There exist certain gaming franchises which become infallible with age.  Fans — their memories alight with nostalgia — look to recapture moments that defined their earliest gaming memories in modern generations.  This perfectly summarizes my experiences with Nintendo’s iconic green-tunic-ed Zelda series.  Some of my fondest memories include exploring the expanses of Hyrule Field in Ocarina of Time and sailing aimlessly across the tranquil waters of Wind Waker.  Despite all that, I will be reviewing Skyward Sword as a stand-alone product, wiping away the thick nostalgia condensed on my spectacles.

Story & Tone

The tone of Skyward Sword is a cautious one, not quite as wholesome as a Sunday morning cartoon but clearly afraid to come too close to the maturity that was Twilight Princess. The game’s first boss broke the traditional boss mold of three-strikes-to-the-big-glowing-eye, which led me to believe the franchise wanted to move in a different direction. Then, almost as if it never happened, I was right back in a child-safe world with Nintendo written all over it. If only the game took a stronger stance to decide if it wanted to offer the nonsensical but cute atmosphere of Animal Crossing, or make a dramatic impact in the way that Twilight Princess attempted.

Being the first game in the Zelda series timeline, Skyward Sword has a lot to cover to lay the groundwork for future games while still providing a solid story of its own. Here the game mostly succeeded. It brought me on a journey that had me emotionally invested as I watched various obstacles come between Link and Zelda.  Despite the triteness of their situation, I could feel for Link and I wanted to reunite him with his childhood friend, Zelda. I also grew attached to the game’s bumbling would-be bully, Groose. He starts out as your classic jerk, but as his motivations are revealed and he becomes more involved with the hero, he in transformed into a source of loveable and welcome comic relief.

Don’t mind me, I’m not that important.

There were some loose ends I wish were tied up, however. Early on it’s made clear that Link and his uniquely red-colored Loftwing share a close bond, however this connection is never deepened or expanded upon to make the player feel attached to the bird. Ultimately the Loftwing becomes a simple vehicle that squawks. Missed opportunities such as this caused the game’s ending scenario to fall flatter than I’d hoped.

System

First I need to address my biggest gripe with Skyward Sword: motion controls.  The technology just isn’t ready for this ambitious of a game.  Enemies and bosses frequently need to be bested by executing one of several different blows aimed at a weak spot or opening in a target’s defense.  This is done by swinging your Wii remote in the designated direction.  For instance, swinging straight down in front of you would make Link (presumably) do the same thing.  I would say, with confidence, these controls functions correctly far less than they should.  Later in the game, when enemies begin to punish you for not attacking in the correct direction, this came to be a great source of frustration, making me bemoan removing my sword from its sheath.  And motions controls further invade other mechanics, such as swimming, to put a damper on everything from combat to simple exploration.

Swimming is as cumbersome as it looks

Onto the brighter side!  The player can upgrade nearly all of Link’s tools to vastly modify their medieval load-out.  You can acquire these upgrades by gathering drops from enemies or bugs scattered throughout the world.  I became quite partial to my bow and arrow, as its motion controls were the simplest.  Naturally, I upgraded my bow twice, so it could deal monstrous damage.  Then, to keep me swimming in arrows, I purchased an extra quiver.  My thirst for arrows remained unquenchable, so I purchased a second quiver and upgraded them both twice — resulting in a massive stockpile of arrows I could bring with me on dungeon crawls.  Such customization has never existed in a Zelda title, and I found the flexibility to be a welcomed modernization.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We can’t talk about Zelda unless we touch on dungeon design.  And it really does shine in Skyward Sword.  While initially, dungeons are somewhat shallow, they become quite complex and fun near the end of the game once most of Link’s tools are unlocked.  Dungeons themselves take on themes to further deepen puzzles.  Possibly the most innovative example of this is with area-specific time travel.  Please, spare me the Steven Hawking lecture and (in Navi’s voice) listen.  There exists within the Zelda universe a mineral called a Timeshift stone that, when struck, does what its name implies: shifts time.  One particular area is filled with the stuff and in a number of instances the solution to a puzzle is either forward, or backwards in time.  This means the player will have to think critically about cause and effect to solve puzzles.  I found this to be a very innovative mechanic that gave a new layer of depth to both the dungeon itself and the game’s depth of problem solving.  Another very memorable dungeon experience was on a revisit to a previously explored area.  Normally this is when most critics would begin to lament “lazy level design!”  However, when I returned I found the area entirely flooded with water, which created a visually pleasing and imaginative landscape.

