Zero Punctuation: Monster Hunter Tri

[Velocity Eleven]

His review just makes me want the game more

 

[Dash-X]

I really don't think Yahtzee played enough of this game to review it. If he did, he'd have a lot more to complain about -- for example, that the characters flex after consuming potions, or that he has no indicator of how well he's doing against a monster, or any of a myriad of other things folks who are new to Monster Hunter complain about.

It almost sounds like he hasn't even taken out anything significantly bigger than himself. He said nothing of the game's difficulty (and, yes, it is a difficult game (I'm still playing the PSP version -- 250 hours SOLO, and I still haven't seen everything)). I think he fell prey to his deadline. Had he reviewed something else, and taken stabs at monster hunting for a few weeks; I think his review would be markedly different, and he could have gotten to the game's more substantial flaws as opposed to the superficial stuff.

I mean no disrespect, but this review reeks of a lack of effort. Yahtzee, you can do better. At the very least, take down a big one before you review it.

 

[Aura Guardian]

Single platform games suck , do more multiplatform games please , so the review can appeal to more people, the Wii will never be a serious gaming system, and will never have games that are great.. it doesn't have the processing power to do anything useful. I think it goes PC > PS3 > 360 > Wii. I just wish more games were made for the PC.

Another one? Really?

Single platform games suck , do more multiplatform games please , so the review can appeal to more people, the Wii will never be a serious gaming system, and will never have games that are great.. it doesn't have the processing power to do anything useful. I think it goes PC > PS3 > 360 > Wii. I just wish more games were made for the PC.

*cough* fanboy *cough*

There are plenty of 'hardcore' games for Wii.

[sub]Ewww, I used 'hardcore'...[/sub]

I hate that word as well.

 

[crypt-creature]

I bought a Monster Hunter game once and I can relate to a lot of what you say, particularly the later part of the review. And why the hell would anyone think it was a good idea on the Wii? Surely a game involving enormous monsters and cinematic fights should be nowhere near a processor that minute...

The load times he is talking about, appear in every Monster Hunter game. It has nothing to do with the Wii, and has everything to do with the fact that the game has always been that way on every system it has been produced for.

As for the review... the first few minutes were useless filler, it didn't seem like he had much to say about this game (it also doesn't seem like he played much of it either) once he got to the meat of his review. He was just trying to be 'funny' (At least, I think that's what he was attempting). Once he did, he had to drag out the age old 'this game is the sum of every MMO's bedraggled parts'... seriously? When a game is being played offline and single player, aren't most people going to think that? Especially when it's not a game that is supposed to be constant fighting, puzzle solving, or shooting game?

Truly a review where he seemed desperate for fodder... and not good fodder, but the same rehashed crap he has been spewing every time an RPG or slower-paced game has surfaced.

Oh man, I was so excited when I saw that Yahtzee reviewed this game. I saw it a few months before it came out, had mixed feelings about it for a while, and then just realized that this could be one of the worse games ever for the wii. (Given that it competes w/ the conduit for the title)

It's funny watching Yahtzee review Wii games. The last few that he did was surprisingly optimistic, and then he finds a game that can make a gorilla stick his head up his butt just to escape the putridity. I'm still enjoying the good games that came out for the Wii, such as Okami, House of the Dead: Overkill, Twilight Princess and others. The Wii needs to go back to it's quality stamp that it was doing for the 64 so that a lot of these games can just be ignored.

Okami was a horrible port for the Wii, it was good on the PS2 (where MH originally started... do you see a trend here?).

If you had mixed feelings about the game, then clearly it isn't going to be one of the 'worst games ever for the Wii'. In fact, since it makes the option available to use either the controller of Wii-mote (it doesn't work for every single game. People need to get over this, and understand that such a thing can kill a game) I'd say other games should note that and follow suite.

I really don't understand why so many people listen to Yahtzee, and can't make a decision for their selves. Of course when you point out all the negatives, or things the majority of players don't seem to like, it's harder for them to find the stuff they will/might enjoy about a title.
But he's paid for his negativity. It makes it easier for him to spout it.
I hope most people aren't taking it/him seriously and are agreeing so that they appear 'badass' to their internet groupies.

