Let's Cut Tails and Bash Skulls! Monster Hunter 3 Tri thread

[Regulus Tera]

I better not be the only one picking it up tomorrow.

So I tried the demo and I found the Axe and Shield combo to be very nifty. I still haven't been able to beat Qurupeco, even with it. Fucking Rathian and the time limit mess me up. :( However, the lance is sooooo good. I love how it feels. It's just, right.

I pre-ordered the Wii Speak bundle, so if any of you guys want to listen to my smexy (sore throat) voice I hope we can get online and show our gear.

[Julford Hajime]

I might pick it up this weekend. This being finals week and all, I won't need to be worrying about none of that "School" stuff for a while starting this weekend :D

I didn't realize a "Wii Speak" existed, though. That's what I get for not keeping up to date with modern whatsits.

[phil_]

My copy ships next Monday. Sorry.

[Melfice]

You guys are not allowed to play until the 23rd. That's when it releases in Europe and when I'll get it.
So don't you dare!

[Yumil]

My roommate and I both got it tonight. First thing I did was grind out stuff to make the bone switch axe, hop online and make it.

I'm good to go now:) Roommate is a gunner. Anywho, if anyone is up for online, we both are:)

We also got wii speaks...it's kind of meh. A lot of feedback happens if one has their tv too loud.

[Melfice]

So, I got it today, two days before official release date.
I also got it for 50% off, probably because of some stupidity at the cash register.
I AM NOT COMPLAINING.

[Bells]

It's on it's way here now!!! I was stupid enough to get Sengoku Basara Double Pack first now i have to wait a couple of extra days =/

Already played the Japanese Demo and this game is 100% worth a buy.

[phil_]

So, am I over thinking things by trying to come up with a cool name? Like, should I just name my hunter Phil? Will all the super-pro hunters who've been playing since the first game and can take down elder dragons by kicking them in the shins going to turn their noses up at my lack of imagination? Can I even name my guy Phil, given the online component?

[Yumil]

Yeah, you can name your guy whatever. Each character once you go online has a second independent ID.

BTW, you have to friend people to use wii speak, and to do that you have to send them a message with a friend request. It took my roommate and myself a bit to find that out.

Anywho, Ill be on most of the day tomorrow if anyone wants to quest.

[Regulus Tera]

Weak-arse punk Great Jaggi beat me. :(

[Inbred Chocobo]

I got this bloody thing, got full Jaggi armor and a decent Great Sword. Right now however I lack solid internets at a house so no online play for me (tears! BIG MANLY TEARS!!!) However once I obtain it, you all will know my truly awesome skills!

[PhoenixFlame]

/Regulus

Yeah, MH is pretty harrowing on its learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be tearing up the lesser beasts as secondary objectives. Queropeco's a bit like the Yian Kut-Ku of Tri, so once you get him down, you've earned your stripes. A lot of Quero's moves are recycled in later wyverns in some form or another, particularly Rathian. (Charge, double tail whip, wing leap/hover with windage) Most important thing to remember is to take your time, fights generally won't take all fifty minutes you're given, but until you learn all the monster's tricks, its better to play defensively than rush things.

Just finished my Rathian set and the Wyvern jawblade. I love earplugs.

Edit: Rathalos has fallen. I love this set.

((Oh, a hint for those still struggling with Queropeco. His flaming wing attack, you can roll between his legs as he leaps and he'll miss the entire combo as long as you don't walk into it. Easiest evasion ever.))

[phil_]

IT CAAAAAAAAAAME!

I'm excited.Weak-arse punk Great Jaggi beat me. :(I just beat a Great Jaggi in the arena. Like, a minute ago. I haven't even finished the tutorial quests yet. Sword and shield. That was so much fun.

BUT, I come with questions concerning two-player. Can two different save files on the same game play together in arena, or do they have to be on the same save file, or do they have to be on different save files, or do we have to bring a Wii-mote into the equation, or what?

[PhoenixFlame]

Can two different save files on the same game play together in arena, or do they have to be on the same save file, or do they have to be on different save files, or do we have to bring a Wii-mote into the equation, or what?

IIRC you can store your character on the wiimote (somehow, this is what I heard) and bring it with you to play second for your friend in arena mode. I haven't really messed with it.

