I have an incredible amount of bias towards Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate since it was my first Monster Hunter game. In fact, I had been so interested in the game from the start that when I saw it on sale, I picked it up months before I even had a Wii U. An action game entirely dedicated to lengthy boss battles just stood out from what I was expecting when looking into the early titles on the system. In a strange way, the Wii U's limited library worked in favor of this game with how easy it was to spend hundreds of hours replaying all the different hunts. Despite the long quests and numerous times that missions had to be replayed to get the right loot, it rarely ever feels like a grind. It's just a fun challenge that always feels so unbelievably satisfying when you finally take down that monster.

Although I appreciate how the later installments prioritize fast movement and drop the underwater fights, I'm also glad MH3U plays how it does for a uniquely "weighty" combat experience. I'll definitely be back for more once fan servers resurrect the online play.

Definitely a lot clunkier on 3ds than Wii U, and yes, shame about the lack of straightforward online play in comparison to its future 3ds counterparts. But coming back after playing a sizeable chunk of Gen and 4U, the early game is somewhat enjoyable. Avoid bow if you used it in the latter; the controls have been swapped and I still haven't seen any option to change it back. Affected me more than I thought it would at the time. Have not currently reached proper underwater hunts, maybe I'll update it once I've tried one. Regardless of the high contrast in comparison to Tri visuals, I feel like I still have to strain a little when underwater. It'd be nice to get further into Village Rank though.
I used to complain of the gathering RNG not being kind. I think that's a universal thing.

So here’s the deal, I’ve already completed the main story and did many of the high rank missions solo. The plan was to continue with the multiplayer missions and do as many as possible before the servers get closed in April. However I’ve noticed that a lot of the multiplayer missions are a repeat of solo ones. I already spent over 170 hours, I keep seeing the same monsters, areas and items. The game has been done for me a long time ago and it didn’t register until recently.

The game itself is very impressive and a big accomplishment especially at the time. The maps feel alive, the mechanics were introduced gradually and perfectly (unlike Rise), the graphics were great, there is a lot of content, it’s very polished and the controls can feel rewarding after getting used to them.

All that said, I don’t know how 3 Ultimate will stack up against the newer Monster Hunter games and whether it’s worth playing after playing the newer ones. This is my first MH and I didn’t spend enough time on Rise to answer this confidently. I can at least say it’s worth playing for MH fans and Capcom tried to make the best game possible at the time. It was clearly made with love and care.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate offers a thrilling and immersive monster-hunting experience. You'll track down colossal beasts, learn their attack patterns, and strategize to take them down using a diverse arsenal of weapons. The combat is weighty and satisfying, and crafting gear from your fallen foes creates a deeply rewarding gameplay loop. While the underwater combat can be divisive and the learning curve steep, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate provides a massive amount of challenging content for dedicated players.

This game felt like a mixed bag---the highs were fantastic, and the lows felt really, really bad. A lot of this game was super fun: the mid to late game fights are super memorable, it's got a great roster of monsters, and the movement and weapons feel great (on the Wii U, at least). The underwater fights aren't nearly as bad as the reviews I'd seen had led me to believe, but I still didn't enjoy them very much, they were just too slow and movement was janky. The big sticking point for me here was progression: it really didn't age well, not just with modern monster hunter games, but modern games in general. Acquiring any piece of gear, an upgrade, any extra quest requires a ton of grinding. Fighting monsters four, five, even six times can feel like a rewarding grind to achieve some pieces as you master the battle completely, but fighting something ten or more times to get one pieces just feels terrible. Worse, in my opinion, is wandering around the world and trying to gather herbs, minerals, and other necessities. It's a slow, clunky, and inefficient process that's a hassle at the beginning of the game and feels just terrible at the end of the game, where farms never quite seem to provide enough of what you need. There's a million tiny annoyances that wouldn't be a big deal on their own (needing paintballs to know where a monster is, for example) but together they're a huge hassle that takes away from the really cool and enjoyable monster fights. The barrier to getting new gear really cuts into the true fun of monster hunter: the cycle of hunts for gear for hunts for gear just turns a little too slowly for my tastes in this one. After a big list of complaints, imo this is a great game with a really solid foundation, but it's a got issues that keep it from being as good as it could be.

imo the best in the series. Weapon balance, hub quests, visual design, music, monster design - It all hit exactly how it needed to for me. There are only a few downsides. Underwater combat, this game's main gimmick, just didn't work with the 3ds' control scheme. It's a lot better emulated or on the Wii U version, but most people (Including me for the majority of my playtime) played on the 3DS version. They also decided not to include online play on the 3DS version, which as mentioned is the version most people played.

Still a great game when you get down to it though.

Easily one of if not the best MH game in the franchise. The weapon balance is best in this game compared to every other game. The progression actually rocks. The hub quests are fun and not overbearing. There's no asinine gimmick other than underwater combat, which is great on a controller (sucks to be on a 3ds though). The ONLY and I do mean only downside to this game is Capcom's insanely stupid take on how multiplayer should be done. See, they thought to themselves "well, the 3DS is a mobile platform, which means theyre gonna probably be outdoors when they play! NO ONLINE FOR THE 3DS!" so now if you want to play online multiplayer, you either have to emulate it on PC or you have to use the Wii U to connect online. Genuinely asking, what was their thought process?

This fuckin game man, oh my lord. So for some backstory I had been aware of MH for some time as I remember when Tri released and one of my best friends pestered me to come see what it all about, I got as far as the character creator and mashing voice grunts over and over and it was really funny. However once I stepped out into moga woods with the greatsword I was just lost. You know the meme, why's this big ass sword so slow blah blah.

Anyway, the Wii U had no games at launch really so I bought this just to say the Wii U had games at the time and slowly I played it and played it, until 700 hours later and neck deep in the endgame I achieved nirvana. This birthed an incredible love of the series for me, I love the worldbuilding, lore, monsters. All of it, it was incredible.