4u had the best roster of monsters. My friends and I played it everyday for four months, ordering pizza , drinking beer, fighting gog drunk. Best times ever. A year later while waiting for one of our friends to lobby up one of our best friends died at 23 being hit dead on by a drunk driver so this game holds a special place in my heart . R.I.P Chris
R.I.P. Chris, may you continue hunting wherever you are, so that when your friends join you you'll have sick gear to show them and you didn't loose your touch.
4U literally saved my life. When I was at the worst point of my depression it wasn't friends or family that kept me from ending it all, it was this game.
You know, monster hunter series did the same to me, growing up alone was hard, and depression didn’t help, but when I started 4U, everything changed, joy was something more frequent in me, and since I was close to one of my uncles, he started playing with me every time we meet In birthdays or events, and before I knew it, my father and older brother were hunting with me, that’s why I decided that I’m not giving up until i play every monster hunter 🗿
It was the same for me except in 3u. It taught me that no matter what wall I come across, and no matter how impossible it seems. There's always a way to overcome it. A lesson that I still carry with me a decade later lol
usually, I am a nihilist and don't believe these kind of stories until one of my grandmas passed away at the time MH 4 release and MH 4U carried me throught that time, so yeah I am glad that MH 4U helped people. Sorry for being a jerk and I hope you are moving forward and yes depression comes in many shapes and form is not the same for everyone. Stay safe and don't give up.
its the one that has the most pleasant story, the best presentation of such story and also the best pacing of content. its not super bloated like gen and XX where you have 100 of quest and monster to do each rank, which is kind of a chore considering that 95% of the monster are returning one that most player already know by heart. its not super short and easy like base world where you just have a handfull of quest by rank. in 4u i enjoyed the low, high and Grank. in X and world i despise the low and high rank. one is way too long to do, the other way too short ( and zorah and xeno are bad too). 4U had the perfect balance.
@@MatthewCJoy everyone has their opinions. I really appreciate what world did to the overall presentation of the franchise. Definitely the best game in terms of immersion and with the best areas. Sometimes I just equipped the ghillie mantle and watched the monsters going on with their daily business like hunting for food or fighting other monsters over their territories. With Iceborne two of my favorite boss fights ever (Fatalis, Alatreon) where added. I’d put 4U as a very close second to W/IB. I think it really depends on which aspects are most important to you.
I'll always remember the hype leading up to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's release. I was in high school at the time and one of my friends imported a Japanese 3DS to play the DEMO a week early. We all thought he was crazy, but we were all huddled around him watching him play that demo during lunch when he got it.
39:33 Okay I've got a criticism on this part. You seem to be under the idea that learning about the Elder Crossing and by extension New World wasn't really important and the Guild just did it out of curiosity but that simply isn't true. Elder Crossing always causes mass destruction in the Old World every 100 years due to the Elder Dragons starting to move toward the New World (For example that's why Lunastra marched through the village bringing destruction in Legends of the Guild so that gives a good idea of what it causes). A massive Elder dragon migration is obviously a big deal for the world of MH, both Old and New. And it's especially big a deal when it suddenly starts happening every 10 years instead of 100 and no one knows why. The cause was of course a Xeno'jiiva and the Guild took care of it. We don't know if this restored the frequency of the Elder Crossing or not but presumably yes and even if not that just means the Guild knows the cause for the acceleration of it and has means to try stop it. So as an answer to the "Is anything the Guild really necessary or even beneficial for the humanity's survival" should be an absolute yes Imo. I think World presented its story very poorly and caused alot of confusion as a result but the setting is great and makes more sense when you understand what's actually happening. Namely what the Elder Crossing causes and why the guild went there in the first place Also, it's only the 5th fleet's job to research monsters through killing or capturing them hence the hunter + Handler tag teams. The other fleets have their distinct jobs and goals too. The Guild is doing much more in the New World than just randomly killing monsters to study them But yeah other than that this is a great video. It's nice that you're able to approach these topics from all kinds of angles since the Dos video was pretty black and white
Good point. World's story was certainly presented very poorly. I think part of the issue is that a lot of the hunts that were given were due to aggressive monsters being found near Astera or whatever other research base was out there and that gave a weird impression since it was constantly stated that the Guild was in the new world for research and our hunter didn't directly participate in much of that research themselves. I do think that hunting Nergigante was a mistake on the Guild's part, though, since that did cause genuine damage to the ecosystem, but it also allowed for new discoveries. It's important to note that everyone was working in uncharted territory at that point working to unravel the cause of the elder crossing, so it kinda just showed that research is messy, much like in real life.
Yeah he is also forgetting to mention how zorah was trying to basically blow up the whole new world. It is later implied that Zorah was trying to get rid of Xeno/Safi and Nergi was also helping him (if I recall correctly). So basically the guild had to eliminate Zorah because it was an imminent threat to not only them, but the whole New World.
My guy, you are a prophet. Based on the trailer of Monster Hunter Wilds and the recent beta test, they are doing exactly as you have stated they should do in Monster Hunter 6.
You mention that humanity's existence doesn't quite rely on the Guild's actions in World, but they do say that if Zorah Magdaros were to die in the everstream it would basically cause a thermonuclear explosion that would completely destroy the New World... Then chasing Nergigante around leads the seeker to find the nesting place of Xeno'jiiva, a previously undiscovered species of elder dragon. Not saying World has a good story, but the Guild stopping Zorah was a very important task that happened to lead to the discovery of weird new species after a somewhat disappointing boss fight.
playing through 4u rn (30 hours) in and I must say, the way quests and story are handled is really the best in the series. So far the whole game has just been a positive surprise in general, might become my fav depending on how it goes.
@@kaden1016 I finished up HR (almost) and even though there is parts I didn't like, there is a lot that i did like and that surprised me. I won't be playing further tho, as I don't really want to solo hub :/ I want some of it's DNA in mh wilds :)
MH4U was my very first MH experience, i was but a young lad with a 3ds and a dream of defeating larger than life dragons and dinosaurs. I hope it gets a remake someday
the heavens wheel song is one of if not best boss songs for the series it presents the stake of failing but as you weaken it the crescendo of the song hits and you get that same feeling that shadow of the Colossus had with its music I love this game near and dearly
4U is still my most beloved and most played game in the series. I play it even now and not Rise/world/. Monster Hunter without guild quests and Relics is boring to me
I hope MH6 gets guild quests again, with rise and world they have brugh a lot of people to the franchise, now is time to show that people a real monster hunter (with MHW worldbuilding and graphics if possible)
I can't agree with World's Elders Crossing investigation to be "meaningless". I'm not entirely sure the game itself adresses that, but The Legends of the Guild tells us the Elder Crossing has been abnormally frequent in the recent time. Supposedly, it used to be such a rare event, that even once a 100 years was strangely a lot. Now it's like once every 10 years. And we've seen in that movie how devastating these crossing are for the villages. This is the "special op" of the Monster Hunter World. To figure out why the Elder Crossing has become abnormally frequent and, if possible, make it rarer, as it was in the past. That doesn't explain why they were so eager to come back just after dealing with Zorah in LR or why they decided to stay in the New World after Xeno in HR however.
35:37 Man, I remember Fire drill as one of those infamous Guild/Ancestral hall quests, one could drop into a lobby, chat "Fire drill?" and everyone then knew what was up next, absolute classic Also, impressive double K.O. there, would have quick-chatted a "wow" in a heartbeat. Awesome video, long live the Caravan!
Jakob you always seem to skirt over the fact that the guild in world looked into the elder crossing because elders were migrating at 10x the known frequency. That's a pretty good reason to want to understand the phenomenon that was happening especially since elder crossings can be devastating to human populations . Then by looking into it they found out both why elders cross and also what was causing the problem and solved it. Reverting a dangerous season from a 10 year worry to a 100 year worry is more than just "kinda" beneficial.
Yeah, they saved the entire current ecosystem of the mainland of the new world because Xeno was causing Zorah to move further inland than it normally does, and it's death could cause quite the destruction of the ecosystem (of course it would have made new ones but everything currently alive in a wide area would die.) Nergigante HAD to be killed because it was stopped the hunters from stopping Zorah. It didn't understand that we weren't trying to steal it's kill we were trying to move it somewhere else. And since we can't capture them, the only options is to kill them. Then you find Xeno and the fear of the unknown kicks in, we see this (at the time believed to be) baby dragon showing power exceeding other fully grown elder dragons, though it was later found to be around the juvi/adolescent stage it was still something extremely scary and dangerous. Then they find the guiding lands and they find safi who legit saps the life from the areas it's in to benefit itself and while most creature do this on a certain level, theres like no life or plants in safi's nest at all clearly showing how much it's destroyed the land. Then fking Alatreon comes and it's like OH SHIT THE WALKING CALAMITY THAT JUST HAS TO SIT THERE AND IT FKS SHIT UP OMG KILL EM DON'T LET EM FIGHT THE RED LASER BOY BY GOD STOP THE MATCH. Fatalis: goes without saying. The only unnecessary thing I feel in the game is the breaking of kulve's horns... definitely made me feel like an asshole tbh but damn is that armor make be feel like a bad bitch. Atleast for the BIG monster bosses. Or the lesser ones... honestly I got nothing for them, atleast it was explained the kulu was fking with research camps and that Anjanath was being an asshat and we couldn't explore due to it's aggressive nature and strong sense of smell allowing it to find researchers and hunters almost no matter where they tried to set up. In the desert we see rathian and barroth fking with carts and stuff. and Leginanna is stopping the air ship from safely getting to the high lands.... odogaron is... well its odogaron it's gonna try to eat anyone and anything it sees. every other monster inbetween (not included the elder's recess) i don't feel super needed to die.
I started with Tri, as such, that completely ruined the series for me because I knew that I'd never settle to play such a beautiful game on a handheld.
Legends of the Guild is definitely not a cinematic masterpiece, but I appreciate how it tried to make World's themes less of a mess. Presenting the Elder Migration as a growing threat that's been escalating recently makes the Research Commission seem less like absolute lunatics. It's not perfect, but I appreciate the attempt
I just finished the intro section of the video and I can't wait to find the time to finish the rest. I love discussing MH, as I feel fairly unique, as my first game was World, and then through playing the old games for the first time, I started forming my own opinions on this franchise. 4U is particularly special to me as it was my second MH game, and more importantly, it was the one where I truly fell in love with this franchise. Additionally, 4U easily has the best in game cutscenes in the series, I love how perfectly they blend into gameplay, world also did this well for the most part but I feel like 4U executed them better and I love how nearly every monster got a cool intro cutscene in 4U. I've played all the way back to freedom unite, but would be interested in playing 1G, portable 3rd, tri, and maybe dos. But those games could be tricky to emulate, I felt that it was a bit difficult getting Hunsterverse to work for FU so I'm not sure if I could do fan translations for games like protable 3rd (which weren't localized) or other requirements for emulating games like in Tri, where I'd have to connect to a private server to play high rank.
Based off of the games I've played, I feel like 3rd gen laid the groundwork for 4th gen, as when I went from 3rd gen to 2nd, I noticed a lot of things were different, where the jump from 4th to 3rd was not quite as drastic. Overall I feel like the time of 3rd and 4th gen is the "Golden Age" of monster hunter where I feel like the game series perfected its formula, with 3rd gen making the enrage system more dynamic, adding the exhaust effect, elemental blights, etc. And 4th gen truly perfecting the innovations of 3rd gen, while adding new aspects of its own with mounting and land verticality. I truly wonder what MH6 is going to be like, my main wishes are underwater combat returns (I loved it) and the healing flex returns (It was goofy and I loved it, also it made healing feel more satisfying with a bit more risk/reward).
Something worth noting is that Monster Hunter 4 and 3G were both announced on the same day, so that should give a little better idea of the development timeline
Funny how the two games that each double down on different aspects of the series are even meant to be parallels of each other. One of the reasons why Dundorma is back is precisely because 4U is supposed to parallel Dos.
I’m just watching this because more attention on 4u in the modern mh era is important… and really makes me hope that capcom will rerelease this game with live servers on everything using capcom Id to allow cross play…
I've been hunting solo for a long time, personally. I wouldn't care if it had online play at all, I just want to be able to play 4U on a better platform than 3DS, especially if it's PC. And yeah, I know you can emulate it, but Citra has a lot of flaws and I'd prefer a version of the game that functions smoothly. All the better if it has kbm support.
@@caravaneerkhed Yeah, absolutely. I just feel like there has to be a monkey's paw if this ever happens, so I want the universe to know where to compromise.
