If you read the site frequently or are a long time listener of our podcast, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that most of the staff here really likes the Monster Hunter series. With each new iteration, the games see a lot of refinement. Having spent over 100 hours with the currently Japan-only Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, I can honestly say it’s really hard to go back to Monster Hunter Tri, a game we collectively decided to call the #3 best game of 2010.

That said, when spending hundreds of hours with the same game, you still run the risk of things going a bit stale. While I’m still having a great time with Portable 3rd, I can’t help but think what the future of Monster Hunter might bring. Call it wishful thinking, but here are some of my ideas on how the series could continue to improve.

Seamless Environments

Monster Hunter maps are traditionally divided into smaller areas connected by load times. What if the entire map was seamless? Of course, this would probably require the game to be on an HD console to be able to load such large areas. Imagine it, though. You look up in the distance and can actually see the tiny silhouette of a Rathalos roosting on top of a mountain, miles away. Finally, the binoculars item would really come in handy!

The minimap would still have numbers marking different areas for easy communication between teammates, but the areas would now transition gradually. Would this make paint balls useless? Hardly! Monster Hunter maps are known for their detail, elevation changes, and cavernous sections. While the ability to see monsters in the distance would give you an edge on tracking, it would still be easy to lose track of an unpainted monster, especially if it was far away.

Guilds and Comprehensive Online

Online is a bit hit or miss for the series. The PSP games require the PS3′s adhoc party or other more complicated means to play online with other hunters. Tri was a big step in the right direction, letting players meet online with relative ease. It wasn’t without its drawbacks, though.

For the most part, people are surprisingly friendly online. However, you’ll occasionally run into a griefer. These players take pleasure in screwing up other players, and Tri had no method in place for reporting them. This should be fixed.

Friend lists are nice, but how about a full-on Guild System? This way you could meet up with “friends of friends” easily when you needed extra hunters. You’d also have the added personal touch of belonging to a Guild with a custom name (The Minegarde Maulers, anyone?) and even an emblem. How cool would it be to have you’re very own, hand-drawn guild emblem featured prominently on your armor?

Seasons

Map variety is important to Monster Hunter to help eliminate repetition. Making tons of new maps takes a lot of resources, especially since each one is so incredibly detailed. The day and night versions help stretch the numbers already, but seasons could help even further. A season system based on actual game time could easily become a nuisance, but if it was handled just like time of day, where every mission is simply assigned a season, it could work.

Custom Quest Builder

Building custom quests would take a lot of checks and balances in order to not break the game. For one, you would only be able to use monsters that you’ve already defeated previously. Secondly, all rewards and quest fees would have to be determined dynamically based on what you made the quest consist of. This would avoid people being able to exploit things by setting high rewards for easy quests. The hunter rank required to take on the mission should also be generated dynamically.

You’d likely also have to limit which maps certain large monsters can appear in. Letting you fight an ice monster in a volcano might be a little too weird. If you can complete the quest yourself (or with friends), you could then be approved to post it online for others to enjoy.

Advanced Dynamic Scaling

One really interesting aspect of Monter Hunter is how you can encounter varying sizes of the same creature. In current games, the entire model is scaled up or down ever so slightly to increase the sense of variety. I’d like to see that taken one step further.

What if select parts were scaled independent of the model? Imagine seeing a Barioth whose tusks were longer than normal. The larger size could also increase the drop rate of that specific carve. This extra level of dynamic scaling could be hard to pull off, but it would be a fantastic addition, increasing both the variety and sense of realism to the already very immersive ecosystem.

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These are just some of the ideas I believe could push the series further. What do you think? Do you have some ideas of your own you’d like to see Capcom implement? Let us know in the comments!

Let me just get this out of the way. I hesitate to throw around terms like “the best soundtrack of 2010″ anymore because frankly, music is very subjective. I’m not trying to lay down “the facts” on which OST wins. Rather, my goal is to share with readers some of the soundtracks of 2010 that I personally enjoyed. If you’re favorite soundtrack isn’t discussed below, don’t take it personally.

With that said, I’d like to say a few words about my favorite soundtracks from last year. For your convenience, I’ve provided links on where you can purchase these soundtracks as well as a three minute “sampler” medley of each game, just to give you a taste of what to expect.

Let the music appreciation begin!

