1. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate Quests
2. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate Guide

You've probably heard of a little action RPG game called Monster Hunter lately. That's because this year, they released Monster Hunter World on home consoles and PC, but they've also brought Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate to the Nintendo Switch after its initial release in Japan a year ago.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate Key Quests: all quests guide for Low, High and G-Rank. Although personally I might've had more than a few problems with Monster Hunter: World's progression - one thing is for certain. You couldn't get lost trying to figure out what you needed to hunt next to progress. Aug 28, 2018  Objectively speaking, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is a better version of Generations. For starters, it has all the content, hunter styles. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is the follow-up to Monster Hunter Generations, and marks the Monster Hunter series' debut on Nintendo Switch as an exclusive. Hunters can face off against the largest roster of unique monsters in any Monster Hunter game to date. Get your fill of ghouls and beasts in Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate for Nintendo Switch. A roster of monsters brings harrowing excitement to your screen, while quests.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate Quests

Monster Hunter is a game where players literally hunt large monsters (it's part of the ecology) and use parts from those monsters to craft armor and weapons to better prepare for the next hunt. You repeat this process over and over — it's a bit grindy, but worth the efforts to look like a badass.

While Monster Hunter's a great franchise, it's definitely overwhelming if you've never played before, or are still relatively new to the game. This is especially true for Generations Ultimate, as it introduces some new changes from previous Monster Hunter handheld titles. That's why we've rounded up some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your time with Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (MHGU).

Questing fundamentals

Everything that you do in Monster Hunter's done through quests. In each game, there's usually a girl around the middle of the village who handles quests. Quests may have a variety of different objectives, such as making deliveries, killing or capturing specific monster(s), or even making incredibly large and tough beasts retreat, saving villages from impending doom.

The one thing all newbies must understand before starting quests in Monster Hunter is the fact that the game does start a bit slow. The first couple of missions available are deliveries or something like killing 10 small monsters as the objective. These are a bit boring, but necessary to understand the fundamentals of the game before you tackle the larger beasts.

Choose where to take on quests from

There are two areas to complete quests in MHGU: Village and Hunter's Hub. Village quests are strictly single-player, advance the story, and unlock key parts of the villages that make your hunting life easier. Hunter's Hub allows for four hunters to hunt together and raise their Hunter Rank. Think of Hunter Rank like character level, since it gets unlocked after you hit G-Rank and the number increases as you earn HR points from hunts.

Village Low Rank quests go up to 5 stars, High Rank starts at 6, and G-Rank quests are the 10 Advanced missions that aren't for the faint-of-heart.

In Hunter's Hub, Low Rank is 1-3, High Rank is 4-7, and G-Rank is G1-4.

While you're free to do every quest that's available in each level, there are technically only certain ones that you need to complete in order to progress to the next set of quests. These are called Key Quests, and you can find a list of Village Key Quests and Hunter's Hub Key Quests on the MHGU Wiki. However, other non-key quests can unlock important things in the village, and even add more ingredients to your canteen's menu.

MHGU also makes things interesting with a new Hunt of the Day, which you can complete to earn extra rewards and zenny (currency).

Know the conditions of failure and success

In every quest, hunters get 50 minutes to complete the objective, unless otherwise stated. Once the objective's met, such as killing or capturing a monster, then it's complete and you return to the village in 60 seconds.

You'll fail the quest if you don't finish in time, or if you faint (lose all health) three times unless a mission says otherwise. That's why it's imperative to know your enemy and dodge their moves at the correct time! Less hits taken means less chance of failure.

Take advantage of the Supply Box

When you're in Low Rank, you start out at the beginning of each area, where there's a camp set up. A blue chest holds some useful freebies that you can grab for the hunt. If you don't use them, they get returned at the end of the quest.

In High and G-Rank, hunters get dropped off in random zones on the map. To make things more difficult, the supplies in the blue supply box get dropped off after a few minutes of the quest starting. So if you're in the higher level quests, you'll need to be patient and tough it out if you still want these freebies.

You may also notice a red chest at camp. This is where you drop off items for delivery, such as wyvern or herbivore eggs, and unique account items that net you more guild points.

Always remember to eat

Before setting off on your quest, always make sure you hit up the canteen for a hearty meal.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate Guide

Why is eating so important? It's simple, you don't want to go out on a hunt with base stamina and health, right? Eating meals boosts your existing HP and Stamina bars so you can take more hits, or do more evasive maneuvers. Plus, some weapons have modes that deplete your stamina, such as Dual Blades' Archdemon mode, so you want to have as much as possible.

