The slow, deliberate motions of old-school Monster Hunter are a rhythm that has become completely intoxicating to me. Though the clunk and abrasiveness makes it hard to break into, whenever it hooks its claws into me I'm not coming back out for a long, long time.
The stiffness of the combat creates its own form of satisfaction; sure, it's silly that monsters still turn around 90 degrees at a time 10 years into the series, but that makes them predictable. Bringing the hammer or greatsword down right as their head flicks around the second time, and rolling away just before they charge. This sort of learning is quintessential to the experience - you're not watching for tells and just learning when to dodge-roll through or away from them, you're watching for blind spots, openings and movement patterns to take advantage of, and getting out before you get kicked into the dirt. The comparison I'm making here is pretty obvious - whilst fights in Dark Souls (and its suffocating amount of derivatives) can feel like a deadly dance in their intimate call-and-response, Monster Hunter is far more adverserial as you uncover every dirty trick in the book to break the other dancer's legs before they can finish their act.
And what's a trickster without their tools? Preparation is vital to topple a whole host of monsters without nauseating headaches - as anyone who forgot to bring Flash Bombs against a Rathalos will tell you - but it really opens up once you stop simply bringing what's expected and start bringing along whatever you think might be useful. As a simple example, bringing traps to every difficult-seeming quest and dropping it in the seconds before the monsters sights me lets me, as a Hammer, get a ton of easy damage on the head before the fight even starts; but as a trickier example, have you ever tried flashing a monster in the couple of seconds it hovers after breaking out of a pitfall? You can get a flash knockdown on monsters like Tigrex or Diablos like that, and basically double your pitfall value. Obviously the possibilities aren't endless and you do only have a limited amount of tools to work with - most are designed for specific situations, as well - but even as I'm typing this I'm thinking of new ways I can use these limited tools to my advantage. And regardless of whether you're bringing Smoke Bombs for some bizarre strategy or just bringing Cool Drinks because it's a quest in Volcanic Hollow, this active preparation effectively begins the hunt before you enter the map, by making you look at the monster and the environment and decide what you need to bring.
I realise that through all this I've only talked about Monster Hunter, and not Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. The truth is, I don't actually like a lot of the new features from 4U! The village journey is, of course, great, but a lot of the new mechanics, monsters and maps aren't even all that appealing to me! (Sorry guys, but I think Zamtrios kinda sucks - you have my express permission to be mean to me in the comments.) But whenever I'm not getting my evasions ruined by all the ledges in Zone 2 Dunes, it all feels like nitpicks when put up against the greatness of the gameplay - the feeling of topping a great monster, rather than just defeating a boss. It's a heavily refined Monster Hunter experience, and what more does it need to be?
Monster Hunter is a very dear franchise to me, to the extent where I can curse getting my shit rocked for half an hour at a time and still come back to give it a near-perfect score. While its clunkiness and how punishing it can be make it a hard sell to the average person, for anyone with prior MH experience or just looking for something demanding in an interesting way, I cannot recommend this game enough.
The stiffness of the combat creates its own form of satisfaction; sure, it's silly that monsters still turn around 90 degrees at a time 10 years into the series, but that makes them predictable. Bringing the hammer or greatsword down right as their head flicks around the second time, and rolling away just before they charge. This sort of learning is quintessential to the experience - you're not watching for tells and just learning when to dodge-roll through or away from them, you're watching for blind spots, openings and movement patterns to take advantage of, and getting out before you get kicked into the dirt. The comparison I'm making here is pretty obvious - whilst fights in Dark Souls (and its suffocating amount of derivatives) can feel like a deadly dance in their intimate call-and-response, Monster Hunter is far more adverserial as you uncover every dirty trick in the book to break the other dancer's legs before they can finish their act.
And what's a trickster without their tools? Preparation is vital to topple a whole host of monsters without nauseating headaches - as anyone who forgot to bring Flash Bombs against a Rathalos will tell you - but it really opens up once you stop simply bringing what's expected and start bringing along whatever you think might be useful. As a simple example, bringing traps to every difficult-seeming quest and dropping it in the seconds before the monsters sights me lets me, as a Hammer, get a ton of easy damage on the head before the fight even starts; but as a trickier example, have you ever tried flashing a monster in the couple of seconds it hovers after breaking out of a pitfall? You can get a flash knockdown on monsters like Tigrex or Diablos like that, and basically double your pitfall value. Obviously the possibilities aren't endless and you do only have a limited amount of tools to work with - most are designed for specific situations, as well - but even as I'm typing this I'm thinking of new ways I can use these limited tools to my advantage. And regardless of whether you're bringing Smoke Bombs for some bizarre strategy or just bringing Cool Drinks because it's a quest in Volcanic Hollow, this active preparation effectively begins the hunt before you enter the map, by making you look at the monster and the environment and decide what you need to bring.