#10 Yakuza 3 (PS3) [Buy the OST]

Ever since I heard Hidenori Shoji’s work while playing F-Zero GX (my favorite racing game of all time), I’ve made a point to follow his releases. His hybrid of rock and electronica can be found in nearly everything he puts out and the soundtrack of Yakuza 3 is no exception. While a few songs feel a bit more repetitive than I care for, I can’t help but fall in love with his high energy sound.

#9 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360, PS3) [Buy the LE w/ OST]

When it was confirmed that Oscar Araujo would take the position of Lords of Shadow composer instead of Michiru Yamane, many (including myself) cried out in disappointment. Afterall, Yamane’s music has been a staple of the modern entries in the series.

It’s definitely a very different approach than we’ve ever had in previous games, but being different doesn’t automatically make it bad. In fact, the soundtrack of Lords of Shadow is quite good. I’d still rather listen to more Yamane if given the choice, but it’s hard to argue since Araujo’s sweeping, movie-like score fits Lords of Shadow like a glove.

#8 Dark Void (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) [Buy the OST]

Ok. So MAYBE I am a little biased in this case since Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead) hand-picked a remix I made and wrote about it on his own blog. But the truth is, the Dark Void soundtrack really is great. In fact, it’s far better than the game itself, which unfortunately turned out to be this year’s biggest disappointment for me.

I am in love with the percussion and its heavy use of taiko drums. Really though, I love the instrumentation in its entirety. There’s such an interesting combination of sounds working together to make something really special. Dark Void teaches us the lesson that just because a game is bad doesn’t mean it can’t have an amazing soundtrack.

#7 Super Meat Boy (Xbox 360, PC) [Buy the OST]

Super Meat Boy, like the game itself, seems to take some retro inspiration in its soundtrack. No, composer Danny Baranowsky doesn’t restrict himself to 8-bit sounds. However, he does manages to capture a certain spirit in his composition reminiscent of a time when we didn’t have fancy sound packs and streamed audio to mask forgettable melodies.

Yes, the songs found in Super Meat Boy are highly distinguishable and, most importantly, stick with you. Of course, this is especially true as you listen to them on loop while you die 300 times in a row. It’s impressive in itself that in that context, I haven’t grown tired of them.

#6 Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP) [Buy the OST]

I’ll admit it. Yoko Shimomura’s music is enough to make me swoon. She’s one of my favorite composers. The score to Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep has a lot of tracks that are simply beautiful. The emphasis on piano and strings Shimomura often utilizes is something that just really works for me. Regardless of how you feel about the series, it’s hard to argue against the quality of its music.

One of my favorite aspects of the Birth by Sleep soundtrack is how it often combines songs, such as well known character themes, in order to support the narrative. It’s fun picking apart which of the many Kingdom Hearts tunes are woven into individual Birth by Sleep tracks.

#5 Mega Man 10 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) [Buy the OST]

It’s easy to write off Mega Man 10 as “just another Mega Man soundtrack.” But just because something is stylistically similar doesn’t mean it should be ignored, especially when it’s something that’s consistently excellent.

The composer list behind Mega Man 10 could easily be considered a sort of “super group.” Besides the Inti Creates sound team (who handled the Mega Man 9 score), the OST also features music by composers of every classic Mega Man game from Manami Matsumae (Mega Man, Mega Man 2) to Akari Kaida (Mega Man & Bass, Mega Man Battle Network). The result is a mix of different styles that work surprisingly well together.

#4 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) [Buy the OST]

Mario soundtracks have really evolved this generation. Super Mario Galaxy 2, like its predecessor, has quite a diverse array of styles. The big sound achieved by the performance of the aptly named “Mario Galaxy Orchestra” fits perfectly with the vastness of space found in the game’s setting.

Within the levels of Galaxy 2, you’ll hear music that’s as bouncy and delightful as you’d expect from classic Mario along with epic choir performances that would make the old ghost house and castle themes cower in fear. It feels modernized, but without abandoning its iconic roots. And, of course, it also pays respect to the past with a few updates on some classic tunes.

#3 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Xbox 360, PS3) [Buy the OST]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game has a soundtrack that’s nostalgic on two levels. The obvious throwback comes in Anamanaguchi’s use of 8-bit sounds, which takes me back to the good ‘ol days of playing NES. But it’s also apparent from their style (and interviews) that one of their inspirations is Weezer, a band that I (like many people) listened to quite a bit in the mid 90′s.

