Dream Journal: Lord Of The Rings E-Bay Auction

I had a very bizarre dream last night involving the One Ring To Rule Them All from Lord Of The Rings. In said dream, I had somehow come across the one ring of power. For some reason, the ring wasn’t evil and didn’t tempt my soul or anything. Quite the opposite, as I wanted to sell the magical ring for a crap ton of money. I had duplicates of the ring for some reason, not sure why. A couple of my friend grabbed the duplicates and attempted to get the actual ring from me.

I ran off and started checking my backpack, so I can have the One Ring in my possession and make sure no one else takes it. I search through my backpack and find at least 20 different rings, some of which don’t even look like The Ring from the movie. Heck, some of them had what appeared to be Arabian text on them rather than the fictional language inscribed on them in the film. After trying on many different rings and finding none of them to be the legit article, I ended up waking up. What was weird about the dream is that it felt semi-realistic. I actually felt as though I was putting the rings on my finger in the dream, it was almost like a lucid dream.

Winds Of The King Chapter 1

Author’s Note: This is a net fiction series that I’m starting, it’s styled like a superhero story in a way but I want to put some interesting spins on the established archetype. I hope to make this an ongoing series that I update regularly and maybe one day will be able to put into novel form.

Chapter 1: A Breeze Overpowers The Tornado

I wasn’t the kind of guy who was easily swayed by the idea of “Destiny” or “Fate”. To me, these concepts were not tangible. How do you give in to fate when there is so little proof it exists? A person meets the girl of his dreams and immediately deems it as fate, acting as if the sky itself opened up and allowed this beautiful woman into his earthly realm. It’s more of a coincidence to run into a woman so desirable in so many ways and more of a coincidence if she just happens to fall for you.

Still, that doesn’t stop people every year from believing in fate to the point where they block out reality itself. I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe in fate either. To me, putting your hopes and dreams on something that probably won’t happen is a waste of energy. That was, until that faithful day in September. It etched itself onto my very soul itself and changed my life forever. That was the day I gained the power to change fate itself. I was 22 at the time and was looking for a career to pursue. I needed something to grasp onto, I needed a plan for what I wanted to be.

I was talented at many things, but I needed something tangible and attainable now. I could probably become a singer or a guitarist, but for now I needed something to put cash in my pocket. On that day, I sat on my porch and thought of what I could put my skills towards that would benefit me. As I sat and contemplated about my future, I heard a strange whistle-like sound. It sounded like whistling, but also like something akin to an air current. What could be making such a sound though? The wind was completely calm today, yet the whistling of air currents sounded immensely loud.

Thinking back now, I always had a strange history with wind and air. My hat had never been blown off by the wind, nor had there ever been a strong enough wind that make it difficult for me to walk through. It wasn’t something that had me lost in thought too often, yet it didn’t stop me from questioning the oddness of it from time to time. This air current perplexed me the most, as it’s whistling felt almost like it was beckoning me forward. I tapped my greasy sneakers against the porch as the whistling became louder. And from that whistling, I heard my name being called: “Sean…” It was almost an unearthly sounding voice, like some kind of spirit calling me forth.

I gave my head a good shake and ignored it, I assumed that it was just a trick that my ears were deceiving. I went back inside the house and looked for my father, he was probably the one who was actually calling me. I found him in the kitchen, he was busy buttering a piece of bread while humming to himself. My father was a kind man, always smiling and humming while doing almost anything.

He stood at an impressive 6 foot 5 and has a semi-muscular build. He had the odd habit of wiggling his shoulders about as he buttered bread. I looked at his grey-ish brown hair and found that it was greasy and unkempt. It was clear to me that my father hadn’t had his daily shower yet. It took him a couple of minutes to notice me, but he turned to me and smiled once he did take notice. “Something you need, son?” The soft-spoken 50 year old asked as he continued to butter his bread.

“Well, did you call me? Something you need, pops?” He slowly shook his as he continued to grin from ear to ear. “I never called you at all, son. Must have been the wind!” The wind? I mused to myself once more about how often the wind played a role in my life. “Must be, dad. I’m going to head out, I’ll talk to later.” The man nodded as I turned to leave. “Be careful out there, son. The storm watch said there’s a nasty tornado that may strike the west side of town today!”

