Up until that moment I had been on a quest to find a worthwhile “hardcore” (click here if you’d like to know why I use quotation marks) type game, mostly because pretty much every game I’ve owned for the last 10 years or so has been pretty “casual”. Well, there was the Force Unlashed fiasco, but that’s a blog post of its own. Anyway, I became very interested in the game and, being flat broke and actually unemployed at the time; I decided to carefully research the game before investing.
Game play videos were easily available from people who uploaded themselves playing the demo on YouTube, however streaming and compression make it impossible to tell if the graphics were either good or great. Also, they were all talking about how much fun the game is, but it’s just no fun watching someone else play. I also, for the first time, went to Metareview to gather information. While I don’t trust their weighted average calculation, I found it really handy to quickly scroll down a lit of reviews from all over. There were a few bad reviews, in the sense that they gave the game a low score, but then after I read them I’d still buy the game. It also reminded me a bit of Phantasy Star Online, which I own but couldn't afford online play at the time.
The concept is pretty simple, take your regular fantasy game, remove all the story and pointless stuff, and focus on combat… no, wait, focus on BOSS BATTLES. Yeah. Every quest in this game feels like an epic boss battle. As for character progression you get rid of skills and experience points and make it all about finding the right stuff for your next weapon or armor upgrade. Most of these items you carve out of your foes’ twitching bodies with a hunting knife.
Translate this into game play terms and what you get is loads of fun. Just like in a boss battle in an RPG you have to save your game, fight, die, reload, prepare and try again. Besides learning the creature’s attacks, movements, weak spots, and “tells”, it’s also good to know what kind of items to bring along or if your current armor/weapon will be effective. All quests have a 50 minute time limit (some may have less). You are given a handful of “supply items” and a goal. There are different places quests take place in, each with its own climate and ecosystem where different creatures interact differently. Also each creature has its own personality and they don’t always come in the same exact size.
There are different weapons from which to choose, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, moves, combos and general control scheme. They are all very balanced, for example the hammer (my personal favorite) has the highest damage rate, but has no blocking and the attack animations are pretty slow (it's pretty big), thus requiring more strategy. Whereas the sword and shield have the least damage, but you can block, attack a lot faster AND use items without sheathing the sword. It's really important you find the weapon that better suits your style as you learn the ropes. Try switching weapons once you’re used to your favorite, it’s like playing a brand new game.
Graphics and sound are beautiful, just keep in mind this is a Wii game. Landscapes are gorgeous and animations are smooth. Lots of tiny details here and there, too; I still find myself looking at new things in the very first map. Character gestures are lots of fun; and one thing I found especially clever was that the running animation turns into a hilarious “HOLY SHIT IS IT STILL BEHIND ME?!?!” panic run when you are running away from a monster.
Control-wise the game is pretty tight, the camera is ideal for the kind of things you will be doing and you can browse through your stuff and find that potion while running like hell. Some features in the menus, though, seem tacked on just to justify the wiimote + nunchuck controller scheme, which is not that bad, really. I have no issues with the classic controller, but I’ve read about people complaining about it and strongly recommending the new Classic Controller Pro.
When playing offline you are assigned an AI partner that will teach you that no matter how much your teammates suck, it’s still a WAY LOT better than being by yourself. Cha-cha will help with some things but generally he is just a good decoy. Your base of operations will be a village that you are meant to save from a few huge beasts. There’s a bit of a story but mostly it’s about how you learn the rope while hunting progressively tougher monsters until you're ready to face the terrible leviathan terrorizing the village. You have the option of stepping outside into an island while not on a timed quest to practice or gather stuff. Some people complain about the slow learning curve, It was OK for me, just keep in mind this is no easy game. Also, the few hours you spend training are nothing compared to the time you will be spending with this baby.
When playing online the game will be divided into servers, then gates, then cities. There are four types of servers: Open (everybody can play), Rookie, expert and recruiting. If you ask me all servers should be recruiting servers, where you either join a group that is doing something you want to do, or open a “city” and wait for others looking for what you’re looking for to join.
There are four players to a city, where you pick a quest and go hunting together. You can use gestures, WiiSpeak, a USB keyboard or preset “shout outs” to communicate. After a few deaths the quest is failed. Otherwise, there aren't many ways a bad player could ruin your quest. Finding friends is still a big annoyance because of the “hunter ID” system which is nothing but a glorified Friend Code, but you’ll probably have tons of fun with strangers anyway.
Finding the right group can be tedious at times because of the way the servers are divided, but that is mostly because sometimes higher-ranked (Hunter Rank is a system that measures your experience) players refuse to pick quests accessible to the least experienced players in the city. The truth is that f you're doing a lower rank quest, the game will sprinkle a few surprises around to keep the tougher players entertained while the newbies pick mushrooms.
In the end, ask any player and most will agree that the best part of the game is the sense of satisfaction you get from finishing a quest. I don’t recall feeling so exited and relieved after beating a boss in any other game. It is very rewarding.
If you’re ever on, drop me a line, my ID is ngkyf5.
click here to read my endgame review.
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