As a player who mains GS and Gunlance, I mostly agree with the article. One-shot moves and DPS checks have been in the game since Behemoth, and while I'm not a huge fan of those mechanics, my bigger complaint is the idea that the elemental DPS check and inability to use farcaster makes certain weapon types less viable. I was able to beat Alatreon last night for the first time using great sword, and I've seen people do it successfully using hammer as well, but there's no reason at all to use a gunlance in this fight. These weapons are geared more toward dealing raw damage, and bowguns need to be able to replenish ammo, so it simply makes them all less viable. Not impossible, but significantly less viable. That's a shame.
I'm fine with Alatreon being hard. It should be hard. I remember when I finally soloed it in the villiage quest in Monster Hunter Tri that it was a big milestone for me. It just needs to be hard in a way that is more fair to all weapon types instead of rendering some of them ineffective.
@Xristophoros: You might have a point there. Especially when you consider how cheap it would be to buy a used PS2, and any used PS2 games you might be interested in. And maybe I'm a tight wad, but $100 seems a bit steep even for a PS1 mini console to me, if they asked much more than that for a PS2 mini console I doubt it would sell that hot. Might be better for Sony to just focus on releasing more old PS2 games for people to download & play on PS4?
Either way, PS2 had one of the best game libraries of any console ever, would be awesome to see a mini console version that capitalized on that, or maybe even a PS2 Classics game collection on a disc for PS4. For crying out loud, I'd even probably pay $100 for some kind of PS2 external drive I could hook up to my PS4 and play old PS2 discs on :)
The thing that excites me the most about this announcement is the possibility that there will be a PS2 classic system released :) I still have my old PS2, it still runs, but I love the idea of a mini console version.
@Thanatos2k: You're absolutely right, early 3D games on PSX, Saturn, and even N64 look rough now. Especially PSX games. My roomates and I bought a PSX in college and had fun playing games like Tomb Raider, Street Fighter Alpha 2, etc. Even with thick nostalgia goggles on, I can't honestly say that Tomb Raider on PSX looks good. It looks like hot garbage now. It's a good game, it was fun at the time, but it looks like crap. As do FF VII, Ridge Racer, and even Tekken 3, which was probably the most graphically impressive 3D game I ever played on PSX, and still holds up great in the gameplay department.
2D sprite-based games like Street Fighter Alpha 2 on PSX are a different story IMO. Beautiful 2D graphics will always age well, and there are plenty of great games on PSX that have these. I think it's great that Sony is making this classic console, and that they're including essentials like FF VII and Tekken 3, but I hope they also get some of the great 2D sprite-based games on there, because they've aged a lot better visually than the early polygon-based games.
@jasonlc3221: I bought a Wii U to play Monster Hunter with a buddy, but quickly wound up buying a number of other games that are great to play with friends on a couch, like Mario Kart, Rayman Legends, Mario 3D World, and Smash Bros. I love playing all those games with my wife & kids. It's hard to beat that experience of playing a great game with someone right next to you on the couch. And the Wii U is great for that, while PS3 and Xbox 360 were understandably more focused on online gaming. I also wound up playing games like Monster Hunter Tri U and Xenoblade Chronicles X a lot more on the gamepad than I thought I would. The ability to keep playing your game while your spouse or kids come and take over the TV to watch a show was very nice, and also clearly a taste of things to come with the Switch.
Wii U might be the worst selling console on the list, but for me personally it was a great console, and I still have it hooked up and ready to play.
Very glad MH is coming back to consoles & PC in a big way. So great that Capcom is finally doing this. The series has needed graphics & gameplay overhaul for a few years now, I'm really excited to see that happening!
Hoping the Switch gets it's own MH title as well, maybe XX for the west? Or maybe MH World Portable? It would be absolutely silly to not at least release XX for the west as a bare minimum considering they already released it in Japan and it sold well.
@kyotoforever: Love the idea of seeing Monster Hunter & Fire Emblem on the Switch. And not just HD upgrades of old games, new games. That would be fantastic, and go a long way to convince me to buy a new Nintendo console.
Really hoping that this forces Capcom to finally make Monster Hunter games that actually have good graphics. It would be awesome to see them release Monster Hunter 5 on Nintendo Switch, PS4 & Xbone and give the series beautiful graphics, and updated control schemes comparable to the progress other game series have made in the last 10 years.
I'm not hating on Monster Hunter, I love the series, but it's sad for me to see it so rooted in the past when it's clearly a hugely profitable and popular game. Seems like the Switch would be a great console to launch a new MH game on, hoping that happens and it catches on more in the West.
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