Meals in Monster Hunter also provide beneficial passive abilities that come in handy, such as Polisher that lets you sharpen your weapon faster, or Carver, where you can gain extra carves from a monster corpse. You may also get improvements to your defense and attack strength, which is always helpful.

Try out every weapon

The one thing that I often hear about newbies coming into Monster Hunter games is the fact that they don't like how 'slow' some weapons are, or how weapons must be sheathed to use items and whatnot. This does take some getting used to since Monster Hunter is not your typical hack-n-slash game. You must put thought into how you move, just as you would if you were actually hunting.

There are 14 different weapon types in MHGU:

1. Greatsword
2. Sword and Shield
3. Longsword
4. Dual Blades
5. Lance
6. Gunlance
7. Switch Axe
8. Hammer
9. Hunting Horn
10. Insect Glaive
11. Charge Blade
12. Bow
13. Heavy Bowgun
14. Light Bowgun

Every weapon type plays differently. Greatswords tend to make you move slow and require good timing to land hits, but deal heavy damage with each hit. Dual Blades are super fast and easy to chain into combos, but each individual hits don't do much damage on their own. Sword and Shield is the only weapon type that lets hunters use items while the weapon's unsheathed, and has fairly quick attacks like Dual Blades. Insect Glaive is a staff-like weapon that also has a 'kinsect' aspect, which is used to gather extracts from monsters to boost your own abilities.

If you prefer ranged, there's the Bows and Bowguns. Bows use arrows, while Bowguns require a different ammo that you must craft. Light Bowguns deal more in elemental and status damage and are more mobile, whereas Heavy Bowguns focus on raw damage and explosives.

There are a lot of options to choose from in Monster Hunter, and I recommend going into the training quest for each weapon type to find what you like using. For newcomers, Sword and Shield is always a good starting point —or even Dual Blades. If you don't mind slow movement using heavy hits, then Greatsword is a classic.

Experiment with Hunting Styles and Arts

A new addition in Generations were Hunting Styles, and this carries over into the Ultimate edition as well. There are six styles to learn: Guide, Striker, Aerial, Adept, Valor, and Alchemy.

Guild's the traditional style that you may be used to from older games. You get two slots for Hunter Arts. This is the best way to learn the game if you're a beginner.

Striker's another style that's good for beginners. You get three Arts to equip, and you build up your Arts by getting hit in addition to landing successful hits. However, you lose some fine distinctions for certain weapons in this style, such as Dual Blades' Archdemon mode.

Aerial allows players to hop around areas due to their movement. When you dodge with the B button, your hunter jumps. This turns into a large leap if you hit a monster in the air, or even hit another hunter or bomb. However, you only get one Art to equip with this style.

Adept is the hardest of them all and focuses heavily on countering your enemies. This one isn't for beginners, but veterans who know how to read the monster's movements and counter at the correct time. You also get only one Art with Adept style.

Valor relies on sheathing to fill up your gauge and enter the Valor State, which means you hit harder and move faster. This style involves canceling attacks by sheathing to fill up your Art gauges and avoid incoming attacks with a sheathing stance.

Alchemy is the support style. It allows for three Hunter Arts, and you can use Alchemy Barrels to create Alchemy Items, power up your SP State and Hunter Arts, and more.

Each style can completely change how a weapon plays, so there's a lot of experimenting involved with figuring out your own play style. Valor and Alchemy are new to Generations Ultimate, as they were not in the original base game.

Arts get unlocked as you progress through the story, and these are powerful moves you can perform once the gauge is full. Hunter Arts can be devasting attacks for specific weapons, general evasion or defensive maneuvers, and even counters to attacks.

Styles and Arts make up the meat of the game in terms of gameplay, so try out as many as you can! You'll definitely find something that you'll end up loving.

Gather everything

I know — you want to go out and take on the big monsters to get amazing gear. But that process takes time! You need to gather resources first to make items that help you survive out in the wilderness.

An important aspect of Monster Hunter is gathering. While you're out exploring the land, look for anything interesting on the ground or on walls. If something sparkles, that means you can gather it. Just walk over to it and press the A button until there's nothing more you can pick up.

Some gathering points require special tools. You'll need pickaxes to mine ore, and bug nets to catch insects. You'll also want to gather up honey as often as possible, as it's used in a lot of crafting recipes, specifically the important healing items.

If there's anything I learned from pouring hundreds of hours into several Monster Hunter games, it's the fact that you should pretty much pick up and gather everything.

Eventually, you'll unlock a small farming section in the village, where you can duplicate common resources.

