Zero Punctuation: Monster Hunter Tri

[Nevyrmoore]

So, it's good then?

Let's put it this way. If you like hardcore games like Dwarf Fortress, Etrian Odyssey, Realms of Arkania, and Jagged Alliance, then you'll probably find it good.

Everyone else, tread carefully.

 

[crypt-creature]

A game stopping itself because it wants the player to calm their nerves? That may be the only idea less appealing than unskippable cutscenes.

If it happens knowingly, or too obviously, of course people would throw a fit.
Games shove in a ton of subtle things. If a developing team thought it'd be a good idea, I don't doubt that they would do it. Cutscenes you can't skip, are a bit different (aside from being much longer, people seem to get more frustrated by them than load times. You can't subtly put in a cut scene unless you're trying to mask a load time with it).

The difference with MH, I doubt they are there for that reason and having them doesn't bother me.

I doubt many people bought a next gen console solely to use it as a last gen one.

I've done it with almost every system I've owned (finding a reasonably priced 60 GB PS3 is a pain) and will not own a newer system if it can't do that.
Then again, it's not about owning it to solely use it in that way, as you put it.
I just find that a good number of the current generation of games, are not that good. Such was my initial worry, which Is why I bought systems that offered backwards compatibility (and why it does matter greatly to me).
You might be surprised at the number of people that keep such a thing rather high on their list of needs when considering a system.

 

[Dracolich5]

Hi!

I play this game a bit and really enjoy it. Yahtzee didn't make it past the non-skipable tutorial. I expected more out of you there, Yahtzee, I really did. Here's a bit about the criticisms that he didn't have the endurance to get to:

Gatherer/Tedious
-The single player is your "home base" for multiplayer content. Once you're done with a fair chunk of the offline quests your farm and the shops in the city eliminate most of the gathering.
-If you're so worried about making the wrong thing, get some more. There's no commodity in the game that's difficult to get if you happen to run out.

Monster-vs-Monster in the intro
-OK. So we've hit a new low. We're now expecting the intro cinematics to mean anything at all. They showed you monsters, and they showed you hunters. Other great cinematic openings have started out with fields of grain, ocean tidal scenes, and navi flying blissfully around a little village to wake up link. The reality is that he's picking on the intro because it occupied a good chunk of his invested playtime.
-The monsters DO attack each other which is easily demonstrated at boss #2 of 18. Yahtzee didn't make it to boss #1 or he wouldn't have made the "innocent young dinosaurs" comment.

"Innocent young dinosaurs"
-Those are known as minions. In other games they're called trash mobs or goombas. In the first boss fight many players choose to dodge 6-10 of them instead of taking their attention off the boss which can rip them apart or toss them around like a chew-toy.

Moga Woods(the "overworld?") vs Questing
-This is a clear disconnect in Yahtzee's view of the game. Moga Woods is not "the overworld." It's your backyard. Need something quick that you didn't pick up on the quests? Grab it in the woods and come back. As the quests progress, bosses begin to appear in the woods. Note - the woods is the only place where certain realistic effects play a large role (hunger and running out of sharpening supplies) because these items are provided for you on the quests (so that you can chain them without stopping to search your backyard).

Lagracious Encounter
-This encounter was simply to show you that there are times when you should run. If you'd like to fight this boss, it's in the 3* or 4* content. Many games have a scene like this in their tutorials. Even wearing equipment off the 4th boss, this boss is one of the nastier encounters. When you first see a big villain in any game, do you expect to fight him for the plot-line then and there? Unless you're playing new game+ in Chronocross, the answer is a big freaking "no."

In conclusion, I really like Yahtzee's reviews in general but this one was slop. When you get a game that boasts 60-140 game hours, you have to give it more than 3. In the past they've been criticized for steep learning curves. People skip tutorials so they simply didn't call it one. There are plenty of ways to criticize this game, but this was just lazy.

He didn't even get to Cha-Cha. It would've made it into the review and it's very early on. One of the oddest side-kicks ever.

/As far as the controller is concerned, you can use the classic one for this. They just used this game to debut the playstation-like controller while not using its new buttons.

 

[mike1921]

In conclusion, I really like Yahtzee's reviews in general but this one was slop. When you get a game that boasts 60-140 game hours, you have to give it more than 3. In the past they've been criticized for steep learning curves. People skip tutorials so they simply didn't call it one. There are plenty of ways to criticize this game, but this was just lazy.

/As far as the controller is concerned, you can use the classic one for this. They just used this game to debut the playstation-like controller while not using its new buttons.

I could've told you Oblivion was a fun game, or at least able to keep my interest 3 hours in and I've played that for way more than 140 hours. If I was still playing a tutorial mission 3 hours in though, I would've took the game box outside and lit it on fire.

If the game has a steep learning curve put in a skippable tutorial. You make it sound like "people skip tutorials" is actually a reason why tutorials shouldn't be named as such and skippable. That is the very reason why they should be there and easy to skip. Because there are a lot of times when people don't want to do them.