I realise that through all this I've only talked about Monster Hunter, and not Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. The truth is, I don't actually like a lot of the new features from 4U! The village journey is, of course, great, but a lot of the new mechanics, monsters and maps aren't even all that appealing to me! (Sorry guys, but I think Zamtrios kinda sucks - you have my express permission to be mean to me in the comments.) But whenever I'm not getting my evasions ruined by all the ledges in Zone 2 Dunes, it all feels like nitpicks when put up against the greatness of the gameplay - the feeling of topping a great monster, rather than just defeating a boss. It's a heavily refined Monster Hunter experience, and what more does it need to be?
Monster Hunter is a very dear franchise to me, to the extent where I can curse getting my shit rocked for half an hour at a time and still come back to give it a near-perfect score. While its clunkiness and how punishing it can be make it a hard sell to the average person, for anyone with prior MH experience or just looking for something demanding in an interesting way, I cannot recommend this game enough.
my childhood. games dont do it like this anymore. hundreds of hours of content contained on one 3ds cartridge. no dlc purchase required. i love modern monster hunter but i never find myself able to sink as much time into them as i could with this game. seemingly infinite content with tons of free updates in its prime, i fucking loved this game and i didnt even have friends to play it with
It was perfect everything down to the last-minute detail
The Monster Hunter game that finally got me hook, line, and sinker after some other less successful attempts. I like picking the bug stick and going je suis monte i vault hon hon hon pardon...
insect glaive supremacy
The best Monster Hunter game. Guild Marm top tier. Weapon selection top tier. Monster choices top tier. Game? Top Tier.
I clocked over 700 hours in this on my 3DS. It's very very good and packed full of things to do, with tasteful nods to older games in the series like the inclusion of Dundorma/Dondruma from MH2, all the while still having it's own thing going on. Gore Magala might be one of my most favorite monsters in the franchise, alongside other great fights like Molten Tigrex, and several other things that appear later in the game that I do not intend to spoil. The weird randomly generated quest system that they added alongside all of this is a bit hit or miss, but I liked being able to get differently designed armor pieces with good skills like Honed Blade+3 on them permitting me to make some pretty cool looking sets even back then when most people ran around in clown suits. For me, I always enjoyed trying to push the most useful skills onto my gear while still retaining a sort of cohesion to it visually, and this may be the last game in the series where this feels somewhat doable without just outright slapping "layered armor" on (which doesn't yet exist in this game), although I am unsure as I did not get as much mileage out of generations.
The biggest issue I think is that the game is on a handheld. I personally always preferred console Monster Hunter due to the larger screen better reflecting the scale of the monsters, and the nice audio design in the older titles like MH1-3. I was also not a huge fan of mounting, but it is up to you how much you want to use it. The new verticality 4th gen introduced is pretty great, otherwise! Additionally, the control scheme on this one is kind of unfortunate unless you happen to have either a New 3DS or a Circle Pad Pro, the latter of which I used for this game and would highly recommend. I've always insisted on manual camera control in these games regardless of how awkward my hand had to be positioned to do so, but the analog stick being ontop of the dpad on the 3ds just made it outright impossible for me without the use of the circle pad. The game also lagged a bit for me when playing with more than 2 players on the original 3DS hardware, so I generally stuck to playing with just one friend at a time, or alone. The village content in this game is actually pretty good for solo play, providing a method of playing some high rank or G rank content alone before venturing into the gathering hall to do the rest, although you could obviously also just do that as with practically any monster hunter game.
The biggest issue I think is that the game is on a handheld. I personally always preferred console Monster Hunter due to the larger screen better reflecting the scale of the monsters, and the nice audio design in the older titles like MH1-3. I was also not a huge fan of mounting, but it is up to you how much you want to use it. The new verticality 4th gen introduced is pretty great, otherwise! Additionally, the control scheme on this one is kind of unfortunate unless you happen to have either a New 3DS or a Circle Pad Pro, the latter of which I used for this game and would highly recommend. I've always insisted on manual camera control in these games regardless of how awkward my hand had to be positioned to do so, but the analog stick being ontop of the dpad on the 3ds just made it outright impossible for me without the use of the circle pad. The game also lagged a bit for me when playing with more than 2 players on the original 3DS hardware, so I generally stuck to playing with just one friend at a time, or alone. The village content in this game is actually pretty good for solo play, providing a method of playing some high rank or G rank content alone before venturing into the gathering hall to do the rest, although you could obviously also just do that as with practically any monster hunter game.