@@vitriolicAmaranth well capcom is celebrating a monster hunter anniversary… and we haven’t gotten a new mh game announced yet, so I think it’s not out of the realm of possibility
An interesting aspect about MH games evolutions is the new monsters design philosophy as well. For example, - Tri is kinda different, almost exotic, so new monsters are exotics in design : Qurupeqo doesn't fight alone and is very colorful for what the serie had up until this point (Congalala excepted), Gobul hides in plain sight and has a new shape, even the "Felynes allies" of this game are funky looking. - 4U is about mastery, and the new monster all have some gimmicky ways to attack from strange angles or "stances" like Seltas Queen or Zamtrios. Even the new weapons are technicals ! - GU is about flashy moves and introduce flashy new monsters, the Big 4 being very cinematic fights - World/Iceborne are a lot about the environnement, and most memorable fights (Zorah, Xenojiva, Velkana, Fatalis) have some play with the terrain. I think that's also what makes 4U special for a lot of people : it's one of the more "skill focused" game of the "slow/low spectacle" era. You might have come to Tri for the exotism, but you stayed because fighting monsters was interesting, and 4U new monsters are so fun and interesting to fight that it's a joy to have such sharps controls/hitboxes in this context, and not having flashy/powerfull tools like those introduced in later titles makes the "skill oriented" aspect of the game that much rewarding
You can say the same you said about 4U about GU as well. More so even, as the inmplementation of Styles added 5 more ways to play and master a weapon outside of Guild Style. Also, of all games with flashy moves GU did imho implement them the best, as, unlike in Rise/Sunbreak you have to earn them by playing well, and then there is also always a chance to waste them, so you need to master these moves in addition to the basic moveset. Not to say that some of the styles weren't better or more unbalanced then others (looking at you, Valor). In essence though i believe that GU took the mechanical mastery of 4U and added just enough spice to make GU a perfect Monster Hunter game.
@@WH40KHero GU seems like the best mix between old style combat (4U and previous) and the newer more mobile combat introduced in 5th gen (World and Rise). Which is funny because GU technically came out before World. I also prefer GU's arts/styles system over Rise's as GU's feels more rewarding while still retaining the classic combat as the core of your moveset. Rise feels spammy when it comes to the silkbind attacks and wirefall makes the game feel more safe. World has a lot of utility and tools to make the game a tad easier along with mobility healing and restocking which exists in all 5th gen games now. GU seems like the perfect balance for those who want flashier and more mobile combat while still retaining that mastery aspect present in 4/4U.
Thats because in my opinion compared to Rise/Sunbreak the Silkbinds are just a resource you can use that regenerates fast, while Hunter Arts (with two notable exceptions) take longer and are essentially finishers with which you are rewarded after a time of good play. Getting and landing a hunter art is powerful, flashy and very rewarding, and even after hundreds or thousands of uses it doesnt get old, while i can imagine silkbinds get stale fast.
You're so right about so much, and so wrong about others parts... The way you seem to get ludonarrative importance so well at one point and entirely lose it the next second...
I think a big factor in why people remember 4u being the best as it is the last time in the west we got a G rank version drop before we got a base game. Meaning a first playthrough gave use the high rank game and then a phenomenal G rank all in one massive tasty meal which hasn't happened since
I bought a new 3d xl just to play mh4u. I saved up money in highschool bought it and had almost 40 hours in my first week. I was so bad at the game I remeber looking up monsters on youtube to study their attack patterns while i was trying to hunt them. And i rmeebr going on expiditions just to get more potions because i didnt realise the store sold most things
no joke i made a cappucino and got a delicious piece of cake to watch this review since 4 was my favourite title (and i played every portable title since freedom). can't wait for future reviews/retrospectives etc, great job!
Just started the video. I went to the MH4U UK launch event in the video at the start and am actually in that video. I never really gelled with 4th gen though, for whatever reason. Wish I could see what others do in it because everyone else seems to love it. I'm still so glad it brought so many new players to the series
Excellent video my friend, 4/4u was really something special and I'm glad the main team seems to have a clear vision for the series in their titles. It makes me really excited to see what a MH6 will look like.
@@wayofthekodiak3118you realize rise is not a main line game how don’t people get this.the team that made world DID NOT MAKE RISE.rise is a place holder till mh6 drops and even tho it is it’s a dam good game.just like generations,or stories,or frontier you can basically call those games test games kinda pushing the limits of the series and seeing what they can add to the main line games like world,4u,and soon to be 6.
Fantastic points brought up at the 37:07 mark, on the role of the Hunter & the Guild in 4U vs World, and how seemingly superficial narrative differences actually have a very significant impact on how our actions come across in relation to Nature. Great video overall.
I appreciate the hell out of the work you put yourself through with this. Good shit. Lately in a discussion I had, the Terminology "Rise vs. 4U is basically immersive vs. convinient" come up and I personally feel that is entirely correct. The issue of comparing the games is that one is made to grab the "I want story and reason to kill the things I kill" while the other is "Idc man, I'll skip every textbox anyway, I just wanna kill things" which makes any point of comparing them basically moot. Which may be a bit oversimplified (because I am VERY sick currently.) but you get my point I hope. However, I currently work on a Video about the Topic myself, so this Video is really good fodder for trying to get my own points across as neutral as possible. xD Thank you for this work my man. Take my Like.
I honestly don't know which you're saying is which but while both have a lot more stress placed on story than other titles (besides World) do, Rise (and World for that matter) has such a fixation on convenience and "quality of life" features that it has utterly transformed the core gameplay. Even wirefalling reflects this dogged philosophy of making everything more convenient and removing anything that any player might think is frustrating or a waste of their time, no matter how vital a part of the core design it actually is. A lot of people complain about spiribirds but even those were put in to lessen the importance of setbuilding, and conversely armour gives like three times as many skills per piece/set as ever before to make setbuilding itself practically effortless and any gains from engineering a set marginal, because people are more likely to see setbuilding as a tedious inconvenient waste of time than to see going 2 seconds to the left on the way to the monster to grab a few permanent attack buffs as a tedious inconvenient waste of time.
Damn, seeing you list out those things at the end that would make the next game better, and seeing that they’ve actually done most of these things with Wilds is cool to see.
My first experience with Monster Hunter was the Freedom Unite demo on the PSP. I played that for hours upon hours, and when i was 12 i finally got my own 2DS and MH4U. I easily put over 300 hours into it, and i still have my old copy. Now that theyre gonna be shutting down 3DS servers, i gotta get another DS and get back into it.
I’m glad you’re doing an analysis into MH4 and from a non-biased, analytical point of view. It’s especially interesting how you define the portable genre into different categories, which I think MH4 strikes a pretty good balance between such categories with more accessible and streamlined gameplay while still encourage good preparation with added survival element of the Everwood. I personally wish they’d bring back the randomly generated map with randomised loots and all. I was initially against the idea of Capcom making 2 styles of MH games moving forwards, with World style for home consoles and classic style for portable (or namely the Switch) because I’d still like a more modern MH game on the go. But after having played both World and Rise enough, I came to miss the old formula and often thought back to MH4, which is still my favourite MH game overall. At this point, I would readily welcome another MH4 style game, and I think there are plenty who would think the same as I can still see many active MH4 communities (well, at the Japanese ones). So yeah, MH4 is still the very definitive experience of MH for me, even to this day. EDIT: I want to give your video a double thumb up for pronouncing “Tee-Grex”.😆
We should have a switch version too to show them what it means to not button mash and focus on positioning. Apex monsters are perfect for the scholar-hunters.
-It had SO many monsters -2 brand new amazing weapons -You could jump attack for the first time -HUGE monsters like Dalamadur, Gogmazios, etc -Amazing yet simple cinematics for every monster which featured ALL of your team in the hub -A ton of armors and weapons, for both melee AND range -You could trade monster parts for parts from monsters that were not even in the game, so EVEN MORE ARMORS AND WEAPONS -A good quest line -Simple yet fun maps, no getting lost in a giant tree for hours -No extra bullshit hunting arts slingshot wire bug crap -The list goes on
Wait, Rise is lighthearted? Is this because of the Dango cutscenes? Kamura faces an existential threat in the Rampage with such constant regularity and severity that even the children in the village are drafted as defenders. In Sunbreak there's a horrifying demon climbing out of the bowels of the earth to destroy civilization. (I know I'm nitpicking. Cool video)
Great essay! Keep it up. 👍 MH4U was my second game in the series and while it may not be my most played title it certainly is the one that had me the most engaged. Its story and presentation surely played a big part in that, no doubt. Freedom Unite will probably always stay my favorite thanks to nostalgia but 4U will keep a special place in my heart on its own merits. btw when you mentioned the quest "Fire Drill" it activated my fight or flight response 😂
The music the feels......this game is amazing. Remember when high rank pink rathian urgent and certain hunts were cranked up in difficulty. I miss that.
Its safe to say that you improved a lot from the previous analysis video! Thanks for a more clear and well developed opinion my man, great video indeed.
All I ever wanted was for 4 to get an Ultimate HD version like 3U did. I started the MH series with P3rd right before 3U was released, and I can say that out of 3/4/X/W/R I always return to 4 as THE Monster Hunter experience. From your retrospective, I can see an argument being made for Dos being the True Monster Hunter experience but I think it is a game that is its own simulation genre when compared to the rest of the series. Off to start another 4U playthrough.
MH4U is where i started with the franchise, and to be honest, i still love it. The game introduced my main weapon type of the series, the Insect Glaive. I love being able to knock monsters down with aerial attacks from vaulting with the thing, i love the controls in general honestly, i spent so much time playing that i spent 200 hours alone farming Seregios in G Rank to get loads of parts to upgrade my glaive the Seditious Breaker.
I got a copy of both 3U and 4U today at my local store for less than $40. Glad I got my hands on these classics, and can't wait to keep going on 4U. And I look forward to playing 3U, Tri was the first game I played in the series.
Idk why your MHDos video gets so much hate. I genuinely love Dos, and your video highlights all the things I think older MH did better. It's well edited and you delivered your points extremely well.
Just shows that looking at MH as an immersive survival sim is shunned upon by the larger action-oriented gaming crowd. Always been like that. Long ago I've expressed my feeling about the addition of the farm in portable MH killing the immersion of a hunter - *gatherer* fantasy. And all I got was weird looks. If MH went into immersion sim direction it would be/stay very niche. First two console MH were niche, franchise only became more and more popular as it focused more and more on combat.
@@alexxx4434 I love monster hunter, and enjoy aspects of all 3 of the main design eras (1/2, portable 2nd-genU world/rise) but I really wish we got a proper hunter-gatherer game in the world that felt like a continuation of what made dos a very unique game. If monster hunter ever goes open world, I feel like it'd work beautifully, but with the team's current focus we would instead get world but all the maps are connected
Because it was a shit video. Filled with contradictions, poor arguments, and an overall extremely elitist attitude that DOS is the "true" Monster Hunter game.
It's curious to me since when I got into the series with World, one of my bigger dislikes were how quickly gathering loses all incentive, the reputation about preparation turned out not to be true for the most part and even finding/tracking monsters eventually stops being a part of gameplay
@@adhdasdfroflxd123 They have robbed the players of the progression in this integral aspect in newer games. In classic games you really started as zenny-less nobody, had to learn the evironments to procure the resources (the gathering aspect). Then as you grew in ranks you started earning more money and could afford to buy many resources from the shops. In newer titles you skip directly into getting basically free resources. Next installments might as well start to cut out the resources, because why bother the players with them when they are basically already plenty. Just make healing unlimited, better yet - regenerative, like was invented in COD to do away with "boring" med kit health management. It seems that a stereotypical "gamer" hates resource management, finds it boring, constantly complains about it, has poor attention span, and demands action all the time. And CAPCOM catered to that.