As for Great Jaggi, he goes down like a punk most of the time if you know what you're doing, but sometimes when he rages he'll start spamming hipchecks over and over, and those can hurt if you get hit more than once.

[phil_]

Let me put it another way. Mike and I want to play arena together and we have one copy of the game. Do we have to save our guys to the same save file? Do we have to save to different files? Can we do either/does it matter? Should we just experiment and get back to you?

[PhoenixFlame]

I have no idea, sorry. As I said, I haven't really played with Arena mode beyond solo play.

[phil_]

Then experiment we shall.

I'm like this close to bringing the manual to work so that I can alleviate some of my noobish-ness today.

[PhoenixFlame]

TBH watch youtubes of people slaying what you're after. Observation is a great way to learn how to evade and which moves you should exploit/punish.

PS: Oh, but not Kajetkun. Because you don't want to try Gotcha Bitching with the greatsword until you know what you're doing. Trust me.

[Julford Hajime]

I just picked up this game along with Wii Speak and a Classic Controller (I've been wanting one for a while, and this seemed like the perfect excuse). Unfortunately, I finally took the internet-at-large's advice and picked up EBA, and made the foolish mistake of playing that on the walk back to my house.

Maybe I'll open MH3 tonight. Maybe. *Goes back to EBA*

[Yumil]

Im in full Barroth armor and have swapped to longswords(have the lagracius one and the gobul one). Fun stuff. I actually farmed the Barroth armor with the switch axe, but honestly longswords are a little more my style.

Course, now I need another set of armor for the Barioth>.< Darn Barroth armor's ice weakness.

Started doing online quests as well. Almost rank 8, the Barroth is easy for me now so if anyone wants help with him later, Ill be glad to(He's the urgent to unlock 2 star online).

[PhoenixFlame]

Working on the Barioth set myself, Yumil, in Rathian with the Wyvern Jawblade. Nothing has destroyed me quite like this guy has. Good god, he's so fast!

Earplugs help a ton though, and I'm starting to read him. Only the bracers left to go.

[phil_]

Experiment complete.

For those of you worrying about local multiplayer (maybe it was just me), there's no need to fret about where you save your dudes or whatever. Save'em on the same file, save them on different ones; it doesn't matter.

Also, just killed a Qurupeco without finishing the tutorial. The arena is a very nice addition for those who just want to kill big monsters without farming. Now I just need to get around to playing the actual game some more.

[Yumil]

I'm thinking about cutting my wii speak wire and seeing if I can modify it to handle a headset mic>.< Shouldnt be too hard seeing as though it's only an led and a mic at the end.

I'll tell ya'll if anything comes of it.

[Melfice]

I know it's a relatively new addition to the Wii, but wouldn't it be wiser to first find a second-hand set and experiment on that?
You paid good money for that thing, no doubt.

[Yumil]

I know it's a relatively new addition to the Wii, but wouldn't it be wiser to first find a second-hand set and experiment on that?
You paid good money for that thing, no doubt.

Perhaps, but new electronics being new dont always stop me from destroying them. Heh, I killed a portable dvd player that I bought new for it's screen and battery for another project I was working on. Messed up changing the back light for the light box to LEDs and had to scrap the screen(technically it wasnt when I installed the LEDs, it was after as I didn't like the lighting and opened it back up to readjust it).

I might see if I can get one used though since I did just buy this one and I need it for now>.<

[phil_]

I'd play with you guys online, but I'm still running around naked in the woods. Maybe once I've killed that underwater iguana dragon I'll get back to you.

[TheSaylesMan]

I hope you guys are some sort of Monster Hunter prodigies because I got it at launch and just finished the Great Jaggi capture quest. Granted I have to work and all that fun stuff but I've sunk a chunk of time into the game.

Anyway, its my first Monster Hunter game. I'm hoping that's why it took so many tries to capture the Great Jaggi. Seriously, I even went out of my way to make a few decorations that upped my trap-setting-up skill. When I did manage to catch the critter it was partly by accident. I noticed it was doing the drooling thing it does when its on low health, turned and ran to the cave thing that I knew he was going to run into and set up the trap. He stayed right on my tail though. I set up the trap and he immediately stepped on it. Figured I'd chuck the tranq bombs in his face anyway. I was under the impression that the critter could only be caught when it was limping away but that's apparently not the case seeing as I caught him.

