First Look On Monster Hunter Generations Demo : Improvement Over Perfection.

Monster Hunter Generations is the fifth major installment in the series and although the localized version is still about two more weeks before we can get our hands on it, the demo is available to download on June 30, 2016. I downloaded it. I played it. I am now having a light scratch on an itch you so desperately want to scratch only to realize that it just gotten more itchy. You just can't wait for the game to be released.

Capcom have seriously outdone itself. I gotta admit, what they've done to the game is seriously genius. Gigantic franchises often hit the point where players will grow tired of the whole game. Die hard fans will endure and persevere. But mainstream gamers will gradually lose interest. So what will developers do? They change things. The game industry is doomed to undergo perpetual change. A certain game has changes from survival horror into a generic shooting game. A certain angry, god-slaying, demi-god grows a beard and angrily teaches his children how to hunt. Things change. Some accept, others deny. Of course, not every changes is for the better albeit every changes in game franchise development is always for the better. Compare Final Fantasy series prior to the super linear III. But Capcom though...

What Capcom has done is improving an already perfect product. That is theoretically impossible. I can't believe it myself but after about 5 hours into the demo, I can feel it. Of course, given the right team, budget and fresh IP, a team of developers can yield a great game but what is so brilliant from Capcom is the decision to include these features: Hunting Arts and Styles.

One of the three monsters to fight in the demo. This is called Malfestio.

Hunting Arts comes as special attacks or maneuvers that you can perform in a battle. The demo version comes with the arts pre-selected on each weapons we choose but I have a hunch we will be able to customize which arts you want yourself.

Styles is the main meat of the game. Styles affect your available moves for attacks and evasions. Some style are offensive, some are defensive and evasive. The styles available in the demo are:

• Guild Style

Basic, versatile and balanced. This is the old and essentially the same moveset from the previous MH series. This style allows you to equip two Hunting Arts. Honestly, I don't play this style, simply because I know most of them will be identical with the previous titles. Some weapons undergo changes in their moveset, however. Very balanced and friendly style.

• Striker Style
  

Super offensive style as it lets you perform three Hunting Arts at the expense of some original moveset of weapons omitted. This style may seem powerful but in the real fight against monsters, you gotta consider the timing of using the arts. Most arts takes a while to actually deal damage, some takes forever, even. On top of that, most of the power moves, like the full spirit combo from Long Swords and the overhand-swing charge attacks from Great Swords are missing. It kinda limits your damage output and I totally understand it for the sake of balanced gameplay. I have to say, though. Striker seems to be more oriented for Blademasters than Gunners. Blademasters will enjoy a sudden spike in their damage output given the arts manage to hit the monsters full on. Gunners, on the other hand, often has long animation and straight, narrow hitzone. I'd rather use the time to either dodge, heal or reload.

Striker Style is a shock trooper in a team. You will be whittling monster's health as you build your arts gauge. Once the gauge is full, however, Strikers will be the nuke of the team. Good thing this style lets you build the gauge faster than other styles. Try this when you use Switch Axe: *fill the phial gauge* -> use Demon Riot -> use Trance.

• Aerial Style
  

Aerial style is... tricky. I spent some time fiddling with the aerial style on Blademasters and I genuinely had a hard time. It's even worse on Gunners. Malfestio killed my archer twice. Anyway, Aerials WILL work wonders on flat, open terrain, which practically present in all MH maps. One argument, though. The monsters seem to have either increased tolerance on falling down from jumping attacks or they possess a sweet spot that needs to be hit for the attack to be counted as jumping attack. I'm not sure myself. I used Aerial in a Long Sword run and the Malfestio only falls ONCE in the span of ten minutes clearing the quest, and I did A LOT of jump attacks. This kinda bugs me over the actual effectiveness of the style. I'd personally prefer utilizing Insect Glaive for the built in vault attack OR jumping off ledges.

This style really shines in a team hunt far better than solo. Aerials are the utility guy with the task of technically dropping and mounting monsters to leave openings for the rest of the buddies for a gangbang. Now, I know I contradict myself by saying that this style is bad on Gunners, but that's just me playing it. A good gunner can actually benefit from the increased maneuverability and options from this bouncy, awkward style.

• Adept Style

Adept is the most technical of all style, and in my humble opinion, the most fun. The style suffers the same missing moveset from weapons, this limits your offense but if you're good, you can practically clear a Deviljho quest naked. You will perform the art, Absolute Evasion everytime you press the roll button a split second before a monster hits you. This takes clever memorizing of monsters' attack pattern. I ended up trying all weapons with this style. Gunners will rejoice. The paper-thin armor will benefit from the invincibility as you perform the corkscrew dodge. If my hunch is correct that you can choose your own art, then a team of three Gunners and one Hammer user with Provoke and Adept style will be virtually invincible.

Need more? Adept style lets you perform a counter attack distinct to each weapon after successfully dodging. Sword and Shield's counter move is the best. Try it.

Now, where's the genius in Capcom, you ask? Most games's new installments either suffer from missing identity and/or stale, overused concept where they used their source material too often that the game becomes boring. Recent Final Fantasy series are struggling ever since they left their classic turn-based system and end up being ambiguous in their gameplay. It feels too linear to act like western-RPG but too fast paced and action-oriented as J-RPG. Another example will be Resident Evil (Biohazard) series, which is ironically comes from Capcom itself. But in Monster Hunter Generation they add new gameplay concept. Risky. They still maintain the old gameplay (Guild style). Safe. That there, is genius.

