Monster Hunter: it’s a series I’ve always meant to try, but it just seems so intimidating.
There’s the fact that you’re jumping into a series halfway through — even if there is no real ‘story’ to worry about. There’s the whole upgrading/stat overload thing to deal with. Then there’s Monster Hunter’s reputation for being extremely difficult.
Then there’s the time investment thing: almost everyone I know who plays Monster Hunter really plays Monster Hunter. It becomes all they play. It becomes an obsession. I guess what I’m trying to say here is this: no-one plays Monster Hunter for 20 hours and moves along with a spring in their step. It’s either a couple of hours — whoops not for me — or 5000 goddamn hours, give-up-sustenance-meditate-on-mountains-whilst-playing-Monster-Hunter. That’s the choice you have here. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.
Because I know I’m gonna love Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate if I play it. I’m all too aware of this fact. “If you like Dark Souls,” people tell me, “you’ll love Monster Hunter.”
I really like Dark Souls. What would a game like Monster Hunter do to my life? I’m afraid to find out.
Anyway, this is your chance: this is your chance to gush so hard about Monster Hunter4 Ultimate that I’ll actually consider playing it for real. You have a proper chance to ruin my life.
USE THIS POWER WISELY.
What did you think of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments
33 responses to “Community Review: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate”
On the weekend I clung to the back of a dragon, stabbing it repeatedly while wearing a lobster suit and screaming ‘ROCK LOBSTER’ in the chat.
jump on the back of Daimyo Hermitaur and screaming ARE YOU FEELING IT NOW MR KRABS is my favourite
I don’t think its as definite as that, I have a friend who loves Dark Souls but hates Monster Hunter. 4U is definitely the version to jump into, its more transparent than ever and the tutorials have gotten a lot better, best of all NO SWIMMING
No swimming?! Sold.
I think I have to buy this now. I loved playing 3U on my Wii U, the only thing that’s stopping me from getting 4U is the fact that I want to play it on a TV not on my 3ds.
Good move getting rid of the swimming though, that really dragged 3U down.
I actually kinda liked the swimming in MH Tri. It added an interesting new dynamic when fighting monsters underwater. Plus you could actually haul one of them out of the water with a fishing line to make the fight easier.
I skipped 3U on the Wii U since it was basically an HD version of MH Tri, which I had already played.
I don’t have a 3DS, so I won’t be playing 4U, but if they bring it to the Wii U with nice upgraded visuals I’ll seriously consider it.
The new free flowing multi level aspect to the levels feel to me like they more than make up for any of the good aspects of the swimming that are no longer there.
Running and jumping around the levels, climbing to more strategic spots, positioning and baiting the monster so it’s just *there*… It’s all been so much fun. I’m actually genuinely surprised how much fun I’ve been having so far.
Swimming was fine in Tri and probably was in 3U on WiiU and with the CPP on 3DS, but without it it was a nightmare on the3DS
Yeah, i’d still recommend a circlepad even without swimming tho, unless you have the new 3ds.
Depends on how comfortable you find the CPP, I can’t stand it personally, the L targeting is perfectly viable
Swimming in 3u was broken on the wii u. The cop on the wii let you swim up/down with zr/zl. That was absent from 3u, and it was worse off for it.
Fair enough, I never played on the wiiu
76 hours down now, 60 of them were in the first week. Been busy this week, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing many a dawn once I get home again :p
Don’t know that I can really think of what to say to sell it… it’s just cool. For some reason.
I can’t believe that I’m past your playtime – I noticed mine shows 78 as of last night…
You’re just casual players then guys?
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKE_ZJ-QpQ
At 70 hours I only just got to the crab that was in the demo I played at PAX…
There’s still loads to go.
I’m only HR7 but I’ve reached the end of 10* caravan though I’ve not done all of the missions in 6* yet.
Never a fan of Dark/Demon souls though I wanted to be. Also never got into the MH series. MH4U however is freaking awesome. Purchased the New 3DS XL for it and it was well worth the purchase.
I played MH3U for 20 odd hours on wii u and got over it.
Monster hunter 4 Ultimate. It is a game where you become PETA’s worst digital nightmare, but hey those ancient dragonhide boots don’t make themselves. You run around hunting down increasingly tougher monsters to build increasingly more badass weapons and armor. However all monsters have 1 thing in common. They can all kill you if you approach them like a muscle headed thug, with each of them having their own unique set of strategies and move sets to learn and maneuver around.
This is what keeps the game fresh, every hunt is a beautifully choreographed dance between you and the monster. With failures and successes through this dance you learn that the most useful thing you can take into this game is experience and boy does it reward you for that.
yep. I remember reading an article somewhere that nailed what the basis of battles in MH is about – pattern recognition. Which is why walking up to a wyvern like a thug gets you killed. The developers spent a lot of effort programming the monster’s motion by hand to match the monster’s ‘closest’ real life animals.
Never played dark souls, but currently 60+ hours in. Strangely enough, it’s Majora’s Mask that I haven’t really touched since I bought it… (haven’t even done a temple yet lol). No better time to start the series than now, no swimming (was horrible on the 3DS with no C stick), instructions built into the start menu (hunter’s notes) and even weapon tutorial missions. Still a learning curve with some of the item combinations and skills but that’s all part of exploring the game imo
Been playing tons of MH4U, also played tons of MH3U.
