Why do people go crazy for it? I tried to find out the answer a few years ago on the PSP, but I just couldn't do it. Camera control on the PSP was what killed it for me almost immediately. Hacking away at a monster for 30 minutes seemed more like a battle with the camera than it did with the monster. I ended up playing for a few hours before stopping in frustration. Realistically the camera wasn't the only thing that stopped me from playing. The fact is that I didn't understand anything that was going on and I wasn't having fun. The game took absolutely no steps to educate me on how to do anything. That's not exactly how I like my video games. It didn't click with me, so I dropped it.
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| I really don't like playing what should be dual-analog games on the PSP |
Despite my distaste for the PSP entry I played years ago, something about Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the Wii-U and 3DS piqued my interest. The question of why people go crazy for this franchise reared up in my head again and I just had to know. I decided before even playing the demo that I was going to purchase the game for the Wii-U and give it a shot. Partially to answer my question, but mostly to have any new game to play on my dusty Wii-U. I ordered it on Amazon and then decided to play the demo. They let you choose one of the 16 different weapons to fight either an easy fight, or a hard fight. Going through the weapons I ended up choosing dual-blades and the easy monster called Lagombi. For the next 40 minutes I was locked in a struggle with a crazy ice throwing rabbit-koala. When the creature finally died the demo ended and I didn't know how to react for a minute or two. In fact, I was kind of scared. It's difficult to explain, but during the epic struggle I felt a rush that I don't feel often when playing games.
Over the course of the fight I learned the patterns of the Lagombi. I knew when it was going to slide on its belly. I knew when it was going to throw chunks of ice at me and I knew when to dodge. Each dodge allowed me to sink the dual-blades into the monster and cause some damage. The struggle was legitimately exciting, so I needed to let all my emotions sink in during the aftermath. That's when it hit me. I had felt a little bit of why people like Monster Hunter, which made me immediately both excited and terrified. What if Monster Hunter sucked me in? Would I finally understand? I didn't know, but I desperately wanted to find out. Knowing that the game had a poor tutorial I began to look up beginner guides for the series to prepare.
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| This Lagombi gave me my first taste of why I like Monster Hunter. |
When the game released officially I started out by playing a few hours each night. It's weird, because for the first ten or so hours I was kind of just fumbling along. I wasn't having fun, but I didn't dislike what I was doing either. One thing that helped were the guides I had looked up in the weeks prior to playing the retail release. Specifically I watched the podcast called My Fair Hunter. It's a weekly video series created by a Monster Hunter "expert" (Roy) in which he teaches his trainee (Sarah) how to play Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii from the ground up. I learned a lot of the games basics from them and I think that's the reason I ended up sticking with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It's not the exact same game that they're playing on the podcast, but it's fairly close. The things I learned from them made it so that I didn't feel completely lost. It definitely helped soften the learning curve.
I can't pinpoint exactly when it was, but somewhere after the ten hour mark I truly started to enjoy playing the game. A few of my friends bought the game for 3DS and we began to play quite often. As of writing this post I have put around 180 hours into the game and I still play at least one mission on a daily basis.
What's the appeal?
Now that I know I'm into Monster Hunter I've been trying to think about why that is. In my mind there are many parallels between this series and Phantasy Star Online, which I played for a very long time. You get into groups of up to four people to go the same areas over and over to get items you want or need. That sounds super reductive, but it's true. To me they're both partially about the loot grind and character advancement. They also both have incredibly low drop rates on certain items, which can be infuriating. That's where the similarities end though.
Monster Hunter is much more about skill than most other games I've played in recent memory. Instead of leveling your character up and having them gain strength they're always going to stay the same. What's going to change are your weapons and armor. Killing or capturing monsters allows you to get parts from them in order to craft new and exciting gear. The gear will make it so you can survive a bit longer and hit a bit harder, but you're eventually going to have to get better at the game. What's great is that the game gives players a lot of options in terms of how they want to play. There are 16 weapon types all of which play very differently. Animation priority can be a turn off for a lot of people though, because committing to every single attack isn't always fun. However, there are a few weapons like the dual blades though that move much faster.