I gave the man a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m always careful.” Afterwards, I proceeded to leave the premises. I wondered what that voice was and why it was calling my name. I thought that it may be something supernatural or otherworldly, but I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my mind. Even if it was something supernatural, wouldn’t that voice choose someone more remarkable to call out to? I was just a young adult, averaging at about six feet in height. I had brown hair, baggy pants, a red T-shirt, and wrote poetry in my spare time. I wasn’t super attractive nor was I strong or athletic. I refused to chalk up the voice’s presence to the supernatural or fate, that just wasn’t in my nature.

I walked along the street, my shoes kicking up dirt as I strutted across the musty sidewalk. My destination was that of the grocery store, I figured that a small Slushie would be enough to ward off the heat. It certainly was a nice day outside, so why was there a tornado warning? Looking up at the sky, it seemed remarkably calm. It lacked the usual signs of an incoming tornado. Despite this, everyone seemed convinced that the incoming storm was a reality. I was so lost in my thoughts, that I wasn’t even fully aware of where I was heading. I was snapped back to reality when I heard my name whispered to me once more. Once I exited my daydream, I found myself elsewhere. I appeared to be in a part of the city that I had never been to before. I had no clue how I got here as whenever I would daydream, I would always head to my preferred destination or finish my task. Yet, I had somehow gotten lost.

I wasn’t afraid or annoyed by this turn of events, I was more confused than anything else. This part of town seemed entirely vacant, few people were on the street and even fewer cars were parked nearby. It was as if I had stumbled across a ghost town of some sort. As I wandered about trying to find my bearings, I noticed something odd. Discarded newspapers and small pieces of garbage began to fly away, being pulled in the opposite direction of where I was facing. I also noticed a car beginning to move, a car that wasn’t even turned on. This stationary vehicle was moving, almost as if it was being pulled away, The whistling of the air current intensified as I heard noises that made my heart sink.

I could hear buildings being torn apart, I could hear the noise of glass shattering and I saw the end in sight. In the distance I saw something approaching, it was something I should have noticed sooner. It was a tornado and it was coming upon me fast! There was no way I could escape it, no way to run or hide. It was a weird day and I was about to meet death due to these oddities. My life had become an episode of Twilight Zone and this was about to my ending narration.

I stood strong and raised my arms up to my side as the beastly winds made their way towards me. I was surprised that I hadn’t be sucked into the tornado by now, but even more surprised that I had the courage to stand like this and not run away. Any mortal man would be racked with fear, yet I felt as though I understood the cyclone. It felt as though I looked down, almost as if I was superior to it. The tornado made its way to me and the violent winds were seconds away from enveloping me. The tornado hit me, but not in the way I expected. The violent wind brushed against my face and like an egg being thrown against a wall, the tornado began to quickly break apart. The winds faded as they weakened, the tornado was dissipating. Objects that had been sucked into the tornado fell the ground as what had been a violent cyclone was now a murmur of air currents.

I had stood against a tornado and it was the tornado that had paid the price. Any normal human would have been dead long before the tornado even touch him, yet I was able to stand against a maelstrom and survive. I wasn’t a normal human, I was sure I wasn’t even human at all! What was I? I decided that these questions would have to wait, I knew that people would be here soon asking questions. They’d wonder why a single man stood where a tornado once did and ask why he would survive such an event that would kill any normal man. I started running away from the tattered street. I passed by numerous buildings and found all of them destroyed. One building caught my eye, it was the only one that wasn’t damaged at all. It was named “The Pyramid” and it stood undamaged i the least. I stopped in my tracks I stared at the building, something about it was beckoning me forth.

I could hear the whispering of my name again, only this time it was far louder. Something was inside that building and it wanted to meet me face to face. Was this destiny? Had I stumbled across something that mortal men could only dream of? The winds of change had taken hold of my future, I knew that these powerful winds would send me somewhere amazing. Just where would we these winds send me? I had no idea, but I had every intention to find out. I walked up to the building, taking deep breaths each step of the way. I gripped the doorknob to the building and slowly opened it, not prepared for what I would find inside.

