Topic: Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

So Puzzle and Dragons just did a MHXX collab that just released in the US, making me even more certain the game is being localized. I also just found out because of this, that the official English name for the flagship is Valphalk. Can't remember if we all knew this before the P&D event and I was just reading this wrong the entire time....anyways yeah just wanted to point that out.
(MD Diablos is still MD Diablos, doubt that's his English name but we'll see)

Well, I still think the event is a hint to MHXX's localization, otherwise they wouldn't have included those two monsters. lol

That's great news.

On an unrelated note, I've decided to learn some basic Japanese in preparation of MHXX. Following tofugu.com lessons. Starting with learning Hiragana, and then I'll move on to Katakana.

Figured I could learn the kana in weeks with due diligence. And while Kanji makes up the bulk of the language and takes years, I don't need to know all that. Instead of learning an entire language of vocabulary and grammar and writing... screw all that. Just gonna learn as much as I can from Kiranico's translated list of armor, weapons and items. Don't need to know the whole language, just enough to play Monster Hunter. And even if I only learn a small portion of that, anything learned will make the game that much easier to play (and it's already totally playable, especially with save transfers to translated 3DS version and google translate, but this is more for quality-of-life and future proofing for other Japan only MH games).

Learned the first 5 kana already, did some exercises... moving on to ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko

I still think it may not be localized. I mean, with all the backlash, shouldn't there at least be rumors floating around at this time?

No, everyone is too excited for World to care for a inferior game on an inferior system.

@Joeynator3000
There's a lot of people who are still interested in MHXX. The entire fanbase of the last generation owns Nintendo consoles, and most already own a Switch or would promptly buy one for MH. There's hype for the new game, for sure, but most MH fans will never eschew another MH game to play, particularly one in HD and viable as both a console and portable entry.

I think Capcom, above all, is the one trying to keep the focus on World. But that game is still a ways off, isn't portable, and as we're coming to learn, has some questionable changes that likely has people yearning for a classic experience to fall back on.

Let's just be thankful for what we have though. A new HD Monster Hunter on Switch- it may be Japanese, but it's still MH and still playable. We also have a new big budget MH on PS4/X1. It may have some questionable changes, but it's still MH and will still be fun. Neither is exactly what I want- I'd love MHXX in English and World with the classic gameplay systems, but it is what it is.

@Tsurii
Ah...

I see a ton of interest on Reddit still. There's actually a lot of people importing. Which is great. I used to laugh at region locking... but now I see how important region free really is. If Nintendo hadn't changed their policy, we'd be squat out of luck

I hope this game doesn't release in English within around a month on either side of World. It's very convenient to play on a TV then grind on the couch or on busses, but playing two Monster Hunter games at once would be... confusing.

Anyway — as is to be expected of this series — the thing I care about before anything else is new monsters. That's why I'm way more on the World train, and I think I'll be more excited for the inevitable Switch Monster Hunter when it features new creatures. Even if it's just an Ultimate version of World with the traditional two new monsters, at least it'll be something different from fourth gen, which I'm thoroughly experienced in by now,

@Tsurii Well the thing is there are things we haven't seen yet in future Monster Hunter games, while XX has no surprises left. Do you just want to play the same game, over and over again?

I really don't get the distinction between jet dragons and vulture T-rexes. Frankly, I'm glad this dino doesn't look as ugly as pickle. I can actually stand to look at this flesh-tone monster with weird tiny dragon wings, whereas Deviljho armor and weapons are just the worst. I'll never understand why that was the monster 4 decided to grab from third gen.

Barroth is one of my favorite monsters, and I really dig Barioth's design (naming not so much). If future MH games feature returning monsters, I hope it's the cool third and fourth gen ones and not... Gypceros and Basarios...

I actually kind of like Anjanath. Of the issues I take with World, the monsters are definitely not one of them. I think it speaks well of monsters to come. I mean, versus the Great Jaggi the Anjanath is far more interesting (I think, anyways). It's only one monster but, I have a feeling that game is going to have a fantastic lineup of monsters to fight.