Presentation

There were moments when I stopped to examine my surroundings in Zelda.  The game cleverly works within the limitations of the Nintendo Wii by causing a mosaic effect on items that extend beyond a certain distance.  Still, I would say Skyward Sword just manages to get by as a visually acceptable game in this generation, and that is due largely to minimalistic art direction.  The music is classic Zelda fodder: epic, energetic, and always enhancing the atmosphere right up to a awe-inspiring final boss stage.

Conclusions

Skyward Sword was an ambitious game, attempting to bring fans the most interactive and advanced Zelda experience to date.  It shook things up by allowing the player to customize their equipment to a level never before possible.  Innovative level design made for some memorable and enjoyable puzzles that were always more fun than frustrating.  But the technology of the Wii was clearly pushed to the limit, as graphically and functionally the game struggled to stretch its wings and fly.

I have a compulsion when it comes to Zelda mini-games. I need to master them, no matter how repetitive or boring they may be.  The rewards are always worth it.  For this reason, I started Skyward Sword with mixed emotions. Sure it was a new Zelda title, which had received nearly unanimous glowing praise from various critics, but somewhere hidden within its comforting green-tuniced formula was a mini-game just waiting for me.  Waiting to stop my progression into the story like a cracked boulder before you get your bomb bag.

I found the first mini-game this past weekend.  It’s called Thrill Digger.  The operator of this masochistic blood sport is a Mogma named Tubert.  That’s him at the top of the post.  If there is one thing worse than a mini-game that will take a while to master, it’s a mini-game that will take a while to master, operated by a talkative and lonely NPC.  I can’t imagine why poor Tubert is lonely.  Maybe it’s because he built his twisted rehash of Russian roulette into the base of a volcano, which is both unsafe and generally a place most people avoid.  Maybe it’s also because his mustache and long, muscular arms creep most people right the fuck out.  All I know is, Tubert throws walls of text at me when all I want to do is dig around in his God damned dirt.

So let me tell you how the game works.  After you’ve selected your difficulty (of which there are three), paid your fee, and mashed ‘A’ through the extraneous dialog spat at you by old Tubert, you get a countdown that goes like this: 3…………2…………1………….Go!  Yes, it really takes that fucking long.  Oh, and here is the kicker: you’re not even fucking timed.  They give you a countdown and then basically say “Take all fucking day, we don’t care!”  Thanks, asshole.  Then you get something that looks like this:

Each one of those little mounds of dirt marked with an ‘x’ has either something good, like a rupee, or something bad, like a bomb, hidden beneath it.  It’s a bit like minesweeper in that regard.  This means you can essentially pay 30 to 70, hard earned rupees, to walk out into this football field of death just to get your shit blown up on your first try.  And guess who’s waiting for you, ready to devour the soft cartilage of your ear once you’ve numbed the pain with some morphine? Tubert.

On the likely chance that the first spot you dig up isn’t a bomb, you can derive some clue as to what is around it based on what you find.  Green rupees are basically the best, as they mean all the spots around them are free of bombs.  Red, Silver, and Gold rupees on the other hand are a nice find but mean that you’re probably balls deep in grade-A Hyrulian explosives.  Here’s a helpful site for generating the exact percentages of where bombs may be.  I don’t use it though.

If you manage to guide your trembling hands to unearth all the rupees and not a single bomb, ol’ Tubert will give you a little bonus to go along with your blood-stained currency.  The bonuses are naturally different for each difficulty.  As of yet, I’ve only unlocked them for beginner, but come very close on intermediate.  Needless to say I won’t stop until I’ve done this for each difficulty at least twice.

Right, so here’s the worst part of Thrill Digger.  After you’ve contracted dementia pugilistica from repeatedly having your brains slammed against your skull, you need to recover your hearts.  There is a great system in Skyward Sword where if you sit on a stool, you can recover all your hearts.  Benches are another story.  For whatever reason Link doesn’t understand them and simply stands on them like a green-tuniced, “special” elf.

Guess where ol’ lonely Tubert put the only bench in this room, roughly the size of the Roman Colosseum?  Right under his fucking perfectly groomed mustache.  So poor Link, after PAYING to be torn to shreds from land mines, and suffering advanced PTSD, just wants to sit on a stool until “the shakes” subside.  But as soon as you do…  Tubert springs to life wanting to chew the fat, talking into the side of your head that can still pick up audible sounds over the dull ringing.

