Welcome new members (introduction topic)

>MH

The series is great but somewhat annoying to get into. The game doesn't do a good job of explaining key mechanics, and MHW in particular is brutal with the unskippable cutscenes. Underneath that though are some really interesting ideas in the combat like monster hitzones and positioning, as well as RPG/gearing systems that subconsciously push players to get better at the game.

>Favorite MH game

Of mainline, probably 4U or GU. 4U is the most polished of the old-style games, and has a pretty solid roster. The mounting is a bit cheesy but easily ignored. Village is nicely structured, with a simple story that fits into the world, and the quests don't torture you too much with gathering. The guild progression is decently hard solo, and there is a great endgame with Guild Quests and fun event quests like Apex Rajang w/ no armor. Frenzy is a cool risk/reward mechanic and is probably the best of the "lazy" monster difficulty modifiers.

GU has the Deviant system which is the best idea MH has had in a long time and drastically ups the number of fun and challenging monsters available to fight. The new monster design is on average the best they've ever done in GU, with killer fights like Glavenus, Mizutsune, Valstrax, and Ahtal-Ka (bug form), as well as the Deviants which are mostly very good. Arts and Styles were a cool concept, but the balancing for them was horrendous, with some being terrible (Charge Blade Arts, Aerial Bow, etc.), some being nicely balanced (Longsword Arts, most Striker styles), some being very strong (Switch Axe Arts, Valor LS) and some breaking the core combat (Absolute Evasion/Readiness, Valor HBG). The saving grace here is that it's all optional, and these days I play GU with Guild Longsword, with either only the Longsword Arts or just no arts at all. Village and guild progression is easy but event quests and Deviants put up quite the fight.

Special mention to Frontier which was a very unique game and had a ton of really fun fights, as well as an evolving gameplay identity that grew over the years. Really interesting and fun game, shame it got shut down. A private server will probably pop up at some point though.

>Shmups I've played

So far I've played:

• ZeroRanger (really great entry point, need to come back to this game. Lots of systems to help new players, fantastically fun last boss)
  
• Touhou 8 on Normal (nice game to learn with, the human/youkai system with the familiars is a fun mechanic. Currently going for the 1cc, first 2 stages are kinda boring to me though so I try a few runs every other day. Phenomenal music)
  
• Dodonpachi DOJ (awesome game, played ~6 hours with my friend on RetroArch netplay, brutally difficult but fun)
  
• Crimzon Clover (got this on Switch, has a novice mode which seems pretty manageable. I'll probably go for Novice 1cc at some point)
  
• Danmaku Unlimited 3 (this game is $3 on steam and $4 on Switch right now, complete steal, fun bullet hell with nice graphics and music)
  
• Monolith (this game has roguelite elements and is technically twin-stick, but the boss patterns are kinda bullet hell styled. Randomized items are useful but never overshadow player skill)
  

>Build Engine
Yeah, I need to give the Death Wish mod a go for Blood. Very highly regarded and often talked about as the "real" Blood 2. Also need to keep doing Duke 3D, enemy design isn't as tight as Blood but the level design is really funny and creative.

>Classic FPS and action game influence
I think the biggest area of potential improvement here is bosses. FPS games almost always have terrible bosses, but Ultrakill has broken that mold and has a couple really nice ones that heavily test your movement skills. The developer has said he is taking inspiration from DMC3, so I'm optimistic that when the higher difficulties are added we can finally see some challenging bosses in FPS.

>DmC

I actually would have tried the Definitive Edition of this game if it was on PC, apparently it fixes many of the game's problems. I have an Xbox One now so maybe at some point I'll look into it.

Welcome, HotPocket! On the topic of shmups, have you ever played G-Darius or DARIUSBURST Chronicles? Those have a "beam fencing" mechanic that feels akin to something you'd see in character action games--essentially a parry mechanic followed by a button-mashing tug-of-war mechanic with a huge payoff.

Example: https://twitter.com/lacquerleaks/status/1320539114211606531

Anyway hi!

Hey HotPocket! Welcome to the site! It's pretty cool to see a couple of SMT fans. I just started with the PS2 ones. I still need to get back into playing Dark Souls 2 even though I am more of a Nioh fan. MH: I only have the 3rd Ultimate.

Pocket: >unskippable cutscenes
Can't be as bad as Nu-GoW.

>Bullet Hell
Doesn't play to my strength when they're in full stride.

>real Blood 2
That right? Pity Decino is so stuck on DOOM (won't do DOUK or the rest of the kids). Civvie might have shown it at some point for what that is worth.

>terrible bosses
So I've experienced in the past. Not even sure more modern cases were much better.

>broken the mold
High praise. I forget what Ultrakill is (or any of the the other upcoming titles). I'd have to check on that.

>influence from DMC3
Depends on which influence that is, I suppose.

>DE ain't on PC
How unfortunate. Also, I was just taking the piss. Even still, I'm sure that version is fine if you treat it as its own thing. Not like it prevented DMC5 (unlike Nu-GoW's case).

Hey HPE! Welcome to the board, glad you liked the site so much to sign up! I agree that the genre is very misunderstood, hence the site. I always felt there was so much to dive into and I'm glad it has led to such a tight group of people. Now plus another one, you! So welcome :)

> late to the genre
Don't worry, I didn't start myself until was older either. These games tend to take a while to get used to and get a feel for.

> games under your belt
A solid list! Can relate to Souls combat. It was fantastic initially as sort of a counter-movement to where games were going at the time, but nowadays it feels lackluster. Ninja Gaiden is an absolute fantastic series though, highly recommend it. One of my absolute favourites. Feel free to post about it on its board or here etc. and how you're finding it. Let us know if you need any tips etc.

> classic FPS
Completely agreed, fantastic stuff. Would like to add Painkiller to the mix. It also tried to do bosses well, but fell kind of on its head. Fun game though regardless.

> DmC
The definitive edition is a great gateway drug to the hobby, though I must admit that if you've already beaten DMC1 and 3 on DMD the game might come off as lackluster in some instances.

Roy: >didn't start until older
I suppose I was about 17 when I started getting serious about seeking mastery (and focusing more on this type of game).

