@ciortas1: Hope you don't mind my lengthy input, but I'll reply to some of your points as someone who has played MH3.
TL;DR - The "tutorials" aren't tutorials as you probably think. They don't hand-hold and they introduce things at a steady pace over multiple missions as you said would be preferable. MH3 doesn't have a eastern fantasy setting, it has a primordial hunter-gatherer setting which explains the lack of magic, low-tech weapons and need for sharpening. The sharpness system isn't tedious: your weapons reset to max sharpness at the end of quests and sharpening involves a single button press. The alchemy system in The Witcher sounds great, and you may find the MH3 various weapon systems an interesting and also-almost-totally-optional equivalent. If you want more details, read below.
If you just flame me for writing a lot, then I'm not interested. Obligatory essay warning:
WALL OF TEXT WARNING. No butthurt here, just explaining some of what ciortas1 was talking about.
The "Tutorial"
ciortas1 said:
Hell, it's an action RPG. Show us what each fucking button does and let us interact with NPCs that will teach us how and what to do ourselves if it IS that complicated for ya.
Hmm, maybe it's not been said yet, but that IS what the "tutorial" is. The hand-holding amounts to, "go on this quest, and here's a few lines of text to point you in the right direction. Now here's a couple more quests to introduce other aspects of the game you haven't seen yet." The tutorial section, as many have called it, isn't so much a tutorial as it is the early missions. No hand-holding, no frequent gameplay interruptions with PRESS A TO JUMP flashing on-screen, no long-winded explanations like the ones that plague Final Fantasy. They wrap up the "tutorials" in enough story trappings that it shouldn't really bother any first-time players either.
The "tutorials" consist of ~5 lines of text at the start of a few different quests which cover, in approximate order: basic game info (quest system, timer, equipment system and whatnot - these are around 5-10 lines of text each), combat, various in-game activities like gathering and sharpening, and underwater movement and combat. Later on you get sporadic info about more advanced stuff like how to capture large monsters, going online and so forth. This is all necessary knowledge for you to play. Any other information is gleaned from the manual, from NPCs in town or from the internet - all of which are totally optional of course.
A good game will throw down the basics for you in 5-20 minutes and then gradually introduce you to its features... A good game, if it doesn't introduce its features gradually, will be intuitive about them.
Agreed, and that's what MH does, for the most part. The basics are covered before and during the first mission, and then it arranges the early quest progression so that it tells you what you need to know when you first need to know it. It also arranges things so that you get to familiarise yourself with the game before you die fighting any major bosses. Why does it take an hour to get there? Because there are story scenes, travel time, combat time, gathering time, and lots of other things to do. You also have the option of doing your own thing (like free-roaming or repeating quests), which is why some people said the "tutorial" section can last 2 hours. Maybe that's what Yahtzee spent all his time doing.
I guess it's people's misconceptions about what actually happens in the tutorial, and the fact that MH players failed to properly explain what the "tutorial" really was.
Weapon Sharpness
I meant that Fallout 3 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. have a reason to have weapon degradation included in them (granted, it's still annoying as shit), and that's because they are set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where any piece of scrap is supposed to count, whereas MHT is an action 'RPG' set in the usual eastern fantasy setting, it has no place there.
And even while someone explained ITT that MHT uses the sharpness system as something that requires tactic (which is where I can somewhat agree about its purpose) I am still strongly against it. Why? Because in this case, it's necessary to sharpen your weapons to have an edge over some of the enemies for a short period of time. However, it's a boring, tedious and unnecessary core mechanic, where it should be something completely optional.
MH isn't set in the usual eastern fantasy setting however. The game follows a primordial theme throughout, from the user interface artwork to the environments to the NPC clothing. You live in a primitive hunter-gatherer-fishing village and there is no magic, little technology and very little in the way of spiky hair. I suppose in a similar way that a post-apocalyptic setting lends itself to scavenging, so does a primeval hunter-gatherer setting. Also consider your weapons are made of iron or other low-tech minerals so they will naturally wear out with use. They'd be even more likely to than mass-produced guns from the future, surely.
So sharpening does have a place considering it's in a more realistic and more primitive setting than most Japanese games. Also the monsters obviously are heavily-armoured, and your weapons aren't high-tech, nor infused with magic. The sharpness mechanic is there to encourage players to be more accurate with their attacks - if you hit a monster's armoured back your weapon's sharpness will logically drop, while if you hit its soft underbelly then it won't dull as much, if at all.
The sharpness mechanic is not tedious and boring either. Your weapon's sharpness is automatically reset to maximum whenever you start/end a quest (by default it's at its maximum), and it takes about 2 seconds using one common item (a Whetstone) in the field to replenish your sharpness gauge a good amount. There's no need to stock up obscure items, no complex repair system, nor any stats to keep track of. It's a single item and a single button press. Sharpening time also happens to be 2 seconds you're totally vulnerable, so you'll need to find an opportune time and place to sharpen it, or you'll get trampled by nearby monsters. The whole system is there to encourage players to be more skillful. It also balances out the damage output of melee weapons with the bowgun which has limited ammunition and often needs to be reloaded.
Furthermore if you really insist that sharpening be optional - well, it is. You could defeat monsters with your blade totally dull, but it would take a hell of a lot longer thanks to lowered damage, accuracy and more deflections. But it's introduced early and its so simple to make use of that you'd have to be totally dim not to use it.
Cool Optional RPG Systems
Which brings me to another action RPG called The Witcher. Alchemy, being a really fleshed out and deep profession (and it's a pretty big part of the game) is almost completely optional. Yes, you can use those potions to have an edge over enemies, but it is almost never required to beat missions and they never beat you over the head with it, and I admire that. It gives the players choice about how they want to play. Had this mechanic been used as Alchemy in the Witcher, my opinion about it would be different.
Though I haven't played The Witcher (hear it's very good though), I imagine an equivalent to that is the 7 weapon types in Monster Hunter Tri, which all control in a totally different fashion. I've read some people say that the game has 7 combat systems because the weapons are all so different. You can choose one that you like over the others, or you can spread your expertise across multiple types. The button presses for each of them even have different moves - a particular button may do an overhead strike with the sword and shield, but will do a piercing attack with the lance.
The weapons also handle differently - some people like slow but heavy-hitting weapons (greatswords), others prefer to have a reliable shield behind which they can poke at enemies (lances), others like to nip in and out using lots of small hits (sword and shield), and others still like to attack from afar (bowguns). Bowguns in and of themselves are composed of three parts (frame, barrel and stock) for customising the sorts of ammo you can use, its weight class, whether it can rapidfire certain ammo types and whether it has a shield you can use to defend yourself.
These multiple weapon systems are optional (past the one you choose to use from the beginning) but have so much variety, depth and strategy that they perhaps are the equivalent of The Witcher's fabled alchemy system.
Nor are you beat over the head with it - the weapon shop girl pretty much just muses, "I wonder whether there is a best weapon out there? I guess we'll never know". Sometimes she'll tell you about the specialties a particular weapon type has, and that's it.
Oh, and all non-main story dialogue is skippable with a single button press.
Wow, that got far longer than I expected. Guess I just like writing about the game, and there's a lot of interesting details that you can cover. Anyway...
Congratulations if you read all that!
