Koei TecmoTechnobubble covers games, gadgets, technology and all things geek. Follow Technobubble poobah Jason Hidalgo’s shenanigans on Twitter @jasonhidalgo or his Tabiasobi Youtube channelIt’s tough following after a trendsetter.Whether it be the countless Chik-fil-A chicken sandwich clones out there or early attempts at duplicating Apple’s iPhone success, grabbing mindshare from a perceived trailblazer can be practically impossible — even if you produce a better product.Throughout history, however, there have been exceptions to this uphill battle. Nintendo, for example, trumped Atari, and was then trumped by Sony, who then got trumped by Microsoft for some time before the cycle changed once again. Another good example is League of Legends, which has since eclipsed DOTA in the multiplayer online battle arena genre.This brings us to the hunting genre, where Monster Hunter has reigned supreme as the alpha dog since debuting in 2004. A different take on the online action genre popularized by Phantasy Star Online, Monster Hunter redefined that particular style of game with its highly technical combat and focus on both brandishing and wearing the spoils of victory on your person.

Material and mitama drops far quicker than the rest of the series (for those new to the Toukiden series, mitama are souls of battle heroes eaten by Oni that drop. By equipping mitama to your weapons, you have access to various skills and boosts. The mitama system in Toukiden 2, in my opinion, is vastly superior to Toukiden: Age of Demons. 207 rows  Notes mitama list was semi-automatically derived using data from koei.

So much so that it practically created its own new genre, where Monster Hunter flourished for years practically unopposed. Koei TecmoSuccess, however, breeds the sincerest form of flattery. Eventually, several new titles soon stepped forth to try and take Monster Hunter’s crown such as God Eater, Toukiden and even ex-Capcom guy Keiji Inafune’s Soul Sacrifice.As someone who loved Monster Hunter way before it became cool to like it, I reacted to each announcement of a Monster Hunter “clone” with excitement. After playing them, however, I would always find myself thinking, “Well, it’s not bad but it doesn’t come close to Monster Hunter.” Sometimes, it’s due to the faster combat employed by other games, which makes the combat more accessible but not as technically rewarding as Monster Hunter’s more deliberate mechanics. Other times, a game tries to be too different from Monster Hunter, which is understandable but also ends up missing the point about why people like the hunting genre in the first place.When I played the first Toukiden, I thought it was mechanically sound and featured awesome “oni” or demon designs. The game’s maps and foraging system, however, felt really lacking — almost as if they were afterthoughts — which hampered my enjoyment. I also did not feel as engaged with the game’s crafting system.As a result, I did not approach the sequel with the same excitement I felt before playing the original Toukiden.

Then I started playing the campaign. That’s when I noticed that Toukiden 2 added an open-world component with day and night cycles.

As someone who always wondered how nice Monster Hunter’s story mode would be if it had a campaign with open maps, this change was huge.“I can’t believe it,” I thought to myself with a big smile on my face. “They actually did it.”Add a more full-fledged story and it’s like the folks behind Toukiden got a hold of my personal Monster Hunter wish list and implemented it in their game. All of a sudden, Toukiden 2 no longer felt like a pretender or wannabe Monster Hunter title. It actually felt like its own bonafide game.Get hunting: Monster Hunter XX, Generations Key Quest GuidePersonally, I found this to be an awesome development. As someone who picked Monster Hunter Generations as my 2016 game of the year, I certainly have a strong affinity for Capcom’s hunting game. At the same time, I also want its competitors to do well. It’s good for a genre — especially one that has been dominated by one franchise for so long — when the leader is on its toes and inspired to innovate by strong competition.

Plus, I wanted a solid yet different enough hunting experience that I can dally with when taking breaks from Monster Hunter.In that case, Toukiden 2 certainly brings some different things to the table.One is its own unique art style, which has that Koei Tecmo look that borrows heavily from history — specifically, highly stylized interpretations of Japan’s feudal past. Then there’s the game’s “oni” or demons, which provide a nice, devilish contrast to Monster Hunter’s bestiary. In addition to looking different, Toukiden 2’s oni also carry over the unique mechanics from its previous games, which focuses on breaking body parts before you can do damage to the main body. This is one of the more interesting aspects of the game as an oni’s behavior can change depending on the body part you break.

