Topic: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U) eShop Demo Gameplay

[Agent Spectre]

There is a pretty steady progression from "perfectly healthy" to "about to die from the arrow in my lungs that has been slowly bleeding me to death".

haha... true enough!  I may not have worded myself correctly there, sorry.  I was just trying to convey a thought on a similar scale of a large monster in real life - and MH does show that damage progression, but you don't know the exact moment it's going to die or anything like that through health bars or calculations (like a real animal).
Ceric explained it a bit better than I did. I'd definitely appreciate more feedback from my damage output, but I don't think a health bar or damage numbers on the screen are appealing or in the nature of this game.  If you find that you feel otherwise,  then the series probably just isn't going to appeal to you and that's that.

But there is definitely progression in the game though as Ceric has explained... it's just a bit more subtle than you'd like (also, it just doesn't seem like you were outputting enough damage to get those flinches, breaks and limps... and to be honest unless you are very skilled with the demo WATER bow of all things, you wouldn't be seeing them).  I agree it could very well be improved on though.  MH is frustrating for the majority of new players, and sadly it's just one of those things you either like or you don't. The steep learning cureve and things like this demo don't help in the least.   But in a similar way to ejamer I'd still recommend the real game to anyone with a buttload of patience and determination to adapt, even if they got a sour taste from the demo.

I appreciate the responses, pokepal148 and Agent Spectre, but this game/series just isn't for me.  I definitely gave the demo a fair shot on both the 3DS and Wii U. 

No prob, man. Thanks for trying the game anyway and being so level headed and honest. It's so refreshing to see that on the internet.

[syn4aptik]

I think even something as simple as giving the weapons a better feeling of weight with respect to the monsters - maybe seeing some temporary deformation or something like that - would help me to self-evaluate as I am battling. That self-evaluation is an important part of the feedback loop that makes controlling a video game fun. In God of War, for example, you hear a satisfying crunch and get a slight pause when you make contact with an enemy. In Zelda, the sound of a connecting attack and a blocked attack are markedly different (there are also accompanying graphical cues that differentiate between effective vs. ineffective attacks). These things may exist in Monster Hunter 3, but if they do, the developers did little to teach us those cues.


Some people might like exploring a game to the level where they eventually learn these sort of things, but there are actual psychological considerations in game development that can really elevate system design. The best developers use human psychology to their advantage, they don't ask the players to learn the nuances of the game on their own. Some people might like games that require that level of dedication, but I am a busy dood. I ain't got time for that.

[Ceric]

I think even something as simple as giving the weapons a better feeling of weight with respect to the monsters - maybe seeing some temporary deformation or something like that - would help me to self-evaluate as I am battling. That self-evaluation is an important part of the feedback loop that makes controlling a video game fun. In God of War, for example, you hear a satisfying crunch and get a slight pause when you make contact with an enemy. In Zelda, the sound of a connecting attack and a blocked attack are markedly different (there are also accompanying graphical cues that differentiate between effective vs. ineffective attacks). These things may exist in Monster Hunter 3, but if they do, the developers did little to teach us those cues.


Some people might like exploring a game to the level where they eventually learn these sort of things, but there are actual psychological considerations in game development that can really elevate system design. The best developers use human psychology to their advantage, they don't ask the players to learn the nuances of the game on their own. Some people might like games that require that level of dedication, but I am a busy dood. I ain't got time for that.

Try the Hammer.  It has some of what your looking for.  It feels weighty and meaty.  SOme of the other things will be MonHun4 probably.  The Monster models themselves are not very changed in construction from the PSP.

[Agent Spectre]

The Hammer does feel more satisfying to that effect, but I doubt it's what he's looking for still.
I will say that all attacks are effective if you hit the monster. If not they will bounce and clash (which is a mechanic of sharpness), which I'm guessing is more the kind of feedback syn4aptik is looking for. Also if you play a weapon with an element or status attribute you will visually see and maybe even hear the connection of your attacks.  Now we're just traipsing around the subject, but I just felt like pointing that out to anyone's benefit.

I personally feel these things are there, and naturally responded to the game just fine. However everyone is different, what feels satisfying and makes sense to me will be different for everyone else of course.

Some people might like games that require that level of dedication, but I am a busy dood. I ain't got time for that.

Not even about the nuances now, but that's obviously the number one heads up that monster hunter is not for you. The game takes waaayyy too much time in every aspect to enjoy it fully. :T