This dual nostalgia trip is nothing short of intoxicating. Combine that with all the retro imagery of the game itself, and you’ll find yourself in an old school gamer’s paradise.

#2 Monster Hunter Tri (Wii) [Buy the OST]

There’s far more to my love of the Monster Hunter Tri soundtrack than the 170 hours I put into the game itself. It combines an orchestral sound as big as the monsters your fighting with a “world music” vibe that fits perfectly with the primitive hunter motif of the game.

Like Dark Void, there’s a lot to love in the percussion. But I also really appreciate the subtleties of the parts certain instruments play. One song features an electric guitar over the top of a very tribal sound, but it’s done so tastefully that you almost don’t even notice it’s there. It’s this blend of instrumentation that makes me want to listen to the OST on repeat even after I’ve heard it so many times while playing.

#1 Nier (Xbox 360, PS3) [Buy the OST]

I thought for sure that Monster Hunter Tri would be my favorite soundtrack of 2010. But when I listened to the soundtrack to Nier, I was floored. How could I have missed such a gem? That no longer matters now.

What matters is that the soundtrack to Nier is stunning. The vocal work of Emi Evans has an ethereal quality to it that instantly gripped me and didn’t let go. It’s soothing at times, haunting at others, and always beautiful. The game may not have done well with critics, but the soundtrack alone is enough to make me happy it was released.

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Did you discover something new while reading my ramblings? Did you want to share your own thoughts on a 2010 soundtrack? Please, let me know in the comments.

2010 has come and gone. We’ve narrowly avoided drowning in the deep sea of game releases and now we’re here to tell you which games stood out among all the chaos. We polled our rag-tag group of writers on their top ten GOTY choices, then fed the results into a magical formula to decide what we collectively deem “the hottest of jams.”

The best of the best. The cream of the crop. Ten games to rule them all. Is the suspense killing you yet?

#10 Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)

All the pieces of Dragon Quest IX came together in a way that I couldn’t have imagined working this well. First off, they were changing it to a portable game. Then they said they were adding multiplayer. After the superb production values of Dragon Quest VIII, how could this compete?

Square Enix managed to keep the classic style and storytelling of the franchise in place while completely changing things up. All party members are customized characters that reflect the weapons and armor they are using. The stories are broken down into bite sized chunks, so hopping into your friend’s game to play with them works amazingly well. There are even randomly generated dungeons you can explore for better loot, which keeps you coming back.

It’s everything I like about classic JRPG’s with enough of a modern twist to keep things interesting. -Jonah Gregory (Editor-in-Chief)

#9 Civilization V (PC)

#8 Vanquish (Xbox 360, PS3) [Full Review]

At first glance, Vanquish looks like a run of the mill shooter starring yet another space marine. Under closer inspection, it’s a game that let’s you rocket boost your way to a killer robot, then backflip off of him as he explodes. Sure, the story might be uninteresting and the dialogue is downright laughable, but the actual gameplay of Vanquish left me in a constant state of awe.

In this cover based shooter, chest high walls transform into spiders that shoot lasers at you, panther-scorpion hybrids shoot turrets that shoot lasers at you, trains full of enemies ride the ceiling of a space station, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Vanquish constantly excites, and constantly murders you. It’s a game that will change the way you think about third person shooters from now on making you wonder, “Why can’t I rocket boost as Nathan Drake?” -Jesse Gregory (Managing Editor, Developer)

#7 Minecraft (PC) [Article]

Put simply, Minecraft gets under your skin, tapping into that feeling of pure, unadulterated play that we all experienced as children. This is due to the way that it offers players a blank world – utterly unique to you – and encourages exploration and creation against an endless horizon. And it’s all carefully timed to a relentless day and night cycle that adds a sense of gentle terror through an ever-increasing cast of enemies.

The most inspiring aspect of Minecraft and what sets it apart from the other games in this list is the fact that it continues to evolve (now in Beta) and will almost certainly be a completely different game in a year’s time; due in no small part to its independent background and endless creative potential. The last year has produced some remarkable fan-made creations, but watching where Minecraft will go next is an even greater proposition. -Michelle Baldwin (Contributing Editor)

#6 Super Meat Boy (XBLA, PC) [Full Review]

I’m not sure I can think of a better combination of challenge and addictive gameplay this year. Super Meat Boy is the indie game success story wherein the indie game actually focuses on being fun and having great mechanics, and people actually like playing it. Bringing the over the top challenge and strategy of 2D platformers to bite-size gauntlets, you’ll be coming back for more even when a stage seems impossible.

