The Monster Hunter (モンスターハンター Monsutā Hantā) is a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games that started with the game Monster Hunter for PlayStation 2, was released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of platforms, including personal computer, home console, portable consoles, and mobile devices. This series is developed and published by Capcom. - Logo and Description from Wiki
I have played this game maybe about 8 or 9 years ago in my Playstation Portable (the first one they call Phat/Fat version). It's a game that needs you to be really focused and committed. It's not for casual gamers since it requires hundreds or thousands of hours for your character to be strong. It requires tons of attention and for you to develop multiple strategies that you can use in gathering, crafting, and battling monsters.
I'm really excited that there will be an upcoming Monster Hunter game which will be called Monster Hunter World. It looks very promising. I just need to prepare lots of budget for it since not only do I need to buy the game, I need to set up a console to play it with. If it will be available for PC then that will be great as well, since I think I can run that on my laptop (although it may require lower settings for the graphics).
Photo from Rolling Stone
This game is very immersive and difficult. You have to build up your character organically from scratch and spend hours on the game to earn strength and improve your character in multiple aspects. There are things that you can easily buy but most stuff you need (materials, items, and equipment) are either gathered or mined, through your own farm or by heading out to quests.
In general, I can split the game into 3 main parts: Gathering, Crafting, Battling.
Gathering is how you grow in this game. There are different ways to gather things that are very essential to your character's growth.
Mining photo from PSU
You can gather items and materials from your very own farm inside the village. This is where you get a number of tries to gather materials, it's like an arcade where there are different games you can try. In your farm you can do the following:
- Mine Ores/Minerals/Metals
- Plant and gather herbs/seeds
- Go fishing
- Capture bugs
- Gather honey
- Gather Dung for fertilizers
- Set off cats to go on a journey
Those are just some of the gathering that you can do inside your farm. Although, at the start of the game, you're only allowed to do 3 or 4 of those and as you progress through the game, you can buy additional parts/gathering ways for your farm. Those also have tiers where you start off from the bottom and buy upgrades until you max it out - each upgrade will give you more or higher quality items when you gather things inside your farm.
Gathering Photo from Capcom
Once you set out on quests, you can also gather materials in the open maps (by the way there are 2 different quests - either a gathering one or one where you have a target kill/s, but you can gather materials in either of those quests). All you have to do is look for the proper places to gather and also bring the proper tools.
- Pickaxes to mine.
- Nets to capture bugs.
- Baits for fishing.
Gathering Photo from Capcom
Lastly, you can gather materials while you hunt. All you have to do is kill an animal or a monster and gather things from their carcasses once they die. You can also gather some materials when monsters drop items (when they faint or have a body part damaged). This is pretty hard to do especially when the materials you need are something you can only get from boss monsters in the game, however it does pay off since those things are required for higher level items/equipment.
Weapons Photo from Game Pressure
The right equipment, both weapon and armor will definitely help you survive the game. They will make you strong and help you beat even the most hard to beat boss monsters in the game.
You just have to select which of the main weapon types will be your weapon of choice - master those moves and make a better weapon everytime - aiming to create the best there is. Here are the weapon types:
- GREAT SWORD
- LONG SWORD SWORD AND SHIELD
- DUAL BLADES
- HAMMER
- HUNTING HORN
- LANCE
- GUNLANCE
- SWITCH AXE
- CHARGE BLADE
- INSECT GLAIVE
- LIGHT BOWGUN & HEAVY BOWGUN
- BOW
- GREAT SWORD
I have not used all of those weapons especially the new ones since the last installment I played was Monster Hunter Freedom Unite which was really too long ago.
Gathering and crafting is closely related because you cannot craft your equipment if you haven't gathered the required material. You are able to forge and upgrade equipment once you have the right material - this directly translates to growth since you attacks and defenses greatly relies on the equipment you have.
Photo from Zoom Me
Heading out to quests and battling those monsters are the real essence of being a hunter in the game. Battling allows you to gather and in turn craft new weapons, it's a vicious circle of improving your character, really.
There are a variety of monsters you have to battle to move further in the game. From little cats to giant dragons that attacks castles. This is not a hack and slash game though. This is a battle of tactics. It is essential that you know when, where, and how to strike a monster and when to block or when to stay away. It isn't easy. You can always fail the first time you encounter a certain monster, maybe even die in the process, but the most important thing is to study their movements and weaknesses.
There are already tons of guides provided over the internet that can help you defeat monsters in the series no matter how small or how big. You just have to start your research and find those reviews or forums if you don't want to do it the hard way: trying it for yourself multiple times and failing multiple times before succeeding.
Photo from Pressplay
That's basically what the game is about: Gather your materials, make your weapons, defeat monsters, repeat. It sounds simple but in reality it is a very complex game where the stubborn will not survive - not only does this game require strong character players but also patient ones that know how to make their strategies, that know how to fail to learn how to win. Thanks for reading!
PS: My resteem service is still on. I just want to blog as well. It helps relieve frustrations. Just check my description about my resteem service.