Is the original Monster Hunter still worth playing?

[Anonymous No.7153957]

And what's the best version to emulate? From what I can see there's at least 4 versions, including some Japan-exclusive ones
> The original Monster Hunter for PS2
> Monster Hunter G for PS2 (Japan only)
> A PSP port called Monster Hunter Freedom
> A Wii port (Japan only)

Which of these should I emulate? Is the PSP version downgraded in any way? Are the graphics and/or controls worse? Are there translation patches for the Japan only versions?

[Anonymous No.7153970]

Psp MH freedom is the G rank version of the game, go for that

[Anonymous No.7153991]

Worth playing for like a couple of hours just for historic reasons. First game was played with the second analog stick used for attack, it was something.

>>7153970
But yeah the content from the original Monster Hunter is available in this game, though I'd say go straight to Freedom Unite.

[Anonymous No.7153997]

>>7153957
Depends what you're looking to emulate it for I suppose. If you want to see the absolute beginning of the franchise the original PS2 releases emulate well and there's an english patch for G, but you'll have to go through a private server to access guild quests since the game required an online connection even to host guild quests solo. If you're just looking for a fun game, Freedom has IMO a better control scheme (no right stick to attack like PS2) and introduces the first farm to cut down on gathering somewhat. Wii port changes weapon movesets to be more in line with MH2 so its not a strictly authentic MH1 port.

[Anonymous No.7154356]

mhfu is comfy and contains a lot of the charm from the first game
Pro tip: dung isnt useless and the farm is going to save you so much time

[Anonymous No.7154383]

>>7153957
Monster Hunter is one of my favorite series ever. I maxed the clock 999 hours on the original long before I was done playing it and 300-800 hours on every other game in the series except World.


I think the original is very worth playing partly because it has a really unique control system that the series never uses again. But the downside is that much of it was multiplayer focused and I don't even know if you can do online missions solo at this point.

The PSP games are decent in that they're more single player focused and easier which is good for beginners, but the game controls horribly on the system due to how few buttons it has and their layout. Playing well pretty much means having to hold it "claw style" which is really uncomfortable. They're still good because it's Monster Hunter but also the only entries in the series I never ever return to playing.

MH Tri on the Wii is decent, it's not a port of the first game it's the third in the series.

In my opinion the best jumping in point would be one of the DS or 3DS entries. All are solid and the touch screen and gameplay refinements are great additions. Any of them is a good choice but personally I think MH Generations is the best game in the series and still has active online which is a major part of the experience.

[Anonymous No.7154486]

>>7153957
Basically there’s two “definitive” versions of the first gen. MHFreedom for PSP and the Wii port of MHG. Both have G rank content, but the Wii port has some additional 2nd gen mechanics that really improve the game and new weapon types. Freedom is the whole original bundle in portable form.
Overall, it’s only worth it to see how the games changed. 2nd gen is mostly the same and contains much of the same content. I could go into detail on how much is missing in 2nd gen, but you won’t notice much.
Although, the OG PS2 game got private servers for the online portion setup recently. Even if you don’t want to play with others, that multiplayer lobby is my favorite of all the games, it has the best music. Worth setting up just to experience the guild hub that was never used again. Also fun to play with others.

[Anonymous No.7156454]

>>7154486
This is >>7154383, hearing there are private servers up and running I would strongly recommend going for the original PS2 game. The control scheme is unlike anything else you've likely played and once you get the hang of it, it's sublime. Different types of weapons don't just feel different because their attacks are slower or faster etc, the way you use the R2 stick to swing your weapon makes them all feel very unique and ads a real sense of verisimilitude that the series never really comes back to.

Also armor sets and skills are much more limited, but the game is designed around that. More than any other MH series once you're really good you can rock out fighting naked with joke weapons if you want and still be semi-viable because the gap between a joke or not great weapon and end game super gear isn't nearly as large as it is in later games. So it makes it a good game to learn all the MH basics and prepare you for later games if you fall in love with the series.

