Regnilla Windblade: The Monster Hunter Webcast

So I bought this game at my local Gamestop for 50 USD last Spring. I was given the impression by the man that sold it to me that this game is a revolutionary JRPG that would make the Nintendo Wii a hardcore gaming system. I was intrigued and so I bought the game. Now that I am done with this game, I must say that this is a game with good ideas, but the ideas fall flat; making this an overall crappy game. This review will go into detail as to why I personally dislike this game.

First thing that pissed me off about this game was the combat. It literally took me around a half hour to find out that this game has an auto attack system. I was not very interested in the tutorials, as the lettering was so small and it didn’t go into much detail, so that is likely a fault by me. After I figured this out, I described that combat system being equal to that of operating a fighter jet. The fighting system feels like it is broken into 2 ways: Turn based combat and free flowing combat. The style takes off from turn-based by having an auto-attack of all things and the special Arts attack, while the free flowing combat makes it so in most cases you have to use either one attack, then another to make status effective, or having the character you’re playing as in a certain position as the enemy. This format JUST CAN’T WORK! When an enemy is targeting your character, in my case often playing as Shulk, I can’t circle around the enemy and use his Arts effectively, as the enemy is constantly facing him. This rage is lessened somewhat by the fact that Shulk’s “Shadow Eye” Art paired with either Reyn or Dunban makes him less of a target, but not to a significant degree. With every critical I make with Shulk’s Arts by positioning properly, the chances of him being targeted increase to the point where it takes several strikes from an ally before the enemy turns to a new target. This in itself wouldn’t be too much of an issue if it wasn’t for the fact that critical strikes are one of the more effective ways to increase the party gauge. It would have been better to make this a free-flowing combat system rather than both a turn based and free-flow, as a free flow will make it so an attack would actually be needed to be planned out without having a monster facing you constantly, giving you the ability to whip around it and catch it off guard (Prince of Persia style) while giving a challenge to perform the proper attack as to not make a fight too easy.

Also, the concept for the chain attack it a good way to counter the Arts’ cooldown time, but the party gauge required to perform it is fucked up. The party gauge goes down slowly after a fight, and goes down an entire bar when a comrade revives you, or when you revive a comrade. This makes going up against a really difficult enemy even more difficult when you keep getting slapped down without much of a fighting chance. Though it is countered by a semi “quick time event” when encouraging a teammate, it would have been better to have a revival gauge as well as a chain attack gauge so that strong enemies, or worse, multiple strong enemies can be taken down more effectively.

Next thing I have an issue with are the overall graphics. I admit this ones more of a self-indulgence complaint rather than an actual issue, but while the atmosphere of the game is REALLY good and actually realistic, graphics up close seem to be blended in an kind of ugly. This is more likely a Wii issue, as it does not support HD quality.

Next up are the reactions and translations. They are poorly handled. There are several times I noticed a character react completely off timing to what they were saying, and an equal number of times that the subtitles had some sort of error inconsistent to what the character was saying. This does kill the immersion quite a bit, but is somewhat compensated for decent characterization. Yet this too is completely eclipsed by the fact that there are so few dialogue lines during the combat, which make the characters CONSTANTLY repeat themselves, resulting in a physical headache a couple of times.

Last is the story line. I counted a number of plot holes, some little and some severe. One of the more serious ones are the Mechons in general. They initially appear to eat the Homs, but it is never directly explained how a machine eats a living organism for substance. If you look a bit closer, the Mechon eat the Homs because they contain the Ether that the Mechon use as fuel, but this also leads to a more serious Plot Hole: We all know that Xord eats and entire group of survivors in Colony 6, but since we found out that Homs pilot the Faced Mechon, how does Xord eat the people when he technically does not need food as the person inside is half machine (this is explained by Fiora later in the game)?? And the fact that he cannibalized on his own kind??

Another glaring issue in the story is that Shulk was technically dead when Zanza Possessed his body, so when Zanza reappeared from his body, how the hell does Shulk still live?! It was explained on the wiki at some point that Alvis revives him, but again: how does he revive Shulk? All they do is talk a little bit and he suddenly lives?! The next issue is the matter of the Monado after Zanza takes it: How is it that the Machna know how to copy an EXACT replica of the Monado even though it was never stated that the Machna knew how the Monado functioned? And even then, how does the replica have even close to as much power as the original?

