Glutton Axe

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Glutton Axe

Yesterday I had the day off and spent a good deal of it playing Monster Hunter World.  I allowed myself to get distracted by seeking out a weapon that was shockingly easy to craft.  Essentially I had been trying to determine which of the switch axes I would go after first.  The clear obvious choice is the Diablos one… the problem there is I really don’t want to go right back to grinding Diablos nonstop to get the parts I would need for it…  which are again are Majestic and Black Spiral Horns.  Instead I decided to set my sights considerably lower, on something I could probably farm up in my sleep.

Glutton Axe

The Jagras line doesn’t exactly have a ton of amazing weapons, but in the switch axe department it is a pretty reasonable option.  Its low point is it is only a Rank 6 weapon, but based on its stats it should probably be Rank 7?  It has hidden elemental sleep, and when transformed into sword mode has exhaust damage.  If I remember correct that means that when hitting the head the exhaust damage can KO the monster.  All that it really required me to do was kill a nonsensical number of Great Jagras… since that isn’t exactly a monster I hunt on the regular.  However with minimal farming I managed to get the switch axe crafted and play around a bit with it.  It will at least hold me over until something awesome drops from Kulve Taroth at some point.

Glutton Axe

The other mission is still very much active however, and I did kill several Rathian yesterday, enough to I believe get all of the Spikes that I needed.  Now I just have to wait for a Rathian Ruby to drop before crafting that final Gunlance.  As Ashgar posted yesterday, I do probably intend to make the Zorah Magdaros one as well, since I have already crafted the first version of it.  I believe I just need another Zorah Gem before being able to craft the Rank 8 version.  That would give me Long 4 and Normal 4 to play with and get used to both.  Then again I hope I get a decent Wide 4 weapon to drop during Kulve Taroth.  I fully expect to be farming the hell out of that event when it finally goes live.  I think hammer is going to be a much better option to breaking things than Longsword was on the console.

Spectacular Failures

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Spectacular Failures

One of the things I greatly enjoy about Monster Hunter World is that failure sometimes looks amazing.  Success or fail, when you end a hunt you get a screenshot.  This is one of the many failure shots from Xeno’Jiiva that I have from the weekend.  However this one is actually well after I had beat the fight the first time, but was forced to keep farming for parts.  Often times the best looking shots come from colossally failing at an encounter.  This one is from when multiple people fighting Xeno and not noticing it was about to explode… so three people got carted at exactly the same time ending the hunt.

Spectacular Failures

Immediately upon downing Xeno’Jiiva for the first time I shot ahead to 29, the next level cap.  This is something that happened last time as well given that I did a lot of grinding and hunting while capped at the previous level.  I immediately turned around and got into the hunt for Double Bazelguese at which point I lept ahead to 41…  once again something that happened before since I did a lot of hunting while avoiding trying to fight Xeno.  Now I am slowly working my way up to the next cap of 49…  which is Tempered Kirin…  something I am not looking forward to at all.

Spectacular Failures

That said I am slowly watching back up to where I was when I stopped playing the PS4 release.  All of the grinding of Nergigante and Xeno’jiiva was to be able to craft Extermination’s Edge the long sword I had been using prior to the restart.  I talked the other day about crafting the Diablos hammer, and the recent event let me craft Wyvern Ignition another “end game” weapon.  Similarly over the weekend I managed to craft the Fiendish Tower the final form of the Deviljho lance, giving me a forth end game weapon.

Spectacular Failures

Right now my mission is to craft another item that in theory will be an end game weapon.  I’ve been farming the hell out of High Rank Rathian because I need an excessive number of Spikes and a Gem to be able to craft Royal Burst.  I’ve seen so many people using this Gunlance, so in theory I figured I would craft it and try it out.  Wide Range weapons seem to be en vogue, however what I am reading is that you cannot get wide shelling 4 without getting a lucky drop from Kulve Taroth.  Instead I am going to give a shot no pun intended at normal shelling.  From there…  the next missing is probably going to be to farm a bunch more Deviljho so I can turn the stage one Sword and Shield that I crafted into the final form by gathering up yet another Gem.  From there… I need to sort out what Charge Blade and Switch Axe that I want to work towards.  Basically… this is Monster Hunter for me…  hunting monsters, making weapons…  hunting more monsters.  Regardless I feel like I am in a pretty great state for when the Kulve Taroth event comes in November.

Reading Challenge #72: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

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Whoops. I read this book for my challenge back in August, but never wrote up my review. Better late than never! Let’s talk about Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, first published in 1864.