If you have never played or only have limited experience with the franchise, MH4 is a fantastic place to jump in at. Tutorials are clearer, the story is actually not half bad (for a monster hunter game) It seems easier in the early stages with slightly more predictable monster movements etc and a smoother progression curve (though this could have been due to previous experience going in).
There are still some daunting aspects about the game and some stuff hidden behind knowledge barriers, the idea that you don’t know about them till you know about them (harvesting fulgurbugs from a zinogre that has been knocked over for instance) and I would really recommend spending some time online with
monsterhunter.wikia.com/
kiranico.com
You will learn about key quests to unlock new tiers of quests, where you can get different materials for item upgrades etc as well as important things like monster resists and weaknesses.
The big factor in all this knowledge is that none of it matters till much later in the game, by which point you have had time to familiarise yourself with all these little bits of information. Knowing that 10 points in hearing gives you earplugs passive making you immune to some monster roars is not important early on as monsters don’t hit so hard so needing to reposition during a roar is less necessary. By the time you are in G rank you will either have improved and learned when to expect roars like rathian for instance, will almost always lift off and breath fire directly in front of her after a roar, if you are there, then you spend time rolling off a fire debuff, healing back up and so on. Earplugs or prediction will allow you to avoid situations like this.
I recommend the game with the caveat that you only get out what you put in. Multiplayer is much improved from a matchmaking perspective. The game starts easy enough and progresses to down right demoralizingly challenging.
I’ve been playing games since I was a kid but I can only ‘truly’ call myself a gamer as of the last 18-20years (coming to Australia helped in that regard). And to me, MH4U, in a very short amount of time has made it into my greatest games ever made list.
I sunk 70 hours into MH3U over the course of 2 years. I made it to High Rank but didn’t get much further. I’ve put about 50 hours into 4U just in the last few weeks and have plans to play it for a long damn time to come.
It’s much more user friendly while somehow still maintaining it’s notorious difficulty level and complexity. It’s areas and monsters are gorgeous and memorable and the gameplay is truly what ‘hardcore’ gaming should aspire to be.
This game is just pure amazing. And even with this many different weapon choices, there’s still no choice that is bad. Every weapon is masterful in the hands of a good player. Nothing is under powered or useless. And *every* large monster takes skill to hunt. A character with Grank weapons and armor will still get killed in the hands of a noob.
And the fact that it’s on a DS means I can play a hardcore game somewhat casually i.e. on the toilet/bus/break which makes balancing a game like this with a PhD+family lifestyle much easier.
This game is a must play for anyone that considers themselves a serious gamer and has a 3DS. As for the hardcore gamers without one, this game is worth the purchase of the console – seriously.
Souls guy.
Tried MH3. DIdn’t take.
Sell me on this.
Not too keen if I need a squad of randoms every time either. Would rather go in with a group (that’s patient with newcomers!)
I’ve cleared all of low rank in solo, and at about the same time and pace I cleared all of low rank multi in local co-op with just my partner.
Did a smattering of mid range high rank hunts with 2 friends online – hunts were quite doable with 2-3 hunters.
The only time randoms might have to come into the equation will be for higher G rank stuff, but I’m not even entertaining thoughts of playing with randoms yet.
online multiplayer on 3ds (this game is really 90% multiplayer),
learning yourself in the single player is usually the best bet, but if you get some friends it would be better for sure.
The first time I learned to play, back on the psp, i felt like i was fighting a very uphill battle, but since u play dark souls, ull prob be ok.
yes… in the higher rank you’ll need those randoms. Most of them would be europeans. But after getting 20-30 guild cards and friending the ones I found to be good I could usually just jump in to their room and have a swell hunting time.
The problem I have with MH4U is that you can only chat with the keyboard in the hall, not during the hunt.
It’s like Darks Souls in the same way that it’s difficult due to the camera and movement controls being complete arse.
Go kill “X of Whatsythingy”…. But what does a Whatsythingy look like??? Pull out phone and google…
The movement in mh4 is several steps above that of its predecessors. Mounting, climbing, and mid air intercepts:
http://new1.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/They+are+probably+playing+monhunso+its+not+so+suprising+_bb813554feaee03e093c0adee8baf273.gif
Got the boys at worked hooked on MH4U – finally. I’ve been singing the praises of Monster Hunter for years, and only now are people starting to listen 😛
I have not put a lot of hours into Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate yet – I’m splitting my time between it and Homeworld Remastered at the moment.
The movement in MH4U has improved so much that it feels odd to be so in control – and in a good way! I have not found myself even remotely battling the camera as in previous games. And I too was skeptical about the whole small-screen thing. I jumped on board with Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii, and never got around to any of the PSP games, so my MH experiences have all been on a TV. It suits the 3DS quite well though – enough to make me forget about wanting it on a big-screen for most of my playtime 🙂
I HAVE SPENT ALL MY TIME GETTING ANGRY AT MADE UP MONSTERS.
BUT THEN I KILL THEM AND WEAR THEIR SKIN AS A PRIZE.
10/10 THIS GAME IS CONSUMING ME.
There is also a super cool shark frog that turns into a blob
10/10 would kill again
I dunno if I like the game or not…… I bought it on release day and my son got hold of it and I haven’t seen it since 🙁