I thought I was in a gaming lul but turns out I just needed the right game, can't put this one down.
Was really excited for this but still feared that it might be a lacklaster ripoff, glad to report that even though it is clearly based off of MH it is its own game. In many respects I am enjoying it more than MH.
Yes Monster Hunter has more in the way of bells and whistles but after playing this for over 20 hours I can say that I do not miss grinding away at the friggin village/farm or having to go around it to get stuff done after every mission or having to waste time going through multiple areas to find the boss. All this stuff is cool the first few times but not much at all after hours of play. Saving, bullet creation, information, item/equipment creation etc. is all done via simple menus through one Terminal. So convenient. Prefer the more modern setting, the Aragami are very memorable and well designed as well.
Also love the length of the battles, I haven't played Tri but going by the 40 hours I put into Portable 3rd it really feels like Capcom had a look at GE in this regard. The Aragami have a good amount of health but not overkill so battles last 10-20 minutes usually (even with multiple Aragami, since they apparently balance multiple boss battles by giving them less HP depending on how many there are).
Another thing I love about this game is that there is absolutely no need to grind if you just want to go through the main story (as I probably will, not a fan of playing just for equipment etc). In MHFU I grinded a ton so that didn't sit well with me at all, with Portable 3rd I grinded very little in comparison (the first armor and upgraded weapon I made lasted me till the very end of the village quests). With GEB I wanted to see how far I could take this and can say that I am close to the end of the story (I think) and haven't repeated a mission even once so have done zero grinding. All the equipment I have gotten in such a way is serving me extremely well and I don't feel underpowered at all.
Oh and I have to mention the AI partners, it feels so good to be part of a team (have no one to play MH with and don't have a PS3). Important to note is how damn good the AI has been. They attack relentlessly and revive me the moment they get a chance. I say the moment they get a chance because they are very smart about it. I was watchin my guy run towards me to help me but a Vajra shot a projectile at him while he was on his way, he immediately dodged, waited for the coast to clear and then proceeded towards me again. This happens often, not to mention all the recovery and Aragmi bullets they use on me regularly to boost me up.
Also love the super fast pace of the game and the options it gives you (dodging, double jump, air dash, block, air block etc) which are all very on point and precise. Burst is also a nice addition since you can devour as part of a combo (which results in lest Aragami bullets and a shorter boost but a boost nonetheless). Aside from just shooting them, the bullets you receive from the Aragemi through devouring can be used to power up your teamates temporarily, up to three levels. The three weapon classes feel different and all have their uses and uniqe features, find myself using all three depending on the Aragmi. And, of course, being able to switch between melee and long range combat on the fly feels so damn good. You can combo between the two as well.
Bullet creation looks to be very deep but its sorta going over my head, gotta check a faq later. Still, the bullets from the shop have been more than enough thus far.
Difficulty-wise I would say it is on par with Portable 3rd. I finished the village quests and went one mission short of HR4 in 3rd without having to redo a mission once (until I started timing out on the HR3 urgent). The same is applying here so far as well, I'm very far into the story mode and have done each mission from first try. This is just based off story mode though since I'm not doing any free missions.
Oh and, dat music! So invigorating and excellent, the guy from Tales of Legendia definitely delivers.
At the end of the day I'm glad Namco delivered and now I can have two series from the same genre to enjoy. Similar but different enough to be enjoyed in their own right and for different reasons.
So yeah... awesome game.