Finally, it was told that Zanza had created and destroyed the world for centuries, but if Meyneth was against it all this time and wanted the people to make their own future, why hadn’t she stood up to Zanza before? I also find it bullshit that Zanza has the ability to kill of all life stemming from him to recreated the world, as Meyneth would have to have done the same, and against she was against taking the lives of her people, which would again create so many inconsistencies.

After all this, there are some really good things going for the game, but with all these issues, the game is just not worth getting. Save your money for something better. Overall my summary is this: A game of great ideas, but so poorly executed it literally gives me a headache.

Quests Completed: 1-2 Star (3 Star WIP/Urgent Quest Available)

Equipped Armor

• Velociprey Helm
• Bone Mail
• Velociprey Vambraces
• Hunter’s Tasset
• Hunter’s Greaves

Armor in Storage

• Chain Mail

Equipped Weapon

• Dragon Agito

Great Swords in Storage

• Buster Sword+

Anyone that plays Minecraft frequently should by now know that Minecraft Version 1.3 is coming around soon. Like most, if not all, the latest updates, Mojang releases a series of snapshots to let the players know what new changes are going to be added.     The Snapshots are a great way to keep players informed and gives an overall sense of equality between Mojang and the players.

With Minecraft 1.3, there are many Snapshots depicting this new version having new ore, bug fixes, menu changes, single + multiplayer union, and more. There are many Minecrafters that must be excited for this new development, but skeptics such as myself express doubt if these changes to the game are actually a good idea. Here is my opinions on some of the major changes coming with Version 1.3:

First is the merge between the single and multiplayer games of Minecraft. What this is supposed to do is allow players to play their single player worlds as multiplayer worlds without the use of complex server setups. I can understand the benefits of having this change, but I noticed a bunch of flaws as soon as I heard about it. The first flaw I identified with was that since this was going to take out the use of servers, online servers will be considered obsolete. This will take away any revenue that current online servers make to support their server activity. The second is connecting with the right people and keeping the “less pleasant” players away. This has not been very well explained through the snapshots or any of the people on Youtube I have seen featuring them (i.e. paulsoaresjr., chimneyswift11, etc.). I have been informed that the update will have whitelists and banning features, but as a single person operating an entire Minecraft multiplayer game, it would be difficult policing others when you the player are trying to enjoy the game as well. This also means that other players can cheat (use hacks, etc.) in your world without you even knowing. Not to mention that some of the predetermined banning features are a bit bugged. What I mean by this is that I downloaded a snapshot myself and tested it out…..and I was BANNED FROM MY OWN GAME for sprinting (claimed I was hacking). Overall, I think the multiplayer aspect of the update is a great feature, but must be handled with the utmost care, since it can be easily broken.

The next thing I want to point out are the new single player commands. This update by far is a good one because it gives the basic commands like the SPC Mod, but without having to jump through hoops installing the Mod itself. This part of the update is, by far, not perfect. With the SPC being added to Minecraft, it will take a lot of the challenge out of the game itself. The thing that makes Minecraft so appealing is the effort required to build and gather materials. With SPC added to Minecraft, players will not have to worry about running out of materials in a Survival game, or even being attacked by monsters. I am aware there is a “No Cheats” option before even creating the world, but that is like shattering a neighbor’s window and replacing it. Overall, you still fucked up, and replacing it would be like an adult saying “there, all better” in a childish tone; and thus will still be marked down as a negative attribute towards the game.

