Incline Monster Hunter 4U - Game is out NOW

[Declinator]

I also find Zinogre a very well designed and fun monster to fight - have you gotten up to him yet? Tigrex is also fun to fight imo, albeit a bit too easy to figure out.

For instance, in an early village quest in P3rd, a Zinogre appears once you successfully hunt a Bulldrome, and it's up to you to try and take it on. While it's certainly possible to beat at that point, your gear is not going to be ideal that early on unless you've been doing Guild Quests. Regardless, even if you can manage not getting one-shotted in your early armor, it's going to take some time to wear it down. Even more likely, you haven't fought any monster as aggressive as Zinogre at that point, and you just die.

Yes, I've seen Zinogre but haven't reached a quest with it as the prey yet. Seemed more aggressive and dealt considerable damage but I decided to complete the Bulldrome quest thinking I won't do any meaningful damage at that point. I'll probably play the game at least until Zinogre and decide after it whether the game is worth playing anymore since you both recommend it.

In P3rd, I wanna say maybe Barroth is the first wake-up call monster, because it's the first where many of the properties of later monsters come together and need to be dealt with.

I did a Barroth quest and the monster was slightly more interesting perhaps because of its damage output but its moveset wasn't all that dissimilar to the earlier bosses. Almost all of them seem to have some sort of lock-on "forward trample" move similar to Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls that is just as easy to dodge and leaves them just as vulnerable. Only problem is that sometimes they go so far that I can't reach them until they've already recovered. That one ice sliding furry monster was particularly frustrating in this.

Ultimately, yes, the game is a timesink. Things start slow and generally become moderately quicker, but the new, next step on the horizon will probably take just as long or longer.

I don't mind putting time into a game but if the bosses continue taking mind-numbingly long while not being all that intense I will in all likelihood quit the game.

 

[ultimanecat]

Yeah, can't fault you if the pace is too slow - the games are just sort of designed to take a lot of time.

I know why the comparisons to the Souls games happens, but when it comes down to it they're pretty different experiences. Monster Hunter isn't really punishing in its difficulty in the same way the Souls games can be, and you aren't vulnerable quite like you are in those games either. While I usually think it can be called for to tell people that don't want to get into the Souls games and complain about them to just get better, if Monster Hunter isn't doing anything for you it's probably not your fault.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I think a lot of the confusion stems from people playing different games and comparing them as though they're all the same. I've played Tri, for example, and found it to be laughably easy compared to the original and MHFU. MHFU in particular is ball smashingly difficult, and while some fights are often long, there is nothing 'tedious' about fighting shit that can kill you in one or two hits. Even if it takes a fucking hour, you'll be sweating bullets the whole time.

I'd love to post a video of the kind of fight I'm talking about, but the only videos you can find on youtube are of people beating the shit out of things because they are massively overgeared or have practiced it to the point it's basically a speedrun.

 

[Machocruz]

Monsters can be long or not so long depending on factors such as your aggression, your items, your gear. I'm a cautious player, so they take me longer as I only strike during the safest openings and get off 3 hits at most. Guild hunts seem to have higher HP than their story counterparts at the same star level (MHFU). Individual fights are not tedious to me, but fighting a number of samey monsters is, and MHFU seems to have less variety than 3rd generation MH games.

 

[Damned Registrations]

How far along are you in MHFU? There's a sort of tipping point around the 7* quests where suddenly you encounter way more shit. You unlock like 5 elder dragon hunts at once, and like 2 extra varieties of both rathian and rathalos, etc.

Maybe the newer generation players are just spoiled for variety. Back in the original there weren't that many monsters, and no variations. Kut-ku, gypceros, basarios, gravios, khezu, plesioth, rathian and rathalos, lao shan lung and fatalis. Oh and diablos and kirin. Diablos was the only one with a variant really, and it was a weird one because monoblos only appeared in single player but was basically identical.

MHFU tacks on the ape monsters, the giant hermit crabs, the tigrex and nargacuga, a pile of elder dragons, and like 2 colour variants on every single basic monster in the game. It honestly feels like overkill to me. I don't need a green plesioth, thanks, or two extra versions of fatalis.

 

[Mr. Pink]

Why's everyone playing 3rd? What makes it better than MH4?

 

[Desktop Commander]

MHFU tacks on the ape monsters, the giant hermit crabs, the tigrex and nargacuga, a pile of elder dragons, and like 2 colour variants on every single basic monster in the game. It honestly feels like overkill to me. I don't need a green plesioth, thanks, or two extra versions of fatalis.

