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Monster Hunter Now is the latest release from Niantic, the developer of Pokémon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Teaming up with Capcom, Monster Hunter Now brings the world of Monster Hunter to us through augmented reality.
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If you’ve played Niantic’s other games, then you’re familiar with the basics. Monsters will pop up randomly on your map. Walking around and exploring will generate new monsters for you to fight. Along your way, you’ll also find various resources and maybe some Large Monsters.
Getting Started
Monster Hunter Now has a relatively long tutorial considering the idle nature of mobile games. If you don’t have about a half-hour free or live in a less populated area, you might have some issues with some of the Prologue quests.
Currently, the game is supported on Android 7 or higher, and iPhone 8 and above. Due to the nature of augmented reality games (ARG), you will need to allow the game access to the location-based services of your device. If you’re not comfortable sharing that information all the time, you will have the option to allow Monster Hunter Now access to your location only while the app is open.
Finally, the game mechanics can be broken down into three main concepts: fight monsters, upgrade equipment, and collect resources. All three will appear as various icons on your map. Getting in range of those icons will allow you to either fight the Large Monster or collect resources.
Reading the Map
This ARG map is different from what you’re used to. While large resource deposits are located in areas with high foot traffic, you’ll see more icons on your map than with most other ARGs. Smaller resource deposits will be scattered throughout the area, much like how the monsters randomly spawn.
Environments
The world is split into three habitats: Forest, Desert, and Swamp. Each habitat generates different monsters and resources. You can check your current habitat in the upper left corner of the screen.
If you don’t hunt any monsters for a few hours, you’ll notice the habitat start taking over your neighborhood. Defeating the Large Monsters that wander into your area will push the habitats back.
Small Monsters
The game makes the distinction between Small Monsters and Large Monsters. Small Monsters appear on the map but have no icons above them. They’re easy to defeat in combat and are best for farming common resources or completing quests.
Large Monsters
Large Monsters will have two icons above them. One labels the monster as a “Target” while the other contains one or more stars. The more stars a Large Monster has, the more powerful they are. If you’re not close enough to see the “Target” label, look for the monster’s specific icon on your map.
Some Large Monsters attack with a specific Element. However, all Large Monsters have an elemental Weakness. If you have a Weapon of that Element, it’ll make defeating the monster much easier.
These hunts are ranked based on how quickly you defeat the monster. The faster you do it, the better your rank will be. A higher rank gives you better rewards.
Combat
As expected, hunting monsters is the focus of the game. Though the combat still feels a bit clunky, it is miles ahead of how Pokémon GO handles its battles. To attack, you tap on the monster in front of you. However, you can dodge the monster’s attacks by swiping left, right, or backward. While there is no time limit on Small Monsters, you must defeat Large Monsters in 75 seconds or less.
Break
If you focus on one part of a Large Monster, you have the chance to inflict Break. When this happens, the monster will collapse and it won’t be able to attack for a short amount of time. It will be completely vulnerable, allowing you to defeat it faster than usual.
Parry
The game never really addresses this feature, but it’s there! A monster will glow red to indicate that it will attack soon. If you time a dodge at the right moment, your character will leave behind a golden glow. Attacking the monster right after seeing this glow will allow you to inflict a high-damage attack. For example, if you’re regularly doing around 15 to 22 damage, this post-parry attack will deal around 100 to 120 damage.
Equipment
Your equipment is comprised of Weapons and Armor. You start the game with the basic Hunter’s Knife. As you progress and level up, you will be able to forge and upgrade more Weapons and Armor. These will help increase your stats, increase your damage, and allow you to take advantage of monsters’ element weaknesses.
Weapons
There are six types of Weapons in the game right now: Sword & Shield, Great Sword, Long Sword, Hammer, Light Bowgun, and Bow. You start with the Sword & Shield, but you’ll get access to the other Weapons after you complete Chapter 2 and reach Hunter Rank 15.
Armor
Like Weapons, Armor sets unlock as you progress and level up. There are 15 armor sets currently available. All of them are based on monsters in the game and are forged using those monsters’ materials.
All Armor sets have five pieces: head, chest, bracers, coils, and greaves. Each piece can be upgraded and overgraded. Upgrading raises the level of your piece. Overgrading increases the piece’s Grade. All pieces start at Level 1, Grade 1. After overgrading a piece to Grade 2, your armor will provide some kind of buff, like an attack boost or poison resistance.
Items
Your Item Box is split between Materials and Items. Materials are used for upgrading your Weapons and Armor while Items cover your Paintballs, First-Aid Meds, and Wander Orbs/Droplets.
Paintballs
These are awesome. If you’re truly on the go and don’t have time to challenge a Large Monster, you can mark them with a Paintball. The monster will then leave the area. However, your Paintball icon will turn orange and you can return to hunt the monster within about 48 hours of marking it. You can horde up to 8 monsters at a time on the Paintball menu.
This is great for saving Large Monsters for completing quests or forming a party if you need help defeating a powerful monster. Your Palico also gets a Paintball! These will refresh once per day, but they won’t roll over. So if you’re entirely free-to-play, you can only have one Palico Paintball at a time.
Quests
Finally, there are two types of quests: Story Quests and Special Quests. Progressing through the story will unlock more features and items for you. Currently, the Story Quests make up five prologues and 13 Chapters, though more will likely be added in the future.
Special Quests are your daily quests and will reset every day. These unlock at Hunter Rank 11 which coincides with the completion of the prologue. Your dailies are an extra way for you to earn experience after the prologue. At this point, simply completing the Story Quests will not raise your level. Completing Special Quests and defeating Large Monsters will generate experience.
Now, you are equipped with all the knowledge you need to hunt monsters and figure out how this reverse isekai even started. Happy hunting!
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