Gather round! It’s time for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate! Start stretching your hunting arm, cause things are about to get crazy! Newcomer or veteran, it’s time to start discussing MH4U.
If you are a newcomer, I recommend reading the following. Kind of long for something subtitled “Abridged”, but I think it will get you in the right mindset for the series if you haven’t tried it yet: http://www.ign.com/b...unter-abridged/
So the demo thing first. 4U is getting the same treatment that smash did, so select players are getting demo codes ahead of time. EU players are getting them today, while NA gets them tomorrow. In other words, if you have a demo code now, we can't be friends until tomorrow.
There are two modes, Beginner and Experienced mode.
In beginner, you get large arbitrary stat boosts. Also, there will be markers near one of the current area's exit to tell you the fastest way to the monster. You can only hunt the Great Jaggi and Tetsucabra. This mode does not exist in the full game.
Experienced mode is MH Classic, and how the full game is. Gear is rank appropriate and while there are no area markers, the monster's position is on the map, making it just like the 3U demo. Can fight all three monsters.
It sounds like you can choose to hear the tutorial blabber in either mode before you start the quest. Apparently, you cannot play with someone in a different mode. If I'm in experienced and your in beginner, we won't be able to hunt together. I've heard rumblings of the mode you choose being permanent, though I'm not sure if that's permanent just for that session (can re-choose by closing out of the demo and booting it back up) or if it's for all future uses. I will be choosing Experienced no doubt on the first time.
Next is some info on new mechanics in 4U:
How to ride monsters
Spoiler
The first thing to do is to perform a jumping attack on a monster. When performed, the monster will fall over, you’ll jump on its back, and a short minigame will take place. You have three options here: Hold on (Hold R), Attack (mash X), and do nothing. The monster has two actions during this game: doing nothing and struggling. When the monster is doing nothing, the monster icon is green. When it’s struggling and you are holding on, the icon is yellow. When it is struggling and you do anything but hold on, the icon is red.
The gauge has a bar on it. The bar fills when you attack. The monster icon is always eating at the bar and traveling across the gauge. The icon moves slowly at green, medium speed at yellow, and quickly at red. How to win the game is you have to fill the bar all the way to the end of the gauge. You fail whenever the monster icon gets to the end of your bar. Another way to fail is if your teammates hit the monster and cause it to flinch or if you get hit by a stray attack, so it’s best if people do not attack while someone is riding. Putting all that in simpler terms, here is what you do:
Attack when monster does nothing
Hold on when monster is struggling
I know it may have seemed like a lot of exposition for a simple explanation, but an informed hunter is a better hunter. You can actually hold the R button when you are attacking, making it slightly easier to switch from attacking to holding on. Also, if you are close enough to the end, and have enough distance between your bar and the icon, you can attack through the struggle to finish it anyway. You never “HAVE” to hold on when a monster is struggling, it just stops it from eating your bar too fast. A quick note is that if the monster roars when you are close to the end, it is recommended to wait until after the roar to finish the ride in multiplayer. This is because the roar will incapacitate players without earplugs for a short time, meaning they won’t be able to take advantage of the downed monster.
Additionally, if the monster is enraged or tired when you start the ride, it will affect the ride itself. A tired monster will start off with plenty of bar for the player while an enraged monster will struggle a lot.
The Frenzy Virus
Spoiler
The Frenzy Virus is a new part of Monster Hunter. I will describe in two parts: how it affects the monster, and how it affects you.
For monsters, whether or not they get infected is decided based on the quest. At some point during the battle, the monster will fall over as if they are dead, and purple smoke will rise from their mouth. After a few seconds, they will get up with a purple tint all over them. They are now fully infected. When infected, a monster becomes stronger, but also erratic. For example, whenever Brachydios puts down a puddle of slime, there is a set time before it explodes. When infected, the timer can be normal, very short, or very long. The timing of each monsters attacks changes, making them less predictable. Additionally, many (if not all) of their attacks can infect you with the virus.
So what happens when a hunter becomes infected? Upon infection, a bar will appear next to your name and start to fill. If you do nothing and the bar fills, the virus takes effect. When it takes effect, you cannot naturally recover anything and take extra damage from infection attacks. While the bar fills, consuming a nulberry will reduce it by a large chunk, but they will not cure it. The only way to remove the virus is to attack monsters enough. I don’t believe you have to attack the monster that infected you, so you can use minions and other monsters as targets. The thing is, its not necessarily a matter of how much actual damage you do, but it is based on an amount of damage relative to what your weapon can do. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you are using an endgame greatsword or the starter greatsword, it will take the same number of and kind of attacks to remove the virus. Now, when you remove the virus, there are two effects. The first is that you gain an immunity to infection for a period of time. Additionally, you gain a large affinity boost. Obviously, if you get infected, you want to remove it as soon as possible, so get attacking.
