Toukiden - The Bear and Badger

ayns

I was taken by surprise by how much I enjoyed the demo a couple of weeks ago. I actually pre-ordered last week, installed and was ready to go on Friday.

So far I've not been disappointed. Essentially it follows a Monster Hunter style structure where up to 4 people traipse around interconnecting areas and bash bits off monsters to make weapons and armour that allow them to bash harder monsters etc etc.

As you progress in the game you release the souls of ancient warriors who you can use to customise your main character's abilities so that you can heal, buff or debuff targets a limited number of times. Ninjas, pugilists and lurvely weapons with sparkly effects ahoy!

I've mainly been hitting co-op via ad hoc at home but there's online co-op too which I shall doubtless peruse at some point.

Lots of potential with glorious hidden strategy involving breaking certain body parts and then the risk/reward of collecting them during the battle before they disappear.

I am already lost. Yay!

Curtis

I really like the look of this. Sorely tempted, but I have so many other games on the go.

bogard

I'm getting this next week. Can it be enjoyed in solo play?

Curtis

I forgot I had £15 on my Game card, so I just bought some PSN credit towards this badboy.

@ Ayns - Hit me up for future MP shenanigans. I'm gonna get grinding for decent gear and weapons once it's downloaded.

Curtis

Totally addicted to this.

JMW

Almost bought this, walked up to Game, DENIED by them having added on their £5 Game Tax, again.

Curtis

I must be enjoying it - i've clocked 9 hours since yesterday. lol!

It may be a 'stripped down' MH clone but that's actually a good thing in a way - MH can be very daunting to newcomers, and you have to figure out all its intricacies by yourself (or use a wiki) - this however is pretty straightforward.

The combat is satisfying. There's a nice selection of weapons to suit all styles (I'm currently rocking the Spear). The landscapes are a little barren, but that's not a big deal, cause you'll need the space once you fight one of the big boss Oni. And they have all been fantastic so far! Proper gruelling affairs, so be ready for hand-cramp lol! Being able to identify the condition/health of their limbs and weak spots means you can focus your attacks on specific areas to get the drops you need. The risk versus reward of actually capturing the lopped of limb while the fight is still on-going makes for some very tense moments. It's a brilliant feature.

I'm going to carry on with SP for today, see if I can't upgrade my gear, then jump online to see what's what.

The game is highly recommended if you like kill x number doo-dahs, leading up to a massive fight.

fullspectrum

Is this just on handhelds? I like the look, but I haven't a Vita.

Curtis

Yeah, Vita exclusive.

fullspectrum

Another reason for one.

I'd play Hotline Miami every day.

bogard

Get one now before you miss out on the OLED screen.

JMW

Advantages of the slim probably outweigh the cons for me.

ayns

Curtis, I'm currently awaiting a new router from Sky during the middle of next week. My phone can just about handle multiplayer dungeons in FFXIV so it may be up to the job with this. Will keep an eye out - got you on PSN already.

Been rocking the single player. Currently using lances and bows as my weapons of choice. Bows are so much more fun I'm this than MH. Crafted a few armour sets for kicks and you get some nice bonuses. Similarly attach 3 mitama from the same age to an upgraded weapon and you get an additional bonus. The sheer number of Mitama means there's a lot of scope here. I like deceit mitama on my lance for puncture, whilst attack mitama work well on a bow.

I'm hoping this has some serious legs.

mrsmr2

I feel dirty playing this.

Curtis

How far have you got in the single-player? I've just started Chapter 4.

I was a little concerned regarding the lack in variation of Boss Oni up until the end of Chapter 3. Then two brand new ones showed up. I took a peek at the wiki and there's a fair amount, so that's good news.

I've been primarily using the Spear. Twin Daggers are decent, cause that spin attack is ridiculously good for chipping armour. I dabbled with Sickle & Chain, but the move-set wasn't satisfying enough, so I've settled on the Sword (for now). I still haven't figured out a decent way of chopping off an Oni's horns/crest, aside from using the Bow. That may be something that's easily achievable as you level up your skills etc.

I've not done any proper grinding yet, so I don't have any full armour sets besides the early ones. I've tried a few Mitami variations in my sword, but i'm happiest with full on ATK powers, and secondary SPD buffs.