 

[Koganesaga]

I was really hoping that he wouldn't do this game as a review. Don't assume I'm standing up for this game, I was just as disappointed as anyone else, but then again this game was generally a disappointment to all the fans of the series. As to why capcom put it on the wii...well the only reason I can think of it that they thought it was an untapped market. As for the rest of us who were smart enough to try before buying, I'm going to stick with freedom 2, and wait for freedom 3 to come out, and play the good version which is prefect on the psp (though I wish it had better graphics).

1. it was cheaper, and more profitable to put MH3 on wii, rather than the ps3

2.why does everyone say this one sucked and they are glad they tried it first? i hope you guys didnt take that demo seriously, because it was just a port of a 2 year old japanese demo, one that was underdeveloped in many many ways, most reviews actually tell you to forget the demo every existed.

Damn, I dunno, As I did like the game until I played the demo who knows, maybe I should buy the game and see how it goes, course I play freedom 2 on ad-hoc party (A free service the ps3 offers to allow you to play psp games online if they only support ad-hoc) and everyone who plays freedom seem to be disappointed by tri, and some of them mention that they only people who play it are 10 year olds and mention serious communication problems. This really doesn't add to the temptation to play the game, despite how well the game is rendered.

Side note: for anyone who does like it, monster hunter G for the wii seems to be already underway. Course I might be confusing the information as I didn't look into it, for my primary object was finding more about freedom 3.

I'm wondering how far Yahtzee got in tri? I don't own the game myself(though I own Freedom Unite on the PSP) but when you get higher in rank the difficulty begins to escalate. It escalates more if you're not doing it in co-op because you are on the low end of the weapon/armor components list and fighting the monsters takes preparation and knowing the weak points of the monster you are hunting.

Still, his review is not without some merit. Grinding for some resources is hard and a bore, even more if you don't have a farm like in Freedom. Plus each weapon you pick has a different style of combat, so that factors in to understand each weapon and how to use it effectively without getting completely owned by a monster.

I like how the do the weapons, because of the system it encourages you to try different methods of attacking a monster and makes you get a nice diverse variety of wepaons for different situations.

However I didn't drag you into this rebuttle to question your post, rather to agree with a part. Yatzhee stated in a few of his reviews he usually plays the game for around the week, and this is shared with other things he does as well as the fect he has to produce the review, so an off hand guess without and real math behind it, I'd say he plays the games for a max of around 20 hours on average (for you hardcore yatzhee fans who might know more about this feel free to correct me, but unless it's an old game this is usually the situation) therefore probably shouldn't be reviewing the games with a high level of required play time, like demon's souls or monster hunter, as both are great games if you can climb the admittedly very steep learning curve and stand atop the mountain. Once you're up there you can see all the great thi8ngs the games have to offer, and sadly, yatzhee probably only gets to climb about half way with many of the longer games and therefore gets cheated. of course there's also a strong chance he just doesn't like it and that's just him.

 

[MajorKris]

I honestly hadn't thought about this game until now, but I do remember the ads that came out that made it seem very interesting.

Repetitiveness can be a big turn off for a game and I never purchase a game unless the replay value is at least moderate. This isn't really the type of game I usually play anyway, so chances are that I wouldn't have even tested it. I very much enjoyed the review though, especially the Deer Hunter line xD.

I hope you review Alan Wake soon. It gave me a bit of a Silent Hill feel, so I'm thinking you'll enjoy the game a little bit at least.

 

[Potato21]

It doesn't sound like he even got to the actual monster hunting part of the game :/

Been a fan of this series since the first one and after about 5 hours(at the most, maybe a bit longer for new players) of the piddly quests you should be fighting the actual monsters, rather than doing the hunting small animals and gathering quests. He also seemed to think the free roam part was where the meat of the game was, when it isn't. The old games didn't even have those (they had timed gathering quests with no objectives though, which is similar).

I don't think he played long enough. Don't be persuaded that this is a bad game, it just needs some time to learn the controls and start taking on the baddies.

 

[milskidasith]

Lol he makes it sound so horrible. Poor Yahtzee didn't even make it to the good part of the game, though I don't blame him. It about a good 5 hours in that you actually get to fight anything worth its own salt. Until then, it's a hell of a grind, learning the ins and outs that become integral and second-nature later.


I hate to say it, but I must dismiss this review entirely. Yahtzee has missed the whole point of the game, of which he touched on in such a minor way when the "giant sea monster" came and attacked him. Nobody plays to hunt tiny wimpy monsters and carve up innocent little critters. It's all about the massive monster fights that make you feel so good after finishing.

