Topic: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - OT

Okay. Thank you. I'll definitely be picking this game up then.

Also...no subquests in Ultimate. Just letting you know.

Really?

Yup, no clue why they took them out. lol

Why do you make me sad.

Eh its not that big of a deal, we get a crapload of new monsters to deal with. xD

The thing I like about this game, is that every main monster hunting quest is basically a boss. I could not beat that water monster though. I rarely healed, kept my weapon up, and did everything right, but I guess I didn't hit it enough. I've tried around 6 times trying to beat that animal knowing 90% of how to do things(I think). I think my demo is rigged. Haha, just kidding.

Decided i will not buy this because I have Tri on Wii and barely have played it. I really didnt like it because there wasn't anything really pushing me forward.

Two monsters in the demo are probably my least favourite.

If people are still having difficulty with Plessy, use a frog when standing next to the water in Area 10.

Just wait...

I keep trying to fish hm out in the demo, lol. He either leaves the area or jumps onto land anyways. xD

I've played with the demo today and after a few attempts took down the bunny.

A few negative comments to start: I sincerely hope the controls are customisable in the final game because some of their choices are baffling. Why am I doing button-chording when there aren't that many actions and I have four shoulder buttons and four primary face buttons and a d-pad and two analogue sticks? L button should only be for camera stuff - mapping an inventory toggle to it makes zero sense - especially when Zl isn't used at all. Better still is having inventory mapped to L and being able to select from the Gamepad, yet the only way to see what anything does is to pop-up a menu using the "-" ??? What sense does that make? And mapping a melee attack to "+" - what the hell?

The camera controls really suck. I can't see how you can do a refresh of a game and not sort this out. Zelda Twilight Princess had an enemy target lock function that worked quite well: hold a button to lock facing (I never used it because I could circle-strafe just fine with the remote pointer). Here I have to tap a button on the Gamepad to turn it on (why?) and then apparently face the monster and wait for a target to appear? I'm honestly not sure because the thing didn't sit still long enough and half the time I ended up activating the inventory which, as noted, is unhelpfully the same button.

Instead I ended up having to constantly tap L or rotate the stick and get clobbered since I need to use the same digit on my right hand to do either camera or attack. Having a face button for weapon sheathing was also unhelpful since the Koei games I play use Y as the basic attack button so my motor-memory caused me to keep putting my sword away at inopportune times. If I can remap controls this can be mitigated.

Underwater combat was really unpleasant as well and frankly I'll be skipping actual hunting of underwater stuff except to look at it. I don't blame the designers (except for actually having it in there at all) because trying to represent a full 3D environment in a 2D display just doesn't work unless you greatly limit the Z-axis travel in some way or have some kind of target locking that works.

Nevertheless I still plan on picking it up because finally defeating the beastie was satisfying and I know from past experience that there's a lot to do in building up your character. I still say Capcom should have a "safari-mode" where the player is just trying to build up a Pokedex of these monsters rather than just killing them. I certainly wouldn't want to play an African big game hunt sim and I expect I'll largely end up simply looking at the non-aggressive beasties I encounter as I did in Xenoblade Chronicles. As it stands it's unlikely to be a day-one purchase for me since I'll likely still be playing Warriors Orochi 3 and I'll be keen to pick up Need for Speed: Most Wanted. April is a possibility if there's nothing else happening (though Lego City may well get my game budget money that month).

It's certainly a very nice-looking game; shame they couldn't sort out some of the more annoying gamplay aspects.

@Sean_Aaron: Have you tried the other control methods like the Pro controller or the CCP?

Its always the camera controls eh? Personally I see nothing wrong with them. In a game like LOZ the lock-on was needed as combat wasn't the core focus of the game. Enemies impeded your progression and you needed an easy way of dispatching them. Monster Hunter caters toward a different fanbase both in Japan and Internationally. Having camera tracking would make these monsters far too easy to hunt. I also have a feeling that a lock-on would force a hit-zone on you or point you unwillingly toward that zone. With the hammer, I don't want to waste my time hitting the center of a monster, I want to go for its head. If I'm using a Long Sword I want to go for its tail.

I'm glad the 3DS has the L camera swing as it lacks a second stick. When I went back to Tri I found my self pressing L sometimes hoping the camera would swing to the monster. lol

Locking the camera shouldn't have anything to do with where you hit the thing - the monsters are a lot larger than your character and the character is controlled independently with the left stick. It's not like we're playing Monster Hunter Call of Duty here (ugh, can you imagine how awful that would be?).

My main gripe is that a monster can quite easily be somewhere off-screen and you end up fumbling around like a blind person which feels a bit odd given you're supposed to be some kind of professional monster hunter. Honestly without those weird little people with you to distract the thing I expect that giant lagomorph would be impossible to take down in 20min! I don't see why the Gamepad icon even exists - surely the requirement to hold the button to lock the camera in place would suffice?

As far as other control methods go I haven't tried the CC and frankly I don't see why I should given the same buttons exist on the Gamepad.

@Sean_Aaron: You're gonna have to get used to underwater battles, or you won't be getting very far into the game. lol
Anyways the demo does limit your options a bit, but the Classic Controller Pro is the best option. As for Target Camera, that's just how it works...part of the hunt is controlling the camera. Seriously, a lot of people would COMPLAIN if it was anything like Zelda's lock-on, I wouldn't...but I kinda want free control over my camera. (especially for the Wii U version)

I don't see what's so bad about underwater hunting. D: It didn't turn me off. It's slower and I hate that but it doesn't bug me as much.

For me my attacks always missed...and when hunting in the Flooded Forest, it can be very hard to see sometimes...especially when Lagia or Gobul has you cornered.

All man I am out of Demo uses.

So yeah, I'm definitely buying this after the demos! I really want both versions though! I can't afford that! >.< I think I'll buy the Wii U version a bit after launch and get the 3DS version when ever it goes on sale.