they fail to leave any sort of impression. What remains so surprising about this storytelling device is that the next two games in the series would veer so drastically from it, which may make a player wonder why the Krawl were originally interpreted as such in the first place.

Really, though, what sells Spectrobes and its stylized-yet-bland narrative is the aesthetic cohesion that exists in every aspect of the game. Each planet has a distinct look and the characters the player encounters upon each vary enough in disposition and profession to make each encounter feel different from one another. The ancient elements of the game, such as the giant flying pyramid ship and the Spectrobes themselves, have a unique aesthetic that contrasts the cleaner look of Nanairo's modern technology. The Krawl are alien in comparison with both Spectrobes and humans, possessing their own insect and fungal designs. The somewhat disappointing aspect of Spectrobes is how it embraces its ancient lineage/space age concept but fails to bring in any other kinds of alien NPCs, hurting the diversity of the Nanairo people. This was perhaps done in order to emphasize the alien nature of both the Spectrobes and Krawl, however.

Let's be real, here, you likely aren't playing any monster-catching Role-playing game for the story- with the exception of Shin Megami Tensei, maybe. The unoffensive nature and bare-minimum character development found in Rallen and Jeena isn't great, but in a much more linear and narrative-centered Role-playing game like Spectrobes, the writing leaves a bit to be desired. With the mystery and high stakes elements found in the narrative, one would hope that the characters would match in intensity, but the sterile delivery is par the course for a title attempting to match the popularity of giant monster-catching franchises.

4) Ultimate Spectrobes

Why do Ultimate Spectrobes get their own section of this analysis? Well, they exist for little reason other than post-game material that further breaks the game. The Ultimate Spectrobes are this title's version of summons, occupying a similar niche as combination attacks. They can only be used once per battle, however, and require a significant amount of charging. They are obtained by completing long gauntlets of battles, which are not very difficult due to the fundamental mechanical flaws. There are six to obtain during the post-game, but one is required in order to complete the main narrative. The required kill-all mechanic is somewhat superfluous when combination attacks already exist, but the Ultimate Spectrobes are at least unable to one-shot the final bosses.

Outside of this Ultimate Spectrobe hunt, there is littler else to do in the way of side-content. Raising and completing the small catalog of existing Spectrobes (a number that pales in comparison with most other monster-catching titles) is still a lengthy process due the nature of incubation and battle grinding. Each Spectrobe also has three different color schemes that can only be accessed via consumption of a specific (and rare) mineral, further enhancing the catalog completion. Another aspect of Spectrobes that is surprising is the inclusion of player versus player battles, which are just about as broken as the standard affair, as players have access to Ultimate Spectrobes and combination attacks. Sadly, there just isn't all that much to Spectrobes outside of its main narrative.

5) Final Impressions

Coming away from Spectrobes, there is little reason to believe the game should ever receive a sequel. Its novel excavation mechanics and unique aesthetics are countered by the bland narrative and terrible battle system. One thing that Spectrobes does offer, however, is the obsessive compulsion to find and evolve all of its monsters. This is at least one aspect of the genre that it executes, simply because its character design is so bizarre and different from any other series.

Upon release, each copy of Spectrobes was packages with a random set of printed cards, each having a set of stylus holes punched into them. Using an in-game machine, players could lay these cards over their touchscreen and input the stylus points in order to unlock secret Spectrobes, custom equipment for specific Spectrobes, or minerals to use during incubation. It was a novel idea, but Disney failed to capitalize on selling these cards separate from the game- or perhaps, didn't feel they had enough product to warrant such a possibility. This could have possibly enhanced the collectible frenzy of the game, but no one will know for sure.

Spectrobes is a concept that had great potential, but the title failed to deliver in any substantial way. If a sequel were to happen, it would require a massive overhaul of combat, a narrative with more personality, and added complexity atop an already solid excavation system. With as disappointing an opening as this first title, however, it seemed like this was unlikely to happen.

But, it did anyway.