Apex Monsters
Spoiler
Apex Monsters take the virus concept one step further. They are stronger than infected monsters, are immune to elements, status, and traps, do not flinch, and most of their bodies make everything bounce off. Obviously, they can still infect you like infected monsters, which adds to how dangerous they are. They appear in late village quests and late port quests.
It is possible to knock monsters out of the apex state by using special items gotten late in the village quests. These items can increase your raw damage, defense, allow you to do elemental damage, or give you a mind’s eye effect, so you don’t bounce. When you use them, your hunter will take a knee and do a single sharpening animation (even on gunner weapons) to apply it. The item will be in effect for a set duration of time before wearing off. Once it wears off, there is a cool down time before you can use it again. As long as they are active, any attack done will build toward knocking the monster out of the infected state.
With apex monsters, the special wyvern items are basically a necessity, or the fight will feel near impossible. The fight has a very different dynamic, and requires you to come better prepared than most monsters.
Now, why do you want to hunt these Apex Monsters? Every time you hunt an apex monster, you are guaranteed one of two apex stones: Regular, and Large. 90% chance of a regular, 10% chance of large. Using these, you can apex forge weapons. The three final effects of apex forging are:
1) Attack up Large
2) +60 Defense and Divine Protection
3) Small healing every few hits
You can only apex forge weapons at a very high rarity (9 or higher I think). Skilled players will want to do some farming
Weapon Changes From 3U to 4U
If you’re like me, you know your favorite weapons like the back of your hand. Well your hand may have changed. Below is a list of weapon changes you will notice in 4U relative to 3U. I’m 99% sure these are all correct, but verifying these things without the game (and without haggling someone who does 24/7) can be a little difficult.
Spoiler
Longsword
1. White gauge lasts 6 min 40 sec
2. Yellow lasts 4 min 40 sec
3. Red lasts 2 min 15 sec
4. Cannot continue red gauge through additional roundslashes
5. Roundslashes at red pause outer depletion for 10 seconds
6. All colors reduce to zero when emptied
7. Spirit blade attack out of fade slash
8. Up-slice out of roll
9. Jumping attack
10. Jumping spirit blade attack (no color)
11. Jumping Spirit Blade Attack (color)
12. Attacks fill the spirit gauge faster
13. Weapon slightly slower
Switch Axe
1. Fury attack finisher
2. New double-slash in sword mode
3. Upswing out of roll in axe mode
4. Power phial only 1.2x boost
5. Jumping axe attack
6. Jumping Sword attack
7. Jumping Element Discharge
8. Jumping reload
Greatsword
1. New combo attack after lvl3 charge smash
2. Side slap out of roll
3. Jumping slash
4. Post roll sideswipe
5. Charge smash after side swipe
Sword and Shield
1. Major damage boost
2. Attribute remains on shield bash
3. Jumping attack
4. Extra mid-combo charge attack
5. Minor speed reduction?
6. Jump up ledge attack
7. Element Reduction Modifier removed
Dual Blades
1. Element reduction modifier removed
2. Jumping attacks
7. New dash in attack in archdemon mode
Lance
1. Attribute remains on shield bash
2. Jump attack during lance charge
3. Turn around swipe during Lance Charge
4. Jumping attack
5. Increased backhop distance by holding back
6. Shield advance after a hop
Gunlance
1. Jump slam
2. Jump shot
3. Increased backhop distance by holding back
4. Wyvernfire from Full Burst
Hammer
1. Jump Attack
2. charge jump attack
3. Chain combo after early spin attack finisher
Hunting Horn
1. Double hit attack
2. Pressing X, A, or X+A before second hit of double hit will play that note as well (two notes for one attack)
3. Jump attack
4. Backswing is slightly faster
Light Bowgun
1. After reloading, the camera goes back to neutral vertical position, instead of where you were aiming
2. Jumping reload
3. Jumping attack (attacks with weapon, not firing ammo)
Heavy Bowgun
1. Can load a wyvernfire shot, and use it at any time later
2. After reloading, the camera goes back to neutral vertical position, instead of where you were aiming
3. Jumping reload
4. Jumping attack (attacks with weapon, not firing ammo)
Here I will include my weapon guides. Do note that these are currently based on their 3U incarnations, and I will update them as soon as possible. I have most of it thought out already, I just want to double check controls in the demo before changing things. It might take some time for me to update these, as I have to stop playing long enough to do it. Charge Blade will be added to part 1, and the Insect Glaive to part 2:
You'll have to excuse any haphazard-ness on my part. Been busier lately than I thought. Will be updating this with things as I think of them. Hopefully we can hunt together in the demo or the full game soon.
