Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS/WiiU) review

[kryss]

Barroth can be taken out in under 25 minutes with an Iron Hammer+, and in about 15 minutes with a bowgun starting with water shells and piercing ones. With a lot of practice anyway. And yes, he seems to be weaker, but don't forget there are subspecies this time around too.

As always with MH, dodging is more important than standing your ground 9 times out of 10.
All heavy bowguns can have shields attached now and I would recommend it if you are taking on something that likes to charge, just be sure not to try and fire as that'll counter the blocking.

briareos: controls aren't mappable I'm afraid.

[rmoxon]

Played a few hours of this now. It's as brilliant as ever.

For some reason I seem better with the bow than I was whenever I tried it (or any other ranged weapon) in the past. Has it been made easier to use or have I magically become better at using it?

[jimtendo]

Played a few hours of this now. It's as brilliant as ever.

For some reason I seem better with the bow than I was whenever I tried it (or any other ranged weapon) in the past. Has it been made easier to use or have I magically become better at using it?

The Hunting Bow is supreme now. Moreso than P3rd. Just look up 'Kelbi Bow'... pretty much the spread needle of MH3U.
Up to HR5 now, and a couple more until G-Rank. proper loving 3 Ultimate. Did a few mining runs and got the Island of the Gods LBG back in my posession. Fate it seems...

/evil Grotbags laughter

Now the Para >KO > Para > KO > trap spamming hax can begin!

This one will be my first.

What's the score with the bigger enemies? Are there some proper big bastards which are impossible to kill and stuff?

Like Tri (HR 50 Alatreon urgent)
Like P3rd (Nargacuga Urgent with Bulldrome trolling)
and 3 Ultimate, the brick wall this time seems to be HR4 Bracchidios, with way too many people falling for his Honda splash antics. Plus when he's in rage, it's just *sigh*

[Adam]

Literally only played this for about 20 minutes, is there any way to make the dpad useful, like switching items? I don't need it to move the camera as I have the right analog stick for that. Think I'll be trying this in 720p if that works, the map and text box are way too small for me

[briareos_kerensky]

briareos: controls aren't mappable I'm afraid.

Yes, noticed that too during a quick session this afternoon. You can set what ZL and ZR do, and nothing else.
Tried out new weapons, but went back to switch axe. This probably comes from an uninitiated, but I wish there was an import utility for Wii saves. I miss my mixed Rathalos/Lagiacrus armour.

[H-Man]

This is my first MH and so far so good. I like that it doesn't hold your hand too much and leaves plenty to work out for yourself and experiment with. The music's pretty epic and I really like the premise. I'll be trying multiplayer tomorrow with a friend and expect things to only get better Does the difficulty scale with multiplayer, btw?

My gripes - for a full price game this is a very shoddy port. Everything should be redone for that kind of money. Textures, controls, everything. Also, I can't aim at all! Is there some trick to it? - it seems like you have to do three things with your right hand to shoot.

[kryss]

Dammit Jim! I knew you're end up far ahead of me!

I have all Sunday to get my hunt on though will hopefully be levelling like a boss.

[rmoxon]

This is my first MH and so far so good. I like that it doesn't hold your hand too much and leaves plenty to work out for yourself and experiment with. The music's pretty epic and I really like the premise. I'll be trying multiplayer tomorrow with a friend and expect things to only get better Does the difficulty scale with multiplayer, btw?

My gripes - for a full price game this is a very shoddy port. Everything should be redone for that kind of money. Textures, controls, everything. Also, I can't aim at all! Is there some trick to it? - it seems like you have to do three things with your right hand to shoot.

It's actually a port... Of a remake.... Of a remake... We are lucky it looks as good as it does, even if it does gloom like a new game exactly.

As for aiming, Im not really an experienced ranged weapon user, Ive always gone melee in the past. But you really don't need to aim with the first person view. In my experience good monster hunter players can shoot things without switching views. I've actually been using the Bow quite a lot today and haven't really used the aiming mode yet, it's easy enough to hit things without it.