>tips
Should the lad move on to other titles, surely someone among us can help. For myself, GoW (proper) would be the primary. Would be tough to steer much at all with titles I barely did work for (Wolverine) and have rusted with (Dante's Inferno). A pity to have lost the stories (coverage) to time like with R:FoM1, Infamous (1/2), RDR, Dead Space (1/2), etc. Still, some are preserved (as with SWFU1).

>Death Wish mod for Blood
Yeah Civvie did a video, only watched the beginning since I don't want to spoil myself. Civvie's pretty entertaining when he's talking about games he knows well and loves, otherwise I check out pretty quick.

>PS2 SMT games
Nice, PS2 was really a killer era for Megaten, lots of creativity and a ton of solid titles. Emulates well too, features like fast-forward and resolution upscaling add a good bit to the experience.

>G-Darius/DARIUSBURST
I'll have to check it out, video looks cool. My shmup backlog is growing rapidly though so it might be a while before I get to it.

>NGB
Yeah I'm slowly working my way through Normal, a lot of mechanics to chew on. Maybe I'll make a post with some more thoughts once I feel like I understand what's going on more.

>Other action games
I definitely want to try the old GoW trilogy at some point, seems fun. Also got Vanquish on sale, really excited to get to that game.

Ninja Gaiden Black is such a gem, lots to dive into for sure. Once you have a hang on the basics let us know as there's a lot of little detailed mechanics and quirks the game doesn't ever tell you.

> Vanquish
Fantastic game, hard as sin too on its highest setting.

> GoW trilogy
Very beloved for a good reason. I'd recommend starting with the first, it has a pretty solid tale for a videogame, especially an action-game at that.

Pocky: >want to try GoW proper
When the time comes, I'm around.

>Vanquish
My old notes will have to suffice for what little aid I can offer (mostly cheap tactics and tidbits about melee handling). Not even sure I have the guide handy since the move.

Hello,

I've discovered this place by following interesting posts in the "patient gamer" subreddit.

I'm 32. I mostly play video games for sensations and excitement.
I also enjoy some theorycrafting from time to time. I'm in general not a follower of a "meta", but instead I experiment alone. I play the "blind" way, one would say.

I avoid games with the reputation of being story-heavy, or full of text. It only increases the tiredness I get from my job, and I'm not really interested in the emotional component.

The "quality of the action" is the most important component for me.

I was mostly interested in some japanese games made before the year 2000. I've played and 1 cc'ed around 30 STG (some call them "shmups" as well).

But playing dark souls showed me there was some interesting recent games. I've tried MH:W Iceborne and Nioh without much hope, and I was blown away by the quality of the combat, particularly of the latter. I'm very eager to play many great combat-intensive action games.

I have the following plan :
-"finish" Iceborne : for me that means defeating every monster without consumables nor mantles, solo, and in a reasonable time (under 8-10 min), with a few different weapons. I also wear appropriate equipment (not overpowering the monster).
-continue Nioh (I'm really excited for this)
-play the DMC games and some Platinum games
-by this time I hope there will be a good emulation of the ninja gaiden games

>interesting posts
Could be you, Royboy. I only went there to shit on some know-nothing casuals speaking out of turn.

>blind way
Fun, though at some point it is good to see what the community knows, share findings, work with those of others, etc. Just take care about using that terminology with cucked places like Twitch setting the tone for eventualities in fellow soft sites as with Reddit.

>story-heavy
If one wanted this, it is better to just get a book.

>shmup talk
I presume the jargon is your way of saying you're quite familiar with that territory. I'm sure some of the lads will be glad to here it.

>Souls
It has its appeals.

>Iceborne
I forget if that was the latest/last DLC. Just seems to keep getting expansions.

>Nioh
Just the original or the sequel as well (with its last DLC recently dropping)?

>combat-intensive
Should be interesting to see what aspects of combat most appeal to you. I enjoy using the environment against the enemy if not also turning fellow AI (ally or otherwise) on one another however I can (rarely do we get actual infighting in these games, sadly *even friendly fire is uncommon with factions being somehow more rare*). Cheap tactics suit my taste. Stratagem.

>challenge conditions
Promising talk.

>play DMC and Platinum titles
Primarily Bayo (1), I'd imagine.

>emulation of NG
I cannot speak to the situation here. I forget Ranger's appraisal of NGB vs NGS, but I know NG2 is widely held as superior to NGS2 (just as NG3:RE is vastly superior to the disastrous NG3).

Hey Tyr, hello and welcome and happy new year! Glad you found your way here, hope you'll enjoy your stay!

Cool to see such an interest in pre-2k STG games. 30 1cc's is no small task. How do you usually go about it? Only 1cc I've ever mustered was Ninja Warriors Strike Again and Shocktroopers (fun games, but a tad easy, hence the 1cc haha).

> Nioh and such
Fantastic series! You playing the original or the sequel?

> DMC
Fantastic series as well. Note that the series does take a big shift around its fourth entry. The first and third are my personal favourite. Not to say part four and five are bad, just different.

> Ninja Gaiden
Sigma and Sigma 2 are already available through emulation, same with Razor's Edge. These aren't the definitive versions sadly, those remain the Xbox games (Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden II). If you wish to experience the games at their best I'd say go for those if possible. That said the Sigma games are very good still, and I also started with them, so they are well worth your time! What consoles do you have?

Again, welcome, and please join any discussion you find! Also don't be afraid to ressurect old topics. More than welcomed!

>Ninja Gaiden 2 and emulation

I think it's only Sigma 2 that can be emulated... Xbox emulators aren't in a great state yet.

Welcome Tyr!

> STG
Not heard the term before - what does it stand for?

> Combat-intensive
I think that's probably a mutual interest for us all here. There are loads on topics on games you may not have heard of (at least I hadn't!) in the Various Action Games section. Check that out if you're looking for more ideas.

> NG Emulation
I'm assuming you're talking about emulation via PC here. I think the easiest game to emulate is the Wii U version of NG3:RE through CEMU. You can also play NGS1/2 through RPCS3, but the hardware requirements are higher for those, I think. As for the Xbox titles, I don't think there are any reliable options on PC for those yet. You can play NGB/NG2 on an XB1 or the new Xbox Series X (or S).

