Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate newbie guide

Let’s face it. Monster Hunter is invading the western world. Last year we saw the western release of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It was also recently announced that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Monster Hunter Frontier G will be heading westward as well. There was also a sale on 3 Ultimate not too long ago. With all this Monster Hunter madness going on, I thought it might be a good idea to have a little intro tutorial out there to help new players ease into the game.

Short Tutorial for Monster Hunter Beginners

For this tutorial, I’m mainly going to be talking about gameplay mechanics like weapons, armor, and skills. For basic controls and such, see the owners manual that comes with the game (physical and digital).

So the first thing I’ll mention is that the smashing young hunter up there is me! Sorry about the picture quality, but that’s what happens when you’re a broke college student! Anyway, the armor I have on is a little flashier than what you’ll have as a newbie, but that’s okay. The entire Monster Hunter experience is watching yourself slowly get better as you use parts from the beasts you take down.

Weapons

First things first, let’s talk weapons. When you first start the game, you’ll be given one of each item type. My advice is to give each a try and see which play style you like best. But you’re not here to hear that. You’re here to be told what to do. Take the sword and shield and go try messing around with the aptonoths in Moga Forest (Big grey plant eaters). You’ll only get some raw meat and bones, but you’ll learn how your weapon feels to use and operate. The reason I said to attack aptonoths is so you can get used to your weapon’s feel without being thrown against a monster that’s out of your league. I suggested sword and shield because they’re fast, you can use items without putting away your weapon, and it offers a shielding option for tight spots.

For quicker weapons that offer a lot of flexibility in terms of dodging and agility, try the sword and shield, dual blades, bow, or the light bowgun.  For heavier, offensive weapons that are a bit more sluggish, try your hand at the hammer, switch axe, long sword, or the heavy bowgun. For bigger defensive weapons, try the great sword, lance, or gunlance. Again, it’s all about what fits your play style. Try them all and see what you like!

Armor and Skills

Now, the armor system in Monster Hunter might be a bit different than what you’re used to. Instead of just having armor from harder monsters give you better defense, pieces of armor have skills associated with them. Let me show you what I mean.

Alright, so that’s a lot of numbers. Let’s break down what they mean. So, in the middle of the image, you’ll see the words “Skill Tree”. Below that is listed the skills that I have points for (Eating, Fury, Perception, etc). As you can see by the numbers under the different armor parts, I’m getting points for each skill from my armor. While wearing them, they add to the total you can see in the highlighted column. You can also create decorations and wear talismans to boost your skills as well. So to recap: in order to get skills, you need skill points. You get skill points from armor, decorations, and talismans. Now let’s talk about what happens after you get a certain number of points.

You can see in the box on the right that for the eating skill, 10 points will reward me with Speed Eating +1, and 15 points will give me Speed Eating +2. However, if I end up with -10 points in the eating skill, I’ll have the skill “Slow Eater”. The eating skill affects the time it takes to use a consumable. There are skills for almost every action under the sun. They can help you with sharpening your weapon, or even make monsters act like you’re holding a torch. If something about the game is bothering you, you can probably use a skill to fix it. Google is your best friend when trying to find out what skills do and how to get them.

Actually, Google is just your best friend in general with Monster Hunter. Keep it handy. 90% of my smartphone use is Googling Monster Hunter things.

Well, hopefully that helps you at least get a handle on which weapons are good for what, and how skills work. There’s a lot more to learn, but I thought I’d elaborate on these two things. Mainly because the game does a mediocre job of explaining them itself. It’s also two of the things I’ve had to explain the most to my girlfriend and roommate, who just started playing with me. I hope this has helped you some as well! If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask me below.

Miiverse and Zorpix

Post Text: Big fishies!

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

My little aquarium in my Animal Crossing village. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say little. Those are sharks in there! That poor puffer fish. I hope his toxic spikes help protect him. A true monster hunter would go in there and save him! Hopefully my character read my tutorial! 😉

Post Text: NOPE!

Pikmin 3

So, I entered an area. Nothing there. Wandered around a bit. Suddenly this thing pops out of nowhere. The monster hunter in me wanted to run up there and destroy it. The Pikmin Player in me realized I had only red pikmin and this was taking place next to a river. So I ran back to another area, left my pikmin there, and came back to take this picture. Such amazing graphics in this game.

Post text: WHAT are you talking about, Ganon?

The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker HD

Link’s face. Link’s freaking face. Every time. The faces in this game are ridiculously amazing. almost every face left me with at least a smile. This one especially. Ganon is giving this huge speech about fate or something, and Link is just in utter confusion. I love how this Link is a bit more human than the rest. Instead of just a hero who’s always understanding everything about justice and what he’s supposed to do and whatnot, this is just a kid who happened to get tossed into a huge quest that’s a bit over his head. To keep with the Monster Hunter references, link is using the sword and shield, why don’t you!?

Wrapping up

If you have any suggestions for next week’s topic, any questions about the content I wrote, or just wanna say hey, feel free to sound off below! If you really feel inclined, you can mosey on over to my Twitter, Facebook, or Miiverse account. Please don’t feel offended if I don’t respond to friend requests on the Wii U, as I reserve that for people I actually know in real life. I’ll gladly follow back though!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to hear from you all soon!