Since Toukiden is the newest "Hunting" game released (outisde Japan, at least) for the Vita, I figured a thread for it is in order.
If you are on the fence, or are not sure if Hunting games are really for you, I would highly recommend checking out Toukiden. It doesn't do anything new to the genre, but instead blends what I like most about Monster Hunter and Soul Sacrafice together into an approachable, but highly customaizable experience. The game feels less tedious than previous Hunting games I have played, but is just as enthralling.
So, who's playing this? If there is enough interest, would any of you be down to set some time aside for online co-op play?
I'll just mention I have bought this, but not played it yet. Bought on the merit that it looks nice and supposedly streamlines some of the stuff Monster Hunter refuses to evolve. (For example, you actually have a lock-on in Toukiden).
This and the upcoming Freedom Wars look really neat but I'm not sure if I can get into the genre that much. Got maybe 10 or so hours into Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and lost interest.
For what its worth, I think this game is much, much more accessible than Monster Hunter.
You don't have to worry about cooking, mixing potions, and all of that pre-battle preparation. Instead of the chance drops of MH, this game focuses more on destroying as many boss parts as possible, so skill is more important than luck. The amount of items required to craft is more reasonable, so you don't have to fight the same boss 30 times to get a few items for a weapon.
Gathering quests are pulled out as a separate thing from the main ones, so you'll never find yourself looking for 30 random rocks or something to progress the story... only to find yourself playing that same stage again and finding more random rocks you don't need anymore. Instead, all of the "Missions" are hunting, in some form, and as you gather items from that, you turn in the items to complete "Quests"
The game feels more customizable too. In MH, you basically have to craft a full set of gear, as they set bonuses are everything. So, your uniqueness comes down to weapon choice, and gear set choice. In Toukiden, the gear stats outweigh the set bonuses, so mixing and matching is actually possible. On top of that, the souls you gather (there are supposedly over 200) act as a sort of job class, allowing you to take the roll of healer, dps, status inflicting, speed, etc. As you level these souls up and they learn new skills, you get to customize them even further by deciding what skills to keep and what ones you can do without.
So, in Toukiden, two players could both use a Spear, and a Speed soul, and still be unique from each other.
I would say that, even though the game is definitely a Hunting game, don't let previous experiences with the genre put you off. I'm not a hgue Monster Hunter fan, and I could not get into Soul Sacrafice or Ragnarok Odyssey, but Toukiden just hits home with its structure. It has everything I liked about those other hunting games, but managed to remove so much tediousness.
Granted, this is all from my experience, which so far is up to, and about half way through Chapter 3