Super Meat Boy also features a lot of polish with its cartoonishly deranged story scenes, and absolutely killer soundtrack. It also has a number of visual styles, featuring a handful of retro throwbacks. But most of all, the game is fully loaded with content. Even if many of the stages can be beaten in seconds, the sheer amount of them, along with other secrets and unlockables, will keep you hard at work for a while. It’s an exceptional value at a budget price. -Adam Anania (Contributing Editor)

#5 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) [Full Review]

Miyamoto’s chubby little plumber definitely has some legs. Twenty-five years in, and the Italian is still just as relevant as the day his first cartridge was printed. Case in point, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a gleeful, mind-bending romp through the new and improved star systems hand-crafted by Nintendo’s Tokyo Studio. Buried beneath its candy coated, nostalgia laden surface lays an unbelievably polished 3D platformer.

Nintendo EAD studio’s original goal for Super Mario Galaxy was to utilize the sights, sounds, and the collective consciousness surrounding Mario to guide us, the players, through a series of surreal Technicolor landscapes that tinkered and played with the 3D realm Mario familiarized us with back on the Nintendo 64, circa 1995. Super Mario Galaxy 2 takes its predecessors solid base, cuts out the inane hub world, the hammy story, and all the other little elements holding Galaxy back, polished the good ideas, and ratcheted the insane level design up to eleven. Honestly, is there more you could ask from a sequel? -Russ Walsh (Contributing Editor)

#4 Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360, PS3)

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from Red Dead Redemption. I figured it would play out like a poor man’s version of Grand Theft Auto with horses. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Far more than just GTA in the old west, Red Dead is the complete package. Amazing graphics, an awesome soundtrack, and a classic western story come together like Voltron to form one of the best games of the year.

Packed with a memorable cast of characters and missions that went beyond simple fetch quests, Red Dead offered a tremendous sandbox you could spend hours exploring. You could get lost for days in this giant world hunting animals, shooting birds, or searching for treasure. There was enough content to keep people busy all summer. -Dave Corvin (Senior Editor)

#3 Monster Hunter Tri (Wii) [Article]

My personal GOTY, Monster Hunter Tri does what so many games have a problem with these days: making you feel awesome. No narrative, no hand-holding; just you, a weapon, and a huge dinosaur. It emphasizes skill and strategy, and the detailed monster behaviors will make every fight feel different, even as you battle them again and again.

On top of that, the online cooperative gameplay is where Tri really shines. There’s hardly a greater feeling than taking on a raging monster with a group of friends, and I’m certain this is how Monster Hunter is meant to be played.

Finally, the game is beautiful, and boasts great visuals and one of the year’s best game soundtracks. AND it’s fun. Many 3rd party developers have said the Wii isn’t a platform for top class games. Those developers need to take a look at Monster Hunter Tri and feel completely ashamed of themselves. -Adam Anania (Contributing Editor)

#2 Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) [Full Review]

While I have mixed feelings on Rare as a whole, I’ve always been quite fond of their work on the Donkey Kong Country games. When they parted ways with Nintendo, I assumed the series as we knew it was dead. And really, it is.

When Retro Studios took the helm of this revival, they didn’t stick to what “we knew.” Instead, they took the basic framework, modernized it, added interesting new gameplay mechanics, and created some of the greatest level design you could ask for. It evolves the series rather than trying to rigidly recreate it. A quick nostalgia cash grab this is not. No, what we have here is an incredibly satisfying and challenging experience; one that all developers of platformers should take note of. -Jesse Gregory (Managing Editor, Developer)

#1 Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360, PC) [Full Review]

The best RPG of the year is also the WingDamage staff’s pick for the game of the year. We did not bestow this honor lightly. The internet was ablaze with GOTY talk even before it came out and Mass Effect 2 did not disappoint. Bioware took the already amazing formula from the original and refined it and distilled it into an experience that every gamer needs to play. The story rivals the best in sci-fi and the gameplay can stand toe to toe with any action game on the market.

The game did such a great job making you feel as though your choices and actions had consequences that many people (myself included) had to play it multiple times. I beat the game at 4:40 in the morning on a work night and immediately restarted.

