Official Monster Hunter Thread

Been playing this on and off for a couple days, thought I'd share my impressions.

Firstly, Capcom really needed a better demo. Instead of chucking people in the deep end there needed to be tutorial mechanics like in the full game. Nothing extensive, just show people what to do instead of giving them a blade and saying 'Here you are, now go kill Bugs Bunny's psycho uncle'.

Secondly, text being so small in the bottom left of the screen is really awkward. I shudder to think what it must look like on SDTVs.

Now that the grumbles are out of the way, now for the good stuff. I like this a fair bit. It took a while to learn how everything works, but it is quite rewarding to do so, and the equipment synthesizing being the character upgrade mechanism instead of RPG-style leveling is surprisingly fresh. Playing it fullscreen with no hud or any other indicators is something a lot of games could do with supporting; just move all that stuff to the GamePad. Playing Wind Waker like that will certainly be an eye-pleasing experience.

The online stuff was both pleasant and awkward. Having never used a lobby system like that before, it took some time to work out but going on hunts with other players was quite fun, and the DLC should keep that side of things going nicely. It's annoying though how you can't contact people on your friends list that are playing the game if they aren't in network mode; an option for a small part of the game to be constantly connected online just to receive messages like that would have helped a lot. As it is we'll have to make arrangements to time any C3 hunts in future.

So yeah, in summary I quite like it, and hope to build a badass set of armour soon. Not quite decided on what weapon to stick with; Twin Blades are quick and durable but lack strength, Sword + Shield have speed but not durability, Great Sword has strength but lacks speed, and I've never been a long-distance/gun type of player, so I'm experimenting with weapons right now. Once the Off-TV play update arrives I'll play even more of it, so any tips you guys have in the meantime would be appreciated.

Update is now live. Looks like I know what I'll be doing in bed tonight. (Playing MH3U on the GamePad, that is!)

( Edited 16.04.2013 01:22 by Mush )

Uni Qlo has loads of MH4 T-Shirts for anyone that's interested!

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (MH4G in Japan) announced for worldwide release in 2015

That's ages away T_T at least we know it's coming.

At the very least Capcom made the right move here, imagine if they gave us MH4 this Spring/Summer with MH4G coming out in Japan not much later. The gap between Japan/West is much better than MH3U as well and even if they localised it faster, a release during Q4 2014 would be suicide considering that's the time where all the AAA blockbusters come out. Just ask Ubisoft how well that worked for them in the case of Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. Q1 2015 is definitely the better choice, even if we have to wait a few more months.

Yeah I guess you're right, it would probably end up getting overshadowed in Q4 2014. Surprised there's no Wii U version though.

Hard to say if the demand would be there for a Wii U version, I'd certainly assume that the Wii U version of MH3U sold more in the west because of online play/console experience but the install base difference may have balanced that out. I'd love a Wii U version that has just enough visual improvements so it looks decent on the big screen but maybe they don't consider it worth the effort now that MH4U has online play. 3DS XL with a Circle Pad Pro XL should be just fine too, though.

( Edited 26.01.2014 19:43 by SirLink )

Some of the updates in 4G, Monoblos and Diablos are back and the new monsters from 4 have subspecies.

The fact that you can now take advantage of upswings that would otherwise be a bad thing to perform a jump attack and then even mount the monster is pure hype (at 1:43). Taking teamwork to a whole new level!

Alright guys, since quite a lot of people have the demo I wanted to ask how the demo is from a newcomer's perspective out of sheer curiosity. I won't play it right now because of complicated reasons but even if I did, I wouldn't really be able to judge if they've improved it for those that aren't a walking Monster Hunter encyclopaedia.

I'd be happy to answer any questions that may pop up, too!

Haven't been able to get to playing it yet though i was planning to do so, but will get back here with an opinion after I tried, but I won't get my hopes high too much from watching the trailers, it seems to be as hard to get into as ever, seeing how the characters move. I'm not optimistic one bit anyway.

From what I've played, it has the same mechanics as previous games, so people who don't like the control scheme probably aren't going to like this one.

That said, the demo is pretty good for dipping your toes. There's absolutely no character customization or crafting in the demo, and no reason to get into gathering (you can gather but there's no point), but if you want to run around for 20 minutes and slash away at some monsters, you can do that.

