I’ve been feeling out Monster Hunter Tri’s offline offerings this week, certain that I’ve fallen miles behind plenty of other players, but taking it in stride while grinding through Guild quests that slow expectations through some typical “go-fetch” requests, which have had plenty of influence in keeping my sessions with the game on the short side.
Gathering mushrooms, retrieving a few bits of monster guts, killing off a handful of smaller beasts – the game assures the player this is all essential training for up-and-coming hunters, likely to the aggravation of veterans, and leaving me at first rushing through those tasks without striking any hot sparks simply to raise my rank.
It wasn’t until accepting the challenge of hunting a Great Jaggi last night that my outlook started to improve. This was the first solo quest that really made me consider there might be more to this hunting business, specifically in the act of living outside the village, sent to an outpost to survive while tracking a reasonably cunning beast.
I say reasonably because, like most videogame beasts of burden, the Great Jaggi likes to charge in head first, striking out at me and swinging its massive tail to knock me off my feet, all to give a chance for the many smaller Jaggies and Jaggia summoned by the commotion and call of their Alpha to feast on my fallen flesh.