Is When I Get Geeky (aka: Why I Hunt Monsters)

As many of you people know, I fully embrace my geekitude. I'm sort of a tech guy, I've built a computer (and will probably do so again in the future), I play video games, I enjoy comic books (aka graphic novels, but I'm not that pretentious) and their movie/show adaptations an other such ilk. Of such pursuits, that which engrosses me most deeply are the video games. The ones I prefer are often fairly complex, have at least some intriguing story, and challenge me to improve my performance in order to progress. While I'm sure I could jus spew a list of he games I play (spoiler: there's a lot), I will instead focus on a particular series that has (somewhat) recently become a favourite of mine.  That's right folks, I'm gonna talk Monster Hunter.

FYI I'm probably gonna wax poetic about this and not give any real insight into me personally, but it's also probably gonna be a good starter's guide to Monster Hunter. If you don't want to read my rambling A) Why are you here? and B) Feel free to skip this post.

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The Monster Hunter series, as its name implies, is a series of games in which you hunt monsters. Shocking, I know, you never would've guessed that such was the case. What a simple premise for such a complex game. The balance between the simple and the complex is what, in my opinion, makes the games so impressive and gives them lastability. Now to discuss what I find so enthralling about these games.

1. The Weapon System

The key to getting anything done in Monster Hunter is finding a weapon type that you're comfortable with. This is absolutely a vital component as no two weapon types behave or feel the same and most of your ability to hunt revolves around using your weapons properly. You want to find something that suits your playstyle. Do you like hitting harder than anything else and you are okay with moving slowly andblocking when necessary? The great sword is probably a good choice for you. Want to move more quickly, focus on more of a hit-and-run playstyle while boosting your damage through landing combos? The Longswords (or Katanas, depending on who you talk to) may suit your needs. I'd do a brief summary of currently available weapon types at the end of this section.

Another reason why you need to find a weapon type you're comfortable with is due to the tailoring of Armor Skills that will undoubtedly happen, which I'll delve into later. Fortunately, in the latest (North American) release of Monster Hunter (3 Ultimate), you start off with one of every weapon type so you don't have to go out scrounging for materials to make them or stuff to sell to buy some new types. As such, go ahead and test them all out, you may find you prefer playing with ranged weapons, or maybe you find that you like literally mashing face with a hammer. There are enough differences between weapon styles that no two weapons feel alike, so switching to a different type almost feels like playing a different game since you have to re-learn how to approach each hunt. Frankly, it's very well executed and provides a lot of replay value to the series.

2. The Crafting System

Crafting armor and weapons is an integral part of the game, making weapons that suits your needs and armors that compliment your playstyle is one of the most central components of the series. Want to know the best part? You use the parts you carve from the monsters you hunt to make them, and following that logic, the armors and weapons utilizing parts of specific monsters resemble said monsters. For example, say you manage to stumble upon (and proceed to slay or capture) a Lagiacrus. Using  the parts that you gathered from it you can make both armor and weapons that not only look like it, but have attributes that make sense. Keeping with the example, Lagiacrus are monsters that shoot lightning, so the armor you make from it is lightning resistant and the weapons do lightning damage. The armor also decreases your fire resistance.  So using the knowledge that damage resistances on the armor coincide with the actual monster's resistances you can then tailor your weapon choice to more efficiently hunt the monster. This tends to mean hunting other monsters to get the the parts you need, which might require different weapon damage types, and so on and so forth. It's a massive cycle, for me anyway, but I'm crazy. You could always go for high neutral damage and not exploit any monster's weakness, I guess.  That's not how I do it, but I'm crazy (and Longswords tend to have pretty decent elemental damages).

So yeah, endless cycle of weapon crafting, sometimes requiring rare materials that are kind of a PITA to get, but overall a very engrossing system that had you plan what you hunt and how you hunt it ahead of time. Oh, and depending on whether you kill or capture a monster you have different likelihood a of getting different parts, so if you need something specific you might have to change what your planned outcome is. I, personally, find capturing the easier and often more beneficial hunting method, but to each their own.