I reiterate that I would honestly avoid and of the PSP versions especially as your first experience. They're still solid games but that system really couldn't do it justice and playing within the confines of a PSP's button layout really sucks.

Otherwise MH Generations is sort of a love letter to the whole original era of Monster Hunter, it has a bunch of the old areas and monsters but refined with the improvements they made over the years ( camera control in early MH is a pain in the ass for example) for an overall great experience. It also has absolute boatloads of content. My save for that one is at 900+ hours and I feel I've only scratched the surface of end game content.

Really though, any that you land on even PSP is going to be a rad ride. It's a truly amazing series.

[Anonymous No.7156606]

>>7154486
I would like to know where can I find these ps2 mh servers, I only play on hunsterverse and they only hold PSP MH games as far as I know.

[Anonymous No.7156670]

>>7153957
>Implying any of them are worth playing

[Anonymous No.7156690]

>>7156670
It's a good thing to imply because they all are.

[Anonymous No.7156695]

>>7153957
The Japanese ps2 port of monster hunter got a full translation as well as its online servers revived

[Anonymous No.7156832]

>>7154383
>>7154486
>>7156454
So from what I can gather it's heavily multiplayer focused? I didn't expect that from a PS2 game. And they recycle content into the later games? So is there any real reason to start with the first game at all then? Would it be better to go straight to the sequel or something?

[Anonymous No.7156987]

>>7156832
It is heavily multiplayer focused. You xan solo even online missions, I usually do. Or play with one friend but you have to be good to solo. Really outside of the really hard fights though a full 4 team of competent players makes most quests easy.

There's a ton of recycled content throughout the games, imagine something in between Street Fighter and Pokemon. Monsters from earlier games will return, sometimes in new variations but it's very much the same thing over and over and iterated on incrementally. That's why over all I would just recommend MH Generations for a good dose of the best of the series condensed.

The main reason to play the original would be to experience it's unique control scheme.

[Anonymous No.7156992]

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is peak MH. MH went downhill after that.

[Anonymous No.7157018]

>>7156992
There isn't ba single aspect that's the best in any way. Awful controls, easy missions, gimped graphics. If you like MHFU get your ass into just about any other Monster Hunter and have an amazing time.

[Anonymous No.7157071]

>>7156454
>>7156606
The private servers are still up from what I know, I remember using this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHo2vhTfrx8 so if you're interested, try it out. Worked perfectly when I tried it and was pretty fun to mess around in for a bit.
>>7156832
I would definitely agree it's heavily focused on multiplayer, but as stated, you can do everything solo and multiplayer is never mandatory.
As far as recycled content, the other guy put it pretty well, but it's important to note the series functions in a sort of "expansion pack" basis where the "G" games are just added difficulty modes more or less, you get one higher rank of quests added so it's more content without massively changing the game. Monster Hunter Freedom 2 vs Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for example. More or less, they are same game.
>>7157018
>Awful controls
Excuse me sir, my hand has now been molded to the claw. Even in newer games I still use the claw. I will only use controllers where I can claw. It's the best control scheme despite breaking your hands.

[Anonymous No.7157106]

>>7157071
>Excuse me sir, I have Stockholm Syndrome

Claw sucks and the PSP is a terrible platform for such a great series. But if you like it, more power to you. Personally I'd never recommend it and the PSP entries are the only ones I know I'll never revisit.

>>7156832
It's also important to note that there's virtually no plot, so starting at a later point in the series you won't miss out on anything.

[Anonymous No.7157128]

>>7157106
It's unironically the best control scheme. There is no other control scheme that lets you turn the camera, move, and attack/dodge/etc at the same time with such ease and precision.
If someone really hates it for whatever reason, they can just emulate the games and use a double stick controller anyway. Don't know why you would never recommend the PSP games when they are the core of the now "retro" entries.

[Anonymous No.7157137]

Good thread, very informative.