But I love so many old monsters too. Barioth in particular. Very excited to fight him again in MHXX. It's mostly old monsters in that game (but the fated four are relatively new- I only fought them a couple times in Generations, plus it has another 2 new monsters, and returning monsters and new deviants) but that's ok because it is, after all, a celebration of the series. I actually think that's one of its most appealing aspects. There were so many memorable monsters and maps in past games, and it's so cool having one ultimate game that combines all of it. A final hurrah... one big HD hybrid send off before embracing what is to come, with monsters and maps from all the previous games. It's perfect.

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More new gameplay

@Tsurii It's very convenient that you don't have to buy new games to enjoy them. Monster Hunter of course has a longer tail than most, but the 700 hours I've invested across 4U and Cross is pushing the limits of my interest. A whole bunch of other people and myself haven't been fighting the same monsters for the past decade of interest in the series, and I'm jazzed on fifth gen on Switch.

I didn't mean to make this topic about World — that's why I made the other thread in the first place. My feelings about XX are just that I'm less excited to play it again in a higher resolution with the same assets than I am the future of the franchise. This is a tangent and I'm not a graphics snob, but purely because of that game I judge a game's looks by the amount of art assets and how they relate together to form a world, not by the frame rate or resolution or whatever. So while XX Switch will certainly look a lot clearer, it doesn't really look 'better' because of the unchanged geometry.

That's actually what I'm really irked about, because all of these games had their send off last July. I was so certain Cross wouldn't get an ultimate version and the next game would be Monster Hunter 5. When XX was originally announced for 3DS last October I was so disappointed that it wasn't World they showed. It just feels egregious to release fourth gen four different times — and that's exactly what they did because all of the games have had the same base of the new monsters and areas from 4. All the while failing at providing a retrospective for many western fans who started with Tri due to the severely limited 3rd gen monsters and lack of underwater areas or Moga. Like, a good amount of the added content that wasn't just in 4 and missed Cross for no reason are Barroth and Barioth — monsters that should have been in Cross. That all should have been there from the start, and it wasn't even there in the sequel. I just hate how Portable 3rd butchered the areas, how even the nostalgia game refused to add back in underwater, and how reluctant fourth gen has been to bring back monsters from 3 even as they mine all of the worse hitboxes and cheaper attack animations from the PS2 games.

@Haru17
I mean, it probably would have been MH5 had World not been developed for other consoles.

But Generations was no send off for me, not by a long shot. I started on Wii U in HD (well, I played on PSP and Wii but never got into the series, Wii U is where I got sucked in) and I want to end on Switch in HD. It's fitting that the HD experience of MH3U would ultimately return as a console and portable experience for MHXX. I can't stand another minute of playing on 3DS. I love the game, I just want it on a system that's doesn't have pixelated graphics and a C-nub.

MHXX Switch is a proper send off, with 10 star village quests, G rank hub, couple new areas and monsters and styles and a bunch of returning ones... it's a complete package. Gen was not. I'm glad we got Gen, but it wasn't a proper sendoff. And it was on 3DS. A proper send off needs to be in HD. And Switch is the perfect console. This one single game will allow me to play HD Monster Hunter anywhere I go. TV as a console game, waiting room as a handheld game, work desk as a portable console game in tabletop and removed controllers.

That's all I want.

@JaxonH I'm just saying that they should have done it right and actually compiled the series the first time, then released it later on Switch. It's nothing to do with how it looks. This goes back to Monster Hunter 4 only adding like 9 unique new monsters (11 for us since we only got the Ultimate version). I hope you enjoy Double Cross, but even it is still missing like half of 3U in favor of a bunch of PS2 maps.

@Haru17
I wouldn't be against releasing MHXX from the get go, but they didn't. Either way it makes little difference to me, cause unless the game is on Switch I won't be properly satisfied.

