Monday, April 29, 2013
The Monster Hunter Testimonials, Day Three!
I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I decided to go one step further. Rather than Simply sharing my own feelings (which I will do a little later on) I got a host of Monster Hunter fans to help me illustrate what makes it such a singular experience.
*
To me, the real hook of Monster Hunter lies in its
presentation.
As someone who balks at the idea of having to play hours and
hours of a game before fully comprehending it, I was initially very turned off
by the very premise of the series. Never before has a game lacking any real
narrative caught my interest enough to want to invest that kind of time, so why
would Monster Hunter be any different?
In the end, curiosity and some kick-ass monster designs won
me over, and I ended up with a copy of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the
Nintendo 3DS.
Now, I can’t profess to having played enough to say I
honestly know exactly what I’m doing, but what I can say is this: I’m
completely obsessed.
Stepping into the world of Monster Hunter for the first
time, I was overwhelmed by the cohesive aesthetic of the game and minute
attention to detail put into everything from environmental designs to dialogue.
While many cautioned me of the notoriously slow first few hours of the game, I
found myself content just venturing out into the unknown, exploring terrain,
harvesting items, and witnessing the diverse wildlife that populated the early
game’s grassy fields.
Of course, the thrill of tracking down one of the game’s
many majestic beasts and engaging in the lethal dance that ensues is inarguably
the highlight of Monster Hunter. But were it not for the always-amusing
interactions with NPCs (they weren’t lying when they said the Guild Sweetheart
was a riot!), medieval wilderness aesthetic, and endlessly-charming touches
such as the ability to cuddle your farm’s pig, I can safely say I wouldn’t have
been nearly as eager to join the hunt.
Monster Hunter excels in creating a world that you just
can’t wait to get back to, and I, for one, know it’s a world I will happily
spend a hundred hours in.
-- by Anne Lee, @apricotsushi
*
One aspect about Monster Hunter that I love is its ability
to bring people together. In a time where couch co-op is rare, it is refreshing
to see a game that centers on cooperative gameplay.
Each hunter, depending on their playstyle, can do their
part.
The Great Sword user can deal the damage, the Bow Gunner can
apply crippling statuses, and the Long Sword user can cut the tail while the
Sword and Shield wielder can lay bombs and traps. I was the first of my friends
to play the game, but because of its cooperative nature, I have been able to
attract 6 others to the franchise.
While some critics decry the franchise for its lack of
guidance, I see it as a boon to the community. This game’s following is
fantastic: multiple podcasts, online wikis, google groups, and chats all work
together to better the players and welcome newcomers.
Hunting with friends and family exhilarates me more than any
other game I have played. It should not be missed.
-- by @RetroRedemption, http://retroredemption.tumblr.com/
*
Like a few, Monster Hunter Tri was my 1st foray into the MH
world - and by the time I stopped playing that version a month or so ago,
I'd racked up almost 1,000 hours of gameplay time! Also like most, I didn't
really know what I was doing at first. Similar to others - my friend @Leneux on twitter to name
just one - I came into MH with a background of having spent many, many
hours on PSO, which was of course multi-platform but GameCube, was my console
of choice back then.
So what makes the Monster Hunter so franchise special or unique? This is
a tough one to answer.
It's not the story. Although the single player does
have one, it was all done after about 60 hours for me in Tri, and that's not
what kept me playing. As series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto has said himself,
you create your own stories when you play online.
For 4 player online (or local) gaming, there is nothing else
quite like MH. The monsters reacting slightly differently each time means no
two fights are the same. It's about the camaraderie and the sometimes
unlikely victory, grasped from the jaws of defeat - or equally, defeat
when you thought you'd most certainly succeed!
It’s about the different play styles that your teammates will bring with their individual weapon classes. Learning how to become an effective team, no matter which three of them you're playing with at that time.
It’s about that moment of elation, when you finally capture
your first-ever Deviljho, or kill your first Alatreon with (literally) moments
to spare.
It’s about cutting off a monster's tail or breaking one of
its body parts and getting you that same moment of satisfaction every time, and
then finding that same item in the rewards because you broke it off the beast,
and then finishing that armour set or weapon that you've been wanting for so,
so long... And then you see the next weapon in the tree and somehow you want it
even more, even though it seems like it's going to take you forever to
farm all the materials for it.
It’s also about the fact that a small group of people who
you’ve only met online have become some of your best friends (@Discobeaver ,
@Kainelor , @Huntervp and Painjunkie666 to name just a few) even though we all
live in completely different parts of the country and rarely get all together
in person.
These are the kind of things that make MH different.
It may not be perfect - the 1st 4-5 hours of each game in
particular need some reworking if they ever want it to be as popular as likes
of WOW or COD - but it fills a hole in my gaming life that nothing else can or
ever will.
--by Jeremy Fowler, @j_monster
*
I think, in many ways, Monster Hunter fills the primal need
to hunt that has largely been suppressed in modern society. The game, to me, is
as much about hunting as it is about its titular monsters. Learning how to
track and find your prey, learning its behaviour and how it moves, and knowing
when it's wounded enough to capture, these are all valuable hunting skills.
But where the game really shines is in establishing the
mentor-student relationship. Having someone who knows what they're doing come
along and teach you the ropes, in the field: that's Monster Hunter.
Just as you (probably) wouldn't attempt to learn how to hunt
game for the first time without instruction, equipment, and a person to guide
you, the same holds true in Monster Hunter. The game itself provides only the
most oblique hints in snippets of dialog with villagers as to what to do. It
almost expects you to have outside help, perhaps betraying its roots as a
handheld game with local multiplayer only. When you sit together in the same
room, it's natural to help each other out and for experienced hunters to help
out newcomers.
That spirit of helping out those less experienced is
definitely passed on from one 'generation' to the next. Just as a number of
people helped me out when I got started, I feel compelled to help as many new
hunters as I can now that I'm the one with experience.
My motives are not just altruistic: to be honest, I want to
see Monster Hunter 4 come out in North America, so the more sales of 3 Ultimate
we can generate, the more chance we have, right?
In the end, it's that camaraderie and cooperative play that
really makes Monster Hunter so enjoyable and rewarding. There's no stronger
bond than shared experience, and Monster Hunter gives that to the player in
abundance
-- by Eugene Huo
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