I ended up taking away the legs of one oni boss, for example, and it started fighting me upside down while using its four arms as makeshift legs. Oni also can regenerate shattered limbs if you let them so it’s also important to purify a body part when you cut it off. Think of purifying as a carving mechanic of sorts that also takes out a body part from battle. This adds some strategy, too, as purifying can take a long time so you’ll need to do it while also paying attention to the rampaging oni that wants to crush you. Koei TecmoOne thing that Toukiden 2 throws into the mix is the Demon Hand mechanic, which initially acts as a grappling hook of sorts.

In addition to reaching certain high terrain on the field map, this also lets you jump up toward higher body parts like an oni’s head, for example, to do aerial combos. That’s quite helpful for, say, melee weapon users who want to get rewards from broken body parts that are normally tough to reach from the ground unless a monster is toppled. You can also use the hand to break field obstacles or absorb elements from Geopulses that you can either hurl at an enemy or imbue your weapon with.The Demon Hand, however, also has more advanced uses. Grab an oni with a glowing red aura, for example, and you can slam them to the ground, which looks especially cool when done while the monster is charging.

Target an oni body part with the hand while your Unity Gauge is full and you can do an “Oni Burial,” which can be used to completely destroy certain body parts and prevent their regeneration. Add your weapon’s Destroyer attack, which lets you cut out a body part when your weapon gauge is full, and you can have some hilariously fun sequences where you can take out multiple limbs one after the other. This is even better with a well-coordinated team as I’ve had poor oni who were completely limbless and desperately crawling or rolling around the field.Double Cross: Transferring Monster Hunter X data to XXWeapon selection, meanwhile is quite diverse and serves up a variety of styles.You have beginner-friendly weapons like the naginata, which feature easy combos as well as a counter that can be timed once you get the hang of it. Then you have more technical weapons like the sword, which relies on mixing button taps and holds, plus a cleansing sheathe that buffs subsequent attacks. Gauntlets are slow to attack but can stack damage by using timing-based critical chains that get more powerful after more hits and can also use a finisher that sets foes on fire and trigger a burn condition. For speed, you have double knives that can attack on the move via a special dash and even has a Schwarz Bruder-type tornado attack a la G Gundam.As someone who started Monster Hunter as a gunner and mained firearms until the Insect Glaive came out, however, I found myself using the rifle for the bulk of my time with Toukiden 2. With unlimited bullets and sustained as well as quick reload functions, you can pretty much concentrate on firing at enemy nodes or weak points in Toukiden 2.

There’s also a grenade combo where shooting it can trigger different effects depending on the ammo you use. Hitting a grenade with a sniper bullet, for example, will make an enemy node turn blue, which makes it more susceptible to damage. Koei TecmoIf all that wasn’t enough already, the game also features a Mitama system that gives you access to various special attacks and buffs depending on which ones you use. Obtained from defeating tough oni, these Mitama contain the soul of a deceased hero from history and can be equipped to either your weapon, armor or Demon Hand. Mitama equipped to a weapon, for example, allow you to use one of four special moves depending on its trait. These range from attack and defense buffs to healing or dealing more damage to oni body parts. Blosics 2 unblocked. Other Mitama can prevent you from falling in battle or even resurrect you when you fulfill certain conditions after biting the dust.

Equipping Mitama that contain heroes who have a relationship or have similar traits also lead to different Combination Boosts such as a longer life bar or preventing your skills from being blocked.Combat itself feels like it’s somewhere in the middle of the more methodical Monster Hunter and faster-paced God Eater mechanics. It’s basically a happy medium for folks who think that Monster Hunter combat is too technical while God Eater is a bit more on the spammy side.Glorious: Nier Automata a mighty mashup of gameplay mechanicsA feature that Monster Hunter purists might find sacrilegious is the presence of full monster lock-on, not just on the main monster body but individual body parts.

