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Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate: Review Thread

Ive been trying to play it cool but starting this morning, when I saw the 72 hours remain picture...... my hype level has grown to uncontrollable levels. I'm playing the MH 4 demo at work to compensate. haha.

Im like losing my mind trying to find ways to pass the time quicker
 

kubus

Member
NoUK Strikes again

WTF UK. Why is everything so much better for you guys all the sudden lol
*fixed that for you

Doesn't seem like anything's happening in mainland Europe. Meanwhile GAME UK and Nintendo UK Store are sending out stuff :(. Nintendo breaking their own street date, lol.

I wonder when it would be okay to post the N3DS OT? I guess on release day?
 

XaosWolf

Member
I'm betting the improved mobility makes things easier to grasp. Makes the animations a lot more lively and on par with the athleticism of the monsters you're fighting.

NoE Strikes again

WTF Europe. Why is everything so much better for you guys all the sudden lol

We get the SoE though, so it evens out somewhat.
 

mjc

Member
Wow, didn't expect quality reviews like this. How meaty is the single player campaign? I'd be new to the series so I'm not sure how much time I'd put into the MP realistically.
 
NoE Strikes again

WTF Europe. Why is everything so much better for you guys all the sudden lol

469ce4863ead1a7bcaae5431c8678b6620150107153944.jpg
 

JimPanzer

Member
Wow, didn't expect quality reviews like this. How meaty is the single player campaign? I'd be new to the series so I'm not sure how much time I'd put into the MP realistically.

technically you can solo all of the MP content, but even the SP content will keep you playing for looooong. Just finishing all village quests (pure SP content) in MH3U took me about 90 hours.
 
Lets recap

UK/EU gets

- All the New 3DS models

- Got the New 3DS early (ambassador)

- Are getting MH4U early

- Getting the custom 3DS themes

- Are continuously engaging their fans on social networks and pumping up their games and the hype train

WTF NoA. All you have for us is laziness, omissions and excuses. You are literally uncomfortable trying to do your own jobs
 

Peru

Member
Lets recap

UK/EU gets

- All the New 3DS models

- Got the New 3DS early (ambassador)

- Are getting MH4U early

- Getting the custom 3DS themes

- Are continuously engaging their fans on social networks and pumping up their games and the hype train

WTF NoA. All you have for us is laziness, omissions and excuses. You are literally uncomfortable trying to do your own jobs

You forgot

- the superior cover art
 

hoserx

Member
Lets recap

UK/EU gets

- All the New 3DS models

- Got the New 3DS early (ambassador)

- Are getting MH4U early

- Getting the custom 3DS themes

- Are continuously engaging their fans on social networks and pumping up their games and the hype train

WTF NoA. All you have for us is laziness, omissions and excuses. You are literally uncomfortable trying to do your own jobs

Yeah, but we have freedom, cheeseburgers, and bald eagles. :p
 

Tom_Cody

Member
That maaayy change once you get in game. The demo GS is powerful and you have a lot of gear in the demo as well but honestly the GS really shines once you have the rhythm down for each fight.
Being a total beginner, my gameplay basically falls into three modes:

1) Evasion/mobility, when the monster is attacking or on the move.
2) Cautiously attacking, when the monster is locked into an animation or otherwise seems partially vulnerable.
3) Going all out, when the monster is stunned.

The Great Sword just seems to offer the simplest versions of all three of these functions. Sheath the sword and run around for evasion/mobility, run → attack from sheath → evade → re-sheath for cautious attacking, and run → charge from sheath → charge combo string for all out damage.

I am able to do these functions with other weapons but the Great Sword seems the simplest and most effective, and this allows me to focus more on the monsters movements and behavior.
Honestly though if you feel comfortable with the weapon then it's the "best" weapon for you. However I would highly recommend giving the hammer a shot. If you ask me the hammer is an awesome beginner weapon.
I'm personally just not feeling the hammer, though that partially has to do with appearance of the one in the demo. I'm sure my preferences will shift once I move beyond the ultra basic tactics I used in the demo. I mean, I have never gone for deliberate KOs or anything, which I understand is one of the main appeals of the Hammer.