Been Watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I’m pleasantly surprised with this series so far. It’s a prequel to episode 3, taking place between episodes 2 and 3 and focuses on Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker’s misadventures and features new characters not in the movie. So far, I’ve only watch season 1 and part of season 2, but once I complete the series I’d like to post blog entries on each individual season as they are really good episodes.

Hunchback Of Notre Dame Fan Theory: Clopin Is Lying

I’ve always been an avid fan of the concept of “Fan Theories”. After all, everyone has made a fan theory even if they haven’t told anyone about it or wrote it down. Because whenever you watch something you really enjoy or play a game you really like, you start to think about the lore or concepts behind that series. Everyone likes to think about what makes a particular series tick. In some cases, fan theories can explain away plot holes or even add to the viewing experience. While I’m not going to turn this into a fan theory blog, I had thought up a pretty unique fan theory on one of my favorite films: Hunchback Of Notre Dame.

In this film, we are introduced to the character of Clopin. Clopin is a gypsy puppeteer and performer and is the first character we see in the movie. In fact, the entire movie is a story he’s telling to children. However, when you look at it as a story that’s being told some things just don’t add up. Which made me think about something: Is Clopin lying to us? Is the story a tall tale, or an exaggerated version of the truth? Well, let’s look at some of the oddities that Clopin tells us in the film.

Clopin Knows Things That He Should Not

In the film, Clopin knows a lot of things especially for events that he wasn’t present for. For example, the introduction to the film has Frollo murdering a gypsy woman and attempts to kill a baby as well due to it’s ugliness (Did I mention this movie is for kids?) Before he can murder the child, a priest runs in and makes Frollo responsible for the child due to his action. Now, how could Clopin possibly know all this? One could make the argument that the priest told them, but we never really saw Clopin interacting with the priest at all during film. On top of that, the Archdeacon wasn’t present during the pursuit of the Gypsy so he wouldn’t have known the scenes that lead up to it. Sure, Frollo says that he chased her down because she ran away, but how would the Archdeacon have found out about the boat or the fact that Gypsies we’re trying to make it into town without being seen?

It’s not like Frollo told the Archdeacon about this, unless it was down off-screen. Even if that was the case, there are still things Clopin should not know. The biggest thing is Frollo’s Hellfire scene. When he sings this song, he’s completely alone. Sure, a guard bursts in halfway through the song but I doubt he knew what was actually going on in the room. After Frollo signs about his lust for Esmerelda, the scene cuts to him the next day telling Phoebus that he had “A bit of trouble with the fireplace”. Frollo tells nobody about the events, so how could Clopin possibly know what Frollo was singing about? It’s entirely possible that Clopin added the scene in as an explanation to why Frollo was so lustful towards Esmerelda.

The Gargoyles

An oddity of the film many people point out are the Gargoyles. One might think that the Gargoyles are Quasimodo’s imaginary friends, which is what the film leads you to believe. However, they are shown interacting with animals such as the goat even when Quasimodo isn’t present. On top of that, they actually join in the final battle despite not supposedly being real. So, are they real or not? This isn’t one of the Disney films where magic exists, there is no magic in this film aside from slights of hand or illusions.

The most likely explanation is that Clopin made the Gargoyles up. If he was going to relate this story to children, he’d need to have side-characters that relate to Quasimodo in some way. This is exactly what the Gargoyles did, acting as Quasimodo’s conscience in a way. Clopin most like weaved the Gargoyles into the tale and had them act as both illusions and as real beings. Having creatures that are unnatural or magic in nature is a way to get kids interested in a story.

Clopin The Killer

One of the cardinal ways to not tell a story is to not make yourself into a murderer or a person of negative intent. I recall an author who wrote a book about a murder that ended up being remarkably similar to a real-life murder. So much so in fact that it turns out he was the murderer as events in the story were exactly the same as the murder and that the author did have ties to the person who was murdered in real-life. I bring this up, because in Clopin’s story he attempts to murder both the protagonists by hanging while believing them to be spies.