[Anonymous No.7157138]

>>7157128
I think the original controls were better and the set up you can do on DS/3DS are far, far better. Playing on PSP always felt horribly gimped to me. It's by far the low point of the series in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.7157145]

>>7157128
Also I don't care about "retro" I just care about good games. I was super pissed when they first announced the series was going to DS but after playing it with the touch screen my mind was totally changed. MH is one of the few series that mostly just gets better and better.

[Anonymous No.7157735]

>>7157128
> If someone really hates it for whatever reason, they can just emulate the games and use a double stick controller anyway
So I'm guessing camera is on the dpad in the PSP version then? Because that's the only way I can think of to use the claw grip on a PSP. So then in an emulator you could just remap the dpad to the right stick for a more conventional setup?

[Anonymous No.7158267]

>>7157735
Yeah, that’s what you should do if you don’t want to claw. If you find the claw uncomfortable there’s no harm in changing it.

[Anonymous No.7159272]

>>7153957
I watched some gameplay on youtube and the answer is hell no.

[Anonymous No.7159412]

MHFU is still my favorite. I never even had to claw, I only used the L button to redirect the camera and the game was just fine. That said I agree that the original had a fun control scheme. I got into the game completely by accident when it came out on PS2 because somehow I thought it had local multiplayer.

[Anonymous No.7159471]

>>7153957
Since every game has different weapon balancing, they can all be worth a try. I play gen 1 when I want to have an excuse to play combo GS or MHF1 when SnS to be good.

[Anonymous No.7160172]

>>7159272
Sir this board is for people that play video games

[Anonymous No.7160186]

>>7159471
SnS is brutal in 3 and 4. GS changed a lot when they added charging but it turned it from a spammy weapon into one of the most precise and OP ones in the game. That feeling when you can predict a raging Tigrex and have it snap it's jaws an inch away from you just before getting a huge sword to the face staggering it and then getting sliced to ribbons... Ohh it's lovely!

[Anonymous No.7160497]

Fellas, is there a way to patch in english my original japanese Monster Hunter game?

I got this game recently directly from japan and now I am reading in thos thread that it is possible to play online.

My ps2 has the matrix 1.96 chip and so I can play any ps3 region disc. I don't have OPL or FreeMCboot but if I need them to patch my game "on the fly" (like most emulators I know) in english I can manage to install them.

Please tell me if there is a way to do it, I prefer to play original games rathee than burned discs on my ps2, but if there is no way to do it, I will burn my patched copy.

[Anonymous No.7161027]

Do you guys have any experience playing on the servers for the psp games using an emulator? I’ve always wanted to play these first ones and it looks like emulating these psp posts is the only way to play them online

[Anonymous No.7161206]

I feel like i had a bad start with World. Is it really casualized? I felt rushed, maybe because I was in co op but I felt like i couldnt take in the hunt. Felt the same when a buddy got me to play borderlands 2, i think its an issue i have with co op where you play with people who wanna rush. Hate that. Still had fun but gonna go back to beginning(ish). Starting with MHFU. My question is: I have Portable 3rd as a rom but Im assuming Monster Hunter Tri is pretty emulatable now and as I understand is a superior upgrade to Portable 3rd. Or are they different and I should play both? After this I am going to restart World fresh and then play Iceborne and skip 4 because I dont have ninty consoles.

[Anonymous No.7161231]

>>7161206
Im actually starting with MHG JP English patched > MHFU w remapped camera > Portable 3rd and/or Tri. Emulation all day baby, Ill play the 3DS ones later.

[Anonymous No.7161698]

>>7160497
I wouldn't know if it's possible, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is. Try digging around on google. There was a discord for the servers and they had a lot of info on Dos servers they were setting up so I assume they have MH1 JP servers as well.
As far as whether or not it's possible for the physical version, I wouldn't know, but I do remember having to use a network setup disc. I wonder if something like that exists for the JP version, or if the US version would still work. Best do some research, I assume it's possible. And yes, there's an English patch.
>>7161027
Yeah, all the games have functional online with PPSSPP. I've only played P3rd online, but I know MHFreedom and MHFU have online functionality too.
>>7161231
>Portable 3rd and/or Tri
And. Definitely and. At least to try them both out. They both have very distinct villages, so although the games are largely similar in terms of content, they feel pretty distinct.