Each monster can be likened to a boss encounter. They behave a certain way, which you'll eventually learn. This is cool, because it makes every single mission an epic battle. You're going to get hurt and knocked down. You might even die a few times. To me that's what makes it all so exciting. Most games are all about making you feel like a badass at all times, while Monster Hunter goes out of it's way to show you that you're not. It's very much about delayed gratification. There are no health bars on the monsters. You just have to know when they're ready for capture or about to die. You have to learn a monster's patterns in order to do well against it. Then you'll most likely have to fight it a ton more in order to get the items you need from it.
I guess you could say it's the thrill of the hunt that draws me in. I like going into a fight with no idea what's going on and just observing to see what I'm up against. It's a great feeling when you realize a few fights after that initial observation that you're crushing the monster you found so difficult earlier. That feeling has kept me going for 180 hours now, which is far more than I play most games before getting tired of them.
What's upsetting is that the game is so obtuse. The beginning of the game doesn't explain nearly enough to get you prepared for the later hunts in the game. You'll be sent to gather a bunch of resources and shortly after fight your first big monster. The first monster is easy, but the difficulty spikes quite a bit after that. I'd recommend doing what I did and looking up beginners guides or getting a posse of friends together to help you out.
I definitely know that this type of game isn't for everyone, but I wanted to share my experiences and insight into what the deal is with the series. It has eluded me for so long but now it has sunken its addictive claws into me. There aren't very many franchises like Monster Hunter out there and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
-Manny
What's the appeal?
Now that I know I'm into Monster Hunter I've been trying to think about why that is. In my mind there are many parallels between this series and Phantasy Star Online, which I played for a very long time. You get into groups of up to four people to go the same areas over and over to get items you want or need. That sounds super reductive, but it's true. To me they're both partially about the loot grind and character advancement. They also both have incredibly low drop rates on certain items, which can be infuriating. That's where the similarities end though.
Monster Hunter is much more about skill than most other games I've played in recent memory. Instead of leveling your character up and having them gain strength they're always going to stay the same. What's going to change are your weapons and armor. Killing or capturing monsters allows you to get parts from them in order to craft new and exciting gear. The gear will make it so you can survive a bit longer and hit a bit harder, but you're eventually going to have to get better at the game. What's great is that the game gives players a lot of options in terms of how they want to play. There are 16 weapon types all of which play very differently. Animation priority can be a turn off for a lot of people though, because committing to every single attack isn't always fun. However, there are a few weapons like the dual blades though that move much faster.
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| Don't like animation priority? You should try the dual blades. |
Each monster can be likened to a boss encounter. They behave a certain way, which you'll eventually learn. This is cool, because it makes every single mission an epic battle. You're going to get hurt and knocked down. You might even die a few times. To me that's what makes it all so exciting. Most games are all about making you feel like a badass at all times, while Monster Hunter goes out of it's way to show you that you're not. It's very much about delayed gratification. There are no health bars on the monsters. You just have to know when they're ready for capture or about to die. You have to learn a monster's patterns in order to do well against it. Then you'll most likely have to fight it a ton more in order to get the items you need from it.
I guess you could say it's the thrill of the hunt that draws me in. I like going into a fight with no idea what's going on and just observing to see what I'm up against. It's a great feeling when you realize a few fights after that initial observation that you're crushing the monster you found so difficult earlier. That feeling has kept me going for 180 hours now, which is far more than I play most games before getting tired of them.
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| Hitting enemies with a great sword is very satisfying. |
What's upsetting is that the game is so obtuse. The beginning of the game doesn't explain nearly enough to get you prepared for the later hunts in the game. You'll be sent to gather a bunch of resources and shortly after fight your first big monster. The first monster is easy, but the difficulty spikes quite a bit after that. I'd recommend doing what I did and looking up beginners guides or getting a posse of friends together to help you out.
I definitely know that this type of game isn't for everyone, but I wanted to share my experiences and insight into what the deal is with the series. It has eluded me for so long but now it has sunken its addictive claws into me. There aren't very many franchises like Monster Hunter out there and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
-Manny
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