Clopin’s song seems to insinuate that this isn’t the first time he’s murdered someone. He’s seen playing with skulls and said things like “Here in the Court Of Miracles where it’s a miracle if you get out alive!” A story you tell to children or adults should not feature yourself in the act of attempted murder. If what he’s telling is real, than the guards could have easily searched the Court Of Miracles for evidence of fowl play. Especially because the Court Of Miracles is found by the guards halfway through the movie. Telling a story that is based off truths such as that could get you thrown in prison for life.

However, if the story was falsified then Clopin wouldn’t actually be in jeopardy. Clopin could have said that he had a tendency to put trespassers to the noose, but if it turned out to be false then the guards wouldn’t have reason to arrest him. If the guards knew it was a harmless story, they would let him continue to spread the story without repercussions.

So, now that we’ve seen all the evidence, what’s the verdict? Well, it’s entirely possible that Clopin is telling a tall tale or altering parts of the story to make it more entertaining. In fact, if one realyl thinks about it Clopin could be the personification of Disney itself in the film. Taking a well-established and famous story and putting a spin on it to make it more suitable for children while still retaining a lot of thematic and dark elements. Then again, maybe this stuff did all really happen. Maybe someone was watching Frollo’s room while he sung Hellfire, maybe Clopin really did put people to the noose even if they weren’t entirely guilty. Who’s to say? Telling a story to someone back in the 1400s isn’t the same as it was today. Their was no video cameras or photography devices back then. Clopin’s version of the story could be factual the events of the film or be a retelling. It’s something that I don’t think Disney itself would address, as most giant organizations tend not to go in specifics on fan theories.

My Favorite Star Wars Movie

When it comes to the many Star Wars movies, my favorite tends to either be episode 5 or Episode 3. I especially enjoyed Episode 3 because of how surprisingly good it was. The prequels had a nasty tendency to be boring, weird, or just have generally bad characters. However, Episode 3 managed to not only be entertaining but also memorable and enjoyable. It was rather surprising, especially considering the nature of the Star Wars films at the time. The prequel trilogy of Star Wars was a series of films dedicated to show the fall of Anakin Skywalker over to the dark side and the rise of The Empire.

Episode 3 was the final film in the prequel trilogy, depicting an epic confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan as well as showing us the downfall of both The Republic and The Seperatists. It was a rather epic film, full of memorable scenes and great action sequences. One of the few problems I had with the film was the portrayal of General Grievous. General Grievous was initially introduced in the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series. After appearing in that show, he was later depicted in the film itself.

However, he more of a coward and wuss than an unstoppable force of nature. In the cartoon, Grievous could take on multiple Jedis at once and come out victorious. In this film, he was defeated by a singular Jedi. Still, it was a very solid confrontation scene. This film depicted everything that went wrong and led up to the events of Episode IV. If you wish to be filled in some more on the proceedings between episodes 3 and 4 I suggest watching Star Wars: Rebels and playing the videogame Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Episode 3 will always remain a classic Star Wars movie to me, despite the films leading up to it being less than stellar. I look forward to Episode 7, I hope it’s just as good as both Episodes 3 and 5.

Convention Season Is Here!

May and June tend to be the times when most conventions start, at least the big ones. I remember the first comic book convention I went to, it was here in my hometown. It was a small offering, their wasn’t a whole lot of celebs there and the place was relatively tiny. Still, I enjoyed it quite a bit! At this convention, I picked up Mazinkaiser for a very cheap price. All seven episodes on one DVD for about 6 dollars and 67 cents. That’s a pretty sweet deal, especially when you take into consideration the price you’d pay for it at a store which would range from 20 to 30 dollars.

It was my first taste of a convention, but again it was super small. It wasn’t a super big convention and it didn’t have a lot to do. It was tiny and cramped, but it wasn’t an awful first convention. I stayed there for about an hour or two. Next year I spent a lot more time there, but still found the convention to be immensely tiny. Nowadays I stick to bigger cons that have more to do. The last con I went to had tons of guests like Brad Swaile and Tyler Mane. I’ll never forget my first convention, it truly was a magical time. If you’re a nerd or just some person who’s interested in nerdy things I reccomend going to a convention. Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere with no cities or towns within miles. If that’s the case, I recommend relocating to a large city or just simply watching a convention live on television.