To put it simply, you need to play Mass Effect 2. -Dave Corvin (Senior Editor)

On a very special ninety-seventh episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, there was an accident in the lab. Despite every safety precaution, a series of random and increasingly wacky events lead to the experimental shrink ray scoring a direct hit on the podcast.

This week, the Gregory brothers team up to talk about what we are all here for (here on WingDamage, not here in the philosophical sense), video games.

Jesse has finally finished Monster Hunter Tri… well, the single player campaign anyway. He also picked up a sweet new Wii joystick for some Tatsunoko vs. Capcom action. Jonah finished the fun but incredibly difficult VVVVVV and also started up Epic Mickey to see what all the fuss was about.

We also discuss the meager news and game releases on this especially abbreviated episode of our podshow. Enjoy!

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On a very special eightieth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jonah and Jesse come together with only one common goal: To not break the streak of having posted a new Barrel Roll episode every week since the show’s inception.

Crazy stuff has been going down in the real world, so the guys keep things on topic and as concise as possible this time around.

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On a very special seventy-seventh episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we double our damagocity with special guest Mixmoff from Fall-Damage.com.

He brings us up to speed on all-things damage related.

This week, in addition to having our guest host, we also decided to mix up the format. We start with a discussion of the games hitting stores and digital services this week, move on to some news, then talk about what we’ve been playing after the break.

This includes Earth Defense Force 2017, Uncharted 2, Monster Hunter Tri, and Castle Crashers.

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Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

Game Stop buys Kongregate (flash game portal) http://www.fall-damage.com/2010/07/gamestop-acquires-kongregate/

Radiant Historia, DS RPG with grid based battle system and Yoko Shimomura soundtrack http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/07/29/radiant_historia_first_look/

Earth Seeker site opens http://www.earth-seeker.jp/ – No actual new info or anything, but a nice confirmation this didn’t fall off the planet again. But a new scan here: http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=131836, and explanation here: http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/07/30/earth_seeker_detailed/

New NBA Jam to feature boss battles, over 30 “legends” http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=131855

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Canceled for Japan http://www.siliconera.com/2010/07/30/advance-wars-days-of-ruin-cancelled-for-japan/

Metro 2033 Ranger Pack hitting August 3rd. http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/07/30/metro-2033-ranger-pack-dlc-to-be-released-for-free-on-pc-august/

New Games This Week

Sing It: Family Hits (Wii/PS3)

Chuck E. Cheese: party Games (Wii)

Monster Rancher DS (DS)

Junior Classic Books and Fairytails (DS)

Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure (DS)

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (XBL)

The big budget triple A games can be fantastic. They have huge teams backing them, allowing for the use of the latest and greatest tech. Graphics are slick and always pushing to look better than everyone else. Plus, you know everybody who’s anybody is going to be talking about them in your circle of gaming friends/podcasts/blogs/forums.

Often when I sit down to play one, I will end up spending several hours in front of my TV or computer working my way through it. Sometimes, this can lead to a strange mental block right before I get started. Since I know I will inevitably spend a lot of time playing one of these games once I start, it can be a little intimidating.

Like a lot people out there, gaming is just a hobby. I have a day job and a family which take priority. Writing for WingDamage, podcasting, and playing video games (the past-time that lead to the previous two) is secondary at best.

When the affairs of the day are all said and done, it’s rapidly approaching a self-imposed “bed time”, but I still want to relax with a game before calling it a day, I find myself, more often than not, gravitating towards simple games; games like Peggle or Pac-Man: Championship Edition instead of Monster Hunter Tri or Uncharted 2. Going into a gaming experience knowing I will need to commit a large chunk of time to fully enjoy it can make me apprehensive about booting it up.

This isn’t to say that starting on of one of the afore mentioned “simple games” doesn’t often lead to long play sessions, but I end up feeling more relaxed about the whole situation going in.

I recently read an article by Jeffrey L. Wilson titled “Confessions of a Dumb Gamer” (which inspired this article), in which he talks about his feelings on why he prefers simple games over big budget titles. I agree with a lot of what he is saying. We are gamers because we enjoy the medium. The division between levels of coredom are inherently idiotic. I have no problem telling fellow gamers about what Mr. Wilson refers to as a “dumb game” with as much enthusiasm as I would a big budget title.

So what helps my enjoyment of the big bockbuster games and makes booting them up less intimidating for me?

