Hunting monsters and kicking ass

I'd like to talk to you about a little game that I've grown to love.  Its name is Monster Hunter.  While it is slowly gaining popularity over here in North America, in Japan it has become a sensation much like Dragon Quest.

One may look at a synopsis of the game (and all its following installments), and wonder why the fuck anyone would invest time into it.  The synopsis in question?  You hunt monsters.  End of story.  That is the essential soul of Monster Hunter, boiled down to its simplest form.  Oh, sure, there's some shit about the village being in some sort of vague danger that threatens its very existence, but it's simply there to serve as an excuse to hunt large, voracious animals to extinction.

The more detailed explanation would go as follows:  You hunt small monsters, carve them up into even smaller pieces (which you unceremoniously stuff into your backpack), haul the bloody chunks back to town, and force the poor blacksmith to somehow fashion a suit of armour or weapon out of scales, fur, and various bits of skin, with the odd chunk of metal ore thrown in for good measure.  You then go out to fight progressively bigger and badder monsters, literally wearing the skin of your previous conquests.

Now, if that didn't get you hard, you may as well just stop reading.  I have nothing more that can be more arousing than that.

For those that have had their interest piqued, read on.  Each monster will have its own behavior - attacks, reactions, flight patterns, etc.  Some monsters will try to escape from you when they are near death; others are simply enraged; one will even try to play dead so that you will leave it alone.  It is up to you to figure out that behavior, and exploit it, so you can wear that shiny new hat made from their bones.

There is no lock on, no monster health bar, nothing to take you by the hand and walk you through.  You need to rely on your wits, your reactive skills, and maybe even a little bit of luck.  I've played through Monster Hunter for the PS2, MH Freedom 1 and 2 and Unite for the PSP (though I actually played the Japanese version of Unite, called Portable 2nd G), and most recently Monster Hunter Portable 3rd.  Through all of that, I've found that I've developed an unbreakable bond with this franchise - become a 'fanboy', if you will.  I had hoped never to contract this disease, but it has found me nonetheless.  I do, however, lack the rabid defense with which most fanboys will defend their games.  I accept many peoples' opinions of this game, and simply believe that they were not meant to play it.

Give it a try, though.  If it sounds like something you might like, if you can FIND it (I've had friends search for a month without a successful find, though they probably weren't looking in the right places), give it a go.  It'll hook you, and you'll likely spend a hundred hours MINIMUM playing it.  I've averaged about 200 hours on each of the installments, and that's nothing compared to some of the veteran players.

Happy hunting.