I May Have Had A Snow White Animation Still At Some Point

Many of you cartoon fans probably have watched LewToons, it’s a series on Youtube detailing cartoons and cartoon series in various forms. LewToons is primarily known for his Gravity Falls theory videos and his Top 10 lists. Well, a year ago I watched LewToons “Top 10 Cartoon Facts & Theories Video” and came across his listing for 8th place. It was a fact about how the original Snow White animation stills go for a crap ton of money and are super rare and how there’s a bunch of them in the world  to this day.

Upon watching the video, a memory I had of my childhood re-entered my mind for the first time in almost a decade. I recall having what I believed to be some sort of Snow White poster, at least that’s what I thought it was when I was a kid. I’m assuming my parents also thought the same thing about it. It was a Snow White picture inside a white frame and looked like a scene right out of the movie. And if I remember correctly, their may have been an autograph by Walt Disney in the corner.

My memories of this event are a little muddled, but if what I’m thinking is correct I may have had a rare one-of-a-kind Snow White animation cell when I was a kid. And neither my family nor my childhood self knew of it’s rarity or immense value. Or, it could have actually just been a poster. I don’t think there’s any official way I could find out. I’m pretty sure my parents either tossed it out or sold it at a garage sale and I don’t remember it being in the best of quality either. So, how did we happen across this Snow White animation cell?

I have no clue to be entirely honest. My parents don’t remember the poster, nor does my sister. In fact, I’m the only one who seems to remember the Snow White poster. I also remember the other Disney posters we had such as Pinocchio and Hercules, which I’m sure existed. I do recall a Snow White poster of some caliber, but it’s entirely possible that I’m remembering it incorrectly. Could it be true? I’ll never really know, but if it is true I do lament the fact that my parents could have struck it rich by selling it for a ton of cash. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Hopefully, if that was one of the legendary animation cells then the person who has it now is sitting pretty with all that cash.

Awesome Knights In Gaming: Frederick

If there is any genre of videogames that I enjoy most it has to be RPGs. And this is mainly due to the large amount of really cool and awesome knights you can find in these games. Until recently, I had never played Fire Emblem and I was undoubtedly interested in playing Fire Emblem Awakening after receiving a Nintendo 2DS for Christmas. One of the best characters and knights in the game is Frederick, the Great Knight and bodyguard to the prince and princess. Having little experience with Fire Emblem (Aside from playing the gamecube game) I was a bit underclassed on normal difficulty. My warriors, knights, and mages would all undoubtedly fall by the wayside as they attempted to stem back the hoards of enemies that would attack.

Luckily, the game gives you this Goliath to start out with: The knight known as Frederick. Frederick is so insanely overpowered that he squashes almost all resistance rather easily. He barely ever takes damage, he dishes out a lot in return and is able to wade through armies single-handedly. A lot of my strategies would involve me throwing Frederick against an entire army while my other guys snuck around and murdered the general. They would spend all their time attacking Frederick AKA “Fred” and getting slaughtered that I would be able to take out their leader no problem. And it continued like this up until the end of the first part of the game.

Woah, Fred! Have you put on weight? (Image property of Nintendo)

In a battle against an evil king and his army, Fred actually started taking damage. I freaked out when this first happened, as Fred has never really taken that much damage before. This guy has been making swiss-cheese out of entire battalions of soldiers and suddenly those very same soldiers could do 6-7 hit points of damage to Fred in one hit. Once I sent Fred against the king, he was effortlessly murdered. Luckily, I was playing on casual which disables perma-death so I didn’t lose him permanently. Still, it was weird how my favorite character in the game could go down so easily when no other general he has come up against has managed to damage. In the next level, Fred was back to normal. He was overpowered, barely taking damage and being a badass. And after that, Fred became underpowered again. Enemies now dealt 11 hit points per attack to Fred.