Surprisingly i'm actually enjoying the interactions between the NPC's. They're all quirky enough to be interesting. The story is the usual hokum, but that's by-the-by.

All in all I'm glad I purchased it. It's just what I was after.

Hopefully catch up some time this week.

ayns

Chapter 5 offline.

Currently about. ^^

Curtis

Damn, sorry! I think I have notifications turned off.

I'm currently on Chapter 4. Did a bit of grinding earlier to fashion myself a full Battle Armour set. I've also switched to the Bow for a bit, which is awesome once I realised the lock-on button makes targeting smaller, more mobile enemies a piece of piss.

When are you next about?

mrsmr2

Even though I want to punch myself in the face when I play this "my first monster hunter", I have to admit to enjoying it on the train today.

I moved away from the knives (stupid air attack) and bow (really dull with lock on) to the longsword. That feels a lot better and a fight with two fiery floating heads and a green Zinogre rip-off creature was quite challenging.

Funny to see MHFU levels of odd hitboxes when those large worm things charge around as well.

Nice to be back clawing as well.

ayns

I'm finding that the bow does make it pretty easy to weaken/break specific body parts. Do all weapons have a move that automatically breaks a body parts once your weapon gauge is full? I've cursed many a time after missing a mega charged bow shot or lance throw.

The later bows seem to more lock on shots but it may just be me. My current one will fire up to 10 shots.

Curtis, I'm pretty random with my play times but I should be about Sunday evening for definite. I'm still using my phone as an access point but I did manage to hold a connection for a couple of games with randoms this afternoon.

MrsMr - you on Vita or PSP?

mrsmr2

I'm on Vita. Just the demo at the moment.

I've just failed to kill the end of chapter 1 monster solo (the ceanataur rip-off). Do I need to absorb each body part? That was the biggest problem for me as I was very vulnerable doing that.

I also didn't seem to be doing much damage to it so would have probably timed out even if I hadn't died.

Might see if I can upgrade the sword as well.

EDIT: killed it. Focussed on it's legs on the right hand side and kept hitting them even after I'd absorbed them.

Curtis

As far as I can tell, if you don't absorb the limbs/drops, the bosses purple health bar stays solid for a lot longer meaning you have to widdle that down before you can do any real damage off his red bar.

Question: does the weight of your armour affect manoeuvrability?

mrsmr2

Tried Spear and died. Tried bow and timed out. Back to knives and found they are actually pretty good.

The air attack seems a bit suicidal as you are stuck there ready for the boss to turn around and scythe you to pieces. The rushing attack is very useful for causing damage and allowing you to get out of the way. The spin attack seems pretty good as well.

Not entirely sure what I'm doing but it's fun.

How do the missions look in the main game? Are there lots of big fights or lots of boring missions culminating in a big fight at the end like the demo?

mrsmr2

ayns wrote:

...Bows are so much more fun I'm this than MH....

Explain. I'm finding them very cumbersome and hard to aim. It's a precision instrument in MH.

What am I doing wrong?

Curtis

Just hold down whichever attack button, aim with the d-pad, let go. Simple. You can even strafe with the LS if you need to. For minor enemies I use LB to lock on.

Cleared Chapter 4 earlier. The final boss was a pisser. But I pulled through. In fact I don't think I've actually retreated once yet throughout the entire game. Still undecided on a weapon. I keep switching it up to stop repetition kicking in.

ayns

Made a room. Password badger

Curtis

Did I miss it?

ayns

Yeah. Maybe best if you made one as I'm currently on a paltry connection.

Curtis

I'm settling down for the evening. We'll definitely organise a session this weekend.

While you're on, have you figured out which elements work best on which Oni?

ayns

I check out any armour you can make with their body pieces and using that to signify what their elemental strengths and weaknesses are ala Monster Hunter.

ayns

Just got to a bit which suggests that there's some legs in this.

Woot!

Curtis

Aaw man! I've finally got the Twin Daggers figured out: if you press Triangle from a neutral position so you jump straight up, then press X,X(X) in mid-air, then press Triangle again to hold yourself in a mid-air position, you can double/triple X again into Triangle, ad infinitum. If you have the SPD perk that reduces the Stamina drain you can literally stay in mid-air for as long as your fingers keep combo-ing. It's brilliant for tall enemies like Jollux.

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