13. Maybe this time I'll get into it: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS)

 

Monster Hunter is a series I keep failing to get into, but has always intrigued me. On three separate occasions I have tried Monster Hunter Tri/3, never getting much further than the early game quests that didn't even focus on the titular monsters, rather gathering items and slaying much smaller creatures. More recently I got Monster Hunter Rise for Nintendo Switch, and I would have put about five hours into it. Not as much as I'd like, and I do hope to go back to it eventually. My biggest challenge is finding time to play any online multiplayer game, as life these days gives me so far opportunity to do so.

That said, even with no time restrictions, Monster hunter 4 is going to be an uphill challenge as very few people are playing 3DS games online any longer, and of those none are likely to be playing early level quests.

So with the odds already against it, I fired up Monster Hunter 4. Considering I was not likely to return to it, it was freeing to be able to just make someone quickly in the character creator. I too often will fret for ages getting my character right where there are too many options. It was extremely important that my Orc in Skyrim, Tea Wulfsage, looked just right, and so it took me nearly an hour to do so. For Monster Hunter 4, I quickly found the most punchable face and added a pompadour.

Look at this Dreamworksesque buffoon

The opening mission gives a fantastic first impression. You're a new hunter heading to a small town on a sand ship. The existance of a ship that sails through sand like water is not, by the way, considered odd by videogame standards. Sailing ships have flown through the sky, deep into space, and even driven as a car in a kart racer. Sand is basically normal.

As your ship passes cuts through the sand, you are attacked by one of the games monsters, and you are thrown directly into a confrontation with what is likely one of the largest creatures in the game

 Rather than fight directly as in previous games, you attack with various weapons built into the ship, dodging debrit and trying not to be thrown overboard as the ship violently rolls. Eventually, after enough direct hits from the ships canons, the monster is chased off, inevitably to be fought another day. Compared to the opening of other Monster Hunter games, this was incredibly impressive. Rather than starting with very simple and tedious collection missions, it's an action set piece that pushes the 3DS to its graphical limits.

However, it is after this that the game slows down dramatically. After a long series of conversations with the various characters, you are eventually allowed to sign up for level 1 quests in a more traditional Monster Hunter zone. The first of which, involves slaying a completely defenseless monster, Aptonoth, and cooking up its meat.

You can kill and cook the entire defenceless family if you want!

That mission complete, you are tasked with a collection quest, creating a potion from a mushrooms and herb, then strengthen it with honey. At the end of this quest, you are attacked by the small, aggresive, but weak monster, Jaggi

These little jerks have been the standard first enemy in Monster Hunter for every game I've tried.

With this quest complete, additional quests opened up, with still none of them having a confrontation with any of the games larger monsters. Instead, I took on a quest to defeat 5 Jaggia, the larger and less frilly version of the Jaggi.

The major difference that Monster Hunter 4 introduced was the ability for the character to climb. As I hunted down Jaggi I was able to try it out, and unforuntanately, it was more limited than I has exepcted. Only some surfaces can be climbed, and in many cases, it is hard to tell just by looking at it. Some waist high walls are climbed over, while other are not. Overall, it seems like a system that needed a bit more time in the oven.

As I hunted down my 5th Jaggia I was hit with a strong sense of deja vu. My hour timer rang shortly after as I was preparing to start a quest involving slaying Kelbi, another docile creature. It was as I was looking over my notes that I realised why it seemed all so familiar. As after the opening confrontation, the quests are nearly identical to those of Monster Hunter 3:

quest 1: collect mushrooms

quest 2: slay 5 kelbi

quest 3: catch 3 fish

quest 4: slay 5 Jaggia

While I am sure the differences eventually show themselves, but even the first monster in the game, The Great Jaggi, is the same in both.

I have been told that the end game in Monster Hunter 4 is fantastic, but if I were to play any more Monster Hunter, I would rather it be Rise. The controls are better, the levels are larger and more cohesive, and critically, there's dogs. I won't be coming back to Monster Hunter 4.

Next time: No Straight Roads for Nintendo Switch.