<Nobu Hijack>
There's at least a few people here picking up/playing Monster Hunter 3 Tri, so let's get together and hunt!
#MotK-GuildHall on PPIRC
Webchat -
http://webchat.ppirc.net/?channels=MotK-GuildHall
Haven't gotten to play Monster Hunter Unite yet but I have played Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for a while. I'm somewhat adept at it but since I wanted to wait for Unite to come out I stopped; though I haven't gotten a chance to get one now that it
is out. I'm curious who else plays and how other people go around playing the said game. So, yeah...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Hunter_(series)
For those who don't know anything about the game, let me talk a little about the game(sorry there
is a lot you can talk about the game):
The Monster Hunter series is action (RPG) game developed by Capcom. There's not much story other than you play as a hunter in a world where there are monsters (Technically it is Role Playing but since there's near to no story it's kinda awkward to call it an RPG). The real bread and butter of Monster Hunter is it's gameplay. On the surface it is, as I said, just being a hunter and hunting monsters but the pre-mission, mission proper and post-mission has a lot more to it than that.
First, you have to prepare to go and hunt. You'll need the proper equipment and how can one hunt without weapons. There are(currently) 11 weapons to choose from. There will make you into a Blademaster(Melee) or Gunner(Ranged). Melee weapons are: Sword and Shield(SNS), Dual Sword(DS), Great Sword(GS), Long Sword(LS), Hammer, Hunting Horn(HH/Horn), Lance, and Gunlance. Ranged weapons are: Light Bowgun, Heavy Bowgun, and Bow. Each weapon is extremely unique and has a different feel from the other and most of them are balanced(I'm sorry but LS really is too easy to use; at the very least there is very a "best weapon"). After picking a weapon, you'll need some armor so that your ass doesn't get kicked by the monsters(and at times even mother nature will kick your ass). Check you're inventory and see if your stuff is what you want to bring in the mission you have in mind(yes, planning your items ahead is a necessity). You might also apt go to the kitchen and eat some food(cooked by your cats) to power you up. Go to the elder or the guild lady to get your mission and you're off.
You'll be sent into one of the various area of the game(these areas include a Jungle, Snow Mountain, Volcano, etc). Depending on them mission you'll either have to hunt down multiple small monster or one big one(boss). Usually, it's the latter and your first agenda is searching the areas to find and get the attention of the monster. Once that's done, dueling with the monsters will is what makes everything you worked for worth while. The mastery of your weapon, efficient use of the items you've brought and the knowledge of the attacks and opening of the monster at hand will lead you to victory. Once a monster is damaged enough, it will attempt to run off and sleep to recover it's health. At this time you can continue to just kill it and carve for it's spoils or capture it with a trap and tranquilizer(though some high tier monster cannot be captured, also small minor monster cannot be captured).
Once the deed is done and you've returned home to collect your rewards(usually some more monster parts), you'll want to go to the shop. See if there's something new installed for you or whether you can finally complete that piece of equipment you've been killing all these monsters for. After shopping, go to your farm(and now some Harvest Mooning) and get even more materials from the mining site, planting rows, insect bushes, fishing ports, etc. It's also a good way to get some easy money. After which... you'll plan your next hunt.
So, yes, it is sort of grind when you get to it but the gameplay is so fun, especially with the multiplayer feature on the Monster Hunters in the PSP. Me and my friend had a lot of fun; ordering, bragging and shouting all the way!
Anyway, like I said, I want to know who else plays this game series and who's excited about MH3(underwater hunting!) and anything else you'd like to share about MH(I know I have tons of things I can say about this game, but then that's just me).