After you’ve exhausted his shallow dialog tree, Tubert doesn’t stop.  Each time you sit in that stool to mend your wounds, he’ll excitedly ask if you’d like to have a conversation about the same things you already know.  Then, when you refuse, he looks down sadly.  And as much as I’ve griped about everything having to do with this mini-game, I can’t help but feel a pang of guilt at making old Tubert look so damn sad.  Sometimes I think about humoring him and asking a question for old times sake, but I’m a busy man and I can’t stop on Tubert’s account.

And so I swear at Tubert.  I swear at getting a bomb on my first try.  I swear when I don’t even earn enough rupees to cover the fee I paid to play the game.  I swear as I mash ‘A’ through the text I’ve read hundreds of times.  But I will do all there is to do in Thrill Digger, as I have with every Zelda mini-game I’ve ever encountered.  It’s a matter of pride, and despite our differences I know Tubert understands.

Recently a Neogaf user posted this image of upcoming Game Stop releases in their internal database, possibly confirming that Xenoblade Chronicles is set to be released in North America.  Obviously this means we do not have official confirmation, but we do once again have something that dried up long ago: hope.

Perhaps it’s time I come clean about something I’ve kept you all in the dark about for far too long.  I’ve actually been fighting for this game for the past several months.  I’ve been out of the streets with pepper spray, a latex mask, and my steel will of justice washing away the filth scabbed onto my city.  No, but for real, I have been making a number of passive aggressive tweets directed at Nintendo of America’s twitter account.  And as a steady stream eventually wears down a mounting, Nintendo lay quivering at my feet finally giving into my demands.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s the proof:

I am not asking for your thanks.  I just want you all to remember that the small and few can overpower those who appear to wield all the power.  The key lies in unwavering faith that you are doing the right thing.  I unflinchingly came face to face with a software behemoth and in the end, the behemoth backed down.  You have the same power, don’t ever forget that.  Now excuse me while I go mace Sony and Capcom into bringing over Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. *swoosh*

UPDATE: Nintendo of America posted some images of Xenoblade characters on their Facebook page.  This rumor is looking pretty promising!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I am embarking upon a new project — one which is lofty, to say the least. I have found a flower girl, un-learned in the ways of the hunt. She knows nothing of the art of tracking, capturing, or even how to properly wield a Great Sword. What better opportunity to show my prowess as a hunter than to train her up from nothing to an exemplary huntress?

Our goal will be to slay every monster in Monster Hunter Tri.  For the sake of others seeking guidance down the lonely path of a true hunter, I will record each session and publish it here.  My teaching, humbly bestowed upon this peasant girl, can perhaps serve as a beacon of light to those faltering in their gait.  Join us, on the eighth of August for the very first show, so that you, too, may become a scholar and a master hunter.

Recently I have gone back to Monster Hunter Tri and have been exploring the world of the gunner. Gunners are something of a wild card in the game. They have increased range and versatility at the detriment of about half the defense of a blademaster. Most players shy away from this class since, in addition to the lack of defense, there is also a greater learning curve in terms of weaponry. Unlike blademasters, gunners must assemble their weapons from three different elements: a stock, a frame, and a barrel. Each piece brings something different to the weapon, and this can be confusing without proper research and experimentation.

One gun assembly in particular has proven to be a tried and true combination, and has been dubbed by many as “The Angry Tadpole”.  This particular setup requires the Thundacruz Rex frame, the Devil’s Grin Barrel, and the Chaos Wing stock.  You may notice that the appearance of this combination (pictured above) does in fact resemble a rather disgruntled polliwog.  Personally, I am not sure what caused such a horrible scowl to come across this fellow’s face, but he doesn’t look like the topic is up for discussion, so we better just leave him be.

The parts needed to make this assembly are those you won’t find until end-game, so the main reason I am sharing this is for players who have basically reached the ceiling for what can be done with the blademaster class.  If you want to experiment with gunner, this is a great place to start, and here is why:

Table made at http://divinewh.im/g/

If the above table doesn’t clarify why this is a great gun, allow me to.

