so that leaves me about 40 more games to get to complete my ps2 rpg collection

How is that? I own the first one, and enjoy it to this day, though I'm not too familiar with the second game. I've heard it's lacking in a few areas, where the first game did better.

I think I had a demo of Jade Cocoon 1 when I bought my PS2. I remember you could combine monsters to create new ones. But I never played the full game, or the second one. Not sure if they're any good.

Having Monster Ranchers as a favorite old game, I was intrigued by this game and it's similar take... although I never got around to getting it or playing it, besides the demo that Athrun talks about

Well then, I may just have to make a thread sometime for it. =P I've got it for my emulator as well, so I can include all sorts of screenshots as well. Expect it......... eventually. ^^;

Like a review? That would be cool. Some times I've thought back on the game and wanted to try out the full game.

i picked it up because of the 6.99 price and its brand new condition, the instructions still have that "just printed" smell on them and all

Lol, you seem more interested in the instruction manuals and the game covers than the actual games.
So how is the game? How the instruction manual smells is probably more interesting to you than us.