Gatherin'

I don't often go to London. In fact, on this occasion I got lost a couple of times. But getting lost wasn't going to stop me, I had a mission to accomplish! I think I've mentioned it before, but Capcom have recently set up a Gathering Hall for Monster Hunter in London. I was pretty determined to experience it at least once.

For those who are unaware, Monster Hunter is best experienced as a multiplayer game. That's part of the reason it's been so successful in Japan, especially as most players are closer together and gaming is more common. Problem is, that's not the case here. So, Capcom have rented out part of a gallery in London for a couple of months to give players a convenient place to meet and play together. Only, not so convenient when you live closer to the Scottish border than London.

Regardless, I made my way there. As I was walking up Charing Cross Road, I was starting to wonder if I would notice it, I'd hate to walk right past it. I needn't have worried at all though, as seeing the front of a building with a Rathalos painted across it, along with "Gathering Hall" on the front, it was somewhat hard to miss. Some other people seemed intrigued as well, I saw a lot of people paying attention to the front as they walked by.

Anyway, I headed in, introduced myself, got myself a free t-shirt almost instantly (which is very nice by the way) and was then taken upstairs to where most players were. I only saw the lobby and the first floor, but I think there was maybe another floor above that. The decoration on the front also continued inside. The lobby had several weapons painted across the walls, whereas upstairs had various pieces of artwork and characters, along with the soundtrack playing in the background.

I quickly found a seat, received some free drinks, and started playing with a couple of others who were well above my level. At the time, I was Hunter Rank 2. The people I joined were both Rank 9, which is the current maximum I think. "What do you want to hunt?" they asked, so I explained that I'd been struggling a lot with Tigrex recently, only just defeating it before the 30 minute deadline was up. Two minutes later, they'd defeated one for me.

The rest of the session continued in this way, with them asking what I wanted to hunt and then they would continue to slaughter it incredibly quickly, with me offering some assistance, which was mediocre at best compared to them. They were very accommodating, and I probably didn't express my thanks as much as I should have. Later on in the session, one of the Capcom employees came in and said how they thought the Monster Hunter soundtrack kind of sucked, so they put some Daft Punk on instead. I'm pretty sure that fighting Lao Shan Lung, easily the biggest dragon in the game, to the sound of 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger' will probably be one of my favourite experiences with this game for some time.

Unfortunately, my time was limited. As I don't visit London often, there were some other places I wanted to see, so I did have to leave before I really wanted to. Eight hours on a train for two hours playing Monster Hunter is probably a good sign of dedication though, or stupidity. Probably somewhere between the two.

I'm certainly going to try and visit again before the place closes down. I really hope it's not a one off.