Prepare for 4U!
So what are you guys looking forward to? Which new weapon do you want to try first? If you're new and have questions, ask away. Once I get the demo, I can't guarantee I'll be on here much over the next couple days though.
Edited by Lightning_Ninja, 20 February 2015 - 05:00 PM.
So, what weapon types is everyone planning on running? I'm hoping to run a Hammer/Heavy Bowgun depending upon the situation for Multiplayer, and a Hammer/Great Sword for SP, though these could easily change with new weapons.
Do we have a confirmed list of returning monsters?
Games that refuse to use Gameplay effectively to do anything are like films that refuse to use cinematography in film to do anything.
NNID: Lord of Grape Juice /PSN: Nderbert/Steam: Harmonius EX
So, what weapon types is everyone planning on running? I'm hoping to run a Hammer/Heavy Bowgun depending upon the situation for Multiplayer, and a Hammer/Great Sword for SP, though these could easily change with new weapons.
Do we have a confirmed list of returning monsters?
Since the game released in Japan last year, yes we do. If you don't mind being spoiled on all the monsters:
I really like the Insect Glaive. Thinking about focussing on that. Oh man, I really can't wait until the 13th. The demo played really good and my New Nintendo 3ds really does the trick with the c-Stick. Loving it!!!
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left
Oh man. Mah Axe! It just keeps getting better! The POOWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
What ive noticed so far:
A new double slash move has been added to sword mode, really ramping up the delivery speed of sword strikes, and adding more tempo/rythm options for increased liklihood of proactively making sure you can use your dodge.
They've added a rolling axe rising swing to complement the rolling sword upswing, which means you can go straight into fury swipes... But now, not only can you actually reliably stop, or finish with an overhead like they added in 3u... But pushing the sword button does the gnarliest Whirland swing finish!
On the other hand, they also now added a bunch of guaranteed new ways for the noble S. Axe to undoubtedly send mates flying....
Charge Blade is taking some time to get used to, but I'm loving it. Will add it to my weapon guides within 24 hours.
Anyone else feel like Gore roars almost as much as Gigginox. I swear he just runs the clock doing that half the time.
Oh man. Mah Axe! It just keeps getting better! The POOWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
What ive noticed so far:
A new double slash move has been added to sword mode, really ramping up the delivery speed of sword strikes, and adding more tempo/rythm options for increased liklihood of proactively making sure you can use your dodge.
They've added a rolling axe rising swing to complement the rolling sword upswing, which means you can go straight into fury swipes... But now, not only can you actually reliably stop, or finish with an overhead like they added in 3u... But pushing the sword button does the gnarliest Whirland swing finish!
On the other hand, they also now added a bunch of guaranteed new ways for the noble S. Axe to undoubtedly send mates flying....
I included a list of weapon changes in the OP if you are interested. Unless you want to figure it all out yourself. In which case, carry on.
Yeah, being able to upswing out of a roll is so awesome. SA was already the king of tailcutting, but now it's the God. Even if you upswing people, now they can do aerial attacks out of it! My favorite long combo is: Roll, upswing, fury swipes, fury finisher, morph to sword, side swing, double swing, Element Discharge. Hard part is finding an opening long enough to do it.
Charge Blade is taking some time to get used to, but I'm loving it. Will add it to my weapon guides within 24 hours.
Anyone else feel like Gore roars almost as much as Gigginox. I swear he just runs the clock doing that half the time.
I included a list of weapon changes in the OP if you are interested. Unless you want to figure it all out yourself. In which case, carry on.
Yeah, being able to upswing out of a roll is so awesome. SA was already the king of tailcutting, but now it's the God. Even if you upswing people, now they can do aerial attacks out of it! My favorite long combo is: Roll, upswing, fury swipes, fury finisher, morph to sword, side swing, double swing, Element Discharge. Hard part is finding an opening long enough to do it.
Wait, are you telling me We can attack out of being sent flying by inconsiderate noobs now? Glory be!
Yeah, I quickly realized the potential of that combo, the moment I saw doing the discharge finisher from the two sword slash removed the wind up lag, and I figured out you could go from frenzy finish into sword mode slash.
Only ran it straight once or twice, but thats the glory of the axe, its so damn versatile. At any point in your combo, you can literally switch it up, or cut it short, dodge, and get right back to it like nothing happened.
Get some evade buffs going, and you can literally spend damn near entire hunts dancing under the feet of the beasties, shredding their bellies, dodging their attacks, and resuming combos without skipping a beat.
