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Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate Review


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2021949343_MHGUboxart.png.b3dd9fc89e6c92e0078562b0dab7597b.pngFor a while there it looked like we weren't going to get this game in the West (originally called Monster Hunter XX in Japan), but Switch owners can rejoice: while other systems are playing Monster Hunter World we've got Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, the most jam-packed Monster Hunter game to date. This is an expansion of the 3DS game originally released in the West in 2016 so the basic premise will be familiar to many players (in fact, I'm reposting my review of that game below since it covers so much of this game as well), but a little similarity to previous entries has never stopped a true Monster Hunter fan. For those of us that are helplessly addicted to the hunt, Generations Ultimate is…well, the ultimate experience.
 
First off, one of the nicest features in this game is simply the fact that you're able to transfer your progress from Generations on the 3DS to this Switch game. It's a quick, simple process and incredibly valuable for saving a lot of time building up an inventory of basic resources. Tackling every hunt can be a lot of fun in Monster Hunter but transferring data like this helps veteran hunters jump right to the new content.
 
It's hard to know what to say about Generations Ultimate since it's basically an expansion of Generations for the 3DS. The core elements are the same but this game adds more monsters, more hunting styles, more maps—more everything! Generations Ultimate may not have a fancy new gameplay gimmick or monster type but the game doubles down on Generations' premise as a collection of Monster Hunter greatest hits. With even more monsters and maps from the franchise's history represented here, this truly is an almost all-encompassing representation of the series's rich hunting history. For fans of Monster Hunter it doesn't get much better than this—Generations Ultimate is everything you love, all packed into one Switch cartridge.
 
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And on the other hand, Generations Ultimate may not necessarily win over new players. Monster Hunter games have grown increasingly more accessible with each generation but there are still plenty of little aspects that players might find tedious, like collecting resources or the seemingly endless grind to earn rare item drops from monsters. If the game clicks for you you'll be hooked for literally hundreds of hours of playtime, but if not the gameplay might seem repetitive.
 
Aside from just plain more monsters to fight, one of the more significant additions to Generations Ultimate is two new hunter styles, Valor and Alchemy. Valor isn't that dissimilar from the existing Adept style as both rely upon reading the monster perfectly to time your dodges, but Valor also gives the benefit of building up a Valor State that allows you to perform new attacks, depending upon what weapon you're using. It can be a risky style to use but also a fun change of pace for pros that want a little something new. Alchemy lets you craft items in the middle of a battle, some of which affect the whole hunting party, so it's useful for players that like playing support. It's also pretty complicated to learn since you basically have to learn all of the alchemy recipes and then remember which ones you want to use in battle, but with a bit of practice it's a nice addition to multiplayer hunts.
 
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Of course, possibly the best reason to get Generations Ultimate even if you played the 3DS game to death is the addition of G-rank, the highest difficulty rank in a Monster Hunter game where enemies hit even harder and add new attack patterns. One of the best things about Monster Hunter is the satisfaction of defeating a particularly troublesome beast, so adding another layer of difficulty to the game is perfect for players that enjoy a challenge. G-rank is a true test of skill, and rising to the challenge either alone or with friends is a blast.
 
It's been a while since we've gotten to enjoy a Monster Hunter game on an HD system (well, an HD Nintendo system at any rate) and seeing all of the game's 93 monsters on the big screen is a real treat. Granted, Generations Ultimate still has its roots in the 3DS so the visuals are upscaled and still retain a certain grainy simplicity, notably in menus, but the graphics are still good—they're just not as great as they might have been if the game was built from the ground up for the Switch. The music isn't half bad either and helps give each hunt an epic tone—there's no better song to pump you up for hunting than the series's main theme.
 
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That "Ultimate" addition to the title isn't much of an exaggeration: Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate takes a game that was already made to be a compilation of the greatest hits from the franchise and packs in even more content with a quest list to make even the most seasoned hunter's head spin. The new features may be pretty minimal in the grand scheme but fans of the series won't mind. This isn't a game made to revolutionize the way Monster Hunter is played—it's a game for hardcore hunting fans that can't get enough of battling gigantic monsters, crafting weapons and armor, and doing it all again and again.
 