>Every Iceborne monster in <10mins with on-par gear
Do you include healing in no consumables? If so, that's a brutal challenge. I usually play with something close to the Time Attack rules used in some speedrunning: no traps, no mounting, no mantles, no flinch shot, etc., however I don't follow them strictly, and I also don't use Health Augment for weapons.
You also might have to adjust your definition of reasonable time for some monsters regardless of what you are doing though. IMO it would be impressive to solo Fatalis (the last monster) in sub-20 mins, and the top TA runs (which generally involve a good bit of RNG going your way, along with tons of skill) hover around the 10 minute mark.

>STGs/shmups
I've recently been getting into them, though mainly the "newer" ones and the bullet hell style. At my current skill level they are pretty hard, 30 1CCs sounds like quite the undertaking!

Thanks for the warm welcome !

>about STG
It refers to games such as Gradius, R-Type, Touhou, or Ikaruga.
STG is a short form of « ShooTing Game ».
Shmup is the contraction of « Shoot’em up ».
They both refer to the same genre, but shmup is a western invention, while STG is often the chosen term in Japan.
You also might see the term « danmaku », which roughly stands for « bullet hell », and is a subgenre (the most popular one) of STG. When you see a ton of bullets on the screen (slow-moving ones in general), it is danmaku.

I’ve written « 1cc », it means « one credit clear ». The STG is a genre coming from the arcade rooms, and even if you don’t play on an arcade machine but on a console or a PC, it is still question of credits.
As you know, on an arcade machine, you have to spend  a coin to start a game. When you have lost all your lives, the machine will ask you for more coins. A « one credit clear » means that you clear the game with only one coin, which is the first and mandatory one. Many beginners will say yes to the question « continue ? » asked by the game after losing all lives, and in fact they will say yes up to 50 times, until they have completed the game . This is not enjoyable, and this is not how to play this genre.


The best way to start is to download MAME (which is an arcade emulator, mostly). You can find some games on Steam (I have around 40 of them), but I believe they’re too weird for a first approach (exceptions being : Blue Revolver, Crimzon Clover (novice mode), Super Hydorah, Mushihimesama, and now the Psikyo games but they’re better on MAME).
Many people familiar with STG, me including, have started with DoDonpachi. It is hard not to like it at first (trying to master it, on the other hand, can be a very painful experience).


>about « mastering » a STG
My completions have been done over seven years. The first year, I wasn’t able to do anything. Like many people with the head in the clouds, I lack the ability to stay focused and to keep my cool in difficult situations. I panick easily. But I’ve made progress.
Before delving into a game, I first see if I like it. The pleasure comes in many ways, but in general it boils down to two things :
-the quality of the bullet patterns (« how fun is it to avoid enemy bullets  in this game? »)
-the scoring system.
The most important thing in a STG is the score (speedrunning is niche).
There is a huge variety of scoring systems in STGs . Indeed, different games reward very different behaviors. For instance, in some games, losing one life will destroy your score. In some other games, you must periodically suicide your ship ! The (now extinct) company Raizing is known for having the games with the weirdest scoring systems. A fact you might like : Hitoshi Sakimoto was one of the main composers for Raizing.

I’ve mostly played some Cave, some Toaplan, and the Gradius series (and of course the Raizing and Psikyo classics but at an elementary level).

Cave is the most preferred STG-making company, even though they don’t make them anymore.

I highly recommend to practice with savestates. Sadly, most Steam ports don't allow this, and emulation outside of Steam is needed. Console ports made by M2 propose some savestates.

>about MH
A few other newcomers on this site seem to enjoy MH games, and I believe the old-timers will soon yield to our massive marketing operation.

Honestly, MH : World is far from perfect.
It is so popular because it appeals to casuals, and to more dedicated players simultaneously.
Whether you’re good or bad at the game, you can get the same equipment and attain the same level (rank).
In two words : in this game you hunt bosses (« monsters ») in long fights. Those bosses give you materials to craft better gear, so you can hunt harder ones.

For me, the main problem is the following.
There is no in-game reward for being good. This is a huge problem, I am going to show why.
For any « hunt » (you can call this a quest), you can go alone, or choose multiplayer. It is much easier in multiplayer, because most of the time, an overgeared player will join and carry you. Also, the monster has four possible targets (the four players). So, what happens most of the time is the following : the monster hits one player, then the player heals himself while the three other keep attacking the monster. Then another player is hit, etc.… It is rare to fail a quest (maybe 1 % of them are rather unforgiving) in multiplayer. You don’t even need to know the monster.
On the other hand, playing solo all the time (with no palico (a palico is a pet)) asks for a lot of practice if you want to slay the final monsters.
To sum up, at any time, the player has a choice between :
-practicing, failing, improving, then being satisfied
-press the easy button (going in multiplayer) and just finishing the game without hassle or satisfaction.
I think you are particularly aware on this forum that the average player doesn’t know what is good for his own enjoyment. Too much freedom isn’t good.
You can easily slay every monster in less than 100 hours if you choose the multiplayer route, while in soloplayer, it will take at the very least 300 hours (mastering the game will take way more than a thousand hours).  
It is like devouring a tasty, complete meal in two minutes instead of twenty : there is almost no satisfaction.

We could say that MH : World is two games :
-the social game, in which you go fast to keep pace with your friends, and to project a good image of yourself
-the action game, in which you try to master your weapon and enemy patterns

Most players choose to play a combination of both, with a predominance of the social.

Let’s suppose for a moment that you ignore what I call the « social game ». The « action game » isn’t perfect either. To hunt a given monster, the game gives you 50 minutes. But 95 % of the monsters can be taken down under 20 minutes if you play decently. That means you can take the time to be extremely careful. To hit the monster only when you’re certain he will not hit you back. That also means you can spend 30 minutes healing yourself. None of this is fun.
A player needs to be pushed to improve.

There are a few other problems (like the first 50 hours that can be rather boring), but I don’t want to bother you beyond the reasonable.

As I said earlier, I enjoy the game, globally. There are good things, indeed. I can launch the game and go straight to the monster I want to fight and practice. Mastering a match-up (a match-up is a couple formed by one of the 14 weapons and one of the numerous monsters) is very satisfying.

