Youyaku, HR8 !!

Yeah, after six months.

Converted my MHFU gamesave to a MHP2ndG( the Japanese equivalent ). Went back and finally beat the living crap out of that Naruga Kuruga(urgent quest). Had lots of practice over at Yukumo village(MHP3rd) so yeah, high time for some payback.

Felt more like it's been a year since I played 2ndG, hindi pala, hehe.

So Boomer Samurai Eeka's HR8 now, for what it's worth. Now to peek at them newer monsters...

Airu Plays Decoy to Naruga Kuruga...

Time flies. Haven't been really playing MonHun(seriously), probably because my latest brickwall, the Naruga Kuruga, keeps kicking my ass...

What I've been busy with though is work. Yeah, as in the kind where you get paid so you can eat and live another day. HeartCatch Precure movie's all said and done - in fact kumita na ng $10million sa Japan box office yun. So, omedeto to Toei on another successful feature...

Next up is Precure DX Movie 3, currently in the works, slated for March next year. We're also helping out a lot lately with the OnePiece Tv series( Marine Ford saga). There's also Toriko 3D. Oh, and of course, the new Precure series - Suite Precure...

So no time for monster hunting? Not exactly. Singit-singit na lang here and there...

Danjobi Omedeto, Boomer Samurai Eeka!

Happy Birthday! Bait lang lagi saka always keep your studies up, okay?

Clothes Maketh the Hunter...

Butterfly S Armor against the Akantor? You betcha.

Best option I can come up with, since the armor has a strong Dragon Resist stat(10), and coupled with my shiny new Smolder Dragonsword (816 attack power plus 520 Dragon Element) I finally beat the fiery snot out the Supreme Monster that is the Akamuturomu(original Japanese name)...

Later I find out that the Akantor isn't even an Elder Dragon after all. It's a pseudowyvern, or at least that's what the Guild researchers are calling it. It's got more in common with the Tigrex, apparently, bearing the same moves, albeit much slower since it's built like a cargo plane...

Boomer Samurai Eeka's officially HunterRank 7(after formally completing the dual Hypnocratice quest). My game character'll be handling G-Rank quests from now on. The vicious cycle of butt-kicking never stops...

Bonding With Akantor...

Guess I'm gonna be quite busy with this one. Leave your message at the sound of the beep...

Boomer Samurai Eeka Goes Casual, Takes Down HR6 Black Gravios With WaterGun!

Yep, wearing a dress has never been so deadly.

I was looking for a weapon with a good Water Element damage that I can use against the Black Gravios, and the King Lobster Gun was the best option I had, or at least the most attainable when 'farming' for parts(I forget what items exactly, too lazy and tired to look it up in the game). Not exactly the coolest-looking weapon - it's literally a lobster you're holding in your arms. Since I have a goofy gun, might as well wear something appropriate to go along with it. Not that the Guild Helper dress is goofy(donning a dress while slugging out 20-foot monsters is quite cool), it's just that you can't exactly run around in a kick-ass armor suit and carry a pink lobster gun without the townsfolk laughing at your back, hehe....

It's also my first try at being a Gunner in the game. My game character's always been a BladeMaster (save for when I tried my hand at using the Kutku Stave against the village Elder's Khezu quest), and to be frank, after playing for 250hours( at least that's what it says on my Guild Card) using the swords got a bit...boring. Well, not exactly boring. I just hit a brickwall on the upgrade department( items I'll need won't be available till I reach Grank ). So, to keep myself interested and to make the game refreshing, I switched Hunter Type...

I guess the Felynes weren't kidding when they said certain weapons are matched to monsters. It's certainly true for the light bowgun being a match to the Gravios. Your basic problem with the HR6 Black Gravios is simple - you can't get near him long enough to deal as much damage as you want. It either tackles/bites you, or it 'farts' deadly fumes from its underbelly. Add your basic fact that blades bounce off its notoriously tough hide and you got a lot of work ahead of you.

Better MH players did beat it using longswords or greatswords, my brother being one of them. It must've been a REAL workout for sure.

With the bowgun though, it's a cakewalk.

You got the advantage of distance, since you can shoot from a safezone. The Gravios is big and slow, so it's relatively easy to dodge when it tries to charge at you. It's real killer is it's nasty fire beam( HR6 Bl Gravios now pans its beam, compared to the previous ones where it just fires in its line of sight ), but so long as you know when and where you should be when this happens then it's no prob at all.

Aaand, to top it all off - it's ridicuously weak to Water damage. Not only did I peeled open its belly twice over, I even managed to make the poor sap ROLL OVER on its back. Funny sight to see, really. It was game over in 30minutes. I figured it would've been faster had I mastered to use of the bowgun, but hey there's always a next time...