The last part I want to point out are the numerous item additions and behavioral adjustments to the game. There are so many at this point that I will only point out a few. The three I have taken a particular fondness to are listed below:

• Emerald and Ruby ore
• New Structures
• Trading with Villagers

I can sum up just about all of these parts of the update into one positive opinion: To make the world of Minecraft open up. A good game makes the world feel big with many options and adventures to explore. The more options, the better the world opens up. This is, of course, assuming that these options are balanced. Nothing ruins a good thing quite like options that are bugged out the ass. Speaking of balancing things, there was the enchanting that was recently made more balanced. Players can take that as a good thing or a bad thing. Personally I took it as a bittersweet feeling. While it is good that I will not have to grind heavily for 50 levels of experience for bigger enchantments, this new feature will make me sigh with displeasure knowing I wasted so much time at my XP grinder.

So with all of this, I think that Minecraft version 1.3 is a not so much a good idea, but rather an idea that should be handled carefully. The new items balance out the flaws pretty well, but the concept, in my eyes, is still delicate. There is a lot of potential to be had with this update, but the wrong move could collapse most if not all the game and give a mediocre experience to all, which in itself would be a disappointment.

I guess that if the update begins going tits-up, then the bug fixes should make up for some of the flaws. And by bug fixes….I mean by the time 1.3 gets out, I had better see that damn map bug corrected or else I will consider the 1.3 update to be a complete loss if the multiplayer aspect fails. 

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Y3PBB2hlo

Here are my Statistics as of 4/22/12 - Video: Speedy Bastards

Village Quests

• 1 Star - Cleared
• 2 Star - Cleared
• 3 Star - Cleared
• 4 Star - Cleared
• 5 Star - Cleared
• 6 Star - 1 Special

Guild Quests - HR 2 (1 + 2 Stars not counted) 

• 3 Star - 6 Gathering, 5 Slaying, 2 Hunt
• 4 Star - 7 Gathering, 3 Slaying, 8 Hunt

Weapons

Great Sword - 1

• Old Yukumo Greatsword
• Storm Lightning

Long Sword - 12

• Yukumo Blade+
• Furogi Sword+
• Downpour+
• True Yukumo Blade
• Frozen Blade “Ice Flower” (Enhanced)
• Chain Blade+ (Enhanced)
• Hidden Saber (Enhanced)
• Wyvern Blade “Fire” (Enhanced)
• Mountain Sickle
• King’s Katana “Lightning Slicer” (Enhanced)
• Barbarian Blade (Enhanced)
• Guan Dao (Enhanced)
• Tessaiga (Enhanced)

Sword and Shield - 1

• Old Yukumo Machete

Dual Swords - 1

• Old Yukumo Blades

Hammer - 1

• Old Yukumo Hammer

Hunting Horn - 1

• Old Yukumo Flute

Lance - 2

• Old Yukumo Spear
• Longhorn

Gunlance - 1

• Old Yukumo Gunlance

Switch Axe - 1

• Old Yukumo Switch Axe

Light Bowgun - 1

• Old Yukumo Bowgun

Heavy Bowgun - 1

• Old Yukumo Heavy Bowgun

Bow - 11

• Hunter Bow I
• Sponge Gear II
• Queen Blaster I
• True Yukumo Bow
• Distant Thunder I
• Ice Crest I
• Hidden Bow
• Brass Cord II
• Tiger Arrow
• Desert Bow
• Arca Petra

Complete Low Rank Blademaster Armor Set - 7

• Yukumo

1. Spirit’s Whim
2. Divine Protection

• Qurupeco

1. Flute Expert
2. Recovery Up
3. Wide Area +2 (Gemmed in)

• Nargacuga

1. Evasion Increase
2. Sneak

(Attack Down Gemmed out)

• Barioth

1. Constitution +1
2. Runner

(Stamina Recovery Down Gemmed out)

• Rathalos

1. Exploiter
2. Fire Element +2 (Gemmed in)

(Recovery Down Gemmed out)

• Jinouga

1. Thunder Element +1
2. Unleashed +1
3. Sharp Sword
4. Taunt

• Tigrex

1. Autotracker
2. Earplugs
3. Filled Up

Complete Low Rank Gunner Armor Set - 2

•  Guild

1. Wide area +1
2. Rewards Expert
3. Tranquilizer Guru
4. Bad Luck

• Jinouga

1. Thunder Element +1
2. Normal S/Rapid Bow up
3. Unleashed +1
4. Taunt