This is the first and last time I make a post on this site. And this will be the last time I come to this site. But I got something to say.
I love Monster Hunter. It's one of the best original video game series to come out this decade, and if not for Monster Hunter, I would have abandoned video gaming a long time ago. But over the years I've had to endure the unparalleled ignorance that the so-called "professional" video-game reviewing community shows this series. I just don't know what to think.
What I do know is that your portion of the article regarding Monster Hunter Tri is filled with fallacies, and unsubstantiated rhetoric. I actually know people that are at TGS that are reporting back to me and my friends about this game. What they (and many others on the internet) are reporting back in great detail heavily contradicts your vagueries.
First off, overall the consensus has been pretty unamimous that the Wiimote controls for the game are surprisingly simple and intuitive, but offers the option of using the Classic Controller. It was already well-known before TGS that MH3 would have online multiplayer. The two-player split-screen was a shocking surprise that I don't think any fan of the series could have anticipated, including myself. And I'm not even gonna go into that inane remark of the PSP games and 3 looking the same. That's just an insult.
Now, as for your trite remark that Capcom is treating MH like Dynasty Warriors....Have you even played any Monster Hunter games? Not changed much? EXCUSE ME?! I played the original North American Monster Hunter for two years. One year offline, another year online. After quitting that to play Monster Hunter Freedom for the PSP, I can tell you, that MHF is by leaps, bounds, astronaumical units and light-years a much different game for a variety of reasons. First off all of the improvements that were made, such as improving the quest-interface, making all the weapons more balanced, and more importantly, by allowing the player access to multiplayer quests even if he has no one to play the game with. Which thereby addresses the major issue with the original for the PS2.
Let's not even go into having your Felynes cook or you at your home for buffs which was only online on the original game, or the fact that you could see your skill ratings on your armor now, instead of just having to guess and pray as you did on the original.
If MHF took the series in terms of gameplay out of Earth's orbit, then MHF2 sent it zooming out our galaxy, because that's how much the game changed. Not only did the game look much better, but it played even better. The weapons all got new moves, on top of all the new weapons added. New monsters to fight, with several unique to the portable MH games, such as Narugakuruga and Ucamulbas. The areas from MHDos for the PS2 were used, which meant the old areas from the prior games (MH/MHG/MHP/F) were thrown out. The village was a brand new area, unique to the series, because it had never been used in any of the prior games, or the following ones. Not to mention the high level of customization thanks to decorative slots for armor and weapons that allowed you to augment and customize skills for your character. And let's not forget how the devs went out of their way to address loading times, first with background-loading, and then with the Media Install on 2G. These guys have taken the PSP architecture to the limits, and not just graphically. The MH devs could take a Commadore 64 and make it run Half-Life, or take a pack of matches and build the Sistine Chapel out of them.
Really, as far as the series not ever changing goes, I could spend all day proving how much of a fallacy that is, but let's talk about that remark you made regarding how clunky the games' controls are. Actually, if we compare your prior statement involving Kingdom Hearts a few pages back, where you decried the series for having simple controls and gameplay that's too easy, then how can you resolve that with your remarks about Monster Hunter?
Now, I'm not gonna say they're perfect. But given what they have to work with, the devs have always impressed me with how intuitively they mapped out the control scheme on the games. Especially on the PSP versions of the series, given how few buttons they have to work with, and yet they pulled it off flawlessly. And as far as the original game and MHDos (and probably 3 with the Classic Controller) using the right analog stick to use your weapons. That took balls. I LOVED that layout. It was much easier on the thumbs than tapping buttons.
What I think a lot of you so-called professional reviewers seem to be missing here as far as the control scheme goes, is that Monster Hunter isn't a button-mashing game. I suppose since you can't level up, you would just assume as such, but that's not the issue at all. Monster Hunter is a contemporary take on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Only instead of fighting boxers, you fight psuedo-mythical prehistoric beasts. That's literally the very soul of this series. When you fight the monsters, you're waiting for the creature to give you an opening to lay in a bunch of hits, and then back off without getting wailed on yourself. You have to block, you have to dodge, and you have to improvise and adjust to changes on the field.