Ok first of all, thanks for this video. It's gotta be the first video that actually makes a good case for the game and makes me believe it could be someone's favorite. I don't really like 4U and usually my experience with people who said it was their favorite was basically that they just claimed it had the best gameplay and story without and elaboration, maybe named a mechanic I thought almost ruined the series or just liked one endgame monster that didn't return, and made it blatantly apparent that it was simply their first MH game and they just liked it because of that. If I had to criticize something about the video, it's that it gets caught up in definitions that are ultimately arbitrary and don't add much to the point imo. You spend 10 minutes before even getting into the first point of why you like 4U and some of it is really arbitrary like putting GU in a different category because it has like 4 goofy cutscenes and compare it with 4U's ending which is less goofy, as if anything on Sunsnug isle or in the caravan cutscenes wasn't just as goofy in 4U. Imo it's just a gradual progression. Tri is more goofy than Dos, p3rd and 3U are more goofy than tri, 4U is more goofy than 3U and GU is more goofy than 4U. There isn't really a hard line, it's a gradual process, just like many, many other aspects of the series like verticality and faster, more reaction based combat. But anyway, onto the points in your video about 4U. I really like that you actually go into the theming of the game, because it's something most people don't really touch on. It's one of the game's strongest aspect but unfortunately one that I think made the game worse. For example, you bring up the element of surprise as a positive, whereas I thought the game fell incredibly flat in that regard. Imo the problem of the game is that it pulls the same surprises on you all the time and it doesn't add much to the experience. For example, you know very well that the mission where Gore attacks your ship will involve a new fight because the game warns you about it, but you're not able to prepare for what you're about to hunt. And all the cutscenes essentially play out the same. Your hunter gets attacked, dodges, regains their ground and then faces the monster and the fight begins. That's 90% of the monster introductions right there. The invader and "suspicious behavior" monster quests are also all frenzy quests, so what's the surprise exactly? You already know what's gonna happen because the game is so by the numbers about its surprises. It just also doesn't give you a chance to properly prepare because it doesn't tell you what you're supposed to hunt before the quest starts, which is just a nuisance imo. Similarly, I didn't think the immersion was all that great. The game follows some internal logic, but imo seeing a shrouded Nerscylla hang from the sky, Seltas Queen getting picked up by a tiny regular Seltas and Gogmazios flying with liquid wings all made my suspension of disbelief disappear. It becomes worse with the game's story because you even get quests like the Rusted Kushala fight where it's blatantly obvious the NPCs there are just static and waiting for you to do your thing, similar to the WorldNPCs waiting for you to ignite the cannons in the Zorah Magdaros fight. It's blatantly apparent that they are video game NPCs who do nothing of their own. I didn't have this problem in MH1-3U because I was the only person hunting and my NPC companion was a cat, someone I expect to move erratically and less human-like. Imo all this story stuff, forced multi-quests and siege fights took me out of the experience and didn't make a great fit for a portable game. There were just too many quests where I went "damn this quest is long, I gotta take a piss and get some tea before we start" and that's not a great thing in a game you play on the go on a tiny 3DS screen. The previous games have been more respectable with my time in that regard, giving multi monster hunts reduced hp and featuring more single monster quests, as well as less multi stage or siege fights. There is no Fatalis, Gogmazios or Dalamadur in p3rd after all. Imo the best portable games are p3rd and GU, because they actually play at a brisk pace and go all in on the ~10 minutes per quest style where you pick up the game and play, not to mention they have vastly better monster rosters and gameplay. Gen in particular really stands out to me as the game that fixed 4U's style for me, which you can see in the ledges of returning maps not unnecessarily closing you off, not featuring multi-layered areas as much and placing ledges in a way that benefit you more than they interrupt. They are mostly found near the edges of each area and aren't particularly large either, making them basically optional mount springboards. The mount also lets you attack now, which removes unnecessary waiting and the trader now basically requires no meaningful amount of resources and wycademy points are handed out like candy so you aren't forced on some stupid ass single player only missions where you get randomly generated quests. You just head down, request what you want and come back to collect it a few quests later. The monsters also don't suck as much. Like, Najarala really surprises you by having an instant flinch that requires HGEs, that explodes immediately after and makes you wait in it's gigantic hitbox that trips you constantly and makes you wait out a 20 seconds long attack that can only be superman dived. Or Nerscylla, which I recently did in low rank for a friend, with G-rank gear, that took me 8 minutes because it was completely unreachable with blademaster weapons. It just made me think "why did I agree to play this game, I could be playing GU right now instead". Imo, that's what makes this game so much better; a vaster, better monster roster, quicker pace with less exploitable monster behavior that is much less of a pain to deal with thanks to styles and HAs and an actual mission based structure that just lets you get into the action quickly and finish up quickly, without being interrupted by the story or the dumbass guild quest system constantly. A good portable MH doesn't need more than that. It just needs to play well, which I think 4U doesn't. Imo a game that needed theming and did it well was tri, because the themes didn't interrupt the gameplay and actually enhanced the experience meaningfully. It was also a much more polished title in general and was fit for a console game, where themes actually have space to breathe and immersion is more important. Not a handheld game I would play on the bus for 15 minutes. And lastly, I think the handheld vs home console debate has always been completely wrong. Yeah, the portable games did sell better until Gen 3, but consider that MH1 was basically the beta version of a game judging by how incomplete it feels even compared to G, G never made it overseas, Dos flopped because of the difficulty, weapon balancing and difficult systems people didn't wanna bother with, as well as not making it overseas and tri being a controversial game at the time due to having massively less content than FU, underwater combat being unpopular, the game cutting weapons people liked and being on a platform that had virtually no established playerbase, as all MH fans were PS2 and PSP owners. If anything, the many criticisms of 3U being on 3DS and WiiU, 4U being on 3DS and World being the literal best sold game by capcom ever, it should be clear by now that people only really care about the game, not the system and marketing is like the biggest factor affecting sales numbers. Additionally, considering almost noone plays on real hardware anymore and most old MH players just emulate on PC shows that the portable aspect isn't really what draws people to these games. It's their content and gameplay that does.
Yeah 4U in general has a lot of bad aspect combat wise that I really can't see how it's supposed to be the best. Weapon balacing is fucked, maps are fucked, difficulty curve is fucked (game is piss easy until G2, where you get hit with a million multi monster frenzy quest and Elder key quests), monster design is fucked (unpredictable and spazzy but easy to trip and mount, so the battles are often one sided either in favour of the hunter or the monster, and for a lot of monsters the best strat is just to target the legs instead of the head like in 2nd gen), frustrating RNG endgame which requires tons of grinding, still has the dogshit RNG Talismans, some crafting materials can't be easily acquired (a pain for Bow users), some monsters are only available in the Everwood, Apex and Frenzy being a shit mechanic and so on. It's also clearily catered around multiplayer, since monsters in G rank scale super high and the whole Apex thing which require speedrunning level of skill to pull off solo. I haven't played GU yet but just from hearing people talking about it plus seeing videos it seems that with the Styles and Arts 4th gen monsters may be more manageable (without having to worry too much about ledges, slopes and Wystones), and Hyper and Deviants monsters seem a better gimmick that Frenzy and Apex.
@@mariodoccia6129 GU has weapon balancing issues as well (Gen doesn't really tho, it's mostly valor that's fucked), but imo it really solved the issue of the leg hugging gameplay, because trips rarely happen in GU and monsters are a lot harder to stagger in general. On your end, you got styles and HAs to deal with the monster movements, so while 4U was very one sided in either direction, GU rarely is unless you're extremely good or play online (and I'd argue this has its own appeal). The game has its issues, but imo the core gameplay is so strong compared to 4U that the faults are easy to forgive.
@@levobertus The weapon balancing doesn't bother me that much in theory since you have styles and arts, and in general I've seen that outside of Valor HGB there's a lot of fun to be had with the weapons. For the staggers I'm kinda disappointed to hear this. I like staggers more than trips, since they allow you to interact with the monster on a more regular basis. 4U increased those but it was easier just to hug the back legs for a bunch of monsters since it was safer and allowed for good damage over time with trips (Seregios, Zinogre, Tigrex, the Raths etc.). If they fixed this in GU I'm glad but if the monsters don't trip nor stagger then you're not interacting with them. Will see when I play it.
Story and pacing aside (which really are the best in the franchise) I think the gameplay had the perfect balance of Hunter X Monster power. There were a few quests in World and even in Rise that made me fear the monsters but most of them were already in the powercreep zone. In MH4U I remember being terrified of almost every G-Rank monster. I will never forget the Stygian Zinogre + Raging Brachydios quest on G4 (if I remember correctly). And this feeling to me is nostalgia proof to be honest, I went back to 4U after World and Rise and even high rank quests have this feeling. It's probably because of the lack of defensive and evasive moves. Back then each weapon was truly unique. Like, you would learn multiple weapons out of necessity, not just because they're fun. If you're having a hard time against a monster with you main weapon, sometimes you would feel the need to switch to a weapon with a shield like Lance or Gunlance. Or if you were a SnS main you would have a ridiculously bad time against Brachy so you would switch to a weapon that can hit his head/body. In Generations, World and Rise every weapon gets a move or a style that can cover up it's only deficiency, which makes every weapon have an answer to every monster.
@erichdavis2897 it's simple really, stygian is a pushover, so you can focus on killing him first. I recommend charge blade for this quest as it can stun the heck out of brachy. Also bring a full stack of dung bomb
@@atlasthechamp82 Is stygian really that big a pushover? I've had issues with his speed making attacks pretty much unavoidable with weapon drawn, and no time to sheathe. I may just need to practice the fight though
@erichdavis2897 yeah, I remembered steamrolling him with basically any weapons. Most of his attacks are very telegraphed and he doesn't hit that hard. But if you want to cheese him then just use the insect glaive and vault, not a very good fit for raging brachy tho
4U's endgame weapon drop system was the best thing they ever created. They should've build on that for all their game onwards and perfect it! If someone from capcom is ever reading this... PLEASE BRING THIS MECANIC BACK!!
My controversial opinion is that MH peaked with FU. That is where the survial element was perfected. You always had just enough resources to keep you going, but never enough so that you can tank through Monsters without learning. The Hunter was still slow and had limited agility. The weapons cumbersome and difficult to learn. The world drab and unforgiving, with vicious small monsters, unmarked resources, punishing environmental hazards... Simply the most intense MH era ever. You felt truly small and inadequate compared to the monsters so learning their moves and gradually besting them with limited resources was just perfection.
I agree with the survival aspect of FU, especially with supplies, even late in game I would do gathering quests to bolster my resources. The atmosphere, the special lore books that you could collect that gave you tips, all that was great! The only thing I dislike about FU is how much it costs to upgrade weapons, I like collecting all weapons so hunting monsters and selling everything I didnt need was common in my playthrough. However I disagree with the series peaking at FU, I feel like the monster AI was a bit too simple in FU, and while the high damage made up for it I feel like having better AI is more engaging. I really enjoyed what 3rd gen did to monster AI, improving it in general and making the enrage state more dynamic in many cases and adding elemental blights. I feel like those gameplay additions makes it hard to say FU is the peak. But if FU had those changes it would certainly be a opinion I could see myself sharing!
It's certainly great in those aspects. I just wish that one could combine that + more updated gameplay. I think that's why I liked Tri so much. It's less clunky than FU, but the hunter is still slow, and there was still a lot of annoying hard to find gathering items that you had to find, especially to upgrade early weapons. A big issue with FU I feel is that eventually you realize how samey a lot of the monsters are. Tri + later MHs really fixed this issue, too. FU is not the end-all-be-all of MH, even if it's very good, and certainly a unique experience.
1st gen man and nature themes 2nd gen atmosphere 3rd gen combat 4th gen traversal With optional 5th gen quality of life mechanics that need to be unlocked.
It's hard to describe but something about the feeling of Monster Hunter has unquestionably changed with the newer entries. My first title was MHFU on PSP as a way to pass the time on road trips after I had discovered the demo; and later Tri on the Wii was the first game I seriously played and got to High Rank in. For me 4U was the last game to make a perfect marriage of all of the best Portable mechanics and Mainline mechanics without leaning too heavily into either or becoming a new beast entirely like World sort of has. It definitely has a very special place in my heart and it makes me happy knowing so many others feel the same.
Man, it's a constant battle for the top spot in my head between MH4U and World. World is gorgeous, seamless, and streamlined a lot of little things to focus on hunting. But the sheer variety of monsters in MH4U, the fashion potential, the satisfaction of a G-Rank hunt... Think the only reason World tends to edge it out is that with my Rajang-sized hands I get borderline arthritis while playing on 3DS for too long. So a controller is a much comfier way to play, at least for me.
Ah 4U, the title that made me discover this beautiful franchise. Back in the day, craving Dark Souls content, I stumbled on this master piece of a game on TH-cam. Didn't think much of it at first, but as I kept coming back due to lack of Dark Souls content I got so hyped and excited for the game that I scraped all the rest of my non existent student money together, bought myself a 3DS and a copy of 4U and when it arrived pumped 250 hours into it in the span of 2 weeks. Sitting on my bed from dusk till dawn playing Monster Hunter. Good ol' days
Ive played every iteration of Mosnter Hunter since it was on PSP, and I can tell you, MH4U is easily the best. Theres this warm feeling when youre in the gathering hub that from the first time you enter is there. The monster designs and sub species are so interesting and all of the maps are excellence perfected. The G Rank hub feels important and in my opinion MH4U was the only iteration of MH that made becoming a Golden Crown Hunter feel special. I also believe that MH4U perfected the endgame loop. If the guiding lands rewarded weapons' at the end of expeditions I believe it would be much more fun and provide endless creativity build wise. I love all of the games but 4U is one of the best games every released. Which is crazy cause World also is.
The older games definitely had that flavour and sense of discovery and wonder, that said, i genuinely love the new generation so much. The gameplay is just so much smoother, the monsters so much more alive and beautiful and i genuinely love the no loading screen maps. I do hope that Wilds wont turn into an ubislop open world though.
Nergigantes Case was a bit weird. Its not like we had to kill them, there caused havoc in other Maps and had to return to the Recess, but Nergigante scared them of. Doesnt make much sense why we are killing them after Balance is restored. Oh and you might have forgotten, but Zorah Magdaros was a ticking Bomb. So reppelling it outside of the Mainland was necressary. I honestly found the Lowrank Story whit Zorah as final Boss more sadisfying then Xenos Ark. About 4Gs Maps has to be said, nearly all of them are connected to one of the Hubs. The two Hollows to Hart, Ancestial Step to Val Habar, and maybe the Great Desert, Everwood, the Primal Forrest whit Cheeko Sande... Its all conected man! Its certainly nice to feel an Impact when you hunt something. Not just by unlookable Stuff, but also just visual Changes, NPCs explaining what you did ect. The closest Siedemission in 3G was probably Barroth whos good for the Farm, I guess. But I absolutely love the Hart Section and how the Nercyllas Death caused the Volcano to recover. Its such a big shift, and your the one making things better.
He didn't forget about Zorah. He ignored it because it doesn't make 4 look better which is clearly the point of this video. He said himself this is his fav. This video is verbal masterbation. It's biased, and he's not even trying to hide it. And why should he? The comments ( as of the posting of this comment ) are 9/10 other people saying 4 is their fav or his sycophant fans. Oh I forgot. The only thing he really said that wasn't just nostalgia was that 4 had mission based gameplay. You mean to say that Capcom figured out that a handheld gaming system lent itself better to small bite-sized gameplay segments instead of a whole huge console-based thing like world had? You're smart, you're really smart. It's almost as if they developed world and for for specific machines with specific goals in mind that those machines could deliver on. Imagine that!
