I have been both intrigued and intimidated by this genre. Maybe it's all the online discourse about how confusing the systems are and how much prep work is needed for each hunt. Maybe it was the awful demo for XX on Switch in which you are just dropped in with no clue what you are doing. Maybe it was all the talk about the grind. Either way, I've stayed away for a long time. And then I dipped my toes in the genre with God Eater 3 and was not impressed. But might as well try the real franchise before giving up.
Hey, this is pretty great!
It is. All the fears of it being too complex? Not at all. The game eased you into the system, and the early monsters were not intimidating at all (seriously Capcom, maybe next time have 2 demos: a tutorial-like and then one for veterans). I'm sure I didn't get too in depth into the systems available, but that's ok. I rarely use items or endemic life and mostly only change weapon elements for different fights while just wearing high defense armor, but I still do well enough. And yes, the mechanics of combat are crazy in-depth, but frankly, I just used the sword and shield since it's simple and I'm a wuss and that worked just fine for me. So even though the game may be complex, at least at this level it didn't have to be, and that's ok.
And yet, if it's not complex, on the surface it seems similar to GE3, so why did I love this one and shrug off the other?
Part of it is the monsters themselves. By looking like real-life animals (sort of), the visual cues are also more intuitive. Since the monsters move like real animals, there is enough of a cue of what will happen. I mean, sure, I'm getting beat up a lot, and obviously the first time seeing a monster is an adventure, but there's still some obvious tells. Head moves back? Probably about to lunge forward. You can see a tail whip coming. You can see when it is ready to swipe at you. Same with positioning. You can guess better where it is safe to attack from. It's easy to get to the back of monsters, or their sides. You can tell the T-Rex expy should not be fought head on. So battles feel natural. Much better than sci-fi automatons.
It's also the dynamic nature of the battles. I mean, yes, GE3 had broken parts and monsters retreating to heal points too. But there's so much more here. Broken parts feels like something tangible. Cut a tail off, and obviously the reach of the tail is less. Break the legs, and you can tell it's easier to make the monster stumble. It gives you some agency in the fight, in how to attack the monsters. But it's not just that. We have normal vs tired vs enraged. So the battle can feel different at different times. And it isn't just as obvious as "smack away when it's tired and run away when enraged". Take Goss Harag for example. When enraged, it creates icicle swords on its arms. That gives it new moves and it is more aggressive. But it's also a very inviting target, as breaking one of them is a guaranteed stagger. So it can make you try to be more aggressive too!
Basically, what I'm saying is that it isn't just relying on being "Boss Battle: The Game". It does enough to make the fights natural and distinct and varied that the boss battles are really fun. God Eater 3 felt like slash away for 5 minutes and win. This one feels like, well, slash away for 15 minutes and win, too. But with an ebb and flow of the battle, with a desire to explore the surroundings a bit beforehand to beef yourself up, with the ability to physically see the prey getting weaker and weaker over time, making the battle more dynamic, it makes it more fun. So thank you Capcom. You're at least partially forgiven for only making one Mega Man a decade.
On the other hand, another potential concern I had, the grind, is starting to sneak its way in. Look, Narwa was an interesting fight, but it felt too gimmicky to want to do it again. But I'm supposed to do it 4 or so times if I want the best equipment? So I'm now supposed to just fight 4-5 missions in between seeing each new monster? I get that that is what people like and want, but I don't want a game to feel like busy work. Sure, the fights are still fun, mostly, but there are only so many permutations. And it doesn't help that most of the late game monsters feel more gimmicky (like Chameleos or Narwa) than fun. Also, the threat of one-hit KOs (or juggling to KO) makes the fights way more intimidating, but not in a good way. The ebb and flow of the fight is gone when a lucky hit ends it immediately.
But on the other other hand, so what? I played for 65 hours, clearly I got my money's worth. If I don't want to grind, I don't have to. What's there, even without the late stage, is good enough. Clearly I should not have waited this long to play this franchise. And clearly I shouldn't bother with cheaper knockoffs either.
So what now? Given that I found the late game monsters so far less enjoyable, I doubt I should go to Sunbreak. So World will definitely be my next step (eventually). But after that? Try Sunbreak or Iceborne? Go back and play through Rise with a new weapon? Just come back and enjoy the game every once in a while? Try to show my bonafide gamer skills by trying XX in all its lack of accessibility? Who knows?
