Monster Hunter Tri (Wii) Mini-Review

The first major challenge in Monster Hunter Tri.

Monster Hunter Tri has a lot going for it.  The biggest perk has to be the fact that it’s one of a handful of JRPGs on the white box from Nintendo.  Wii gamers have been starved for deep RPG experiences since the console exploded onto the market so many years ago.  I certainly can’t think of anything worthy outside Tales of Symphonia 2 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.  But I digress.

Complexity is the title’s broth to undernourished gamers.  Players collect items throughout their battles with the titular monsters.  General gallivanting through the lands gives hunters the opportunity to collect other essentials through mining, gathering and fishing.  All of these resources are then poured into a deep economic market.  Materials can be crafted into any number of desirable items, from weapons, armor and potions, to food and socket items.  Extraneous material can be stored for later use, or in some occasions used to gather further materials thanks to various farming applications.  The ability to turn your kills into a self-fulfilling industry is what hooks.  It had me initially.  However, I need more than an economy to sustain my interest.

I tweeted a couple of days ago that the good parts of Monster Hunter Tri are being outweighed by the bad (see First Impression).  The more I play the game the less I like it.  The archaic combat and control scheme tears at me each time I lose my target.  Every extraneous button click causes a slight twitch.  The repetitive motions, be it combat or gathering, produce drool from my pie hole.  Struggling with inventory raises my Hulk meter.  The experience should not be this painful.

I could deal with all of this if I was given an interesting reason to pursue my hunter’s progression.  An interesting story, entertaining quests, something, anything to motivate me to overcome the shortcomings.  Instead Capcom delivered a title with a slow-moving, almost non-existent story.  The quests, well, they’re a bunch of MMORPG rejects to put it simply.  Kill X of Y, collect A of B, and so on.  I’m just waiting to be told to collect a bunch of pages to create a book so I can be angry at Tigole, again.

There’s definitely an audience for Monster Hunter Tri.  I call them Diablo masochists.  The well-designed online play only entices them further.  I’m not one of these people, so Monster Hunter Tri is going the way of Army of Tutu.  To a lucky Goozex member.

Wonder just what the heck a mini-review is?  Find out here.