Save Anywhere

In this day and age, there is no excuse for your game to have save points. If my wife and I decide, spur of the moment, to head out and go do something else, or realize that we have to leave now to hit the pet store before they close, making me walk ten minutes to the nearest save point is unacceptable.

People are busy these days, and if I know I can leave at a moments notice without losing a ton of progress, I am much more likely to want to play a particular game.

Skippable Cut Scenes

This is a huge point of contention for me in any game. RPG’s may have made it mainstream by pushing for shinier cinematics, but when you force me to sit through them when I only have a few minutes to play, it can lead to a lot of frustration.

While I personally enjoy watching them when I have the time, I know many gamers who don’t care about the story in any game ever. They will always skip your painstakingly rendered story content, developers. It is just the way things are.

Frequent Check Points

Being able to save anywhere is important. Almost equally important are frequent checkpoints. In the 8 and 16-bit eras, it was the norm for me to have to replay entire levels from making a single mistake.

If that happens in a modern game, it is usually when I shut it off; either for an extended period of time, or forever. It depends on just how frustrating the lead up was.

Uncharted 2 is an excellent example of a game with good checkpoints. They aren’t every step of the way, but they are frequent enough that you don’t feel completely destroyed by making a mistake. This leads to me wanting to take chances and be more bold with my exploration of a game’s world; knowing I wont be punished for doing so if things go badly.

I’m sure there a lot of other things out there that could be mentioned (feel free to do so in the comments). This isn’t meant to be a list of gripes against developers on modern gaming, just some random thoughts on what I am personally motivated to play through.

Much like Dragon Quest, the Monster Hunter series is one of the biggest names in gaming in Japan and almost unheard of in North America. Most people over here just don’t “get it”, and many of them don’t want to put forth the effort required in order to really understand what the game is all about. After all, even with more accessible entries in the series such as Monster Hunter Tri, there is still a very steep learning curve to overcome.

Originally I wanted to write a review of Monster Hunter Tri in order to spread the word. However, after over 100 hours of playing the game, I still haven’t experienced all it has to offer. I’ve come to realize, it’s not a traditional review that’s going to spark interest. My hopes are that by sharing the reasons that the series is so engaging (many of which are not immediately obvious to the new player), it will help more people realize the joys that can be found from becoming a Monster Hunter.

The Ecosystem of Monster Hunter

Quite possibly my favorite aspect of Monster Hunter is how it makes you feel like a real hunter within the game’s world. When you set out on a quest, you’re not immediately attacked by every creature in your general vicinity as you progress to the end of a level. Instead, you have a goal that must be carried out within a living, breathing ecosystem.

If you’re on the hunt for a large monster, it’s not waiting for you to finish a linear stage and fight it. It is traveling as it pleases throughout the interconnected sections of map it calls home. It’s up to you to track it down and, well… hunt it! On the way, you’ll encounter any number of creatures including docile herbivores who are going about their business, as well as other more aggressive creatures that want you dead.

When you find the monster in question, those other creatures don’t just disappear. This is their home, too. They’ll join in the fight, run away, or even attack each other based on their behavior types.

The same monster can also vary in size (within reason) adding more believability to the ecosystem. With these size variations come personality differences as well. You might fight the same giant monster twice and have it be much more aggressive in one fight than the other.

A hunter must have keen eyes

In Monster Hunter, only you and your friends have health and stamina bars. Sure, you might fight a giant monster for upwards of half an hour, but you won’t find a section of HUD displaying their HP. In any other game, this would be downright awful. But Monster Hunter is no ordinary game.

Much like the ecosystem they inhabit, each monster is believable. There are many nuances to their behavior and movement. There may not be a bar indicating it, but a wise hunter knows when a monster is tired, weak, ready to be captured, or about to decimate the entire party.

Every monster has “tells,” and lots of them. A monster who once proudly charged into you now trips on his way over. He starts to slow down, begins drooling, and even develops a limp. These are the signs that get hunters excited, knowing their work is paying off.

You make the story

It’s often said that Monster Hunter has no story. In the traditional sense, that is entirely true. However, when you play Monster Hunter with friends, rarely does a night go by without a handful of stories crafting themselves.

One of the very first times I played a multiplayer session of Monster Hunter was with Jonah on Monster Hunter Freedom 2. We had just started and were doing a simple herb gathering mission. Traversing mountainous terrain, we searched for the needed materials when out of nowhere a giant bull creature known as a Bulldrome appeared. As fresh new hunters, it was a creature that could and would (given the chance) “mess us up” so to speak.