• Strength: After upgrading the frame, the attack for this set tops out at 348.  This figure may seem low to a blademaster, but trust me, this beast can dish it out.
• Versatility: 4 shots of Exhaust means you can help anyone with a hammer achieve a quicker KO.  Being able to load 4 shots of Para 2 is also very helpful when trying to control a monster or help your team get a tail off.  It also loads all of the element shots as well as some Crag 3 to work on breaking limbs and faces.  A decent amount of Pierce is great for dishing out damage, and Pellet 3 is always fun for solo or playing offline.  This is a virtual jackknife of a gun!
• Stability: This gun shoots true, loads quickly, and has some recoil.  The only reason recoil would be a concern to most players is if they were attempting to use this weapon mostly for inflicting status ailments, in which case an armor with Recoil Down +2 would wholly eliminate recoil.
• Protection: A shield is a must if you don’t have an evasion set.  Just be sure you’re facing an attack head-on to block it.  If it’s from the side your shield won’t work.  Also you can’t block while reloading!

When it comes to armor, the consensus is that this weapon is best accented by the Vangis (Deviljho) armor since it has Load Up and Attack Up (M) which essentially boosts what is already inherently awesome about the gun.  If you favor Pierce, you can wear the Diablos armor, and Ingot+ is my personal favorite for status gunning.

Credits for this weapon go in part to VampireCosmonaut who I believe coined the iconic name.  If you are looking for more in-depth info about gunning in Tri you should definitely check out all his FAQs at Gamefaqs.

I have found gunning to be a rewarding and exhilarating aspect of Monster Hunter that many people overlook.  It is my hope that this gun can provide a comfortable place to start for some players who are intimidated by it.  So sling this furious fellow over your back and start hitting those monsters until they die.

Seemingly from nowhere, Enterbrain has announced a new title developed by Crafts and Meister. (Yeah, I had never heard of them before either.) Turns out C & M employs Noritaka Funamizu, a former Capcom exec with an impressive list of titles under his belt.  Not sure how Capcom let this guy go…  Anyway, Funamizu is leading the project and recently presented Earth Seeker at the Kadokawa Games Conference 2011.

The game begins with the end of Earth as we know it.  In the planet’s final moments, humanity gathers its most important relics and puts them aboard enormous spaceships and bizz-ounces.  These relics range from paintings to larger monuments and landmarks like the Statue of Liberty.  The ships then crash on another planet, which slightly resembles Earth.  In the crash, humanity’s relics are scattered about and must be collected.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are a number of little beings living on the planet known as “guardians”.  The player may choose either a male or female protagonist and must recruit the planet’s guardians to defeat various enormous baddies and recover our prized relics.  Here is a look at a couple of guardians:

Like Ewoks ready to TCB.

Funamizu seems to be moving away from heavier titles like Monster Hunter.  Regarding Earth Seeker’s gameplay, he stated “I’ve been making nothing but hard action games and was told by light users that ‘it’s so tough that I can’t play.’ For some time now, I’ve wanted to make a game that even these people can play.”  It should be noted that Earth Seeker is also a single player game, so that further simplifies things.

The combat reminds me of the .hack// series in that you may pause action and give commands to your guardians.  This system is called Time Stop Battle, and you can see it in action in this gameplay trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Earth Seeker will also feature Nintendo DSi interaction, via a DSi Ware mini-game called “Starting Out! Earth Seeker”.  The mini-game will allow you to cook food to be used in the game, clean relics found in the Wii version, and other yet-to-be-announced cross overs.  I daresay that, after the DSi being out for nearly 2 years, this is the first interesting application of DSi Ware.

Obviously there is no word on a Western localization at this time, but here is hoping we’ll hear something soon.  If the DSi mini-game was localized as well I would actually consider upgrading to a DSi!  This game gives me a real Dark Cloud feeling — it reminds me of the simpler days of JRPGs.  Earth Seeker goes on sale in Japan on April 7th.  Which publisher is feeling adventurous and also wants my money?

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have been oddly silent about The Last Story. Have you noticed? I was going to let it be a game I savor — one which I would not destroy for myself by watching every trailer and translating every morsel before so much as an utterance of a Western release. But today, my silence must end.

