![Monster Hunter Stories [The Adventure Begins] -- #22. Top of the Food Chain](/images/yt/qv/monster-hunter-stories-the-adventure-begins-22-top-of-the-okhs3.jpg)
Monster Hunter Stories [The Adventure Begins] -- #22. Top of the Food Chain
2Wait... you haven't been EATING the monsters we slay... ... ... right?
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A surprising extra distance in from where we kept getting our earlier explorations interrupted, we finally find an especially ominous area transition. Maybe even the land itself is trying to express just how "forbidden" it's meant to be.
Oh, wait, nevermind. ...hey, wait... all these errant airborne particle effects... is it... safe to be here? Should we have been... forbidden from coming?!
Indeed, we've seen this before! From that other cutscene! ...that... none of us were present for. Is this a fourth wall break?! Well, that and Navirou's apparently got donuts for brains.
I think it's a bit of a stretch to call this big forebodingly glowing formation a Kinship Stone out of the blue, especially when you can't say where you've allegedly seen this before... did you even know what a Kinship Stone was before you hijacked my coming-of-age ritual?!
No time for that... that bigger cat's back! Nargacuga attack! Yeah, I suppose it does tend to end up this way whenever the air itself physically turns dark and oppressive...
Apparently, the very air is Blighted, and it's not letting us build up our Kinship gauge at all... which... is actually a pretty big deal! A Rider without Kinship is... no Rider at all! It's just a Hunter who has a Monstie or five to hang out with! How can we ever manage like this?!
I'd like to point out that "destroy the head" is... y'know... generally fatal in... life forms. That live. Most of 'em need that kind of thing... to keep living. Either way, let's do the thing I was already doing. Because Monster Hunters love breaking stuff!
Honestly, this is still a bit more basic than most bosses we've been fighting lately... the destructible extra target is, as I explained a bit before, not exactly a benefit so much as it is something else to do... while we hack away at this thing.
If anything, this attack pattern is single-mindedly simple. Blinded by rage? Blight? Even while enraged, it's pretty consistent and easy to beat in head-to-head matchups.
In fact, this beating's so savage, I don't expect it can handle much more than an extra topple, easily gained by predictable attacks, and a timely Kinship Skill!
It wasn't even a tutorial battle! The bonus readouts prove it! We won this fight for real! Fair and square! ...well, maybe the Nargacuga was at least a little bit under the influence. But still, we graciously accept our grand payment in... tears?! No materials here!
Okay, so I guess maybe it IS a Kinship Stone... somehow... or at least highly reactive to what's definitely a Kinship Stone in my hands. The coloration is totally different, though... or it was, until mine took on the same hue. Wait, does that mean my Stone's been Blighted?!
Well... this is a bit less triumphant than I would've hoped, considering all the grief our erstwhile nemesis has caused us. Cheval would probably be happy regardless... but... it sure seems that the Nargacuga itself wasn't the cause of all this trouble, merely a symptom... a victim of the Blight itself. Then again, the tidy resolution and clearing of the air sure seemed a pretty convenient to me...
Navirou... you "hear" there's a cliff with a great view of the Forbidden Land up ahead? ...you've never been here and nobody we've met ever talks about it. Except maybe the fact that it's forbidden.... are we sure this cat's not just full of it?
About the only reliable thing is that Navirou's got the wanderlust... and he's certainly bent on leading us down the dark path of a scofflaw and ne'er-do-well...
Oh... oh no! Busted! The old people are here! ...but they're all smiles? Wait, they were WATCHING a child engage in mortal combat with a high tier beast in an unsafe work environment?! I think I liked it better when we snuck out and did crazy reckless things just because kids (and cats) are stupid... but these two are just plain irresponsible!
I like how Navirou seems to consider himself the arbiter of who's a fully-fledged Rider now... and whatever he thinks that means where the rules are concerned...
But what's this?! Apparently Dan hasn't always kept to the code? I'm shocked. Shocked! ...well, maybe not THAT shocked, but you know this means the Code's more like... guidelines, right?
They seem all too jolly about this sudden choice to scoff at our traditions, what with parting advice and directions? ..."last you saw him"? ... ... ...Chief Omna... have you also left the village before?! (is he even a Rider, though?)
Well, we're all clear for a dramatic departure! And WHAM, straight into a fourth wall, shattered on impact by a crazy cat! But wait, he's also got a hard sales pitch, if you'd care to listen!
You can return to game... but you can't go on. And so ends an unusually generous demo experience, I suppose! That was fun!