Did I mention that you can play as your Felyne, too?

Is It Safe To Say... That In Monster Hunter Series, YOU Are The Antagonist?

Well met, Hunter! Before you start getting pissed reading my post here, let me share a bit of myself. I'm a big fan of the Monster Hunter series and have played almost all of the installments that I could get my hands on and I'm also pretty good at the game. Not THAT good, but still pretty good. So I know what I'm writing about. I'm pretty happy with how the series currently are right now and not necessarily want a change in formula but this post is all about my rambling about the games that happen to cross my mind, that 'what if' question that makes me want to perceive games through another perspective, so enjoy!

We all know that most of action games involve around killing things... For the greater good. Yes, we play games to escape the mundane world and become a hero. We role play as the protagonist. Every storyteller can simplify his story as 'the protagonist killing the antagonist'. We play as a knight in shining armor that kills the dragon who robs the treasure and threaten the kingdom... But wait, what if....

What if we play as a knight in dragon-scale armor kills the dragon guarding its egg and never actually seen threatening the kingdom? I'd feel bad. We all know and we all consciously overlook the fact that the game lacks any sort of real 'narrative' element aside from the thin dialogues among the characters, simply because the game is surprisingly fun in a challenging sort of way (cringe when remembering G class monsters in Freedom 2). We are thrown into the world filled with monsters so majestic and often possessing god-like qualities, with little to no narrative explanation. You are there to fulfill a request sent by troubled INDIVIDUALS to hunt down the incredible beasts. Remember how a certain quest comes from a spoiled princess who wants Rathalos captured to be a pet?

Zamtrios: 'Oh boy, I'm so full it's hard to move--A hunter? Wait--Hey, no, hold on--I--I can explain--Lemme get a breather!'
Hunter: (2.5 seconds to full charge...)

The beautiful creatures are not a subject of worship, they are resources. You outfit yourself with parts scavenged from their carcass. You appear in front of a Rathalos wearing the armor made from the remains of the Rathalos's brother. You break A Congalala's Elvis hair that it may have spent hours grooming. You slice them to oblivion using their own bones and claws. You grab wyvern eggs and let your partner hunters kill the mommy wyverns. Hell, you even eat them! (Gravios wingtip with gravy sauce, anyone?) Some quest backgrounds DO tell that the monsters are threatening at some point but never have the game showed the home village destroyed by a rampaging, horny Rajang who just got dumped by a female Rajang in mating season. We even almost always encounter them when they are walking and enjoying sunshine...

Gore Magala: ''Tis a peaceful day and a full belly, time to sleep...'

Hunter: 'DIE, FRENZY FREAK!!'

Gore Magala: 'DAFUUQQ!?' 

Things like these that makes me scratch my head... Good thing they wrote children, if it's other guards being attacked, I'd skip the quest altogether....

I'm well aware that these considerations are far-fetched, but hey, this is the 'Is it safe to say' article, and right now, with all the considerations, is it safe to say that are we actually the antagonist of the game? In my honest opinion, what actually draws me to love the game, aside from the gameplay, are the main characters. By characters, I mean the MONSTERS. Seriously, the monsters are so well-designed that we can just feel them alive as characters as opposed of some hunkering meat bags for weapons testing. Each have its own individuality, even the roars. You can close your eyes, pick a quest at random and tell what you're fighting against just from the monster's roar itself (aside from several theme songs). Every new installment can and will often give you that 'sinking' feeling whenever we face a new monster, whose patterns of attacks we don't know yet (happens to me every time a Deviljho theme song replaces an original song in a quest). The monsters are as much a character like the humans/wyverians in the game. I guess that's what makes me feel increasingly uneasy doing quests over and over with nothing to do except testing equipment or farming materials (Rajang Tail, anyone?)

Right. I shouldn't have been paid... I'm not supposed to kill the spider, am I? CMIW...

We come, we see and we conquer. We rolled, we trap and we carve. Honestly, if the game provide more meaty explanation as to why we are actually hunting them story-wise, I may have felt somewhat more content, as by having the responsibility of killing them is definitely for the greater good. For example, maybe Kokoto is about to be run-over by thousands of crazy Popos and Antekas coming down, galloping from the mountains and that the only way to stop them is to kill the Tigrex in the mountain who farts so loud that the herbivores got scared and decide to run for their lives. It would give me plenty of satisfaction to actually finish the quest. 'Saving the village' is a better premise than 'I need ONE more Tigrex Scale. Because a whole 200-kilo wyvern carcass yields only ONE SCALE'.

Hunter:'Let's take a wefie, Kirin!!'
Kirin: 'Sorry, Dad... If it wasn't to keep me alive, you wouldn't be made into a pair of underwear....'*sob*

'Alright, cats, gather the shrooms you want, but don't tell the hunters bout me. I've got kids to feed. I haven't even laid eggs in a decade...'
..... And I'm pretty sure we'd still kill it Bushido-style.....

After all is said and done, my thoughts on Monster Hunter Series? Good job for Capcom for making an addictive game with plenty of interesting characters while having NO NARRATIVE whatsoever. I'm not against the series continuing their traditional trademark of the game since the latest installment is already on the good track of providing us a decent amount of storyline but I find myself yearning for that words of the divine to drive me to go hunt a majestic beasts. But right now, I must be content with killing grand creatures as ordered by the words of the Professor. In the name of Science!