I'm fully expecting that I will continually change up my
 
Wow, didn't expect quality reviews like this. How meaty is the single player campaign? I'd be new to the series so I'm not sure how much time I'd put into the MP realistically.
In MH3, which has less than half of the SP content that 4U has, I spent like 40 hours on it alone.

But you should definitely play MP regardless, there's MP exclusive content and the game is a lot more fun with people anyways.
 
Lets recap

UK/EU gets

- All the New 3DS models

- Got the New 3DS early (ambassador)

- Are getting MH4U early

- Getting the custom 3DS themes

- Are continuously engaging their fans on social networks and pumping up their games and the hype train

WTF NoA. All you have for us is laziness, omissions and excuses. You are literally uncomfortable trying to do your own jobs

Not to rub it in... but we also get the Nintendo Anime Channel this week which is on-demand, completely free and won't even be available in Japan.
 

Neiteio

Member
Ah shit

This sounds like a Hyrule Warriors type of addiction. Not sure if I can handle two games like that at the same time. Plus the remake of my all-time favorite (Majora's Mask 3D).

I haven't played Monster Hunter before, and the Wii one seemed boring from what I saw, but this sounds really good...
 

Kinsei

Banned
The thumbnail for the IGN review isn't even a picture from 4 Ultimate. You'd think they would get that part right.

I'm glad it's getting some really good scores.
 

Neiteio

Member
Do you have to kill innocent little animals minding their own business in this one?

That kind of turned me off from Tri. Would feel like a dick.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Wow, didn't expect quality reviews like this. How meaty is the single player campaign? I'd be new to the series so I'm not sure how much time I'd put into the MP realistically.

Very meaty if similar to MH3U. I put easily 60-70 hours into the solo campaign and only completed about 2/3rds of those quests. My overall gametime is 130 hours split between the online and solo campaign since 2013 and still have a metric fuck-ton of stuff left to do.

I curiously checked out the online profiles of some players I hunted with last night and noticed the average overall playtime among them ranged in the 400-1000 hours played over the past 2 years. There is just an absurd amount of content in these games and plenty of hooks to keep you engaged with weapons/equipment/hunts and other activities to do.

MH4U supposedly has even more hunts and content than the already jammed 3U provided.
 

Kinsei

Banned
Do you have to kill innocent little animals minding their own business in this one?

That kind of turned me off from Tri. Would feel like a dick.

The very first quest is to kill some herbivores and then cook their meat to make a steak.
 
You claw loyalists blow my mind

Dual analog is the superior setup as proven to me by Vita and WiiU

Im more than happy with the new cstick

I dislike the "claw" element as well but you can't deny that setup has 3 degrees of agency since nothing else is occupying your right hand. The only other system that does this natively are the mouse+keyboard setup. Makes me wish controllers implement that grip triggers from with the steam pad so that both my thumbs can now occupy simultaneous character/action movement while controlling the "x" camera with my grip tiggers.
 

magnetic

Member
Holy shit, I just learned that if you completely turn off 3D in MH3U (not just via the slider, but actually disable it in the main menu options), the framerate improves. (More or less noticably, depending on how sensitive you are to framerate.)

That option is also in MH4U, right? I hope that since I (a) don´t like playing with felines, (b) don´t really need the 3D effect and (c) exclusively play solo, the framerate will be a lot smoother than in the demo on the old XL.

Oh, and considering the camera options: Since MH3U was my first Monster Hunter I got used to the lock on cam right from the start. I personally think that the big plus is that I can stop thinking about the camera and instead focus completely on myself and the monster.

Another plus is that I never have to lift my right thumb off the attack buttons. I tried the CCP on my XL some time ago, and having to switch between camera and the face buttons got really old quickly.

I tried getting into MHFU on my Vita, but even with a really good second analog stick, constantly having to bother with the camera is something I never got used to, and it really hindered my enjoyment. (I totally understand that this is personal preference, many players who sunk thousands of hours in the pre-lockcam games will definitely prefer it that way.)
 

hoserx

Member
Holy shit, I just learned that if you completely turn off 3D in MH3U (not just via the slider, but actually disable it in the main menu options), the framerate improves.

