So I just finished Toukiden: Kiwami (well, Chapter 12, is there anything really story related in 13?) and just came here to gush.
I went in blind after the Humble Bundle sale and man, it was great fun. I didn't know much about the game, only that it fairly resembled MH. I've never even played MH, but thought I'd try an MH-type game one day. Low and behold, T:K came.
I didn't expect there to be a story in the game. I don't know if MH has one, but I've never heard anyone mention story alongside MH, so I didn't expect one aside from bare minimum in T:K. So I was floored at having an actual fleshed out story. It's not anything special, but man, it has a lot of charm to it. I was invested in the characters and it was nice. I didn't know what to expect, so when Chapter 5 finished, I was like 'please don't be the end, please let there be more'. I thought there would be more, but one can never be too sure, especially given how Chapter 6 and 7 are laid out.
Thankfully there was more, and it was another fun romp through the game.
Getting on to the gameplay, again, only knowing basic things about MH, I went into it just hoping I'd do well. I enjoyed having a lot of weapons to choose from and even though there is a lot of repetition (which I expected from an MH-esque game) I think weapon variety can help eleviate that tired feeling of fighting the same monster type yet again. In my playthrough, I started with the Naginata, then went on to a Spear, then the Club, then briefly messed with the Rifle, then onto Dual Fists, then finally back to the Club again.
I started getting the hang of the game when I first used the Club, so I might not have been properly utilising the Naginata and Spear. That said, I really like the Club and Dual Fists. My weapon switches were generally caused by seeing whatever weapon I could make at a given point in time. So for instance I went onto Dual Fists because I could make a strong weapon whereas I was lacking material for the Club equivalent. I felt like that was a neat and simple way to be able to test out multiple weapons, rather then tie myself down to just one. The rifle was by far the hardest or at least weirdest to utilise, but I wanted a weapon to combat fast/jumpy monsters, as the Club was too slow, and I think it helped a lot. I still wasn't wholly comfortable with it, but it felt good. I briefly trained with Bow, but opted for the Rifle for a short while. The Dual Fists were surprisingly good against fast enemies too, so I dropped the Rifle quickly.
It does give me plenty of reason to continue playing though, as I never touched the sword or dual knives or the chain and sickle. I can also utilise different Mitama setups now too. The first half of the game, I mainly utilised a Healing Mitama, but in the second half I started dominating enemies using Defence Mitama's. I loved how they progressed too, adding 1 extra and then 2 extra. Then you get an extra ability for maxed Mitama's (so like another Mitama slot really). The game just felt like it was continuously rewarding, and I loved it. I also liked the little I played using a Luck Mitama. Definitely more there to test out in the future.
Okay, I don't want to go on too long, but I wanted to at least touch upon the Quest structure. It was the weakest part of the game for me. From not knowing where/how to get items (other then just blindly running around picking things up or paying close attention to monster drops) to stuff triggering randomly. I finished chapter 12 with 500 max item slot, which meant I was selling stuff to accomodate new stuff. I assumed Tatara's levelling up your capacity was finished, but apparently it's hidden behind a random quest? Hell, I have quest given to me in chapter 1 and 2 that I never completed because I have no idea where to get things from. And some of those are tied to main characters, meaning their companion level went up slowly.
One other thing, I would've liked more random running around an Age killing small mobs missions, rather than just more and more repeated Boss missions. This was more pronounced in the second half, and mission structures became even more repetetive.
Okay, that's all! I just wanted to quickly talk about my enjoyment of the game. 2015 had been a weak year for me, both in terms of my own expectation of games and the expectation game devs put on games. I went into T:K with little expectation and came away loving it. I am sooo looking forward to Toukiden 2.
tl;dr I loved Toukiden: Kiwami
