The Cubed Table | Exploring the World of Monster Hunter

SirLink: Welcome to our new type of feature, called "The Cubed Table". I'm known as SirLink and part of Cubed3's review team. Today I'm joined by one of my fellow editors, Liam.

Liam Cook: Hello everybody, I'm Liam Cook.

SL: In this first installment of "The Cubed Table", we'll be discussing the Monster Hunter series and our experiences with it. Why don't we start with how we both discovered the franchise?

LC: Well, I first discovered the series upon visiting Nintendo's website one day at college. I had read about the series before, but I never really had any interest in it. So, I started watching a few videos of Japanese gamers playing Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii and my friend happened to look over at my screen; which lead to quite an interesting chat about the series. I decided to pick the game up and see how it played out. Funnily enough Monster Hunter is now one of my favourite series of games. What about you SirLink, when did you first become interested in the series?

SL: My story isn't even nearly as interesting as yours (laughs). I'm a big fan of RPGs and action games and I saw a few comments about Monster Hunter Tri, stating that it's a great and challenging game. In late 2010, I was looking for more titles to add to my growing collection of Wii games and just based on those comments, I decided to get the bundle with the black Wii Classic Controller Pro. Looking back, it was quite a gamble but it sure paid off in the end, considering Monster Hunter is now also one of my favourite franchises.

LC: You raised an interesting point there by mentioning that you played the game with the Classic Controller Pro. When I first started, I used the Wii Remote and Nunchuk set up and after playing through the tutorial, I headed online to get lessons from my friend; who was also my Monster Hunter sensei. I found it difficult to get into at the start, because I was using the basic armour and starter weapon, which of course meant I was severely underpowered.

After overcoming my initial obstacles, I felt comfortable playing with other people; all of whom thought I was crazy for using the control set up I used. I managed to surprise them in the end though, since I was pretty good, even if I was using a ridiculous control method. How difficult was it for you to get into Monster Hunter? Did you find it harder because you didn't have someone who knew a lot about the series?

SL: I didn't actually know what to expect but when I started playing and saw how much there is to learn, I took it as a challenge. I gathered all information I needed by myself with the help of the internet and gradually made my way through the offline portion of the game. I refused to go online before I completed it, worrying about possibly holding other players back among various other things.

Of course that's far from how most new players tackle the game, with many simply jumping online as soon as possible. By far not everybody prefers to learn everything by themselves and for this reason it's up to the community to help turn new players into experienced hunters. Having had a friend who helped you get into the game, do you have any advice for newcomers to the series? Perhaps any wise lessons you received and followed yourself?

LC: Well, my Monster Hunter friend told me about the ever-important armour skills which require 10-15 points in order to actually activate it. Luckily, because I wanted matching armour and not have a mixture of different armours, I was able to get my first skills pretty quickly. This is probably the most important advice to give to a newcomer, as they may think a talisman which has +8 Health will give them additional health, when in reality they still need another two points from that skill in order for it to have any effect. Another important piece of advice is to take full advantage of the Felyne Canteen and always check the Item Pouch to make sure all the necessary supplies are there, before departing on a quest.

Most importantly though, don't mess up and don't be the person to get the third death; it won't amuse your teammates (laughs). Jokes aside, do you have any other pieces of advice which I may have missed?

SL: There are definitely more that are worth mentioning. As you've said, you should always check your Item Pouch before the quest. Good preparation is half of the fight and while it's not as exciting as battling monsters, farming certain materials to combine helpful items such as traps is an extremely important aspect of the series. This is made a lot easier by a farm run by Felynes, who produce additional ingredients such as herbs, mushrooms, insects or honey for you while you're going on quests.

My next piece of advice is solely about the multiplayer aspect and not just for newcomers. Monster Hunter is all about teamwork. When playing with other hunters, be respectful and help each other out. If you're not in a room with the goal to hunt a specific monster, take turns posting quests so everybody gets materials they need. If someone dies, getting mad at them won't solve anything. Try to find a particular reason, such as wrong or insufficient equipment. If there's none of that and the player simply messed up, accept it and move on. Everybody makes mistakes and it's important to learn from them.