Rating: 9 out of 10 Monsters
 
Original review for Monster Hunter Generations (3DS):
Spoiler

Originally posted August 4th, 2016

 

It's only been a little over a year since the release of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the 3DS, but for some of us there will never be enough Monster Hunter. When the game clicks with you it becomes insanely addictive, and that appeal is alive and well in Monster Hunter Generations. More importantly though, this latest title introduces new features to keep each quest fresh and unique with four hunting styles and various special attack Arts. These additions and changes manage to give the game a bit of a wider appeal without sacrificing the thrill of the hunt.

Generations is something of a love letter to the franchise. Every Monster Hunter game brings back previous monsters, but this one brings back previous villages and NPCs. You don't need to feel left out if you aren't a longtime fan though, since plot has never been a strong point of the series. Veterans will get a kick out of seeing some familiar faces but otherwise Generations is all about the hunt. Oh, and cat puns. So, so many cat puns.
 
And in Generations, the cats aren't just on the sidelines. You can once again bring two Palicoes with you on quests (or one while playing online with another player) and you can even play as a Palico yourself. Prowler mode is much more than just a side mode, though. Palicoes essentially represent a new weapon class in Generations, with their own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. Palicoes can't use items but they have many innate advantages including no stamina bar and natural resistance to heat and cold. Palico abilities and skills are also unlocked gradually as you complete hunts or level up your Palico, so they offer a different take on character building than usual in Monster hunter. It's definitely a bit jarring when you first try out Prowler mode but it's also a lot of fun to approach hunts differently. And if nothing else it's hilarious to see four cats take down a large, ferocious monster.
 
The biggest addition to Generations, though, is the Hunter Style and Arts system. With every weapon in the game you can choose from four styles of combat, each with slight nuances to change how you play. Guild is the standard and the same as past games, Striker focuses on Hunter Arts, Aerial lets you jump on top of monsters for easy mount attacks, and Adept requires precise dodging to execute powerful counterattacks. With each style you can equip one or more Arts, special attacks that you charge by attacking monsters. You can choose from general Arts or ones specific for your weapon, and each Art focuses on attacking, dodging, or healing. The variety of Arts is decent–it's not huge, but even with Striker you can only select three Arts so having too many options might have been pointless anyway. Not all of the weapon-specific Arts are terribly balanced but there is plenty of room for you to find a style that works for you. That's a real focus of Generations: inclusive gameplay. Arts that let you easily dodge mean the game is a little less punishing to players that haven't yet memorized every monster's attack pattern. That doesn't mean Monster Hunter has been overly simplified, but it's easier than ever for new players to join the hunt and find a way to play that suits them.
 
That said, Generations doesn't feature the extra difficult G-rank found in many other Monster Hunter games. Instead this game has Deviant monsters, extra powerful variations on existing monsters. Deviants are pretty much G-rank in everything but name, since they hit a lot harder and are more difficult to take down. The terminology may have changed but veteran hunters can still enjoy some seriously challenging quests.
 
The weapon upgrade system is also slightly revamped in Generations. You can now see when a weapon branches off into a new weapon or you can simply continue to upgrade the original weapon to increase its power. Essentially you now have more opportunities to use whatever weapon you like, whether it's for things like status effects or just because you like the look of it. Again, Generations gives players the freedom to truly experiment with how you normally play Monster Hunter, and it can be a lot of fun to compare notes with fellow hunters.
 
With quick access to four villages Generations seems to move a little faster in the early game. You get access to several different areas pretty quickly, which lets you gather a lot of different materials early on. The downside is that there is a ridiculous amount of repeated quests in Generations. The early game of each Monster Hunter features simple quests like gathering herbs or mushrooms, which are meant to let you get accustomed to the area. The problem in Generations is that you get access to numerous locations all at once, so each location has a selection of these gathering quests which get old quickly. On top of that you will occasionally get villager requests which for some reason are often the exact same quest you just completed, i.e. finishing a Zinogre quest might unlock another Zinogre quest plus a villager request for another Zinogre hunt. Repetition is a familiar element in Monster Hunter but it really does seem excessive in Generations.
 