Why did noone tell me this game was the second coming of Christ?
seeing as I was accidentally hardcore MH pilled thanks to 3U the lead up to this game was something else. It fucking delivered on so many levels, charge blade was so incredibly OP it made my bones bend in the best way. Level 140 rajang quests in the hub still make me cry
never got the appeal. combat's so stiff, clunky, and lacking feedback that it hardly even feels like you're hitting anything
As someone who started playing monster hunter way back when, this was one of the last I truly got sucked into, rise was great, but I just miss that OG mh, nothing fancy just slashing
um dos melhores da série
THE GOAT OF MONSTER HUNTER GAMES
I CAN"T BELIEVE THAT I GRINDED FOR 12 HOUR JUST TO GET A NEW WEAPON ONLY TO DISCARD IT AFTER BEATING A BETTER BOSS AND IT GAVE ME ITS ORB
UNBELIEVABLE
fuck tigerx that meth addict piece of shit
I CAN"T BELIEVE THAT I GRINDED FOR 12 HOUR JUST TO GET A NEW WEAPON ONLY TO DISCARD IT AFTER BEATING A BETTER BOSS AND IT GAVE ME ITS ORB
UNBELIEVABLE
fuck tigerx that meth addict piece of shit
I don't find running for 30 minutes finding some random gablazoobers fun, i feel like im missing out such a good game but this stuff is just not worth my time. Also button camera movement
:emoji_265:
Possibly the best game in the series, 4U's only flaw used to be that it was stuck on the 3DS's tiny screen. Now that Citra can run it pretty well, 4 Ultimate is pretty much impeccable.
Featuring a simple yet entertaining story that rarely interrupts the series' traditional Quest - Craft - Quest again gameplay loop. Even when it does, CG cutscenes barely last more than a minute.
It also has a very large roster, perfectly balancing older monsters with newcomers. Said newcomers also have some of best designs out of all the games.
4U is the perfection of the classic Monster Hunter formula. It's no wonder that after it, the series would see major changes with World and Rise (after one last hurrah with Generations/GenUltimate).
If you want to give classic MH a shot, PLEASE play this game. (As of 2022) Online multiplayer is still officially available through the 3DS, and even when the Capcom servers shut down, it's pretty easy to link up two Citra emulators.
Featuring a simple yet entertaining story that rarely interrupts the series' traditional Quest - Craft - Quest again gameplay loop. Even when it does, CG cutscenes barely last more than a minute.
It also has a very large roster, perfectly balancing older monsters with newcomers. Said newcomers also have some of best designs out of all the games.
4U is the perfection of the classic Monster Hunter formula. It's no wonder that after it, the series would see major changes with World and Rise (after one last hurrah with Generations/GenUltimate).
If you want to give classic MH a shot, PLEASE play this game. (As of 2022) Online multiplayer is still officially available through the 3DS, and even when the Capcom servers shut down, it's pretty easy to link up two Citra emulators.
the final word on classic monster hunter
can't believe i didn't play this game until now because it's probably one of the best games on the 3ds as a whole
i love this series so much and can't wait for wilds
i love this series so much and can't wait for wilds
this game is the metric that i have to gauge the content of any other game by. "this game has so much to do!" someone says, and then i say "but does it have as much content as MH4U?" and invariably it does not. i'm not sure anything does! when will i find the next game that will suck the life and soul out of me like this game did? my life and soul are bad, and i don't want them anymore!
I hope you have a Circle Pad Pro.
MH4U/ Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is the best Monster Hunter imo. For me, it's my favorite game in the franchise.
I would like to commend some of the things that Capcom did in game that made it one of the most popular above the other games in the franchise. One of the things that they did great is Difficulty. The difficulty curve of the game is very considerate and beginner friendly. Whenever you create a new game in the franchise, you need to take in consideration the new audience. You have to make them familiarize the mechanics of the game and how does its gameplay works. So in order to do these, you need to make the game beginner friendly so that you can hook more and more new audience thus making the community of the game grow larger. MH4U did well on inviting new players into the game with their friendly difficulty. And when I say "Difficulty", I am not just saying that this game is easy to learn and beginner friendly, I am also talking about its endgame spike. I have read a lot of opinions in reddit that MH4U is the hardest game in the franchise, and they are not wrong about that. Even I myself had a hard time playing its endgame even if this is my 4th Monster Hunter game. I utterly demolished my last 3 games like MHGU (Hunter Arts makes this game a piece of cake but I have no problem with that because its fun), MH3U and its swimming mechanics, MHFU (hitboxes and controls is the only hard part of the game because this is my 1st MH game, other than that monsters can be predicted easily). But 4U is just .... arrghhh, goddamn hard. I wasn't able to solo G2+Rank because of its difficulty. I guess I just need to become better at the game but oh well, the opinions of others just supports my conclusion about the endgame difficulty spike of the game. Although I might look like complaining or whatever, the difficulty of its endgame makes the hunt and the game more thrilling which is litterally what Monster Hunter game should be, not dull and not boring yet pretty challenging and enjoyable. In summary about the difficulty, its perfect. It can be played by beginners and 1st timers in the franchise and also for old hunters who really wanted new challenge on their hunt. Easy to learn, hard to master.