I had the full Great Jaggi Blademaster armor. Then I managed to forge the Luddroth pants armor and Rhenoplos waist armor. They both seem to be better than the Great Jaggi stuff I'm wearing but I can't be sure. Are there bonuses for having a full set? Haven't entirely gotten used to how heavily gear based everything is yet. This is all just in the meantime while I farm up the stuff I need for the full set of Rhenoplos stuff as it seems to have lots of fire resistance. I recently learned the Qurupeco spits napalm so that should be useful.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Been slowly pluggin away at this m'self. Cheesed the system a little and made a switch-axe by going to the online city before the offline sequence of the game allows you to make one.

I think my hammer is getting jealous...the switch axe is so damn sexy x.x

Currently just killin great jaggies for supplies, shits, 'n giggles since I've been too busy working to advance much further in the game.

[Yumil]

I hope you guys are some sort of Monster Hunter prodigies because I got it at launch and just finished the Great Jaggi capture quest. Granted I have to work and all that fun stuff but I've sunk a chunk of time into the game.

Anyway, its my first Monster Hunter game. I'm hoping that's why it took so many tries to capture the Great Jaggi. Seriously, I even went out of my way to make a few decorations that upped my trap-setting-up skill. When I did manage to catch the critter it was partly by accident. I noticed it was doing the drooling thing it does when its on low health, turned and ran to the cave thing that I knew he was going to run into and set up the trap. He stayed right on my tail though. I set up the trap and he immediately stepped on it. Figured I'd chuck the tranq bombs in his face anyway. I was under the impression that the critter could only be caught when it was limping away but that's apparently not the case seeing as I caught him.

The limping is a sign that he's low on health and he only does it when he runs away. Anywho, yeah, if you see em limp away it means it's time to trap and tranq.

Really, this is my first monster hunter game, but the whole basis of it is pattern recognition. Best way to fight a monster the first time is be defensive. If you have to just run away for the full 50 minutes and learn how to dodge after watching it's tells. Heck, you can do this game naked.

Armor is pretty much for skills, though resists and defense help if you mess up(aka don't wear armor with negative fire resists against the raths just in case...a roar->fireball while they are enraged is a death sentence with negative fire resist).

Armor skills are a little different in that you have to reach a threshold on their respective stat points to actually get the skill. Like the trap speed one youd need +10 for it to even matter. This also applies to negative skills in that there is a threshold before it becomes active. Like a full set of Barroth armor has critical eye-1 because it has negative expert skill. Throwing an expert gem on it removes that penalty completely.

Also, online as well as offline after you unlock it, always get food buffs. Meat+Dairy = Health and defense buffs, Meat+Meat = Lots of health, Meat+Drink = Health and attack buffs. Fish dont count as meat. Of the felyne skills Black Belt is really good(decreases stamina use while evading and blocking) and so is Defender(random chance of decreasing damage when hit).

Anywho, that's mainly what Ive learned:O

[Regulus Tera]

Okay guys got distracted with Sin and Punishment 2 but I'm gonna try this again. Great Jaggi is going DOWN TONIGHT.

EDIT: What the fuck now they want me to capture one ALIVE? THE HELL

[TheSaylesMan]

Yeah, if you are anything like me than your going to have to do that one a few times over. Its easy enough knowing when the monster is low on health. The problem is heading him off and setting up the trap fast enough. Far as I can tell the limping is only a tell though. It doesn't have to be limping into the trap. They do stand and fight even at low health.

Now I've gotta say, the Qurupeco? Goddamn that thing is annoying. With my sword and shield that's only got the tiniest bit of green on it I can't reliably hit it from anywhere. I need to get right up into its chest and throat sack thing in order to be able to reliably hitting it. Which is a bad place to be. I can run right under its legs when it sparks for the napalm but I can't reliably get out of the way of its spinning attack. I often can't just sit back and watch how it moves either because of the amount of Jaggis in the way just waiting to take a bite. Sure it isn't a ton of damage but it can stun me a bit. And that is bad. I recently just got pecked to death by the thing. I had no idea that if you get hit hard enough you can get stunned. It sucked because I thought I had the critter at low health and had killed the Great Jaggi, turned in the Wyvern Tear and Pitfall trapped it for the sub quests.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Okay guys got distracted with Sin and Punishment 2 but I'm gonna try this again. Great Jaggi is going DOWN TONIGHT.