But that's what makes this game so great compared to other games these days. You actually have to get better at the game. You can't level-grind, and you can't just expect to put in thousands of hours and expect the game to show leniency. You have to get better at the game. And that's how you can tell a vet from a newbie, because a vet can take a weak weapon and use it so well that it doesn't even matter, whereas a newb will wield a great weapon poorly and never get the most out of it.
When you understand how the game really works, then the controls make absolute and perfect sense. I'm sorry, but this isn't WoW, or Devil May Cry, or Halo. This is Monster Hunter. There is no other series like it out today, and that's why the fans love it so much. And that's why we get so frustrated when people trash talk the game, and in your case, obviously do so without actually doing any objective research into the subject matter, and filling your comments about the game with inaccuracies that anybody that has been casually keeping tabs on the game can tell your just aren't true.
I don't mind criticism, especially when someone backs it up with facts and common sense. I only read one fair review for the original Monster Hunter back in the day, of all things on OPM. Which didn't shower the game with praise, but said that it was a good game, with a lot of potential, that just had a few flaws holding it back. They backed this up with sound reasoning, and facts. And despite being a rabid MH fanboy, I stand by what they said 110%, because it was true. Unlike here where we got a lot of hot air and nothing of substance to back it up. And I made an effort to bring constructive criticism over this matter with a mature attitude, and if this post gets deleted rather than address these glaring errors, not just with Monster Hunter but with several other games on here, well, journalistic integrity really is dead.
Sorry for that, but I'm sick of this series getting trashed for no good reason except that it refuses to dumb itself down for a broader audience. And that's precisely WHY the game is so popular in Japan, and why so many fans abroad (myself included) are so devoted to it. But with that said, have a goodnight.
Network now...
Vanor_Orion's Comments
This is the first and last time I make a post on this site. And this will be the last time I come to this site. But I got something to say.
I love Monster Hunter. It's one of the best original video game series to come out this decade, and if not for Monster Hunter, I would have abandoned video gaming a long time ago. But over the years I've had to endure the unparalleled ignorance that the so-called "professional" video-game reviewing community shows this series. I just don't know what to think.
What I do know is that your portion of the article regarding Monster Hunter Tri is filled with fallacies, and unsubstantiated rhetoric. I actually know people that are at TGS that are reporting back to me and my friends about this game. What they (and many others on the internet) are reporting back in great detail heavily contradicts your vagueries.
First off, overall the consensus has been pretty unamimous that the Wiimote controls for the game are surprisingly simple and intuitive, but offers the option of using the Classic Controller. It was already well-known before TGS that MH3 would have online multiplayer. The two-player split-screen was a shocking surprise that I don't think any fan of the series could have anticipated, including myself. And I'm not even gonna go into that inane remark of the PSP games and 3 looking the same. That's just an insult.
Now, as for your trite remark that Capcom is treating MH like Dynasty Warriors....Have you even played any Monster Hunter games? Not changed much? EXCUSE ME?! I played the original North American Monster Hunter for two years. One year offline, another year online. After quitting that to play Monster Hunter Freedom for the PSP, I can tell you, that MHF is by leaps, bounds, astronaumical units and light-years a much different game for a variety of reasons. First off all of the improvements that were made, such as improving the quest-interface, making all the weapons more balanced, and more importantly, by allowing the player access to multiplayer quests even if he has no one to play the game with. Which thereby addresses the major issue with the original for the PS2.
Let's not even go into having your Felynes cook or you at your home for buffs which was only online on the original game, or the fact that you could see your skill ratings on your armor now, instead of just having to guess and pray as you did on the original.
