July 15th. That's when Generations drops. It's a little later than I expected, as I predicted a late June release, though to be honest, the July release wasn't too far off. With Anime Revolution in the first week of August, I think I'll be able to get decent enough to show some moves in multiplayer when the con rolls around. I suspect that Gunner weapons will be a bit of an uncommon sight that early into the game's release, as most people tend to go for the more numerous Blademaster weapons.

Historically, I've played Monster Hunter from new game starting with a weapon want to learn, but end up moving to a weapon I know to make the early game grind easier. For this game, I'm planning to do something I've never done before: start with a Gunner weapon. See, for many Blademasters, we'd play through the game, and it's common to (and recommended to) pick up different weapons to keep things fresh and for tactical advantages. Most of the time, however, we'll pick up a Gunner weapon late in the game, get okay with using it, and really only use it against monsters we know are hard to deal with up close, like Najarala or Chameleos. It's a pocket weapon, one you pull out for specific situaitons.

This time, I'm starting with the Gunner weapon. I can do fine with my Blademaster weapon(s) of choice. I've put so much time into learning the ins and outs of the Charge Blade and Lance that I doubt I'll have much trouble getting back into them. Whatever weapon to choose to stick with from the start is the one you'll (hopefully) learn the best, so I'm hoping to be able to blast my way through the Village quests and be the uncommon gunner in Multiplayer, which I'm hoping to embrace more from the get-go this time around.

I'll run down my thoughts on the weapons and other things about the game closer to the release.

PS It's been a while since I last updated around here. Between preparing for an audition for school, and my laptop breaking down, I haven't had a lot of time. Writing on my iPad is fine, but getting images up is a real pain on that thing, so I just held out until my laptop came back from repairs.


On a side note, I looked up the release date of Monster Hunter Freedom 2, the first Monster Hunter game I played, and was surprised to find that I've been playing Monster Hunter, as a franchise, for almost a decade now. Freedom 2 dropped in February 2007 way back on the PSP, making 2016 the 9th year since then. Since then, I've gone through Freedom Unite (PSP), a little bit of Portable 3rd (PSP), a tiny bit of a Tri (Wii), some 3U (3DS), and a very sizable 600 hours in 4U (3DS). By now, I think my hour count in the franchise is at least 2000 hours across Freedom and Freedom Unite, which both clocked roughly 6-800 hours each, and 4U by themselves.

Just for interest's sake, let's look at the weapons I've used in these games, ordered from most used to occasionally used.

Freedom 2: Longsword, Hammer
Freedom Unite: Longsword, Hammer, Great Sword, Bow
Portable 3rd: Longsword, Sword and Shield, Hammer
Tri: N/A
3 Ultimate: Switch Axe, Great Sword, Sword and Shield
4 Ultimate: Charge Blade, Lance, Sword and Shield, Great Sword, Gunlance, Heavy Bowgun

For the first couple games, Longsword was real strong, and also pretty simple to use, in comparison to the weapon in 4 Ultimate. Hammer was also brutally strong, and remains largely the same to this day.

For 3U, Switch Axe was the "new" weapon, and I actually started with Gunlance, but was dissatisfied with it's lack of movement options (and I still am), before "switching" to the Switch Axe, which I used almost exclusively for that game. The axe was also pretty decent underwater, but did anyone actually like the underwater combat? *crickets* I thought so.

4U saw the dawn of the Charge Blade, which was and still is, probably one of the most powerful weapons once you get the hang of it. Swung around with different weapons in the game, but always ended up coming back home to the Charge Blade. Once you get a taste of the power and versatility this thing has, it's hard to go back to anything else. I'm sticking with this one as my Blademaster main in Generations because it's just as fun as it is absolutely frustrating trying to hit the Guard Points on time. It also saw the resurgence of Guard Lancing, giving more tools to make that more viable play style and I loved it. It satisfied my mobility need, my defensive needs and my offensive needs. It scratches a lot of the same itches as the Charge Blade did, but was easier to use. I'd say that the Charge Blade and Lance are probably my "mains", Blademaster wise, of Generations.