Plesioths, beware. I know where you live....

Dual Tigrex, Actually

After 20+hours of extra playing time gathering parts for a Khezu Shock Sword(from Khezu and Gypceros no less) plus jacking up the Hermitaur S armor( upgrades and Turtle jewels to improve defense), and adding lessons learned from all the ass-kicking those two Tigrexes gave me, I finally conquered the HR5 urgent. Yay.

Can't say the quest was epic - it was more of a tactical mission than anything else. Top priority was to bring down one of them as fast as possible(50-minute time limit), which meant resisting the urge to toggle between the Tiggers and tunnel-visioning just one of them( I paintball my single target so I can track him on the map - I intended to cut off its tail at first for easy ID'ing, but things didn't pan out)...

First target's easy enough(20 minutes in). Basic gameplan was to go all headshots on them( head and neck being their weakest points). I actually learned a few tricks here and there, like how you can immediately roll under them after a quick strike, so as to avoid any of it's frontal attacks. The Tigrex is definitely one of the more dangerous and tenacious monsters in the game for me, as it gives very small openings for an attack - hesitate and you lose the opportunity, while having to end up on the defensive - and that happens a lot...

After catching up with the first Tigrex in the Snowy Mountain cave(where they go recuperate and sleep), I trapped and tranq'ed the monster(catching them alive is faster). Now I have 30 minutes to finish off the last one. Another mistake I made from previous attempts was 'rushing' the second Tigrex, so this time I kept my cool. I also made sure I wasn't on the defensive too much. Only time I was really laying off them was when they're in rage mode, so I let them blow some steam off.

Part of the Great Sword's charm is that in can block the Tigrex's roars(sucks when they catch you with it - as your character cringes from the blast, while giving the monster the chance to whoop your sorry ass). Again, it's a case of knowing the Tigrex behaviour and choosing to respond accordingly either with an attack or defensive measure...

Game declares last 10 minutes of the game. Tigrex keeps jumping all around the ice field, making it hard to strike, so i figured to lay my final shock trap. Tigrex runs in(almost tags me while setting the trap), gets fried, gets tranq'ed. Mission complete.

Gonna relax a bit. HR6 quests look nasty...

Brickwall Has Teeth...

I am sooo effing frustrated. Lampas 1 month na pala ako at HR5 and I still can't for the life of me complete the dual Tigrex Guild Urgent. Opened up the urgent 2 weeks back actually, but still. Sabagay dati nung unang Tigrex urgent, inabot din ako ng dalawang linggo bago ko nagamay tong hayup na to. Kung isa lang walang problema eh, kaso impiyerno na pag nagsabay ang dalawa...

I'm very lacking somewhere, strategy maybe? I don't think the True Devil Slicer's too weak to handle them. Ala nang ibang mas malakas na longsword na me magandang thunder attribute. Isa pang problema kasi para kang nakikipagsabayan sa tren pag kalaban mo tong Tigrex eh. Any defense I try to put up ends up diddly squat when they mow you over.

I'm gonna go bash some Popos now...

2 Pale Khezu Steaks Well Done Please...

Why well-done? Kasi hindi 'rare', hehe!

A rare carve item from the red khezu, pero swerte pa rin siguro in that not only did I get it on the first try, it choked up 2 pieces pa( hello, True Devil Slicer, bwaha! ). My brother managed the same with his game too, so I guess it's not such a fluke incident...

Common advice given sa boards for those who haven't managed to get one is to break the khezu's back, which I would agree on. Make sure to break the wings and head na rin for good measure just to be sure. You know you did it if you see bits and pieces flying off the monster when you hit it.

Boomer Samurai Eeka( in her recently acquired Kirin armor ) striking a pose just outside main camp sa Forest and Hills...

You Know That Feeling...

I remember playing Rockman on the Famicom back in the days. There's a boss named Elecman, and his lair is chockfull of electrified traps. Maybe it's just me, but whenever I play games with the notion of impending electrocution it always manages to 'feel' like you're jolted for real, hehe...

Finally, I took down my first Elder Dragon in the majestic form of the Kirin. I've been having a go at it since I was doing the HR3 quests, but was never really successful at bringing him down. Managed to knock him(her?) down couple of times pero matigas eh, nauubos oras ko ayun at buhay pa. My longswords weren't strong enough I guess back then - I was using Mk II even pero no luck( not striking enough may be a prob on my part?). My brother keeps telling me to tackle the village Elder's Kirin quest first, since it's the 'easier' one. Kaso tigas ulo ko eh, gusto ko talaga unahin yung sa Guild.

