Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - Here, we begin to validate our Wii U purchases
 

IT IS TIME. Well, in a little less than two days, anyway. We've kind of been dicking around with Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros, maybe ZombiU, and that's it. But now it's time. The hunt begins, and you may have some questions.

What?

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While it's starting to finally make its name over here, you would be forgiven for not really knowing about the series if you don't live in Japan.

Monster Hunter is an absurdly popular Japanese action series (and nowadays, MMO) that started on the PS2. You may remember it; it was fucking awful. I mean, come on, the right analog controlled your attacks rather than the camera, for Christ's sake. A few entries were skipped over after it flopped here, but once it picked up steam in Japan, Capcom has made a concerted effort to get the series to catch on here. Whereas Japan has subscription fees for most entries, we still get to play this shit for free. Might as well enjoy it while the series remains that way in the west, right?

Why?

When I zone into Deserted Island I feel like Hulk Hogan
I feel that crowd roaring, the lights flashin
Fireworks go off and I shake the ropes
I rip my shirt off and felynes go crazy
I stroke my mustache and they wish my hands were theirs
I wanna run wild all over some monsters
Whatcha gonna do, brother?
That's what I said to Plesioth


Then I leg dropped him


Heck yeah brother, this is why I play Monster Hunter

Also, be sure to check out Tritoch's entry of Monster Hunter 3 in Gamer's Month 2011. Any other questions?

I'm told there's no lock-on. How is that even tolerable?

Let me be honest with you. Yes, it does take some getting used to.

But there are reasons for this design choice. For starters, monsters do not stay still. They are mobile, aggressive, jumpy (in the sense that they will jump a fucking lot), and spastic. They will attack you mercilessly, all the while moving in and out of your field of vision.

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Yes, you do have to move the camera around to follow them. But I can't even imagine how spastic the camera would be if it were following the monster and not my own commands to move.

The game is pretty lenient with how you want to set your camera up to make it as painless a transition as possible-- besides being able to flip the X- and Y-axes, you can choose a default starting position for the camera, what direction you move if you press forward after shifting the camera around, and so forth.

It can still be a pain, but it's almost liberating when you break your lock addiction. Tritoch mentioned that he wasn't even aware of the lock-on feature in Ragnarok Odyssey, and I played through three-quarters of Metal Gear Rising before realizing there was lock-on. You instantly grow some hair on that chest when you discover you play other games just fine without locking on anymore.

Be a man, give it a chance. Once you adjust, it's hardly a big deal.

I've heard the servers are region-locked, the GamePad can't be used for off-screen play, and the 3DS version can't play with Wii U players online. Is that true?
It was, before Capcom announced that all of those nuisances are being patched in April. The 3DS online play will require a Wii U unfortunately, which kind of defeats the purpose if you wanted to play the game online without having to buy a Wii U. But it could be useful if you and a friend would both like to play online with one Wii U, I suppose.

Japan will still be locked to its own region, but North America and Europe will be able to play together come next month. And for those of you who have the drive to go hunting while shitting, rejoice! The GamePad will be able to stream gameplay in addition to being a shortcut menu.

What's new in Ultimate?
This is where it's pretty exciting. Capcom says regardless of what you've played in the past, there's going to be a surprisingly large amount of new content. Since much of it has been brought over from the Japan-only Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, you've probably never seen most of it.

You are also given an additional AI companion besides Cha-Cha, Kayamba, when you are fighting your way to fashionable wears and weapons in single-player. Between the three of you, there will be a lot of dancing. Choreographed and freestyle.

So, who's ready?

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Thread synergy.

Like GB said, you really don't miss lock-on at all once you stop expecting it. It takes a little while to get used to, but now it only annoys me in similar games that do have it. I forgot that Ragnarok Odyssey had it until about 2/3 of the way through the game. When I did try it out it just felt restricting. Monster Hunter's vertical camera can be annoying since it's set at levels instead of moving freely (except for underwater), but it's a small issue.

I'm super excited to dive back into hunting on Tuesday. After testing out some of the other new weapons in the demo I'm going to stick with the bow, at least for a while. I enjoyed it in Freedom Unite, and it helps when not everyone on the team is melee. The greatsword will always be my first love, but sometimes a man just has to back off and shoot dinosaurs in the head with harpoon-sized arrows.

"Here, we begin to validate our Wii U purchases by buying Wii games"

Such is the state of all consoles near launch, Jack.

Such is the state of console launches that we're still in the "launch window" 4 months after the console hit the shelves.

Which is like every console for the past two generations, but yes!

When this flashed up in an email ad, I assumed it was a Vita game.

Now I'm even less likely to get it, although I did enjoy Monster Rancher on the Playstation, which I appreciate is a completely different game but the names are similar.

Yes, yes. All console launches in recent memory have been plagued with a complete lack of games, but we're losing sight of what's important here: Nibelsnarf.

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Soul Sacrifice is the Vita's Monster Hunter type game. It looks pretty neat too, but there's another month until that one comes over to the US.