Our only safe bet was to run away. But every time we’d think we lost it and had found another good herb gathering spot, one of us would see it out of the corner of our eye and shout, “OH MY GOD! IT’S BACK! LET’S GET THE @#$% OUT OF HERE!!” Sometimes it would charge us down unexpectedly and the other would have to try to distract it so we could get to safety.

Again, this was an herb gathering mission. Yet, it was a rush and I had trouble thinking of any other gaming experiences quite like it. It happened several iterations ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Similarly, I’ve been hunting a giant monster only to have an even larger monster, stronger than the one the quest wants me to kill,  just show up uninvited. It’s one thing to take down monsters many times larger than yourself, but it’s another to know that while you’re doing it, a dragon could swoop in and dwarf both of you at any moment. It’s these types of situations that develop interesting, personal stories between you and your friends.

A constant sense of discovery

Monster Hunter games are very deep. Take weak points for example. All the large monsters take damage to their various body parts differently. Then you have to factor in different types of damage. A monster’s tail might be weak to the slicing damage of a great sword, but resistant to the impact damage of a hammer. Even a monster’s elemental weakness can change with the context.

Most monsters have parts that can be sliced off or smashed to pieces. These can change their attack patterns to make things easier as well as grant you additional rewards. But even if a part can’t be broken, it can still give you an advantage. Continuously attacking a monsters legs, for example, can cause them to fall down, allowing you and your friends to score some easy hits.

But the discoveries aren’t just found in the monsters themselves. Your inventory and equipment have a ridiculous amount of details to learn about. Each piece of armor grants skill points which, at certain increments grant skills. Discovering new armor and weapon combinations as well as supplementing them with gems to add more skill points leads to endless equipment combinations to fit any number of different situations.

Similarly, inventory combination is a huge part of Monster Hunter. Monsters only drop their own body parts when they die. You wont get gold, equipment, or potions from carving up a carcass. Quest givers will give you gold, combining monster parts will the help of a blacksmith will get you new equipment (for a fee), and combining an herb and a blue mushroom will get you a potion,which can then be combined with honey to make a mega potion, and so on.

There is an insane number of items that can be made from combining, only a handful of which the game tells you about. It’s up to your own sense of discovery to find out what they all are. And since there’s way more details to the game’s systems than any one person could ever hope to remember, talk of equipment sets, item combinations, and monster strategies have dominated conversations between my friends and co-workers as we share our discoveries.

A legitimately helpful online community

I am still shocked at how nice the online community of Monster Hunter Tri is. In over 100 hours of time with the game, most of which has been online, I’ve encountered approximately 3 jerks, and way more helpful strangers than I could hope to count.

One of the first players I encountered online started our play session with the simple words, “I’m here to help.” He was much stronger than the rest of us, but when the going got tough and he did end up dying once, he quickly responded with, “I’m sorry.” I busted up laughing. How on earth can I be encountering people so incredibly polite in an online game? This is the exact opposite of what I’m use to from the medium.

Food for thought

Monster Hunter manages to take the good aspects of the MMORPG genre (large online community, disturbing amount of depth, etc) and wrap it around a solid action game that relies on quick hand-eye coordination and timing instead of repeated clicks, shortcut keys, and macros.

You will get as much out of Monster Hunter as you are willing to put into it. Pick it up and attempt a quest or two and you might be just as confused about what makes it great as you were before you started. But if you delve deep into the millions of nuances contained within, it might grab hold and never let you go.

On a most excellent sixty-ninth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, the dudes must travel through time to find the most  bodacious of all gaming experiences.

When the time comes for the shooting of the breeze, Jesse and Adam give us the rundown on their experience with the VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor. EXCELLENT!

In what we’ve been playing, the guys return to Monster Hunter Tri and 3D Dot Game Heroes. Jonah has been giving some portable games a try in the form of Highborn and Carcassonne on the iPod Touch as well as Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow on the DS.

In the news, the guys talk pre-E3 rumors, particularly on the Nintendo 3DS. There is also talk of multiplayer gameplay hitting the Mass Effect universe, a new Contra game in the works, and a patch to Lost Planet 2 that addresses nearly all of our complaints.

We also talk about some new game trailers and finish things off with a Mega Man News Roundup. All this and more on the latest episode of Barrel Roll.