3. The Hunts

Considering that they're the majority of the gameplay, it's probably a good thing that the actual hunting is enthralling and not repetitive. With all the hunting monsters for parts and hunting the same type of monster for parts, one would think that it would get feeling excessively grindy, but no two fights are the same. Sure the monsters only have a select moveset, but the likelihood that both you and the monster do exactly the same thing every time is virtually nil. As such, you can't just remember patterns and be in the right place according to the timing of the fight (much unlike a lot of MMORPGs out there). There's things to learn to improve your performance like finding safe zones during certain attacks and learning how to dodge through attacks, but that's all skill and reaction development rather than strict memorization of times events. So even though you've gotta keep fighting Brachydios for gems to make that last piece of the G-rank armor set (which is what I'm currently doing) you're a lot more reliant on your developed skills (and maybe out-gearing it, that helps a bunch) than anything else to make sure you succeed.

4. The Learning of the Game

As with most modern games, there is some sort of tutorial to teach you the game basics. In MH3U, you start off doing minor things that will prove immensely beneficial in the future but may not have anything to do with your actual hunts. It introduces you to gathering and carving to get materials to either combine into consumables or use in crafting weapons and armor along with movement, basic attacking (what button to press mostly) and navigating maps. After that they basically just throw you into the water with little to no knowledge of how to actually use anything or what you'll need to accomplish your hunts. I'm mostly talking about how to use your weapon properly, 'cause the low rank quests start you off in the base camp with helpful supplies that give you a clue as to monsters' weaknesses, but if you don't know how to use your weapon effectively you'll still not do very well.

Aside from the introduction there is constant learning to be done as you progress through new monsters and new ranks. Every new monster you face has a new moveset, so learning on the fly and being observant is necessary to succeed. You need to be able to figure out what it's tells are, they always telegraph what they're going to do. Always. Your job is to learn the signs and react properly by either getting out of the way or readying a block, or, if you're ballsy enough, timing specific attacks to avoid taking damage while dishing it out in kind.  This is easier with some weapon types than others (guard-lancing is great at it [yes there are different types of lancing, there's multiple different techniques for everything]), and it's often a good strategy after you've learned how monsters move and attack. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you talk to), as you move to higher ranks and take on tougher versions of the monsters you've seem before, they get new things added to their moveset, along with moving faster, doing more damage, and having more health. So it takes longer, hurts more and your reactions need to get faster.  I love how this game forces you to get better as you progress, no artificial improvement here. You actually need to improve your performance in order to get better gear. It's a brilliant if sometimes frustrating design that is very well executed and something that I wish other game designers would learn from.

5. Breaking Their Spirits

So I mentioned how all the monsters have different movesets and how they have tells/telegraphs/signs, but one of my favourite features that monsters all share is the breaking of parts. Every monster that gives three or more carves has at least one part that can be visibly broken. Spikes snapped, wings torn, tail tips chopped clean off, horns broken, armor plating smashed off. There's quite a few ways to injure monsters and they can even effect how you handle and approach the monster. Cutting the tail off not only nets you another carve but diminishes the reach of the tail swing (which is basically universal, slight variation between each monster due to size differences), giving you extremely useful escape room and letting you approach with less caution. There's something so satisfying to stop a monster in its tracks by hitting it hard enough to break its wing or face, watching what once caused you strife reel back in pain. 

6. The Monsters Themselves

There's a lot of monsters and lots of variety between them. From small, Velociraptor-like monsters to Mountain Sized Dragons, from flying fire-breathing Wyverns to sea-bound giant serpents with plenty of variety in between. The monsters themselves are one of the key features of the series, if they or their armors are not compelling you won't want to hunt them. Sure there's some that seem kind of silky, but all the hunts are challenging (at least the first time you try them) but balanced enough to give you a fighting chance while you're still learning them. Figuring out strategies and learning new fights while appreciating the designs of monsters themselves and how their appearance matches their moveset is one of my favourite parts of advancing through the game. Plus, as you trump the monsters you gain confidence and in the knowledge that you can indeed beat them and you start fine-tuning your approach, getting better with each attempt. It's personal progression that may only be visible to you but it is very noticeable when you go from almost failing (or actually failing a quest) to barely letting a monster touch you, and you move on to the next monster and start all over, though using skills you've picked up from prior hunting excursions to improve your odds.

