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[MrAngryFace]

I was at a friends house and watched him play it for a while.

TALKING POINTS MEMO! BUY A BOOK FOR FATHERS DAY:

The cooking process is fucking genius, including the dumbass music included. Wonderful.

Intro movie is fucking stupid till the amazing dragon comes up and tears shit up.

Digging in poop is something you can do. Awesome

Item finding/combining is awesome, and worth it.

The environments are really nice and create a real atmosphere.

Base camp idea is neat, not able to see multi play in action, but the idea of different people in different areas working on multiple aspects of a quest and coordinating at base camp = neat. If it works that way I approve.

combat is a little weak to be honest, but eh, its basically harvest moon with swords and shit.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

MAF and the Monster Hunter Impressions of azkaban.

why didn't you play it sucka?

 

[Lyte Edge]

"Harvest Moon with swords and shit?" I don't like the sound of that. :\ I thought this was basically a PSO clone? Oh, what character types are there? The usual? (Average anime guy with spiky hair, bib b00bed chick, etc.)

And is there an offline mode?

 

[MrAngryFace]

You can create a character n shit, and you start in this stupid village. and this stupid chief orders you around on quests. Like gather raw meat, cook meat, and you gather resources to make things.

Also, the fishing is retarded. I wish they stole dark cloud 2's fishing.

HOWEVER, my friend found this big ass boar in the forest and the fight with it was cool tho, man.

I mean I think in the long run it will be sorta like PSO, but the hunting and gathering elements makes it seem like a communist system.

I woulda played it but he was into it and I didnt feel like murdering anyone.

 

[kaching]

Yes, there's an offline mode. Seems somewhat joined at the hip to progress you make in the online mode...i.e. you can only engage in 1 star missions offline if that's all your capable of online because of your Hunter rank.

Character art and general art is more reminiscent of FFXI than PSO.

 

[MrAngryFace]

The little animations are funny too, like when they eat, or how they sleep in a bed with sword and shield hah.

The cooking is the funniest part tho. Jesus its out of place.

 

[DCharlie]

"Yes, there's an offline mode. Seems somewhat joined at the hip to progress you make in the online mode...i.e. you can only engage in 1 star missions offline if that's all your capable of online because of your Hunter rank."

Um... unless they have changed this in the US version, this isn't correct.

You can only do 1 star missions in offline until you do the event quest (usually killing/capturing a dragon).

Once you do that 2 star missions open.

HR is an online only concept. You get experience for each quest you do online. Once you complete enough quests in each mission set (ie: Set 1 - is for HR 1 to 3) and get enough exp so you hit the HR3 cap - then you can do the Emergency quest. Complete that and you rank up to HR4 and the next set of online quests are available.

The only thing that remains constant between online and offline is your equipment.

Infact, i was Hunter Rank 8 or so before even getting to the 2* missions in offline.

""Harvest Moon with swords and shit?" I don't like the sound of that. :\"

it's nothing like Harvest Moon - the description is a bit off.

Item combination and armour and weapon creation is all integral to the game, but in terms of upgrading yourself rather than any sort of HM connitations. The awesome thing is to get that cool armour or kick ass sword then the concept of "rarity" comes in. For the lightning sword for instance, you need to already have the samurai sword and then get a load of Makkurite (no idea what that is in English) and "Electricity Bags" (by killing Furu Furu (Whats the English name)) - now the thing is those items are Rare-5. You cannot trade between players anything that is Rare-3 and above. The outcome is that anyone who has certain cool weapons or armour has basically had to earn it - usually by kicking the arse of a number of dragons.

www.game-science.com has a monster hunter review up.

I'm pretty sure i've mentioned this , but i love this game. There is one particular online quest at HR13 that isn't in the offline that utterly rocks. Makes you realise that the dragons you have been fighting up to that point are scrawny little pussies.

 

[seismologist]

I'm pretty pumped about this game. I played it a little and the controls seemed clunky compared to FFXI.

But maybe it takes some getting used to. I'm always up for new online RPGs.

 

[DCharlie]

"I'm pretty pumped about this game. I played it a little and the controls seemed clunky compared to FFXI."

the controls are clunky. I'm not sure if it's deliberate , but it certainly adds to the game as you actually become proficient with each weapon yourself. In that i mean, for the heavy sword, if you learn how to time your swings, you utilise the weight and you can combo away until your hearts content

Just be aware that the high big sword swing will scatter other players high in to the air if you happen to clip them (not a bad emergency tactic if someone is down on the floor about to get trashed by one of the dragons)

 

[Ninja Scooter]

from the impressions i've read, its not an rpg at all. No leveling up whatsoever.

 

[DCharlie]

"from the impressions i've read, its not an rpg at all. No leveling up whatsoever."

it's not an RPG and you don't level stats - you do all your levelling via equipment and the fact that your own combat skills get better (you learn each dragons traits, you learn what status it is in by it's actions, you find out what elements it doesn't like).

Side note - you can make poop balls / bullets! How cool is that?

 

[Brandon F]

The newest GMR said something about using the Right Analog stick to mimick sword swings in battle(versus tapping X). How does that feel in practice?

 

[RuGalz]

I'm trying to get through rank 1 missions so I can see if the game is any fun. But man 10 out of 10 times I tried I just fall asleep instead. The rank 1 missions are so ridiculously boring and it's something that can be explained in few words.

 

[DCharlie]

"The newest GMR said something about using the Right Analog stick to mimick sword swings in battle(versus tapping X). How does that feel in practice?"

it works very well for the weilded weapons and especially for the big sword. Not too great for Gunners, but i didn't spend that much time with it.

