Nicktals said:
I'm already a little overwhelmed just reading the last page...is this going to be at least mildly accessible to someone who has never played a Monster Hunter game before?
Is the offline balanced? Or will I be dying a lot because I'm expected to grind, or ridiculous difficulty spikes?
Don't worry. By hard we mean challenging in a good way (which, to be honest, almost all games lack nowadays). It's not Ghost 'n Goblins hard, but it's definitely nearing that level. Never unfair though, so you keep thinking you can improve yourself. By 100 hours in = just a newbie comment, it simply means this game is huge and has plenty to do. It will take a loooong time to get bored. But it's not that grindy crap that most RPGs throw at you. You're not playing to get that end-gear. You're playing for the gameplay. The longevity is better compared to something like unlocking achievements in a Left 4 Dead game. Except campaigns are quests here. And there are tons of quests in this game.
I've heard Monster Hunter Tri is much friendlier for newbies, because there are tutorial mission in the beginning? Correct me if I'm wrong.
But yeah, expect some deaths. You can die 3 times in a mission (the money reward lowers each time though) before it fails and sends you back to the town, so it's okay. But it's deaths we remember from old school games. Dying has impact, whereas games nowadays never put you in situation where you might die or respawn you so close with no penalties, feeling like you basically never died.
traveler said:
After the announcements yesterday, I feel pretty certain that I'll be picking this up. This is my first Monster Hunter, so naturally I have few questions.
Will there be any special event type missions like in PSO? I know Famitsu has some in Japan but can we expect to see them over here?
Can you do a combination of online and splitscreen? (i.e. 4 of us want to play on 2 Wiis)
Am I right in assuming the game's play style is along the lines of PSO and Demon Souls?
Does the health of enemies scale with the number of players in a party?
There will probably be some new downloadable missions from time to time, but it's usually just unlocking what's already on the disc. This happens with the event items with Famitsu and earning things like a Famitsu shirt. Just for fun. Sometimes the quests can be funny too, like killing a bunch of cats.
Split-screen is only for a seperate offline mode where you battle in an arena. None of the main quests or online quests. So nope, to play with 4 people, you need 4 Wii's.
Not sure about Demon Souls since I don't own it, but from what I've seen, yeah, PSO + Demon Souls is a good description. Minus all RPG aspects. It's just gear-based and hunter rank (which does nothing except unlock better missions).
Enemy health doesn't scale (so more players is better) but the same monsters in online missions have more health than in offline missions. So solo'ing online missions is not recommended (though possible, also fun for showcasing skills on youtube).
