Lunastra, Tigrex and Blangonga, oh my!

Ah ha! You see! I am a man of my word! Another update inside of six months! And look! a title hinting at something other then Transformers!

Yes, that's right, I'm keeping my word on that too! There shall be no further mention of the robots what are in disguises beyond this line of text! No no, that shall be saved for the here after! For this post is about the other obsession in my personal life, away from my work and hidden in the shadowy underworld that is currently my room. Yes, for those who did not guess from the title, of which I am sure there are quite a few, I have recently purchased the newest Monster Hunter game, and along with it a PlayStation Portable. Why? Because that's simply how far my madness stretches.

You see, I had sworn to myself never to use the aforementioned gaming console. There was little interest in it for me, and I have always stood by the father of modern portable gaming devices, Nintendo. Yes, though I never owned a Gameboy, or it's Color iteration, I have owned each of their following devices... save the DSi, which I feel is a worthless addition to steal more of my precious lifesblood... I mean money.

But I digress! The PSP seemed to me to be superfluous, and has never truly held any games that have captured my interest... that is, before I played Monster Hunter for the PS2. You see, Monster Hunter is FANTASTICLY popular in Japan... the States? Not so much... So, it has held a rather small, but devoted following. My first experiences with the game were...shall we say, less then enjoyable. It is a game with a near nonexistent learning curve. For instance. Your first mission is simple. Kill some innocent, peace-loving dinosaurs for meat. Cook the meat properly, then return home. Simple enough. The next mission? Kill what are essentially velociraptors. Alright, not too hard... and it progresses as such for a bit further, fitting larger raptor 'dromes' as they are called... until you reach the ending point to the effective tutorial. Where you are tasked to kill a wyvern.

Now... I'm not quite able to emphasize just how dramatic a shift this is in mere words... but to put it simply... if you have barely managed to squeak by in your missions thus far, with whatever weapon you choose, be it melee or one of the two ranged weapons available... you are going to lose. And lose many. Many. MANY times. So many times will this one beast beat and devour you... that you will wish to place your fists through the screen in a vain attempt to throttle your cawing, flapping, and rather silly looking tormentor.

But yes, though my first attempt to master this game ended in miserable failure and loathing... I eventually found myself coerced into giving it another try... with a different weapon, and thus I found my one true love, the thing which my in-game avatar hold lovingly, like a father might cradle his newborn child: the bowgun. And with my new found ranged superiority, I was ready to crush my foes from afar!

Inevitably, Jessica and I heard of the online functions for the PS2, and quickly endeavoured to reach this mystical land, and explore the far reaches with more of our Monster Hunting comrades! To say that our addiction grew is... an understatement. And so it lasted for many, many months...before eventually, we found it harder to fit into the well established cliques and hierarchy that presented itself to us in these communities, and we faded away. However, or love for the game continued to flow beneath the surface, and we found ourselves longing to return to the world we both craved to adventure and slay in!

...and so it was, that not but a year or two ago, we heard of our ticket back! Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, for the PSP. And so it is now, that we have managed our return, slaying beasts and reaping their delicious, delicious rewards!

Well, that's enough mad ramblings for now, until next time!


~Signing off