EDIT: What the fuck now they want me to capture one ALIVE? THE HELL

Easy enough, really. I had the same reaction at first. Beat it down to where it limps off to another screen and then slap it a couple times. Run to the other end of the new zone to give you some trap prep time. Then let the thing charge you....and fall into the trap. Slap a few tranq bombs at it, ???, profit.

Trying to set up a trap while it is limping away to another map section just sets one up for extra unnecessary frustration. They don't regen very much stamina unless you let them sleep it off or eat too much food or whatever they do to stam-regen. The trick is to watch for when the monster drools. Drooling monster = tired monster = easy to trap monster.

<3 the pit trap.

[PhoenixFlame]

(aka don't wear armor with negative fire resists against the raths just in case...a roar->fireball while they are enraged is a death sentence with negative fire resist).

While quite correct, the more "AAAGH!" Rath trick is the poison tailwhip -> hover, diving pounce, bite, poison tailwhip AGAIN combo that will kill you from full with virtually no chance to break out. If she takes two steps back, you'd better *#!(ing DODGE! NOW! And the slightly less predictable stunning poison talon/hovering triple fireball Rathalos trick.

As for trapping, the Bone set will (allegedly) que you when a monster is ready to be trapped (Capture Guru skill) but I honestly haven't used it. Drooling is an indication of low stamina, as is being winded/resting in combat, firing a breath attack and being embarassed by not having any breath to attack with, depleted sponge mane... Usually, this is a sign you can get them with a meat trap (raw meat, tinged meat, drugged meat whatever) for a free hit.

Limping, and low HP, is the trappable hint. A monster is actually trappable before it limps, but it's a shot in the dark if it'll work or not. Usually if you've managed to break all a monster's breakable parts, and they're not limping, they're still badly, badly injured. Usually I wait for a monster to start limping, let it flee to the next area (it's usually lost interest by then) and then set the trap unmolested and lure it into it while it's eating/sleeping/looking around like a paranoid wounded animal.

Panelling over to pane three of your status window will display your active skills and current skillpoints. Usually, decorations are there to increase skills you have or mitigate penalties, since you need 10 in most cases to get anything to work, single boosts of +1 or +2 aren't going to get you a skill alone, unless it's aided by a particularly powerful talisman. Early on I feel the Queropeco armor is probably best, as it gives you recovery plus to boost the healing rate of your items, evasion +1, and ever-useful fire resistance. Also, it looks fabulous.

Speaking of Queropeco, he's got quite a few heavily punishable moves. His breath attack always targets right to left, which is your left to right. So if he's about to spit acid at you, roll right. It'll miss every time. The charge and peck is something you'll need to get the feel for, and is a very rewarding exercise to do, as most all of the monsters in the game will charge. At first, a good rule of thumb is simply not to stand in front of him. Later, you'll learn when it's safe to do so, and when it's time to run away. Any dances/songs are extremely punishable, and should be exploited, but remember to roll out/evade after you finish, because it'll probably be followed up by a charge. The tail whip is something that is hard to predict, but if your weapon has a moveset that keeps your body low to the ground (like the greatsword radial slash/backswing/radial slash/backswing infinate combo) it can miss you entirely while you cut away at the wyvern's legs.

Keep it up! Persistance is the key to victory.

Edit: Oh, a word on Rages. That "Don't stand in front of him" bit may suddenly become twice as hard to do. It's a good rule of thumb to not attack during a rage if you're not confident about it. This isn't FFXII, he'll eventually get tired and stop 'pissy boss mode'

Edit2: Don't be afraid to let the monster go to sleep. They don't regen much at all, and they take 3x as much damage on the wakeup hit. If you're using a GS like I do, you can deliver many a deathblow with the "WAKEUP CALL!" level 3 charged slash to the head. So satisfying.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Just thought I'd put this out there in addition to Phoenix' useful Queropeco strat: when it starts hootin for help chuck a sonic bomb at it. Shuts the damn thing up and keeps the fight relatively easy.

So stock up on those Screamers from great jaggi!

[Yumil]

Just thought I'd put this out there in addition to Phoenix' useful Queropeco strat: when it starts hootin for help chuck a sonic bomb at it. Shuts the damn thing up and keeps the fight relatively easy.