It seems I am not very good at praising the game. But I can only encourage you to try it, and to play by your own rules. The combat is on the slower side. Start with the Sword & Shield, which is a very fast weapon, and try to have the best damage output. That’s very difficult.

Also, it’s made by Capcom. It might not be a good point. But you know it has a chance to be great.



>about Nioh and Platinum Games, and GoW
I’ve only played the first but I will definitely buy Nioh 2 when it comes out on PC.
I’ve bought every Platinum game (available) on discount on Steam. Well, that's only four games. Bayonetta is indeed a seducing first choice.
It looks like the God of War series is also a must play. I know close to nothing about it. The bits of the 2018 version I've seen might have given me a wrong opinion about the whole series.

>NG emulation
Thanks for the informations. I have an original Xbox (my most recent console) but I don’t have a TV anymore. When NG games released on Xbox, I was young and suggestible. The video game press, at the time, while giving good grades, didn’t actually talk much about the game. They certainly didn’t generate interest. In my country at least.

I was quite foolish : I remember playing a demo of Otogi, and thought « hey that’s pretty good ». But it only received middling evaluations. So I supposed there was a trap somewhere, and didn’t consider to buy it.

>Iceborne 10 min market
I allow myself to use the instant healing items when I’m discovering the monster and his attacks.

>unrelated rambling
Forgive me if I take a few days to answer sometimes, but I have insomnia since the first lockdown (I have no idea why), providing me with a certain difficulty to focus.

I don’t always make sense. Don’t hesitate to remind me.

Also, english isn’t my main langage. Feel free to correct me and teach me.

I hope I haven’t forgotten any question.

I played a bit of MH World and really liked it. But I got sick of the rng drops.

> STG
Ah, ShooTing Game. I think I maybe should have been able to guess that, ha!

You've said that beating an STG by using however many credits it takes is not the right way to go. In that case, what do you think is the best way for people to learn and improve?

I have a whole bunch of STGs on my PC (via MAME mostly but also a couple on Steam) as I intended to build an emulation arcade cabinet a while back. I ended up downloading most of the games first, and then just never got round to dedicating the time or money to the project. I'd love to have one, in theory, but I really won't have the room for one until I move in to my own place, so I won't worry about it until then. I'm not very good at STG titles, and to be fair I've barely put any time in to them as a genre, but I find them visually interesting and I'd like to give them more of a chance. With most of the genre originating in arcades, is playing on an arcade stick the best option for STGs?

> Platinum
If the piracy factor doesn't worry you, you can find Transformers Devastation, Legend of Korra and the TMNT game online. Given there is no way to legally pay for these games anymore, I don't think there's any moral argument against pirating them, but that's an individual's choice. I first played Transformers this way, and then bought a PS4 copy on eBay later for my physical collection. You can also emulate Madworld on Dolphin, but given how it uses motion controls, you may need to use an actual Wii Remote and Nunchuk via Bluetooth to play the game comfortably.

> Rambling/Lockdown/English
No need to apologise, nothing wrong with a lengthy post if you have things that you want to say! No problems with your English at all, perfectly understandable. I'm English myself, and it always impresses me how well non-native speakers pick up the language. It's probably because the majority of us here can't speak a lick of any other languages, and we're very fortunate that we don't really have to - the rest of the world has accommodated us. We are an ignorant bunch in some ways, unfortunately.

Lockdown has been tough on us all, I'd imagine. Hope everyone on here is keeping healthy (and sane!) at the moment.

Lockdown here in the UK is an absolute shit show, to be completely honest. The government are useless and have mismanaged it the entire time, but it's not just their fault - we have plenty of selfish people here who don't think any of the rules/restrictions extend to them. Some countries have basically returned to normal life now, whereas we probably have AT LEAST another 6 months of this, I reckon. Thankfully I've got plenty of gaming I can do to keep me occupied...

>The "social/casual" MH vs. "mastery" MH
I feel this is both a strength and a weakness. One one hand, the social aspect allows people to easily jump into the game with their friends and start playing, and better players can pull more of the weight while new players learn the ropes of the combat system. It also serves as an entry point to the mastery side of things. I've talked to people who didn't know they liked deep, mastery-based gameplay systems before they played MH, and playing with their friends evolved into "wow, this gameplay is really fun, and I want to get better."

On the other hand, multiplayer can carry people a bit too hard, especially in World. The ideal for MP should be to ease up the difficulty a bit, not to completely remove it. Unfortunately, multiplayer (especially 4 player; 2 player is much more reasonable IMO) makes it kind of easy to cheese a lot of the monsters, and the split attention + more frequent monster knockdowns + World ranged combat silliness drastically lowers the skill required while obscuring the true depth of the combat. Then people get tricked into thinking that copying a gear build off the internet and locking down monsters as long as possible is how you improve at the game, rather than cultivating game knowledge and practice. Other game genres train people to do stuff like this, so it's not entirely their fault but a shame nonetheless.

I think ultimately the social side existing is a good thing, not least because multiplayer is really fun with people who also love and understand the game. Sadly co-op in action games is pretty rare, so MH does a great job of providing that when few others do.

>50hrs to get interesting
This number seems a bit exaggerated to me, though I'll be the first to complain about the time-wasting bullshit of MHW's "story." Nonetheless the older games do this much better on average, I think Capcom thought that long cutscenes are needed for a AAA game or something.

>Healing
The normal/mega potions seem mostly fair to me. You can walk around while drinking and roll out of the animation to cancel it in World which wasn't previously the case, but you still lose time drinking them and have to somewhat watch your positioning. The max potions in World however are completely fucked, IDK what Capcom was thinking there. In general I greatly prefer the old games' healing system, but the World one isn't bad enough to break the game for me.

In general I would highly recommend giving the pre-World games a go if you haven't already, they are great and don't have a lot of World's problems, though they have some problems of their own. Try 4U for a very polished experience, or FU for a brutal, no-gimmicks gauntlet with a bit of bullshit (emulator highly recommended).