I was hoping to hear Yahtzee's take on that (pretty much the reason we play this game) side of MH, but it seems he never made it far enough...


And now I can't help but wonder if he's done this with other games, too. Completely missing the point because he can't stand the tutorial.

Actually, you can run through to your first Great Jaggi fight in about an hour, and for a newbie to the series, he's actually a decent opponent, even if he's a 10 HKO later.

Anyway, on to my annoyance: People who claim that the only people commenting that don't like the review are fanboys of the game. Yeah, I like the game. But honestly, would you consider me a fanboy? Have I been unreasonable? Have I posited the game has no flaws? Have I refused to acknowledge the game is slow starting, even if only for an hour? Have I denied that there is any grinding? Have I done anything *but* make reasonable comments that basically say "I find the game fun, and it has flaws that could have easily been pointed out, but Yahtzee clearly didn't play long enough to get to the meat of the game" and point out to others who are just saying "Yahtzee's review makes this game seem like shit" that Yahtzee didn't even mention the monster hunting part of monster hunter?

I dunno, maybe I'm just a fanboy and I can't tell it, but I thought I was being far more reasonable than the average poster, despite defending the game.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Ok Yahtzee we get it, you hate the Wii. To use your words, stop flogging that pile of bloody jibblets that used to be a dead horse.
Incidentally, why are you reviewing so many Wii games?

 

[ark123]

RIDICULOUS.
You'd never use a metal armor to gather, as leather armor has +2 gather native, upgradeable with +2 stones.

 

[DayDark]

I bought this game, and I've really tried to get to love it, but it's resisting too much, I'm at a point where I can't complete a mission, and I just can't be arsed to do the effort, not when it feels like I could be spending my time doing other stuff, and the controls are horrible with the wii.

 

[Shirokurou]

Sadly many games are "not meant for the Wii."

 

[NickCooley]

A Typical Zero Punctuation Thread:

1) Average fan watches ZP, is entertained and gathers another opinion about the game being reviewed.

2) More devoted Yahtzee fan's denounce the game in the discussion thread, swearing by the review.

3) Fan's of the game reply in thread stating how Yahtzee Missed the Point/Didn't play the game properly/didn't play the game right/isn't real reviewer/shouldn't be taken seriously. (Delete where appropriate)

4) Groups 2 and 3 begin to argue the toss.

I've yet to see a single ZP thread that didn't follow this to some degree or another. It doesn't really bother me that much I suppose. Except for the ridiculous "isn't a real reviewer" argument. I'd say ZP is as valid as any other review because all a review is, when it boils down to it, is an over glorified opinion of the subject matter and swearing by Yahtzee's reviews is no better (or worse) than swearing by X reviewer.

^reason #1 I don't usually post on his review threads. You're probably right.
But I really don't think anyone should take his reviews seriously. He's fabricating the truth in this review. Not to say it's on purpose or anything, but he's taking one part of the game (apparently the only part he even played- the tutorial) and bashing it into the dust and calling the whole thing horrible as a result. In some reviews, he says good things. Yahtzee's not about the good or bad parts of a game. He focuses on the bad usually, but it's whatever makes for a more funny video that goes in. That's why his reviews shouldn't be taken seriously. "Brawl sucks" - obviously not. "Halo blah blah worst FPS ever" - not if you play the right modes. "MH Tri is the worst" - just ask me and my 110 hours' game time. It's a bunch of game bashing and, while it is funny, it isn't accurate. Based on his word, I should never buy a video game ever. Or maybe just Portal. There are few games he actually said much good about, which would lead most people to the conclusion that they aren't worth getting.

I'm not trying to defend Yahtzee or anything, he's a big boy now and of course you are completely entitled to your own opinion. I've never played Monster Hunter so I can't really comment on whether the review is false or not but I still don't think Yahtzee should be disregarded as a reviewer. But thats not really a compliment on his part. More a sign of my skepticism of reviews in general. While other reviewers may go into greater detail and lengths their reviews are still essentially just their opinion (at least in my mind) like these videos are just Yahtzee's opinion, albeit just with more swear words and metaphors delivered quickly.

But I do agree that anyone that bases their opinion of a game off of a sole review is a bit of a mug.

