Ssssssh! Be vewy vewy quiet - I'm hunting... monsters?
By WerePaladin 1 Comments
Well, it's time for another blog post, I reckon. This time it's about another Game I've been playing in the last day or so - Monster Hunter Tri.
I must admit, I haven't gotten very far in the game at all. I've only really played for a couple of hours, but I thought I would give my initial impressions before I get too far through it all. I should also note that this is my first experience with any of the Monster Hunter series, so I didn't go into this expecting it to be "just like the old version", or anything like that.
Given that I'm only just finishing up the "tutorial" section of the Game, my exposure to the monsters available has been fairly limited. The ones I have seen have had a good variety of behaviours and environments they show up in. There have also been LOTS of items to collect / harvest / mine and generally acquire. Now some people find that sort of thing a bit tedious, but I don't. Truth be told, I am borderline OCD and so if you give me a whole bunch of different things I can collect or find, then I'm as happy as a pig in mud (although I don't know about dressing it up in a stripey suit or NEthing).
I've liked the options of renaming several of the characters on you encounter them, and that the villagers give you requests to complete as side quests to the main missions. Exploring the world of Moga Forest has been gradual, and having the map revealed a piece at a time has given me the option of becoming more familiar with the sorts of objects / monsters in each area.
I've only really tried a couple of weapon combinations so far, the Sword and Shield and the Great Sword. It has been great to have weapons that require a lil' bit of thought in their use, rather than just simply varying the damage done but having the same animation or speed. I'm looking forward to trying out some of the different weapon types, and can already see where some of these weapons would prove useful with different monsters. Being able to craft your own weapons and armour is also a kewl thing, particularly given that it requires you to collect stuff before you can forge things. I'm looking forward to creating some custom suits of armour and seeing what benefits I can gain from each.
I haven't tried out the online component of the game so far. Actually I sorta have, just not with other people. I tried loading up the "City" section of the game, and it looks like the system of finding team mates online is FAR easier than the Wii's usual method of exchanging Friend Codes, but only when you're both online at exactly the same moment, during a blue moon, while hopping up and down on one foot. It actually looks fairly similar to what you might find on the 360 or PS3, which is a massive improvement in my books. I've got a couple of friends who have Wii's, and I've already made noises at them about catching up online to hunt some monsters together.
So my initial impression is definitely a positive one. Sure, it's a VERY early impression so far, and I'm sure some of the monsters I will face in the future will drive me to distraction, but it's a thumbs up from me on this one. If you're reading this and aren't sure about whether you wanna check it out, then hopefully my initial impressions will help in your decision.
Keep up the good work out there, Giant Bombers. Don't forget to:
GAME ON! :)