So stock up on those Screamers from great jaggi!

Personally I save the sonic bombs for his heal dance(He'll puff up his chest and strike his flint a few times before doing his call). I carry a couple dung bombs in case of large monsters being called(honestly havent needed more than two). That heal dance pisses me off so much as when he starts getting low on health he'll use it any chance he has. Sure you can attack his puffed up chest sack and hope that you stop him, but he still gets it off more often than not when I do that(as he usually does it when he has some distance on you). The calling can be stopped the same way, but he's a lot less careful about that.

[PhoenixFlame]

I save the greatsword level three charge shot for his heal dance. Alternatively, if you have a good green lance, this is a time to do giga drill breaker, and just charge in place between his legs for massive damage.

That shuts him up with style, and if you do it right you get the effect of his dance instead.

PS: The Dung bomb's most epic and life-saving use is to get Rathian/los off of you when they pounce you. You'll know what I mean when it happens to you and you don't have one. You'll probably want to save the sonics for more important enemies, like Lagiacrus and Diablos.

[Yumil]

I save the greatsword level three charge shot for his heal dance. Alternatively, if you have a good green lance, this is a time to do giga drill breaker, and just charge in place between his legs for massive damage.

That shuts him up with style, and if you do it right you get the effect of his dance instead.

PS: The Dung bomb's most epic and life-saving use is to get Rathian/los off of you when they pounce you. You'll know what I mean when it happens to you and you don't have one. You'll probably want to save the sonics for more important enemies, like Lagiacrus and Diablos.

I dont fight the big bird anymore. I just hate him, not that he's hard, just annoying, he can die in a fire.

[phil_]

Alternatively, if you have a good green lance, this is a time to do giga drill breaker, and just charge in place between his legs for massive damage.I have a lance with a sliver of green and I failed my first quest today (the quest being "Kill that stupid bird."). Could you expand on this, as I'd like to do it. Do you mean the block+a move?

[Yumil]

I have a lance with a sliver of green and I failed my first quest today (the quest being "Kill that stupid bird."). Could you expand on this, as I'd like to do it. Do you mean the block+a move?

He's talking about the + move(if you are using classic controler style 1). It's the one where you put your lance out and start dashing.

[phil_]

He's talking about the + move(if you are using classic controler style 1). It's the one where you put your lance out and start dashing.Oh, I can actually do that. Chaining a counter strike from the forward dash is something I still can't pull off. I watched some guy on youtube do so for ten minutes, so I know it's both possible and powerful, I just have no clue what I'm doing wrong.

But, yeah, Choo-choo train is what made me decide to keep up with lances.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

So, bagged my first Barroth. Took four times to get it right x.x Ludroth sword 'n shield makes for a steady whittlin' away, if you're not going for tail or crest destroying that is..which at this point unless you really know what the hell you're doing then carves are your last priority against this guy. A ludroth lance'll work fine too. Anything with water damage, really.

Protip: Stay to the right side of him(his left) when he charges. Always swings his tail to his left side when the charge ends. This will save you lots of unnecessary damage taken. When he swings his regular tail swipe he does it twice in a row so be ready to jump in and hack away for a few sweet seconds before gettin out again.

He has few openings that you really have to exploit otherwise it is a goddamn dodgefest. Very useful. If you can keep him away from the mudhole then that is all the better. Mud increases his armor a little bit and that is just more damage you have to break through.

Cha-cha: i personally had him on fluffy mask so he could focus on buffing/healing me. If you want an offense cha-cha then make sure he learns the stun attack. I've read good things 'bout cha-cha stun.

SO, if you want to save yourself some frustration have a decent range armor and water element (preferably rapid fire too) gun action going on. Preferably ludroth. While shots do less damage per hit they can't bounce off. Also traps. I didn't use traps because I wanted to get more of a feel for his patterns. Pitfall and hack away if you do. Be sure to carry the supplies with you so you can make 'em on the fly if necessary.

Long story short: Barroth is where you're gonna start gettin your shit pushed in royally from now on if you aren't careful. Great Jaggi, Royal Ludroth, Discobird..they're all pushovers compared to this guy. But goddamn it is so satisfying when you land that killing blow.

[PhoenixFlame]

Oh, I can actually do that. Chaining a counter strike from the forward dash is something I still can't pull off.

