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Friday 8 February, 2008
Gamelog #2
GAMEPLAY
After playing Monster Hunter Freedom some more, I was still very much compelled by it. The challenges that the game provides ramps up constantly, which makes for an extremely challenging and difficult gameplay. New tactics and strategies are always necessary in order to overcome challenges later presented in the game.
Monster Hunter Freedom is also not merely a challenging hack-and-slash game. Some missions promote a different style of play : retrieving items and capturing creatures. Players have to be able to effectively know when a creature is sufficiently wounded, a state that will give a player the highest chance of successfully capturing a creature. Not only that, but players will also have to be able to effectively track down fleeing creatures, as most creatures will flee in order to regenerate their health when they are near death. Quests that require players to retrieve items force the player to not be physically touched by any creature in fear of dropping the items that the player is carrying. This forces players to learn about other creatures’ attack sequence ( in order to allow them to effectively avoid attacks directed at them), what paths to take while carrying the item ( to ensure the lowest chance of them dropping the item), and to make consumable or equipment combinations that helps them move faster.
I particularly like the extra layering of challenge that the game presents. Not only do you have to be an effective fighter, but you have to be a good hunter, tracker, gatherer, and strategist. Ultimately, the game requires the player to be good at almost everything in the game in order to continually progress in the game.
DESIGN
The game has a reward structure that I did not particularly like. The rewards in the game come in the form of gold, which is obtained after successfully completing a mission, and in the form of animal body parts.
You're almost always short on something, especially in regards to gold. If you needed gold to buy or upgrade something expensive, then chances are you have to repeatedly perform a quest that gives you a lot of gold in a short amount of time. I changed my primary weapons a number of times, and as a result, I was forced to do this if I wanted a new weapon that is up to par. Repeating the same quest over and over for gold was particularly boring and mind-numbing, and I would have preferred an abundance of gold, or some other option to allow you to trade or switch primary weapons.
Gathering animal body parts was something else that I did not particularly enjoy. Animal body parts are almost always needed when creating or upgrading your weapon or armor. Like gold, you’re often short on animal body parts. When I wanted to upgrade my weapon to a stronger one, I was always short on some form of animal body part. This means that I had to repeat a certain quest with the highest chances of rewarding me with a particular body part over and over again. The animal body parts that you obtain are random, with some constraints, which ultimately means that sometimes you’re not lucky and have to keep doing a particular quest many times until you have exactly what is needed to upgrade or create a new weapon or armor.
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