Felt kind of blank today, so short entry. Not good or bad, just gray. Not quite imaginative, not quite witty. Guess my colors hid along with the sun :)
Moving things along at work was good as always, and I'm thankful for chilling with my buddy, green smoke and wine.
I ventured out into the desert today, and shot up some Derux (marlin-like sand creatures) in Monster Hunter Tri. Some carving and gathering later, I had enough to make an excellent and happily designed set of bone armor (the thing has jawbone ear-guards and feather rabbit ears! how could I resist?).
The high point of that gaming session was definitely taking down the Dosjagii, the biggest of the small raptor-type enemies that you first encounter. Packing my great sword and hitting him hard straight on at first, I managed to break off his crest and complete Subquest A of the Kill Dosjagii quest. Guy's tough though, sweeping around with his tail and charging. Chased him off to another area and back, this time limping.
If you don't know Monster Hunter kill quests, you've got a max time limit (50 minutes in this case) in which to kill the beast. You're in a world composed of various areas, with connection points like tunnels, canyons and oceans (new to Tri). You'll find your monster in one of those. And then you fight! He may run or limp off to another area, in which case you need to chase him, separated by a quick loading screen.
Back to the fight. The last area was the tensest battle, but luckily it had a rock formation in the center around which I could dodge to gain some precious seconds for potion drinking to heal.
It was all about luring him into his charge and side-stepping to attack the flank, but I also tried (in vain) to stun him so I could complete Subquest B. Even a flash bomb that stunned the 10 or so little raptors around us (trying to muscle in on our fight!) didn't work. I was using a typically stun-inducing sword strike too, so perhaps I'll try some artillery like shock traps next time I take him on.
Eventually, a charged strike to the tail knocked him down; the beast was slain. I walked to him in victory to carve him up, but not before dispatching the last straggler of the fight.
Yeah, Monster Hunter has something special. The fights against these giants are epic, but don't feel like other boss fights in games do. It has to do with integration in the world - the bosses aren't necessarily thought of as distinct from the world; rather, they're far more challenging evolutions of smaller enemies, more intelligent, stronger, far tougher.
There's true immersion happening there as I dodged, hid behind a rock to drink a potion or crazily sharpen my sword as Dosjagii charged at me; running about lin circles, making him chase his tail as I pounded on his sides. Felt like a hunter. There's a reason Monster Hunter is so popular with those who know it. It provides that thrill better than any other game. Other games may have epic, constructed boss fights, and She knows I love my Zelda, DMC, Contra, Gears, etc type big bosses; Monster Hunter tries something else, making you a lone hunter (or with company), in the wild, against monsters. That's it, not frills. They're vicious and smart, and it's deadly out there. But you pack a man-sized bone great sword, so I guess that evens it out.
Damn it, I write too much. Short entry my ass. Sleep well world.
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