But I definitely will be back for something. And probably chugging potions while I'm at it.
Hey, this is pretty great!
It is. All the fears of it being too complex? Not at all. The game eased you into the system, and the early monsters were not intimidating at all (seriously Capcom, maybe next time have 2 demos: a tutorial-like and then one for veterans). I'm sure I didn't get too in depth into the systems available, but that's ok. I rarely use items or endemic life and mostly only change weapon elements for different fights while just wearing high defense armor, but I still do well enough. And yes, the mechanics of combat are crazy in-depth, but frankly, I just used the sword and shield since it's simple and I'm a wuss and that worked just fine for me. So even though the game may be complex, at least at this level it didn't have to be, and that's ok.
And yet, if it's not complex, on the surface it seems similar to GE3, so why did I love this one and shrug off the other?
Part of it is the monsters themselves. By looking like real-life animals (sort of), the visual cues are also more intuitive. Since the monsters move like real animals, there is enough of a cue of what will happen. I mean, sure, I'm getting beat up a lot, and obviously the first time seeing a monster is an adventure, but there's still some obvious tells. Head moves back? Probably about to lunge forward. You can see a tail whip coming. You can see when it is ready to swipe at you. Same with positioning. You can guess better where it is safe to attack from. It's easy to get to the back of monsters, or their sides. You can tell the T-Rex expy should not be fought head on. So battles feel natural. Much better than sci-fi automatons.
It's also the dynamic nature of the battles. I mean, yes, GE3 had broken parts and monsters retreating to heal points too. But there's so much more here. Broken parts feels like something tangible. Cut a tail off, and obviously the reach of the tail is less. Break the legs, and you can tell it's easier to make the monster stumble. It gives you some agency in the fight, in how to attack the monsters. But it's not just that. We have normal vs tired vs enraged. So the battle can feel different at different times. And it isn't just as obvious as "smack away when it's tired and run away when enraged". Take Goss Harag for example. When enraged, it creates icicle swords on its arms. That gives it new moves and it is more aggressive. But it's also a very inviting target, as breaking one of them is a guaranteed stagger. So it can make you try to be more aggressive too!
Basically, what I'm saying is that it isn't just relying on being "Boss Battle: The Game". It does enough to make the fights natural and distinct and varied that the boss battles are really fun. God Eater 3 felt like slash away for 5 minutes and win. This one feels like, well, slash away for 15 minutes and win, too. But with an ebb and flow of the battle, with a desire to explore the surroundings a bit beforehand to beef yourself up, with the ability to physically see the prey getting weaker and weaker over time, making the battle more dynamic, it makes it more fun. So thank you Capcom. You're at least partially forgiven for only making one Mega Man a decade.
On the other hand, another potential concern I had, the grind, is starting to sneak its way in. Look, Narwa was an interesting fight, but it felt too gimmicky to want to do it again. But I'm supposed to do it 4 or so times if I want the best equipment? So I'm now supposed to just fight 4-5 missions in between seeing each new monster? I get that that is what people like and want, but I don't want a game to feel like busy work. Sure, the fights are still fun, mostly, but there are only so many permutations. And it doesn't help that most of the late game monsters feel more gimmicky (like Chameleos or Narwa) than fun. Also, the threat of one-hit KOs (or juggling to KO) makes the fights way more intimidating, but not in a good way. The ebb and flow of the fight is gone when a lucky hit ends it immediately.
But on the other other hand, so what? I played for 65 hours, clearly I got my money's worth. If I don't want to grind, I don't have to. What's there, even without the late stage, is good enough. Clearly I should not have waited this long to play this franchise. And clearly I shouldn't bother with cheaper knockoffs either.
So what now? Given that I found the late game monsters so far less enjoyable, I doubt I should go to Sunbreak. So World will definitely be my next step (eventually). But after that? Try Sunbreak or Iceborne? Go back and play through Rise with a new weapon? Just come back and enjoy the game every once in a while? Try to show my bonafide gamer skills by trying XX in all its lack of accessibility? Who knows?
But I definitely will be back for something. And probably chugging potions while I'm at it.
