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Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate: Review Thread

Azull

Member
I'm literally picking up a copy with my buddy, staying at his place the whole day and playing with my friends from the states. All day. ALL DAY BABY.

 
I'm so happy Monster Hunter is finally getting recognition. I haven't been into the series long but I love love love it now. I'm actually considering buying a new 3DS just to play it (there are lot of other games I want obviously). I'm adicted to Tri Ultimate right now.
 

aka_bueno

Member
Could someone explain this game and what you do to a complete noob? Heard good things about MH

Kill monsters.

Collect loot (resources from animal kills, or from the environment)

Create and upgrade better armor and weapons.

Use new gear to kill bigger and badder monsters!



That's the core concept of the Monster Hunter experience, without going too into detail about the more advanced aspects. For instance, you can aim (without the aid of lock on targeting) certain monster body parts to hopefully do enough damage to cut their tail or break a head piece for a more specific and rarer resource. Some missions will have you actually capturing the monster when it's weak instead of killing it. Lots of items to craft/buy to aid in hunting (paintball trackers, bombs, nets, health and stamina potions, a ton more.) Cooking different foods to power up character for hunt. Various side stuff to do. 4 player online co-op. Tons of content. Tons of weekly added content from Capcom.
 

MildSoss

Member
For those of you that pre ordered the limited edition 3DS XL and didn't pay for one day shipping, the other day I called their 1888 number to upgrade my shipping and the lady on the phone actually upgraded my order for free.

Ymmy though but it's worth a try at least. See you guys Friday. :]
 

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Could someone explain this game and what you do to a complete noob? Heard good things about MH
Others will explain the mechanics better than I would, but in terms of its appeal, there's a real grindy aspect to the series that I get addicted to, made stronger by random drops - but the real pull is the sense of improvement as you play.

A monster will often completely dominate you at times , the first few times you tackle it. (See: Lagiacrus in MH3U - i'd almost be flinging my 3ds across the room) Eventually you'll 'get' them, and your skills will get better and better until you can go out on multiple runs with barely a scratch. It's an amazing feeling, one unmatched in a lot of games these days.

On top of that, the monsters all feel like real creatures, to me. The animation is just sublime - after smashing one over the noggin with my massive hammer it'll stumble about and I'll even feel bad, sometimes.

But not often :p
 
For those of you that pre ordered the limited edition 3DS XL and didn't pay for one day shipping, the other day I called their 1888 number to upgrade my shipping and the lady on the phone actually upgraded my order for free.

Ymmy though but it's worth a try at least. See you guys Friday. :]

I have One Day but now I'm just worried about actually getting it Friday. Mostly just worrying.

SHIP IT, GAMESTOP. PLEASE.
 
For those of you that pre ordered the limited edition 3DS XL and didn't pay for one day shipping, the other day I called their 1888 number to upgrade my shipping and the lady on the phone actually upgraded my order for free.

Ymmy though but it's worth a try at least. See you guys Friday. :]

Was this an online or web in-store order?
 
Yeah, that's my worry as well. But as long as I can get it by this weekend I'm okay with it. Waited this long, I can wait a few more days. lol

I dunno, buddy, I'm chomping at the bit, here. In my case, it's getting shipped to my office, so it's got to get here or else I don't see it until Monday.

Back to F5ing the Order Page!
 

Netto-kun

Member
Off the top of my head I noticed Kut-Ku, Blue Kut-Ku, Garuga, Basarios, Ruby Basarios, Kirin, Oroshi Kirin, Velocidrome, Gendrome, Great Jaggi, Dah'ren Mohran, Monoblos, and White Monoblos were missing.
If you are strictly talking about multiplayer quests and not counting downloadable event quest (which have Yian Garuga, Kirin, Kirin Sub, Blue Yian Kut-Ku, Ruby Basarios, Velocidrome at least in the Japanese version) then yeah, those and regular Dalamadur should be the ones that are missing G rank versions .

You can fight G Rank Monoblos, White Monoblos and Dah'ren Mohran in the 10 stars village quests though.
Too much pain soloing those even with my main weapons.
 

DirtyLarry

Member
Amazingly, Best Buy already shipped my $10 Gift Card and I just preordered the game 4 hours ago maybe? Best Buy does not charge until you pick up right? If so, that would be amazing if it somehow got here before Friday.
 

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
So similar, in a sense, to diablo?
I don't think the games are similar at all, actually. Perhaps in the loot/collecting aspect? MH is more about recognising monster tells and patterns and timing and adjusting your playstyle accordingly.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
With GCU and that $10 gift card buying this would be really cheap

But I'm not sure I'd have the time to dedicate to playing it.

Never played a MH before

Although I am getting a n3DS so I imagine it will be easier to control
 

JCho133

Member
So similar, in a sense, to diablo?