A recent article has violently echoed (1, 2, 3) through the online gaming community, building more and more hastily constructed conclusions with each writer. Apparently VG247 asked an unnamed representative at Nintendo about The Last Story’s Western release, to which the rep responded, and I quote, “We have no plans at present.”  There are two things I want to emphasize about this article:

1. The representative was not named.
2. “AT PRESENT”

The extremely likely reason that no individual was quoted as saying this is because they lack the authority to make a statement on behalf of Nintendo.  You will never read “nameless person at [GAMING COMPANY] confirms a game’s release because we asked”.  It doesn’t happen because there are proper channels: press releases, periodicals, online publications — these are how announcements are made.  Gaming companies are not sitting around patiently waiting for someone to ask about a game’s release.

Finally, “at present” in no way signifies finality in a decision making process.  The Last Story is not even out in Japan yet — and it won’t be out for a week — of course they haven’t made any plans for a Western release yet. Pokémon Black and White was released in September 18th of last year and yet an official announcement of the game was not made until December 27th.  Do the math.

This is a prime example of a “journalistic” publications taking an otherwise insignificant morsel of information and spinning it to get a reaction and, conversely, hits.  I wish this weren’t as common a problem as it is, but with so many articles such as those above popping up these days, readers need to be more aware of sources and quotations or simply avoid sites with writers who pull this crap.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I may not have the raw disposable income to give away bees like Oprah, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that I like.  Maybe you know someone with similar tastes as me, maybe not.  Either way here is a list of some things I am excited to own, or anticipate owning in the near future.  They don’t all pertain to video games because, well, I have a life outside of video games, dammit!

First I want to start with my pink dualshock 3 controller.  This has arguably been my favorite piece of gaming hardware this year.  Its bright color makes it easy to find just about anywhere.  I have a habit of going to get a drink or snack in the middle of gaming and placing my controller in random places.  It’s like I am a sleepwalker, seriously, it’s fucking weird.  But that bright pink stands out against just about any surface, unless of course you have a pink couch or something.  (I don’t, though; what am I — a girl?)

Also the finish on the new generation of controllers feels much better in my hands than the first generation.  I am not sure if it is matte or what, but whenever I am forced to use the dualshock 3 which was bundled with my PS3 it feels gross to me.

While we are on the topic of controllers, the Wii classic controller pro also pretty much made my year.  If you know someone with a Wii, or about to get a Wii, definitely do them a favor and buy this for them:

You can read a more in-depth write up on the Wii classic controller here.

Next up is an item every person needs: a calender for the new year.  But this calendar is unique.  It doesn’t show ferrets dressed up as people, or people dressed up as ferrets.  It shows real photos of abandoned places in Japan. The photographer, Michael John Grist, has a blog where he publishes photos of his exploits exploring real ruins in Japan.  The calender consists of 12 (13 if you count the cover) of these images. Check them out in fullscreen for the full effect:

I am not really sure who would be the best recipient of this as a gift, other than someone who doesn’t mind getting weird looks from co-workers (this guy).  But I personally am fascinated by modern ruins and the thought of a world without humans.  Anyone who played Fragile Dreams and loved it as much as I did will definitely enjoy this calender.

Next up is a couple of shows I have been enjoying.  As I have mentioned before, I am not much of an anime fan, yet the past few weeks I have actually been watching and enjoying two different series.  First was volume two of Toradora! and more recently, volume one of Our Home’s Fox Deity, both of which are localized by NIS America.

You can check out my review of Toradora! volume one here if you’ve never heard of the series.  Our Home’s Fox Diety, for those who don’t know, is a series steeped in equal parts Japanese mythology, humor, and drama.  It follows two brothers who happen to be direct descendants of a Japanese shaman bloodline.  When a yokai threatens the younger of the two brothers, the family must ask an inari okami for assistance.  Rather than sealing the inari okami away once more, the brothers decide to make it their guardian spirit, and thus they are introduced to the world of yokai.

The show is rather formulaic, at least in terms of episode structure: there will always be a bad guy who needs to get put in his place a la Team Rocket.  There is a bit of school drama too, along with numerous side characters, but the tone of the show is never very serious making it enjoyable at least to me.

My favorite part about NIS anime collections is that there is no English dub option. This is one less step I have to go through every time I want to watch. Also, the nice packaging and bonus art book makes this a great gift. It’s a little more personal than downloading and burning shows, don’t you think?  There is a sale on a bunch of NIS items, including the aforementioned series, which ends tomorrow, so now is your chance to grab these.

