Monster Hunter Portable 3 - Observations thus far.

Okay, so thanks to one of our newly joined members and fellow role play enthusiast I have in my possession a less than legitimate copy of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, outside of Frontier 10.0 and the Felyne Diary game, it is the newest installment in the Monster Hunter series. Having installed an English patch on the game, I have been thoroughly enjoying it thus far. Where to begin…

Having loaded the game up you are presented with several options to create your character, some of which allow you to load from existing files from MHP2G and the Felyne Diary game for a couple of extras, which I currently have no idea what they are save for one of the big super deformed Felyne heads originating from the very patapon-esque game, also currently exclusive to Japan.

Once you get into character creation, the selections are very similar to that of MH3, in the fact that you have a limited choice of faces, but have the option to edit the details of the face, such as paint, scars, hair, etc. They also give you the option to color these details, save for the scars, which was a nice touch. Many voices return from the previous titles, as well as a few new ones. They did get rid of my characters voice strangely enough, but I chose another one quite similar to it.

Once you make the changes and get them set up, you can whether you are new to the game or not, thus forcing you to do the beginners training school missions, which will familiarize you in the ways of the hunt. They also have weapon tutorials to get you used to the new features of the weapons, which I will list soon. The game then throws you headlong into an awesome CG of your hunter/huntress heading to Yukumo village. Needless to say all hell breaks loose and you end up running into trouble, in turn meeting the games flagship monster and getting a sighting of an unknown creature of sorts, who can only be seen through the clouds. You escape relatively unscathed and make it to the town, which is very, VERY in your face Asian in design. Weeaboo, rejoice!!!11one

Anyway, the town is set up just like the other games with access to all your hunting needs. The farm, smithy, shops, peddlers, chief and felyne granny all reside the same as they did in games prior. The farm, however has received a slew of new features, which like in the old games, unlock as you progress through the offline and online missions. The felyne comrades return as well, though with much more customizability, including armor and weapons, and the ability to recruit specific felynes is a nice addition to those who want further options. They can also be named however you see fit.

There is actually a felyne outfitter which can make specific pieces of armor and weapons for your companion lynian hunter, made from leftover (scrap) materials from creating your own hunter’s weapons and armor. Or, you can have him make scraps from existing materials in your supplies/chest. Making felyne armor and weapons is relatively cheap, as if you make a certain set for yourself, you will have ample materials left over to create a set, if not multiple sets for your felynes. Whilst soloing offline and in the guild, you can take up to two felynes with you to battle, which can help keep the monsters from focusing primarily on you. It works the same as it did in MHFU and P2G in the fact that the felynes can take only so much of a beating before they retreat to recover. There are multiple new training options that can be unlocked to further develop your kitty’s strengths, as well as give them new abilities for battle. Their weapons are also the same as the predeceasing game, giving them the option to cut, or impact the creatures. Much like their human counterparts, the felynes also eventually get S and U ranking armors as well. You may have up to 5 total felynes training at a time.

Now, to add to that, the training takes place in Yukumo farm. Not only can the felyne’s train here, but they can also help you in your farming endeavors as well. Once you unlock certain features on the farm, including the mine cart, bug seesaw, fishing basket and the “MoNyan” wagon, they can work together to get you some decent items. Here are some details about the farm features in general.

Mining - Same as the old days, you unlock new mining points and manually mine ores and crystals at up to 4 total spots.
Mining Cart - You select up to 4 felynes to enter a mine, giving them the axes of your choice, or strangely enough, a mushroom strong as an axe acquired from the mushroom tree to bring you some ores. The amount of rewards is based on the quality of the axe, and the outcome of the felynes effort.

Bug Trap - Similar to bug gathering spots, but different in the fact that you choose what pheromones you wish to use to attract the insects, as well as a supplement of pollen or honey to further draw them in. There are multiple pheromones/perfumes used to draw the bugs, some for beetles, some for black insects and so on and so forth.

Bug Seesaw - Select up to 4 felynes to be “Cat”apulted into a tree to catch bugs. Works almost the same as the bug trees from prior games, except your hunter jumps from a ledge based on a well timed jump which will send all 4 cats flying with bugnets to catch multiple insects. The higher they fly, the better the rewards. Funny thing is this, if you mess up your jump, your hunter face-plants on the seesaw, sending the cats barely into the air, leaving them clueless and dazed to what happened, thus barely catching anything and not landing on their feet no less. It is quite humorous.

Fishing Pier - Gone are the days of manually catching fish. You simply withdraw a basket filled with various catches, the more you upgrade the pier, the bigger variety of fish you get.

Fishing Basket - Select up to 4 felynes to catch fish for you. You select three different baits to catch them with for varying results.

Field Rows - Same as before. Plant something, fertilize it, it grows.

Mushroom Tree - Same as before.

Honeycomb - Same as before.

MoNyan Wagon - Select up to 4 felynes to go on a hunting quest! You pick the mission, they come back after you complete yours, with some decent rewards, based on their level. There are different missions they can go on, up to 4 star quests. Missions are against various monsters. You collect the goods and send the felynes back out after doing so.

Phew, I believe that is all I have for today. I will follow up with weapon and monster details in the days to come.

Supplement added 4/6/11 - Weapon details

The weapon selection has greatly improved since the random drop of the Dual Blades, Hunting Horn, Gunlance and Bow on MH3. It still baffles me as to why the ever did that in the first place. With the return of those original weapons, the game also implemented new moves and features to each weapon, which I will try to list below. I may leave a few minor things out, as I have not fully tested each weapon thus far. If you know Andras as a character, he is typically sporting mid to long range weapons and as such I know quite a bit about them. Portable 3 did however kill the customization engine applied to MH3’s guns, and eliminated the Medium Bowgun. Which was lame to begin with. I guess I’ll start from top to bottom.

