Qurupeco is History

I finally brought the overgrown chicken down. The only monster it called when I beat it was the little and the big Jaggi. Rathian never made an appearance. If he had, I would not have beat the Qurupeco quest. The demo disc was a great idea, because it allows players to learn the controls and get somewhat good with them in plenty of time for when the game comes out in April.

I did not know until the other day that when Qurupeco hits its wingtips together three times in a row while dancing side to side that right after that, it will either call a monster or heal itself. If you can hit its song sack while it's doing this, before it is finished, you can either interrupt its monster call or steal its healing power for yourself. So I began to focus on this. The first two times I tried the quest today, I opted for the long sword character. I got close to beating it those two times, but ran out of time just when I had the chicken in its coop. I then tried the hammer character again, and I applied the skills I had learned with the long sword character to my use of the hammer character (i.e., rolling, interrupting it's call, doing a power smash on the Qurupeco when it was on the ground, maintaining my health, sharpening my weapon, etc….). As a result, I beat the thing, finally, after almost a week of playing the game. Apparently, there is hope for me yet in the MMO game play arena. It was tremendous fun, and I can't wait for the game to come out in April. Thank goodness Red Steel 2 will be here shortly. This is probably my last post on the MHT Demo disc. I will blog regularly about my MHT journey come April 20.

Red Steel 2, Part 3

The Jackals who hold me captive are amoral and ubiquitous. They care for nothing more than quick money, quick drinking, and violence. I am sure that if it were not for the strength of their leader, they would have cut one another's throats long ago. I am patiently waiting, still ready to pounce on the slightest opportunity to secure my freedom. They believe me to be weak. They are wrong. They are not as disciplined as the Kusagari clan. As a result, they do not know the power of the mind, nor do they understand the techniques we have been taught to preserve and marshal our strength for times of need. This, perhaps more than anything else, causes me to wonder that there must be something more to the absence of my clan than the mere presence of these animals. The Jackals alone, even with their leader, would never have the strength to defeat the Kusagari on their own. I do not know where the rest of my clan has gone. I was returning home after my five years of banishment when I fell into the hands of the Jackals. Something is very wrong, and now my home town is filled with scum. I know my sword and my guns are still nearby. I see the Jackals playing with them in the evening. One of them, in his carelessness with my sword, managed to slice off the arm of one of his brethren. Idiots, all of them. Now, whenever one of them brings my sword out to play, the others stand far away to watch the theatrics. Soon I will teach them that my sword and my guns are not toys to be trifled with. Soon, I will be free, and they shall know true fear. I will teach them to fear me, to fear the Kusagari once again.

Monster Hunter Demo Part III

I was more successful yesterday in my attempts to defeat Qurupeco. I mostly used the long sword character again.
Finally, after three days of playing this game, I discovered what the whetstone that is given in the demo disc is used for. Apparently, beating up on monsters weakens your weapon. A message is given stating that your weapon has decreased in power. When that happens, you can select the whetstone out of your pack, and when you activate it, it sharpens your weapon which restores its power. Very Cool!
I have typically NOT been an RPG or MMO gaming fan. But so far, I LOVE this game, and I am so looking forward to getting it when it's released in April.
I mainly used the long sword in my hunt again yesterday, and did pretty well, until......Qurupeco called Rathian into the frey. OH MY GOSH - Rathian is HUGE, and I really had no hope of completing the quest with that beast involved. He tossed me around like I was something less than a rag doll. I tried to avoid him and stayed focused on Qurupeco, but it was not easy. Now I had two monsters with projectiles offenses. Qurupeco spits green slime balls, and Rathian shoots fire balls. Oy - what a challenge. Still, I stuck with the strategy of staying close to Qurupeco so that Rathian would have a hard time getting me. It seemed to work a litle bit. I actually managed to knock Qurupeco down three times in the same quest. Each time, when it got up, it had a nasty limp, so I figured I was close to beating it down for good. Alas, that never happened. Maybe today.
I did try the switch axe again. Now that I am used to the controls, it was a bit easier to use a different weapon. The "Switch Axe 1" character has a pretty good combo going, but it does take some time to wind up the combo. Also, in sword mode, it has what looks like electricity or fire running up and down the blade in mid-swing. In addition to that, its reach is pretty good. It has the ability to hit enemies beside and behind the character using it, which sometimes came in handy. It was slow however, and Qurupeco man-handled me while using the switch axe. Maybe woman-handled would be a better term, as the character using it was a woman.
I also successfully deployed a flash bang at Qurupeco, which caused the beast to be dizzy for about 30 seconds. I thought I would be able to just walk up to it and wail on it in it's confusion, but I was wrong. While affected by the flash bang, it thrashes wildly in defense until it recovers. It's hard to get close to it to attack while it's doing that without getting damaged.
All in all, I had another enjoyable day of hunting. Like I said, I still did not beat Qurupeco yesterday, but I am not giving up. That beast is going down.....sometime.

Monster Hunter Tri Demo (Cont.)