 

[Dreyfuss]

Wow... good job Yahtzee, for playing 1/100th of the total game and passing judgement on all of it.

Now I know a game is supposed to be interesting from the start and that it sucks when one isn't, but you were playing the literal textbook example of a game that gets exponentially better the further you progress. Of course it started out boring, the alternative is Demon's Souls (which you also gave up on far too early and is much better than you give it credit for but excuse me for assuming you could play a game that requires any skill), where you throw players straight into a fight with a real monster and have them all quit out of frustration because there has been absolutely no time to acquaint themselves with the basics.

Did you even kill a single Rathalos? Even a Kut-ku? Kut-kus are the baby seals of Monster Hunter and you didn't even play the 2 hours it would take to challenge one of them! This is a 200+ hour game you're playing, not the 6 hour throwaway games you're used to. I understand you're a game CRITIC and that's what makes you so entertaining to watch, but it doesn't help your image when you try to bash a game you know nothing about.

I agree with most of your reviews but of the few that have been wrong this is by far the worst, no contest whatsoever. I even feel a little betrayed because you usually show good taste or at least bash a game for good reason, but this is ridiculous. You release a review every week and you didn't even spend A DAY with this game. Or does it take you THAT long to finish the first 2 tiers of village quests? Did you even TRY the online portion? You could've jumped straight into 3 star quests and fought a few low-level monsters. And fyi, low-level monsters are the ones that are only 5-10 times bigger than you, not the ones the same size, those are trash. All you fought were trash.

As for the gathering, it's a facsimile of what real monster hunting would be like. You're not supposed to be a half-demon god of destruction, you're supposed to be an average joe taking on GIANT DINOSAURS! That's what makes it so awesome. You're not Superman, you're Batman, you fight with your wit, skill, and gadgets, and how are you going to get those gadgets if you aren't some multi-millionaire? You make them yourself. That's part of the experience. You pour your own time and effort into constructing the tools you'll use to take down the monsters. It makes it more rewarding. I didn't think you were the type that could only appreciate instant gratification. Guess I expected too much. You've shown you're not man enough to play this or Demon's Souls, I don't think I can really trust your taste anymore.

ANYBODY THAT READS THIS, TL;DR:

Monster Hunter is a game where you fight big monsters and carve them up to turn them into weapons and armor to fight EVEN BIGGER MONSTERS, ad infinitum.

Here's a far, FAR better review, skipped straight to the important part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXfpkGeU5UI&#t=1m58s

 

[Neoky]

With more than 100 hours of game time this is my favorite game right now.

The trick to the game is you need a hacked Wii so you can turn on cheat codes to get past bullshit parts of the game that Yahtzee reviewed.

I've been playing the series since Monster Hunter Freedom on the PSP 4 years ago, and I would never recommend Monster Hunter without infinite items turned on. (inf items only works for the storage container outside of quests)

If you have a hacked Wii and know 3 other people that also have hacked Wii's then I can't recommend this game enough. If not, again don't even bother. You'll never get to play with each other cause you'll always be farming, gathering, and hunting solo quests just so you can do less farming and gathering. And you need 4 players cause the heart of the game is the online hunting hall where all the monsters HP is difficulty is balance for 4. You can make do with 3 really good players, but it's needlessly rough.

 

[Zephyer]

Fun review

However, from what I've heard about the game, all the action is to be found online, while Offline might as well be cut out of the game.

I know Yahtzee mostly doesn't review online parts of games, but it just seems a waste that everyone is joining in a circle in here chanting "Bad game is bad because the almighty Croshaw says so!". I'd say go read a review for the online part, and see if they have the same opinion I for one, plan to at least give it a shot and research a bit more.

 

[milskidasith]

Wow... good job Yahtzee, for playing 1/100th of the total game and passing judgement on all of it.

Now I know a game is supposed to be interesting from the start and that it sucks when one isn't, but you were playing the literal textbook example of a game that gets exponentially better the further you progress. Of course it started out boring, the alternative is Demon's Souls (which you also gave up on far too early and is much better than you give it credit for but excuse me for assuming you could play a game that requires any skill), where you throw players straight into a fight with a real monster and have them all quit out of frustration because there has been absolutely no time to acquaint themselves with the basics.

