User blog comment:Aandrew07/Tri's second anniversary! (Among other things)/@comment-71.239.101.47-20120423010927

I still remember the day I got that issue of the Nintendo Power with the headline "Monster Hunter Tri," (I also thought the Hydra Knife was the coolest looking weapon ever and planned on using it the whole game, boy was I a noob). I remembered how awsome the MHFU trailers were, but I didn't have a PSP at the time so I saw this as my first chance to try out Japan's favorite RPG. I pre-ordered the Wii Classic Controller Plus bundle and awaited the weekend it came out to play it.

The opening cinematic blew my mind as I was introduced me to what I would soon be up against. As I moved through the menu screen for some reason it seemed very similar to Soul Calibur 3's title screen. The most I remember from the village intro was the people interesting... "dress code."

When I first stepped out into Moga Woods, I admit I was caught off guard with the gameplay and controls as they weren't quite as I expected (No camralock, "HOW DO I PLAY THIS???"). Neverless I quickly became adjusted. I still remember my first adventures: Free hunting for days before realizing I had to talk to Junior (I did rack up alot of reasource points in the process), not blocking with my shield at all, fearing to go in the caves because of Giggi, my trials with the lance, the Monster Guts mission with Lagia (I remember at one point I was climbing up the vines to get away then I aimed the camra down and see Lagi's head out of the water blew while "#$%@$#!" was going through my mind, and then the Great Jaggi. I went in with my Iron Lance to fight the giant alpha raptor from the intro, only to get my ass kicked... multiple times (Like I said I never blocked). I always kept turning the game off after getting knocked out only ONCE because I thought it was game over and I would loss my stuff (I played to much Pokemon Mystery Dungeon). Soon enough was enough and I raged quit the game.

Months passed...

Eventually one afternoon in November, I noticed that my brother was watching the opening on youtube. I told him to click on some of the related videos which were the intros to the monsters I never fought. After a while, I picked up my controller, turned on my Wii, and continued where I left off. I refought the Great Jaggi (with Hunter's Dagger this time) until it finally laid dead at my feet. I could finally continue on. I pumeled through Qurupeco only to get stuck at Royal Ludroth until I noticed that a new weapon was avalible, the Switch Axe. I fell in love with that hack'n slashing machine even if I did hate the sword mode at first (Never used it until I moved online). Royal Ludroth and Barroth gave me alot of troubles at first, but soon I was prowlling trough Gobul, Rathian, and Gigginox in no time. During this period is when I first started to come to the wiki for tips and monster's weaknesses, only to learn that there was more in the Monster Hunter universe that I had never seen. The time soon came when I had to fight Lagiacrus and save Moga. The repel quest was easy during the fight on the land, and I thought the kill quest would be no different, boy was I wrong. During the cutscene when Lagia destroyed the piller I knew that "Shit just Got real." The battle raged on for what seemed like hours (but as you know, only 50min). I hacked away with my Assult Axe until he fled to the cave to rest. Only seconds remained in the quest but I continued my unslaught and soon the great Sea Wyvern was no more. That was perhaps one of my most prowdest moments in gaming.

My hunts continued on all the way to Ceadeus, and I moved on to online. I had bad experiances with other online games so most of the begining I stuck to myself. That was until people accepted the quests I chose and helped me when I never asked for it. Never before had I met such a respectful and kind online community for a game. I had a blast fighting the 4 Great Jaggi quest, helping people capture Lagiacrus, the Phantom Uragaan, and the epic battle with Jhen.

It's a shame I never managed to finish online, but I've been to ingrossed with Freedom Unite on my cousins old PSP to go back. I'm almost at G Rank and after that I hope to get back to Tri before MH3G is localized or Dragon's Dogma is everything I expected and takes all my time. Even so Tri will remain my first MH game and not only my favorite Wii game but one of my all time favorite games.