I’m currently pretty far in the game and at this point Fred has become far less powerful and useful than some of my other guys. Lon’qu became my go-to guy in terms of melee combat, especially after I upgraded his class. I still kept Fred in there and he still did deal a lot of damage. After everyone caught up in terms of power to Frederick though, he just stopped being my favorite. I guess it’s hard to stand out when a girl who turns into a giant rabbit and a psychotic black mage who cracks jokes constantly outclasses you in every way. It also doesn’t help that Frederick doesn’t have much of a personality or really that much of a backstory (Although, he does get some more development if you choose to put him in a relationship with a female character)

In short, Fred was probably the best character I had early on but quickly became just another soldier after 5-6 hours of gameplay. Fred was just there to be an overpowered troop unit to help ease gamers into the combat and strategy. And after Fred stops being useful, you rely on the other troops more. In a way, Fred makes you apreciate your army more. Your one-man-army becomes just one-man, but that one man paved the way for the growth of a battalion into a fully-fledged army. And that’s something I will always appreciate.

OCD Apocalypse

Author’s Note: I came up with the idea for this story when I thought to myself “Would I still have OCD if the world ended?” This thought echoed through my head while I played Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. This is a bit more of solemn peace, it’s meant to be more of an emotional piece.

When the world ended, so did my worries. The day the bombs fell ended so many things and it was on that day that my OCD started to fade away. I no longer had to worry about checking the faucets constantly even when I know they are turned off, because I knew there was no longer any running water anywhere. I no longer had to check the doorknob to the house constantly, because the world no longer had any rules so a person could break in at any moment.

I was no longer worried about getting to sleep at a decent time or fret about staying up late, as work and businesses were practically non-existent now. Life was lost easily in a world like this, yet another worry that no longer mattered. I would wander the wasteland not worrying about anything. Some things still remained a worry, such as clean food and water. In a world that’s teetering on the brink, I felt my mind at peace.

The world had lost its rules, its limitations, but none of its meaning. The world still meant something to me now, because my worries were different now. I shared the same worries as everyone else and because of this I felt more like I fit in. I knew that I didn’t fit in though, I wasn’t the kind of person who would take advantage of a world with different worries, a world with less people and less limitation. It’s a world that takes advantage of the weak, yet even that concept didn’t worry me too much. Few things worry me these days.

Monster Hunter Retrospective: 1st Generation

I have a very long history with the video game series known as Monster Hunter. These video games have definitely left their mark on the medium and created an entire sub-genre of RPG. Having played a fair amount of the main series games, I wanted to go into detail on what I thought of each individual generation of games. After all, I’ve had a very long history with the games and played at least one game in each generation. I’m going to go over every generation of the series starting with the first few games in the series that compromise the “1st Generation”.

The 1st Generation starting with the game simply titled Monster Hunter. It was originally released on the Playstation 2 in 2004. It was meant to be a million unit seller and it sell that many copies and easily surpassed that. However, Monster Hunter has mainly been a cult hit in Japan. It took several games in the series before it became half as popular in America as it was in Japan. Now, allow me to go into detail into what the game is all about and my personal experiences with it.

In total, there are three versions of the game. The first version was the aforementioned Monster Hunter. The gameplay in this game involved you hunting monster and gathering materials. You could also capture monsters, which could sometimes be difficult. I can’t tell you how many times I accidentally killed the monster when I meant to simply capture it. Sometimes, I can go a bit overboard with my greatsword! A game has a fair amount of bosses, such as the fire-spitting dragon Rathalos or the poisonous worm-dragon Khezu. You had to fight these creatures using your wits, skill, and endurance. At the same time, you had to keep a careful eye on your health bar. If your health bar drops to zero, you faint. And if you faint three times, you lose. The game also boasts a multiplayer feature, with the catch being that the three faints rule applies to this mode as well.