Finale

I flippin' love Monster Hunter. It's an exquisite blend of challenge, depth and simplicity, ranking highly amongst the best designed games I've personally experienced, with unmatched replay value and longevity. That's my opinion anyway, you should give it a try and form your own.

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Well that took longer...and was longer, I guess, than anticipated.  I seriously enjoy Monster Hunter though.  Seriously. Anywho, that's it for now.

Cheers

~Cam

Is Where I Notice Things

Pseudo-weekly post 2, Go!

Okay, so I attempted to notice things that I do or are a part of me in the part few days, and I've come to some conclusions.

1 - I am awful at putting myself into social situations.  I don't talk, I don't really interact with people unless I know them quite well, I'm barely even noticed unles people are specifically looking for me...you know what? I think that makes me a half-decent ninja without any training. Ergo: I'm actually kinda proud of my ability to go unnoticed.

2 - I take a select few people's advice extremely seriously. I mean, I tend to take most advice given into account and see if it actually improves performance or not, but there are a few people in my life that I actually take everything they say to me super seriously. Serious to the point of a few words being able to change my behaviour and how I go about my day.

3 - I will go way above and beyond for others, but much less so for myself. I basically do the bare minimum to keep myself alive and well, but as soon as I have the inspiration (aka: someone other than myself) I will nigh instantly start doing things like actually making food and cleaning and other things that "productive members of society" do on a regular basis.

4 - I need to work on different perspectives and poses with my drawing. Also: I should probably learn to draw using traditional techniques like base sketches and the apparently important "everything is just made up of simple shapes" thing. I guess I kinda do the former, but not light enough or digital enough to utilize the technique properly.

Anyway, that's mostly what I've noticed this week. Time to go mow a lawn or vacuum or something.

Cheers

~Cam

In Which Introversion is Discussed

As many of you may have realized, I'm quite the introvert. This isn't news to anyone, or at least it shouldn't be. Now I'm not an expert on the subject, but I've come to notice a few ways that it manifests itself in me/my actions.

The most obvious to me is my productivity level. When I'm by myself I have a way higher potential to get stuff done. It doesn't really matter wha it is either, anything from cleaning to art-ing to blogging and anything in between or beyond. While it's great for me and super useful for self motivation, I'm the only one who notices the productivity spike. As such, I either have to do things that are easily noticeable or just straight up tell people to convince them that this improved productivity thing is real. It's totally a thing! Just trust me on this.

Something else that's come up is my rather pronounced inability maintain contact with people. You know how some people are nigh constantly texting/IMing/Facebooking/some-sort-of-social-media-ing and nonstop social contact? Granted those tend to be kind of extreme cases, but I'm pretty much the opposite.  I rarely do any of that, an if I do it's generally in response to somepony else initiating contact.  Pretty sure that it's 'cause of my introversion, but it could be related to other aspects of the self of me. Either way, I'm trying to work on that aspect and not hide myself away from the world, as advised by a good friend of mine. 

A third thing something something introversion, I tend to not pay attention to world/local news. I'm not too sad about that though, there's lots of crazy things going on in the world that I'm pretty okay with not paying attention to. So yeah, the news is avoided by me for possibly more than just introversion's sake.

Also: I tend to process a lot of thoughts internally to completion, so I'm not very good at random conversation. At least not with people I see all the time. I'm surprising great at random conversations with people I've never met before.  I blame working in customer service roles, lots of conversing with random people in those jobs.

Unrelated, I have a tendency to use the word "blame" in place of "attribute" or something similar that I'm currently not remembering. They basically mean the same thing but "blame" has a much more negative connotation than other alternatives. I still do it regardless, I find it entertaining to play with words like that.

Okay, I can't remember if I was going to write anything else about my introversion, so I'm just gonna end this now.

Oh, and I hereby pledge to post something at least once a week for the next...2 months? Yeah, that's enough time to try and get in the habit of posting.  Carol, hold me to it.

Cheers

~Cam

In Which I Prepare For Infotainment.

Huzzah! It's been a long time since I've put anything on here, and that's most likely due lack of inspiration and/or being busy cooking at EBC, one of the three.  But that's "winding down" (it never actually winds down, it just suddenly stops), so I've been planning a new "adventure," so to speak.  After (hopefully) securing a job in the fall, I'm going to build (technically assemble) a computer.