I admit I have *absolutely* no idea what the counter-thrust is supposed to do, or when to use it. It's a new move in Tri though, and I already know that lance is powerful enough without having to master that. My main reason for using lances is for underwater combat however, where they are much faster and the lack of sideroll dodging isn't a downside.

I'm still trying to master lolhopping with my barioth set, where you use the evasion bonus's increase to invuln time to clip through attacks. Backhopping through a tailwhip both looks, and *is* ridiculous, but fun.

Barroth's the first 'newbie wall' as it is, he's not terribly difficult to kill once you get your act together, but he's very good at punishing mistakes, particularly when he's raging. Foremost you have to concentrate on not getting hit by his charge, because as long as you do that, you can still fight back. The charge attack has the later-seen "Two hits is death" stun effect that later mobs like to do a lot of (Barioth, I'm looking at you). I find GS (naturally, heh) to be easiest on him mainly because his tail is so annoying, and greatswords excel at severing limbs. Also, because Barroth moves around a lot, you don't get many large openings so spamming unsheathe attacks and practicing "Greatsword Iaijutsu" is quite effective.

The longsword works similarly, if you can stomach not getting any chances to spirit-spin, and the lack of panic blocks.

[Yumil]

I admit I have *absolutely* no idea what the counter-thrust is supposed to do, or when to use it. It's a new move in Tri though, and I already know that lance is powerful enough without having to master that. My main reason for using lances is for underwater combat however, where they are much faster and the lack of sideroll dodging isn't a downside.

This video is practical linked all the time to show off the lance. He uses counter effectively. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FV6hvORAcA)

[PhoenixFlame]

Ahah, so it's a block-and-counter. I figured as much, but my initial attempts to determine that were less than successful.

Edit: My god, that man must be Leonidas.

[phil_]

Yes, that guy's who I'm trying to emulate. You see how he constantly does the forward hop straight into an upward strike? How the heck do you do that?

[Aerozord]

ok I hear this game is awesome but I have a question about it. Does it have "sitting next to you co-op". meaning can I play with my buddy split screen

[Yumil]

ok I hear this game is awesome but I have a question about it. Does it have "sitting next to you co-op". meaning can I play with my buddy split screen
Only in the arena.

[Grand Master Kickface]

I got it and am slowly working my way through it. I'm trying out all the different weapons at the beginning, and out of all the blade weapons I think I like the lance best. The bowgun sounds interesting, but I don't want to spend the funds and effort to obtain supplies just to try it out this early in the game. I attempted the arena mode and swiftly got my ass handed to me by that freakin' Cucoopeco or whatever the hell its name is. That doesn't exactly instill me with a lot of confidence for the main game.

[PhoenixFlame]

Yes, that guy's who I'm trying to emulate. You see how he constantly does the forward hop straight into an upward strike? How the heck do you do that?

You can forward hop with a lance? ^^;

I know you can do this with the side hops, and hopping to cancel your recovery animation is always better than waiting. Played with counterthrusting yesterday, and managed to kill a bunch of stuff with it. (Particularly underwater) It's fun, but I still can't give up my blades.

[phil_]

Hold block, start moving, then press forward stab (R+stick+x) to hop forward. Press forward stab again to shield bash. If you want to knock out kelbi using this bash, make sure you get the bashing animation going before your forward hop makes contact with the goat.

I can't say whether the forward hop is as useful as the backward hop for avoiding stuff, but then I'm not very good with avoiding stuff using the normal hop.

Also, the weekend sucks, since I have to be awake from morning to night but I can't play MH because of work. Stupid job...

[PhoenixFlame]

Oh right, the shield advance. It's kinda slow, though, so I tend to do the traditional "Turn around, backhop", which looks ridiculous but gets you there faster.

So far as I can tell, you can only combo out of the shield bash, though.

Edit: Guildmaster wants me to kill Jhen Moran. Ow.

[Grimpond]

Whoo!

Finally picked this up a on...Saturday, after a week of trying to get the single copy our video store has.

So far I have yet to regret it.

I'm pretty clumsy with the two-handers, and my skillz wiht sword n' board aren't too great either. But the Lance is pretty pimp, as it's fairly straight-forward to manipulate.

