Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U & 3DS) Catch-All

With all this talk about Monster Hunter, I popped Gods Eater Burst back into my PSP. That game is so nuts.

Yes it is. I do love turning your sword into a giant, slavering mouth though.

What does everyone think the demo will entail? Capcom is not known for making good demos in general, but do you think it will be something awesome? Or something we'll be making excuses for to our friends?

I really hope it's something that will pull in new people to the franchise, not turn them off. Arena battles, probably? Get to play with all the weapon types?

gamerparent wrote:

What does everyone think the demo will entail? Capcom is not known for making good demos in general, but do you think it will be something awesome? Or something we'll be making excuses for to our friends?

I really hope it's something that will pull in new people to the franchise, not turn them off. Arena battles, probably? Get to play with all the weapon types?

The MHTri demo disc for Wii was two thirty-minute hunts, for the Great Jaggi and Qurupeco respectively. The Qurupeco could summon GJ, and on very rare occasions Rathian. You were given a choice of every weapon type, with pretty good armor (the switch-axe guy had a full set of Lagiacrus armor). I'd guess the MH3U demo will be similar.

A bit of unfortunate news - MH3U's online servers will be region-specific. I honestly don't recall if this was the case with Tri, and I don't care much personally, but that's a bummer if we have any European GWJers that were hoping to hunt with the rest of us.

Blind_Evil wrote:

A bit of unfortunate news - MH3U's online servers will be region-specific. I honestly don't recall if this was the case with Tri, and I don't care much personally, but that's a bummer if we have any European GWJers that were hoping to hunt with the rest of us.

I think it was the same for Tri, so it's not surprising, if disappointing.

That's a shame. Historically, each Monster Hunter game has had a bunch of weird, wacky items as part of Japan-only promotions. The data exists in US versions of the game but there's no way to get at it. With the PSP games, you could use XLink Kai to join Japanese games and get access to those items.

LobsterMobster wrote:

That's a shame. Historically, each Monster Hunter game has had a bunch of weird, wacky items as part of Japan-only promotions. [...]

I remember for Tri that the three event only weapons (the Pirate J Switch Axe, Inu Yasha's Tessaiga, and the True Cutter Blade Greatsword) had counterparts with the same (or similar) specs in the US version, though they looked entirely different.

On a related note, did you hear the news that Capcom will be taking down Tri's servers on April 30th? If we won't be able to access Loc Lac at all to fight the stonger monsters with the servers down, that'll be disappointing. Even if we would still be able to access Loc Loc to hunt solo, I know I'd feel sad going to the cafe area and knowing that I'll never see anyone there ever again .

Capcom's been having "Monster Hunter Mondays" livestreams featuring Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the past couple weeks. Link to their twitch.tv page, the videos are listed at the bottom. Friendly reminder: the demos will be available on Wii U and 3DS next Tuesday Thursday.

At some point in the last few days BOTH Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for 3DS and for Wii U were in the Amazon top 20 best sellers for video games. They were sitting at #12 and #15 positions yesterday. The 3DS version is ahead of the Wii U version, not surprising, given the larger install base of 3DS.

(right now they're at #20 and #22)

via gonintendo source neogaf

I pre-ordered both from Amazon. Release day delivery and saving $20? Fantastic deal. I think it's going to be a big hit.

There's a special edition Wii U bundle that comes with the console and the game, but of course it's Japan-only. I'm going to put off getting my Wii U until the last minute I think, in hopes of saving a few bucks.

LobsterMobster wrote:

There's a special edition Wii U bundle that comes with the console and the game, but of course it's Japan-only. I'm going to put off getting my Wii U until the last minute I think, in hopes of saving a few bucks.

What happened to this plan? I would have gotten the ZombiU bundle too, had it been out initially. Hope you enjoy it, it'll give you something new to play with, as we wait for MH3U to come out.

gamerparent wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

There's a special edition Wii U bundle that comes with the console and the game, but of course it's Japan-only. I'm going to put off getting my Wii U until the last minute I think, in hopes of saving a few bucks.

What happened to this plan? I would have gotten the ZombiU bundle too, had it been out initially. Hope you enjoy it, it'll give you something new to play with, as we wait for MH3U to come out.

My willpower is what happened to it. Or rather, didn't.

Oh, that's ok... just think of all the zombies you'll be killing and or running from in the time being!

Let us know your Nintendo ID so we can add you.

Is that something I should go and make now or should I wait?

Pretty much you need to make one as soon as you connect the Wii U to the internet. You also will have to endure the lengthy day one update process.

So make one now, no need to wait.

No demo yet in the North American eShop, although reports indicate the European eShop has the demo available. Will check back at around noon EST.

OK, I got the demo and tried it out a bit. There are two hunts you can partake in, Lagombi and Plesioth.

The Lagombi is in the Tundra level, and the Plesioth in the Moga Woods (although it mainly hangs around in the water area).

All weapon types are available to choose, and your hunter comes fully stocked, but you aren't able to see any info or status on your equipment, that's greyed out.