@@altosforteaquax5083 Well the Point of the Video is to explain why People who are bias towards 4 like it, so yeah. And its not like its special in its missionbased Stuff, its from his Perspective just perfecting the Formular. I dissagree whit some of his Points about World, or overall, but I dont see it as a bad, or subjective Video.
I'm still watching the video but one thing that bugs me, and it's not you specifically (I often see this posted in various places) is the merge of World & Rise as a single element whenever a comparison to other games is made. To me they are vastly different games beyond comparison. It's akin to saying "MH4 and MHX" as if they were the same thing, just because they share the same generational period. In my view a MHX & Rise grouping makes more sense, for example. Both take the formula to the extreme arcade fighting arena style, whereas World (despite being the latest pioneer in vast design changes) still shares more DNA with previous "main" entries than Rise or even MHX. Even if one has a bad opinion of World, like it took a step too far in changing the formula, it's undeniable that Rise didn't backpedal any of it and instead took 2 steps more. I don't think it's a lie to assume that World fans (not accounting for 1st timers) are split between prefering 4 or Rise, so automatically grouping it with the latter as a matter-of-fact is strange. EDIT: 6:20 ok this chart makes a lot more sense than the previous statements.
As someone who has played a little of 4U(and still playing it today), and mostly played GenU, MH 🌎 and Rise I kinda agree with you. World feels like a sequel to 4. GenU and Rise feel similar. I don’t think World fits his “Protable” genre because even though it streamlined stuff there are still a ton of walking missions, following footsteps, etc before you actually fight a monster. GenU/Rise always seem to keep pushing the pace and have you fighting monsters, due to the fact that they are designed in theory for handheld consoles. 4U was as well, but if you don’t stop and gather supplies you will run out. I know there are ways to start getting materials, but they take awhile to get to. In Rise, I never felt like I had an issue with supplies(I should herbs, honey, etc) and before I knew it I had game mechanics providing tons of stuff. So while 4U was designed for a handheld, it sure played like a console game designed around being played for hours in one sitting or multiple short gaming sessions in a day. For example, you did supply gathering in the morning. Weapon and armor checking on a break fought a monster at lunch and fought the same monster in the evening. I get what he is saying, but to me there are two types of MH games, slower MonHun and faster MonHun.
MH4U was my first Monster Hunter, and I remember my first day playing I fell in love with the game. It was just the right amount of challenge and reward for me. The progression of how they b introduced monsters and missions felt very smooth and natural. I remember falling in love with the Kecha Waka. I remember learning to get good fighting Gore Magala. To me the game was a great introduction to Monster Hunter and felt very intuitive as far as me learning and picking up what Monster Hunter was about.
I only consider 3 ultimate better because it had underwater combat, which was such a great addition and even if it were clunckier at the time the could definetly just made the moves a tad faster and it would eventually work out. The next thing 4 ultimate had that I didn't like was the interaction between kinsect and mounting, also when you get good at chasing the monster with the jump you kinda hit as often as a bow without the penalty of using a ranged weapon, it was kinda broken to the point I had to give up the insect glaive to play fairly with my friends even if I had trully enjoyed the weapon. The insect glaive though is something they fixed I'm kinda sad they stopped trying underwater combat. ps.: haven't watched the video yet.
I had over 3,600 hours in that game. Played it for a few years. Imo it was the height of MH. That game had the best multiplayer. Like i had many friends and lots of conversation. As for Rise… obviously the combat is better, graphics are better, but I’m in the master ranks and u kno how many people ive added as friends? None… how many conversations have i had? None… there is legitimately no need to be social in this game. In fact because the game adjusts the monster for the number of hunters its often times best to play alone unless u play like a potato. Rise is not multiplayer friendly.
The multiplayer in Rise is too convenient to where u dont have to have a plan or anything and u dont have to find groups. Also progression is broken af. Joined a game and they killed the monster less than 10 seconds after i joined… got the completion and the rewards… i dont even kno wtf the monster looks like…
@@RedBaronisa world and rise both had very bad multiplayer imo, older games forced you to be in a lobby with the people you're gonna play with and stick with them after the quest so it created the space for interaction with your hunting group.
@@spacefighting8505 exactly. I still remember teaching a buddy how to use guard points with the CB. We were going against the akantor cuz he’s like the slowest enemy and easy to predict
Master Rank in 4U is actually quite hard even with 4 people. Especially with larger monsters like Akantor and Ukanlos. You have to communicate and plan ahead with other players and look out for them via Healing Powders. I've had to coach dozens of random players on how to avoid Ukanlos' swim attack. And when they finally slew their first Ukanlos, they celebrate and thank everyone for hunting with them. It was great.
Great video, I loved your thoughts. It is interesting to think about what might have happened to the franchise if Capcom had committed to the PSVita instead of the 3DS (ignoring MHFU for the sake of argument). It make me wonder if Monster Hunter would have survived or if it would have gone the way of Soul Sacrifice/Freedom Wars/Toukiden. I mean, probably--I think the MH franchise is bigger than those ever were--but it definitely would have been a different reality.
Very interesting to think about. I think the main issue with these games is that they were the "PSVita hunting genre alternative". They were attempting to capitalize on the gap left by MH when it went to 3DS, so they were ultimately derivative, and a dying console made that even worse. That said, Soul Sacrifice deserved much better than what it go. That game's approach to story telling and dark theme was truly special.
I always looked at it as monster focus vs environmental focus. World is way closer in theme to Monster Hunter 1+2 then MH4 is and MH4 is the perfection of the old school portable series. For me the essence of MH is World so far. Just because it feels the most like an actual ecosystem. Just the ancient forrest alone is better then anything they ever did before. Just feels like an actual jungle, not a video game level. The environment is as much part of the hunt as the monsters are. While the portable series focuses almost entirely on the monsters alone. My prediction for MH6 is the guiding lands but the whole game feels like it. Free hunting in a semi or full open world. With you and nature being the focus. If capcom has the balls for it. Essentially the elden ring of monster hunter.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate IS the best. Everything from the combat, weapons, monsters, sound, soundtrack, story etc. I pumped 2000+ hours into the game since 2014 and would gladly put more in if the servers weren't down. I would've put down the game and never played it again if it weren't for 2 hunters that helped me understand the skill table. The skills arn't just handed to you like in the newer games, you have to put +10 points in order for a skill to activate. It made it much more enjoyable! 4U didn't hold your hand like World, you had to learn in order to play. The fights felt so solid, there weren't any gimics like wirebugs or slinger mechanics. It took more skill to fight monsters and more patience. You could go on Guild Quests, level them up and reap the rewards after fighting some of the toughest fights in the game. Thats without mentioning Gogmazios a fan favorite monster. 4U has the BIGGEST monsters in Canon, its wild to see the largest Monsters in the universe on a 240p screen. 4U still has some of the best cutscenes to date.
MH4U was and still is my favorite 3DS game. I still remember preordering it and getting the palico pin. Top memories are fighting Dalamadur to get to G rank, and the urgent you get for completing all low rank quests. That urgent was hard as hell, having to deal with a zinogre, rajang, AND a Shagaru Magala. But damn did the rainbow pigment feel amazing, even if it didnt look the best.
i held off on the caravaneer's challenge until i had G-rank armor so it wasn't too bad. the master's test, on the other hand... completing that was the single most amazing feeling i've had playing 4U.
All i ask for from MH 6 is to not be Rise/Sunbreak Give me back my slower, more deliberate, more focussed on mechanical mastery combat. Let me pay the consequences of failure! Remove infinite restocking and bring the monsters and hunters back to a level of 4U/GU. Dont make everything about hyperaggression speedkill combat.
Unfortunately there's no real way to know what direction the series will take at this point. Since World each game and expansion has had a gradual power creep and a notable amount of experimentation with features, to the point where I'd go as far as to say not few mechanics and features can be declared "definitely coming back". I really hope we get a well rounded and well paced game for MH 6, but I hate to say that I can't feel any confidence about what'll come next.
35:39 I just completed this quest yesterday after spending the day before grinding Tidal Najarala in order to get armour with high water attack and decent dragon resistance... Still took 45 minutes, I carted twice and didn't have a single healing item to my name at the end... never again!
40:25 i dont stongly disagree with your broader analysis but i feel like world needs more credit wrt morality/messaging. iirc zora was arguably the bigger threat than nergigante. zora would go off like a megaton bomb, remodeling and extincting the entire coast the guild had been researching the last 10 years in order to better study the elder crossing phenomena. a lot of the key quests of smaller monsters were to assist the 3rd fleet scholars and 2nd fleet engineers in understanding zora's path and gathering materials to ambush it iirc. then it disappears after the first repel. the ongoing story after zora has some focus on understanding the latent nature of bioenergy and the ecological interactions it causes. i think the focus of world's story doesn't linger on one conflict throughout which is what makes the thematic messaging the way it is
Love the video! 4U continues to be one of the better MH games for me at least, and it's stuff like this that confirms that lol One detail I remember about 4 Ultimate specifically is, when you get to High Rank in the Hub, there's a couple of Village Quests that unlock, and if you look at the descriptions for a couple of them (Crazy Stupid Love and Catch and Release are two of them, I think), they say only an Elite Hunter can take on those quests! I'm sure there are other examples like this of the hunter being referred to as an Elite Hunter by people in or outside of the Guild in 4U, but your essay reminded me about it! The worldbuilding for this game really was something else lol
My father bought this game, i played it, and now i am really into monster hunter. All because my father introduced me to a random game, and hey, here i am.
Great video Jakob! I don't think MH4U does better in the Dundorma attacks than MH2. In MH4U they are just random events and pretty forgettable because you can just ignore them, they don't offer anything special since you can fight any of the monsters in other maps more easily and all the times you want but in the other side in MH2 the entire town changes aesthetically and was a long event that the players were waiting for, it is the only way to fight monsters such as the Rusted Kushala Daora and the only way to get certain rare items like the broken dragonator or tomes to unlock white fatalis. Apart from this the Dundorma sieges in MH2 are way more serious than in 4U (but well that is something that happens with the entire game tbh) Other thing you said is that the biomes are ment to be more like special areas in 4U but I don't think that is in the case of the normal maps, the starting maps such as the ancestral steppe, sunken hollow, heaven's mounts... are located near their village and for that reason they are normal ecosystems that the villagers usually travel and use. Of course the game still has rare areas like the tower or the sanctuary but that is something that happened since MH1. Apart from that a kinda agree with you. Now that you are in the server do a MH3 video!
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4 is definitely where its at. Its at least top 3. The game grew with the player and led on the best story the franchise had to offer.
4u had the best roster of monsters.
My friends and I played it everyday for four months, ordering pizza , drinking beer, fighting gog drunk. Best times ever.
A year later while waiting for one of our friends to lobby up one of our best friends died at 23 being hit dead on by a drunk driver so this game holds a special place in my heart .
R.I.P Chris
R.I.P. Chris, may you continue hunting wherever you are, so that when your friends join you you'll have sick gear to show them and you didn't loose your touch.
et tu Feelus?
4U literally saved my life. When I was at the worst point of my depression it wasn't friends or family that kept me from ending it all, it was this game.
You ain't finished 'till the grind is finished
You are a mor0n
You know, monster hunter series did the same to me, growing up alone was hard, and depression didn’t help, but when I started 4U, everything changed, joy was something more frequent in me, and since I was close to one of my uncles, he started playing with me every time we meet In birthdays or events, and before I knew it, my father and older brother were hunting with me, that’s why I decided that I’m not giving up until i play every monster hunter 🗿
It was the same for me except in 3u. It taught me that no matter what wall I come across, and no matter how impossible it seems. There's always a way to overcome it. A lesson that I still carry with me a decade later lol
usually, I am a nihilist and don't believe these kind of stories until one of my grandmas passed away at the time MH 4 release and MH 4U carried me throught that time, so yeah I am glad that MH 4U helped people. Sorry for being a jerk and I hope you are moving forward and yes depression comes in many shapes and form is not the same for everyone. Stay safe and don't give up.
watching this dude debate with himself over definitions he himself made is entertaining
I lost it at the 4th different portable monster hunter definition
4U is a certified hood classic.
Best of the series.
its the one that has the most pleasant story, the best presentation of such story and also the best pacing of content.
its not super bloated like gen and XX where you have 100 of quest and monster to do each rank, which is kind of a chore considering that 95% of the monster are returning one that most player already know by heart.
its not super short and easy like base world where you just have a handfull of quest by rank.
in 4u i enjoyed the low, high and Grank. in X and world i despise the low and high rank. one is way too long to do, the other way too short ( and zorah and xeno are bad too). 4U had the perfect balance.
THATS WTF IM SAYIN
Not the most sold🤔
Do sales matter that much no but world is the better game
@@tankbeast8480 It really isnt, world is one of the worst ones. Its still a godly game, its MH after all, but still one of the worst.
