It’s tough to deal with some of those elements today. But for World, Capcom did a fantastic job of preserving that DNA while judiciously excising unnecessary elements.
I played most of those games myself, and at the time, I might have even defended some of their quirks as part of the series’s DNA.
The harder adjustment, however, is that Generations Ultimate is mechanically and structurally the same as pretty much every other pre- World game. (The 3DS version isn’t being released outside of Japan.) The game has received resolution and texture bumps in its transition to the Switch, of course, but returning to simple plains and empty caves is jarring after the lush, living environments of World. Most obviously, the fact that this started out as an expanded version of a 3DS game means that it’s basically two generations behind World on a technical level. This makes its belated Western release feel like a relic from the past. In Japan, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate came out a year ago for the Switch and 18 months ago on 3DS as Monster Hunter XX. It was more open and fluid than past games, with a world that felt truly alive.
Designed from the start for the PS4 and Xbox One, with a PC version following later, World not only represented the first significant technical upgrade in the series’s history, but it was a major redesign of its structure and systems in a bid to make it more accessible. Monster Hunter World was a huge overhaul of the series, which had always been hugely popular on handheld systems in Japan but never found as much success in the West or on home consoles. The possibly bad news is that it’s also very different than World. In many ways, it’s a better package than World. The good news is that Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is out today for the Nintendo Switch, and it’s great. If performed in a group, you will still get credit for Part Two quests, excluding Urgent Quests, even though they will not be listed until you have completed all of Part One.If your first Monster Hunter game was World - which is statistically likely since the game has now sold more than 10 million copies worldwide - and you’re hungry for more, I have good (and possibly bad) news. Urgent Quest – Glacial Grinder Elder Hall G Rank Quests G1 > G2 If you can solo G Rank monsters, you’ve definitely earned some bragging rights. You will not even be allowed to enter the Elder Hall if you are not G Rank. You partake of G Rank quests in the Elder Hall, not the Gathering Hall. Once you complete the HR 8 Urgent Quest, you become G Rank, which opens up the hardest difficulty of monsters in the game, along with the best gear. Urgent Quest – Stop the Wheel HR 7 > HR 8 Urgent Quest – Rathian’s Wrath HR 5 > HR 6 Urgent Quest – Sand Sailor Gathering Hall High Rank Quests HR 4 > HR 5 Urgent Quest – Dark Wings, Dark Work HR 3 > HR 4 If you don’t like them, well, those chumps can do hours of Expeditions on their own… If you like the people you’re playing with, you can spare them the hassle that you went through to unlock those Guild Quests by sharing with them. It can be extremely difficult to unlock some of the Guild Quests needed to access specific monsters needed for crafting special weapons. Playing online, you can share Guild Quests, Guild Cards, and Palicoes with other players in your game through the start menu.
Solo questing offline will slightly lower the monsters’ difficulty and allow you to bring two Palicoes with you, assuming you’ve unlocked another Palico in the singleplayer or someone was nice enough to send one to your mailbox. Don't solo quest in an online room while waiting for other players. If you plan on solo questing in the Gathering Hall or Elder Hall, do so offline.
But sometimes, there are just days when it feels like all the groups you’re joining are full of fail.