Ehh, not quite. You don't actually loot weapons and armor. You get loot in the form of scales and hides and claws and bugs and herbs and mushrooms and honey. Then use these to craft awesome equipment and consumable items.

The combat does feel a bit like Dark Souls though, very nuanced and timing/dodging based. But less unforgiving of course
 

Azull

Member
Doing the same thing with friends, just like MH3U.

Gonna be awesome.

tumblr_miaevalCS01rf3iouo1_r3_500.gif


I'll be thinking of you and your group when my group be hunting.
 

NewGame

Banned
Visuals seems to still be the largest sticking point for most. Its a long standing gripe with the series as a whole though.

Lack of voice chat looks like number two from the reactions im reading.

Learning curve seems like its better this time around. Lots of praise for the accessibility of this game

I really like the visual style, I have to agree that some textures and the polywork just looks lazy or messy at times. When everything is in motion however the game looks spectacular. N3DS especially has the game look a lot more fluid.

Voice chat on a handheld is rather difficult, not only is your connection limited by only having wifi to play but also the bandwidth of connections often are put under strain by VoIP use. I am glad that MH4U doesn't include voice chat but I think a keyboard should of been available at all times to type things. Overall this is pretty moot as I play with friends and we all share skype details and play with skypes group chat.

Learning curve seems A LOT better in this game, just from looking at the quest list they now encourage experimentation thanks to a list of 'arena-like' Great Jaggi hunts that simply introduce you to the weapons themselves instead of expecting you to learn it by yourself. Low rank seems pretty straight forward and there's plenty of help from NPCs with clear directions on where to go and what to do.

My own criticisms with the game would have to be little things that remain the same since the beginning of the series:

- Farming items such as dash juices and drugs is always overly time consuming, newer games have always had newer better ways of softening the farm especially towards the end but honestly it's not enough, I do not want to have to fight a Ludroth 50 times so I can fight a alatreon 5 times with my optimum equipment etc.
- Immediate access to arena quests were available in Tri which made for a great 'quick hunt' with no need to farm or equip yourself, it even had local multiplayer! Local multiplayer! Home console!! Split screen!!! Why was this taken away?? Rewards even carried over to the main game which made it exciting and rewarding.
- Icons for items are way too similar. I don't know how many times I have accidently brought tranquilizer bottles instead of hot drinks or potions instead of mega potions, this isn't difficult to fix Capcom make items icons more distinct and obvious!
- Bowguns ammo should be simplified. I really love the nature of bowguns in Monster Hunter but I absolutely hate managing and sorting out ammo types. In my eyes it's all time consuming and wasteful, I mean how often do you have to wait for a gunner to leave on a quest? Blade masters just need whetstones but bowguns need a multitude of bullets and bugs and husks and mushrooms and whatever the crap is supposed to make pierce lvl3! If anything when you equip a gun then your inventory should automatically fill with the optimum and appropriate ammo and that any additional combining or complex ammos should be managed by you. I heard MH4U now has a system where you can save an inventory 'template' to load with your gun so I hope this fixes this problem.
- Better organization and sorting of item and equipment boxes. Why can't you make it so that monster parts are in a different box to your combining parts? Why can't mining, fishing and bug catching be in a different section that decoration gems? Everything being in the box all mashed up together (especially with the icon problem I talked about before) is such a headache to navigate. I also think that box space should be way bigger as anyone who knows Monster Hunter knows that after hundreds of hours your box space starts to get rather cramped and it can be quite frustrating to have to get rid of stuff you feel you've earned to keep especially when you throw away that low rank qurupeco stuff only to find out later that you need to make a maestro decoration with it.
 

Shengar

Member
- Immediate access to arena quests were available in Tri which made for a great 'quick hunt' with no need to farm or equip yourself, it even had local multiplayer! Local multiplayer! Home console!! Split screen!!! Why was this taken away?? Rewards even carried over to the main game which made it exciting and rewarding.
There was ever a split screen mode? Is that even possible?

- Icons for items are way too similar. I don't know how many times I have accidently brought tranquilizer bottles instead of hot drinks or potions instead of mega potions, this isn't difficult to fix Capcom make items icons more distinct and obvious!

"All right, it seems I brought everything I need. Let's go hunting!"
*proceed to Tundra
"Now I just need to drink this Hot- WHY DID I TAKE TRANQUILIZER WITH ME? WHERE's MY HOT DRINK?"

I'm glad that they at least add item inventory set, which makes changing your gear from hunting to gathering as easy as ever.
 

tuffy

Member
There was ever a split screen mode? Is that even possible?
As I recall, Tri on the Wii did have split screen mode for two players, but it was limited to just arena quests with preset hunter equips; you couldn't play the whole game that way.
I understand there's no voice chat, but can you type out messages in a chatlog like on MH3U on wiiu??
I'm pretty sure you can type with the onscreen keyboard when not on a quest, but are limited to the canned chat messages when out hunting.
 

