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

Blind_Evil wrote:
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.

Yeah, I get it, just a disappointment. I'm not going to buy a wii u for a game I love but am terrible at.

I love a lot of what Capcom does, but they take the phrase "you gotta leave 'em wanting more" pretty seriously.

Oh yay, we made it to three pages guys and gals! Huzzah!

Okay, so it's official--ordered my WiiU and I've got MH3 on pre-order, so I can honestly say I'll be joining you fools for some hunting. Of monsters. Ultimate monsters.

I think I prefer the 3DS version of the game to the WiiU version. Is that odd? I totally love the 3D effect in the game, but the last of a second stick to move the camera is a little bit of a drawback; using the touchpad for item use is sooo nice, though.

Atras wrote:

I think I prefer the 3DS version of the game to the WiiU version. Is that odd?

Whatever is good for you, it's not odd. I only have the Wii U, so I would feel totally cramped by the 3DS.

Speaking of controls, I went back to using my trusty Classic Controller Pro (the black one you connect to a Wii mote) because the Gamepad is totally weird feeling. Sticks are above the buttons, the buttons themselves are smaller, hard to reach the L and R buttons, etc etc. For this game, for me, I can't use the Gamepad.

Of the new (as compared with Tri) weapons, I'm liking the Hunting Horn and the Bow. I love the extended range of the Hunting Horn, and the stat buffs are super useful. Otherwise it's kind of like my hammer, and it makes music every time you swing it! I love that!

I'm not liking Plesioth, I have not beaten it as of yet.

Just traded in a bunch of crap I wasn't playing towards a pre-order on this. Can't wait to get into this one with some of the fine folks in the community next month.

ianunderhill wrote:

Just traded in a bunch of crap I wasn't playing towards a pre-order on this. Can't wait to get into this one with some of the fine folks in the community next month.

Looking forward to it!

Is anyone getting a Wii U headset? I'm interesting in trying it out to see if it will be better than Skype (certainly it would be more convenient to have it all in one device). I ordered the Tritton Kunai but it hasn't shipped yet, but I hope it comes before MH does!

I'd planned on using my USB keyboard like in the Wii game (really, there's not a ton that *needs* to be said in-mission and typing works fine for deciding what hunt to take on), but if anyone knows of a relatively cheap one-ear set I might be interested. I've always been turned off by how bulky gaming headsets are outside of the official 360 wireless piece.

Edit: Another reason I lean toward the keyboard is that MH was a great game to play muted while digging through my podcast backlog.

I've heard that the Apple iPhone earbuds will work. You could always just put the one ear in.

From what I've researched, the plug needs to be of the Tip Ring Ring Sleeve variety, and it should work with the Wii U Gamepad's plug.

I should have mentioned, I detest earbuds. Also have been clean of the iPhone addiction for 18 months!

Edit: Got Plesioth down on my third try. The switch-axe really is my bread and butter. I still had at least five minutes left, too.

Whereas the Lagombi seems super back-loaded, the Plesioth was front-loaded. What I mean is that Lagombi starts showing signs of wear early, drooling and breathing heavy, but it seems he starts doing that stuff around 66% health. Plesioth comes out strong and is hard to land hits on at first, but it seemed to me that once I did 40% of the damage he started taking long, long breaks to catch his breath. Great opportunities to switch into sword mode and really lay into him.

I also came around on the Gamepad, worked fine for standard melee weapons. I hope/assume that I'll be able to change the Y axis underwater to inverted. It's not ideal for the bow, but apparently no controls for it are great. I used it on the PSP game (on Vita) and ran into the same issues. I should try watching some high-level bow play on youtube and see if those guys use free-aim at all.

Ian, I hope our collaborations are as fruitful here as they were in Syndicate ^_^

Okay, I'm having a really hard time figuring out what headsets are/aren't compatible with the Wii U. And how would I test them before MH3U comes out?

I'd prefer something wired with one earpiece and a decent bit of padding on the non-speaker side. A less-bulky two-eared headset would also be acceptable, but not preferable.

I have a PC headset but it's terrible. I'll have to go to a couple stores and look at some things. i would just get one of those official ones but they're all so big :/

As far as I can tell, there are 4 headsets made for the Wii U, while some others are compatible.

Turtle beach has two, madcatz makes the Tritton Kunai, and skullcandy is coming out with one (SLYR).

Like I posted before if the plug has the same configuration as what you would find on an iPhone earbuds (with one more ring than a normal stereo 3.5mm plug) it should work.

Also, If you have a headset with two 3.5mm plugs, like older ones that would work with PC's (they're usually colored green and purple) you can get an adapter on amazon that will convert that to a plug with the extra ring: Headset Buddy PC Headset to Smartphone adapter

Yeah if you're looking for small and single ear, I'm not sure what's out there. I'd be happy to do some digging for you though. Always like to research these kinds of things.

I tried the 3DS demo. The combat was definitely intriguing. It seems like my kind of game with the deliberate animation and big-ass weapons, but the camera on the touchpad really wasn't working for me. It even got stuck above my character for about 2 minutes so I couldn't see further than 10 feet in front of me That was hopefully just a bug in the demo.

Between the camera and lack of online play, I'm thinking that I should probably continue to wait on this until MH 4 comes out or I pick up a Wii U. I'm not sure yet. Is this still pretty enjoyable single player only?

Sure, if you know how to tell which sets will and won't work based on the plug type. I'd prefer something in the $20-40 dollar range either in this form factor (360 wired headset) or this style (360 wireless set).

I think it makes an excellent single player game. I got about 40 of my 400 hours in Tri from the SP, and because of the way they structure online play you're not missing out on a ton. Basically, you can experience 90% of the content (Monsters, armor and weapon types/visuals) in single player, but you can't become as powerful as possible without putting a while into the MP (and if you're not interested in MP, there's no reason you'd need to be that powerful).

As to what you should do, I think $400 is a lot for an update of a 2009 Wii game, so unless you've got no financial conscience like me the Wii U version is a bit pricey. Then again, isn't it a matter of time for you with Smash Bros. on the way? Ah, but there'll be a 3DS version...

MH4 will indeed have online play but may not be here for over a year, maybe not even before 2015. You never know. And the camera will likely still be an issue, unless you're willing to buy a Circle Pad Pro (which I'm not sure would really address the concerns expressed).

Blind_Evil wrote:

As to what you should do, I think $400 is a lot for an update of a 2009 Wii game, so unless you've got no financial conscience like me the Wii U version is a bit pricey. Then again, isn't it a matter of time for you with Smash Bros. on the way? Ah, but there'll be a 3DS version...

Yeah, I wouldn't buy a Wii U just for one game. I just know that I'll end up with one eventually due to a new 3D Mario, Smash Bros, and other desired exclusives. I'll give the demo a couple more runs to see if I can get more comfortable with the camera. I'm not usually one to be bothered by control issues that most other people seem to have.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Sure, if you know how to tell which sets will and won't work based on the plug type. I'd prefer something in the $20-40 dollar range either in this form factor (360 wired headset) or this style (360 wireless set).

Cool those look good, I'll start with those and try to figure it out!

EDIT:

Blind_Evil wrote:

And how would I test them before MH3U comes out?.

You could do a Wii U Chat with somebody on your friend list, I think?

UPDATE:
Apparently the xbox live headset will work, according to IGN. Is that what you have already?

I've only got the wireless 360 mics.

I'd recommend against playing any Monster Hunter game muted. Sound can be really helpful, if you know what to listen for. Wing beats, for instance.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I'd recommend against playing any Monster Hunter game muted. Sound can be really helpful, if you know what to listen for. Wing beats, for instance.

This. And I also love (most of) the music

EDIT: If they kept Zinogre's same theme music from MHP3rd HD, it's excellent!

Oh yeah, definitely play with the sound. Surround, if possible. Playing the demo with surround is amazing. I can actually hear where the monster is behind me.

This talk about headsets has made me reconsider getting a stereo set in favour of a single ear. I did some drawer diving, and found my old Jabra Earboom with a 2.5mm plug. I'm ordering one of the 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapters from amazon and I'll let you know if it works.

If I only have it in one ear, at least I can still hear the sound from the speakers somewhat, which I think is more enjoyable than headphones. Particularly if I have to have headphones on for hours at a time, I find that somewhat uncomfortable as I also wear glasses, and headphones push on the arms of the glasses. Just a single earpiece might be more comfortable. The one I have has those ear gels so it just sits there in my ear without having to be inserted into the ear canal.

I'll do that for new monsters. 40 Barrioths in I can handle em

Since the demo really throws you into the mix with little to no tutoring I thought I should link to this Capcom Unity page, which features video tutorials on both game basics and specific weapon guidance. I'll link his "basics" video at the bottom.

The youtuber covers the basics of combat pretty well, but doesn't at all emphasize one of the harder things to bang into the heads of newcomers - you need to spend time preparing for hunts. I wouldn't call it grinding or farming, but you do sometimes need to go grab some honey to make mega potions. Basically, the offline town is connected to the first hunting ground, which can be entered and exited at any time for any purpose. Go out there, kill whatever large monster is around, and while you're out just hit the resource nodes for important stuff like metal ores, honey, herbs, mushrooms, whatever. The points and materials from the large monster contribute to the health of your village, which makes your hunting preparation much easier (the long-term benefit is being able to literally farm everything you need, rather than having to go into the wild to forage). Some may consider this grindy, but it all has a very direct influence on your effectiveness as a hunter and will really become second nature after a few hours with the game.

If anybody has any specific questions or concerns leading up to the launch feel free to ask. A big part of why the game is so popular in Japan is the mentoring that goes on, and I think the community here is tight enough that we can emulate that to a large degree.

Awesome link, and I would echo the sentiment, I'm always happy to help newcomers to the game.

When I first played Tri, it was my first Monster Hunter game, and after a few hours I gave it up for 6 months because I couldn't get into it. What finally got me back was listening to podcasts and getting advice on how to proceed from more experienced hunters.

There's also a great newcomers guide in book form written by @kotowari on twitter, and his series of Monster Hunter videos called "My Fair Hunter". The book is great as a resource to refer to, and goes into more of the nitty gritty of topics like combining materials to make items, the different armour and weapons, the concept of skills, and so on.

Ugh, skills. It took me so long to figure those out. Once you get the idea you can do some pretty nifty things, especially once you throw gems into the mix.

Tried the demo last night. Died several times and didn't manage to kill the monster. Not even sure if I hurt him much, how do you know? Couldn't see a health bar for him.

Petersmiler wrote:

Tried the demo last night. Died several times and didn't manage to kill the monster. Not even sure if I hurt him much, how do you know? Couldn't see a health bar for him.

Welcome, friend.

You know when he's injured by how he moves and acts. If he's drooling, he's exhausted and will likely retreat to his nest to rest soon. Monsters have stamina too, you know. If he's limping when he runs away, he's badly wounded (and in the full game, ready for capture).

The draw of Monster Hunter is that it's not just an action RPG with a lot of bosses, it's a hunting sim. The fights are supposed to take a long time. Just like you'd expect, were a squishy little human to go after a legendary monster armed with a glorified pointy stick. The game really comes together when you've observed a monster long enough that you know how it acts, how it hunts and where it lives so you can anticipate its movements. Nothing more gratifying than ambushing a dragon.