Rank 1 - yeah, pretty boring, but i mean, it doesn't take that long to clear them. Plus you always have the added danger the Raia or Yankookoo *might* turn up.

 

[Ranger X]

Shit... Is it fun offline? I'm gonna rent this one at least!! Sounds great!

 

[DCharlie]

it's very average off line IMO.

online though, it's my favourite game this gen.

 

[kaching]

Um... unless they have changed this in the US version, this isn't correct.

Oops. Shoulda stuck to confirming the online mode. I've only had a couple of hours with US beta and the instructions are sparse in some areas while exceptionally in-depth in others.

 

[Ranger X]

"Yes, there's an offline mode. Seems somewhat joined at the hip to progress you make in the online mode...i.e. you can only engage in 1 star missions offline if that's all your capable of online because of your Hunter rank."

Um... unless they have changed this in the US version, this isn't correct.

You can only do 1 star missions in offline until you do the event quest (usually killing/capturing a dragon).

Once you do that 2 star missions open.

HR is an online only concept. You get experience for each quest you do online. Once you complete enough quests in each mission set (ie: Set 1 - is for HR 1 to 3) and get enough exp so you hit the HR3 cap - then you can do the Emergency quest. Complete that and you rank up to HR4 and the next set of online quests are available.

The only thing that remains constant between online and offline is your equipment.

Infact, i was Hunter Rank 8 or so before even getting to the 2* missions in offline.

""Harvest Moon with swords and shit?" I don't like the sound of that. :\"

it's nothing like Harvest Moon - the description is a bit off.

Item combination and armour and weapon creation is all integral to the game, but in terms of upgrading yourself rather than any sort of HM connitations. The awesome thing is to get that cool armour or kick ass sword then the concept of "rarity" comes in. For the lightning sword for instance, you need to already have the samurai sword and then get a load of Makkurite (no idea what that is in English) and "Electricity Bags" (by killing Furu Furu (Whats the English name)) - now the thing is those items are Rare-5. You cannot trade between players anything that is Rare-3 and above. The outcome is that anyone who has certain cool weapons or armour has basically had to earn it - usually by kicking the arse of a number of dragons.

www.game-science.com has a monster hunter review up.

I'm pretty sure i've mentioned this , but i love this game. There is one particular online quest at HR13 that isn't in the offline that utterly rocks. Makes you realise that the dragons you have been fighting up to that point are scrawny little pussies.

So this game's fucking useless if i don't have the PS2 modem... damn the games that play only online...

 

[DCharlie]

has there been any special events in the beta?

we've done a couple - there was a couple of "mass cull" days where you basically get locked in a 1 area map with a never ending flow of Ranpos or other smaller dinos.

I didn't do it but the GF completed the Dengeki quest the required 5 times in order to get Politan (the yellow Dengeki mascot).

You can then weild Politan as a hammer. Looks pretty funny and does lightnight damage too (although the actual physical attack is weak).

"So this game's fucking useless if i don't have the PS2 modem... damn the games that play only online..."

yeah, it's just not the same game offline. The fun comes from deciding what every group members roll will be, how you will take some of the dragons down, who will set the traps, who will be the "medic" (gunners / people with healing horns etc), who is going to drop explosive barrels , coordinating attacks so that you don't throw each other out of the way etc etc... That sort of gets missed on the offline modes (obviously)

 

[sasimirobot]

I played it Offline for 3-4 hours and it gets kinda old fast. I spent half of that time running/walking though mostly empty fields just trying to get to the next mission point.
Maybe they fill up with more enemies/items later on but I kept getting "Hyrule Field" Zelda OOT vibes from it.

Fishing took forever, and cooking meat is kinda tricky. I also dont like how the controls for items is set up. I kept accidently eating my store of meat and dropping items.

Oh well. Looks like ONline is the best way to go with this game.

 

[DCharlie]

burn the heretic.

 

[DCharlie]

also meat cooking tip :

Da de da
da da da daaaaa dada
da daaa da
dududu
dududu
dududu
dududu
duuu da du de du...

WAIT FOR 3/4 TURN - HIT the button

"JOUZU NI YAKEMASHITA!!!!"

 

[sasimirobot]

I really wanted to like this game, the gaming-science review was good.

Just didnt do it for me in Offline mode, just like Biohazard Outbreak disappoints in the same area.

 

[kaching]

DC, yes, there was a special event occurring the first time I went online in the beta. Kill 50 of something, don't remember what. I was just interested in getting online and exploring, so I didn't pay too much attention.

As for the offline game, I don't find it that bad. It's probably a combination of the fact that I'm more of a solo player and the simple charm of the game world atmosphere appeals to me quite a bit by itself.

 

[DCharlie]

well, i`m glad you like it. I think it`s once you get into the meat of the big battles in the online mode that kills off the enjoyment of the offline.

It`s not awful (offline) but it just lacks that spark.

The "kill 50" sounds like the same one as we had. It`s a good way to get lots of money!

 

[kaching]

Yeah, I can see the online game taking over once I get into it and not having a need to go back to the offline game. As an introduction to the world and to the online game, the offline component seems decent enough.

 

[ManDudeChild]

Does Monster Hunter require a monthly fee? I seem to recall the Japanese version having a fee of sorts.

 

[DCharlie]

Not sure about the US, but we have to pay. Do they US players pay for Biohazard ?
If not, then i guess it`s free - if so, then i guess it`s the same (And if you are paying for Bio then you shouldn`t have to pay for MH as well)