You have the option of using either the Gamepad, or a new Pro Controller, or the Classic Controller (and Pro version of that). Using the Gamepad was weird for me, sticks above the buttons is weird. Plus the camera speed seemed WAY faster, which bothered me. I will have to try using the Classic Controller Pro and see if it's any different. My muscle memory is all confused on the Gamepad, so I didn't fare that well. Didn't manage to beat Plesioth, but I did get to try out a bunch of the different weapons.

Will play more tonight. As I expect you all to do as well! Have fun!

The bearbunny just won't die! I could have easily trapped him the second time but forgot to bring the trap and tranq bombs -_-

I blasted him with my gunlance with less than a minute to spare. There's a new flip-c*ck move! It's so badass. I hope they give us more than 20 minutes for each hunt, though. I thought the standard was 30-50. With only 20 minutes I feel way too rushed, and 5 minutes can easily mean the difference between success and failure. I've had monsters hide from me for a good 15.

EDIT: ...Oh come on, Internet, it's the right word!

Glad you are getting into it! I hope the 20 minute time limit is just for the demo, from what I remember from Tri there aren't quests that are that short, unless my memory is faulty, which is entirely possible.

I tried the Hunting Horn, but I have no idea what the recipes are for the notes... I can make green notes and white notes, but I don't know which ones combine for what. I'll have to look this up, as the demo has no information as to how to use these weapons at all, that I've seen.

Yeah, the Wii demo was limited to twenty minutes as well. I am quite sure it's still the standard 30 for gathering and 50 for hunts in the retail version.

I'm disappointed with the demo, not the game. Capcom just doesn't know how to sell this to people who aren't already into it, IMO. As great as the single-player campaign is about easing you in via tutorials, you have to learn everything in the demo from the digital manual. I don't know about anyone else, but I never look at those. Of course I'm already well-versed in MH, so I know what's up, but I'm interested to see what someone like Shoptroll thinks, as he's never played the game.

I concur with gamerparent about the controls. I think the Gamepad is do-able, but prefer my old Wii CC Pro. Maybe it's the 400 hours I used it? Again, curious to see what someone with fresh impressions of the series thinks.

My struggles against the bunnybear were with the bow, but with the switch-axe I made short work of him (under 10 min). It's a damn cepheus switch-axe, so... well, I'm not bragging. I really, really love the switch-axe still.

I couldn't find a comfortable way to aim the bow manually. When you go into aiming mode, control is still on the right stick which is very difficult when trying to hold down the X button to charge your shot. I'm not sure if there'll be an option to adjust that in the full game, but solo I'm generally just charging and lining myself up via movement rather than aiming.

I also tried the 3DS demo... the 3D effect is jarring and too intense on the XL, the menu text is too small on the Teacup 3DS while the 3D effect is quite nice. The game tells you up front that the software isn't compatible with the Circle Pad Pro, but that's just the demo. Actually the workaround they use (a d-pad on the touchscreen) for the camera works okay and I think with practice would be suitable if not ideal.

Actually, monkeying around with the camera in the Wii U version and the camera in DmC makes me wonder why more games don't use smart automatic cameras like the Super Mario Galaxy games. Games that make intense use of the face buttons and the right stick for the camera in any game is asking for at least a little trouble.

Oh, right, my ID is LobsterMobster. Add me. AddmeaddmeaddmeaddmeADDME!!!

LobsterMobster wrote:

Oh, right, my ID is LobsterMobster. Add me. AddmeaddmeaddmeaddmeADDME!!!

No multiplayer in the demo! But I'll add you.

One more bummery thing about the Wii U version... seems regardless of which controller you use, the Wii U Gamepad stays on. Not sure if that's on Nintendo or Capcom. I am going to have to keep that sumFemale Doggo plugged in at all times if I marathon like I did the Wii game. Which isn't a problem for me, but I'm sure we'll have someone upset about it.

Blind_Evil wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Oh, right, my ID is LobsterMobster. Add me. AddmeaddmeaddmeaddmeADDME!!!

No multiplayer in the demo! But I'll add you.

One more bummery thing about the Wii U version... seems regardless of which controller you use, the Wii U Gamepad stays on. Not sure if that's on Nintendo or Capcom. I am going to have to keep that sumFemale Doggo plugged in at all times if I marathon like I did the Wii game. Which isn't a problem for me, but I'm sure we'll have someone upset about it.

I'm not too happy about it, but it's not a big deal. I plan on using a headset plugged into it, so what's one more wire coming out of it, right?

BTW where is the digital manual in the demo? I'd like to figure out some if these weapon controls.

I agree this is not a great demo, for new players it would be hard with no directions.

gamerparent wrote:

BTW where is the digital manual in the demo? I'd like to figure out some if these weapon controls.

With the demo running, hit the home button and there's a green manual icon at the bottom right corner of the touchpad.

Wait, whaaat? I was so hyped playing this on my 3ds and now it doesn't have multiplayer online? I don't understand. Guess I'll wait for 4.

The demo is great though. I had a lot of fun trying out the different weapons. Made me miss the Wii version a while back.

drdoak wrote:

Wait, whaaat? I was so hyped playing this on my 3ds and now it doesn't have multiplayer online? I don't understand.

No portable MH game has ever had online play without using either a local PS3 or a hacked router solution. It's one of the many reasons I prefer this series on consoles. MH4 will, but I'd be surprised if we see that here before Winter 2014.