Personally, I’m used to manual aim so I don’t use lock-on as much for gunning, especially when doing grenade combos or shooting specific nodes. Lock-on can certainly make the game easier at times, though.

Like God Eater, Toukiden 2 also lets you use partner AI, which is surprisingly competent in this game. There are still times when the AI would have a brain fart but for the most part, they actually do a really good job.One thing that Toukiden 2 has a leg up on Monster Hunter is its campaign.

In addition to the aforementioned open-world mechanics, Toukiden 2 also has a full-fledged tale with flashy cut scenes and a complete story that I actually enjoyed going through (I admittedly chuckled at an online comment describing it as a parody of the recent U.S. Granted, it gets tropish at times — I mean, how many Japanese games have seriously used the main-character-with-amnesia plot at this point? But I ultimately developed an affinity with its cast, including the kooky Professor and tiny machina warrior Tokitsugu. As someone who loves campaigns in any video games, it’s the type of story mode that I wish Monster Hunter would have as it has always been the main weakness of that otherwise stellar series. I also like Toukiden 2’s online offerings, which include solo and multiplayer hub missions as well as survival-style towers that as you doing a boss rush of sorts.One potential downside for the game, especially for newcomers to the genre, is it breadth of systems and information that you have to learn. While the game has an excellent tutorial for weapon and Demon Hand control, things like Mitama usage, grenade effects and a whole slew of other system mechanics would overwhelm and confuse most folks. Given that the manual is a bit of a pain to go through on the PS4, I recommend using this one from Steam and just note the different button symbols.

Koei TecmoI also miss the dynamic enemy movement from Monster Hunter as oni boss fights typically limit you within a contained sphere. The open-world sections, meanwhile, while positive overall, also suffer from the same problems I’ve seen in other open-world games. These include fetchy quests and having to traverse large areas repeatedly to get from point A to point B — including areas where bosses respawn and must be fought all over again — even after you’ve unlocked checkpoints you can teleport to. At the very least, it can be a time-consuming process. At its worst, it can be an annoying pain, particularly when you haven’t purified the miasma in a region yet and basically run out of time and faint from miasma poisoning because you had to essentially go through a boss rush involving several oni one after the other.Other minor niggles include the camera wonking out in tight spaces, during aerial combos and certain boss fights, like this one giant mudfish-eel-looking creature. It’s also easy to accidentally do a Demon Burial when you don’t mean to when the Unity Gauge is full. One recurring problem is that I did not feel as captivated by the weapon and armor crafting part of the game, which has been a problem for me since the first game.

Maybe it’s because armor in this game doesn’t have the same skill variety you see in Monster Hunter, so I didn’t feel quite as invested. Bosses also aren’t as technically challenging as Monster Hunter. Most of the difficulty doesn't come from their patterns but instead comes from how hard they hit at higher levels.Simple and clean: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue reviewAll that being said, I loved my time with Toukiden 2, which surprisingly sucked in way more time from my schedule than I thought it would. Monster Hunter still continues to be king to me overall, particularly from a mechanical perspective. Toukiden 2, however, is a much closer second now than its predecessor ever was, or any Monster Hunter clone for that matter.Even after finishing the campaign, there’s still a lot to do, including online, and I constantly find myself being lured back to play it.

That and occasionally thinking “Man, I wish Monster Hunter had this feature,” when I play. For a self-avowed big Monster Hunter fan, the fact that this game now competes for my time with Capcom’s hunting franchise is the highest compliment I can give it.FINAL THOUGHTSToukiden 2 steps up big time from its predecessor, featuring a new open world with a fleshed out campaign while throwing in a fun Demon Hand mechanic that makes breaking demon body parts a bonafide hoot. It’s still not enough to dethrone Monster Hunter from the top of its perch for this fan of Capcom’s premier hunting franchise.

It’s the closest any Monster Hunter clone has gotten, though, making it my second-favorite series in the hunting genre. Rating: 8.5 out of 10. Cost: $59.99, PS4 (reviewed); $39.99 Vita. http://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/toukiden2/.