I've only played the easy mission (Great Jaggi) so far (wanted to get acquainted with the new weapon types) but it's pretty much unloseable, as far as I can tell. You get two Felynes who spam healing and whatnot on you, so as long as you can mash X, you pretty much can't fail it. You also get a ton of items in case the Felynes aren't helpful for some reason.

All in all, I don't get the impression that the learning curve has been altered. This seems like it caters to people who are already fans of the series. I remember how daunting Tri was when I first played it, but I played the crap out of it on Wii and Wii U so I'm used to everything by now.

Can't seem to figure out the vaulting thing. It starts you out on Great Jaggi's back, but I haven't been able to grab on a single time since.

I really like the new weapon types. I might main charge sword. It's pretty OP honestly, I took down Great Jaggi with only one region switch.

Does anyone know if the demo/final game will be region-locked? I'm in the U.S. but I'd love to play with you guys.

crackedthesky said:
Does anyone know if the demo/final game will be region-locked? I'm in the U.S. but I'd love to play with you guys.

Also, have you tried playing the demo on the beginner difficulty settings with the tutorials enabled? I haven't played too much of the demo, so never tried it.

( Edited 21.01.2015 18:21 by Mush )

I actually meant the demo in particular, not if they dumbed down the core mechanics to make them more accessible (they definitely shouldn't). Do they have short tutorials on how to use a weapon type in the demo? That kind of stuff. Maybe even some short bit at the end of a demo quest that points out that the full game is far more than just "hack and slash" and shows examples of the character customisation and crafting.

I don't think the learning curve will ever change if the core mechanics stay faithful, no matter what Capcom does. This is still a series that defines the quote "You only get out what you put in". They have made massive improvements in the last third generation that aren't acknowledged enough, though. It's something that really became apparent to me after playing Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Now THAT is a game that's loaded with artificial difficulty (mainly the broken hitboxes) and a severe lack of both information and refinements to the formula that anyone who started with Tri would take for granted. It makes Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate look extremely accessible in comparison.

Mounting a monster is actually a status effect in a way, because you need to perform jump attacks to 'apply' the status and once you reach a certain limit you mount the monster. It's really just like the other status effects in the game, like paralysis or poison. If you could mount a monster every time just by jumping onto it, the mechanic would be totally overpowered, especially in multiplayer.

Mush said:
Pretty sure Capcom already confirmed that NA and Europe will be able to hunt alongside each other online, from the moment the game launches this time. The only region we won't be able to interact with is Japan, which is more than understandable.

Also, have you tried playing the demo on the beginner difficulty settings with the tutorials enabled? I haven't played too much of the demo, so never tried it.

Yeah, I had tutorials on. They're text-only, and some guy just pops up and tells me to "vault onto the monster's back" or something like that.

There's a little cinema that shows your character run to a wall, leap off of it, and land on Great Jaggi's back. That's not actually doable in-game, though, from what I can tell.

If you're using the Insect Glaive weapon, there's actually a jump button (R+X or something) and I tried hopping onto Jaggi's back, but my character never grabbed on.

I also tried leaping from nearby ledges, but I always just kind of glance off of him. Don't know if I'm supposed to press a button to grab on or something.

I only had tutorials on the first time I tried it, I guess I should turn them back on and try again and see if I missed something.

SirLink said:
I actually meant the demo in particular, not if they dumbed down the core mechanics to make them more accessible (they definitely shouldn't).  Do they have short tutorials on how to use a weapon type in the demo? That kind of stuff. Maybe even some short bit at the end of a demo quest that points out that the full game is far more than just "hack and slash" and shows examples of the character customisation and crafting.

I don't think the learning curve will ever change if the core mechanics stay faithful, no matter what Capcom does. This is still a series that defines the quote "You only get out what you put in". They have made massive improvements in the last third generation that aren't acknowledged enough, though. It's something that really became apparent to me after playing Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Now THAT is a game that's loaded with artificial difficulty (mainly the broken hitboxes) and a severe lack of both information and refinements to the formula that anyone who started with Tri would take for granted. It makes Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate look extremely accessible in comparison.

