Zero Punctuation: Monster Hunter Tri

[traineesword]

hahaha, yes, i've overcome my fanboy rage!

i've watched the video for the third time and now i'm laughing at his jokes again! phew, i was really worried when i saw he'd done this review, because i love the Monster Hunter series, and i thought it was safe. he'd done 2 wii games recently and what with other stuff like Alan Wake and red dead redemption out, i thought i was safe. but no, he reviewed it, and just seeing he'd done so filled me with fear. "he's definatly going to piss all over it", i thought, "he's got a week to play these games and also have a life, there is no way he'd have played long enough to even get to a good mission..." and i watched the review and felt like such a fanboy.

but after watching it again and again, i've decided that he does make about 3 good points, it is a funny review, even if it more poorly reflects the game than the box-art (in my opinion) and i still find Monster Hunter fun. so now i can just be a "fan" again and not get worried by anyone elses opinion!

 

[Ian Allen]

Never quite got Monster Hunter. Treid it once. It was possibly one of the worst games i have ever played and i've played a LOT of bad games (i own shaq-fu for christs sake).

I guess the japanophile backlash will be fun to watch for this collosal grind ridden peice of shit. Perhaps that's worth MH existing in the first place. MH is like tentacle porn, makes no sense outside japan and i don't think i want it to.

Yes, anyone who likes it must be a bizzarre japanophile. GRORIOUS NIPPON CAN DO NO WRONG, right?

l2p. There's little to no grinding. You've been spoiled by Halo and COD.

 

[rezaDN1992]

How could he be making a review without saying anything about the figthing system. And i thing he didn't even fought the great Jaggi. And why was he collecting al that stuff. Yust go fight monsters and pick up the stuff you see un youre way. ANd it doesn't have all the bad shit of mmorpg. You dodn't have to click on a monster and wait then seconds before it dies. And it also doesn't have the f***ing level grinding for exp. before you can get further in the game.

 

[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.

That was just about what I was thinking.

Fighting the first Great Jaggi was intense, then those things show up everywhere.

On the by, I love this game. I have yet to be disappointed.

And I feel awkward that so many are going to avoid the game like bad cheese the second Yahtzee says he does not like it. He doesn't like everything he reviews one way or another. That is what makes his reviews so interesting. He can take a perfectly good quality car and piss all over it, then hand it over to the power of a jackhammer with ADHD, for the enjoyment of others.

 

[milskidasith]

Never quite got Monster Hunter. Treid it once. It was possibly one of the worst games i have ever played and i've played a LOT of bad games (i own shaq-fu for christs sake).

I guess the japanophile backlash will be fun to watch for this collosal grind ridden peice of shit. Perhaps that's worth MH existing in the first place. MH is like tentacle porn, makes no sense outside japan and i don't think i want it to.

Yes, anyone who likes it must be a bizzarre japanophile. GRORIOUS NIPPON CAN DO NO WRONG, right?

l2p. There's little to no grinding. You've been spoiled by Halo and COD.

Well, I'll disagree a bit here; if you want to get some of the really high end, online only weapons, you have to grind. Everything in single player, though, basically is either handed to you for free (boat/farm system), or you only need a couple of them so it takes 30 seconds extra, or you get it from murdering monsters and breaking their face/legs/mane/tail/flashing lantern thing/beak, which isn't so much grinding as it is playing the game.

Also, the end boss on offline does require a bit of grinding to get one item, but that's the only problem with the game, grindwise, for offline.

 

[The Great JT]

I want a Costner Flower...

 

[chenry]

I liked MH3.

But yes, it is a tedious grindfest. WHY DO I LIKE IT?! I HAVE NO IDEA.

 

[black-magic]

The only problem I have with this review is that Yhatzee speaks as though his opinion is the opinion of everyone out there. If harvest moon was an unaccepted part of video game history, wouldn't we have less then 20 of them over more then 10 years?

 

[geldonyetich]

I bought, like, three Monster Hunter games when Tri came out. (Tri and the first two for the PSP.) I haven't really had the time to play any of them because, indeed, it is pretty much a MMORPG-like grind. I just don't have the time to play MMORPGs anymore, it seems.

Perhaps the most interesting part about the game is something that both me and apparently Yahtzee have never played: the multiplayer. It's hard to grasp from the perspective of a regular PC user, but having 4 player online fantasy RPG co-op action on a PSP or a Nintendo Wii is genuinely groundbreaking for those platforms, and the way the Monster Hunter series leverages it into a sort of hunting simulation is actually relatively genius.

So, this review was pretty good for a laugh, but Yahtzee sort of missed the point entirely.

As long as we're on the subject of Harvest Moon and Nintendo Wii games, I advise he give Rune Factory Frontier a try. I rather enjoyed it [http://geldonsgaming.blogspot.com/2010/05/gaming-gems-rune-factory-frontier.html].

 

[SAMAS]

I don't know what Nintendo has against good graphics, but they are kidding themselves if they think they are on par with their rivals.