> MAME
It is still a dream for me to have a custom made arcade cabinet with MAMA on it, two great sticks and buttons and just a ton of emulated games. One day, one day. One game I really want to play one day as such is Red Earth from Capcom which is a RPG/Fightinggame/Beatmup hybrid.

> scoring system
I always was interested in these systems but found them lacking in most action-titles that I visited since they promote such a singular playstyle. For instance Ninja Gaiden where Ultimate Techniques become the norm of Vanquish where it simply becomes a point of checkpoint abuse and farming. What is a scoring system you found the most interesting and why?

Really cool to see such a fan of Shmup/STG here, feel they laid the foundation for action gaming in so many ways. The only ones I've played are minor though. I beat Ikaruga when I was young (never again) and sometimes play some Gunbird on my Switch which is good fun!

> MH
Tai is our resident MH expert, I'm sure he'll join the talk about this shortly!

> platinum games
Bayonetta is a fantastic game. I must admit to finding some of their games a bit more annoying as I grow older due to their constant 'distractions' i.e. minigames. You'll see that discussion come up from time to time over here. I feel Vanquish and Astral Chain are their masterpieces, and some of the best in the genre. They really know their stuff.

> God of War
The 2018 reboot is God of War in name only imo. It changed so much about what made the game great i.e. great grab system, brutal combat, good camera, interesting enemies, epic plot, good music and made it all a very by the numbers title with zero innovations. For a series that truly popularized the genre and made it accesible to basically everyone, it really went in a rut after its third entry (for example on how huge it is, until DMC5 launched, the first game in the series almost outsold the DMC franchise). Highly recommend the old games.

> Xbox
I'd honestly say get a cheap TV (or a CRT-tv if you can for that retro feel) and Ninja Gaiden Black. Easily the best way to experience the title!

> language
No problem man, I'm Dutch so my English is also just what I learned from watching too much TV as a child. We're pretty multinational here. Again, welcome!

@Greg

> UK
How's that going for you? I've been following the news a bit about it since you're technically our neighbour haha.

> MAME Cabinet
I adored the arcades as a kid (even though they were well in to their decline when I got to go), so there would be a lot of sentimental value in a cabinet for me. There's loads of arcade games I like, but if I was at an arcade with a Time Crisis game or Outrun 2, I wouldn't leave without playing them first. There's just something so brilliant about how "gamey" arcade titles are. By design they have to entertain you from the very first second and it shows.

> UK (@Raeng)
I often forget how close we are geographically!

Its horrendous. Like, not for me personally, as I can cope with being stuck inside and keep myself entertained, but generally speaking. We've got this "tier" system (not sure if anywhere else has something similar) where each city is assigned a tier between 1 and 4, with varying levels of restrictions in each. It was tiers 1-3 not too long ago, tier 4 (which is effectively a full lockdown, no social mixing and only essential retail is open) is a recent development due to how bad things are getting. A couple of days ago we recorded our highest figure of confirmed cases in a day since the pandemic began, I think it was around 53,000. We have one isle in tier 1, nowhere in tier 2, roughly 25% of the country in tier 3 and roughly 75% in tier 4.

Our farcical government swore blind throughout most of December that Christmas would go ahead, that it would be "inhuman" to put restrictions on it, only to announce a bunch of restrictions on the 19th - well after people had made travel plans, bought food and drink etc. We were originally going to be allowed to mix between 23rd and 27th Dec (with up to other households, I think it was) and it was changed to just the 25th and with only one other household. They're also doing brilliant things like taking credit for vaccines that had absolutely nothing to do with us - we've just approved them.

We're anticipating our third full national lockdown at some point this month, showing that we've learned absolutely nothing from the others. The government don't want to be the villains that cancelled Christmas, but it was obvious to anybody with a brain that cases would spike. They're doing this very delicate balance of suggesting you don't do stuff, but not actually enforcing it so they don't come across as the bad guys. There must be a lot of people struggling mentally and I do feel for them. It does feel a bit like life has been put on hold, to some extent.

Sorry, we do have a thread for 'rona discussion so I'll stop my rambling here! Haha.

>Shmups\STG
A genre I find appealing though am yet to get into in any depth. I've played a bit of Ikaruga, Truxton, Aero Fighters 2 (one of my favorites), Raiden IV Overkill, and own a 360 copy of Deathsmiles (a CAVE game if I'm not mistaken). My brother was very nice and got me an Arcade Stick for Christmas, so I'm gonna go Shmup hunting on steam before long to break it in.

>GoW
Played 2018 first and didn't care for it. Played GoW 1 last year and was surprised at how much I liked it. Since then I've gotten the PS3 remasters, and am looking forward to playing it more thoroughly.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

>Building a MAME arcade cabinet
A difficult task… Choosing just the right graphical settings for every game can be a lot of work.


>STG controls and practice
Keyboard, d-pad and stick are the preferred controls (analog sticks are out of question). We can find amazing performances with all of them. The stick remains the most common in Japan, with the d-pad more popular in western countries. The drawback of the d-pads : it is difficult to find a reliable and precise one. The Genesis/Saturn d-pad are good (well, some of them). The dual shock is quite popular.
Saving / loading states is very recommended (it’s already built in MAME). The states to save depend on the game, but in general, you save before a difficult part. Then you load it and practice the said part as much as you want. After a while, you will have determined the best route to overcome this part. What we call a route is a wide set of informations, it encompasses a precise path  in which you survive (many micro-movements), the order in which you destroy the enemies, whether you use a bomb or not and when... Memorization is as important as good reflexes.
And of course, you need to enjoy it. It is difficult for me to have a session longer than 30 min.
Regular practice is a key.

>The most interesting scoring systems
There are many interesting systems, and most of them are rank-based. In STG vocabulary, the rank is an indicator of the difficulty the game is throwing at you. If you play well (in general, that means
not dying and/or scoring well), the rank goes up, and so does the difficulty. Most of the time, the rank is reset after you finish your game. You can also tamper with it in the settings (sometimes, doing so will prevent you to have an official or recognized high-score).

