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[Nillo]

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2015/02/20/the-harrowers

[quan]

mmm okay sounds good i'll probs get it in a week or so

[s0]

do the boss fights still take a million years

[Nillo]

do the boss fights still take a million years

Yea, but I guess that's just how it is. Consider that a quest in Monster Hunter generally requires you to kill exactly one monster, unlike other games where a quest may consist of 50 distinct battles. It makes sense to me that one kill in MH would take as long as an entire level in another game, because the hunt is the level in MH.

[TeeGee]

AWW YISS!!! 

do the boss fights still take a million years

Only if you don't GIT GUD!

[SirNiko]

I feel like the bit that turned me off from Monster Hunter 3U was that it seemed like it was mostly about studying up on the monsters, memorizing weaknesses, weapon strategies, tricks for enduring the long fight and collecting the right equipment before the game would get enjoyable. The demo came across as I'd want to fight the boss with each different weapon, experiment with the different status effects, experiment with different combinations of each of those depending on what attacks the monster is using, and then chart it out to figure out what shaves the most minutes off my time for future fights to collect more monster drops. If I was looking for something to kill 300 hours with a very slow progression it'd be great. I'd rather play something with a smaller pool of skills to pick from like Shadow of the Colossus, which was the same basic concept (game with nothing but massive boss fights) but without the huge time investment or online study before you can make a shot at a speedrun.

It's fun to read about, though.

[TeeGee]

I feel like the bit that turned me off from Monster Hunter 3U was that it seemed like it was mostly about studying up on the monsters, memorizing weaknesses, weapon strategies, tricks for enduring the long fight and collecting the right equipment before the game would get enjoyable.

I once read that many of the obscure mechanics of MH (like hidden health bar, non-obvious weaknesses/tricks, and the subtle tells) are there intentionally to promote the social aspect of the game. It's also why earlier versions only featured ad-hoc multiplayer.

The game is meant to be played with your friends face-to-face, with more experienced hunters teaching newer ones stuff like "if this monster lays ears low, it means it'll flee soon". Of course, it's a bit of an unrealistic goal in this age of online guides, but I kinda like the general idea. Was definitely a lot of fun when I played with my newbie buddy and felt like that revered nineties kid with Nintendo Power subscription who knew ALL the secrets.

[s0]

The game is meant to be played with your friends face-to-face, with more experienced hunters teaching newer ones stuff like "if this monster lays ears low, it means it'll flee soon". Of course, it's a bit of an unrealistic goal in this age of online guides, but I kinda like the general idea.

seems to be working in japan at any rate

ok i think i get it. dark souls does the same thing to a certain extent. problem is, my IRL gamer friends are all pc gamers and i don't really have the time/interest to get into online multiplayer in any games anymore. so i guess MH just isn't for me?

[TeeGee]

Dunno, I play it mostly offline and still like it a lot, mostly for the same reasons I enjoy Dark Souls. I don't think there always has to be a super-rational explanation for why something is or isn't your cup of tea. 

[Nillo]

It's a fine series to play solo, I think, if you're prepared to do some research to figure out mechanics/where to get item X for upgrade Y and so on. Kiranico is an excellent resource and I used it a lot during my offline play of MH3U.

[Türbo Bröther]

So I was making my most lucrative trip in the Everwood and right before the exit I got this:

"An error has occurred. The system will now restart itself".

Son of a bitch.

[Glyph]

do the boss fights still take a million years

Monster HP in low rank has been considerably lowered now. Even without any grinding you can get a decent weapon and kill the next target in 5-10 minutes. Big marks or things that outclass you may last 15-20 minutes. The HP pool of monsters increases in high rank but by that point you should know tactics for your weapon and have enough skill to defeat monsters quickly.

Really the 'grind' aspect in single player (and maybe multiplayer but I've barely touched it) has been cut significantly. There's always a new monster to hunt, you never have to hunt the same monster twice unless you want to, and small monster and gathering quests are kept to a minimum. The progression of the story is also faster in general. It's just an improvement overall from 3, I feel.

[Faust06]

The game is meant to be played with your friends face-to-face, with more experienced hunters teaching newer ones stuff like "if this monster lays ears low, it means it'll flee soon". Of course, it's a bit of an unrealistic goal in this age of online guides, but I kinda like the general idea. Was definitely a lot of fun when I played with my newbie buddy and felt like that revered nineties kid with Nintendo Power subscription who knew ALL the secrets.

I'm kind of perturbed by the trend in expecting gamers to look everything up online. We used to call that "cheating" and I still think of it that way. There is no hard line between a full-fledged strategy guide and "weaknesses, tips & tricks", and the latter often seems to mean the former.

[SirNiko]

Intentionally including obtuse puzzles that players must solve together is a respectable design decision that targets a real market. Kingdom of Loathing identified these players as "Spades" (from Bartle's dimensions of gamer psychology) and designed lots of content specifically around them with the knowledge that those players would then share that knowledge with the rest of the players (One item was a "Spade Jacket" with an unknown enchantment that existed specifically for the purpose of players trying to figure out what it did, which was a minor and generally insignificant buff). It can also be fun to do all that research and prove yourself to be more knowledgeable than your friends when you go on quests; that falls under the "Achiever" or "Diamond" personality.

I wouldn't call it a trend but rather a subgenre of games that does have a following.

[s0]

as kids we used to tell each other about boss weakness and puzzle solutions and shit in games all the time. looking back on it, it was really fun. every game was "social" even if it was a singleplayer game. i think MH (and dark souls as well probably) tries to recreate THAT rather than trying to get you to look stuff up on wikis.

Really the 'grind' aspect in single player (and maybe multiplayer but I've barely touched it) has been cut significantly. There's always a new monster to hunt, you never have to hunt the same monster twice unless you want to, and small monster and gathering quests are kept to a minimum. The progression of the story is also faster in general. It's just an improvement overall from 3, I feel.

thats good, the forced grind is one of the things i always disliked most about MH. yeah i'll eventually get this (as always with MH lol)

[Rat Casket]

To make a full set of Zinogre armor I had to kill it like 8-10 times before I got the last piece I needed. Which had a 5% carve rate. This is the only grind I've experienced so far.

[Türbo Bröther]

That sounds much better than 3U when I had to go through nineteen of those pricks before I got everything I needed.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Ive had my copy sitting here for a couple days and haven't opened it. Gonna try to close open loops I have gamewise this weekend because I'm anticipating this game consuming my game time.

[Rat Casket]

Well now I just unlocked the ability to trade Zinogre parts for Nargacuga parts. Which, of course, means I need more plates.

RIP sanity.

[Faust06]

as kids we used to tell each other about boss weakness and puzzle solutions and shit in games all the time. looking back on it, it was really fun. every game was "social" even if it was a singleplayer game. i think MH (and dark souls as well probably) tries to recreate THAT rather than trying to get you to look stuff up on wikis.

Can we get some real single-player loners in here?

Honestly though, I remember that fondly. But you can discuss the same with most single-player games - we have, and they weren't so blatantly suggestive doing so. The social aspect wasn't integral to a non-tedious experience, but in this case the advantage seems monumental.

On a hypocritical note, I like the way Nintendo is keeping the local-multiplayer experience strong. The best social gaming experiences for me have been in the living-room playing co-op or death-match, not sharing tips.