I've been talking to people who believe that Monster Hunter's(MH) time is up. That Soul Sacrifice(SS) or Toukiden: Age of Demons(TAOD) will succeed Monster Hunter and be the new king. Most tend to say it's going to be SS but I believe it's going to be TAOD. So I thought I would go through the games and talk about the three and see which will be king.
Story: For MH, this is probably it's weakest category. A big monster comes, wreck stuff, then disappears. After that it's up to you to find it and slay it. Only after taking 40 other missions first and building decent gear. The problem is the lack of urgency. The wyvern shows up causes problems then is literally not seen again for a long time. There's very little to remind the player that there is some beast out there waiting to snack on everyone in the village. I can't help but to find it a flaw. However, out of the three games, MH is the only game that can be marketed to people of all ages.
TAOD has a story that pretty simplistic yet handled well. Humans are losing the war against demons and the village you're in is on the frontlines of the war. It's up to you and your team to stop the demon's advance. TAOD, like MH, shows you the flagship monster right out of the opening gates only to have it disappear for an extended period of time. Unlike MH TAOD constantly reminds the player that there's a war that we're currently losing. It creates a sense of urgency needed to the player actually feels like he has something important to do.
SS story is without a doubt the darkest of the three and is for mature audiences. The player is a prisoner that finds a talking book. In order to gain his/her freedom, the player relives the memories stored inside the book to become a powerful mage by sacrificing monster or saving the, stop a madman, and takes their freedom back. SS, in my opinion, has the worst story of the three. SS is a game that goes on about the actions of the player having consequences but the game starts ignoring the player's decisions during Destinies Past Ch. 2. The story follows the path of Dark Arm (sacrificing monsters) so if you played like how I did with Divine Arm (saving monster), you have to sit through cut scenes hearing about how you sacrifice something when you don't sacrifice. Not only that, but the game also starts to ignore it's own lore in the exact same chapter. I'll try to keep it simple. The game makes you fight a Slime monster which is a fiend of Gluttony. The problem is that the story behind this particular Slime has nothing to do with Gluttony and everything to do with saving his with from a nutjob. Then you have to fight his wife who's also a Slime despite the fact she become one out of Wrath.
Gameplay: Weirdly enough, both SS and TAOD have very simple and easy to pick up controls. Combat is fast and fluid while providing just enough of a challenge. You have to grind like crazy in SS to get enough Offerings (spells)in order to power them up, which is very time consuming. While TAOD has the most maddening drop rate I've ever encountered in any game. So you will end up fighting the same monster a dozen times trying to get a lv.5 item but only getting lv.7 items. MH, on the other hand, has the hardest controls and if you stop playing for a long time, you will need a refresher. However, grinding and drop rates are the easiest in MH. It will never take hours to get that armor and weapon set you want.
Sound: If you played these three games then you would know immediately that SS has the best soundtrack out of the three. TAOD is good and MH is forgettable.
AI: This category will be divided in two; Friendly AI and Enemy AI. Enemy AI in MH has always been good. If the wyvern is hurt, it will flee. It'll sleep and eat to regain it's health. Whereas TAOD and SS, the Enemy AI needs serious work. All they do is attack until their target is dead. That's it. Friendly AI in MH changes in quality depending on what game you're playing. In MH Freedom Unite, we had bipedal cats that were a huge help. In MH 3 Ultimate, we had the chakalas. They only served as a distraction and barely did that right. SS Friendly AI can be summed up in one word: Suicidal. Like the monsters, they rush in but, unlike the monster, they lack the attack power or defense power to do anything besides be dead weight. The Friendly AI in TAOD is the best. They actually look out for theirselves and you. There's a few problems like Nagi refusing to use her best healing ability or Oka and Fugaku running into a monster and keep running without stopping. But they are never in the way and you almost never have to go out of your way to keep them safe.