The PS2 boasted online functionality, as did the second version of this game. The third version does not, which kind of sucks because that was my favorite version. In the game, you choose from one of five different weapons: Great Swords, Lances, Sword And Shield, Hammers and Dual Swords. On top of that, two additional ranged weapon classes were available: Light Bowguns and Heavy Bowguns. The game features two different classes, your class will be assigned to you based on the weapon you chose. Those who use melee weapons are dubbed as “Blademasters” and those who used ranged weapons classify as “Gunners”. You can also craft armor and there are two different versions of each armor set. One can only be worn by Gunners while the other is only worn by Blademasters. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’d play this game in my teenage years and accidentally make the wrong armor set for my class type! It’s embarrassing to say the least. The weapons I used most tended to be the great swords and hammers. I would occasionally use dual blades as well, but not very often. I preferred the heavier weapons, because they took a fair bit more skill to master. It’s extremely hard to line up your attacks properly with these weapons, but they deal enough damage to be just as useful as the lighter weapons. The game developers made the weapons fairly balanced.

Monster Hunter also let you gather off the land during missions. You can gather ore by mining, you can fish for various species of fish that have different uses, and you can even gather for herbs and mushrooms that you can use to brew potions. You can also catch bugs using a bugnet and gain rare insects. And if you’re really desperate for materials, you can root around in dung for monster feces and the occasional dragon scale.

Gross.

On top of large bosses, there is also many smaller enemies such as the annoying raptors known as Velociprey and the moss-covered pigs known as Mosswine. You’ll also run into Bullfangos, a charging bull enemy who will constantly try to ram you. You’d think it wouldn’t be a problem once you got strong enough, but Bullfangos can become such a bother once you’re with a giant monster. I can’t tell you how many times I got knocked into enemy fire by a Bullfango’s charge. Definitely, the most annoying enemy is the Velociprey. The Velociprey will often leap at you and knock you back and on top of that they are usually found in packs. They’ll gang up on you if you’re not careful and in some areas they respawn constantly meaning you’ll deal with multiple Velocipreys while trying to gather or fight bosses.

I hate these things.

I’ll be honest, I sucked at this game when I was younger. I probably didn’t get good at it until Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I started off pretty bad mainly because the game did a pretty poor job of explaining everything about the game. Sure, it gave me the basics but skimped on a lot of details. With the 1st generation, their wasn’t any complex weapon tutorials so using weapons that all worked different from each other took at lot of getting used to. Mastering the dual blades isn’t the same as mastering the hammer. Each weapon was different and took getting used to, but part of the fun was learning the intricacies of all the game’s weapons.

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the only version of the game. The second version is known as Monster Hunter G. It basically was an enchanced version of Monster Hunter. It didn’t introduce any brand new bosses, in fact all of the new bosses were “Sub-Species”. Sub-Species are basically palette swaps, yet they possess new abilities, attacks, or elements. Maybe palette swap is a bad description, they are more like “Well-Constructed Counterfeits”. They also retooled the skill system. Originally, you would only get skills if you wore the right type of armor but now your special skills were dictated by the amount of points you had in that specific skill. Also, the game introduced two new levels of weapon sharpness. Before, the only levels of weapon sharpness were red, yellow, and green. This game introduced us to two new levels of sharpness: Blue and white. With these levels of sharpness your hunter was able to pierce bosses with rougher hides. The game also introduced G Rank quests, which would become a standard for every Monster Hunter game to come. You see, in the first game there was only Low Rank and High Rank quests, but with G Rank you can participate in quests that are 20 times as hard.

Monster Hunter G also introduced Kokoto Farm, a special area where you can gather items without doing quests. You can use the farm to create duplicates of plants or mine ore outside of quests. This was a very welcome feature, as it did make it so you wouldn’t have to repeat as many quests just to get materials. Monster Hunter G also introduced a much need Training School where you could hone your skills and become good at the game. Finally, the game introduced Felyne Chefs who would cook you foot inbetween quests. Choosing certain food options would give you much needed stat buffs. Monster Hunter G was only released in Japan, unlike the original version of the game.

And then came the last version of the game: Monster Hunter Portable AKA Monster Hunter Freedom. Monster Hunter Freedom was a portable version of Monster Hunter G and was actually released in America unlike G. It’s the same game as G and it’s the only one way to play the game in America. Monster Hunter G was also released on Wii, but again only in Japan. The 1st Generation was surprisingly solid. Even though I sucked at it, I couldn’t say that I hated it. It was one of the most fun PSP games I ever played despite being immensely hard. I’ll be sure to talk about the other generations at a later date.