Greatsword - Implements Tri’s new features such as the flat blade attack and the (second) final charge. Oddly enough they changed the charge timing again, and made it to where you have to time your final charge to get a full, three level charge.

Longsword - Implements Tri’s new features, on top of being able to physically see how long you remain in the spirit combo mode and it’s 3 different levels. You can also choreograph the final slash, as well as your evasion swing, the one where you slash and hop backwards at the same time, meaning you can make it go left or right. Nice additions indeed.

Sword and Shield - Implements Tri’s new features such as the shield bash combo and the horizontal to vertical upswing combo. The shield bash acts as impact damage, giving you the ability to wear the creatures stamina down, as well as get KO/head stuns. Take that hammer/horn/crag users.

Dual Blades - Redesigned from the ground up. Much like the LS, they have a new spirit bar that fills when you are in rage/demon mode, which when filled grants you greater attack power. (Per Maur and Dagger 32) Also, when in rage/demon mode, you can perform a quick dash, which is handy for evasive maneuvers. When the bar is filled, it remains locked at full for a period of time, which will allow you this new dash move even whilst in normal attack mode. The attacks have also changed to a more fierce set of combos.

Lance - Implements Tri’s new features. The perfect guard, counter thrust and shield bash are all now present, as well as the crowd control sideways slash.

Gunlance - Oh joyous improvements. They have overhauled the gunlance on so many levels whilst retaining its original awesomeness. The only notable thing missing is the ability to constantly fire shots off over and over. When you fire now, your hunter will snap the gunlance around and reload the spent shell, unless you use the charge feature, which will charge your shelling before releasing it for a more powerful hit. Almost like a mini-wyvern fire. There is also a new shotgun move, which will allow you to discharge all shellings at once for some killer damage. This can only be done after certain combinations of movements. My favorite weapon thus far.

Hammer - Implements Tri’s new moves, all two of them, the level 1 charge upswing and the spinning backswing from the charge. All attacks now deplete enemies stamina.

Hunting Horn - Meh. They changed it for the worst if you ask me. There is no longer a secondary recital mode, as you play tunes as you do any and all attacks now. You build up a combo of tunes as you attack, and press R to play the tune. It just isn’t as fun as it was. No new moves.

Switch Axe - The amalgamation of light and heavy versatility from Tri has entered the fray of weapons. Bringing over all of Tri’s current moves, they have also added two new phials/coatings to the axes elemental blade mode. Includes the elemental discharge whilst in sword mode. I will list them below.

Elements (fire, water, ice, thunder, dragon) - Obvious
Power - A shear burst of raw energy
Para/Stun - Yep.
Boost - Draws off the axes native element
Poison - Duh.
Fatigue - Causes the attacked target to lose stamina. If I’m not mistaken, can cause head stuns/KO.

Keep in mind that whist hacking away in sword mode, you drain the axe gauge, which will force it back into axe mode to either be reloaded or recharged. Axe mode allows faster movements. Sword mode slows movements, but has a swift and powerful elemental based attack. Quite the awesome addition indeed.

Light Bowgun - Same as before, save for adding a backhop and some evasive maneuvers/dodges after firing. The only gun with a rapidfire option. Not much else to say about it.

Heavy Bowgun - New features, yo. Sniper mode! Basically, certain guns give you the option to go stationary, meaning you take a knee and essentially get to stream a steady barrage of bullets from your gun. For example, Hapuru’s (the mud puppy/salamander) gun can continually fire a stream of Normal Lv3 shot on a 30 round clip, Water shot on a 20 round clip and Poison lv1 on a 6 round clip. That’s right, it autofires all three of those as long as the button is held. Also, after firing you can do a left or right strafing roll. Pretty cool addition to a relatively clumsy and slow weapon.

Bow - Can we say bombardment? All coatings and arrow types remain from previous titles, with the addition of fatigue arrows. Drains stamina like mad. Also introduces a new attack from the 2nd level charge. One of three aerial attacks where you fire one large arrow into the air, and it will do one of three things, based on the type given to the bow.

Spread - Bursts open, showering the target area with multiple scatter bombs.
Focused - Like spread, but is concentrated to a smaller radius.
Blast - My personal favorite. Drop a bomb on the enemy. That is all.

This concludes my listing of weapon details. Monster details to come soon.

Nice work man, you should get a job doing this ^^.

From what you've stated, it looks like it will be just as good, maybe better, than the others, which is awesome. One thing that's kinda peeing me off though is the hairstyles, if the ones in MHP3 are the same ones as tri then there won't be my favourite one, which makes me a sad bunny.

Stupid question here, but how does it play? The same as every other Monster Hunter game ever, or is it even better and more awesome?

Also, how does one go about getting the MGS crossover gear, is it simply by having save files, DLC, or some other, hidden method. If you've not found out, don't worry about it.

Anywho, enough of the third degree, good stuff, looking forward to more, and take care bro.

Peace.

I'd say it plays about the same as the other PSP games. It's the same controls and all.
They took stuff from Tri though, which I think improve things overall. They added stuff though, like reviving weapons lost in Tri and improving them.

You get MGS from a download quest. You complete the quest, get special tickets, etc.

Sweet. Seriously looking forward to this game now.

Posted details on the weapons. Enjoy!!

woo! man cant wait to get this game man! any date for the U.S. mentioned?