Gotta give it to my comrade felyne Udon for helping me out with the Kirin. I was laying a Large Bomb+ behind the Kirin, eksakto namang naghagis din sya ng bomb nya. Buwal ang Kirin, hehe! The second Large one I laid I had to set off on my own(using the sword) - got caught in the blast, but so did the Kirin. Calculated risk that paid off.

From there down till the last minutes it's all hack n' slash. Difficult with the monster is it doesn't show any signs if it's weakened or something. It just keeps going at you. Even more annoying is when it does its zigzag hippity-hop which it always manages to tag me with. Pero this time, using the Centenarian Dagger, Boomer Samurai Eeka prevailed bwaha! Now maybe I can forge that Devil Slicer now...

Choto Mate Kudasai...

Haven't bagged a single Elder Dragon yet in my MH game. Kinda odd considering I'm HR5 already. Been picking on 'easy' prey lately( Kutkus, Rathalos...), just because I don't know what direction to go with my game, hehe. Break a leg going up the ranks, or backtrack and try to clean up unchecked quests?....

And yeah, if anyone's asking what ever happened to work , it's precisely that - nothing. Medyo( and I'm putting it lightly) mahina work ngayon, since mid-last year pa in fact. We're now doing layouts for every 10th episode of the HeartCatch series now, as opposed to alternating eps dati. There's a few One Piece work here and there, but nothing much, really. Here's hoping there's still that nice light down the road...

Now HR5: Strange, But True

The Good : Yep, like my brother said, HR4 missions turned out to be relatively 'easy'( and I mean easy in very loose terms, 'coz it's never the hell easy when it comes to this effing game), provided you bring the right stuff and weapon with you. The Guild's Urgent Quest this time is the Ashen Lao Shan Lung(a big, turtle-paced elder dragon that barely fights back. If you get knocked out by him it'll only be your own fault, I swear). After successfully repelling him(her?), Boomer Samurai Eeka is now officially promoted to HunterRank 5! Whoot!

The Bad : Didn't get any carves from the Lao during its inch-worm blitz towards the fortress. I figured I just ditch that in favor of attacks. Can't even really tell if those anti-dragon bombs the Guild provides do that much damage, anyways. Me rewards naman sa huli so okay lang, hehe...

The Borderline Lame : Guild HR2 Lao Shan Lung keeps kicking my ass! What the eff?! I haven't cleared that one for the longest time. Nasusulit lang ako dun when I 'farm'(carve items) the monster, so at least I don't go home empty-handed....

HR4 : Mission Possible

No Urgent Guild quest is impossible for Boomer Samurai Eeka, hehe! She dealt enough damage to shoo away the Shen Gaoren( basically a giant hermit crab with a penchant for shooting acid fireballs from its behind - yeah, like a Starship Trooper reject ) before it managed to bash down the fortress which she was s'pose to protect in the first place.

Now on to HR4 quests for more ass-kicking for both hunter and monster alike...

Hmmmm, It's Tasty!!

So i'm HR3 na sa MHFU, and I just finished 'The Queen's Descent' Guild quest, and I was lucky enough to be rewarded with a Rathian plate! A very rare drop item, and many a hunter have massacred innocent Rathians just to get one. I'm lucky with a capital 'L', bwaha!

Always wanted one so I can beef up my WyvernBlade Leaf(longsword weapon) to a WyvernBlade Verde(with poison attribute), but seeing how rare this item can be, i'm gonna hold out and keep it as a souvenir for the time being...

From Rider to Hunter: A Transition One Year In The Making

Konichiwa! Blog officially updated after almost a whole year's worth of...well, nothing and everything. Hopefully i can do this stuff on a regular basis again...

So i'm starting the reboot of sorts with a few cosmetic changes, as you can see from the header. The kidstuff that is the Kamen Rider show that i used to enjoy watching has become officially kiddier( Toei needs to feed off the kids' money, you know ), so i'll give the series a rest muna hanggang maibalik nila sa mas maganda. Kaya out with the kidstuff - - -

- - - and in with another : Monster Hunter! Am very much a veritable latecomer to the game franchise, since it's been out a waaay while na. My brother bought me a PSP last year, and one of the first games i played on it was Patapon(and its sequel). My bro kept suggesting i try out MH pero i kept putting it off somehow( prolly since the first time i tried it i kept getting creamed by non-bosses), instead playing other games like gran turismo and tekken...

Pero gran turismo and tekken got me a tad bored - heck, i've been playing it since its console versions. I felt the need to try something really new, so that's when i laid my hands on Monster Hunter again. Despite the (insane)learning curve, i became a bonafide fan. I'm still a mere hunter rank2, going for rank3...

I'll try and post stuff i've been doing the past year para pahabol sa update....