Monster Hunter 4U came out for 3DS almost a year ago. Of course I played it. I played it like a man possessed. I swung my hammer for about 250 hours in total, rising all the way to G* gold crown rank (the highest). It was probably the most fun I had ever had in a game 🙂
Then I put it aside and moved on to other things. I never forgot it though, because as much as I had done in the game, there was always more. There is always more, both to see that can ever be seen and to do that can ever be done. So recently, as SFL has gotten into the game in a big way, I started thinking about it again. Was it time to return?
These thoughts often occupied me in Australia. I wished I had brought the game with me to play it during downtime. As SFL regaled me with her tales of success I wanted to smash monsters too. I even bought the game for AW, so we may possibly be able to play online together.
Once I returned home, it didn’t take long for the cartridge to once again be put into my 3DS. It had been over six months: did I even remember how to play? And if I did, was I still good? Since I’m in the awful world of ‘always tired but never able to sleep’ jetlag, I’ve had a lot of extra time these past few days. And I’ve been hunting.
My first decision: master another weapon. Hammers are wonderful, but occasional frustrating to use online. Besides, I’d mastered them! Naturally my first choice was dual blades, always my distant second to the hammer as a preference. I had made a few back in the day, but never the ultimate versions (rank 10 weapons). I had my eye on one of them, but it required farming this guy:
That’s ‘raging Brachydios’, an always angry walking explosion that excels at killing players online. A year ago farming him was like pulling teeth since many players were simply not good enough to survive. These days things have changed, and online is mostly populated with the diehards still playing a year after release. The average skill level is much higher; monsters that were once borderline impossible are now just scary. I took the time to kill a few of these guys before he dropped his ‘Immortal Reactor’ part needed to make a fantastic weapon, the first part of my plan.
But what good is a weapon without armor skills? My set is perfect for hammers, and on top of that is fully upgraded using rare materials farmed from guild quests. It’s tempting to keep using it with my blades, but there are more appropriate sets for a blade wielder. So I will make them, which means more farming. The ‘Ferocious Rajang’ are bad enough (although a cakewalk compared to the godlike ‘Apex Rajang’, which routinely wipes multiplayer quests inside a minute) but I’ve almost gotten the parts I need so far. Now I have to move on to this guy:
‘Oroshi Kirin’, an ice-bases subspecies. It’s difficult to be sure, but even worse seems very reluctant to drop the parts I need. I reckon this will take time…
And I haven’t even given much thought yet to the other guys I need to farm, like a ‘rusted Kushala’ (shudder) and epic boss monster variant ‘Shah Dalamadur’ (weep).
But I’ll get it done, because this game is a fierce addiction. Sure I can kill them all already with my hammer (and have), but I want to do it with DB as well.
And then when the armour set is made and the weapon honed then comes the charm farming to make the skills the very best. Even beyond that one could spend countless hours farming guild quests for the super rare relic weapons. Once guild card I’ve obtained from a player online shows his save file to be an astonishing 1035 hours, and he is only HR 729. I’ve already played with a few rank HR999 guys!
And when that’s all done, and I have the best dual blades and accompanying armor, maybe then I could move on to another weapon. After all there’s fourteen to choose from 🙂