Make item and equipment sets

In every Monster Hunter game, you'll end up going through a variety of different quests that take place in cold or even scorching environments, or you just need to relax and go out gathering resources for later hunts. You'll also do a lot of farming of monsters for parts, and every beast has their own set of weaknesses for you to exploit.

An essential tip that makes your hunting life easier is to create both item and equipment sets.

Item sets would be what you carry along in your pouch for each quest. This should always have Potions, Mega Potions, Honey (mix with Potions to create Mega Potions), Nulberries, Paintballs, Antidotes — you know, the essentials. However, you'll end up in hot or cold areas, which require cool or hot drinks respectively.

You can save item sets in your item box (located in your room or next to the departure gate), and when you are preparing to go out on a hunt, just select the item set you want, and swap it out with what you're carrying. Those items you just swapped out get stored in the item box, and you're good to go! It's also a great way to top off the necessities.

The same can be done for your equipment. Perhaps you like a certain armor set because of its skills, and prefer it with a certain weapon. Save it as an equipment set, and then change out your gear when you need it! As you build up a collection of armors and weapons, you'll be doing a lot of swapping out based on what monster you're hunting or even gathering runs.

Understand skill points on gear

When you craft armor, you'll see that each piece has a point value in a skill. But don't think that equipping this single piece of armor means you get that skill. That's not how that works at all, and it's a bit confusing for newcomers (this is all solved in Monster Hunter World, where each piece of armor has its own active armor skill).

In the standard Monster Hunter games, hunters need at least 10 points in a skill for it to be active. Anything below that means that the skill is dormant. Some skills can reach up to 15 points for maximum effect. Older games also had negative skills that needed to be gemmed out (equip a gem with a skill that counters the negative skill), but this was removed in Generations.

To create the perfect armor set with the best skills and looks cool is a task in itself. I'd recommend going for complete armor sets (one monster's set) first before venturing out and trying to create mixed sets for skills.

Proper Hunter's Hub etiquette

While it's a ton of fun to hunt with others through either local or online multiplayer, there's definitely some issues with randoms joining you or even playing with friends who don't know proper etiquette.

Always support each other

When you're in multiplayer quests, it's usually scaled for the number of people that are in the group. Meaning that if you're hunting with anyone besides yourself, it's going to be more difficult than a solo hunt.

Monsters have more health and hit harder, but you still fail if your team winds up with three 'carts' (when you faint, Palicos wheel you back to camp in a wooden cart) or run out of time. That's why you should always try to keep an eye on your teammates' health bars, and always pop a Lifepowder when necessary.

I speak from experience — I've had numerous hunts in the past where the quest was a failure because someone didn't feel the need to use Lifepowder on a teammate who was near death. Guess what? That player tried to heal themselves but got hit (monsters tend to target those who are trying to heal), and everyone failed.

There are other ways to be more of a team player as well. Watch what your teammates are doing, such as setting up a trap to capture a sleeping monster, instead of waking it up with a weak attack. Or if the team is setting up bombs around a sleeping monster, let the hunter with the strongest attack set off the bombs, since sleeping beasts take triple damage. Oh, and don't hog up all of those Max and Ancient Potions in the Supply Box for yourself — sharing is caring.

It's imperative to cooperate with each other and help one another out when hunting! After all, you're in it together! Communication's key.

Happy hunting!

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is one of those games that's packed to the brim with things to do and collect. Again, while it starts off slow, things do pick up once you get a good set of gear, and you'll become hooked to the thrill of the hunt.

There's a lot to this game, but these tips and tricks should help you get going for a great hunting experience.

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Ten times. That’s how many times I’ve bought and re-bought games in the Monster Hunter Generations series, including Japanese versions Monster Hunter X and XX.

That doesn’t even include all the times I’ve bought multiple versions of other entries in the overall series since Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Heck, I remember arriving in Japan for vacation several years ago and asking my ex-girlfriend to take me to a video game store so I can buy the newly released Monster Hunter 4. Correction, buy two copies of MH4.

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again. If that’s the case, then I’m clearly insane about the Monster Hunter series. Unlike crazy people who do the same thing over and over, though, I wasn’t really expecting a different result each time like insane people supposedly do. Nope, I usually buy multiple copies of the game so I could spread the word and share the love by playing it with other people in my family. I mean, if they ever make an embassy for Monster Hunter, they could name me its ambassador for sure.