Shengar

Member
As I recall, Tri on the Wii did have split screen mode for two players, but it was limited to just arena quests with preset hunter equips; you couldn't play the whole game that way.

It was extremely good for friends who came around, perfect for trying to teach new players without any strings attached.

Wow, that's really cool, and a very good alternative for introducing the game to someone new to the series in the most quick and concise way possible.
 

aka_bueno

Member
Jesus those textures.

To be fair, the game looks a decent amount better on the New3DS with improved textures, framerate and colors.

And I literally just got off my reg 3DS XL playing the demo, and that Gamespot video looks way compressed, making it look worse than it actually is. Though, some textures on the regular 3DS are bad.

The game as a whole though when you're actually playing it on the system looks pretty damn good. The lighting seems to be upgraded a bit from 3U, animations are pretty fluid and badass and the game seems more colorful than past entries.
 

Cerity

Member
- Better organization and sorting of item and equipment boxes. Why can't you make it so that monster parts are in a different box to your combining parts? Why can't mining, fishing and bug catching be in a different section that decoration gems? Everything being in the box all mashed up together (especially with the icon problem I talked about before) is such a headache to navigate. I also think that box space should be way bigger as anyone who knows Monster Hunter knows that after hundreds of hours your box space starts to get rather cramped and it can be quite frustrating to have to get rid of stuff you feel you've earned to keep especially when you throw away that low rank qurupeco stuff only to find out later that you need to make a maestro decoration with it.

They've kind of worked around this for awhile, sorting your box is just a button away and all the items you can combine are put on the first pages of the box with all the monster materials are thrown to the back. Outside of that you can use the combo lists on your box for quick combining. Only issue I have with this is that having the combo books in the box doesn't effect the combine rates, you need to have them on you.
 

Shengar

Member
They've kind of worked around this for awhile, sorting your box is just a button away and all the items you can combine are put on the first pages of the box with all the monster materials are thrown to the back. Outside of that you can use the combo lists on your box for quick combining. Only issue I have with this is that having the combo books in the box doesn't effect the combine rates, you need to have them on you.

They do have effect on combining rates, but only when you do combining on the things in the box.
I'm pretty sure of it because I do a lot of combining, and with all of my combo books in the box, I never failed to combine anything.
 

tuffy

Member
They do have effect on combining rates, but only when you do combining on the things in the box.
I'm pretty sure of it because I do a lot of combining, and with all of my combo books in the box, I never failed to combine anything.
I think the problem is that if you need to combine things in your inventory while out on a hunt, you need to be carrying the books to improve your success rate. The success rates for elemental shots can be pretty iffy without them - which is especially bad since you can carry so few of those combines to begin with.
 

Hellraider

Member
You know I'm all in for portable Monster Hunter, but imagine a home console Monster Hunter with real splitscreen, not just the arena thing.

Two actual characters that could also go online.
 
They do have effect on combining rates, but only when you do combining on the things in the box.
I'm pretty sure of it because I do a lot of combining, and with all of my combo books in the box, I never failed to combine anything.

This is absolutely the case. Gotta say though, 4Us item sets are unbelievable. Gathering set with just the pick and net? Great. Standard set? Great. Antidote set? Cold Set? Heat set? Bomb set? Gunner set? Gunner set with combo books and extra fish to make ammo set? Just pick em up at the fucking door. More importantly, for your standard set, don't go to your item box and refill on paintballs and dungbombs and traps. Just mash A at the item box next to the door and you'll load it all up in your default set. It's godlike.
 

ss-hikaru

Member
Very glad to hear that:
1) game is a good entry for beginners, got my bro to agree to try monhan for the first time and I want him to stick around to be one of my hunt buddies!
2) single player is more interesting this time.

Gonna be outside Target at opening to get this!
 

NewGame

Banned
Only issue I have with this is that having the combo books in the box doesn't effect the combine rates, you need to have them on you.

It's made like that because of balance issues, gunners can create more ammo with a certain % of success rate and the limitation of certain ammos allow for damage to be fairly calculated by the developers. Having a higher success rate means more ammo which means more damage output sustained.

There's also other reasons I could go into, the mechanics are deep. Very deep.

Essentially all your slots can be used to help the hunt. Your limitation is the max amount of slots combined with the max amount of items you can hold. For example you can only carry 3 bombs or 2 bombs+, this is because bomb damage is severe and the only way to nerf it is to minimize availability.