That's just it. They don't. They weren't trying to play the graphics game this generation. I bet the bigger chunk of the Wii's development time was going into the controls.

It's hard to shake the feeling that they are purposefully keeping their technology back because they're afraid of killer robots or something. I like Nintendo properties, a lot, but I can't help but think that they have got to get their graphical act together if they want to survive the next console generation.

It's mostly about cost, I think. Nintendo's the only company out of the three that makes a profit off hardware sales (Sony and Microsoft get their money from the software, and sold the 360 and PS3 at a loss even when they were selling them at $400+.). Even with the Gamecube, Nintendo was making a tidy profit, and they were at the bottom of the heap.

Just consider this: Of all the console wars, in only one generation (maybe two, but I'm not sure about the NES comparatively) has the graphical leader held the top spot. That was the SNES, and only if you disregard the Neo-Geo, Jaguar and 3DO. The Playstation ultimately beat the Saturn and N64 despite both systems' technical superiority, and the PS2 came out ahead of both the Gamecube and Xbox (and killed the poor Dreamcast) again despite being the bottom of the technological ladder. And let's not forget the Gameboy beating the hell out of the Game Gear and Lynx despite a four-color palette.

In the end, graphics don't mean a whole lot much.

 

[lazathor]

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. Was actually surprised to learn this is a Japanese game, considering those promotions

i certianally can't find anything good to say about it

 

[IankBailey]

-snip-

-snip-

Quite possibly two of the best posts I've seen on the escapist if you ask me. Both well thought out and interesting to read.

On topic though I remember when monster hunter first hit the PSP and my friends loved the hell out of it. I on the other had made fun of them, At least until I shelled out the money for a PSP and MH Freedom 2 for the PSP. I now have roughly 500 hours logged on it. I do on there other hand see where people come from with not enjoying the game itself. It's a the kind of game where learning the monsters tells and patterns is rewarded and mistakes are severely punished. It's a challenge and a grind but mostly a challenge if you can get past the grind bits it's really a fun game.

 

[Bananajoy]

Lol awesome video! XP The game is actually pretty good though.

 

[geizr]

I don't have the game myself, but judging from the posts of those who have actually played it a significant amount of time, this sounds like another FFXIII-Yahtzee fiasco, to me. I said it once before, I mentally stamp all of Yahtzee's critiques with "FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY."

In fairness to Yahtzee, 1 week just doesn't seem like enough time to actually critique a game with any real depth anyway, considering the time I'm guessing it must take to script and compose Zero Punctuation each week. In my opinion, it seems there was more depth in his critiques in the earlier days when he wasn't releasing 1 per week. Back then, each episode seemed less mass-produced and more personable; for instance, each had a different intro-track instead of the same canned track every time. You combine this with everything else he is trying to do, and you start to wonder if he really does have any time to play the games at all. The end result is that if the game does not reveal all its depth and intricacies within the first 10-15 minutes of play, he simply may not have the time to give the game a completely fair shake.

Sure, it's nice having a new Zero Punctuation each week, because us geeks love having the internet spoon feed us at absurdly rapid rates. However, the strain on quality that comes from such rapid production and digestion become evident. Expectations and confidence in accuracy or precision have to be tempered accordingly to avoid conflict.

I go back into my cave now.

EDIT: P.S. I still find the shit funny, though, which is why I watch it.

 

[Golem29]

Are people really basing their opinions of this game based on Yahtzee playing an hour and a half of the game?

 

[SAMAS]

And now I'd like to make a prediction:

On next week's Extra Punctuation, Yahtzee will try to justify his not hunting a big monster with an article on how long it should take for a game to "open up" (i.e.: let you get to the meat of the game). Hopefully, he'll make some good points along the way.

 

[manas]

Yahtzee, why do you review shitty games nobody cares about?

 

[milskidasith]

Speaking of the graphics war, I never got why people cared so much about it. I honestly can't notice a huge difference between playing my games on HD and SD, besides that on SD text tends to get blurry. Then again, one of my favorite games is Dwarf Fortress, so I may be one of those people that can ignore annoying factors and graphics for the sake of a really awesome concept.

In all seriousness, though, the only thing about graphics I notice is when stuff is blocky in the style of early gamecube/late N64 games, or when it has a horrible draw distance with obvious pop up, which only tends to happen when the game tries to have that fun wavy grass on the ground instead of devoting resources to other tasks.

 

[Aura Guardian]

Funny review as always. I liked the Dogbaby part. xD

Does the Wii really have a controller like that though? o.o

Yep. The Wii Classic Controller (as it's called) has been out for about as long as the Wii itself, and it's quite effective for Virtual Console games and others. I'm sure Aura has probably used one.

OT: Well, this was an entertaining show, to say the least. I actually like the grind like that, so I still have an interest in the game. I'll give it a rental still, but I'll keep your words in mind.

You called? And yes I do own it.