@@MatthewCJoy everyone has their opinions. I really appreciate what world did to the overall presentation of the franchise. Definitely the best game in terms of immersion and with the best areas. Sometimes I just equipped the ghillie mantle and watched the monsters going on with their daily business like hunting for food or fighting other monsters over their territories. With Iceborne two of my favorite boss fights ever (Fatalis, Alatreon) where added. I’d put 4U as a very close second to W/IB.
I think it really depends on which aspects are most important to you.
I'll always remember the hype leading up to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's release. I was in high school at the time and one of my friends imported a Japanese 3DS to play the DEMO a week early. We all thought he was crazy, but we were all huddled around him watching him play that demo during lunch when he got it.
39:33 Okay I've got a criticism on this part. You seem to be under the idea that learning about the Elder Crossing and by extension New World wasn't really important and the Guild just did it out of curiosity but that simply isn't true. Elder Crossing always causes mass destruction in the Old World every 100 years due to the Elder Dragons starting to move toward the New World (For example that's why Lunastra marched through the village bringing destruction in Legends of the Guild so that gives a good idea of what it causes). A massive Elder dragon migration is obviously a big deal for the world of MH, both Old and New. And it's especially big a deal when it suddenly starts happening every 10 years instead of 100 and no one knows why. The cause was of course a Xeno'jiiva and the Guild took care of it. We don't know if this restored the frequency of the Elder Crossing or not but presumably yes and even if not that just means the Guild knows the cause for the acceleration of it and has means to try stop it.
So as an answer to the "Is anything the Guild really necessary or even beneficial for the humanity's survival" should be an absolute yes Imo. I think World presented its story very poorly and caused alot of confusion as a result but the setting is great and makes more sense when you understand what's actually happening. Namely what the Elder Crossing causes and why the guild went there in the first place
Also, it's only the 5th fleet's job to research monsters through killing or capturing them hence the hunter + Handler tag teams. The other fleets have their distinct jobs and goals too. The Guild is doing much more in the New World than just randomly killing monsters to study them
But yeah other than that this is a great video. It's nice that you're able to approach these topics from all kinds of angles since the Dos video was pretty black and white
Good point. World's story was certainly presented very poorly. I think part of the issue is that a lot of the hunts that were given were due to aggressive monsters being found near Astera or whatever other research base was out there and that gave a weird impression since it was constantly stated that the Guild was in the new world for research and our hunter didn't directly participate in much of that research themselves. I do think that hunting Nergigante was a mistake on the Guild's part, though, since that did cause genuine damage to the ecosystem, but it also allowed for new discoveries. It's important to note that everyone was working in uncharted territory at that point working to unravel the cause of the elder crossing, so it kinda just showed that research is messy, much like in real life.
Yeah he is also forgetting to mention how zorah was trying to basically blow up the whole new world. It is later implied that Zorah was trying to get rid of Xeno/Safi and Nergi was also helping him (if I recall correctly). So basically the guild had to eliminate Zorah because it was an imminent threat to not only them, but the whole New World.
My guy, you are a prophet. Based on the trailer of Monster Hunter Wilds and the recent beta test, they are doing exactly as you have stated they should do in Monster Hunter 6.
You mention that humanity's existence doesn't quite rely on the Guild's actions in World, but they do say that if Zorah Magdaros were to die in the everstream it would basically cause a thermonuclear explosion that would completely destroy the New World... Then chasing Nergigante around leads the seeker to find the nesting place of Xeno'jiiva, a previously undiscovered species of elder dragon.
Not saying World has a good story, but the Guild stopping Zorah was a very important task that happened to lead to the discovery of weird new species after a somewhat disappointing boss fight.
playing through 4u rn (30 hours) in and I must say, the way quests and story are handled is really the best in the series. So far the whole game has just been a positive surprise in general, might become my fav depending on how it goes.
Yo, any new thoughts about the game?
How do you feel about it now?
@@kaden1016 I finished up HR (almost) and even though there is parts I didn't like, there is a lot that i did like and that surprised me. I won't be playing further tho, as I don't really want to solo hub :/
I want some of it's DNA in mh wilds :)
MH4U was my very first MH experience, i was but a young lad with a 3ds and a dream of defeating larger than life dragons and dinosaurs. I hope it gets a remake someday
MH4U is the golden age and one of the amazing 4 hunter online or solo game on the 3ds.
the heavens wheel song is one of if not best boss songs for the series it presents the stake of failing but as you weaken it the crescendo of the song hits and you get that same feeling that shadow of the Colossus had with its music I love this game near and dearly
4U is still my most beloved and most played game in the series. I play it even now and not Rise/world/. Monster Hunter without guild quests and Relics is boring to me
I hope MH6 gets guild quests again, with rise and world they have brugh a lot of people to the franchise, now is time to show that people a real monster hunter (with MHW worldbuilding and graphics if possible)
Mine is 3u played it 2k hours but i have to say i never played 4u so maybe its time to buy it
@@drpepp. I think 3U is better, but 4U is also good. I'd also rather play FU than 4u though ngl.
@@latinaparfait 3U is great but 4U I feel like is objectively better. 3U was my entry to the series and imo one of the best
1300 hrs and HR 999 there. I miss this 4u and the lvl 140 apex rajang gq
I can't agree with World's Elders Crossing investigation to be "meaningless". I'm not entirely sure the game itself adresses that, but The Legends of the Guild tells us the Elder Crossing has been abnormally frequent in the recent time. Supposedly, it used to be such a rare event, that even once a 100 years was strangely a lot. Now it's like once every 10 years. And we've seen in that movie how devastating these crossing are for the villages.
This is the "special op" of the Monster Hunter World. To figure out why the Elder Crossing has become abnormally frequent and, if possible, make it rarer, as it was in the past.
That doesn't explain why they were so eager to come back just after dealing with Zorah in LR or why they decided to stay in the New World after Xeno in HR however.
you made me remember why 4U is my favorite MonHun game. Now I want to replay it, even if my backlog is huge.
35:37 Man, I remember Fire drill as one of those infamous Guild/Ancestral hall quests, one could drop into a lobby, chat "Fire drill?" and everyone then knew what was up next, absolute classic
Also, impressive double K.O. there, would have quick-chatted a "wow" in a heartbeat.
Awesome video, long live the Caravan!
High rank pink rathian urgent was classic
is this that g rank brachydios quest
Jakob you always seem to skirt over the fact that the guild in world looked into the elder crossing because elders were migrating at 10x the known frequency. That's a pretty good reason to want to understand the phenomenon that was happening especially since elder crossings can be devastating to human populations . Then by looking into it they found out both why elders cross and also what was causing the problem and solved it. Reverting a dangerous season from a 10 year worry to a 100 year worry is more than just "kinda" beneficial.
Yeah, they saved the entire current ecosystem of the mainland of the new world because Xeno was causing Zorah to move further inland than it normally does, and it's death could cause quite the destruction of the ecosystem (of course it would have made new ones but everything currently alive in a wide area would die.) Nergigante HAD to be killed because it was stopped the hunters from stopping Zorah. It didn't understand that we weren't trying to steal it's kill we were trying to move it somewhere else. And since we can't capture them, the only options is to kill them.
Then you find Xeno and the fear of the unknown kicks in, we see this (at the time believed to be) baby dragon showing power exceeding other fully grown elder dragons, though it was later found to be around the juvi/adolescent stage it was still something extremely scary and dangerous.
Then they find the guiding lands and they find safi who legit saps the life from the areas it's in to benefit itself and while most creature do this on a certain level, theres like no life or plants in safi's nest at all clearly showing how much it's destroyed the land.
Then fking Alatreon comes and it's like OH SHIT THE WALKING CALAMITY THAT JUST HAS TO SIT THERE AND IT FKS SHIT UP OMG KILL EM DON'T LET EM FIGHT THE RED LASER BOY BY GOD STOP THE MATCH.
Fatalis: goes without saying.
The only unnecessary thing I feel in the game is the breaking of kulve's horns... definitely made me feel like an asshole tbh but damn is that armor make be feel like a bad bitch.
Atleast for the BIG monster bosses. Or the lesser ones... honestly I got nothing for them, atleast it was explained the kulu was fking with research camps and that Anjanath was being an asshat and we couldn't explore due to it's aggressive nature and strong sense of smell allowing it to find researchers and hunters almost no matter where they tried to set up. In the desert we see rathian and barroth fking with carts and stuff. and Leginanna is stopping the air ship from safely getting to the high lands.... odogaron is... well its odogaron it's gonna try to eat anyone and anything it sees. every other monster inbetween (not included the elder's recess) i don't feel super needed to die.
Couldn’t play MH4U because playing on the 3ds hurts my eyes so really hoping they remaster this game!!
Hurts your hands as well. I always have to flex/stretch my fingers periodically when playing action games on the 3Ds.
Just play it on pc, it will never be ported
Never
I started with Tri, as such, that completely ruined the series for me because I knew that I'd never settle to play such a beautiful game on a handheld.
Legends of the Guild is definitely not a cinematic masterpiece, but I appreciate how it tried to make World's themes less of a mess. Presenting the Elder Migration as a growing threat that's been escalating recently makes the Research Commission seem less like absolute lunatics.
It's not perfect, but I appreciate the attempt
I bought a 3ds exclusively to play 4U and i never once regretted that decision
I just finished the intro section of the video and I can't wait to find the time to finish the rest. I love discussing MH, as I feel fairly unique, as my first game was World, and then through playing the old games for the first time, I started forming my own opinions on this franchise. 4U is particularly special to me as it was my second MH game, and more importantly, it was the one where I truly fell in love with this franchise. Additionally, 4U easily has the best in game cutscenes in the series, I love how perfectly they blend into gameplay, world also did this well for the most part but I feel like 4U executed them better and I love how nearly every monster got a cool intro cutscene in 4U.
I've played all the way back to freedom unite, but would be interested in playing 1G, portable 3rd, tri, and maybe dos. But those games could be tricky to emulate, I felt that it was a bit difficult getting Hunsterverse to work for FU so I'm not sure if I could do fan translations for games like protable 3rd (which weren't localized) or other requirements for emulating games like in Tri, where I'd have to connect to a private server to play high rank.
Based off of the games I've played, I feel like 3rd gen laid the groundwork for 4th gen, as when I went from 3rd gen to 2nd, I noticed a lot of things were different, where the jump from 4th to 3rd was not quite as drastic. Overall I feel like the time of 3rd and 4th gen is the "Golden Age" of monster hunter where I feel like the game series perfected its formula, with 3rd gen making the enrage system more dynamic, adding the exhaust effect, elemental blights, etc. And 4th gen truly perfecting the innovations of 3rd gen, while adding new aspects of its own with mounting and land verticality. I truly wonder what MH6 is going to be like, my main wishes are underwater combat returns (I loved it) and the healing flex returns (It was goofy and I loved it, also it made healing feel more satisfying with a bit more risk/reward).
21:37 Tri had an item box next to the exit in Loc Lac
34:20 Third Gen also had specific locales such as the Sacred Land or Underwater ruins
I have 3 ultimate on the 3ds but I stg I can’t find an item box anywhere
I ruined my circle pad playing this game
4 was definitely the peak of old MonHun so knowing they can't possible beat it they revolutionized it. The devs are genius
I love the randomly generated maps where you track the monster rather than just remember where it spawns or seeing it on the map from the start
Something worth noting is that Monster Hunter 4 and 3G were both announced on the same day, so that should give a little better idea of the development timeline
Funny how the two games that each double down on different aspects of the series are even meant to be parallels of each other. One of the reasons why Dundorma is back is precisely because 4U is supposed to parallel Dos.
I’m just watching this because more attention on 4u in the modern mh era is important… and really makes me hope that capcom will rerelease this game with live servers on everything using capcom Id to allow cross play…
I've been hunting solo for a long time, personally. I wouldn't care if it had online play at all, I just want to be able to play 4U on a better platform than 3DS, especially if it's PC.
And yeah, I know you can emulate it, but Citra has a lot of flaws and I'd prefer a version of the game that functions smoothly. All the better if it has kbm support.
@@vitriolicAmaranth I agree, but if they rerelease the games it makes since to have online support
@@caravaneerkhed Yeah, absolutely. I just feel like there has to be a monkey's paw if this ever happens, so I want the universe to know where to compromise.
@@vitriolicAmaranth well capcom is celebrating a monster hunter anniversary… and we haven’t gotten a new mh game announced yet, so I think it’s not out of the realm of possibility
Doubt,you will only play 4u in 3ds and 3ds ONLY
Man this vid is all over the place.
45:54 What the Break Axe doing XD!
Where is that even from! XD
Eleven minutes in and i can't stop smiling. You've improved so much over the year! Great character development right here.
Wynstones are in this game and it will never quite be able to get over that.
holy shit I never noticed 4U had no night maps... damn...
dunes night? 🤨
An interesting aspect about MH games evolutions is the new monsters design philosophy as well. For example,
- Tri is kinda different, almost exotic, so new monsters are exotics in design : Qurupeqo doesn't fight alone and is very colorful for what the serie had up until this point (Congalala excepted), Gobul hides in plain sight and has a new shape, even the "Felynes allies" of this game are funky looking.
- 4U is about mastery, and the new monster all have some gimmicky ways to attack from strange angles or "stances" like Seltas Queen or Zamtrios. Even the new weapons are technicals !
