The way it does multiplayer: (Off-Topic)

by cheapLEY , Tuesday, January 30, 2018, 18:00 (2290 days ago) @ cheapLEY
edited by cheapLEY, Tuesday, January 30, 2018, 18:22

The way this game handles multiplayer is initially frustrating, but ultimately cool.

I'll start with the bad:

The game has a sort of hub city (think of the Tower) where you go back and craft gear, sell items, manage inventory, etc. The real bummer is that it doesn't work like the Tower. Each player is always in their own separate instance of the town, even when you're in a party with other players in the game. You're always alone. To actually see the other players, you must load into the Gathering Hub, which is one building at the top of the city. It has all the same functionality of the town with vendors and the quest board, etc, just in a much smaller area. I'm honestly baffled by this decision--why load into a completely separate area to do the exact same things I would do in town, only with other people running around. What doesn't the town just work that way? My one friend and I honestly just each stay in our separate instance of town, rather than spending the time loading into the Gathering Hub.

The good:

I like the way the game actually handles forming up with other people, especially with random people.

The town has a quest board. When you want to do a quest, you go to the quest board and choose the one you want to do. If you want to do it alone, you set the party limit to 1 and start it up. If you want to allow other players to play with you, you set the party limit higher (up to 4). The thing is, it's not matchmade in the tradition sense (the way Strikes in Destiny are). In order for other players to join you, they have to seek out that mission. When you post a quest, you are also given the option to search for open quests. So instead of posting the one you're getting ready to do, you instead look through the list of quests that players in your current lobby have already posted. If you meet the level requirement, you can just jump in.

It sounds convoluted, and it sort of is at first. It took me a bit to really feel comfortable with it. But after I did, I started to really appreciate it. It allows you to form up with other players without actually having to party up with them.

Imagine something like this in Destiny. You're in the tower, and you post that you're going to do adventures on Nessus. You post that on the quest board, and leave. Other players will be able to see that posted and join if they want to. When they leave the Tower, they'll join up in your instance of Nessus and be able to do the adventures with you, without actually having to join your party.

It allows you to play with random folks without the sort of pressure that comes with sending out invites and waiting for people to join.

At the end of the quest in Monster Hunter, you're given two options: Return to Camp with Party, or Disband and return to town. You see what options the other players currently have selected on the left side of the screen. If you disband, you disconnect and go back to town. If your return to camp, you go to one of the campsites in the world with the other players that have chosen that option. There, you can choose another quest to go on, or just go wonder around the world in the same instance as the rest of the party.

So, going back to Destiny, once the Adventure (or story mission, or whatever) was finished, you can disband and go back to the Tower and start over, or you can go to camp (say a fast travel point), and now you'd basically be in a fireteam with the other players that chose that option, and can continue running around the world and doing patrols or adventures or whatever.

Again, it sounds absolutely convoluted for what is actually happening, but I've found it brilliant. I've been playing with other people a lot, which is something I wouldn't do without the system. In order to play Destiny with others in the same way, I'd basically have to be sending out party invites to randos in the Tower. In Monster Hunter, I just join the quest they're on, then when it's done we go our separate ways and I join a different rando's quest.

It also has an SOS system. Basically, at any point while you're out on a quest, you can fire a flare into the air, and that gets posted on the quest board automatically. So people choosing a quest can respond to an SOS call, which usually means someone is fighting a monster and getting their ass kicked or just wants help. So you can spend your entire game session just responding to SOS flares and helping people.

It's just neat.