Did you even kill a single Rathalos? Even a Kut-ku? Kut-kus are the baby seals of Monster Hunter and you didn't even play the 2 hours it would take to challenge one of them! This is a 200+ hour game you're playing, not the 6 hour throwaway games you're used to. I understand you're a game CRITIC and that's what makes you so entertaining to watch, but it doesn't help your image when you try to bash a game you know nothing about.

I agree with most of your reviews but of the few that have been wrong this is by far the worst, no contest whatsoever. I even feel a little betrayed because you usually show good taste or at least bash a game for good reason, but this is ridiculous. You release a review every week and you didn't even spend A DAY with this game. Or does it take you THAT long to finish the first 2 tiers of village quests? Did you even TRY the online portion? You could've jumped straight into 3 star quests and fought a few low-level monsters. And fyi, low-level monsters are the ones that are only 5-10 times bigger than you, not the ones the same size, those are trash. All you fought were trash.

As for the gathering, it's a facsimile of what real monster hunting would be like. You're not supposed to be a half-demon god of destruction, you're supposed to be an average joe taking on GIANT DINOSAURS! That's what makes it so awesome. You're not Superman, you're Batman, you fight with your wit, skill, and gadgets, and how are you going to get those gadgets if you aren't some multi-millionaire? You make them yourself. That's part of the experience. You pour your own time and effort into constructing the tools you'll use to take down the monsters. It makes it more rewarding. I didn't think you were the type that could only appreciate instant gratification. Guess I expected too much. You've shown you're not man enough to play this or Demon's Souls, I don't think I can really trust your taste anymore.

ANYBODY THAT READS THIS, TL;DR:

Monster Hunter is a game where you fight big monsters and carve them up to turn them into weapons and armor to fight EVEN BIGGER MONSTERS, ad infinitum.

There are no Kut-Kus in monster hunter tri, and Rathalos is pretty close to endgame for offline. I doubt he even got to the Great Jaggi, though.

 

[Neoky]

Dreyfuss:

You and I both know that gathering isn't 1/100th of the game. It's more like 99/100th of the game.

 

[De Ronneman]

I know it's silly to expect Yahtzee to give a positive review, but I was genuinely disappointed that he couldn't find anything actually GOOD to say about this game.

Same here, I just got it some days ago, thanks to my gamestore (grr...) and I think it is grindy and in no way perfect, but it is what it is: pretty realistic. You have to actually carve stuff from dead animals, and only stuff they can actually have, not complete iron armor or something like that.

The mission with the big monster was actually part of the story, just to keep you interested in the villages baddie. I know, not perfect, but give them some credit. I freaked a little, but the "oh, my, I am going to project a movie so I'll load a little extra long and make the camera drop in" gave it away somewhat.

The Great Jaggi's on the other hand are genuinly terifying, seeing as how I had 2 roaming the fields today. Try collecting honey with two of those things on your tail.

The stuff collecting is pretty clusterfucky, since you will get a lot of items with similar icons for them, I'll give you that. But they are pretty easy to get hold of anyway, so that's fine.

The quests are locked in a certain similar dimension. True. I am annoyed that I can't go to the sandy plains unless I'm questing. But that makes some quests a little easier, because some monsters (the ones you need) are higher in number.

It's a JRPG. True. Can't argue with that, but that's hating a crocodile for being a crocodile: it can't choose what it is. If you don't like it, just walk the other way. I like crocodiles...

But, concluding my annoyance.

He's a critic who doesn't like JRPG's and hates the wii. Easy shots. I like the game, I often agree with Yahtzee, but I think he likes being a critic too much, if you know what I mean. Every game has downsides. Just find the right game for YOU, not yahtzee's favourite (unless it's your favourite too):

No mention of the online and/or multiplayer aspect? Still good episode as always.

On a side note to people actually take what Yatzee says at face value? I mean you'd have to be pretty silly to do that since if you did every game apart from Adventure Island Dizzy would be shit and you'd never play anything, ever.

Agreed.
"OMg, yatzee doesn t like it! must be bhad!"

Form your own opinions.

Last words: great review though, I like your picture of the giant seamonster

 

[Z(ombie)fan]

Funny, but it seems like he never made it to any of the end bit content. In that respect it is a lot like MMORPGs, except the endgame content is actually totally awesome.

but remember: if it bores you, EVER, it deserves to be tossed down a cooling tower.

being tedious is not forgivable: is it fun and tedious at the same time? okay fine. but just plain boring is not what a good game makes.