Eh, I see what you mean but I think that in some cases, the subspecies - while being essentially slightly tougher variants with one or two new moves - end up being a lot more fun than the originals. Stygian Zinogre is one such case for me and I also really like how they changed the Gold and Silver Raths in 3rd (no more punching bags and more unpredictable than the regular ones). Also, the Fatalis trio is actually one of the more varied species groups, with very different movesets. While white Fatalis is rather boring, regular Fatalis is alright, and Crimson is rather tough and a fun challenge. It's content padding done well, I'd say, and if you don't want to craft their equipment, you only really have to fight to subspecies a handful of times for the quest clear.

Why's everyone playing 3rd? What makes it better than MH4?

I play it because I own it, it's as simple as that. I got it quite some time ago but didn't have the time to really sink my teeth into it back then. I see no reason to hurry on to MH4 as long as I have fun with 3rd.

 

[Damned Registrations]

To be fair, I've never fought a lot of the variants. Hence why it feels like overkill. The gold/silver wyverns did strike me as being especially nasty though. OTOH, stuff like blue kutku and purple gyp I can't really recall the difference.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Some monsters may feel like they take longer than others since their HP is a variable that depends on the monster size. Also, sometimes you may feel like a particular monster is being a real pain in the ass and you can't exactly say why because it is the same monster you hunted the past few times and did so with decent success. This is also because of a different variable; monsters can favor certain moves and combos. You might find yourself against a monster that keeps spamming the same irritating shit over and over again and then the next time they will hardly use it all. So, unless it's a fixed monster encounter like the Mohrans (for example), no hunt will be exactly the same as the other, even if it is the same monster.

Why's everyone playing 3rd? What makes it better than MH4?

It can be emulated on the PC, that's why it is popular. Otherwise there is no reason to play it over the superior 3U and 4U MonHuns. MHP3rd is the easiest MH game, has a smaller pool of monsters and completely lacks a difficulty ranking, which in turn is the reason for why it has less monsters and equipment. The only things I can speak in MHP3rds favor is the unique Japanese themed field map (I liked it) and the Farm. Even if tedious and vastly inferior to Tri/3U's and 4U's farming, it was a nice spit of land that you could upgrade and enjoy. This is purely love for the cosmetic aspect rather than the mechanical one.

 

[Martius]

Capcom is making another Monster Hunter for 3ds but this time it will be spinoff called "Stories". Its supposed to be rpg. More information will probably be given during Capcom Monster Hunter event.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Sure, why not. I just don't see why they couldn't have gone with the usual art style.

 

[Declinator]

The Zinogre fight in Portable 3rd was easily the best fight so far in the game but not sufficiently fun for me to continue playing. Or rather, it would have been fun enough if the fight hadn't ultimately lasted over 40 minutes...Granted, my Assassin's Dagger wasn't the best possible weapon for the encounter and my style was rather cautious. I did try out Rathalos, Nargacuga and Barioth after it but they all seemed uninteresting.

In addition to the health problem, the need for grinding is horrible.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Not to be elitist, but 40 minutes is really bad, bro. I'd get tired of these games as well if fights took me that long.

 

[Martius]

Shouldn't you have something much better by that point? From what I can remember in 3U that weapon is one of early upgrades in low rank while Zinogre appears during high rank quests.

 

[Hobo Elf]

That's a good point. Should have a Shadow Saber+ or Silent Death at that point.

 

[Declinator]

Shouldn't you have something much better by that point? From what I can remember in 3U that weapon is one of early upgrades in low rank while Zinogre appears during high rank quests.

It's true that I got that Assassin's Dagger as far back as just before the Qurupeco quest in two star quests so I held onto it for quite a while. I was planning to go up the Qurupeco sword tree but frankly I didn't want to grind Qurupeco because it was so annoying so I was thinking of waiting until Barioth quests to upgrade to some ice sword. Perhaps some alternatives should have been taken into account. That said, the bosses took far too long even when Assassin's Dagger was a good weapon.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'd ignore the elemental weapons, they are rubbish. Elemental Damage is worthless even on weapons that apply elemental damage faster than the other weapons (SnS, DB). Either go pure raw or raw + poison (Shadow Saber, for example).

