I’ve tried since the latest Monster Hunter released to convince myself that I don’t need the game. I bought Majora’s Mask 3D a few days ago and have already played it to completion but something kept pulling me to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. I downloaded the demo yesterday and 4 hours later decided that it was worth 40 bucks and my time so earlier today I went into the 3DS e-Shop and took the plunge. I now own the game and have been reading guides and watching YouTube videos for the past 2 hours to prepare. I’m scared.

I love the Souls series and the level of information that it withholds from you never bothered me so I think I'll be fine with that aspect of MH but there has just been something about the series that is extraordinarily intriguing to me but also daunting.

This initial blog entry will only serve the purpose of letting you all know that I will be documenting my time with the game to see if I become addicted like so many others or give it a good shot only to learn that it is simply not for me. I’m hoping for the former but over the course of my playtime with the game I will give updates in the form of new entries to this series every few days. I have only checked out beginner tips in videos and text to help me get acquainted with some of the more obscure elements to the start of the game and I’ve forced myself to not read or watch anything that will tell me the best starter class or weapon; I want to learn for myself how I want to play the game. So, here we go.

I create a character and get through the battle in the desert where you run around like an idiot and recklessly jump onto the back of a gigantic sand demon to save some guys’ hat; it was hilarious and actually super cool. After all of that ends you are in the hub area where the hat guy tells you he wants a steak, before I head out though I check around the area to acquaint myself with the various NPC’s and vendors to see what they have to offer, I then head over to the guildmarm who gives me the quest for the steak and I head out into the wild for the first time.

I have a basic understanding of how combat works because of the guides that I checked out on YouTube so this first section isn't too hard after I get as much stuff out of the blue chest that I can. The first monsters that you are tasked with killing are extremely easy, most of the ones that I attacked didn’t fight back at all, and I was able to complete this quest with ease in just 4 minutes. Even though it was very basic I still felt a huge sense of accomplishment as I placed the well-done steak into the red chest and am transported back to town. I pick up another quest to make a mega-potion for red hat guy and after another 10 minutes I finish it but not before fighting my first set of Jaggi’s. They actually attack me but still don’t pose any serious threat but I was able to get a feel for the animation priority in the attacks you perform. This is something that I have seen as a complaint from some other new players but being a huge fan of the Souls series as I mentioned above I have absolutely zero issue with and actually found myself really enjoying having to take a more methodical approach to landing successful attacks.

After the mission I am transported back to town where I am told that I can now take my Palicoe with me on missions. The Palicoe is a small cat that will accompany you on quests and can fight, as well as aid you in combat by healing you, I think this will be a really neat addition and should prove to be somewhat helpful to someone like me who may ignore my health bar sometimes in the early going. I finally found the Item Box in my house that I had completely ignored before now and looked through the weapons that are in there and decided to go with an Insect Glaive at the advice of @jjweatherman. I then just wander around for a couple of more minutes without picking up a new quest to see what the Gathering Hall is; it’s where you meet up with players to play online which was my understanding of it anyway. At this point I then head back to my house to save and conclude my time with the beginning of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

I can say that just after the short bit of the game that I have played so far I can already say that I have been missing out on this series and wish I would have started playing sooner because it seems insanely fun. I’m hoping to update with a new blog entry into this new series when I come across something new and cool so you can probably expect to see another one in a few days. Thanks for reading and wish me luck… I'll probably need it for what is to come.