And I don't care where the maps are from. Given I never really played Monster Hunter, MH Freedom, MH Freedom 2, MH Freedom Unite or MH Portable 3rd (actually playing MHP3rd now on PC, but still on 1 star quests) they're all new maps to me. Wouldn't seem much different from MH3U on Wii U if it was all 3U maps.

@Haru17 Uh, a lot of those western fans didn't really like the water...

It's kind of myopic to center on 3rd gen stuff just because that's where you entered the series. Because, get this: if Nintendo Monster Hunter fans want 3rd gen stuff, they can just play the 3rd gen games available on the current systems. To these people, which are considerably greater in number based on sales compared to PSP fans, all these "old" monsters and areas are actually fairly new to them, and as such actually provide a greater historical retrospective than revisiting the 3rd gen they've likely already played recently. Deserted Island and Misty Peaks are the only 3rd gen areas chosen because they're the only ones that don't thematically overlap with existing ones.

And if you ask me, the older monsters don't really have problems with hitboxes anymore. Not even Plesioth. The hipchecks and the like may still be very hard to dodge due to the size of Piscine Wyverns, but at least you can see yourself being hit by them.

@meleebrawler It's just disingenuous to claim something's a series compilation if it leaves large gaps like that. It's not like porting these monsters was very intensive — they're the same with back breaks. In fact they would have had to do less work if they had just left Lagiacrus in the water.

I would buy the historical perspective and 'new to me' aspect if 4U hadn't outsold Generations by half a million or so in the west. By definition the people buying Gen literally just hunted all of those monsters because the same ones were in both games. Moreover, by your logic the Cross games shouldn't have had so much returning fourth gen content because people had just played that, they can go back and replay 4U and so on. The returning map count is so unbalanced; 2 first gen, 5 second, 2 third, and 4 fourth. And one of the two first gen maps is the remake of the Old Desert that's really from 4U.

@Haru17
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate had the distinct advantage of being launched with a brand new piece of hardware (New Nintendo 3DS XL) and marketed to high heaven by both Nintendo and Capcom. Even GameStop had posters up for it. It received a special edition, and it was an ultimate version, and it was a main numbered entry, and 3DS was a lot more popular at the time of its release.

Generations had none of those advantages. So I'd say it did pretty well all things considered, it still broke a million in the west, which given the circumstances (no new hardware to launch with, not a main numbered entry, not an ultimate version, no special edition, far less marketing, 3DS software sales on the decline, etc) was an accomplishment to be acknowledged.

It's not a complete collection of everything, or "compilation" it's just a celebratory release with content cherry picked from past games, half of which is brand new for any MH who started on Nintendo platforms. And the other half is familiar content for those who started on Nintendo platforms. An even mix of new and old.

And I think @meleebrawler has a point. Very few liked underwater.

@JaxonH You're ignoring my point about returning-returning content by focusing on sales. I didn't even mention sales in the context of success.

And if it's honestly a 'celebratory release', whatever that means, don't release the incomplete celebration over a year prior. If people didn't like what made up third gen, then don't make it an X make it a Y.

@Haru17
You brought up sales as a crux of your argument. I simply pointed out that there are other factors to account for before you start using sales comparisons to prove anything.

And... your complaint is duly noted, though perhaps a year late. This is how every MH game releases in Japan. A normal release, then an ultimate release a year later. This is just the first time you or I have been exposed to it (though don't think for a second we won't deal with it again with World- which will also likely get an ultimate version a year after release- at which point you could say, "why release an incomplete version of their big new game only to release a complete edition a year later?"). And if it turns out we never get MHXX localized, then getting Generations will have been a very good thing. I'd rather get that then nothing. And if it does get localized then it's also a good thing because then we get two games versus one.

@Haru17 To be fair though, Generations came out in a very RPG heavy year meanwhile there weren't many RPGs released around 4U. Too much of a certain game genre hurts everything but the most popular game of that genre. Kind of like how if a Smash 4 port was announced for Switch at E3 2017 then ARMS, Pokken and SF2 would've suffered.