[kryss]

There's a reason it's a cheaper release in Japan. It's a port of the 3DS TriG, which is a remake of Tri. With P3rd stuff added in.

My gripes - for a full price game this is a very shoddy port. Everything should be redone for that kind of money. Textures, controls, everything. Also, I can't aim at all! Is there some trick to it? - it seems like you have to do three things with your right hand to shoot.

Use the d-pad to aim your bow, then you just need to hold R and fire with X.

[elaniel]

I played for a few hours last night with Riskbreaker and actually got a tad annoyed. It may just be the game isn't connecting with me, but chasing the same enemy around 3-4 zones 7-8 times just seems really tiresome and boring.

Did it just so happen to be that boss or is that sort of thing normal? Also ran into a big ass dragon that kept trying to attack us. Did laugh when it flew right over me and went straight for Riskbreaker I can see it being a great game if I put more time into it, but the controls do seem a tad fiddly to me.

Wii-U mic works well, as long as people know to hit the "Microphone On" button

[H-Man]

It's actually a port... Of a remake.... Of a remake... We are lucky it looks as good as it does

Still no excuse to, at the very least, redo all the textures and sort out the controls. Some anti aliasing wouldn't hurt either. I don't want to labour this point as I'm enjoying the game, but this is money grabbing at it's worst and a poor show from Capcom. Charge ?15-20 and I wouldn't be moaning, but not the same price as a flagship, made from the ground up title.

Cheers for the tip btw, kryss, I'll give the d-pad a go.

[Riskbreaker]

I played for a few hours last night with Riskbreaker and actually got a tad annoyed. It may just be the game isn't connecting with me, but chasing the same enemy around 3-4 zones 7-8 times just seems really tiresome and boring.

It is all about the boss fights matey, you need to get a kick out of chasing larger and larger prey to be in this for then long term. Keep in mind one reason we were moving around so much was the Gold Rathian taking swipes at us. And with the right gear you can stop them moving around so much.

I also think you need to play through Moga village a bit to get used to the mechanics and systems. It has a decent learning curve and it's quite fast to just hammer through the quests if you choose. This will give you time to find a weapon you are comfortable with which is key to enjoying the game. You had a bit of bad luck with your weapon choices last night which didn't really help, once your familiar with a couple staple weapons it will be less of a chore

As for aiming, Im not really an experienced ranged weapon user, Ive always gone melee in the past. But you really don't need to aim with the first person view. In my experience good monster hunter players can shoot things without switching views. I've actually been using the Bow quite a lot today and haven't really used the aiming mode yet, it's easy enough to hit things without it.

Yeah the bow guns have a free aim mode accessed by holding R which is probably the best option for most fights. The aiming mode is most effective for vet gunners who know which parts to aim for and which ammo is suitable. You wouldn't for example want to waste Clust by free aiming. My approach to the hunting bows is to treat them like a close combat weapon, staying relatively close to the creature and using consistent charge shots.

I've got a new found appreciation for the Hunting Horns, the starting weapon is actually pretty powerful and puts out some nice boosts. Makes soloing much easier and playing daft tunes in battle makes me laugh

[dataDave]

I was dropping all manner of hints today towards requiring a WiiU immediately and teh Mrs. didn't seem to protest too much. I might make some serious moves tomorrow...

[jimtendo]

Dammit Jim! I knew you're end up far ahead of me!

I have all Sunday to get my hunt on though will hopefully be levelling like a boss.

35 hours now and just cleared my Ceadeus urgent for G-Rank!
Until I hit HR7 then the real volcano charm farming can begin.

Ceadeus is torture to fight (because its boring) but doing x3 back to back because a couple of others needed their urgents done was horrendous. Thankfully I needed the materials for his gear.

[H-Man]

Ok, so Monster Hunter is gaming crack then.