That options is also in MH4U, right? I hope that since I (a) don´t like playing with felines, (b) don´t really need the 3D effect and (c) exclusively play solo, the framerate will be a lot smoother than in the demo on the old XL.

Oh, and considering the camera options: Since MH3U was my first Monster Hunter I got used to the lock on cam right from the start. I personally think that the big plus is that I can stop thinking about the camera and instead focus completely on myself and the monster.

Another plus is that I never have to lift my right thumb off the attack buttons. I tried the CCP on my XL some time ago, and having to switch between camera and the face buttons got really old quickly.



I tried getting into MHFU on my Vita, but even with a really good second analog stick, constantly having to bother with the camera is something I never got used to, and it really hindered my enjoyment. (I totally understand that this is personal preference, many players who sunk thousands of hours in the pre-lockcam games will definitely prefer it that way.)

Many games run better in 2d mode on the 3DS, it takes less processing power to render the game at a lower resolution.
 

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
hahah thats what I keep telling myself

NO REGRETS

The MH4U 3DS is damn sexy

It is. My third 3ds (both previous 3ds were the Zelda versions of 3ds/xl respectively). Time to change it up with some MH.

And yeah, less than one dollar an hour!
 

Yushi

Member
Damn it I was going to skip...but this is making me want to get the new 3ds + this -.- DAMN IT! I can't be spending here, too many games.
 
Too many 'mericans care about graphics though in hardcore games. I think this franchise will always be in the shadows until Capcom invests in the graphics to compete with other modern games. Before when it was on PSP it was too complex and difficult. Today it's too ugly.

MH5 should be on PS4, using Dragons Dogma assets. Needs bigger online lobbies too.
 
Too many 'mericans care about graphics though in hardcore games. I think this franchise will always be in the shadows until Capcom invests in the graphics to compete with other modern games. Before when it was on PSP it was too complex and difficult. Today it's too ugly.

MH5 should be on PS4, using Dragons Dogma assets. Needs bigger online lobbies too.

Needs to grow here first

Its trajectory is driven entirely by the Japanese and their reception of the games. Until it gets big enough around the world dont expect them to take any significant risks and leaps with it
 

Mupod

Member
Ah shit

This sounds like a Hyrule Warriors type of addiction. Not sure if I can handle two games like that at the same time. Plus the remake of my all-time favorite (Majora's Mask 3D).

I haven't played Monster Hunter before, and the Wii one seemed boring from what I saw, but this sounds really good...

The Wii one is infamous for being boring at the start, I haven't played 4 but I hear its intro quests are a lot less...awful. I sure hope so, having gone through Tri's tutorials 4 times personally.

But any MH game will have a tough learning curve. I've heard of people who loved it immediately but they are freaks of nature or something. It's my favorite series in the world and I DESPISED it at first. Granted the games are much easier to get into now than 8 years ago.

Funny thing is, I've actually noticed some similarities between the Musou fanbase and Monster Hunter players. I personally don't see any appeal to dynasty warriors games, they've always looked ugly/boring but I'm sure others think the same about MH. I was gonna pick up Hyrule Warriors and see if the series was up my alley since there's gotta be a reason it has such a dedicated fanbase.
 

Neiteio

Member
The Wii one is infamous for being boring at the start, I haven't played 4 but I hear its intro quests are a lot less...awful. I sure hope so, having gone through Tri's tutorials 4 times personally.

But any MH game will have a tough learning curve. I've heard of people who loved it immediately but they are freaks of nature or something. It's my favorite series in the world and I DESPISED it at first. Granted the games are much easier to get into now than 8 years ago.

Funny thing is, I've actually noticed some similarities between the Musou fanbase and Monster Hunter players. I personally don't see any appeal to dynasty warriors games, they've always looked ugly/boring but I'm sure others think the same about MH. I was gonna pick up Hyrule Warriors and see if the series was up my alley since there's gotta be a reason it has such a dedicated fanbase.
Oh man, I -strongly- recommend Hyrule Warriors. It's my first Musou game and I was apprehensive going in, but it's AMAZING.
 
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