Stulaw's Blog

Monster Hunter University

It was a cold Monday morning, I’d woken up early, actually had breakfast for the first time in a month, and was excited about my day for a change because I was going to go and play a game of which I’d only ever previously seen screens and videos. Not only that, but I was going to meet another Cubed3 member for the first time, Calum Peak, and this is how that day went.

As I made my way on the tube to South Kensington - 18 stops, standing most of the way - I was wondering what the Monster Hunter 3 conference, that Nintendo had kindly invited Cubed3 to, would be like, and if anyone famous would be there. I was also wondering what Calum would be like. When I got to South Kensington station, at about 10:00am, I waited for Calum to arrive, and as I waited I decided to buy myself a Toffee Crisp and an Orange Lucozade, whilst listening to a man play a stringed, headless instrument that turned out to be something called a ‘Guqin’. Finally Calum arrived and we started talking about our journeys, as well as our thoughts on what the event would be like. Since we thought it would be in the main section of the Science Museum, as the invitation had stated, I had pictured in my head a big stage with a Press Conference taking place in the middle of a lot of gaming booths.


Once we got through the bag check at the museum, though, we were told that we were actually in the wrong place, with the conference being held next door in the Director’s Conference Room. Upon entering, we were greeted by an attractive brunette who asked our names. I’m thinking now that I should have taken the opportunity to ask her, or any of the other pretty women working at the event, out...to talk about Cubed3 work, obviously!

On reaching the main lobby, Calum got some food while I went to check out the big, roaring (yes it was indeed roaring) advertisement board that was made out to look 3D. Then Calum and I talked for a bit, before finding out that the Science Museum offered free Wi-Fi - yes, we could use our iPods! I downloaded a Duke Nukem soundboard application that Calum had told me about, then as more people started coming in I went to put my hoody in the cloakroom because it was getting too warm. That was a grave mistake, though, because Calum ended up getting interviewed by Nintendo about the event in my absence, with some other random guy. At least when he said that he had never played Monster Hunter at all before they just ignored him and spoke solely to Calum. Then Iain Lee, who many will know from The 11 O’Clock Show and Thumb Bandits, as well as now acting as reporter for Nintendo’s ‘Ninty News’ show, said that Calum would be his ‘buddy’ for the day. We had a chat about the event and when it was going to start since it was meant to start at 10:45 and by now it was already half 11. Then I got out my iPod and realised the case had broken, tried to get it off, and was caught in the act by Iain who said, “What are you doing? He’s trying to break his iPod! Have you glued that on or something?!” to which I replied that it was stuck, and we all laughed.


Finally, we were all called into the conference room, where people dressed up as monster hunters and knights walked us in as an announcer proclaimed, “Welcome to Monster Hunter University, where you’ll get all the monster hunting information and skills that you need”, or something along those lines. We were told we weren’t allowed any flash photography or allowed to film before the Q&A. As we sat down we noticed little gift bags with goodies in them, such as a Pukka Pad, pen, welcoming letter, instruction booklet on the game’s controls, some Monster Hunter 3 postcards, and a 2GB memory stick containing screenshots and art (something that Calum’s bag didn’t include).

As the conference began, Ryozo Tsujimoto introduced himself as the Producer of Monster Hunter 3, along with Kaname Fujioka, who worked as Director on the project. Fujioka-san said he needed a pointer for the presentation, Tsujimoto-san pointed to a prop in the shape of a monster’s skull with horns and Fujioka-san joked that that was too big. Then he grabbed a human skeletal arm, everyone laughed, and the presentation began. During the presentation some new, exclusive weapons were revealed, like the Switch Axe, and then there was a presentation on the artificial intelligence of monsters, showing off how smart they are in-game. Tsujimoto-san stated that he set out to make the best looking Wii game he could, which in my opinion he has done, as well as wanting to make a game with the best possible online experience, which is why there are no Friend Codes, and there are more downloadable quests and weapons than ever before. This all sounded good to me!


After the conference, we were told that we could go have some snacks and then finally play some Monster Hunter 3. Calum and I opted to go into the games room first, where the online multiplayer pods were in the middle, looking amazing on 37” flat-screen TVs, with the one- and two-player co-operative machines on either side. Since the online seats were already taken, we opted for the co-op. All the consoles were set up with the shiny new black Classic Controller PROs that Tsujimoto-san had said he helped Nintendo design. I had already become used to the CC PRO from playing Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, but I had never played a Monster Hunter game in my life. I selected the Great Sword, which I was rubbish with, then opted for the Bow Gun, which felt better to control. We were both interviewed by the Ninty News crew while playing, and our picture was taking without us realising.

We could only select three bosses at the event, with each boss getting progressively harder. It took us ten minutes to defeat the first boss (the Great Jaggi), and not much longer the second (a Qurupeco). The third, however, took us over half an hour, testing our patience and skills a lot further than the last two. This monster was called a Barroth, and had stone armour all over its body, making it difficult to do much damage at first. Also, its AI was simply fantastic - I could see when it was tired or distressed, and it got angry at times getting faster and slower. I used a Bow Gun for long-range attacks. You get four lives between you and your partner(s) in this mode, and once those are up you have to start again (which against the Barroth we did twice) and I was the one who died the most. When we finally beat it, though, it felt like we truly achieved something special, shouting ‘Yes!’ and punching our arms up in the air in joy.


We then went to play the single-player, and were told that we could go and get Monster Hunter posters signed by both Tsujimoto-san and Fujioka-san. Calum went first and I went a few places behind him, standing behind a few news writers. I’m not sure what magazine or website they were from, but they pointed out something funny - one of the former Directors of the museum was called Dr. Grocock, and above her was someone with a name of an equally funny nature (although I can’t remember the name now). As I finally got to Fujioka-san, the lady translator said they needed to speed things up as by now it was getting towards 4:00pm, meaning I could only get one poster signed. However, Fujioka-san’s autograph is a funny little picture and was definitely worth waiting for to get another poster in my bedroom.

When I went back in, Cal and I were asked if we wanted to play the online co-op, to which we quickly replied yes. This time we went up against a monster called the Lagiacrus as it was a sea monster and we hadn’t had the chance to play any swimming part. We had fifteen minutes to find the monster and kill it, which was not an easy task to say the least! Starting in the main village, we had to rush to the sea to locate the monster, then fight it whilst other ‘sub-ordinate’ monsters were attacking us all the while. I chose to use the Switch Axe, which wasn’t selectable in the other modes, and it was quite awesome. We hacked away at the monster and it sent out an electrical attack that killed me (well, made my character ‘faint’, since you don’t die at all). I had to make my way back from the village, and as soon as I got back the monster decided to run off, which was annoying, but obviously part of its in-built AI (it was hungry and distressed!). It jumped onto the beach and we hacked away again, cutting off its tail and making scars on its chest. But then it ran away again, and our time limit was up. Oh well, you win this time Lagiacrus!


Cal and I decided to head off after that, with me deciding to get the District Line back and Cal the Circle Line train. It was a good day overall, but I then realised I should have taken the same route as Cal, as I could have then taken the Jubilee Line from Westminster and got back home faster. Ah, but it didn’t matter in the end, as not only had I been lucky enough to play Monster Hunter 3 and meet its creators, I had a tasty meal of steak and chips when I did finally get back home...