Sometimes, a high rank is sought after by the player, and some other times, having a low rank is better. A higher rank can offer more possibilities to improve your score even more, but it can also become almost impossible to survive (Battle Garegga is such an example). Surprisingly, keeping a low rank can be difficult, because often it means avoiding power-ups on purpose (power-ups make the rank go up). You’re left with a very low firepower, and the enemies then become dangerous as well… There is some difficult decision making with ranks.

The rank is one of the best inventions to tailor the difficulty to the player, when skillfully implemented.

I believe the widely preferred scoring system is Ketsui’s. Roughly, when you destroy an enemy at point blank range, it drops a big box (that’s a lot of points), and for a very short time after that, every enemy destroyed will drop a big box (at any range!). Every time you destroy an enemy in this short time window, the timer is reset : you can keep shooting from afar and get the big boxes, again. You can repeat the process indefinitely. Of course, the point-blank range is very dangerous for your ship. But ignoring this will bring you next to no score.
The more used to the game you get, the more you can approach the enemies.

>Truxton
One of my favorites (I played Tatsujin, the japanese version, but the difference is negligible if I remember correctly).

>Truxton
Absolutely brutal game. I think I remember my brother saying the JAP version is faster(he used to talk endlessly about Truxton and Musha), I could be mistaken though.

I'm really happy to see MH discussion in the forum.

@HotPocketHPE

>Favourite MH

My favourite is Freedom Unite. I still believe is the peak of the series design wise. No gimmicks, no hand holding just you, your skill and the monster.

I agree with you about GU especially about the balance concern. The evasion arts kinda ruin the focus on positioning and commiting to attacks as they are "free repostion" buttons and have ton of iframes to boot. The Wirebug in Rise seems to work similarly at a reposition tool, but it now has a cost and share said cost witht the other arts, seems like a good way to balance it.
Brave style is the other completely broken mechanic. While I still find  it fun, if you know what you're doing, playing brave just trivializes every monsters but the endgame deviants. It's obvious that they haven't balanced it with the old monsters in mind. The other styles (outside of aerial) are all pretty great tho, and really give new life to a lot of weapons. Striker SnS is still the best version of the weapon to date imo.
That said I love the game, easily my second favourite after FU,solid roster with Glavenus, Valstrax and Mizutsune being some of the best  monsters in a long time, and a lot of set variety.
I will probably it a fair bit this coming months, as I want to finish up the last deviants before Rise. So if you ever wanna play just hit me up.

4U I pretty much hate. I'm not a fan of the Main Team to begin with and I really can't stand most of the design decisions they made. Starting from monster being more random and wasting time (stuff that got even worse with World), the terrible map design with all the ledges and uneven ground and general monster design (There's seriously not a 4 gen monster I enjoy hunting, the closest one it's Shagaru but even he has  the random explosion that makes it random). I was also not a fan of apex monsters but frenzy and the guild quest system were really cool addition.
I'm only half joking when I say that the only good thing that came out of 4U was the Guildmarm lol.

I really regret not playing Frontier when it still was a thing. Never bothered with setting up a vpn or getting the chinese version, but now that I did some reasearch about the mechanics and the monster design it seems a fantastic game. Seriously looks like classic monster hunter brought up to eleven. Hopefully will get server emulation this year.

>Shmups

ZeroRanger and Crimzon Clover are both fantastic games. I got the Novice 1cc in Crimzon, but I still need to seriously lab normal mode, when I have some more time.


@Tyr

Welcome! Really cool to see someone so into shmups, is a genre I always liked but I never really went to in depth with it. Got some 1CC here and there but I still consider myself a beginner.

>Nioh
If you have a ps4 or can wait for the pc release, I higly recommend you play Nioh 2. It's pretty much Nioh but better in every way, and adds a ton more mechanics and weapons. The Soul Core system especially makes it so you can be even more aggressive and personalize your playstyle  even more. Bosses and enemies are also generally better than 1. Honestly 2 kinda makes 1 obsolete at this point.

>DMC and Platinum
Can't speak about Platinum as I don't really like most of their games, but for DMC I recommend starting with either 1 or 3, depending if you are interested in a more efficiency based system (1) or a more combo/style one (3).
Where you interested in the series in general or in a specific title?

>Quality of action
I'm curious about this one. What do you look for in a game specifically? What type of mechanics?

>Iceborne monster <10 min
A great way to get better at the game. Even without meta sets it should be doable outside of Fatalis and Alatreon, but take what I say with a grain of salt as I haven't played IB, but I did a fair bit or research about it.
Also seeing as you are interested in gettin better at MH, I highly recommend playin the older titles, Generations Ultimate and Freedom Unite especially. World and IB are pretty dumbed down compared to other titles, and in older one you don't really need to limit yourself as much.
Meta sets are strong but not as broken as in IB and you can fight the multiplayer G monster solo for an even greater challenge (mission don't scale between singleplayer and multiplayer in older gen). Older games are even more focused on correct positioning and commiting to your attacks so fights are a lot more punishing and engaging.In FU especially,there are no gimmicks to speak off, only you and the monster and the only things you need to limit are traps and flash/sonic bombs. And all the meta sets are only 3 or 4 skills at best, the focus is all on player skill.

>No in game reward for being good

This is true for series in general. The incentive that come closer to it is you needing to farm the same monster multiple time (older games required more rare materials for armor and weapons)  and wanting it do more efficiently.

>Social game

I agree that the social aspect is important for a lot of people, but that really depends on the player.
I, for example, have started with Freedom 1 back on the psp and there was no way to go online, so I just started doing everything solo and really enjoyed the challenge. Now I only go online for fun or for farming, I always do the entire game solo.
The choiche of going for multiplayer is not a bad design choice imho, it usually means that they can still focus on creating really challenging quests withou needing to dumb the game down (outside of World where it happened also thanks to the separation between single and multy player),because they know that people can easily go online and succed that way. It's a really good way to diminish the need for farming, and even for speedrunners is an extra way to engage with the game and create new strategies like HAME runs.
At the end of the day if people want to just play multy and get a lesser experience is their choice, forcing them to do everything solo will not really do much to convice a casual to put the time in.