Finally, experienced players trying to help newcomers should put themselves at their level when it comes to equipment so they can learn from it. They won't gain anything if someone obliterates a monster with completely overpowered weapons, it'll just help them progress in the game and that's it.

LC: Yeah, I totally agree with you; especially that last point. I've came across people who are really far into the game, yet they still do not understand the basic concept of how certain aspects of Monster Hunter work; nor do they possess the knowledge which is usually required to get to that point in the first place. Moving on from giving advice to new adventurers, which aspects of the series grabbed you the most and what do you love about the series?

SL: That's a really tricky question, as there are just so many aspects that define Monster Hunter. If I had to mention only one thing, I'd say it's the sense of accomplishment. That can be a victory over a monster you really struggled with, making desired armour and weapons you worked hard to get the materials for, or simply improving your skill with various weapon types and trying out new ones.

As for other aspects I love about the series, a big one would definitely be the importance of teamwork. While some would think that multiplayer is simply a case of "The more, the merrier", that's far from the truth. Having more hunters certainly helps, but a distinct lack of teamwork between the players can greatly affect their performance. With the voice chat feature in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, working together becomes even easier and contributes a lot to the overall experience. In fact, I love playing with friends so much that I don't want to play Monster Hunter alone ever again. (laughs)

LC: The series certainly gives you a sense of accomplishment when you take down a tough foe for the first time and I'd also agree that teamwork plays an incredibly important role in the multiplayer aspect of the series. I mean, after all; we did take on a majority of the G-Rank quests with just the two of us! (laughs)
Another aspect which keeps me hooked on the series is the fact that you never stop learning. Of course there's the initial learning curve, but even after that, you never stop learning. Whether it's working out the attack patterns of certain monsters, mastering the gameplay mechanics of the different weapon types or even finding out where you can get certain items; you're constantly engaging, which in turn keeps players interested in Monster Hunter.

There's also that desire sensor in the game, which I still believe that Capcom uses some kind of chip implanted into our brain; to figure out what item we need to upgrade our equipment and then just doesn't reward us with it the first dozen times. Seriously though, if you want something in Monster Hunter, you probably won't get it.

SL: It's very true that you never stop learning in Monster Hunter. It also handles character progression in a unique way. There's no level-up system that influences your character's abilities. You can use any armour or weapon you like and pursue another play style at any given time, but even great equipment only gives you an advantage and not an easy, automatic victory. You can afford more mistakes with more defence and deal more damage per hit with a very powerful weapon, but quests will still give anyone who doesn't know how to leverage these things a hard time. For our last point and with Monster Hunter 4 on the horizon in Japan, what are your hopes for the future of the franchise?

LC: Well, first of all, a few little niggling things from Monster Hunter Tri have been improved in the latest instalment, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The ability to be able to eat after you have accepted a quest, also the ability to access your farm and fishery whilst playing multiplayer; a feature which Tri was lacking.
After playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate extensively, all I can really hope for in the future is that each and every instalment gets localised, in a timely fashion. I understand translation and localisation may take a while for a game the size of Monster Hunter; but if Capcom can do simultaneous releases with Resident Evil and other popular franchises, they can at least give us Monster Hunter a few months after the Japanese release. There's also one more piece of advice I have for Capcom: if you want to make the series more user friendly, that's perfectly fine, just please don't deviate from the core aspects which make Monster Hunter so addictive and interesting.

SL: I definitely agree on all those points. With each new game winning a fair amount of new fans in the West, I hope that Capcom will keep building on that foundation by bringing new releases over in a timely manner and not let the franchise stay dormant for a few years yet again; it's been three years since the release of Monster Hunter Tri in the West, after all. As for Monster Hunter 4, I really want to try out the new gameplay mechanics and hope they enhance the experience while staying true to the elements that define the series. If they can pull this off, I'll be a happy camper…I mean hunter! (laughs)

LC: That's right; I cannot wait to see all the new stuff in Monster Hunter 4. Hopefully we don't have to wait over a year for that to release here in the west!

SL: On that note, let's wrap it up here. Thank you for joining me today, Liam. Perhaps next time we'll discuss a certain life-simulation franchise with an upcoming, highly anticipated new instalment but for now - as a Monster Hunter would say - good luck and have a good hunt!