[Anonymous No.7161745]

>>7161231
If you liked what you played you will love the 3DS ones. Generations is basically a love letter to the whole series (pre world) and I feel, the perfect refinement of the classic series. Shit tons of content and every weapon shines in it's own way.

Also if you're one of the lucky apparently few who the 3D works for, seeing areas again like Forest and Hills with depth is incredible.

[Anonymous No.7161921]

MH1 on PS2 is one of the comfiest games ever. The OST is fucking incredible and still contains some of my favorite songs from the franchise. The right analog controls are a bit controversial but I greatly enjoy them once I took the time to learn them. Sure the button scheme from the PSP and later games makes more sense, but there's something immerse about hammering the right analog stick to swing the greatsword around.
The monster AI is very janky, the hitboxes are janky, we all know that. I actually found the hitboxes in MH1 to be more forgiving than the hitboxes in MHFU which were particularly egregious.
Certain mechanics in this game really never showed up anywhere else. Small things like tracking Mosswine activity to find special mushrooms really added to the immersion. Of course the limited inventory and limited item box space could be a bitch, and having to hand deliver the components for upgrades and crafting to the smith could be really annoying. I still like it though, I find it all immersive.
As some anons have said the online is still around via private server to which I still play every now and again. It'd be a real trip if we can organize some hunting parties and take a nostalgia ride back to 2004.
It's always blown my mind that this PS2 game from 2004 could incorporate all the elements of an MMO onto a home console. It's such a shame I never had the chance to play it in primetime, as I never heard of MH until Tri. I tried the single player village mode out and had fun but quickly learned that both the quests and rewards are gimped from the online version. Village mode is more of a practicing run/giant tutorial to prep the player for online, where like half the roster is locked. The furthest singleplayer really goes in Rathalos. There is a magic and a charm to Gen1-3 that all gens beyond that have lost. The most recent games GenU, World, and now Rise all look like hyperspeed anime action games instead of these slow deliberate monster whacking games.

[Anonymous No.7162116]

>>7161921
>Village mode is more of a practicing run/giant tutorial to prep the player for online
Yeah, this goes for all the games. It's very unfortunate for the guild modes that are online only like many of the oldest games, Tri, etc. since these things are just lost overtime. Good thing the private servers exist for some.
You're especially right about MH1 basically feeling like a tutorial. The village for MHG gets Lao Shan Lung as the epic final boss whereas MH1's hardest village quest is the classic double trouble Rathalos/Rathian quest.

[Anonymous No.7162130]

>>7162116
>tfw no MH Tri servers that I know of
RIP forever Loc Lac city
At least the PSP Games and MH1 are properly emulated with online so the full game can still be experienced. I'm curious if any dedicated fans are bothering/have bothered to use the server framework from MH1 and make a private server for MH2, since I believe they use the same engine and same networking software baked in.

[Anonymous No.7162254]

>>7162130
From what I know, Dos had a server being worked on. Not sure the state of it, since it's been months since I checked.
I sure wish Tri can eventually get a private server, since Loc Lac was one of my favorite towns.

[Anonymous No.7162276]

>>7162254
>Dos had a server
Oh shit really? I never actually played Dos, I would love if that got a private server and I could check it all out. Do you care to share where you've heard the rumblings of a server being made?

[Anonymous No.7162423]

>>7162276
Unfortunately I can't even find any info on it anymore. I know for a fact both MH1 and MHG have private servers, but maybe Dos was abandoned which is why I can't find anything anymore. That or I remembered wrong and nothing was really in the works. There's brief mention of it online a couple months ago and that's it.
Makes some sense it would be abandoned considering the fact that Dos doesn't have too much different, but I do think Dundorma was an online only hub like Minegarde, wasn't it? Maybe a private server will eventually come so we can see that again.

