Ok, so when Ultimate came out last year, I realized I never played a Monster Hunter game so I bought Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii(even though I knew the servers were going down in a month). The thing is, I haven't played more than like an hour of it. So now I'm seeing Ultimate for the Wii U for like $20 and my question is; is it worth it to spend the money for an HD upgrade of a game that I already have, but haven't played. Not only the HD, but is there enough new content there to justify upgrading? Keeping in mind I probably won't ever go online because I don't have any friends that play Monster Hunter, so the new game having servers doesn't make much of a difference to me.

IN SUMMARY(TL:DR): Is Ultimate worth getting for $20 even though I own Tri for the Wii but haven't played it yet.

If it's the sort of game you enjoy, then I'd say yes, it's definitely worth moving over to the Ultimate version.

Here's a bunch of the new content:

• Two AI companions instead of one
• Three new hunting locations
• 211 new quests, including 63 Village high rank quests (there were no high rank Village quests in Tri), 136 G rank quests in the Port (the online quest hub, which you can also play solo with your AI buddies) and 12 arena quests
• 1071 new weapons. Dual Blades, Hunting Horns, Gunlances and Bows also make an appearance, neither of which were in Tri
• Around 100 new armour sets for both Blademasters and Gunners
• 16 new monsters and 17 new subspecies (alternate versions of monsters encountered in high/G rank quests)
• 5 new small monsters

If you ever do decide to take it online, there are plenty of people still playing and it wouldn't be too difficult to find rooms to join, or to find others to join your own rooms. Although I feel I should mention it is possible to clear all of the content on your own, so don't feel like you'd ever have to go online to 100% everything if you don't want to.

For what it's worth, I don't think you need friends to enjoy the online mode. It definitely helps, but in my experience the online community is really chill and supportive, and always willing to play. I've played with high ranked gods and have had them kill high level beasts while I hide and do nothing and just loot the corpse of whatever at the end so I can get better gear. They literally don't even care at all, and will do that for hours on end. I think a lot of them even enjoy doing that to help out noobs like me, lol.

But I dunno, I never played Tri and went straight into Ultimate and I enjoyed it. Got a bit too grindy and boring for my tastes though. I think if you want to get into it, Ultimate is probably the best way to do it.

@roean: Wow that's a lot of new stuff, I didn't think it would be that much. I'd love to go online with some friends as that seems to be the ideal way to play that game, but I still might try it with strangers too though. That post was a lot of help I think I'll upgrade. Thanks!

Until MH4U comes out, this is the definitive North American monster hunter game. They shut down the servers for the original, as well. Last I checked, the community is pretty active, since this is the most current monster hunter state-side. I think I've put 120 hours into it before I stopped playing, and I remember thoroughly enjoying it. Definitely requires patience, as the long hunts can be frustrating at times, especially if you come unprepared.

@tournamentofhate I definitely found it more enjoyable with multiplayer, and as @turtlebird95 mentioned, there are plenty of high ranking players online that are more than happy to help out low rank/newer players with hunts and to give out general advice. Creating a room in the Novice lobbies and naming it something like "New Player" and I could almost guarantee someone will show up and kick ass for you.

And as @doctordonkey mentions, this is definitely a game that needs patience, but personally that's one of the reasons I like it. Learning some giant monster's attack patterns and then finally taking it down is very satisfying, especially on the boss monsters. If the game gets it's hooks into you, be prepared to sink well over 100 hours into it over time, possibly hundreds more.

@turtlebird95: Good to know! That's encouraging to hear, now I want to give it a shot, thanks.

@doctordonkey I forgot we were getting 4 Ultimate early next year, hmm I might wait for that.

@roean: Yeah the little I played of Tri I definitely liked it for a lot of the same reasons I love the Souls games. Thanks for the advice on the "New Player" lobby sounds like a good way to go.