Monday, May 9, 2016

We live for the Monster Hunt!

Sharpen you swords and ready your bombs, baby!
 It's been around 20 hours invested in playing one of my favorite games: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. 



 I'm a little late coming in since a lot of my friends have been playing the game for a while now. They started with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate too but I didn't have my 3DS then. Oh poor gamer problems.

 I first played Monster Hunter 2 Ultimate in the PSP and, suffice to say, it's quite a hard game to understand at first. There's no leveling up in this game. Well at least not in the traditional sense. Your character doesn't increase in stats the more you play. You don't get stronger when you defeat any enemies or even as you progress through the story... and that puts off a lot of casual players. Especially with all the tutorials... So many tutorials.

 If you’re not familiar with how you play Monster Hunter games, here’s a simple summary. You go on quests to collect stuff or hunt down huge or small monsters. The stuff you collect along with your rewards for taking down a monster and/or finishing your quests can be used to create/upgrade your equipment or items so you can take on bigger and tougher monsters as well as harder quests.

 But like I said before, your items and equipment can only take you so far. The true evolution of your hunter relies on you, the player. Each monster has their own set of moves and abilities. You can’t just go charging in haphazardly. They will decimate you. J Dark Souls players can relate to this.



 So the easier more reliable way of taking down your prey would be to familiarize yourself to its moves. Knowing when to strike and back off will do so much more for your game than all the upgrades in the world and Monster Hunter drives this point hard.

 And to be honest, I’m a little grateful for that. It gives the game a sense of accomplishment. Taking down a colossal foe because you managed to outsmart it does a gamer’s spirit good. It wasn’t because you spent more money on it to get better gear or grinded so many meaningless hours just to get better stats. It was because you took the time to understand the game and I think that’s how we should reward our players. It’s like the game offered you a toast for overcoming his challenge.



 Monster Hunter also ups the ante if players are up for a bigger challenge. With all the different types of monsters and equipment, the challenges multiply. If you want to try beating a certain monster using another kind of weapon, by all means. You will still get to learn new tactics and evolve your own play style and trying to understand how best to tackle a given situation. And for even more fun how to do it as a team in multiplayer :D



 What do you guys think? Are there other games that focus and reward a players understanding of how to beat the game as well as Monster Hunter out there? Did you ever feel like the gaming experience you’ve been having has satisfied your efforts for understanding how to beat it or has it just been one grind after another or just screen upon screen of mindless titillation as you blaze through the game? Let me know on the comment section :D



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