All that being said, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate comes at a bit of a strange time. First off, I’ve played this game twice now — first when it came out on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in March of last year and then a second time when it was released in Japan on the Switch last August. Technically, you can even say that I played it four times when you include my time with MHX and Generations. On top of that, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate arrives AFTER I’ve plunked in 600 hours on the newer Monster Hunter World, which I gave a 10 out of 10, by the way (only the second time I’ve given a game such a high score since I started doing reviews). At the time, I called World arguably the best Monster Hunter game ever released, thanks to its improved presentation and visuals, fine-tuned mechanics and large number of quality-of-life improvements. Some might find it blasphemous to call World the best in the series but it’s something I continue to stand by. Yes, it doesn’t have as many monsters but neither did Tri when it first came out, and that game pretty much kickstarted the last generation before World. Basically, World is the Tri of the new Monster Hunter generation and serves as an excellent foundation for upcoming games in the series.

Needless to say, there are a bunch of factors that definitely impact how I view Generations Ultimate now. Let’s just say that my review probably would be a bit different if I wrote it back in early 2017 when MHXX first came out. To be fair, I felt that MHXX at the time was already starting to feel a bit old — and that’s even before I knew World existed. It’s strange, too, given that I rated Monster Hunter Generations a 9.5 out of 10. Even Monster Hunter fans might consider that an overly generous score, which I understand. In my case, I gave it that score primarily due to one key reason: hunting styles. Hunting styles, along with the ability to play as a Palico, are pretty much the biggest change in the base mechanics of the series in a long, long time. Prior to that, the only big notable changes I remember to the core gameplay of Monster Hunter are underwater combat in Tri and mounting in MH4. Otherwise, Monster Hunter really hasn’t had any groundbreaking changes in its base experience outside of the improved hitboxes that Tri thankfully brought about.

Objectively speaking, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is a better version of Generations. For starters, it has all the content, hunter styles and hunting arts from its predecessor and then some. It also brings in G-rank quests and the tougher monsters that come with them. While it has more content, however, it does not feel as fresh as Generations did when I first played it. That’s because it simply builds on its predecessor as opposed to drastically changing the formula like Generations did. It’s an interesting conundrum for a reviewer such as myself who tries to consider a wide range of factors and viewpoints in my reviews. This includes factoring in the experience and expectations of gamers who never played Generations, those who played it but never played MHXX, and those who count Monster Hunter World as their first ever game in the franchise. A review, by definition, is subjective but I still try to bring in as many objective elements as I can while accounting for the various viewpoints and needs of gamers who might read my articles. What might feel like old hat to me could be totally fresh for others.

Given all that, I will try my best to factor in all those varying experiences as I dissect MHGU for this review. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always scored Monster Hunter games higher than the norm. I remember giving MH3U the equivalent of a score of 90 way back in the day when we still used our old website. That’s eight points higher than its Metacritic average. Although more reviewers were starting to warm up to the series at the time, many still considered the mechanics clunky and unwieldy. In contrast, Monster Hunter veterans such as myself saw a more deliberate system that typically encouraged discipline and purpose as opposed to mindless hacking. I just historically enjoy this series more than the average person.

The good news is that despite having played Monster Hunter X, Generations and XX to death — as well as getting used to the mechanics introduced by World — Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate’s weapon mechanics still feel great. In fact, I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed playing it even after getting used to the changes brought about by World. The base mechanics for combat, for example, remained spot-on and I was able to adjust in no time with the timing and combos for the weapons, especially those I was most familiar with.

I started with the last weapon I had equipped in my old Generations save file, the Sword and Shield, which I’ve rarely used in 3U, 4, 4U and Generations. See, I normally main Bowguns and the Insect Glaive but I didn’t have a good status-based Light or Heavy Bowgun to test with my Level 10 Dreadqueen Rathian Gunner nor a good paralysis Glaive to use with my Level 10 Dreadqueen Rathian Blademaster set. So I decided to test the status-based armor with a Viper Bite 4 paralysis SnS instead. Despite now being more used to World and its more forgiving Spiral Slash mechanic for Sword and Shield, the SnS combat with MHGU actually still felt great and I found myself quickly adjusting to it in no time. I especially loved the weapon’s synergy with Striker Style, which allows you to use three hunting arts at the expense of losing your backhop, which is a minor sacrifice. I ended up having a blast using Chaos Oil to buff my attacks with exhaust, stun, affinity, partbreaker and Mind’s Eye to prevent weapon bounce, then weaving in Sword Dance into my attacks and eventually knocking out monsters with Shoryugeki.