Assuming that most anyone who knows about this blog knows me well enough to know I HAVE a blog, said person would also realize that I'm relatively tech-savvy. Savvy enough to disassemble and reassemble my 24" iMac to replace the video-card without causing any catastrophic issues in the process (Two of my internal fans run CONSTANTLY [I think I broke the temperature sensors], it's mildly annoying but better than having them never run) without any prior knowledge of its interior. That was quite the effort...Macs don't like being taken apart, they're not designed for it at all.

Anywho, I've assembled a component list using ca.pcpartpicker.com, it hasn't found any compatibility issues and it looks like it'll last me for ages.  I'm not gonna go into details of the specs as all of zero people who know about this blog would really understand them, and I only half understand them myself, but I do know that it'll be fast, powerful, and not too shabby on the eyes either, definitely posting pictures of it and the process to build it when I complete it.

Thing is, doing this, assembling the components of a full computer, is gonna give me a lot of learning experience.  Enough to do so for anyone who asks, including the configuring of components to each individual's needs.  Add in that I could potentially be building them for substantially less than pre-assembled computers (due to sales [and knowing where to find said sales] and personal labor), or more powerful computers for the same price as one you might buy, and I might suddenly have a side-business going. Either that or I could utilize said knowledge to gain access to a new field of work that would be a massive change in experience.  Hardware tech support or just plain assembling computers?  I'd be game for doing that as a job (for a while at least).

This is all well and good, but why am I doing it in the first place?  Well, for one, my comp's getting to be just a touch (read: VERY) out-dated, and since it's a Mac I can't exactly upgrade parts individually (anymore that is, I've already upgraded what I could), so building a whole new computer is the way to go.  The other primary purpose is for the sheer enjoyment out of it.  You know how some people love cooking (Dad) or working on cars (Jord) or whatever? I love tinkering with computers.  So much fun, I seriously enjoy it, though mostly the pride at the end when everything is back together and it works beautifully, but assembling the whole shebang is pretty good too.  It's kinda nuts how much I'm looking forward to actually assembling it. Plus the case I want has a window in it so I can see how pretty it is... though I guess that's in the eye of the beholder, but I'll think it's pretty, so that's all good.

This'll be a great experience for myself, and being able to say and prove that I built a computer from scratch may very well end up being worth it.  Let's hope so and be on our merry way.

Cheers folks,
~Cam

In Which I Contemplate Things

There are things in this world of which I have little to no idea about or how to discover. Crazy, I know, but true nonetheless. Most of that sort of thing is actually off in the world in places I've never even had the remotest thought about going to or experiencing. I'm not exactly adventurous, I don't like change, and at this point in my experience of life I doubt that's something that'll change about me. Regardless, I have been referred to as "Knower of Things" before and I'm sure I will be again, which mostly means the quantity of knowledge stored in this cranium is not a trivial amount even if it's primarily of a trivial nature. With that no longer in mind, let's discuss something dear to my heart. I just haven't decided which topic yet. It's either gonna be chemistry from an undergrad point if view or something people find either easily hated or baffling. We'll see...

For now, however, I just need to figure out some sort of inspiration for doing, well, anything. I'm in what some may refer to as a slump (primarily creatively but it seeps into other aspects of what I do) and it's been going on long enough that it's annoying. I think it may have something to do with my mental catch-22 of needing to have a reason to do something (most often for someone like friends or family) and not just "do it for myself." That, my friends, is a dumb and entirely selfish reason, and from what I've experienced or been told selfish is close to the opposite of what I am. As such, reasons also including "it's good for me" and "I'll be better off for it" don't fly too far either. Unfortunately that applies to most of my life currently, and I don't really have anyone for whom I would willingly do anything for. But at the same time I don't think I'm ready for that sort of relationship (though it's not unwanted). I may be smart and mature in many areas but I'm still remarkably immature when it comes to dealing with people on a level deeper than superficiality. There's been all of... I dunno how little but it occurs to me that the number could easily be counted on one's hands- that many people who I even have ever talked to on a level that could be deemed "emotional." And that just comes so naturally to so many other people. I'm clearly not alone in my inability to communicate my emotions, it seems to be fairly rampant throughout the Internet, but why does it seem like such a negative thing sometimes? I like my ability to mediate without becoming emotionally involved, I enjoy using logic to solve issues that arise. These are acts that, while they invoke emotions in me upon completion, require either a lack or suppression of emotion. They are defining features of what people identify me as. They're very well developed aspects of who I am, but they're not he only ones.