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Earth Seeker Art and Info

Lost Planet 2 Patch Details

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Trailer

Vanquish Trailer

Featuring music from the upcoming Rockman Zero: Mythos

Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

"Looking for treasure... just like the Goonies."

In any given RPG, the wooden sword and cardboard shield you start with aren’t going to be the ones you keep forever. Usually you get rid of them by the time you hit your first town. But when you buy that new set of gear and equip it, only to find your character has only changed in numbers and not in appearance, it is a bit of a letdown.

If you are talking about old school sprite based games, I will concede that it was more trouble than it was probably worth to put visible loot into a game. Re-drawing that many sprites would be time consuming and prohibitively costly. Where 3D character models are involved, there aren’t a lot of excuses left when you are dealing with stat driven games and RPG mechanics.

There is nothing quite as addictive to me as a progressive, well thought out loot system that is reflected on your character.

I am not going to deny the merits of a well developed “static” character in this article. That is an entirely different subject. What I’m talking about are games where character growth is driven by a good system of fighting monsters, getting gold, and gathering random loot drops. Recently, three very different games have made me realize what a sucker I am for loot.

The first was Torchlight, which I originally saw when wandering the show floor of PAX last year. What drew me in at a glance was its aesthetics. Runic Games picked a very unique, cartoonish style for their world that I find very appealing.

I happily pre-ordered the game through Steam, then sunk a ton of hours into it upon its release. Torchlight is what has commonly become known as a “Diablo Clone”; a game where you fights hordes of enemies, gain levels and new abilities, and most importantly, collect randomly dropped loot. Combat takes place by clicking on your enemies and (most effectively) using keyboard shortcuts to use your special abilities to get yourself out of jams, buff your stats, etc.

The loot is progressively better as you delve deeper into the mines and fight tougher monsters. Being a class based game, much of what you find won’t apply to the character you are currently using. The good news is, you can store it in a special treasure chest for your other characters back in town or give them to your pet, who can go back to town and sell all your stuff while you keep fighting. This is a huge contributing factor as to why Torchlight is my favorite game in this genre.

Torchlight is an easy recommendation to make. For a mere $20, it provides hours of loot hunting goodness. If you keep your eyes pealed, it often goes on sale in both the Steam and Direct2Drive stores.

The second game that made me realize my loot addiction was Borderlands. 2k Games was stoking the fires of the hype machine for this game long before it’s release, but something about it just didn’t hook me; until I played it for myself, that is.

When I booted up Borderlands, my first thought was that it was trying a little hard to be “wacky”. The bus driver’s thick accent and abrasive personality while he regails you with stories of the vault and the aggressively goofy, nearly Jar Jar-esque first encounter with Claptrap turned me off.

I had heard good things and really wanted to give it a fare shake. I’m glad I did. Once I settled in to the world of Pandora, I found myself addicted. Once again, the game had a heavy focus on a loot mechanic. This time, instead of swords and armor, you find guns. Lots of guns.

The fun thing about the loot in Borderlands is the strange combination of stats the guns can have. I have found a shotgun that fires all the bullets in one big ball in a perfectly straight line, essentially making it act like a rocket launcher. I have found a 2-shot pistol that, despite a super-fast reload time, regenerated bullets faster than I could shoot them.

The loot system drew me in enough to not only end up loving the game (enough that it was #10 on my top games of last year), but I actually ended up enjoying the goofy aesthetic that went along with it.

The third game on my list works in an entirely different way, but is still all about the loot. Monster Hunter Tri doesn’t just hand you loot, you have to work for it.

I once told my wife that if they ever made an MMO that played like Fable 2, I would be hooked for life. I have to amend that and replace Fable 2 with Monster Hunter Tri.

The Monster Hunter series doesn’t have a level up mechanic. If you want to be stronger, then you need loot. But you aren’t just handed loot from killing the game’s impressively giant monsters. You kill monsters, skin them for parts, gather resources, then build and upgrade your own weapons and armor.

Even with as much as I enjoy random loot drops, there is something even more gratifying about doing a boss run to get that last piece of the puzzle you are missing to build that sweet new giant hammer or finish a full set of matching armor to get it’s additional bonuses.

There may not be a lot of story or any character development to speak of, but Monster Hunter Tri keeps me playing with my friends for one thing alone: the love of loot.