Next up is a brand I stumbled upon in LA for last year’s E3, called Aranzi Aronzo.  I found one of their awesome mugs with two kappa and a fish sitting down to enjoy some tea and Foxes instantly purchased it.  The way they are looking at you — it’s almost as if you’re disturbing a deep conversation about the different temperatures of ponds and how snapping turtles are total assholes.

I am in love with most everything in their tableware section at the moment, but really just about everything they sell is awesome.  Expect about 1 to 2 weeks for delivery if you do order anything, but they can ship worldwide.  The prices are fairly reasonable which is nice since shipping can get pricey for heavier items.

Next is a rare collection of promotional items made for the Pokémon centers throughout Japan called Pokémon Time:

There were plush dolls, keychain straps, stationary and more made featuring the adorable and simplified artwork. Most of them are tough to find now, but aside from an occasional eBay listing there is a site which does have some of the merchandise still available. It’s called Hardrock-Pokémon.com. I know — terrible name and the site is hideous, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone else who ships to the West.  Here is a search for all their Pokémon Time merchandise.  Personally I have my eyes on the Cubone mobile phone strap, because I really need another useless phone charm that I can’t attach to my iPhone.

Well there you have it — a collection of items recommended by me which have the potential to be great holiday gifts. I don’t have anything free to give you because I am poor (I can’t even afford fire ants let alone bees) but hopefully someone will find this information priceless.  Happy Cyber Monday from Kotowari.org!

I know that the amount of people out there who still care about Monster Hunter Tri is considerably less than when I wrote my review.  I can understand: new games come out, old ones become forgotten.  I had been a slave to this routine as well — it’s almost required of you when you write about video games.  Tri is the first game that I have consistently gone back to in a while; the last one which sucked up this much of my time was probably Fallout 3.

I think the multiplayer is a huge part of the appeal.  I have never enjoyed a console based multiplayer as much as I do with this game.  It could be that I have awesome friends, or it could be that the competition keeps things interesting.  Either way I can’t spend enough time smacking beasts around with my hammer.  The hours just disappear.

And I can’t be the only one who loves the game, even Square Enix has their own rip-off in development:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Is that the least inspired dragon you have ever seen?  The size is all off!  And why does the guy hold his sword like that?  Are those numbers and… a LIFE BAR?!  A swing and a miss, Square.

In my feverish obsession I have stumbled upon some resources that I thought might help other fans.  You can consider this an extension of my post on tips for getting started in the game.

The first site is an armor set generator, allowing you to make a collection from all the armor in the game, ranks 1 and 2, blademaster or gunner.  You can also add a talisman and decorate the whole lot with jewels to see what abilities you can tack on.  You can find the generator here.  If you come up with a creative set, you can even save it on the site as a bookmark.  Most of the ones already saved are pretty outlandish, requiring a great amount of time and luck, but a few are reasonable.  If you prefer a certain weapon type, try searching (CTRL + F) for that weapon — I found some hammer sets that way!  My only complaint is that items with “torso up” don’t seem to function.  Maybe that will be fixed soon.

The next resource is for all the ladies out there… or at least anyone using a female character, myself included.  One of the main contributors to the info on the Monster Hunter Wiki, MrBobo, also has a youtube channel.  Here you can check out every armor (with the exception of the guild armor) for female blademasters and gunners in a series of brief videos showing profile, rear, close-up, etc.  This is much better than the images on the wiki!  Most people could probably care less, but I take my hunter’s appearance pretty seriously.  Probably too seriously.  Here is MrBobo’s channel on youtube.

When will my obsession subside?  I have no idea, but it may be put aside temporarily in preparation for the next DVGH!  I won’t reveal the series yet, I will just say I have not played the games myself and thus need to catch up.  I will be shooting for next Saturday, but no promises!  I hope you can join us.

My first experience with the Monster Hunter franchise was with last year’s Freedom Unite for the PSP. I enjoyed the game but didn’t feel it was the best place for me to begin – I longed for the console experience, assuming that the disconnect was the fault of the platform. Upon learning of Monster Hunter Tri’s release on the Wii (of all systems) in Japan and after playing the demo I decided I would try to fall in love with the series again once it reached the States.

Story – It takes a village

The Monster Hunter series is not known for having captivating stories.  In the defense of the developers, putting a positive spin on essentially doing the same thing over and over can be difficult.

In Tri the player begins by creating and customizing their character.  Soon after that they sail into Moga Village, a rustic port town filled with cheery hunter/gatherers.  Suddenly an earthquake rips through the village causing equal parts damage and commotion.  The player is told that a certain creature is to blame: the Lagiacrus.  This beast’s end is your goal and you must work up to it by going on a series of missions in which you either kill monsters or collect materials.

