Toukiden: Age Of Demons

February 14, 2014 /

I almost didn’t pick this game up, judging by the screen shots. It looked like a bad Monster Hunter clone with an Eastern mythology skin slapped over the top. In a way, that’s exactly what it is, but it’s so pretty! It is so damned pretty! There is more to a game than just looks, but dammit if this game isn’t pretty.

Let’s start with the similarities. Much of the town stuff has a very Monster Hunter feel to it. They seem to have copy/pasted the whole town/mission aspect. They even give you a Poogie of sorts that also functions like the Felyne on the boat in a Fox-like demon called Tenko that you can send to the different areas (called ages) to collect things. Creating new armor also works very much like the classic Hunter series that started it all. Upgrading weapons and armor doesn’t quite work the same (More on that later). Even when you’re on missions, the maps are also very similar all the way down to the different numbered “zones”. Lastly, your missions often have you fighting enormous creatures with breakable parts that you can collect to buy new weapons and armor.

That’s where the similarities end, though. The most unique aspect of the game comes from the variety of the weapons. Instead of copying all of the weapons and how they function, Koei/Tecmo opted to create an entirely new set of weapons that are surprisingly unique. Some are similar to those in Monster Hunter, but ultimately they function in a vastly different way. The longsword could be compared to the greatsword or katana as it has a powerful charge attacks as well as fast swing cuts. It also has a dodge attack where the user spins to the side and slashes. Its special attack drains your stamina while coating your blade in energy that “marks” your targets. Once you have marked your target sufficiently, you can press the special attack button a second time which causes all your marks to explode. The more you hit a target, the more damage you deal when you finish the combo.

Other weapons like the gauntlets are incredibly skill-based in their use. If you time each strike perfectly just as they hit the enemy, you’ll land critical hits (called precision in this game) that deal much greater damage. The hard attack is an energy-based uppercut that can be charged up for more damage. Special attack uses stamina to strike in a flurry of blows. Each attack that hits, makes you attack faster, dealing more damage with the final blow. Because it uses your stamina, you can’t dodge out of the way after a flurry unless you cut it short, but then you lose the final hit which deals the most damage.

The rest of the weapons are a well varied with the long bow, dual swords, long spear, and chain & sickle (Kusarigama). I chose to go with the Kusarigama because it’s always been a favorite of mine in old kung-fu films. As it turns out, it’s a pretty fun weapon in the game, too. The light attack does sweeping ranged attacks in an arc in front of you using the chain. The hard attack uses the sickle to do extremely powerful close range strikes. Since the weapon shines at mid-range, hitting the light attack and dodge button at the same time does a ground strike and jumps backwards. It can be used at any point in an attack string, too. By holding down the light attack button, you’ll enter a targeting mode that, when you let go of the button, launches you toward the enemy you hit. If you hit the hard attack button while mid-air, you’ll do a very powerful three-hit combo with the sickle. It’s a very versatile weapon, and I am enjoying using it instead of the Hammer in Monster Hunter.

As mentioned before, upgrading weapons works differently in Toukiden. To upgrade a weapon, you need to use it in missions. Each weapon can be fortified up to nine times. At times, with the right collected parts and the right level of fortification, you can upgrade a weapon to a different version. Like Monster Hunter, this is cheaper than simply creating the weapon you desire. Unlike Monster Hunter, it’s not the easier way of getting new items. Upgrading armor works similarly; you must wear it in the field and gain affinity for each piece before you can fortify it. Unlike weapons, you must make each piece of armor separate using the bits and pieces you’ve collected from the world and monsters that you’ve slain. If all this wasn’t enough to convince you that it’s not just a Monster Hunter clone, nobody refers to you as a hunter. No. In Toukiden, you’re a Slayer. Take that!

In all seriousness, Toukiden is a great game on it’s own, but it does borrow some fundamentals from the great Monster Hunter. Before God’s Eater Burst, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Soul Sacrifice, and the many others formed the ‘hunter’ sub genre, many confused games like this with rpgs or classified them as action rpgs. I’m not entirely sure why, because they’re much more action games than role-playing games. If Toukiden were to have been the game to set the bar, I could possibly understand that confusions as there is actually a decent story here. Well, that’s not entirely true, but there are good moments of character development as you progress through the game. Overall, rather than simply going out and killing all of the dinosaurs and exotic over-sized creatures native to your land, Oni have found a way to cause rifts between their world and ours, and they’re gradually destroying the world as we know it. The Eastern and Western fronts have been completely over-run. In the center lies, one of the last bastions of human existence, Utakata Village. It is protected by an energy force created by the shrine maiden, Kikka. As the story progresses, you’ll meet other slayers who will be able to go on missions with you. By taking them with you and by using the non-combat NPC’s services, you’ll build your relationships with them, and they’ll begin to open up to you. It’s a refreshing change of pace when you’re expecting a straight forward hunter game.

About the only complaint that I’ve got with the game is the difficulty. I’m finding Toukiden to be oh so easy in comparison to the classic. Perhaps that’s to it’s merit though, because many people I know liked the idea of Monster Hunter, but just couldn’t get past the first Kut-ku or hated the gathering aspect of the game. Toukiden drops the gathering and makes the first big boss fight a breeze. I haven’t put nearly as many hours into Toukiden as I have put into Monster Hunter, so maybe it gets more difficult down the road. I sure hope it does.

I’ve been comparing Toukiden to Monster Hunter this whole article, but it’s Soul Sacrifice’s turn. I really liked Soul Sacrifice, but I missed the gathering and the upgrading systems. Toukiden doesn’t have the gathering, but upgrading is here, and I’m loving it. As much as I liked it, Soul Sacrifice just didn’t look all that good graphically. It felt like an updated PSP game more than a Vita game. Toukiden looks, feels, and plays like a Vita game should. You can set the rear touch pad to different button combinations or turn it off altogether (default), and the graphics are just great. When looking into the distance, it might seem like Monster Hunter looks better, but instead of using flat painted backdrops, Toukiden uses fully rendered polygonal backgrounds, and they still look really nice.

Online is smooth and I’ve rarely lagged, which can be frustrating in games like this. The fact that there is online is also just awesome, but the real fun comes from playing with three buddies in the same room using Ad-Hoc. The difficulty seems to go up quite a bit when playing with other people which is a a very good thing.

If you’ve got a Vita and have the hunter itch, Toukiden is a great way to scratch it.

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