I hear that. I actually managed to kill him with my team first try, but one or two subsequent quests of it sometimes didn't go as well. My most recent one was a success (just barely). The one before that failed because I switched to SnS instad of SA (which won me the quest every time before). Honestly, I have trouble against him with anything else. I'm not above letting people call the SA cheap, but in this game, that's just fighting fire with fire. I already have two different SA's (even though their stats are virtually identical), and I'm aiming to obtain the Agnaktor series as well. If DS were in this game (they supposedley should be in Freedom 3), I'd find myself having to flip a coin to decide which weapon to go with.
Two monsters I can't stand no matter how strong I get are Barroth and Rathian. Forget the fact that Barroth can induce a brand-new status effect (CLEANSER. GET CLEANSER, PEOPLE), but WHOLE-E CRAP, enough with the forward charge. I'm definitely going to start working on my Lance skills for him. As for Rathian, she's actually not all that difficult once you manage to recognize her attack patterns, which is EXTREMELY crucial to know lest you get poisoned and have no antidotes. She's still just really tricky, and for some reason, you can get heavily damaged just by getting in the way when she's walking fast, an attack that apparently has NOTHING to telegraph it.
And does anyone else actually use friend requests in the game? I personally can't be arsed to do so on a whim, but I've accepted 3 out of 3 thus far in the course of a day and a half.
I wish it had an auto search for quests. I know it has a lot of multiplayer features but I always get struck by politeness online and I don't like crashing into other parties (Just to make it worse, the guild leader even echoes virtually those exact words).
I'd prefer it if I could select the first quest and it auto-matched me with others seeking to do it also. Chances are they'd be my rough experience and skill level.
Going through the cities with each city gate seems an unneeded level of abstraction.
So I was just on a Rathian capture quest, we finished subquests A and B in record time. I needed only one Rathian Plate I was prepped like Batman in TDKR, but the fight was a cake walk compared to normal fights with Rathian. So she's >THIS< close to going into limp mode, we were overstocked with tranq bombs, I had two different traps, a partner had the EZ shock trap, I restocked on megapotion and nutrients, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD...
The connection terminates...
Yeah...
YouTube video
I'm four hours into it and it's not too shabby. The graphics exceed expectations on what I would usually expect out of a Wii title and the game itself is a great experience due to the atmosphere. One of the primary aspects of this game that drew me in immediately was the behavior and physical aesthetic of the "monsters." Their reactions and varied movements for each species is something quite marvelous. You don't see a game that often focuses on it's individual enemy NPC/Mooks and gives each type of monster their own feel and demeanor. I was amazed at how, if you picked on a group of herbivores, they might be hostile or they may simply run away but if you even attempt to approach blood-thirsty carnivores, they lunge at you with razor sharp canines. "Monster Hunter Tri" accomplished a grand feature with their monster diversity and it makes this action RPG more interesting.
This game, however, does not sneak by me without my sharing of gripes. The great swords and heavy weaponry maneuvering is painfully frustrating and often has me begging to go back to regular swords or spears. First off, the initial animation of the "Bone Sword" I was using was about 3.5 seconds too long and, because there is no lock-on function, you have to be extremely precise or you're left open for prolonged amounts of time where beasts can freely pick at you until you're able to escape the animation.
Also, stringing together combos with these massive blades seems like a tedious function. Instead of having something that is coherently smooth to work with, you're forced to master this inescapable swinging system to be decent with larger weaponry and that's quite disappointing. I have to admit that I did enjoy the charging aspect of some of these larger weapons. It felt good to hold the gargantuan bone sword in my hand, charging it and then releasing a devastating smash to a nearby carnivore. Well, that's if the carnivore hasn't already run beside you while the charging was occurring and chewed away at your spleen.
The cooking system seems a little mundane and monster bodies quickly disappear, taking along precious bone matter/fangs/etc. that you worked hard to obtain, which is irritating. There's nothing more delightful than having to put your weapon away, pressing the context sensitive button directly over the body, and then being attacked by nearby enemies simply because you couldn't wait for the battle to end or else the body might simply vanish. I do, however, enjoy the simple crafting aspect of how you can blend certain materials to craft potions and such.
However, downing beasts feels accomplishing and you genuinely feel like the titular "Monster Hunter" that you've set out to be. This game would probably feel more difficult but I happen to be an avid "Demon's Souls" player and, after you play that game, it makes similar games feel sort of easy.
Overall, I'm enjoying it so far but I've yet to tackle the co-operative multiplayer aspect of this game. I'm intent upon beating the single player portion first.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
A lock-on would be very welcome, actually, though I suspect it would cause an outcry from the series fans. You have to become very good with the camera controls to land accurate hits, I find.
Speaking of the controls, have you tried playing this title with the classic controller? It's torturous! You move with the joystick, yet your camera controls are just about on the directional pad. It's very difficult to control both at the same time and you almost always have to resort to jamming the left bumper to reset the camera angle to a perspective behind the player character. It's very dysfunctional, I find.
Dipping into the multiplayer shows it is probably a good idea to do it in tandem with single player.
I was thinking of that but why do you advise doing this?
Because the rewards are scaled to aid you in single player, basically. I guess you could go through it from scratch with a different character. If you wait until you are super-powerful and then go to the City, you'll have to slog through a load of pointless stuff you don't need any more.
I am playing with the Classic Controller Pro. It works absolutely perfectly for me- better than any other option by far.
Originally posted by UshgarakOut of curiosity what weapon do you use? Assuming you have a main.
A lock-on would be very welcome, actually, though I suspect it would cause an outcry from the series fans. You have to become very good with the camera controls to land accurate hits, I find.Dipping into the multiplayer shows it is probably a good idea to do it in tandem with single player.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
Because the rewards are scaled to aid you in single player, basically. I guess you could go through it from scratch with a different character. If you wait until you are super-powerful and then go to the City, you'll have to slog through a load of pointless stuff you don't need any more.I am playing with the Classic Controller Pro. It works absolutely perfectly for me- better than any other option by far.
Really? I don't find myself comfortable with the camera mechanics being on the directional pad. Do you use the buttons to attack or the right joystick?