I've been described before as a jack of all trades, and this is pretty accurate as if I put my mind to just about anything I can probably do it. With that, however, comes the other side of the coin. It's not just skills and tasks that I can do en masse, it's also mental states. I'm both highly logical and incredibly more intensely emotional than the logical side if me would like to be. The logic is predominant day-to-day but the emotions can easily overwhelm me when they happen and basically shut down my standard operations. This is infrequent but very much a truth about me. I just haven't really embraced the emotional side of me and I'm not sure I can do that of my own volition.

Basically what all this boils down to is that I'm passively seeking some sort of deeper relationship in my life and it's not exactly working. Being shy doesn't help, but I'm still not convinced that I'm ready/capable enough for it. Either that or I just managed to ensadden (it's a word now) myself listening to sad but beautiful songs and I'm attempting to cope with it by log icing it out. Meh, it's probably true regardless .

Cheers
~Cam

P.S. -Any typos/indiscernible phrases are due to me typing this on my phone.

Fallacies of the Self

Of my self to be more specific.  As with anyone else within this wide, wide world of ours, I'm prone to having flaws.  Everyone does, and a lot of people like to try and ignore and/or hide them, but I like not being part of the normal ebb and flow of how our world functions.  As such, I'm going to categorically list and examine mine.  To know one's weaknesses is the key to refining one's strengths, or so I tell myself.

"App Tested, Cam Approved" or "My Role, In Gaming Terms"

Bits and pieces of potential bloggings have run through my head lately... Everything from "The Elegance of the Blade" which entails why I find blades of all sorts fascinating to "What Having My Friendship Means" in which I discuss what I can contribute. And I may very well expand on all of them at some point, but not today. Today I speak of how I define the roles I play for other people, but potentially in terms that don't make sense to people who aren't gamers, so I'll explain them as I get to them.

Section 1.4 Geekiness/Role Defining

Just to be clear, I don't fit any one specific role, and there are a decent amount of them, but I do have strong aspects of a few of the prototypical roles in the standard MMORPGs. Those roles are:

Tank: the defender of the group, drawing the attention of the enemies an taking the majority of the damage. they specialize in mitigating damage and taking bit hits that would seriously injure the other team members. Think heavily armored knight with a shield.

"Support class": there are actually different roles within the support archetype, but they all focus more on the teammates than the enemies they are fighting, as a generalization.

"DPS" or Damage Dealers: not really appropriate for what I'm talking about, but it's the third of the MMORPG trinity of roles, an comprise the majority of groups. They focus on their namesake, doing damage to the enemy, they're the ones responsible for eliminating the enemies in order of priority and making sure that they don't get the attention of the enemies. Yeah... Not so applicable.

Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that I've said that stuff before, but I can't remember where...

Anyways, here's what I see in myself.

I am a defender of those I know, I will readily throw myself in the line of fire and protect them. I can quite readily get the attacker's attention and make him focus on me, and I happen to be fairly large and can intimidate people if need be, I get quite intense when I step up to defend someone.

I am also support, I will go out of my way to make sure that people are doing well with whatever they're trying to accomplish and will help them in any way I can. Anything from raw encouragement to direct help and explanation of how to solve a problem, I'm there to give them support. This is the role I find myself in more often than not, seeing as how it's rare to find people being assaulted in our culture, and it's a role that I enjoy an perform well in (see section 1.1 on love languages as to why), so I'm pretty content with what I do.

Summary: I can be a Tank or Support depending on what's needed at the time, and I can perform admirably as both, but I find myself being support more often than not.

Alright, that's enough out of me, and it was a good test of my new Blogger App on my shiny new phone. Now to see if I can link the post to Facebook from this app....

Cheers,
~Cam