- GU is about flashy moves and introduce flashy new monsters, the Big 4 being very cinematic fights
- World/Iceborne are a lot about the environnement, and most memorable fights (Zorah, Xenojiva, Velkana, Fatalis) have some play with the terrain.
I think that's also what makes 4U special for a lot of people : it's one of the more "skill focused" game of the "slow/low spectacle" era. You might have come to Tri for the exotism, but you stayed because fighting monsters was interesting, and 4U new monsters are so fun and interesting to fight that it's a joy to have such sharps controls/hitboxes in this context, and not having flashy/powerfull tools like those introduced in later titles makes the "skill oriented" aspect of the game that much rewarding
You can say the same you said about 4U about GU as well. More so even, as the inmplementation of Styles added 5 more ways to play and master a weapon outside of Guild Style. Also, of all games with flashy moves GU did imho implement them the best, as, unlike in Rise/Sunbreak you have to earn them by playing well, and then there is also always a chance to waste them, so you need to master these moves in addition to the basic moveset.
Not to say that some of the styles weren't better or more unbalanced then others (looking at you, Valor). In essence though i believe that GU took the mechanical mastery of 4U and added just enough spice to make GU a perfect Monster Hunter game.
@@WH40KHero GU seems like the best mix between old style combat (4U and previous) and the newer more mobile combat introduced in 5th gen (World and Rise). Which is funny because GU technically came out before World. I also prefer GU's arts/styles system over Rise's as GU's feels more rewarding while still retaining the classic combat as the core of your moveset. Rise feels spammy when it comes to the silkbind attacks and wirefall makes the game feel more safe. World has a lot of utility and tools to make the game a tad easier along with mobility healing and restocking which exists in all 5th gen games now.
GU seems like the perfect balance for those who want flashier and more mobile combat while still retaining that mastery aspect present in 4/4U.
Thats because in my opinion compared to Rise/Sunbreak the Silkbinds are just a resource you can use that regenerates fast, while Hunter Arts (with two notable exceptions) take longer and are essentially finishers with which you are rewarded after a time of good play. Getting and landing a hunter art is powerful, flashy and very rewarding, and even after hundreds or thousands of uses it doesnt get old, while i can imagine silkbinds get stale fast.
This game deserves a port on all platforms so everyone can try it, since not everyone can emulate nor have a 3ds.
You're so right about so much, and so wrong about others parts...
The way you seem to get ludonarrative importance so well at one point and entirely lose it the next second...
i come from the future and can confirm that monsters will indeed call you to tell you to square up and show their location
I think a big factor in why people remember 4u being the best as it is the last time in the west we got a G rank version drop before we got a base game. Meaning a first playthrough gave use the high rank game and then a phenomenal G rank all in one massive tasty meal which hasn't happened since
I bought a new 3d xl just to play mh4u. I saved up money in highschool bought it and had almost 40 hours in my first week. I was so bad at the game I remeber looking up monsters on youtube to study their attack patterns while i was trying to hunt them. And i rmeebr going on expiditions just to get more potions because i didnt realise the store sold most things
no joke i made a cappucino and got a delicious piece of cake to watch this review since 4 was my favourite title (and i played every portable title since freedom).
can't wait for future reviews/retrospectives etc, great job!
Just started the video. I went to the MH4U UK launch event in the video at the start and am actually in that video. I never really gelled with 4th gen though, for whatever reason. Wish I could see what others do in it because everyone else seems to love it. I'm still so glad it brought so many new players to the series
Excellent video my friend, 4/4u was really something special and I'm glad the main team seems to have a clear vision for the series in their titles. It makes me really excited to see what a MH6 will look like.
>seems to have a clear vision for the series in their titles
No, they don't since world. Capcom completely stopped listening to community
@@AirMage50 how have they don't listen?
@@ender_z4nd3r83 Look at how MH Rise/Sunbreak turned out. There's your answer.
@@wayofthekodiak3118 some people like that game and some people hate it what are you trying to say?
@@wayofthekodiak3118you realize rise is not a main line game how don’t people get this.the team that made world DID NOT MAKE RISE.rise is a place holder till mh6 drops and even tho it is it’s a dam good game.just like generations,or stories,or frontier you can basically call those games test games kinda pushing the limits of the series and seeing what they can add to the main line games like world,4u,and soon to be 6.
Fantastic points brought up at the 37:07 mark, on the role of the Hunter & the Guild in 4U vs World, and how seemingly superficial narrative differences actually have a very significant impact on how our actions come across in relation to Nature. Great video overall.
I appreciate the hell out of the work you put yourself through with this. Good shit. Lately in a discussion I had, the Terminology "Rise vs. 4U is basically immersive vs. convinient" come up and I personally feel that is entirely correct. The issue of comparing the games is that one is made to grab the "I want story and reason to kill the things I kill" while the other is "Idc man, I'll skip every textbox anyway, I just wanna kill things" which makes any point of comparing them basically moot. Which may be a bit oversimplified (because I am VERY sick currently.) but you get my point I hope.
However, I currently work on a Video about the Topic myself, so this Video is really good fodder for trying to get my own points across as neutral as possible. xD
Thank you for this work my man. Take my Like.
I honestly don't know which you're saying is which but while both have a lot more stress placed on story than other titles (besides World) do, Rise (and World for that matter) has such a fixation on convenience and "quality of life" features that it has utterly transformed the core gameplay. Even wirefalling reflects this dogged philosophy of making everything more convenient and removing anything that any player might think is frustrating or a waste of their time, no matter how vital a part of the core design it actually is. A lot of people complain about spiribirds but even those were put in to lessen the importance of setbuilding, and conversely armour gives like three times as many skills per piece/set as ever before to make setbuilding itself practically effortless and any gains from engineering a set marginal, because people are more likely to see setbuilding as a tedious inconvenient waste of time than to see going 2 seconds to the left on the way to the monster to grab a few permanent attack buffs as a tedious inconvenient waste of time.
Damn, seeing you list out those things at the end that would make the next game better, and seeing that they’ve actually done most of these things with Wilds is cool to see.
My first experience with Monster Hunter was the Freedom Unite demo on the PSP. I played that for hours upon hours, and when i was 12 i finally got my own 2DS and MH4U. I easily put over 300 hours into it, and i still have my old copy. Now that theyre gonna be shutting down 3DS servers, i gotta get another DS and get back into it.
I’m glad you’re doing an analysis into MH4 and from a non-biased, analytical point of view.
It’s especially interesting how you define the portable genre into different categories, which I think MH4 strikes a pretty good balance between such categories with more accessible and streamlined gameplay while still encourage good preparation with added survival element of the Everwood. I personally wish they’d bring back the randomly generated map with randomised loots and all.
I was initially against the idea of Capcom making 2 styles of MH games moving forwards, with World style for home consoles and classic style for portable (or namely the Switch) because I’d still like a more modern MH game on the go. But after having played both World and Rise enough, I came to miss the old formula and often thought back to MH4, which is still my favourite MH game overall. At this point, I would readily welcome another MH4 style game, and I think there are plenty who would think the same as I can still see many active MH4 communities (well, at the Japanese ones).
So yeah, MH4 is still the very definitive experience of MH for me, even to this day.
EDIT: I want to give your video a double thumb up for pronouncing “Tee-Grex”.😆
We should have a switch version too to show them what it means to not button mash and focus on positioning. Apex monsters are perfect for the scholar-hunters.
-It had SO many monsters
-2 brand new amazing weapons
-You could jump attack for the first time
-HUGE monsters like Dalamadur, Gogmazios, etc
-Amazing yet simple cinematics for every monster which featured ALL of your team in the hub
-A ton of armors and weapons, for both melee AND range
-You could trade monster parts for parts from monsters that were not even in the game, so EVEN MORE ARMORS AND WEAPONS
-A good quest line
-Simple yet fun maps, no getting lost in a giant tree for hours
-No extra bullshit hunting arts slingshot wire bug crap
-The list goes on
babe wake up, new jakob monhun video essay dropped
Wait, Rise is lighthearted? Is this because of the Dango cutscenes? Kamura faces an existential threat in the Rampage with such constant regularity and severity that even the children in the village are drafted as defenders. In Sunbreak there's a horrifying demon climbing out of the bowels of the earth to destroy civilization.
(I know I'm nitpicking. Cool video)
It's not nitpicking, it's actually a pretty good point
Great essay! Keep it up. 👍
MH4U was my second game in the series and while it may not be my most played title it certainly is the one that had me the most engaged. Its story and presentation surely played a big part in that, no doubt.
Freedom Unite will probably always stay my favorite thanks to nostalgia but 4U will keep a special place in my heart on its own merits.
btw when you mentioned the quest "Fire Drill" it activated my fight or flight response 😂
The music the feels......this game is amazing. Remember when high rank pink rathian urgent and certain hunts were cranked up in difficulty. I miss that.
Its safe to say that you improved a lot from the previous analysis video! Thanks for a more clear and well developed opinion my man, great video indeed.
All I ever wanted was for 4 to get an Ultimate HD version like 3U did. I started the MH series with P3rd right before 3U was released, and I can say that out of 3/4/X/W/R I always return to 4 as THE Monster Hunter experience.
From your retrospective, I can see an argument being made for Dos being the True Monster Hunter experience but I think it is a game that is its own simulation genre when compared to the rest of the series.
Off to start another 4U playthrough.
MH4U is where i started with the franchise, and to be honest, i still love it. The game introduced my main weapon type of the series, the Insect Glaive. I love being able to knock monsters down with aerial attacks from vaulting with the thing, i love the controls in general honestly, i spent so much time playing that i spent 200 hours alone farming Seregios in G Rank to get loads of parts to upgrade my glaive the Seditious Breaker.
I got a copy of both 3U and 4U today at my local store for less than $40. Glad I got my hands on these classics, and can't wait to keep going on 4U. And I look forward to playing 3U, Tri was the first game I played in the series.
Idk why your MHDos video gets so much hate. I genuinely love Dos, and your video highlights all the things I think older MH did better. It's well edited and you delivered your points extremely well.
Just shows that looking at MH as an immersive survival sim is shunned upon by the larger action-oriented gaming crowd. Always been like that. Long ago I've expressed my feeling about the addition of the farm in portable MH killing the immersion of a hunter - *gatherer* fantasy. And all I got was weird looks.
If MH went into immersion sim direction it would be/stay very niche. First two console MH were niche, franchise only became more and more popular as it focused more and more on combat.
@@alexxx4434 I love monster hunter, and enjoy aspects of all 3 of the main design eras (1/2, portable 2nd-genU world/rise) but I really wish we got a proper hunter-gatherer game in the world that felt like a continuation of what made dos a very unique game. If monster hunter ever goes open world, I feel like it'd work beautifully, but with the team's current focus we would instead get world but all the maps are connected
Because it was a shit video. Filled with contradictions, poor arguments, and an overall extremely elitist attitude that DOS is the "true" Monster Hunter game.
It's curious to me since when I got into the series with World, one of my bigger dislikes were how quickly gathering loses all incentive, the reputation about preparation turned out not to be true for the most part and even finding/tracking monsters eventually stops being a part of gameplay
@@adhdasdfroflxd123 They have robbed the players of the progression in this integral aspect in newer games. In classic games you really started as zenny-less nobody, had to learn the evironments to procure the resources (the gathering aspect). Then as you grew in ranks you started earning more money and could afford to buy many resources from the shops. In newer titles you skip directly into getting basically free resources. Next installments might as well start to cut out the resources, because why bother the players with them when they are basically already plenty. Just make healing unlimited, better yet - regenerative, like was invented in COD to do away with "boring" med kit health management.
It seems that a stereotypical "gamer" hates resource management, finds it boring, constantly complains about it, has poor attention span, and demands action all the time. And CAPCOM catered to that.
Ok first of all, thanks for this video. It's gotta be the first video that actually makes a good case for the game and makes me believe it could be someone's favorite. I don't really like 4U and usually my experience with people who said it was their favorite was basically that they just claimed it had the best gameplay and story without and elaboration, maybe named a mechanic I thought almost ruined the series or just liked one endgame monster that didn't return, and made it blatantly apparent that it was simply their first MH game and they just liked it because of that.
If I had to criticize something about the video, it's that it gets caught up in definitions that are ultimately arbitrary and don't add much to the point imo. You spend 10 minutes before even getting into the first point of why you like 4U and some of it is really arbitrary like putting GU in a different category because it has like 4 goofy cutscenes and compare it with 4U's ending which is less goofy, as if anything on Sunsnug isle or in the caravan cutscenes wasn't just as goofy in 4U. Imo it's just a gradual progression. Tri is more goofy than Dos, p3rd and 3U are more goofy than tri, 4U is more goofy than 3U and GU is more goofy than 4U. There isn't really a hard line, it's a gradual process, just like many, many other aspects of the series like verticality and faster, more reaction based combat.
But anyway, onto the points in your video about 4U.
I really like that you actually go into the theming of the game, because it's something most people don't really touch on. It's one of the game's strongest aspect but unfortunately one that I think made the game worse.