This is a novel that has permeated popular culture through movies adaptations that don’t always closely resemble the original work. I tried to go all the way to the true original and read it in French (I’m trying to learn the language), but sadly I just didn’t have the vocabulary to handle this book in anything other than English.

It is quite densely packed with the scientific understandings of the day. Sometimes these were quite wrong, while others were accurate. The one that surprised me the most was the mention of how fossil fuels like coal are limited resources, and one day humanity was going to have to figure out what to do when they run out. It’s something that has been understood by scientists for a long time, but it was almost shocking to see it in a novel this old! This was counterbalanced by some truly unfortunate notions about facial structure, race, and intelligence. I can’t be surprised, given when this was published, but it is still never fun to encounter racism pretending to be science.

The story is basically what it says in the title. It is written from the perspective of Axel, nephew and research assistant of Professor Liedenbrock. It details how the professor found a scrap of text, written in runes and code, that claimed to show the way to enter to the center of the earth. The professor, a geologist, becomes obsessed with finding this passage and reaching the earth’s core. He drags his poor beleaguered nephew along with him. They have to travel from Germany to Iceland in a rush so they can arrive on the correct day to see the shadow of a specific mountain point out the correct tunnel.

Throughout the story Axel is constantly trying to counter his uncle, both to try to give up on the voyage and return home, and to try to challenge his theories about the nature of the earth’s interior. The majority of the book is fairly dry description of their voyage and the environments they see. Mostly it consists of darkness and rocks. This still presents some perils, as the explorers face running out of supplies, and failing light sources.

Although various adaptations tend to spend lots of time focused on encounters with dinosaurs and early humans, in the text these events are rare and brief. It helps keep the tone from becoming too ridiculous or silly, but it also leaves the story feeling a bit unexciting. In fact most of the action in the book is strangely passive, as our protagonists are buffeted by high winds on their underground sailing excursion, or forced up out of a volcano at the story’s climax.

TL;DR: I enjoyed this look at early science fiction, and would recommend it for anyone who is interested in the roots of the genre. If you are only going to read one 19th century sci-fi novel, though, I would look elsewhere for more excitement.

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Rating: 4/5 stars

Next up: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

 

Reading Challenge #72: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

by
Whoops. I read this book for my challenge back in August, but never wrote up my review. Better late than never! Let’s talk about Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, first published in 1864. This is a novel that has permeated popular culture through movies adaptations that don’t always closely resemble the original work. I tried to go all the way to the true original and read it in French (I’m trying to learn the language), but sadly I just didn’t have the vocabulary to handle this book in anything other than English. It is quite densely packed with the scientific understandings of the day. Sometimes these were quite wrong, while others were accurate. The one that surprised me the most was the mention of how fossil fuels like coal are limited resources, and one day humanity was going to have to figure out what to do when they run out. It’s something that has been understood by scientists for a long time, but it was almost shocking to see it in a novel this old! This was counterbalanced by some truly unfortunate notions about facial structure, race, and intelligence. I can’t be surprised, given when this was published, but it is still never fun to encounter racism pretending to be science. The story is basically what it says in the title. It is written from the perspective of Axel, nephew and research assistant of Professor Liedenbrock. It details how the professor found a scrap of text, written in runes and code, that claimed to show the way to enter to the center of the earth. The professor, a geologist, becomes obsessed with finding this passage and reaching the earth’s core. He drags his poor beleaguered nephew along with him. They have to travel from Germany to Iceland in a rush so they can arrive on the correct day to see the shadow of a specific mountain point out the correct tunnel. Throughout the story Axel is constantly trying to counter his uncle, both to try to give up on the voyage and return home, and to try to challenge his theories about the nature of the earth’s interior. The majority of the book is fairly dry description of their voyage and the environments they see. Mostly it consists of darkness and rocks. This still presents some perils, as the explorers face running out of supplies, and failing light sources. Although various adaptations tend to spend lots of time focused on encounters with dinosaurs and early humans, in the text these events are rare and brief. It helps keep the tone from becoming too ridiculous or silly, but it also leaves the story feeling a bit unexciting. In fact most of the action in the book is strangely passive, as our protagonists are buffeted by high winds on their underground sailing excursion, or forced up out of a volcano at the story’s climax. TL;DR: I enjoyed this look at early science fiction, and would recommend it for anyone who is interested in the roots of the genre. If you are only going to read one 19th century sci-fi novel, though, I would look elsewhere for more excitement.
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
 Rating: 4/5 stars Next up: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson