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

Totally gonna get that Great Sword now.

I totally hope those are a couple of Capcom PR people and not actors.

Anyone want to go online tonight? I'm not feeling it right now, since I have like no supplies or anything. It's hard starting over!

I've been slaving away for about 3 hours to build up a nice little supply of honey, mega potions, and well-cooked steaks. I'm about to take on the first new (to me) monster, pretty excited.

I've just made it into my first quest now... Harvesting mushrooms! Yay!

Nice. I'm only an hour in, so I'm saving up for my first hunting horn.

I've put in a few hours now. Just completed the urgent 1-star by killing some ludroths. I love me some gunlance, you guys.

I'm playing with the pro controller as I find it more comfortable. I keep the tablet controller in front of me and occasionally make use of it (I tried putting the map on it but noticed that removes it from the screen). With that setup, it only responds to buttons pressed on the gamepad but the touchscreen on the tablet remains active. At one point the tablet controller ran out of juice (surprise) but it didn't interfere with the game any, so if you want to play it entirely without the tablet it's possible. Not all that different from playing any other Monster Hunter game, really.

My new axe glows purple O.O

Edit: well, when swinging in sword mode anyway.

I think our original plan of Friday sounds good for online. I'm a very fashion-conscious hunter, so I need to find a set that looks good for my body type, then attain it, before playing in public. Also, I'm itching to play Lego City Undercover... assuming I can go pick it up tomorrow.

It's a dilemma. I'd play with the Pro Controller and its crazy-good battery life, but I want the benefit of the GamePad features. As soon as that Wii U PowerPak is actually available (should be any day now), I'm picking it up for sure. This game's gonna require it.

Also: the load times off the disc aren't bad at all. Lots shorter than the Wii U OS/interface load times, though I do wish the separate map areas had no load times between them at all. I'm sure there's a reason for it, though I wish I knew what it was.

I'm pretty tired, so I've quite for the night, but I did get far enough to open up the first quest. Before then, in addition to all the prompted running around, I spent a lot of time hunting the various smaller beasts and collecting resources from them. In a game where crafting, upgrades, etc. are such a big deal, I figured it couldn't hurt, and it's useful for playing with the different starter weapons and getting a feel for the controls. Even though a lot of people (including several of you) have talked about the opening hours being a bit boring, I've been enjoying things. Though this may partially be because of having been warned, everything being pretty new to me (this is my first MH game, after all), and above all else, my eagerness to get to the "good" stuff.

ianunderhill wrote:

I do wish the separate map areas had no load times between them at all. I'm sure there's a reason for it, though I wish I knew what it was.

The functional purpose of the segmentation is beating hasty getaways. Sometimes temporary retreat is the best option, and that'd be hard to do without borders (particularly in double-monster scenarios). I don't think it is out of their technical skill to create these levels with contiguous maps, but then they'd probably have to rebalance combat to be a bit easier or have weird invisible barriers that monsters "de-aggro" upon crossing. That's always been jarring to me in stealth or MMO games.

There are a lot of possibilities as to why they do that. My take on the issue is that they've been iterating on this game design for almost a decade, and everything is very deliberately designed. Whatever their reason, I'm sure it's sound.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I think our original plan of Friday sounds good for online. I'm a very fashion-conscious hunter, so I need to find a set that looks good for my body type, then attain it, before playing in public. Also, I'm itching to play Lego City Undercover... assuming I can go pick it up tomorrow.

what, I can't just show up in my gathering set?

I am wiped as well, so I'm calling it quits for tonight. Friday sounds great.

I did visit the Port (Tanzia? Taniza?) and looked at everything and talked to everyone. So at least I experienced something new. My strategy for now is to build resources, and focus on hunting horn. I'm planning on farming up Godbugs and selling them to make some Z quicker. Not sure which armor yet but I'd like to see some new monsters!

Sorry double post

Well the first play session is done. I managed to get through the guts quest and past the nest one to open up the next tier (2 star). I think I am starting to favor the long sword.

Yeah ianunderhill, I'm sorry about your situation, I caught up on it. Hope things get ironed out and it's all great.

Don't stress about Tuesday, it's more of a launch day christening more than anything. We won't have any good gear yet anyway.

Oh man. Is anyone else playing this on 3DS? I have never played a MH game with such a nice framerate before.

Didn't get to play for too long yesterday. I'm still working through the noob quests, but I'm already having my good old anxiety about which weapons to focus on for the first big push. My last trip through MHFU, I was all bow(guns), so I'm most comfortable with that, but at the same time there are a lot of melee weapons I've never given their due. I think I might try the various lances since those are a big blind spot for me. And frankly, I could probably stand to cultivate some patience.

lancejt wrote:

Well the first play session is done. I managed to get through the guts quest and past the nest one to open up the next tier (2 star). I think I am starting to favor the long sword.

Just a heads up, Long Swords can be tricky in group play. Make sure that your fellow hunters are out of range if you start using the spirit combo, it can really interfere with them.

I was only able to put in about an hour or so with this last night. I'll definitely be taking a bigger dive into it after work today, though. So far it seems pretty cool, though I'll probably be going dual swords or some form of bowgun. It's still too early to really decide though.

necroyeti wrote:

My last trip through MHFU, I was all bow(guns), so I'm most comfortable with that, but at the same time there are a lot of melee weapons I've never given their due. I think I might try the various lances since those are a big blind spot for me. And frankly, I could probably stand to cultivate some patience. :D

Once I discovered the joy of bashing a monster in the face with a giant hammer and watching it staggering around, I knew my search was over.