Mounting a monster is actually a status effect in a way, because you need to perform jump attacks to 'apply' the status and once you reach a certain limit you mount the monster. It's really just like the other status effects in the game, like paralysis or poison. If you could mount a monster every time just by jumping onto it, the mechanic would be totally overpowered, especially in multiplayer.

There are text-based tutorials like in Tri, where it freezes the game while a guy's face pops up and tells you vaguely what to do. These come at the beginning of the mission though,they don't pop up when they're relevant. Well, a few of them do, but mostly you get a textual infodump at the start of a mission (base camp area with the red and blue chests).

As far as I saw, there's no examples given of the non-hunting stuff. After you beat the mission's monster, it gives you about a minute to run around and do whatever, then says "thanks for playing" and asks if you want to go to the eShop or pick a different mission.

Any idea how you actually inflict the grab status? The game didn't seem to say anything about jump attacks or it being a status, from what I recall it was just a simple "hey look you can grab monsters!" and then it was never mentioned again.

I'm starting to think I may have just not been paying attention, lol. I'm going to go back and play through it real quick, I think.

Edit: I think I figured out my problem. The text tutorial about jump attacks is given during the jumping tutorial (it displays the first time you jump off a ledge) and I think I button-mashed through that one, lol.

( Edited 21.01.2015 19:19 by crackedthesky )

crackedthesky said:
Any idea how you actually inflict the grab status? The game didn't seem to say anything about jump attacks or it being a status, from what I recall it was just a simple "hey look you can grab monsters!" and then it was never mentioned again.

You can also perform a jump attack after jumping off a climbable surface (like a wall), by pressing the A button.

( Edited 21.01.2015 19:33 by Mush )

Yeah, I've gotten a few jump attacks in on lesser monsters now, but none on Great Jaggi. He always moves out of the way, lol. I imagine this is easier on larger/slower bosses.

I could get some jump attacks on the Great Jaggi personally, on first try after trying out the demo just now. I wanted to take out the circle pad pro to properly enjoy this demo so had to remove my bigger battery and switch back to my original one so I could use it, and since I have to review a game that's compatible with it, now was as good a time as any to finally go hands on with the demo .

Gotta say this feels like they've done nothing to ease newcomers in, contrary to what they claim, the gameplay feels just as sluggish as always and hard to get into, and sounds like it'll still take tens of hours to master, which is time that I can't afford to spend on a single game these days... though I do grasp the appeal of the game of course. I quite like the long sword, it's not too slow, seems to still deal considerable damage, AND it doesn't seem too complicated to pull of certain combos with it, but then again, I don't think that would be my saving grace outside the beginner's level, as it certainly must not deal nearly as much damage as the great sword.

RudyC3 said:
Gotta say this feels like they've done nothing to ease newcomers in, contrary to what they claim, the gameplay feels just as sluggish as always and hard to get into, and sounds like it'll still take tens of hours to master, which is time that I can't afford to spend on a single game these days... though I do grasp the appeal of the game of course. I quite like the long sword, it's not too slow, seems to still deal considerable damage, AND it doesn't seem too complicated to pull of certain combos with it, but then again, I don't think that would be my saving grace outside the beginner's level, as it certainly must not deal nearly as much damage as the great sword.

Chances are, if you don't enjoy Monster Hunter as of now, you probably won't ever get into it. My first MH game was Tri and it took me a few hours to get to grips with the game, using the SnS and LS. I don't regret the learning curve though, I'm actually really glad I gave the series a Tri. (Terrible pun, but you get the idea. )

My MH4U impressions so far:

It feels like a DLC for Monster Hunter Tri. Same graphics, so far I think I've seen exactly one armor that wasn't available in Tri, only a handful of new monsters. The climbing mechanic is interesting, but where I am now (which is still pretty early) the only really new stuff is the location itself, and the two new weapon types.

That said, it's Monster Hunter, so I'm still having a ton of fun with it. Haven't unlocked free hunt yet (for a while I was worried there wasn't one, but I looked it up and apparently there's a randomly-generated free hunt mode, which sounds awesome).

I'm hoping there's more new content as you progress (I'm only on the second tier of quests).