For example, you bring up the element of surprise as a positive, whereas I thought the game fell incredibly flat in that regard. Imo the problem of the game is that it pulls the same surprises on you all the time and it doesn't add much to the experience. For example, you know very well that the mission where Gore attacks your ship will involve a new fight because the game warns you about it, but you're not able to prepare for what you're about to hunt. And all the cutscenes essentially play out the same. Your hunter gets attacked, dodges, regains their ground and then faces the monster and the fight begins. That's 90% of the monster introductions right there. The invader and "suspicious behavior" monster quests are also all frenzy quests, so what's the surprise exactly? You already know what's gonna happen because the game is so by the numbers about its surprises. It just also doesn't give you a chance to properly prepare because it doesn't tell you what you're supposed to hunt before the quest starts, which is just a nuisance imo.
Similarly, I didn't think the immersion was all that great. The game follows some internal logic, but imo seeing a shrouded Nerscylla hang from the sky, Seltas Queen getting picked up by a tiny regular Seltas and Gogmazios flying with liquid wings all made my suspension of disbelief disappear.
It becomes worse with the game's story because you even get quests like the Rusted Kushala fight where it's blatantly obvious the NPCs there are just static and waiting for you to do your thing, similar to the WorldNPCs waiting for you to ignite the cannons in the Zorah Magdaros fight. It's blatantly apparent that they are video game NPCs who do nothing of their own. I didn't have this problem in MH1-3U because I was the only person hunting and my NPC companion was a cat, someone I expect to move erratically and less human-like.
Imo all this story stuff, forced multi-quests and siege fights took me out of the experience and didn't make a great fit for a portable game. There were just too many quests where I went "damn this quest is long, I gotta take a piss and get some tea before we start" and that's not a great thing in a game you play on the go on a tiny 3DS screen.
The previous games have been more respectable with my time in that regard, giving multi monster hunts reduced hp and featuring more single monster quests, as well as less multi stage or siege fights. There is no Fatalis, Gogmazios or Dalamadur in p3rd after all.
Imo the best portable games are p3rd and GU, because they actually play at a brisk pace and go all in on the ~10 minutes per quest style where you pick up the game and play, not to mention they have vastly better monster rosters and gameplay.
Gen in particular really stands out to me as the game that fixed 4U's style for me, which you can see in the ledges of returning maps not unnecessarily closing you off, not featuring multi-layered areas as much and placing ledges in a way that benefit you more than they interrupt. They are mostly found near the edges of each area and aren't particularly large either, making them basically optional mount springboards. The mount also lets you attack now, which removes unnecessary waiting and the trader now basically requires no meaningful amount of resources and wycademy points are handed out like candy so you aren't forced on some stupid ass single player only missions where you get randomly generated quests. You just head down, request what you want and come back to collect it a few quests later.
The monsters also don't suck as much. Like, Najarala really surprises you by having an instant flinch that requires HGEs, that explodes immediately after and makes you wait in it's gigantic hitbox that trips you constantly and makes you wait out a 20 seconds long attack that can only be superman dived. Or Nerscylla, which I recently did in low rank for a friend, with G-rank gear, that took me 8 minutes because it was completely unreachable with blademaster weapons. It just made me think "why did I agree to play this game, I could be playing GU right now instead". Imo, that's what makes this game so much better; a vaster, better monster roster, quicker pace with less exploitable monster behavior that is much less of a pain to deal with thanks to styles and HAs and an actual mission based structure that just lets you get into the action quickly and finish up quickly, without being interrupted by the story or the dumbass guild quest system constantly. A good portable MH doesn't need more than that. It just needs to play well, which I think 4U doesn't.
Imo a game that needed theming and did it well was tri, because the themes didn't interrupt the gameplay and actually enhanced the experience meaningfully. It was also a much more polished title in general and was fit for a console game, where themes actually have space to breathe and immersion is more important. Not a handheld game I would play on the bus for 15 minutes.
And lastly, I think the handheld vs home console debate has always been completely wrong. Yeah, the portable games did sell better until Gen 3, but consider that MH1 was basically the beta version of a game judging by how incomplete it feels even compared to G, G never made it overseas, Dos flopped because of the difficulty, weapon balancing and difficult systems people didn't wanna bother with, as well as not making it overseas and tri being a controversial game at the time due to having massively less content than FU, underwater combat being unpopular, the game cutting weapons people liked and being on a platform that had virtually no established playerbase, as all MH fans were PS2 and PSP owners.
If anything, the many criticisms of 3U being on 3DS and WiiU, 4U being on 3DS and World being the literal best sold game by capcom ever, it should be clear by now that people only really care about the game, not the system and marketing is like the biggest factor affecting sales numbers. Additionally, considering almost noone plays on real hardware anymore and most old MH players just emulate on PC shows that the portable aspect isn't really what draws people to these games. It's their content and gameplay that does.
Yeah 4U in general has a lot of bad aspect combat wise that I really can't see how it's supposed to be the best. Weapon balacing is fucked, maps are fucked, difficulty curve is fucked (game is piss easy until G2, where you get hit with a million multi monster frenzy quest and Elder key quests), monster design is fucked (unpredictable and spazzy but easy to trip and mount, so the battles are often one sided either in favour of the hunter or the monster, and for a lot of monsters the best strat is just to target the legs instead of the head like in 2nd gen), frustrating RNG endgame which requires tons of grinding, still has the dogshit RNG Talismans, some crafting materials can't be easily acquired (a pain for Bow users), some monsters are only available in the Everwood, Apex and Frenzy being a shit mechanic and so on.
It's also clearily catered around multiplayer, since monsters in G rank scale super high and the whole Apex thing which require speedrunning level of skill to pull off solo. I haven't played GU yet but just from hearing people talking about it plus seeing videos it seems that with the Styles and Arts 4th gen monsters may be more manageable (without having to worry too much about ledges, slopes and Wystones), and Hyper and Deviants monsters seem a better gimmick that Frenzy and Apex.
@@mariodoccia6129 GU has weapon balancing issues as well (Gen doesn't really tho, it's mostly valor that's fucked), but imo it really solved the issue of the leg hugging gameplay, because trips rarely happen in GU and monsters are a lot harder to stagger in general. On your end, you got styles and HAs to deal with the monster movements, so while 4U was very one sided in either direction, GU rarely is unless you're extremely good or play online (and I'd argue this has its own appeal). The game has its issues, but imo the core gameplay is so strong compared to 4U that the faults are easy to forgive.
@@levobertus The weapon balancing doesn't bother me that much in theory since you have styles and arts, and in general I've seen that outside of Valor HGB there's a lot of fun to be had with the weapons.
For the staggers I'm kinda disappointed to hear this. I like staggers more than trips, since they allow you to interact with the monster on a more regular basis. 4U increased those but it was easier just to hug the back legs for a bunch of monsters since it was safer and allowed for good damage over time with trips (Seregios, Zinogre, Tigrex, the Raths etc.). If they fixed this in GU I'm glad but if the monsters don't trip nor stagger then you're not interacting with them. Will see when I play it.
Story and pacing aside (which really are the best in the franchise) I think the gameplay had the perfect balance of Hunter X Monster power. There were a few quests in World and even in Rise that made me fear the monsters but most of them were already in the powercreep zone. In MH4U I remember being terrified of almost every G-Rank monster. I will never forget the Stygian Zinogre + Raging Brachydios quest on G4 (if I remember correctly).
And this feeling to me is nostalgia proof to be honest, I went back to 4U after World and Rise and even high rank quests have this feeling. It's probably because of the lack of defensive and evasive moves. Back then each weapon was truly unique. Like, you would learn multiple weapons out of necessity, not just because they're fun. If you're having a hard time against a monster with you main weapon, sometimes you would feel the need to switch to a weapon with a shield like Lance or Gunlance. Or if you were a SnS main you would have a ridiculously bad time against Brachy so you would switch to a weapon that can hit his head/body. In Generations, World and Rise every weapon gets a move or a style that can cover up it's only deficiency, which makes every weapon have an answer to every monster.
Ok sorry to come in way late here, but how the hell did you beat that quest? I've been stuck on it for months and desperatly want to see gogmazios :(
When you're stuck just use Insect Glaive. It's by far the most busted weapon in 4U and much easier to master than charge blade.@@erichdavis2897
@erichdavis2897 it's simple really, stygian is a pushover, so you can focus on killing him first. I recommend charge blade for this quest as it can stun the heck out of brachy. Also bring a full stack of dung bomb
@@atlasthechamp82 Is stygian really that big a pushover? I've had issues with his speed making attacks pretty much unavoidable with weapon drawn, and no time to sheathe. I may just need to practice the fight though
@erichdavis2897 yeah, I remembered steamrolling him with basically any weapons. Most of his attacks are very telegraphed and he doesn't hit that hard. But if you want to cheese him then just use the insect glaive and vault, not a very good fit for raging brachy tho
9. Create a nemesis-like system where failed/abandoned hunts bite you in the ass at random times.
I still come back to this game multiple times just to do different playthroughs, its perfect in every way imaginable
4U's endgame weapon drop system was the best thing they ever created. They should've build on that for all their game onwards and perfect it!
If someone from capcom is ever reading this... PLEASE BRING THIS MECANIC BACK!!
My controversial opinion is that MH peaked with FU.
That is where the survial element was perfected. You always had just enough resources to keep you going, but never enough so that you can tank through Monsters without learning.
The Hunter was still slow and had limited agility. The weapons cumbersome and difficult to learn. The world drab and unforgiving, with vicious small monsters, unmarked resources, punishing environmental hazards...
Simply the most intense MH era ever. You felt truly small and inadequate compared to the monsters so learning their moves and gradually besting them with limited resources was just perfection.
I agree with the survival aspect of FU, especially with supplies, even late in game I would do gathering quests to bolster my resources. The atmosphere, the special lore books that you could collect that gave you tips, all that was great! The only thing I dislike about FU is how much it costs to upgrade weapons, I like collecting all weapons so hunting monsters and selling everything I didnt need was common in my playthrough. However I disagree with the series peaking at FU, I feel like the monster AI was a bit too simple in FU, and while the high damage made up for it I feel like having better AI is more engaging. I really enjoyed what 3rd gen did to monster AI, improving it in general and making the enrage state more dynamic in many cases and adding elemental blights. I feel like those gameplay additions makes it hard to say FU is the peak. But if FU had those changes it would certainly be a opinion I could see myself sharing!
FU doesnt have switch axe
It's certainly great in those aspects. I just wish that one could combine that + more updated gameplay. I think that's why I liked Tri so much. It's less clunky than FU, but the hunter is still slow, and there was still a lot of annoying hard to find gathering items that you had to find, especially to upgrade early weapons.
A big issue with FU I feel is that eventually you realize how samey a lot of the monsters are. Tri + later MHs really fixed this issue, too. FU is not the end-all-be-all of MH, even if it's very good, and certainly a unique experience.
1st gen man and nature themes
2nd gen atmosphere
3rd gen combat
4th gen traversal
With optional 5th gen quality of life mechanics that need to be unlocked.
It's hard to describe but something about the feeling of Monster Hunter has unquestionably changed with the newer entries. My first title was MHFU on PSP as a way to pass the time on road trips after I had discovered the demo; and later Tri on the Wii was the first game I seriously played and got to High Rank in. For me 4U was the last game to make a perfect marriage of all of the best Portable mechanics and Mainline mechanics without leaning too heavily into either or becoming a new beast entirely like World sort of has. It definitely has a very special place in my heart and it makes me happy knowing so many others feel the same.
Man, it's a constant battle for the top spot in my head between MH4U and World.
World is gorgeous, seamless, and streamlined a lot of little things to focus on hunting. But the sheer variety of monsters in MH4U, the fashion potential, the satisfaction of a G-Rank hunt... Think the only reason World tends to edge it out is that with my Rajang-sized hands I get borderline arthritis while playing on 3DS for too long. So a controller is a much comfier way to play, at least for me.
Ah 4U, the title that made me discover this beautiful franchise. Back in the day, craving Dark Souls content, I stumbled on this master piece of a game on TH-cam. Didn't think much of it at first, but as I kept coming back due to lack of Dark Souls content I got so hyped and excited for the game that I scraped all the rest of my non existent student money together, bought myself a 3DS and a copy of 4U and when it arrived pumped 250 hours into it in the span of 2 weeks. Sitting on my bed from dusk till dawn playing Monster Hunter.
Good ol' days
Imagine if Nintendo hadn't business'd monster hunter away from the Vita, the game we could have gotten would have been much much better
And the vita would have survived
Ive played every iteration of Mosnter Hunter since it was on PSP, and I can tell you, MH4U is easily the best. Theres this warm feeling when youre in the gathering hub that from the first time you enter is there. The monster designs and sub species are so interesting and all of the maps are excellence perfected. The G Rank hub feels important and in my opinion MH4U was the only iteration of MH that made becoming a Golden Crown Hunter feel special. I also believe that MH4U perfected the endgame loop. If the guiding lands rewarded weapons' at the end of expeditions I believe it would be much more fun and provide endless creativity build wise. I love all of the games but 4U is one of the best games every released. Which is crazy cause World also is.
I didn't know I needed to watch a MH4u video essay today, really did my day. Thanks Jakob
The older games definitely had that flavour and sense of discovery and wonder, that said, i genuinely love the new generation so much. The gameplay is just so much smoother, the monsters so much more alive and beautiful and i genuinely love the no loading screen maps.
I do hope that Wilds wont turn into an ubislop open world though.