Other than that, the music are great, most specially Gore Magala who is the flagship monster of the series. Literally, OST's are all badass.
Gameplay are still the same as the old MH games so its great because they remain true to the older games of the franchise. While introducing new content, weapons, monsters etc.
All in all, this should be the foundation of what a Monster Hunter and what a game is. 5/5
My rank: G - Special Permit. Greatest Achievement in the series: GQ 140 ApexRaj solo IG. GQ 138 Jho solo
Main: Longsword (LS), Insect Glaive (IG), Hammer , Light Bowgun (LBG), Bow
I would like to commend some of the things that Capcom did in game that made it one of the most popular above the other games in the franchise. One of the things that they did great is Difficulty. The difficulty curve of the game is very considerate and beginner friendly. Whenever you create a new game in the franchise, you need to take in consideration the new audience. You have to make them familiarize the mechanics of the game and how does its gameplay works. So in order to do these, you need to make the game beginner friendly so that you can hook more and more new audience thus making the community of the game grow larger. MH4U did well on inviting new players into the game with their friendly difficulty. And when I say "Difficulty", I am not just saying that this game is easy to learn and beginner friendly, I am also talking about its endgame spike. I have read a lot of opinions in reddit that MH4U is the hardest game in the franchise, and they are not wrong about that. Even I myself had a hard time playing its endgame even if this is my 4th Monster Hunter game. I utterly demolished my last 3 games like MHGU (Hunter Arts makes this game a piece of cake but I have no problem with that because its fun), MH3U and its swimming mechanics, MHFU (hitboxes and controls is the only hard part of the game because this is my 1st MH game, other than that monsters can be predicted easily). But 4U is just .... arrghhh, goddamn hard. I wasn't able to solo G2+Rank because of its difficulty. I guess I just need to become better at the game but oh well, the opinions of others just supports my conclusion about the endgame difficulty spike of the game. Although I might look like complaining or whatever, the difficulty of its endgame makes the hunt and the game more thrilling which is litterally what Monster Hunter game should be, not dull and not boring yet pretty challenging and enjoyable. In summary about the difficulty, its perfect. It can be played by beginners and 1st timers in the franchise and also for old hunters who really wanted new challenge on their hunt. Easy to learn, hard to master.
Other than that, the music are great, most specially Gore Magala who is the flagship monster of the series. Literally, OST's are all badass.
Gameplay are still the same as the old MH games so its great because they remain true to the older games of the franchise. While introducing new content, weapons, monsters etc.
All in all, this should be the foundation of what a Monster Hunter and what a game is. 5/5
My rank: G - Special Permit. Greatest Achievement in the series: GQ 140 ApexRaj solo IG. GQ 138 Jho solo
Main: Longsword (LS), Insect Glaive (IG), Hammer , Light Bowgun (LBG), Bow
It's a good entry in the series but a bit overhyped. People say this is the best MH story and I was expecting something really mindblowing but it's nothing major. It's just not utterly terrible like the other games, but still extremely generic and boring at most points.
But anyway, people don't play this game because of the story (and neither do I). Gameplay is pretty fun and the village progression is great. Weapons and armours look sick.
Most of the late-game fights are pretty bad, though. And even some early ones like Rathalos and Khezu. The monsters do the "combo you to death" too much in this game. Dying to your own fault is fine, but dying because of the relentless AI or jankyness of the fight is frustrating. Savage Jho, the metal raths, the Khezus, Brachydios - they're all terrible fights in this game. But I suppose every MH has their share of bullshit fights...
But anyway, people don't play this game because of the story (and neither do I). Gameplay is pretty fun and the village progression is great. Weapons and armours look sick.
Most of the late-game fights are pretty bad, though. And even some early ones like Rathalos and Khezu. The monsters do the "combo you to death" too much in this game. Dying to your own fault is fine, but dying because of the relentless AI or jankyness of the fight is frustrating. Savage Jho, the metal raths, the Khezus, Brachydios - they're all terrible fights in this game. But I suppose every MH has their share of bullshit fights...