Along the way, residents of the village use their trades to assist the player.  Everyone from fishermen and farmers to merchants and, well, cats pitch in.  There is a real sense of community surrounding Moga Village and the player becomes a part of it.

I found that this framing device worked quite well.  I appreciated that a goal (the Lagiacrus) was established early.  This helped me feel like I was working towards something, rather than just repeating the same actions for no reason other than to get stronger.  The sense of kinship with the village pushed me forward and made me feel like I was playing a story-driven game which I had not expected at all.

Battle System – That water is just for decoration

Monster Hunter sets itself apart from a lot of RPGs and action RPGs these days.  There is no lock-on option, no enemy life bar; none of the luxuries we gamers have grown sadly accustomed to.  The player needs to really learn their weapon to be accurate with it.  Likewise the player needs to learn each monster to know its patterns and to tell when it’s weak.  You essentially become a hunter: proficient at your chosen weapon and striving to learn all you can about your enemy.

One big update to the system for Monster Hunter Tri is underwater battles.  Normally this idea strikes fear in all gamers, conjuring up memories of awkward controls and blinding rage (Kingdom Hearts, I am looking at you).  I was happy to find that the standard terra firma controls for Monster Hunter translate very nicely for underwater.  Everything is essentially the same, but the relation of the y axis on your joystick determines the depth your character will dive/rise.  It is rare that a battle will take place entirely underwater as well, as long as you allow an enemy to move around.  I felt this system not only brought something new to the table, but gave hunting a new dimension and realism.  Games that use water as only scenery are a thing of the past (I hope).

Another huge part of Monster Hunter Tri is the online mode.  Here up to four hunters can join forces for any quest after meeting in an online city hub.  This mode is also compatible with Wii Speak and thankfully does not require clunky friend codes.  You can add someone as a friend in-game with a Hunter ID (separate from their character’s name) or by simply walking up to them and sending them a message.  As this process must be reciprocal for both players to appear on each other’s friend roster, it does take a bit of time but nothing system-breaking.

Competing quests together accrues hunter points which raise your hunter rank.  Players with a high hunter rank can enjoy exploring new areas and unlocking more challenging missions than are found offline.  In fact, to get some of the best items in the game, the player needs to play online as some materials can only be gathered there.  This seems to be a theme these days for RPGs with online capabilities so I wasn’t surprised at this aspect.  I was pleased to find out that increasing your hunter rank is fairly balanced and won’t require a tremendous amount of grinding.

My time spent playing Monster Hunter online was the best multiplayer experience I have ever had for a console based RPG.  I could find my friends easily on my friend roster, warp to them instantly, and chat via Wii Speak (or Skype) while completing missions together.  The whole process was very polished and user friendly.

Presentation – Paintballin’

Capcom definitely took some steps to encourage people to dive into the world of Monster Hunter, especially if they are new to the series.  They were wise enough to make the multiplayer mode free-of-charge unlike in Japan where the game has a much stronger fanbase and players are required to pay Wii points.  Also they have started a number of event quests where players can participate to earn unique rewards like weapons and armor.

Capcom also released a special edition of the game (now rather difficult to find) which included a tool whose benefits I cannot tout enough: the Classic Controller Pro.  I played the demo of Monster Hunter Tri prior to owning this beautiful device and feared I would hate the game.  After playing the full version of the game with the controller, I was officially in love.  For a better write-up on the Classic Controller Plus you can read my impressions here.  Long story short: controls may have been a huge factor keeping me from really enjoying Freedom Unite.  This controller made everything come together for me.

Speaking of controllers, it’s possible to download your Monster Hunter Tri character to your Wii remote.  You can then bring it over a friend’s house and play some two-player.  That is the future, ladies and gentlemen.

Conclusions – Number Crunching, Crunched

Monster Hunter games are different.  I think that is why they have developed the immense following they have in Japan and increasingly worldwide.  They offer a generous amount of gameplay (I am at over 90 hours myself), an almost limitless challenge focused on learning rather than pure number increasing, and now with Tri, a bustling and easy to use multiplayer mode.  If you are a Wii owner remotely interested in RPGs I assure you this will be one of the most enjoyable titles of this year and possibly this generation.