Admittedly, there are a few nuances with some weapons where I do miss the changes brought about by World. I now find Kinsect control and essence gathering, for example, a lot easier in World than MHGU. Microsoft windows 7 key generator. Marking a body part on a monster with your Insect Glaive in World, for example, pretty much guarantees your bug will extract that part’s color. That’s not the case in MHGU where your bug can get the wrong color if the monster moves, which it almost always does. I also find aiming and hitting ideal spots with the Light and Heavy Bowguns easier in World thanks to the latter’s more intuitive controls and added mobility. For Sword and Shield, I miss World’s Spiral Slash, which allowed you to readjust the direction of your attacks on the fly and made SnS combat feel much more fluid.

Such niggles shouldn’t be as big of a deal for veterans of the classic Monster Hunter games, who have invested countless hours using the old mechanics and can reacquire them the same way one can always ride a bicycle once he or she learns how to, even after not using a bike for a long time. If Monster Hunter World was your first game, however, even minor changes to the combat mechanics can feel annoying. This is especially true when you factor in older mechanics like flexing your arms while being rooted on the spot when drinking a potion or having to deal with pickaxes that break when mining. If The fact that online Urgent Quests — missions you need to finish successfully in order to unlock the next batch of quests — can only be cleared by the person who posts it can make tougher missions such as Lao-Shan Lung a giant pain, literally. This is especially true if you help folks clear their Urgent, only for them to bail and leave you when your turn comes around. Unlike World, MHGU does not scale down its online quests for solo players, making team play practically a necessity for the game's harder monsters (it would be akin to soloing Kulve Taroth and Behemoth). Ultimately, if you’re used to the quality-of-life changes from World, the mechanics for MHGU can feel disjointed and archaic, perhaps even trollish. In fact, I can actually see some folks quitting because they find it too cumbersome.

Then again, that would be a shame because players who decide not to stick with Generations Ultimate will be missing out on the biggest advantage that the game has over World: hunting styles. I know I already mentioned them but I can’t say enough how much of a game changer these are, especially given how the franchise has stuck to the tried-and-true “Guild-style” mechanics pretty much throughout its whole life.

As much as I love the fine-tuned Heavy Bowgun mechanics used by World, it still has no replacement for the airborne spread shot shenanigans of the Aerial Style introduced in MHG, which can make short work of a Zinogre’s horns. Neither does it have an alternative that replicates MHGU’s new Valor Style ability that lets you literally do a power run with your HBG drawn out, then slide into a special Siege Mode that shoots bullets at an ever-increasing rate of speed. For folks who enjoyed the crazy dodge counters of Adept Style, the closest thing you’ll get to experiencing that in World is seeing the special dodge animation when using the Temporal Mantle.

When you multiply the six hunting styles with the 14 weapons, that’s a lot of combinations to choose from. That doesn’t even factor in the so-called “15th weapon,” the Palicoes, which come with various weapon subtypes of their own. You can hunt as a cat that specializes in boomerangs, bombs, healing or one that even turns into a miniature Wolverine-style beast. It’s literally something I miss in World and wish would be added in the future, especially given how nice cats look in the new game.

Another advantage for MHGU is its insane monster count, which makes World’s number of creatures piddly in comparison. Granted, it’s not really a fair comparison as MHGU is the culmination of a generation that technically started way back in Tri, so it has the advantage of being able to build on assets that have been amassed over several years. Nevertheless, the monster count remains a clear-cut advantage for MHGU over World. Add the ability to play it on the go and you’ve got the true spiritual successor to the portable Monster Hunter experience that thrived on the PSP and 3DS.

Having said all that, MHGU is admittedly showing its age even for this Monster Hunter fan. While World magnifies the advantages of Generations Ultimate, it also makes its warts more obvious. It’s not even the graphics as MHGU, while not as visually impressive as World, looks surprisingly good on the Switch for an older game. Instead, it’s the quality-of-life changes that make dealing with some of the game’s older mechanics and limits a bit more difficult than before.

It’s almost ironic how a newer Monster Hunter game ultimately ends us showing what MHGU can do better. It’s still a great game that boasts, in my opinion, the cooler mascot (I mean, Nergigante looks cool but Valstrax is a freaking jet-powered dragon). At the same time, it also appears to serve as a fitting bookend to the end of an era, even for a fan who would love to see Capcom continue the old series, at least on portable systems.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is like my old 300ZX from years past. It’s not as comfortable or as fast as newer sports cars. But boy did I have fun driving that thing. Let’s just hope that Monster Hunter World or its successor incorporates the fun parts from MHGU, whether it be stuff like hunting styles or being able to play as a cat. Like its flagship monster, if this is the last hurrah for the previous monster hunter generation, it’s certainly going out with a jet-powered bang.

• Rating: 8.5 out of 10
• Cost: $59.99, Switch
• Official site

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