[Anonymous No.7162517]

>>7160172
I do play games, but I watch gameplay videos first and if I don't like what I see, I'm not going to buy the game to play it. I can't emulate PS2.

I bought Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, which is the closest thing to Monster Hunter I can play without having to play the original with its bad controls.

[Anonymous No.7162606]

>>7162517
The original's controls are unusual, but they work really really well. That said it's certainly not a game for everyone so if it didn't look appealing there's no reason to play it.

>>7161921
I haven't played World or looked at Rise footage but I think Gen definitely still feels like Monster Hunter always has.

[Anonymous No.7162654]

>>7154383
What the fuck, there are no MH games on the DS. The 3DS sure, it was the dumping ground for MH games for quite some time.

[Anonymous No.7163086]

>>7162606
>Gen definitely still feels like Monster Hunter always has.
They all do, even World, but it's undeniable that the newest games are faster and have a lot added to the core of the gameplay. They are considerably more polished and refined and that refined gameplay has led it to be faster and more bloated mechanically to keep it new and challenging, at least that's how I view it.
I love all Monster Hunter games though, they really are the same at the core. It's about hunting monsters and making weapons out of their dead bodies. I do think the older games have a better aesthetic and definitely have that charm to them that the newer games miss though so I agree with that guy in general.

[Anonymous No.7163327]

>>7162654
Huh you're right! I could gave sworn one of them was on regular DS but memory is wonky that way as you age. At any rate I was pissed when it was announced but came to love how it worked with the touch screen.

>>7163086
I do kinda see what you're saying but to me it's almost all been for the better. Though part of that is probably having played the series for thousands of hours at this point.

I feel like you as a player are much more adept and powerful now, but that really just lets them make crazier monsters to test your skills. Rathalos used to be one of the toughest mobs in the game, at this point he's not even near top 10 and one of the first bosses is a crazy own that confuses and sleeps.

[Anonymous No.7164801]

>>7163086
>The tower
I do miss these ominous stages like the Tower and the destroyed city. I like the feeling that I get from the original forest and hills. The original Jungle, seeing the vastness of the landscape off in the distance from base camp. The frozen caves from MHFU/2 are turbo comfy.
The villages from MH and MHFU also feel so fucking comfy and have some of the best music in the franchise. World's villages just can't fucking compete.
I also think the graphics lend a degree of charm that the higher fidelity of modern systems can't cover. Something about those lower res graphics adds more mystery and immersion to these places than the photorealistic wannabe HD graphics of modern games. I experience this phenomena with all modern games over older games.

[Anonymous No.7165306]

>>7164801
> Something about those lower res graphics adds more mystery and immersion to these places than the photorealistic wannabe HD graphics of modern games. I experience this phenomena with all modern games over older games.
Yeah, me too. It's not that it's "lower res" though. It's the amount of visual clutter modern games have. Modern games throw a bunch of background "junk" for lack of a better term all over the place.

Oh, and I also have an even hotter take. Most modern games have worse lighting than 6th gen games. The only way to accurately simulate real-world light is raytracing, which 90% of AAA games still don't have. All the "progress" on lighting tech from the 6th gen to present has been in the form of increasingly complex "fake" lighting pipelines.

Devs have added a multitude of lighting "effects", all stacked on top of one another, with little consideration of the overall aesthetic. Each of these effects is purportedly based on a real world phenomenon, but many bear little resemblence to the phenomenon it's said to be based on. For example, ambient occlusion basically just means "put a smear of shadow near the edge of every object". The end result is something that is more complex, but not necessarily better looking or even more realistic. It just puts it farther into the uncanny valley.