 

[Mr. Pink]

if youre tired of forty minute fights you might want to git gud with something not a SnS. Good weapon, but you will do no damage at all and time out if you arent overgeared or super experienced.

edit: like hammer, GS, Sax

 

[Declinator]

Played some Freedom Unite just to be sure that the series really isn't for me (yes, I like to be certain about these things.) This time I solely used great swords and kept them upgraded so as to not repeat my mistakes.

The game is very close to 3rd Portable. The differences are miniscule. I had heard that MHFU had hitbox issues and this seems to be true. The monsters also seemed to have more limited movesets and they appeared more predictable in what they chose to do at any given moment. Difficulty wise the first four levels of quests felt slightly easier than those of 3rd Portable but this may just be because this time it wasn't my first rodeo and I also kept my equipment up to date.

The great swords did indeed make short work of the monsters in the beginning but while at that point I was relieved, later on the monsters became bloated with health again. I did kill Tigrex and its rage mode was surprisingly difficult in some respects but especially Zinogre in 3rd Portable was much more fun. Ravager Blade+ is what I used on Tigrex.

One particular monster that was annoying was that slowpoke rock monster that made my sword bounce off it every time. Considered switching to a hammer but wasn't sure if that would have helped so I didn't bother (?)

 

[Martius]

Next Monster Hunter wont be numbered entry but instead it will be called X (cross). New feature this time is style system which is supposed to offer more customization. There are launching attacks similar to insect glavie staff from MH4U, they probably want to expand that by giving such moves to other weapons too.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Started playing this 2 days ago, my first MH game. Seems kinda lame for now, you get a quest to kill 5 monsters, run through same small levels where you just had to gather 5 mushrooms, and then repeat. Tell me it gets better

Also, what the hell is up with those cats. Having two of them constantly meowing and stomping for 20 minutes was already insufferable and I'm a cat person :< Certainly going to disable them for now.

 

[Damned Registrations]

tarted playing this 2 days ago, my first MH game. Seems kinda lame for now, you get a quest to kill 5 monsters, run through same small levels where you just had to gather 5 mushrooms, and then repeat. Tell me it gets better

That's basically the tutorial section where you learn how to climb ledges and move without winding yourself and so on without having godzilla riding your ass when you make a mistake. The real game starts when you fight something big enough to have it's tail cut off, imo.

 

[Hirato]

Yeah, it's basically tutorial mode until you make it to 2-star.
And if the cats annoy you, you should play multiplayer instead - and then get mad at the other humans.

 

[Perkel]

Like other people said. Hunting small monsters, doing some mushroom runs, eggs etc is mostly about preparing you to face bigger monster and not get head ripped from start.

Fun starts when you reach 2 star in village when you will be doing bigger monsters.

Some protips for newcomer:

- don't make new gear unless you feel that game is to hard for you and you can't progress.
- don't try to make every item there is. Just find something nice and focus on gathering parts for it.
- ignore most of mushroom runs etc. They are entirely optional for most part aside from very few which will be usually quests given by villagers.
- try few weapons and try to understand how they work. Cons and pros etc. It is much more technical combat than Dark Souls. It is not just evasion and attack but also when to attack and which attack you need to do. There are tutorials for each weapon and there is full set of moves in hunter notes.
- try to play alone. You don't like cats then try to play alone. Imo it is best experience. Multiplayer generaly makes most aside from late game complete cakewalk while cats often take away attention of monster from you which means you often miss because monster decided to change target. It will be harder but fun from hunt will increase.
- monsters have parts. If you want some monster tail for armor or whatever it probably means that you will need to cut off its tail before you kill/capture it. This goes for almost everything. Horns, claws, shells etc are connected to parts you break. Naturally you can get chance to get something rare like tail in drop but overall best way to get something is to break part. Example. To get full gear of Great Jaggi armor you have to get 1 part which you can get only by striking Great Jaggi in face until its mane will be broken.
- GET TO HIGH RANK (above 6 star) quest as fast as you can. When you get to high rank most of monsters will have new tricks in their moveset will be faster, better, stronger etc. Some monsters that were really bad and boring in low rank will be much more fun when 1 headbut could take half of your life even with best armor. Or you will think twice before hunting monster that will poison you as poison on highrank will wrech living shit out of you if you don't have antidote or poison defense.


And most important advice. The more challenge the more fun you get. Hunting 100 times Great Jaggi isn't fun. If you don't like fighting some monster because you find it boring just fight it once and skip it.

I personally hate fighting Gypceros so i just fight it once. Fire and forget. While i focus on monsters i love to hunt like Brach or Teostra.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Thanks for the info, I'll keep at it then.