In an era where every new monster hunter game keeps detracting from what made the series good, this stands as the top of the Ziggurat looking down on them. Every hunt feels like a savage fight for survival against beasts desperate to tear you apart. The amount of content is incredible and the game just feels so good to play.
I've always personally considered getting the G rank crown special permit from beating [spoilers] the point at which you've "beaten the game", so even though I've played this one a lot over the many years its been out and in my hands, I don't think I've ever really "finished" the game until today, hence why I'm logging and reviewing the game now.
Of course there's still a couple tougher monsters I'll one day have to take care of, and I'm not even at the point of being able to try Lv140 GQ monsters, so overall there's still a LOT left for me to do in the game. Tutorial complete I guess.
I've been feeling pretty sentimental the past month, because I picked up the game again and have been hunting online again with some friends. This game came out during a bit of a rough part in my life that I'm still feeling the aftereffects of to this day, and it was my first Monster Hunter game. The online shutting down really feels like the end of an era. If I've ever been having a rough time this was one of my go-to's and I knew that even if friends weren't around to hunt together, there was always something I could chip away at on my own, or there was probably at least one person still playing the game that I could get to know for a couple rounds of hunting.
Looking at it now, MH4U is probably one of my favourite games period. Playing off and on over these 8-9 years, I feel like there's always been a new challenge around the corner. G rank in the older MH games really does not fuck around and being totally honest, it took me many years of chipping away at this game's, and also jumping between other MH games before I got to a level where I really felt like I could contend with the monsters at their quickest and smartest. Even then I still get caught out by shit all the time and it still feels like I have more to learn and improve on. I think the same can easily be said for most monster hunter games but it's just something that really jumped out at me coming back to this one.
Overall, it's a fantastic game. The loss of the online functionality is a tragedy and I really hope a project like pretendo network will be able to get the servers up and running again. Maybe one day Capcom will port some of the older MH games with some upscaling for larger displays, and a better-constructed online mode that won't have to inevitably shut down one day. I still plan to do as much online hunting as I can in these last few days, but for now I'll just say it's been real, you legends.
Of course there's still a couple tougher monsters I'll one day have to take care of, and I'm not even at the point of being able to try Lv140 GQ monsters, so overall there's still a LOT left for me to do in the game. Tutorial complete I guess.
I've been feeling pretty sentimental the past month, because I picked up the game again and have been hunting online again with some friends. This game came out during a bit of a rough part in my life that I'm still feeling the aftereffects of to this day, and it was my first Monster Hunter game. The online shutting down really feels like the end of an era. If I've ever been having a rough time this was one of my go-to's and I knew that even if friends weren't around to hunt together, there was always something I could chip away at on my own, or there was probably at least one person still playing the game that I could get to know for a couple rounds of hunting.
Looking at it now, MH4U is probably one of my favourite games period. Playing off and on over these 8-9 years, I feel like there's always been a new challenge around the corner. G rank in the older MH games really does not fuck around and being totally honest, it took me many years of chipping away at this game's, and also jumping between other MH games before I got to a level where I really felt like I could contend with the monsters at their quickest and smartest. Even then I still get caught out by shit all the time and it still feels like I have more to learn and improve on. I think the same can easily be said for most monster hunter games but it's just something that really jumped out at me coming back to this one.
Overall, it's a fantastic game. The loss of the online functionality is a tragedy and I really hope a project like pretendo network will be able to get the servers up and running again. Maybe one day Capcom will port some of the older MH games with some upscaling for larger displays, and a better-constructed online mode that won't have to inevitably shut down one day. I still plan to do as much online hunting as I can in these last few days, but for now I'll just say it's been real, you legends.
This series really didn't click for me until MHW, but this was the first one where I was like "I want to like this, it just doesn't want me to like it"
Got this game sometime in 2015 and finally came back to it and beat it last year. The controls take a while to get used to but few things are more fun than Monster Hunter multiplayer.
The best game, ever, actually.
Upgrading the player's movement and adding more verticality to the maps absolutely ELEVATED this franchise. MH had always been fantastic; MH4U perfected it.
Uh oh, I think I finally “get” Monster Hunter. After starting multiple entries and bouncing off of each, I’ve returned to MH4U and the bug has finally bitten me. It’s the ultimate “flow state” rpg, getting into the loop of going on rogueish runs for monsters and materials and returning to your samurai western jrpg town filled with supercool npcs, PLUS the option to find random weirdos online that are level 737 compared to your level 3 who will kill Rathalos while you watch, OK I GET IT ITS GREAT.
je suis monte