I think this is everything I wanted to cover. It isn't like I'm working from a script or anything. I just started typing. Like I said in the beginning, I believe the new king is Toukiden, but I want to hear from everyone who played these games. What which do you think is the best and why?
Story: For MH, this is probably it's weakest category. A big monster comes, wreck stuff, then disappears. After that it's up to you to find it and slay it. Only after taking 40 other missions first and building decent gear. The problem is the lack of urgency. The wyvern shows up causes problems then is literally not seen again for a long time. There's very little to remind the player that there is some beast out there waiting to snack on everyone in the village. I can't help but to find it a flaw. However, out of the three games, MH is the only game that can be marketed to people of all ages.
TAOD has a story that pretty simplistic yet handled well. Humans are losing the war against demons and the village you're in is on the frontlines of the war. It's up to you and your team to stop the demon's advance. TAOD, like MH, shows you the flagship monster right out of the opening gates only to have it disappear for an extended period of time. Unlike MH TAOD constantly reminds the player that there's a war that we're currently losing. It creates a sense of urgency needed to the player actually feels like he has something important to do.
SS story is without a doubt the darkest of the three and is for mature audiences. The player is a prisoner that finds a talking book. In order to gain his/her freedom, the player relives the memories stored inside the book to become a powerful mage by sacrificing monster or saving the, stop a madman, and takes their freedom back. SS, in my opinion, has the worst story of the three. SS is a game that goes on about the actions of the player having consequences but the game starts ignoring the player's decisions during Destinies Past Ch. 2. The story follows the path of Dark Arm (sacrificing monsters) so if you played like how I did with Divine Arm (saving monster), you have to sit through cut scenes hearing about how you sacrifice something when you don't sacrifice. Not only that, but the game also starts to ignore it's own lore in the exact same chapter. I'll try to keep it simple. The game makes you fight a Slime monster which is a fiend of Gluttony. The problem is that the story behind this particular Slime has nothing to do with Gluttony and everything to do with saving his with from a nutjob. Then you have to fight his wife who's also a Slime despite the fact she become one out of Wrath.
Gameplay: Weirdly enough, both SS and TAOD have very simple and easy to pick up controls. Combat is fast and fluid while providing just enough of a challenge. You have to grind like crazy in SS to get enough Offerings (spells)in order to power them up, which is very time consuming. While TAOD has the most maddening drop rate I've ever encountered in any game. So you will end up fighting the same monster a dozen times trying to get a lv.5 item but only getting lv.7 items. MH, on the other hand, has the hardest controls and if you stop playing for a long time, you will need a refresher. However, grinding and drop rates are the easiest in MH. It will never take hours to get that armor and weapon set you want.
Sound: If you played these three games then you would know immediately that SS has the best soundtrack out of the three. TAOD is good and MH is forgettable.
AI: This category will be divided in two; Friendly AI and Enemy AI. Enemy AI in MH has always been good. If the wyvern is hurt, it will flee. It'll sleep and eat to regain it's health. Whereas TAOD and SS, the Enemy AI needs serious work. All they do is attack until their target is dead. That's it. Friendly AI in MH changes in quality depending on what game you're playing. In MH Freedom Unite, we had bipedal cats that were a huge help. In MH 3 Ultimate, we had the chakalas. They only served as a distraction and barely did that right. SS Friendly AI can be summed up in one word: Suicidal. Like the monsters, they rush in but, unlike the monster, they lack the attack power or defense power to do anything besides be dead weight. The Friendly AI in TAOD is the best. They actually look out for theirselves and you. There's a few problems like Nagi refusing to use her best healing ability or Oka and Fugaku running into a monster and keep running without stopping. But they are never in the way and you almost never have to go out of your way to keep them safe.
I think this is everything I wanted to cover. It isn't like I'm working from a script or anything. I just started typing. Like I said in the beginning, I believe the new king is Toukiden, but I want to hear from everyone who played these games. What which do you think is the best and why?