However, if you also carry the ingredients to make bombs (10 bombs and 5(6?) bombs+) you can make a ton of damage. However the % of your chance to make a successful bomb instead of getting garbage is yet another layer to hinder your damage output. Carrying all 5 combo books takes up 5 inventory slots so that means that bomb damage output is relative to you being able to:

- Carry bombs
- Carry their ingredients
- Combine the ingredients successfully
- Use the effectively (This is why sleep bombing is popular)

There are other cool things you can do. I talked about bowguns and bombs but you can also carry 13 life powders which is enough to refill everyones life bar 5 times! Wow. Of course this is nerfed by the requirements I already talked about.

Other things to note are traps, pick axes and nets for gathering, poision/para/sleep knifes (difficult to actually do in quest), poison gas bombs for collecting bug parts and special otherwise single use items like ancient potions, far casters, flashbombs, sonic bombs and a variety of other game changing items. Note that with limited inventory space you cannot simply max all these out, you need to commit to a type of item to bring on your quests.

So as you can see, what appears to be a game flaw is actually a deep and intricate mechanic. I could talk for days oh man when is this game coming out

2
DAYS
11
HOURS
40
MINUTES
26
SECONDS

hnnnnnnngggggggggg
 

Shengar

Member
I think the problem is that if you need to combine things in your inventory while out on a hunt, you need to be carrying the books to improve your success rate. The success rates for elemental shots can be pretty iffy without them - which is especially bad since you can carry so few of those combines to begin with.
Oh yeah, if you mean combining stuffs on the field, that's definitely the case. Things like Large Bomb Barrel+ or Pitfall Trap is impossible to combine without the five combo books and/or Combo skills. Like you said, with the book occupy inventory slot, you could bring even less material to combo with. This already iffy for me who mostly play as blademaster. I couldn't imagine the trouble that gunner must went through sorting their inventory for item combo and their success rate.
This is absolutely the case. Gotta say though, 4Us item sets are unbelievable. Gathering set with just the pick and net? Great. Standard set? Great. Antidote set? Cold Set? Heat set? Bomb set? Gunner set? Gunner set with combo books and extra fish to make ammo set? Just pick em up at the fucking door. More importantly, for your standard set, don't go to your item box and refill on paintballs and dungbombs and traps. Just mash A at the item box next to the door and you'll load it all up in your default set. It's godlike.

As someone who overprepares for anything, that's one of the gameplay improvement that sounds more awesome than the new two weapons.
Okay, maybe not IG.
 
reviews look good, guess this'll be my first MH game (only tried the demo of MH3U on 3ds), the bestbuy $10gc +gcu deal was too good to pass up
 

catmario

Member
Capcom should bow down to reviewers and Tsujimoto.
This is most highest reputation game among recent new Capcom games, excepts for HD ports though. :p

(I only compares with highest review scores when that is multiplatform)

(3DS) Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - Metacritic 87 (2015)
(PS3/XB360/PC) DMC Devil May Cry - Metacritic 86 (2013)
(PS3/XB360/PC) Ultra Street Fighter 4 - Metacritic 84 (2014)
(WiiU/3DS) Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - Metacritic 82 (2013)
(3DS) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies - Metacritic 81 (2013)
(XB360/PS3) Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen - Metacritic 80 (2013)
(PS4/PS3/XBO/XB360/PC) Strider - Metacritic 78 (2014)
(XBO) Dead rising 3 - Metacritic 78 (2013)
(XB360/PS3/WiiU/PC) Ducktales Remastered - Metacritic 76 (2013)
(PS3/XB360) Resident Evil 6 - Metacritic 74 (2012)
(XB360/PS3/PC) Remember Me - Metacritic 72 (2013)
(PC) Street Fighter X Mega Man - Metacritic 71 (2012)
(XB360) Steel Battalion - Metacritic 38 (2012)
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
For everyone worried about playing 4U without the CPP/n3DS, let me just say that most people in Japan don't use the former and didn't have the latter when the original MH4 came out and yet we've played it for a year and enjoyed the hell out of it.
 
Could someone explain this game and what you do to a complete noob? Heard good things about MH

Exactly what the title is implying. What's sets it apart from other series is that you have an arsenal of weapons that has a very deep learning curve which is why this is game where repetition and refinement is required. This is NOT a pick-up-and-play model most games seem to function nowadays and it would take you hours before you even familiarize yourself with each weapon.

But don't be dismayed. Hunting a monster is a puzzle in and of itself which is why repeated playthrougha would mean switching your tactics on the fly especially if you needed a "specific" drop. Unlike most random loot systems you see in common RPG's, you have to discover how to extract them by hunting monsters in different ways. Each weapon specializes in different areas of tactics that is well suited to that particular hunting style.

The game is essentially follows the formula of chess or any similar strategic play which is the core philosophy of the game. This is not a "get to the end of the credits" and be done with it. If you like games such as Rainbow Six or or similar titles which makes good use of your equipment specializing to different fighting scenarios than you will love this game.
 
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