4U appreciation always makes my day!
Nergigantes Case was a bit weird. Its not like we had to kill them, there caused havoc in other Maps and had to return to the Recess, but Nergigante scared them of.
Doesnt make much sense why we are killing them after Balance is restored.
Oh and you might have forgotten, but Zorah Magdaros was a ticking Bomb. So reppelling it outside of the Mainland was necressary.
I honestly found the Lowrank Story whit Zorah as final Boss more sadisfying then Xenos Ark.
About 4Gs Maps has to be said, nearly all of them are connected to one of the Hubs. The two Hollows to Hart, Ancestial Step to Val Habar, and maybe the Great Desert, Everwood, the Primal Forrest whit Cheeko Sande... Its all conected man!
Its certainly nice to feel an Impact when you hunt something. Not just by unlookable Stuff, but also just visual Changes, NPCs explaining what you did ect.
The closest Siedemission in 3G was probably Barroth whos good for the Farm, I guess. But I absolutely love the Hart Section and how the Nercyllas Death caused the Volcano to recover.
Its such a big shift, and your the one making things better.
He didn't forget about Zorah. He ignored it because it doesn't make 4 look better which is clearly the point of this video. He said himself this is his fav. This video is verbal masterbation. It's biased, and he's not even trying to hide it. And why should he? The comments ( as of the posting of this comment ) are 9/10 other people saying 4 is their fav or his sycophant fans.
Oh I forgot. The only thing he really said that wasn't just nostalgia was that 4 had mission based gameplay. You mean to say that Capcom figured out that a handheld gaming system lent itself better to small bite-sized gameplay segments instead of a whole huge console-based thing like world had? You're smart, you're really smart.
It's almost as if they developed world and for for specific machines with specific goals in mind that those machines could deliver on. Imagine that!
@@altosforteaquax5083 Well the Point of the Video is to explain why People who are bias towards 4 like it, so yeah.
And its not like its special in its missionbased Stuff, its from his Perspective just perfecting the Formular.
I dissagree whit some of his Points about World, or overall, but I dont see it as a bad, or subjective Video.
@@Sunaki1000 This video is a veiled hit piece on World.
I'm still watching the video but one thing that bugs me, and it's not you specifically (I often see this posted in various places) is the merge of World & Rise as a single element whenever a comparison to other games is made.
To me they are vastly different games beyond comparison. It's akin to saying "MH4 and MHX" as if they were the same thing, just because they share the same generational period. In my view a MHX & Rise grouping makes more sense, for example. Both take the formula to the extreme arcade fighting arena style, whereas World (despite being the latest pioneer in vast design changes) still shares more DNA with previous "main" entries than Rise or even MHX.
Even if one has a bad opinion of World, like it took a step too far in changing the formula, it's undeniable that Rise didn't backpedal any of it and instead took 2 steps more. I don't think it's a lie to assume that World fans (not accounting for 1st timers) are split between prefering 4 or Rise, so automatically grouping it with the latter as a matter-of-fact is strange.
EDIT: 6:20 ok this chart makes a lot more sense than the previous statements.
As someone who has played a little of 4U(and still playing it today), and mostly played GenU, MH 🌎 and Rise I kinda agree with you.
World feels like a sequel to 4. GenU and Rise feel similar. I don’t think World fits his “Protable” genre because even though it streamlined stuff there are still a ton of walking missions, following footsteps, etc before you actually fight a monster. GenU/Rise always seem to keep pushing the pace and have you fighting monsters, due to the fact that they are designed in theory for handheld consoles.
4U was as well, but if you don’t stop and gather supplies you will run out. I know there are ways to start getting materials, but they take awhile to get to. In Rise, I never felt like I had an issue with supplies(I should herbs, honey, etc) and before I knew it I had game mechanics providing tons of stuff. So while 4U was designed for a handheld, it sure played like a console game designed around being played for hours in one sitting or multiple short gaming sessions in a day. For example, you did supply gathering in the morning. Weapon and armor checking on a break fought a monster at lunch and fought the same monster in the evening.
I get what he is saying, but to me there are two types of MH games, slower MonHun and faster MonHun.
MH4U was my first Monster Hunter, and I remember my first day playing I fell in love with the game. It was just the right amount of challenge and reward for me. The progression of how they b introduced monsters and missions felt very smooth and natural. I remember falling in love with the Kecha Waka. I remember learning to get good fighting Gore Magala. To me the game was a great introduction to Monster Hunter and felt very intuitive as far as me learning and picking up what Monster Hunter was about.
4 is my fav, often return to it, just because it feels very grounded
This game DESPERATELY needs a PC port, with enhanced models and upscaled texture!
I only consider 3 ultimate better because it had underwater combat, which was such a great addition and even if it were clunckier at the time the could definetly just made the moves a tad faster and it would eventually work out. The next thing 4 ultimate had that I didn't like was the interaction between kinsect and mounting, also when you get good at chasing the monster with the jump you kinda hit as often as a bow without the penalty of using a ranged weapon, it was kinda broken to the point I had to give up the insect glaive to play fairly with my friends even if I had trully enjoyed the weapon.
The insect glaive though is something they fixed I'm kinda sad they stopped trying underwater combat.
ps.: haven't watched the video yet.
I had over 3,600 hours in that game. Played it for a few years. Imo it was the height of MH. That game had the best multiplayer. Like i had many friends and lots of conversation. As for Rise… obviously the combat is better, graphics are better, but I’m in the master ranks and u kno how many people ive added as friends? None… how many conversations have i had? None… there is legitimately no need to be social in this game. In fact because the game adjusts the monster for the number of hunters its often times best to play alone unless u play like a potato. Rise is not multiplayer friendly.
The multiplayer in Rise is too convenient to where u dont have to have a plan or anything and u dont have to find groups. Also progression is broken af. Joined a game and they killed the monster less than 10 seconds after i joined… got the completion and the rewards… i dont even kno wtf the monster looks like…
@@RedBaronisa world and rise both had very bad multiplayer imo, older games forced you to be in a lobby with the people you're gonna play with and stick with them after the quest so it created the space for interaction with your hunting group.
@@spacefighting8505 exactly. I still remember teaching a buddy how to use guard points with the CB. We were going against the akantor cuz he’s like the slowest enemy and easy to predict
Master Rank in 4U is actually quite hard even with 4 people.
Especially with larger monsters like Akantor and Ukanlos. You have to communicate and plan ahead with other players and look out for them via Healing Powders.
I've had to coach dozens of random players on how to avoid Ukanlos' swim attack. And when they finally slew their first Ukanlos, they celebrate and thank everyone for hunting with them. It was great.
Great analysis, I didnt know mh4 was developed like a portable series
Great video, I loved your thoughts. It is interesting to think about what might have happened to the franchise if Capcom had committed to the PSVita instead of the 3DS (ignoring MHFU for the sake of argument).
It make me wonder if Monster Hunter would have survived or if it would have gone the way of Soul Sacrifice/Freedom Wars/Toukiden. I mean, probably--I think the MH franchise is bigger than those ever were--but it definitely would have been a different reality.
Very interesting to think about.
I think the main issue with these games is that they were the "PSVita hunting genre alternative". They were attempting to capitalize on the gap left by MH when it went to 3DS, so they were ultimately derivative, and a dying console made that even worse.
That said, Soul Sacrifice deserved much better than what it go. That game's approach to story telling and dark theme was truly special.
If anything Monster Hunter would have probably saved the Vita. Players and other companies would be influenced by such a big move from capcom.
I always looked at it as monster focus vs environmental focus.
World is way closer in theme to Monster Hunter 1+2 then MH4 is and MH4 is the perfection of the old school portable series.
For me the essence of MH is World so far. Just because it feels the most like an actual ecosystem.
Just the ancient forrest alone is better then anything they ever did before. Just feels like an actual jungle, not a video game level. The environment is as much part of the hunt as the monsters are. While the portable series focuses almost entirely on the monsters alone.
My prediction for MH6 is the guiding lands but the whole game feels like it. Free hunting in a semi or full open world. With you and nature being the focus. If capcom has the balls for it. Essentially the elden ring of monster hunter.
As my first MonHun game 4U reigns supreme
You know, with a portable game, which is about mostly about the fights, I like the direction that the hunter is basically a bounty hunter.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate IS the best.
Everything from the combat, weapons, monsters, sound, soundtrack, story etc.
I pumped 2000+ hours into the game since 2014 and would gladly put more in if the servers weren't down.
I would've put down the game and never played it again if it weren't for 2 hunters that helped me understand the skill table.
The skills arn't just handed to you like in the newer games, you have to put +10 points in order for a skill to activate.
It made it much more enjoyable!
4U didn't hold your hand like World, you had to learn in order to play.
The fights felt so solid, there weren't any gimics like wirebugs or slinger mechanics.
It took more skill to fight monsters and more patience.
You could go on Guild Quests, level them up and reap the rewards after fighting some of the toughest fights in the game.
Thats without mentioning Gogmazios a fan favorite monster.
4U has the BIGGEST monsters in Canon, its wild to see the largest Monsters in the universe on a 240p screen.
4U still has some of the best cutscenes to date.
MH4U was and still is my favorite 3DS game. I still remember preordering it and getting the palico pin. Top memories are fighting Dalamadur to get to G rank, and the urgent you get for completing all low rank quests. That urgent was hard as hell, having to deal with a zinogre, rajang, AND a Shagaru Magala. But damn did the rainbow pigment feel amazing, even if it didnt look the best.
i held off on the caravaneer's challenge until i had G-rank armor so it wasn't too bad. the master's test, on the other hand... completing that was the single most amazing feeling i've had playing 4U.
I agree with pretty much everything here. I wish they'd ported MH4 onto Switch.
i never thought i would be alive to live this moment
All i ask for from MH 6 is to not be Rise/Sunbreak
Give me back my slower, more deliberate, more focussed on mechanical mastery combat. Let me pay the consequences of failure! Remove infinite restocking and bring the monsters and hunters back to a level of 4U/GU. Dont make everything about hyperaggression speedkill combat.
Unfortunately there's no real way to know what direction the series will take at this point. Since World each game and expansion has had a gradual power creep and a notable amount of experimentation with features, to the point where I'd go as far as to say not few mechanics and features can be declared "definitely coming back".
I really hope we get a well rounded and well paced game for MH 6, but I hate to say that I can't feel any confidence about what'll come next.
35:39 I just completed this quest yesterday after spending the day before grinding Tidal Najarala in order to get armour with high water attack and decent dragon resistance...
Still took 45 minutes, I carted twice and didn't have a single healing item to my name at the end... never again!
YO banger editing glowup!!
Re 3DS vs PSP, what I remember hearing was that the 3DS was just a massive massive juggernaut with a huge install base vs the PSP.
it’s definitely the best 3DS game ever made.
40:25 i dont stongly disagree with your broader analysis but i feel like world needs more credit wrt morality/messaging. iirc zora was arguably the bigger threat than nergigante. zora would go off like a megaton bomb, remodeling and extincting the entire coast the guild had been researching the last 10 years in order to better study the elder crossing phenomena. a lot of the key quests of smaller monsters were to assist the 3rd fleet scholars and 2nd fleet engineers in understanding zora's path and gathering materials to ambush it iirc. then it disappears after the first repel. the ongoing story after zora has some focus on understanding the latent nature of bioenergy and the ecological interactions it causes. i think the focus of world's story doesn't linger on one conflict throughout which is what makes the thematic messaging the way it is
Love the video! 4U continues to be one of the better MH games for me at least, and it's stuff like this that confirms that lol
One detail I remember about 4 Ultimate specifically is, when you get to High Rank in the Hub, there's a couple of Village Quests that unlock, and if you look at the descriptions for a couple of them (Crazy Stupid Love and Catch and Release are two of them, I think), they say only an Elite Hunter can take on those quests! I'm sure there are other examples like this of the hunter being referred to as an Elite Hunter by people in or outside of the Guild in 4U, but your essay reminded me about it! The worldbuilding for this game really was something else lol
My father bought this game, i played it, and now i am really into monster hunter.
All because my father introduced me to a random game, and hey, here i am.
Great video Jakob! I don't think MH4U does better in the Dundorma attacks than MH2. In MH4U they are just random events and pretty forgettable because you can just ignore them, they don't offer anything special since you can fight any of the monsters in other maps more easily and all the times you want but in the other side in MH2 the entire town changes aesthetically and was a long event that the players were waiting for, it is the only way to fight monsters such as the Rusted Kushala Daora and the only way to get certain rare items like the broken dragonator or tomes to unlock white fatalis. Apart from this the Dundorma sieges in MH2 are way more serious than in 4U (but well that is something that happens with the entire game tbh) Other thing you said is that the biomes are ment to be more like special areas in 4U but I don't think that is in the case of the normal maps, the starting maps such as the ancestral steppe, sunken hollow, heaven's mounts... are located near their village and for that reason they are normal ecosystems that the villagers usually travel and use. Of course the game still has rare areas like the tower or the sanctuary but that is something that happened since MH1. Apart from that a kinda agree with you. Now that you are in the server do a MH3 video!
Been looking forward to the MH4U video.
Thanks man, have a great Easter
I’m so happy to still have all the 3DS Monster Hunter games on physical copies. Except for Generations, which is digital.