Monster (Legend series)

Monster is one of the main character types or classes in the Final Fantasy Legend series.
Monsters change their forms by eating the meat of other monsters. Depending on the type, this can turn them into a weaker or stronger monster.
==Appearances==
===The Final Fantasy Legend===
Monsters are one of the three playable races. Four monster types are available at every Guild in the game, progressing in power based on the current world. The player may also select a Monster as their starting character, and may do so from a list of monsters slightly more powerful than the four available in the first world.
Monsters take their powers and abilities from the real monsters fought during the game: the player can control the vast majority of foes that appear during the game through careful use of the Meat system. Monster have the advantage of potentially high statistics with limited effort; often powerful abilities that recharge at Inns, circumventing the Durability system; and the chance of having a number of resistances. Their downsides include a locked down inventory (they cannot carry or use items or equipment), weakness in the early game (when the monsters they are based on are also weaker) and limited impact in the end game, when few Monsters can compare to a well trained Mutant or well buffed Human.
Monsters progress in strength by eating the Meat of other Monsters, which drop randomly after battles. The game does this by comparing the player controlled Monster (based on their world map sprite: for example, the various types of Undead all use the same world map sprite) to the meat (based on the Monster's exact type), and consults an internal chart to determine the resulting Monster type.
The game then attempts to determine which Monster the player character will become within that type: for example, the Oni class contains Goblins at the bottom, Oni above them, Giants above them, and so on. Specifically, each type has six tiers, differentiated by a hidden Monster level variable running from 1-14, each class topped by a Level 13 and a Level 14 monster. When the player eats meat, the game will find the relevant type and attempt to find a monster that matches whichever monster level was higher: the player's or the meat's.
If it cannot find a match, it will check one level higher than that before changing direction and plunging down the list through weaker monsters until it finds the highest match. Due to this system and the careful spread of Level 13 and 14 Monsters, a player Monster that reaches Level 13 or 14 is secure and will never drop to a lower level. Level 13 meat is the highest available before the battle with Ashura, after which four pieces will drop, guaranteed, during the re-battles against the Four Fiends.
Due to poor planning and poor programming, some Monsters, such as the second tier Dragon recolor, are completely unavailable in the original game, though most of these errors were corrected for the Wonderswan remake.
===Final Fantasy Legend II===
The starting monsters are a Baby-D, Slime, and Imp. Monsters don't become powerful by themselves. They can transform themselves into another monster by eating enemy monster's meat, which may occasionally be available after the battle.
Whether or not they become stronger depends on the meat they eat. They need to eat the meat of a strong monster to become stronger. They should not miss the meat of boss monsters when it's available. They may become weaker, however, by eating the meat of a weak monster. Once the monster has become strong, they should not eat the monster's meat unless the player is absolutely sure that it's the meat from a very strong monster.
===Final Fantasy Legend III===
Monsters are one of the six classes. By eating meat left behind from defeated monsters, a character can transform into a monster or a stronger monster. Monsters are able to equip magic, but receive no defensive benefit from equipping armor. Beasts are similar, but specialize in martial art skills instead.
They're one of two "monster" race that appears within town as non-player characters across Pureland, the other race is Beasts.
==Gallery==
FFLII Imp US Artwork.png|Imp's US artwork.
FFLII Slime US Artwork.png|Slime's US artwork.
==Etymology==
Category:Races in the Legend series