Better Know a Monster: Royal Ludroth

By ARCHON

The Royal Ludroth, while not an abnormally difficult monster himself, can prove to be quite challenging the first couple of times around since he marks your first underwater battle. Personally, I find him much easier to fight on land than in the water since he seems to become more maneuverable and faster underwater, but the Monster Hunter should know how to fight him in any terrain.

On land he has a multitude of attacks to be aware of: A belly flop, jumping dive, a curling bite, a roll, a spitting water charge, and a biting lunge. (Did I miss any). Most of these just need to be observed to be avoided, but here are a few tips. If he does the curling bite and missed you, get ready to dodge because it is followed up by a powerful tail-flick. When he rears up to roll stand right by his tail and 9 out of 10 times the roll will miss you. Stay to the left and right of him as much as possible to avoid his belly-flop and charges, attacking his mane and tail. He will sometimes spit water globs at you that if hit, will cause water-blight. Also avoid the ground-plumes that result from these globs hitting the ground as they will do the same. He will usually charge 2 or 3 different directions while spitting water, so steer clear until he's done with this attack or you'll be bowled over.

In the water, stay high, near his head and attack the head and mane. Watch out for his charges and dodge to avoid, and for his claw-swipes as he turns to face you.

His weak points are the mane and tail, both of which are pretty large targets so have at it! His tail can even be cut off and carved from, and his mane broken (which sometimes gives you "quality sponge" as a quest reward). He's weak to fire, so bring the appropriate elemental weapon if you have one, or bring plenty of fire ammo if you are using the bowgun. Thunder and Ice will also deal extra damage, though not as much as fire. Good luck brave hunter! The R. Ludroth is but a taste of aquatic beasts to come.

Happy Monster Hunter Tri Release Day Everyone!

By ARCHON,

The day has finally arrived and I'm terribly excited and anxious (my bundled version of the game is out for delivery as I type). In honor of the release here is a roundup of a bunch of reviews of Monster Hunter Tri for you to browse through.

You've already seen IGN's review. Here is another review, this time from Nintendo life from contributor James Newton. He gave Monster Hunter Tri a favorable 9/10.


And one from Now Gamer with an 8.6/10, saying "MH3 is easily among the best mature games on the Wii."

Eurogamer's review and a score of 9/10.

And finally, a nice video review from Gametrailers.com below.

Video Games | Monster Hunter Tri | Review

IGN Review of MH3

By ARCHON

So just short of a week before the release of Monster Hunter Tri IGN.com has posted a review of the game giving it a final score of 8.8 (out of 10) and an editors choice award. Here are some of the highlights:

"There's a significant time commitment associated with getting the most out of Monster Hunter Tri, but those who put in the hours will find the game offers the kind of satisfaction few other titles can deliver. "

"When it comes to high levels of difficulty in videogames, there can be two types. There's difficulty built to pose a challenge and that can be overcome with careful planning, perseverance, and skill, and there's the type of difficulty that's completely unreasonable that's meant to mask a lack of creative design ideas, technical limits, or simply to pad gameplay hours. Monster Hunter Tri's level of difficulty is the former. It's a tough game that readily tosses you into situations where laziness and lack of focus can swiftly result in failure. Yet its challenges aren't so difficult that they step beyond the bounds of sensibility."

"Each weapon type is essentially a character class, offering distinct rhythms of movement, attack, and unique special abilities."

"Monster Hunter Tri isn't a game for everyone. It's a dense product with a learning curve higher than most other Wii titles available. It requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from your mistakes."

"For those who prefer games that reward skill and offer huge amount of options for varied play style, character customization, and a vast amount of content, look no further."

Check out the full review here.

IGN gave the game a final score of 8.8 which is good but I get the feeling (and so do many people based on the comments on IGN.com) that the positive language in the review suggested that they would have rated the game much higher. Looking at the reviews of other games on other systems but without having actually played the full version of Monster Hunter Tri I do kinda of think it should have received a higher score; but just like the review itself, thats an opinion. 

I think if anything this has convinced me that this is a fantastic value for the price and a rewarding game. I'm as excited as ever to play it come April 20th.