QCF: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

ideo Games have, and forever will be, an outlet and conduit for human emotion. They represent an interactive experience that transports a user to another digital realm and demands a certain amount of attention, and the quality of said game is inherent from the return of investment players shell out in order to experience it; Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is a fickle martinet in this regard.

Capcom has enhanced and redefined Monster Hunter Tri for the fledgling Nintendo console with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. And while it utilizes a much more competent hardware structure to its fullest potential this time around, Monster Hunter is still Monster Hunter. With the cult following notwithstanding, the appeal hasn’t seen the same sort of redox treatment, and the barrier of entry is as obnoxious as ever and isn’t exactly tolerable in this day and age anymore. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate demands the tolerance from its players regardless with tedious direction in painstaking detail, and promises to reward the player for their efforts. But ultimately in the end, you’re left feeling shorted.

Now I myself have dabbled a bit in Monster Hunter Tri briefly through the promotional demo that Capcom had provided back in 2010. However, I haven’t invested anything further in Tri or other entries in the series for that matter, but I can tell you that I understand what Monster Hunter 3 is fundamentally trying to do, and the game is simply going about it the wrong way.

Monster Hunter 3 embraces what it is: A resource-driven fetch quest. For the most part that’s completely fine, but the efforts required to drive this never ending journey of materialism is hindered from some poor design choices. The combat, for example, is a huge factor, but its binary and rigid nature would sabotage the game in its own right without the benefits of equipment. The little complexity that combat does have to offer stems from the irony of its many flawed nuances that encompass your swinging the big, dumb whatever-you-have-equipped just so you can get something done.

Some key offenses go from committing to a lengthy combo regardless of the meager input from your button presses that generated it to the sluggish response for evasion, skill attacks, or movement for that matter; circumstantial lock-on based on the size of your target, complete lack of contextual response from battling, and the list goes on.

Fortunately, you’re not doomed to simply work with the strange fighting mechanics, as Monster Hunter does offer one of the most unique takes on character progression: Stats, perks, and abilities are completely determined by the ever expansive armory of equipment you gather or create—no experience, and nothing inherently earned. Each monster, resource, or craft you come across will center on the equipment you upgrade to. And as you continue to do so, you will acclimate to the damage and afflictions you face down from the cavalcade of monsters that are encountered. The Combat is designed in the intentional manner of forcing the player to adapt to these restrictions, and operate under the status quo. The rewards stem from the successful outcome of the plodding labor that generated the skills and stats from your sweet new threads. These moments are genuinely satisfying, but it all comes from the fruits of your labor, not by the fact that you brought down a 30-foot lizard monster with bitchin’ claws or anything—when it comes down to brass tax, there’s hardly any satisfaction with bringing down a big monster. Yes, you read right.

As you start hunting more in Ultimate, you start fleshing out the gradual nodes of depth that combat can provide like abilities and perks that will assist towards specific conditions and monster types, and other support tactics like bombs and traps. However, as you do so, your quarry also advances as well. And when I mean "advance," I mean they get stupidly die-hard aggressive. Most target quests give you an average set of 50 minutes to terminate your target, and you’ll need them. Targets actively leave the zone when threatened, heal during cool down times of covert hiding while evading, and even call reinforcements in order to distract you in order to rinse and repeat the cycle. Even with all of your tactics and skill, killing your targets can quickly turn into a chore. However, when you involve your friends in on the quest, the tedium is nearly rendered null by the element of teamwork.

That’s the echo that’s shouted really hard and loud after you’re 20 hours or so into Monster Hunter: It’s a community-driven game, and that’s the way it was meant to be played. The issue lies in the charity of a veteran’s direction from the community as far as what you need to know. It’s fun to play with others, but people have their own agenda. If yours doesn’t resonate with others, you’re left with a really splintered experience.

Community plays a big role in every aspect of this game because of its methodical yet frustratingly cryptic nature. I mentioned that you’re going to come across a lot of materials, right? You’ll see them by name, sure, but there’s absolutely no direction on how you'll gather said materials. It’s trial and error, and hours of investment unless you seek the assistance of an online game guide or strategy book. Players who have been there before can mentor where you need to go, and while that’s fun some of the time, it’s frustrating that this is the most organic way to successfully “get anywhere” when trying to conquer later quests.

I understand that this is simply the nature of the beast in almost every MMO when it comes to the barrier of entry, but the payoff is simply the assistance and camaraderie of like-minded players who enjoy slaying big monsters like you do. Handholding isn’t encouraged in the Monster Hunter community. So what do you do? Put in the extra work like they did, and that’s when the game suffers, because the incentive doesn’t match up to the reality of the reward. But it may have had some fun moments here and there. And then, you’ll find yourself in a position where the reward doesn’t compensate for the investment it involved, and the experience starts diving into bummerville.

For what it’s worth, the online functionality also sees a vast improvement, completely abandoning the awkward friend codes and completely going off from Nintendo IDs and a larger Lobby room structure that allows for more play instead of periods of waiting. Capcom takes a step right out of Square Enix’s playbook and allows for cross-play online between the 3DS and Wii U versions. The unity of the Big N’s machines utilized likeminded features such as the touch QWERTY pad and voice chat from the speakers and Mic of the Gamepad and 3DS, giving more accessibility to a game that was meant to be a community-driven one.

Listen: To clarify, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate can be genuinely fun and addicting, but it felt inconsistent. These fun moments were few and far between when it came to single player mode, and even after the outrageously long yet tepid hands-on introduction to its systems and rules for the first 10 or so hours. Furthermore, the community element is still a bit splintered at times, even with all of the amazing enhancements that were made to the accessibility of it this time around.

Even for those who pride themselves on their patience and enjoyment towards meticulous fortitude to farm quests and resources over and over again, this game will still test your patience, and it just isn’t worth it half of the time. if you’re still interested in the game despite the aforementioned criticisms, then you better bring some friends or get ready to earn them... because Monster Hunter, that’s why.