I finally brought down the mighty Jaggi with my massive hammer weapon character. Actually, maybe not so mighty Jaggi - I am thinking it is probably one of the smaller monsters in the game.
I forgot to mention in the previous post that you get two continues in the game. If the monsters thrash you bad enough, you faint, and then are placed on a cart and brought back to your hut (the original spawn point in the demo version). Then you get to try again.
I managed to set a shock trap for the Jaggi which he readily fell into, to my surprise. A shock trap freezes any monster that falls into it for about 10 seconds. While frozen, it also damages them by causing what looks like bolts of electricity to swarm over the hapless creature. You can also attack the frozen monster during this time, inflicting even more damage.
I can't believe I actually managed to bring this creature down all by myself. It only took me about 100 tries. Not really, but seriously, it does take a while to get used to the controls and the characters.
Immediately upon my successful Jaggi quest, I went after the Qurupeco. I tried using both the medium blowgun and the light bowgun at first. You can actually aim by pressing the "R" button if you are using the classic controller. Aiming is a bit herky-jerky though, unless you scope in, which you can do by quickly tapping the "R" button on the game pad. Even scoping in, it seemed to me that the bowguns are fairly inaccurate, especially at distance. And if the Qurupeco flies, you can only aim so high with the bow gun before the monster is beyond the bowguns scoping capabilities.
After failing twice with the bowgun, I switched to the long sword. My attack and dodge speed significantly increased and I actually did pretty well, although I still failed the Qurupeco quest. At one point in the same zone, I was fighting the Qurupeco, a Jaggi, and a pack of baby Jaggi all at the same time. It was not easy. I discovered that if you get up close and personal with the Qurupeco, it can not hit you with it's slime spit, and under it's body and wings, the Jaggi could not reach me. So for about a minute I was able to attack it untouched.
I even managed to lure the Qurupeco from flight by placing raw meat on the ground in the zone I was in. This was better than trying to follow it in the air.
I also discovered that if you kill one of the harmless, vegetarian monsters in the demo version, you can then harvest meat and bones from them by pressing the "A" button while standing over the dead body. This was very exciting for me, and I must give credit to a friend of mine for suggesting I try this. You know who you are. I plan to continue the hunt for the Qurupeco again today.
All in all, it is an extremely fun and challenging game to play.

Happy Hunting!!

Monster Hunter Tri Demo

A demo disc was indeed made available to one and all on March 8. I got one for myself, as well as one for a co-worker who had but two games for his Wii: Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. I fully intend to indoctrinate him into the world of Wii gaming (he has not even gone online with his Wii yet - I feel that serious intervention is needed on his behalf).
The demo disc offers two quests, The Jaggi hunt and the Qurupeco hunt. Each quest is timed for 20 minutes. If you do not complete the quest in that time frame, the game is over. You get 7 characters with different basic weapons to begin with: Sword and Shield, Great Sword, Hammer, Bowgun, Lance, Switch Axe and Long Sword, and there are different varieties of each one (Light Bowgun, for example). You also get a variety of items to start with, thanks to Capcom. In the full version of the game, I am sure you would have to earn these items. You get potions, meat, projectiles, sonic and dung bombs, etc....
I tried the Hammer (slow but very powerful), the Great Sword, the Bowgun and the Lance. The Lance was HARD. I sucked with it. The Bowgun was a challenge for me as well. I did ok with the Great Sword, and even better with the Hammer once I was able to figure out how to plan my moves. I tried each quest, and failed at both. The Qurupeco hunt is very hard, because the danged thing flies, and calls other monsters into the fray. I only tried that quest once, because I could not figure out how to attack it since it was mostly doing air time.
The Jaggi hunt went a bit better for me. By the time I had failed at like my 7th quest attempt at hunting this creature, I think he was almost dead.
Potions restore your health (I always had to use all my potions - you get like 10 of them right off the start). I hit a Jaggi with a dung bomb once, and I'm not sure what it did to the creature but make it expunge noxious fumes like Wario does when he farts in SSBB. I also tried a sonic boom bomb - the bombs landed near the creatures with no effect that I could see, so I guess you need to get a direct hit with a sonic bomb to do any damage. I also tried the tinged meat (poisonous meat that paralyzes your prey). I layed the meat between the monster and myself to no avail. The monster passed right by the meat and went for me.
The graphics are great, and I am really looking forward to teamwork help in online play to bring these monsters down. This does not mean, however, that I am giving up on the demo disc quests. To the contrary, I want to kill the nasty little creatures all the more. Happy hunting!

MHT News

Apparently, there may be a demo disc of MHT made available at no charge on Monday, March 8. I guess I will find out for sure on my way home from work that day.

Monster Hunter Tri (MHT)

We will begin our journey, and the live blog of our Monster Hunting experience, on April 20, 2010.

Red Steel 2, Part 2

I do not know what form the act of my freedom will take. I do not know if there is a spy in the camp of my enemies, perhaps an unknown and unidentified friend, who will secure my release at an opportune time, or if perhaps my enemies will let their guard down and do something stupid that will present an opportunity for me to take advantage of their weaknesses so as to free myself. All I know for sure is that I can not let my guard down. I must be vigilant and ready, even in my currently weakened condition, to act quickly and without mercy. And believe me, when my freedom comes, I will show no mercy to these, my mortal enemies. I hate their fear, and yet I also know I can use their fear as a tool to destroy them when the time comes. I can almost taste their fear of me, a palpable, disgusting, rancid, almost living fear that makes them avoid me. In fact, they cast lots each night when we make camp to see who will get to bring me my meager portions of water and food. They are required to loosen one of my bound hands so that I am able to feed myself. They tried feeding me for a time, but soon grew tired of this practice, and the camp boss himself instructed them to let me feed myself. Perhaps they saw their own fear, and the depths of my hate for them, in the reflection of the camp fire in my eyes as they came close. The time is near, and when that time comes, their fears will be realized in the wrath of my hate for them.

Red Steel 2

My enemies have captured and bound me, but the day of my freedom is fast approaching. I hear my enemies whispering in the dark when they think I can not hear. I hear the fear in their voices, see the reflection of fear in their eyes by the light of their camp fires. The voice of my freedom is whispered to them in the dark of night, and I see them shake. But still, many of them are confident in their power and in my captured condition. They leave me cold, in want of food and water, providing only enough to keep me alive for their master. Yet the day of retribution is coming, for the same voice that whispers to them whispers also to me, and it won’t be long now. That day, 03/23 of year 2010, their fears will be realized as I seek my revenge.