(1/2)

[Anonymous No.7165310]

>>7165306

Meanwhile, older games that used simpler methods of lighting had more control over the final appearance. When you don't have to deal with the insanely bloated graphics pipeline of modern games, it's a lot easier to get things looking the way you want them to.

This problem will never be solved until games have fully path traced graphics. Path tracing is the simplest lighting pipeline of all. Even simpler than 6th gen games. It's so simple it's been fully understood since before 3D games were even a thing. It's just that it's insanely computationally expensive. When we finally have enough GPU power to brute force path tracing, devs will be able to dump the bloated fake graphics pipelines they've been using and just use path tracing, the simplest and best looking graphical pipeline.

Unfortunately, we probably won't get there for another decade at least because devs will have to keep the old pipeline around for people who will keep using older non-raytracing capable cards forever.

(2/2)

[Anonymous No.7166041]

>>7165306
>>7165310
In short, this is why drawings and paintings when well done look more "real" to people than photographs.

[Anonymous No.7167357]

>>7164801
Forest and Hills in 3D looks incredible. MHGen is probably the most beautiful game in the series.

[Anonymous No.7167385]

I played Freedom Unite on PSP emulator as my first MH game and it was very fun.

[Anonymous No.7167725]

>>7153957
How important is the multiplayer aspect of MH? I gotWorld for dirt cheap but my PC is too shit to run it.

[Anonymous No.7167860]

>>7167725
Important but never necessary. You can do all the content solo. Frankly, playing multiplayer and playing solo do feel like different games sometimes, it can be pretty different.

[Anonymous No.7168041]

>>7167725
It depends on the game.
Old games like MH1/Dos actually gated most of the content behind the multiplayer hub, the single player village could only do so much of the games content (for worse rewards than online)
Games like MHFU had the multiplayer hub available for offline play so you could at least do all the online content yourself if you wish.
I do recommend playing at least 2 players in MH because it’s always more fun with a friend to smash dinos and dragons to shit with oversized weapons.

[Anonymous No.7169268]

Can you still get the DLC for MHFU on psp? ive not touched it on a real psp in forever and i dont think you could download it on ppsspp

[Anonymous No.7169910]

>>7169268
You can definitely find it floating around somewhere online and upload it to your virtual memstick in PPSSPP

[Anonymous No.7170721]

i've always wanted to get into monster hunter but seeing as they seem like billion hour games with a focus on multiplayer i might wait for rise.

[Anonymous No.7171192]

>>7170721
The grind is as long as you make it fren
You can gun your way through key quests with minimal grind only stopping to repeat a few hunts for gear you really want. The real journey is self improvement becoming better and better at fighting these monsters until you have complete system mastery.

[Anonymous No.7173770]

>>7170721
It is kind of endless but you either love it or you don't. If you want to play a game to put it on your "I beat it!" shelf then MH probably isn't for you. If you just want an excuse to fight lots of huge boss monsters as a samurai caveman and carve them up to make weapons to fight even nastier boss monsters then maybe it is.

[Anonymous No.7173772]

>>7153957
Only if you play on the private servers. And even then, why not go for MHG?

[Anonymous No.7173778]

>>7173772
>why not go for MHG

Hipsterism

[Anonymous No.7174258]

>>7170721
>billion

try 1000 hours m8

>mfw dad pushes the wrong button & wipes your save from the PSPGo

feels bad lads

[Anonymous No.7175692]

>>7153957
MH1 is super nostalgic if you played it back then. MH:G with the English patch is probably the superior way to play since it’s G Rank, has bug fixes, and private servers are up for multiplayer even after 16 years.
I still have deep adoration for the first game, even with just low and high rank it was such a magical journey and players spent thousands of hours in Kokoto and Minegarde.
Find the MHG JP w/ ENG patched rom online, it’s not hard
MH Freedom is good but does not retain the original graphics or control scheme. The graphics are almost the same but lower res and lower frame rate. Classic MH in 50/60 FPS is a huge difference to the PSPs 30FPS. MHFU was a bitch to go to after playing so much MH1