Diversity is overrated

S0LIDARITY wrote:
lancejt wrote:

Well the first play session is done. I managed to get through the guts quest and past the nest one to open up the next tier (2 star). I think I am starting to favor the long sword.

Just a heads up, Long Swords can be tricky in group play. Make sure that your fellow hunters are out of range if you start using the spirit combo, it can really interfere with them.

Yep, definitely. It bears saying that all hunters should be courteous and aware of other hunters positioning when performing attacks. As a mainly hammer user, I know I've had to watch out to not launch people through the air with my swings. Although sometimes I've gotten them out of danger that way too, so...

In response to the specific Long Sword issue, I think that MH3U has changed the LS a little from Tri, I think it's not as easy to spam the Spirit Combo now. The gauge doesn't lock in now, or something like that. Not sure exactly.

gamerparent wrote:

It bears saying that all hunters should be courteous and aware of other hunters positioning when performing attacks. As a mainly hammer user, I know I've had to watch out to not launch people through the air with my swings. Although sometimes I've gotten them out of danger that way too, so....

Wait, wait...Is there friendly fire during co-op? Or is it just that your attacks can knock a person out of position? Does this mean I can screw with Blind Evil?!

BunbyHeri wrote:

On a sort of related note, there's an entire fan-made alternative setup for Monster Hunter Tri (and I imagine it'd work just fine in 3U as well) called Monster Protector Tri. It consists of one hunter trying to protect the monster for as long as possible (both by impeding/blowing up the other hunters, as well as healing the monster), while the other three hunters (armed, but clad in nothing but a helmet, to make it more fair/interesting) attempt to slay it. I haven't tried it, but I watched a Monster Hunter Podcast episode where they played it, and it looked like fun!!

Oh yeah, I remember that! What a great example of house rules to make a new game out of an existing one. I also remember hanging out with a group that just wanted to launch each other into the secret "glitch" off map areas... hilarious.

CptDomano wrote:
gamerparent wrote:

It bears saying that all hunters should be courteous and aware of other hunters positioning when performing attacks. As a mainly hammer user, I know I've had to watch out to not launch people through the air with my swings. Although sometimes I've gotten them out of danger that way too, so....

Wait, wait...Is there friendly fire during co-op? Or is it just that your attacks can knock a person out of position? Does this mean I can screw with Blind Evil?! :D

Your attacks can knock your buddies away, knock them off balance, and interrupt their attacks, but won't directly injure them otherwise. That being said, a well/poorly placed hit to your buddies can position them perfectly to get walloped by the monster The exception to this is bombs. A bomb that you place can (and often does) injure you and you buddies!

On a sort of related note, there's an entire fan-made alternative setup for Monster Hunter Tri (and I imagine it'd work just fine in 3U as well) called Monster Protector Tri. It consists of one hunter trying to protect the monster for as long as possible (both by impeding/blowing up the other hunters, as well as healing the monster), while the other three hunters (armed, but clad in nothing but a helmet, to make it more fair/interesting) attempt to slay it. I haven't tried it, but I watched a Monster Hunter Podcast episode where they played it, and it looked like fun!!

Once people are up at high rank in MH3U, it might be be nice to try! For anyone who's interested, here's the link for the rules:
http://monsterprotectortri.blogspot....
(Note: there are some pictures of high rank monsters on the site, in case you are looking to avoid any spoilers)

EDIT: My apologies for all the edits.

PSA check your equipment in your storage chest, you have one starter weapon if each type. I did not, so I ended up making/buying unnecessary weapons.

I can be forgiven for overlooking this, because this is new for Ultimate. Whoops!

RE: friendly fire, the worst thing is when you hit an ally with their shield up. It sucks away a huge portion of their stamina, and that stamina is the only thing protecting them from that monster. Since a big part of being a lancer is tanking, that ends up being real bad for everyone.

gamerparent wrote:

PSA check your equipment in your storage chest, you have one starter weapon if each type. I did not, so I ended up making/buying unnecessary weapons.

I can be forgiven for overlooking this, because this is new for Ultimate. Whoops!

On that note, if there are any weapons you aren't interested in you can sell the starter version for some pretty decent cash. Enough to buy a full suit of armor, to be sure.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Does it annoy anyone else that they list the currency as Zeni and not Zenny? Or just me...

Barroth still sucks, you guys.

Bash him in the head.

gamerparent wrote:

Bash him in the head.

Actually my first fight with him went exceedingly well, despite bouncing all my attacks off his head. Concentrated on the tail and belly, managed a capture while only using my three first-aids.

I still don't *like* fighting him, though.

gamerparent wrote:

PSA check your equipment in your storage chest, you have one starter weapon if each type. I did not, so I ended up making/buying unnecessary weapons.

I can be forgiven for overlooking this, because this is new for Ultimate. Whoops!

Weeeeellll, crap. Yeah, I just bought some dual swords with all the money I had I'm not sure if they are any better/worse than the starting weapon, but ahh well. Lesson learned

Now, time to go equip a hammer and smash some dudes up