As with previous Monster Hunter games co-op play can be a big deal, and Generations once again supports both local and online multiplayer. Depending on the players' internet connections it might not be a perfect system, but you'll rarely run into occasions where lag or dropped players make the game truly unplayable. The real tragedy here though is the loss of the arm-wrestling mini-game. It doesn't actually affect the game at all but it was certainly a fun little touch.
 
There's not much changed in the controls either. Just like in 4 Ultimate it behooves you to have either a Circle Pad Pro or a New 3DS for better camera control, but the touch screen's virtual D-pad still gets the job done in a pinch. You can also assign Arts to the touch screen for quick access, in addition to the other touch screen icons from the previous game–map display, health display, quick access items, etc. Even just settling on a touch screen layout may seem daunting at first but after a while it'll become second nature.
 
In the graphics department Generations looks a lot like 4 Ultimate, which is to say it looks beautiful. The little details on the monsters never gets old; if you weren't in constant danger of being crushed it would be fascinating to just watch them move. And although Generations draws most of its locations from previous games they look great here. As someone who got into the franchise with Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii, it was great to return to the Deserted Island and fight a Lagiacrus. And with so many different locations the soundtrack is also wonderfully diverse, while still maintaining the balance between soothing and intense that defines a lot of Monster Hunter soundtracks. After playing for a hundred hours its easy to tune out the music while playing, but it's still well done.
 
Monster Hunter Generations is the most diverse title in the series yet, with dozens of ways for players to customize their playstyle. New players can rely upon the more forgiving Arts, while veteran hunters can rethink how they approach familiar monsters. In the end though this is still Monster Hunter: it's a game that requires a heavy time investment and plenty of practice to master hunting techniques, even with the benefit of super dodges. It's not a series for everyone, but the latest additions to Generations may convince some new players to stick around to enjoy the excitement of monster hunting.
 

Rating: 9/10

 

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I played this game, and find it fantastical. It might not be as newcomer-friendly compared to what World did, but since... eleven years ago, I've still believed in the franchise... even if I never really got far in the games because of other obligations. Both GU and World are some of my favorite games, and considering their importance to the series and how well each improve from their predecessors, I gave both them a tie. World might have updated the slightly old conventions of the series, but GU has the bigger content, bar none. And going over what makes each of them unique would take hours. If World and GU are the pinnacle of this series as of now, it's going to be hard to see where the series goes next.

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 I loved World but I found that it just didn't have much content. I loved Generations; not the Ultimate version but still has as much more than World. I have heard from my brother that it's great just after going back to World that it's like taking one step forward in some aspects and two steps back in other aspects. Just imagine if there was a combination of a game that not only had Monster Hunter's World environments without those load times and the many many monsters to fight from Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. That would be the best game and I wonder why Capcom hasn't thought that yet. I mean Capcom has found a recipe for the best of the series and yet hasn't done so. 

Edited by Kirbymeister2
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1 hour ago, Kirbymeister2 said:

 

 I loved World but I found that it just didn't have much content. I loved Generations; not the Ultimate version but still has as much more than World. I have heard from my brother that it's great just after going back to World that it's like taking one step forward in some aspects and two steps back in other aspects. Just imagine if there was a combination of a game that not only had Monster Hunter's World environments without those load times and the many many monsters to fight from Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. That would be the best game and I wonder why Capcom hasn't thought that yet. I mean Capcom has found a recipe for the best of the series and yet hasn't done so. 

 

I'm sure they've thought of it, but Capcom likes to drip feed Monster Hunter games as a yearly franchise, so they're probably only going to gradually release new games with more features that combine the style of World with the breadth of content from previous games. After the success of World I'm sure that'll be their focus while moving forward with the series, though I wonder how much Western gamers will tolerate yearly releases (Japan seems to have no problem with this format). They might just stick with World for the time being and add more monsters/content with updates or DLC.

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