>"the action game"

Like I said before I always saw "not taking ages to finish a quest" and "farming faster and efficiently" together with the solid mechanics to be push enough. But I see what you mean.
Granted in older gens it was different, if you played only attacking where you were safe and wasted time healing you could easily fail the quest by time limit. Note that sets were not as strong as in IB so you couldn't rely on number to do part of the work for you, monsters were way more aggressive (before 3rd generation they did not get tired, the only 2 states were normal and enraged) and flinched a lot less and, most importantly,you couldn't go back to the base to replenish items and the backpack was really limited, so wasting healing items was a real concern.
Again, most of the problem you have come from World being an extremely different game from the rest of the series (and at this point I think it's pretty clear that I kinda hate it lol). In a lot of aspect World is not really Monster Hunter, the general design (from weapon, to items, to monsters) is really different. So, once again, I highly recommend you play some of the older titles. And if you are ever interested just le me know as I'm more than happy to help.

>God Of War

The original trilogy is definetly a must play. They are really well designed game with a combat system focused on grabs, ring out and general crowd control. They are also really fun to play No Upgrade as the general system really shines when you can't rely on the stronger options to clear everything. GodModeGod is the expert regarding GoW.

Welcome Tyr and I hope everyone has a happy new year!

>Truxton / Tatsujin
When starting the game, I remember telling myself : « this is hardest than anything I have ever played ». And I had played quite a lot of STGs already. But thankfully that impression was quickly dissipated, because it is fast to learn. It is unlike many other games that feel approachable, but that you can’t crack after hundreds of hours (difficult learning vs easy learning).

>MH
I’ve already made the configurations to enjoy an emulation of MH4U (proposed by HPE), so I guess that will be my first « old » title from the series. But it is refreshing to see the two of you recommending MHFU, a game many people are quick to depreciate. The « you, your skill, and the monster » is enough to convince me to try it. I really like the concept of arenas in MH:W, unfortunately, it is not as important as I would want, and it is also a multiplayer affair.

>DMC
I plan to play them in release order.

>the quality of action
For me, it is a subsection of what we put under the word « gameplay ».
The following question that we might adress to a game designer is important : « what does the player must do to succeed in your game ? » If the answer is : « well, the player can walk 90 % of the time, make a few jumps here and there, press the sword button when he’s is front of a monster, and that’s it he achieved all there was to achieve », then obviously, the quality of action is horrible (and the game designer is probably working on a « metroidvania », or a story-heavy game).

I think you must ask for the player to be « skilled in navigation ». What I mean by this : you attack him with a great variety of things in a short time, and he must use the correct tools among a large number of possibilites (the right attacks, spells, counters, dodges, positions, aims, …). The player must be engaged in the flow.

However, I believe many people here might propose very different and equally interesting definitions of « the quality of action ».



Note : "story-heavy" is nice way to say the game offers nothing else than a story.

Hello. I am Mega Drive Profile, or MDP for short.

I found out about this website from a shared link on twitter. It was the interview with the Ninja Gaiden tourney participant. This was a little while ago so I guess I was technically lurking.

Anyhow I love action much like everyone here. My favorite games include Alien Solider, Ninja Gaiden II(not sigma) and a lot of shmups.

I also have a youtube channel where I cover action games (mainly Mega Drive & 2D/Retro focused at the moment but I am expanding). My favorite developer is Treasure and I've cleared many of their games on the highest difficulty, just really enjoy them that much. I can't say I could do this for many other games but hey.

Recently I've cleared Devil Kings for PS2 and despite being a bastardized version of Sengoku Basara it was quite fun The Devil King character played very much like a DMC game since he has a sawed off shotgun and a sword. The priming mechanic is addicting too. I guess you could say its making me more curious about Musou games. I am gonna try out Samurai Warriors 2 soon.

Hey Mega Drive! Cool nickname, welcome to the site!

> Alien Soldier
Fantastic game that I still need to really get into, I only have it on the Switch but I prefer playing on Original Hardware whenever possible. Which means buying a Mega Drive. Which isn't a bad idea now that I think about it.

> NGII
My personal favourite action game! You'll fit right in haha.

> musou
There are some people that really enjoy those games, I think there's definitely a place for them. You really just have to accept their playstyle (as with a lot of other games ofc.) Can't say I know of Devil Kings. Got any good footage?

Again, welcome and enjoy your time here! :)

I have a confession to make. I better make it here and now or it's never going to happen.

Back in the 90s I stole Alien Soldier from a department store. They kept stuff in their cases back then. I simply pocketed the cart and walked out.

>musou
Some of the spinoffs are great. Smaller casts with unique characters and mechanics. I've put well over 100 hours into Dragon Quest Heroes.

That would make you very wealthy where I live, I was just hunting for a copy and the cheapest one I found was over 700,- euros haha!

Back then MD and SNES games were like $150-200. But my dad told me money was different back then. Made more and living costs were far less.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Hey Mega Drive! Cool nickname, welcome to the site!

> Alien Soldier
Fantastic game that I still need to really get into, I only have it on the Switch but I prefer playing on Original Hardware whenever possible. Which means buying a Mega Drive. Which isn't a bad idea now that I think about it.

> NGII
My personal favourite action game! You'll fit right in haha.

> musou
There are some people that really enjoy those games, I think there's definitely a place for them. You really just have to accept their playstyle (as with a lot of other games ofc.) Can't say I know of Devil Kings. Got any good footage?

Again, welcome and enjoy your time here! :)

Sadly I don't have any footage for Devil Kings but it is made by Capcom and for the US localization they tried to really capitalize off Devil May Cry's name. There is a whole interview regarding that on the net. I mean even the cover art is dead giveaway

Looked it up, game looks delightful to play. Really has that "PS2 feel" if you get me!

Have you been playing any NGII lately too? Which console do you play it on?

Hi MDP! Welcome! Now I have to wonder if Alien Soldier was a part of a Genesis/Mega Drive collection. I can't remember.

Musou: Have fun with Samurai Warriors 2! I played a lot of them but I wouldn't say I have beaten one yet. Except for 8XL and Next. Don't go after the DS version of DW though.

Devil Kings: I've been wanting to get that.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Looked it up, game looks delightful to play. Really has that "PS2 feel" if you get me!

Have you been playing any NGII lately too? Which console do you play it on?