A game stopping itself because it wants the player to calm their nerves? That may be the only idea less appealing than unskippable cutscenes.

If it happens knowingly, or too obviously, of course people would throw a fit.
Games shove in a ton of subtle things. If a developing team thought it'd be a good idea, I don't doubt that they would do it. Cutscenes you can't skip, are a bit different (aside from being much longer, people seem to get more frustrated by them than load times. You can't subtly put in a cut scene unless you're trying to mask a load time with it).

The difference with MH, I doubt they are there for that reason and having them doesn't bother me.

There is no such thing as a subtle loading screen.

Well, I personally can not imagine frequent loading screens with mind boggling frustration

I doubt many people bought a next gen console solely to use it as a last gen one.

I've done it with almost every system I've owned (finding a reasonably priced 60 GB PS3 is a pain) and will not own a newer system if it can't do that.
Then again, it's not about owning it to solely use it in that way, as you put it.
I just find that a good number of the current generation of games, are not that good. Such was my initial worry, which Is why I bought systems that offered backwards compatibility (and why it does matter greatly to me).
You might be surprised at the number of people that keep such a thing rather high on their list of needs when considering a system.

[/quote] But see, if there are no next (well, current gen now) games that are worth buying the system for, I don't see why you wouldn't just not bother and use your PS2 instead.

 

[milskidasith]

I could've told you Oblivion was a fun game, or at least able to keep my interest 3 hours in and I've played that for way more than 140 hours. If I was still playing a tutorial mission 3 hours in though, I would've took the game box outside and lit it on fire.

The tutorial isn't three hours. Have you even bothered to read any of the posts I've made? People are just throwing around examples; in this case, three hours is about the time it would take to get to the third boss fight in the game.

If the game has a steep learning curve put in a skippable tutorial. You make it sound like "people skip tutorials" is actually a reason why tutorials shouldn't be named as such and skippable. That is the very reason why they should be there and easy to skip. Because there are a lot of times when people don't want to do them.

This would be valid if it weren't for two things:

First off, in the last Monster Hunter game, you were dropped straight into the action, and people complained about how they got slaughtered and didn't know what to do.

Second of all, the exact same thing happened, Yahtzee specifically, when he reviewed Demon's Souls and got slaughtered, so you can't really defend Yahtzee's review as him saying "tutorial's suck" when he also hates games without them/is just terrible at this genre of games.

Well, I personally can not imagine frequent loading screens with mind boggling frustration

They aren't frequent... you change areas a few times to get to the boss, with .5 seconds of loading between each one, and then you fight the boss for ten minutes before he flees, and you get another small loading screen. It's enough time that, if it were an online game, it would be less than the average lagspike, or the amount of time it takes for your browser to send out your posts when you make them.

 

[Tryforlive]

i played the game its sucked SO MUCH

 

[Byere]

So, I must say that I love the un-genre-able titles of games that usually seem weird and quirky at first but usually turn out really fun to play.
When the first Monster Hunter game was released (and every copy/paste versions... sorry, "sequel"... of the games), no matter how much I try, try and tri [apologies for the pun] again, I just cannot get into them.

I have to totally agree with Yahtzee on the whole matter of getting your ass whomped by some f'ing massive beast you have no chance of defending yourself against too early in the game. In the first game, the last mission of the very first set of missions you can do is to get a dragon egg from the top of a mountain. Simple, no? No... it's not. The thing is so big that you have to carry it in your arms (thus you can't use your weapon/s) and if you fall further than about 2 inches, you drop the egg and have to go back and fetch another (this also happens if you accidently press the button that makes you do a jumping roll... which also happens to be the "activate" button... meaning you have to stop dead in your tracks before pressing it to help climb down the mountain gently.)
All of this... while avoiding the already dangerous velociraptor beasts (if you somehow manage to make it to the bottom of the mountain without dropping the egg) AND being chased by a frigging humungous dragon which is rather rightfully pissed off at you. Oh, and if you take even the slightest glancing blow from any kind of monster attacking you... you guessed it, you drop the egg!
Being on the "Easiest" quest list I kind of gave up after around my 30th attempt and second controller, the first laying shattered on the floor after continually being throw at it >.>

Now, Harvest Moon... sad as it may be for me to say this being a 25 y/o guy... is a game series I just cannot get enough of. I LOVE it. I tend to be crap at the "get into a relationship and get married" part of the game but DAMN can I work hard to make my farm profitable!

 

[milskidasith]

i played the game its sucked SO MUCH

Did you really play the game? I respect your opinion, but when you post one line just agreeing with Yahtzee, especially with poor grammar, it's hard to think of you as anything but the type of user who just agrees with Yahtzee blindly.

 

[Dracolich5]

I could've told you Oblivion was a fun game, or at least able to keep my interest 3 hours in and I've played that for way more than 140 hours. If I was still playing a tutorial mission 3 hours in though, I would've took the game box outside and lit it on fire.

Cry more. Really, cry more. When you're mature enough to have an opinion, the rest of us will know.