I was a little dissapointed... AND relieved to see the charge blade was nowhere near as versatile as the switch axe in that regaurd.
Because man, if that thing could link between moves and modes as fluidly as the switch axe... I would drop the SA, and just stick with the Charge blade. Still, its satisfying as all hell.
I found it has a few mode chains, and basic infinite combos, but for the most part its an attacks in order based weapon. Feels like an in between Long sword and Switch Axe in versatility. But WAAAYYYY more fun than the Long Sword.
Knocked the stuffing out of Gore Margala I did. Beastie was all frenzy virus raging, Horns sprouted purple mist flowin, charge spamming. Climbed up a short cliff, turned around and released a charged overhead hay maker, just in time to catch his big ugly mug charging up over the wall. Smashed his face in smashed his horns off, smashed his rage out, smashed the frenzy out, sent him reeling head over tail back on down. Was going to follow him and mount to add insult to injury of course, but I guess his head then exploded from the slime element, so he was dead before I hit him.
Update: Charge Blade info added to Blademaster part 1.
Here for quick reference:
Spoiler
Charge Blade (CB)
The CB is quickly becoming my favorite weapon. Like the switch axe, it has two modes. The CB’s modes are a blade mode and axe mode. I’ll talk about the blade mode’s attacks first, since it’s the mode you should use first.
1a) X
1b) X (after 1a)
1c) X (after 1b)
2) A (hold A to charge)
3) Combo start X+A (Also the unsheathe attack by pressing X with weapon sheathed and moving)
4) Mid combo X+A
5) R+A
6) R+X
7) X+A during a combo
8) R (Block. This weapon cannot draw into a block however.)
1 is a standard 3 hit combo, and it is the same attack used by the actual SNS, the difference being that this weapon has longer reach and moves slower. 1b can be used following a roll and pressing X, as well as after 5. 1c can also be done after 2. Simply pressing 2 will do an upslash, but holding it until it charges will perform a 2 hit attack with good power. Holding it too long will reduce it to just one upslash again. 3 is a forward moving slash, again similar to an attack the SNS can use, and can only be used to start a combo. 4 is a shield thrust attack that can be used mid combo. It can be done after any other move in blade mode but itself. It can loop infinitely with 1a. 5 loads energy built up by attacks in blade mode. 6 is an attack that morphs the weapon into axe mode and performs a downward chop.
Now then, what is this energy that 4 apparently loads? Every time you hit something with a blade mode attack, it puts some energy into the blade. This energy has 4 levels, which can be seen in the upper left corner of the screen where the phials are, and each level fills a number of phials. You rise through these levels as you attack. The levels are (as I call them):
No Color – 0 phials
Yellow – 3 phials
Red – 5 phials
Overcharge Red – 5 phials
Essentially, it is useless to load the charged energy if there is no color. You might be wondering what Overcharge Red is. If you continue attacking when you have red energy, eventually the word “Charge” will appear next to the phials. This means you have too much energy in the blade, and all attacks performed in blade mode in this state will bounce, regardless of sharpness. You really don’t want to be in this state, so it’s best to load the energy.
You cannot have more than 5 phials loaded at a time, so if you have all 5 phials, loading another charge will not help you. Fortunately, you can load all 5 phials, and then hold on to another charge by not loading it. This is useful so that once you use all 5 phials in axe mode (more on that in a second) you can switch to sns mode and immediately load the next 5.
Now let’s talk about axe mode. Its attacks are:
9a) X
9b) X (after 9a)
9c) Forward+X
10a) A (Element Discharge I)
10b) A (Element Discharge II)
10c1) A (or X+A after 10a, 9c, 7, or while standing still; *hold down+X after initial button press while in Element Up mode*) (Super Discharge)
10c2) R before 10c1 or 10c3 are unleashed
10c3) Same as 10c1 while in Energy boost mode (Amped Discharge)
11) R
9a is an upswing followed by a downswing. 9c can be done after 9b and adds a forward moving downswing, or can also be done from a neutral postion. 11 will morph into blade mode and perform a swipe, which is the same attack as the last hit of 1.
Something interesting about the animations of 1, 11, and 6 is that each of them has guard frames. At the end of 1 and 11, you might notice your character holds their shield in front of them momentarily. This will block oncoming attacks. Also, during the windup of 6, your character combines their sword and shield in front of them, also giving you block time. In both cases the block has a very short duration, so it will require good timing to utilize, but it still means you can combo into a guard. However, if you try to perform 6 while guarding, your hunter will not take a moment to combine in front of him. You will be wide open during the animation then.