Totally know I exactly what you are talking about. And yes I have been playing NG II recently on my Xbox One, gonna do a mentor and then master ninja run. Speaking of Ninja Gaiden, Itagaki started a new game company and is working a new project as well (he said all of this on his facebook) Hopefully its a new action game but others say it might be a fighter. Either way I hope its good.

Nadster wrote:Hi MDP! Welcome! Now I have to wonder if Alien Soldier was a part of a Genesis/Mega Drive collection. I can't remember.

Musou: Have fun with Samurai Warriors 2! I played a lot of them but I wouldn't say I have beaten one yet. Except for 8XL and Next. Don't go after the DS version of DW though.

Devil Kings: I've been wanting to get that.

Thanks, and Yes it is part of the collection!

IIRC there was an internal leak pretty shortly after that detailed the game somewhat:

Spoiler:

Take with a grain of salt like every 'leak' ofc.

> NGII
First time going through Master Ninja? Or just unlocking them again?

Royta/Raeng wrote:IIRC there was an internal leak pretty shortly after that detailed the game somewhat:

Spoiler:

Take with a grain of salt like every 'leak' ofc.

> NGII
First time going through Master Ninja? Or just unlocking them again?

first time! As much as I love NG II I just never got around to doing the higher difficulties.

Welcome MDP!
Did you do a review for that ps3/xbox360 run and gun? Hard cops I thing it was called? I remember your name think I saw some of your sruff.

>Devil Kings/Basara

I was always interested in the Sengoku Basara series but I never got around to it. Have you played any of the other titles? Are they any good?

TaiTsurugi wrote:Welcome MDP!
Did you do a review for that ps3/xbox360 run and gun? Hard cops I thing it was called? I remember your name think I saw some of your sruff.

>Devil Kings/Basara

I was always interested in the Sengoku Basara series but I never got around to it. Have you played any of the other titles? Are they any good?

Yes I did do a review Of Hard Corps: Uprising on 360 so it was probably me

and I bought Sengoku Samurai Heroes for wii a lil while ago but haven't gotten around to it just yet. So we'll see.

> NGII
Definitely hit us up with the updates man, I love reading and talking NGII shop, let us know how the run goes for you! Mentor treating you alright?

[quote="Royta/Raeng"]> NGII
Definitely hit us up with the updates man, I love reading and talking NGII shop, let us know how the run goes for you! Mentor treating you alright?[/quote

Doing not too bad but I had to adjust my strategy off the bat lol gets tough

the whole time since posting on the ninja gaiden hurricane pack i forgot to do my intro posts lol. anyways, Im TheBurningPunch or BP for short. Ive been a gamer since I got the original nes as it kept out of trouble due how bad its out here. I played them soo much at times, some family members was looking at it as a problem so i tried my best to balance things out over the years by learning computers and fixing them too. As for how i came up with my name, it was based off a fighting game icon named terry bogard as i like playing fighting games. He had a move called the burning knuckle. An anime series called G Gundam also inspired my name as the main character in the series who uses God gundam aka burning gundam also had a move called the burning finger. I hope im making sense here lol but anyways, Im glad to be here and pray ill stick around for a long time.

> learning computers and how to fix them
That's pretty cool! I only managed to built my first machine quite recently and it was pretty fun to do! Is it your job now as well?

Welcome again man, hope you enjoy your stay :)

Welcome BP! Has your knowledge on PCs lead you to become a PC gamer or do you prefer consoles?

Royta/Raeng wrote:> learning computers and how to fix them
That's pretty cool! I only managed to built my first machine quite recently and it was pretty fun to do! Is it your job now as well?

Welcome again man, hope you enjoy your stay :)

my current job is a warehouse that has a PC dept in it. We sell refurb PCs, printers, tablets, monitors etc. Install upgrades like extra ram, OS installations depending on what the customer wants. But mostly its about production more than technical support.  

Gregorinho wrote:Welcome BP! Has your knowledge on PCs lead you to become a PC gamer or do you prefer consoles?

It lead me to be slowly becoming a PC gamer. Im 36 now and can't keep up with these consoles but i still have older ones as they give me great memories lol. Once i got my switch, im quitting the console game.

Birdy: >stole Alien Soldier
Shame. I pirated mine.

GodModeGOD wrote:Birdy: &gt;stole Alien Soldier
Shame.  I pirated mine.

Ditto via emulation as a kid(never seen a MegaDrive in person) but then got the Japan Only PS2 Treasure Box on the JP PSN Store back in 2018 just so I could play it on PS3.

MDP wrote:Hello. I am Mega Drive Profile, or MDP for short.

My favorite games include Alien Solider

Yo, I found out about your channel via your Alien Soldier vid recently, good stuff man and I always appreciate more Alien Soldier talk! Please see the page I made for it years ago(excuse the poor spelling will be amended soon).

Hi, I'm new here.

I am a fan of action games and I accompany the site, read some articles and liked them very much!
I beat Ninja Gaiden 2 and DMC3 when I was 12-13 years old and they introduced me to character action, I am 22 years old now and DMC3 I had the opportunity to replay on PC, but never got to play NGII again... Until I discovered this site and was VERY inspired by Raeng, bought an Xbox 360, now I can finally play Ninja Gaiden BLACK and replay Ninja Gaiden II!!!! (...and 3RE)

I am very hyped to play NGB, I am sure this game will become one of my favorites, especially after watching your video celebrating 30 years, great video!
I only have good memories about NGII, but I was too young and did not know how to take advantage of the depth of its systems, now I can finally play seriously as an ACTION GAME

I have recently become interested in SHMUP/STG, it was a surprise and coincidence to see that you were talking about STG recently in this thread, I intend to make my first 1cc on R-Type for horizontal shooters and Aleste (MSX) for vertical shooters.

I've been reading this forum for a while now, but I hadn't created an account and ended up getting hyped on Monster Hunter 2 Dos, I saw a 3 hour video that was recommended in a thread about MH games.

That's it for now... My native idiom is not English, but I have started to study the language, it is part of my study to frequent environments that use English as the main language, I wrote this with my little knowledge + help from DeepL, feel free to correct me, That is why I will take a while to answer, I end up taking time to correct possible flaws.