If the game has a steep learning curve put in a skippable tutorial. You make it sound like "people skip tutorials" is actually a reason why tutorials shouldn't be named as such and skippable. That is the very reason why they should be there and easy to skip. Because there are a lot of times when people don't want to do them.

Well, there comes a point where it's nice for them to be skippable, but if your test audiences all need to go back and do them after the first boss wipes the floor with them, then it would appear there's room for the other view as well.

Gee, sure wish everything in life would have easy-mode conformity like Oblivion. That game's a cake walk but you can't admit it because you're power-tripping like a tard that got control of the short bus.

 

[zombiesinc]

I chuckled. Another entertaining video.

I'm probably still gonna get the game... eventually. Lots of grinding and anything Japanese is something I tend to enjoy.

>.>

 

[AzureDemon]

I wasnt expecting such a review for such AN AWESOME game series...

I wonder how yatzee would feel about Disgaea games...he would probably just og on a murder spree.

Monster hunter sucks so much that its the very reason why it has one of the highest players numbers community ACROSS platforms on pretty much every console as well as the japanese mmo /Monster Hunter Frontier) making its way into the 360! Oh wait... >.>

2 games on PS2, 3/4 games on PSP, 1 on pc, 1 on Wii, 1 coming to the 360.

 

[TheKwertyeweyoppe]

Kind of, i think MHG is more of an updated version of the original, there's actually like 8 games now
Monster Hunter
Monster Hunter 2
Monster Hunter G
Monster Hunter Freedom
Monster Hunter Freedom 2
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (I think they could've done better with seqel names)
Monster Hunter Frontier (a Japan only MMORPG)
Monster hunter Tri.

 

[TheKwertyeweyoppe]

He didn't even get to Cha-Cha. It would've made it into the review and it's very early on. One of the oddest side-kicks ever. quote]

I,m not sure i agree with the word 'sidekick', cannon fodder more like. i can't think of a single time where he's noticeably acheived anything else, although i haven't got him any new masks yet so i guess i'll see

 

[feather240]

Wow, Yahtzee completely missed the point of the game. Me thinks he didn't play long enough to fight some of the bigger monsters.

Just what I was about to say. He basically summed up the HR1 experience.

How long does it take to get to the good part? It isn't one of those "Only 13hours until FFXXXX gets good!" things is it?

 

[TheKwertyeweyoppe]

Christ Yahtzee, did you even get past 2* village Quests? [/quote]

I don't think he even got past 1*, he seems to think Moga woods is the only area and if he got to 2* quests he would have discovered the desert place(forgot what it was called).

 

[crypt-creature]

There is no such thing as a subtle loading screen.

Sure there is.
Say, a futuristic game the requires you to go up/down an elevator to get to the next stage. Begin elevator riding animation that takes long enough to act as a load screen, but without 'loading' listed across it and making the ride seem like part of the game. Add in a few vocals (maybe information or something that would fit the theme of the game, )
A loading screen doesn't have to say 'loading' or be static for it to be a loading screen (and yes, it can be done).

But see, if there are no next (well, current gen now) games that are worth buying the system for, I don't see why you wouldn't just not bother and use your PS2 instead.

Unfortunately, I am hoping that games will eventually be released that are as good as they are advertised to be (and where the demo isn't the only fun thing about it).
That was my initial hope when I bought the system (PS3), and some games did look good. They just weren't that good when I ended up playing them, and my original hesitation became a 'truth' for me.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

Well I am glad I did not take heed of the positive reviews. This review pretty much explains exactly what the footage looked like to me, running around smacking monsters in order to gather up bits of pointless tat.

Ah yes, completely ignore all positive reviews in favor of the guy whose entire job is to trash games. That makes perfect sense.

 

[Quaidis]

[quote from some unknown member] He didn't even get to Cha-Cha. It would've made it into the review and it's very early on. One of the oddest side-kicks ever. [/quote from some unknown member]

I'm not sure I agree with the word 'sidekick'; cannon fodder more like. I can't think of a single time where he's noticeably achieved anything else, although I haven't got him any new masks yet so I guess I'll see

He's insanely useful. Not only as cannon fodder, but because he'll run around grabbing items for you. I didn't have enough _ from one of the larger monsters that I knocked off, then found later that Cha-Cha grabbed it for me on his mindless pack-ratting rampage. He also casts spells on you to increase your strength, defense, and health, which is very useful. So far I have his second mask, which can tell you where in the map the large monsters are.

 

[Quaidis]

Wow, Yahtzee completely missed the point of the game. Me thinks he didn't play long enough to fight some of the bigger monsters.

Just what I was about to say. He basically summed up the HR1 experience.

How long does it take to get to the good part? It isn't one of those "Only 13hours until FFXXXX gets good!" things is it?

Apologies if someone already answered you. It takes less than an hour (two hours at most if you take your time enjoying the scenery) to get to the bigger monsters. The first quests are very easy and quick, and are there to help you get a feel of the game and controls. If you are use to previous Monster Hunter games, it takes less than thirty minutes.