If MHF took the series in terms of gameplay out of Earth's orbit, then MHF2 sent it zooming out our galaxy, because that's how much the game changed. Not only did the game look much better, but it played even better. The weapons all got new moves, on top of all the new weapons added. New monsters to fight, with several unique to the portable MH games, such as Narugakuruga and Ucamulbas. The areas from MHDos for the PS2 were used, which meant the old areas from the prior games (MH/MHG/MHP/F) were thrown out. The village was a brand new area, unique to the series, because it had never been used in any of the prior games, or the following ones. Not to mention the high level of customization thanks to decorative slots for armor and weapons that allowed you to augment and customize skills for your character. And let's not forget how the devs went out of their way to address loading times, first with background-loading, and then with the Media Install on 2G. These guys have taken the PSP architecture to the limits, and not just graphically. The MH devs could take a Commadore 64 and make it run Half-Life, or take a pack of matches and build the Sistine Chapel out of them.
Really, as far as the series not ever changing goes, I could spend all day proving how much of a fallacy that is, but let's talk about that remark you made regarding how clunky the games' controls are. Actually, if we compare your prior statement involving Kingdom Hearts a few pages back, where you decried the series for having simple controls and gameplay that's too easy, then how can you resolve that with your remarks about Monster Hunter?
Now, I'm not gonna say they're perfect. But given what they have to work with, the devs have always impressed me with how intuitively they mapped out the control scheme on the games. Especially on the PSP versions of the series, given how few buttons they have to work with, and yet they pulled it off flawlessly. And as far as the original game and MHDos (and probably 3 with the Classic Controller) using the right analog stick to use your weapons. That took balls. I LOVED that layout. It was much easier on the thumbs than tapping buttons.
What I think a lot of you so-called professional reviewers seem to be missing here as far as the control scheme goes, is that Monster Hunter isn't a button-mashing game. I suppose since you can't level up, you would just assume as such, but that's not the issue at all. Monster Hunter is a contemporary take on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Only instead of fighting boxers, you fight psuedo-mythical prehistoric beasts. That's literally the very soul of this series. When you fight the monsters, you're waiting for the creature to give you an opening to lay in a bunch of hits, and then back off without getting wailed on yourself. You have to block, you have to dodge, and you have to improvise and adjust to changes on the field.
But that's what makes this game so great compared to other games these days. You actually have to get better at the game. You can't level-grind, and you can't just expect to put in thousands of hours and expect the game to show leniency. You have to get better at the game. And that's how you can tell a vet from a newbie, because a vet can take a weak weapon and use it so well that it doesn't even matter, whereas a newb will wield a great weapon poorly and never get the most out of it.
When you understand how the game really works, then the controls make absolute and perfect sense. I'm sorry, but this isn't WoW, or Devil May Cry, or Halo. This is Monster Hunter. There is no other series like it out today, and that's why the fans love it so much. And that's why we get so frustrated when people trash talk the game, and in your case, obviously do so without actually doing any objective research into the subject matter, and filling your comments about the game with inaccuracies that anybody that has been casually keeping tabs on the game can tell your just aren't true.
I don't mind criticism, especially when someone backs it up with facts and common sense. I only read one fair review for the original Monster Hunter back in the day, of all things on OPM. Which didn't shower the game with praise, but said that it was a good game, with a lot of potential, that just had a few flaws holding it back. They backed this up with sound reasoning, and facts. And despite being a rabid MH fanboy, I stand by what they said 110%, because it was true. Unlike here where we got a lot of hot air and nothing of substance to back it up. And I made an effort to bring constructive criticism over this matter with a mature attitude, and if this post gets deleted rather than address these glaring errors, not just with Monster Hunter but with several other games on here, well, journalistic integrity really is dead.
Sorry for that, but I'm sick of this series getting trashed for no good reason except that it refuses to dumb itself down for a broader audience. And that's precisely WHY the game is so popular in Japan, and why so many fans abroad (myself included) are so devoted to it. But with that said, have a goodnight.
All Vanor_Orion's Comments