Topic: The thing about... Toukiden: Age of Demons

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Hey folks. After spending a good chunk of time with the Demo and the full game of Toukiden: Age of Demons, I decided to write-up my impressions and answer the most burning question many of us might have: how does it compare to Monster Hunter? It's going to be a lengthy post again, so be warned...

Firstly, let me start by saying that I am a huge Monster Hunter fan, I came late to the party though and started my hunting career on my 3DS with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I wanted to try it out for a long long time and saw it only briefly on a friends Wii. I immediately got hooked. As a long term and first-hour EVERQUEST fan the GRINDING in the gameplay didn't put me off but really just attracted me even further. So that said I think I can quite adequately draw a conclusion to the Monster Hunter franchise (250+ hours invested).

To get kick things off, Toukiden is a good game, in its own right and sometimes it feels to me like comparing Smash Brothers to All-Stars. At first you think: "yeah ripoff, okay" and after a while you think "this is nothing like it, bah thats bad" and then another while later "okay, wow so now I get it, this game does things in its own way". Its similar with Toukiden. If you get the game with the mind set on playing Monster Hunter on your Vita, you're probably disappointed, especially if you're a MH veteran. It's easier, different, not as deep and complex but on the upside, it controls better, the graphics are better thanks to the better hardware and there are many things Toukiden does differently than Monster Hunter.

If you're new to the monster/demon/ghost hunting/grinding genre Toukiden is a good start to get into it. As i said it's not as complex as Monster Hunter, which can soon develop into an Art and/or science in its own right, Toukiden is guiding newcomers right into the experience, there are training-sessions available and you get lots of advice from the NPCs. Just please don't make the mistake expecting something like a traditional RPG or something like Diablo. It is not. The story is not the deepest and most head-turning you can find (not at all actually) but the characters are somewhat developed, better than in MH and the combat itself, especially with friends, is deeply layered and strategic and a tad easier to learn than in MH.

In MH I had to fight a certain monster countless times until I could beat it together with a friend, it was a tough thing to do so and we enjoyed it a lot when we finally toppled that huge beast as we increased and bettered not our character, stats or equipment but solely the SKILL of US, the PLAYERS. In that regard Toukiden works similar as you benefit from increasing your own skill playing the game the most, you increase the strength of your character only through your equipment, which you need to craft, which you need parts of tougher Demons for. Similar like in Monster Hunter, but again, the combat is a bit better balanced than in MH, more accessible but also not as deep and complex. That doesn't mean its monotonous though even though it looks like that at first glance.

Besides being able to switch between your weapons if you want to (before a Mission) and all of them having a certain charm, you can also collect spirits of fallen ancient warriors that you can imbue your weapons with, giving you kind of powers to utilize in combat and further emphasis the role you take (especially when playing in a group with friends) as there are different kinds of spirits. Like there are attack, speed, defense, special, ... oriented spirits lending you 4 special powers each that can be triggered (on a cool down) in combat.

So if you apply the same thing I stress so much in games like Killzone - play CLEVER - you can make your own fun really. If you're playing with friends and you happen to be the archer, which is a great weapon set but takes some practice obviously, you can easily opt to use a healing centered spirit buffing and healing your teammates from a distance as well as use a defense focused spirit to stir up the situation with your spear up close (as I love to do), etc... there are many possibilities to do your fighting and also if its not as quickly as obvious like in MH, you can also lay sort of traps (powers from spirits) and buff/debuff, enflame etc... certain parts of the Demons.

And here comes a twist. In Toukiden you might not need to sharpen your weapon and can even upgrade them for free if you only used them long enough (for completely different weapon you still need to gather resources and all) and the gathering of resources and rare drops is slightly different, simpler (which might be a good thing for a certain group of players or newcomers) Toukiden brings the "cut off a piece of that monster"-thing to a new level. You literally can cut off almost all limbs of every bigger Demon, every boss creature. This will weaken the creature and obviously change its attack-pattern and set of moves which might make for an easier kill and brings lots of strategy to the table. You can easily get the legs of some speedy demon cut off so it slows down and is easier to hit, the special moves with each weapon type help tremendously with that too. Another layer of tactic. But beware, it doesn't end here, if you cannot manage to practice a purification ritual (hold R) on the sewered limb the Demon might actually regenerate its lost limb and regain the abilities and attacks that came with it, so, in the heat of battle you not only have to avoid, do damage and keep your health in check (way easier than in MH btw) you also need to stand still in a place and do that ritual on sewered limbs to gather the resources within and make them disappear so they cannot be regenerated. The ritual goes quicker if your friends help you do it too.

So, I guess you start to see the outcome of this. It starts out as a Monster Hunter clone but as you delve deeper into the game, you see there's a lot of its own charm and there was a lot of attention to detail given to the game. I totally enjoy it and might be doing so for a while so you're very much invited to join up with me as you have the possibility to do so and hunt some Demons. Im a spear-guy btw, a very nicely balanced weapon too. All of them are nicely balanced and fill a purpose and it's easier to master them than it is in Monster Hunter.

All in all I have to say, if you don't like repetition of battles, grinding and slow progress in games, neither Toukiden or Monster Hunter are the right games for you. But if you are and/or know about the charm of such games, Toukiden is very much recommended by me, but to be fair, I like Monster Hunter more. Monster Hunter is the better game, too bad they are focusing on the 3DS. Also, Toukiden does not benefit as much from the second analogue stick as you might think. You're controlling your view  (center, lock on monster) with the L button on 3DS and you're basically doing the same in Toukiden, while technically possible to look around with the right analogue stick, I hardly use it, so the biggest benefit the Vita would bring to Monster Hunter wouldn't be the controls (sure, underwater battles suck on 3DS) but rather the better hardware, crisper image and just more processing power of the Vita. Toukiden and Monster Hunter, to me, are different enough to not burn out my desire to play one or the other game. I can play hours of Toukiden and still feel the need to play Monster Hunter on my 3DS. The only trouble it gives me is that I constantly keep wishing Monster Hunter would be a bit less convoluted in content and looking better on 3DS and that Toukiden could be a bit more deep and varied. Also the art-style is a matter of taste, as Toukiden looks A LOT like dynasty warriors, make of that what you will, but I prefer (slightly) the MH style, the fantasy, colorful weirdo-style of capcom.

Final recommendation:

You like quick easy games with easy access: don't get either
You like Monster Hunter but don't have a 3DS/WiiU: get Toukiden
You like Monster Hunter but only have a 3DS/WiiU: play it there, its awesome
You like Monster Hunter and have a 3DS/Vita: you can easily enjoy both games
You don't like Monster Hunter: get out, you won't like Toukiden either
You want to try something new but are afraid of a steep learning curve: get Toukiden
You don't have MH, a Vita or a 3DS or WiiU: get out

So in my book, MH and Toukiden can easily co-exist, they are similar enough to be in the same genre and let players know immediately what they are about but different enough to give joy to fans of the genre one way or the other.

I hope this helped a few of you folks that were on the fence about the game!

-Scollurio-