The 10’s are the interesting moves. These are the attacks that use the phials of energy. Each one of these will use one phial, and the energy will stick to the monster hit, bursting soon after to do extra damage. While they each use one phial, 10a creates one burst, 10b creates two bursts, and 10c1 creates three bursts. There will be no energy bursts if there are no phials loaded, which will reduce their overall damage. Additionally, 10c1 will cause the weapon to revert to blade mode unless you press R during the windup, and has a lot of cool down after it, so be aware of your surroundings when using it.
If you do press R, you will load all the current phials into the axe and it will glow red, entering Element Up Mode (EUM). In this energy state, all axe attacks will do 20% more damage, and the shield thrust gains a free phial burst. Additionally, your block becomes stronger, and blocking attacks with the guard frames of 1, 11, or 6 will gain a free element discharge. If you try to perform the Super discharge normally, instead you will do a longer and extra strong attack I called the amped discharge, which will use up the EUM and all loaded phials, known as the Amped Discharge. In order to use the Super discharge while in EUM, after pressing the button to perform the amped discharge, you have to hold down+X. This mode lasts 30 seconds for every phial loaded, meaning you can gain up to 150 seconds per full load. Additionally, you can load another 5 phials for a maximum of 300 seconds.
Regarding this energy burst produced, there are two types of CB’s: Elemental and Impact. Elemental will create a burst of pure elemental energy, doing damage based on the weapons indicated amount of element and the monster’s resistance. Impact produces a Crag effect, similar to the bowgun ammo, where it does damage based on your raw, but deals it directly to the monster unmodified, and also produces exhaust damage (which will tire the monster faster) and KO damage if the burst hits the head (allowing you to KO it with enough hits). Impact phials are great for parts with very high defense, and for KO’ing monsters. Element phials are great for targeting a monster’s elemental weakpoints. While Impact phials have extra utility with KO’s, don’t underestimate an element phials damage output in skilled hands.
KO'ing a monster with free phial bursts, and then greeting it with an ultra discharge when it gets up, thus instantly KO'ing it again, is one of life's pleasures.
Dang. I've always been a longsword main, and like showing off what it can do, but the CB is just too fun.
Edited by Lightning_Ninja, 17 January 2015 - 08:37 AM.
I was thinking about a new weapon that could be interesting.
The Umbran Whip. (alruna) which can summon undead beasts to aid the hunter. Much like the lifelike glaive bug.
Every whip could be very different in playstyle. All whips have different parts. The handle, rope and an attribute at the end. By combining these you could alter speed, impact and control. Every attribute has an elemental form and summon different beasts.
The whip could also be used the quickly graple onto a monster or surrounding platform, strangle a monster. Whips can have blumt damage when equiped with slow and heavy heads, and can be lightningfast with glaslike heads.
Even if not used as mentioned above...a whip makes total sense and would bring a new weapon to the roster which would be unique and interesting at the same time.
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left
Anyone who liked the Wii U version but thought the 3DS MH3U version was a bit on the small side (me) then this is a much better game for the use of the New 3DS.
I've not played the game on a 3DSXL but the New 3DS addresses a few issues that I had gripes with before.
Better 3D, the new nubbin, better sized console to hold and play for longer durations.
The game itself has online play at last. This is a must and was a real let down for the last game. It's a day one purchase for any 3DS owner.
Edited by Sorceror12, 23 January 2015 - 06:02 PM. reoriented photo.
I was thinking about a new weapon that could be interesting.
The Umbran Whip. (alruna) which can summon undead beasts to aid the hunter. Much like the lifelike glaive bug.
Every whip could be very different in playstyle. All whips have different parts. The handle, rope and an attribute at the end. By combining these you could alter speed, impact and control. Every attribute has an elemental form and summon different beasts.
The whip could also be used the quickly graple onto a monster or surrounding platform, strangle a monster. Whips can have blumt damage when equiped with slow and heavy heads, and can be lightningfast with glaslike heads.
Even if not used as mentioned above...a whip makes total sense and would bring a new weapon to the roster which would be unique and interesting at the same time.
Whats the first thing you think of whenever you think of a large beast tamer like a lion tamer? Why a whip!
It does make pretty perfect sense for the series.
Now we just need to find a way to make it transform into an axe. Everything must now transform into axes. Make the world a better place.
So apparently there is a limited quantity of mh4U new 3ds xl's available by going into a store to preorder. Just nabbed mine. Best of luck to you if you try to get it.
I've pinned this thread for now as many here are stoked about getting the next Monster Hunter!
Cool, thanks.
Will be updating the rest of my weapon guides hopefully this weekend. Already know what to write, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