I've only got about 5-6 hours total PT so far, since I play it when I hit the treadmill each day. oh god, when the Llian...langi...lagi...the huge sea-monster-bitch, surprised me on the "Guts: It's what's for Dinner." quest.

edit: and then it KEPT REAPPEARING whargglrblrggrlbrgglr

[PhoenixFlame]

I'm taking a huge liking to the sword and shield lately. It's so fast, it's suprisingly mobile, has a good guard and piles on the elemental damage. I suppose it doesn't hurt that I have Eternal Strife, one of the artifact SnS's.

I think above all it just has a lot of solid weapons for every element.

[lazy man]

Ok, so I've been playing for a good week now (with classes, mind), and all I have to say is this:

Holy crap. Holy CRAP. And here I thought I could play this game responsibly... Guess it's because I never played a game in the series before.

Anyway, I currently have a jumble of different armors (About half Lagiacrus and half Rathian, with Barroth greaves for some reason) with a Wyvern Jawblade. Doing the capture quest for a Lagiacrus was soooooo easy with that sword, I swear. Probably just because I didn't have to sharpen it at all.

And (obviously) I like Great Swords a lot, but I really like Long Swords a lot too. I wanna get a handle on Switch Axes and Lances as well, but for now I think I'll just progress through single player and get more loot to figure out what weapons I should make. And next I've got a Rathalos, Barioth and Diablos to kill. Fuuuuun stuff.

Well, that and trying to get a damn Rusted weapon, possibly. Stupid Rustshards.

[Julford Hajime]

Man, you guys and your spears and swords/shields. Real men shout "HAMMER!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwKf-9V-NOA) while hammering things into the ground.

That said, I'm definitely a hammer/club/whatevertheywerecalled man, m'self. Too bad I suck at the game and don't have the Wii with me at the moment so I can get better >.>

[phil_]

I have no time to play. I got my first time over today. It was Royal Ludroth. That's how far I am. I am ashamed of my failure to lance him to death. I'll probably SnS him to death tomorrow. Sword and Shield is my go to "I can't beat this" weapon right now. I guess I'm a scrub or something.

Maybe I should spend less time fishing. I have no idea how the internet had such a hard time catching Goldenfish. I can catch enough with worms in five minutes.

Edit: Hey, anyone know how I can get some Pale Extract without killing Gigginox? Or, more directly, get some Mega Demondrug? I want a fire sword to show Royal Ludroth who's boss.

[PhoenixFlame]

And next I've got a Rathalos, Barioth and Diablos to kill. Fuuuuun stuff.

Barioth will teach you everything you ever needed to know about using the greatsword's guard functionality. Painfully, but he is a good teacher. I'd still bring the anti-stun gear, though.

Phil: Taking a lot of liking to the SnS myself, mainly for the faster opponents. It's definately much more powerful with later-game elemental weapons, and certainly isn't scrubbish. (That's the longsword. ;3) A lot of good spastic dodging and jumpslashing requires quick reflexes, but its one of the few weapons that lets you easily stay close to something while you're weaving between its legs. You have to kill Gigginox for pale extract though, but it's also one of his shiny drops.

In other news, killed Jhen Moran. Not repelled, killed. I feel perhaps too proud of this fact. Lots of ballista spam, frantically setting charges beneath land-godzilla, and chants of "Ohm, Shai-Hulud." between yells of "Stop breaking my ship!" Edit: It is incredibly comical to panic dive while he bodyslams you, and then clip inside/beneath him while taking no damage.

Very close to finishing the Agnaktor set, which is amusing because I find him suprisingly easy compared to volcano's other denizen, Uragaan, whom is ridiculously difficult for me. I suppose it's because he shares so many Lagiacrus-on-land moves.

[phil_]

Qurupeco can die in a fire. I swear for lord, I can kill that punk without taking any damage, but capturing him... oh my god. Where's he even hiding for the first five minutes? God, I hate that stupid, ridiculous-looking bird. Rathian isn't even helping you, you overgrown parakeet. Quit summoning him to jump on my shock traps. I can't even break your wings; the dang dragon does it for me. Just fight fair and let me capture your stupid chicken-butt.

And Royal Ludroth, that coward. Quit running away and let me kill you. Do you have any idea how humiliating getting a time out is when I've had you limping for twenty minutes? Of course you don't; you don't even know how to read, you stupid animal.

But, yeah, Sword and Shield is so awesome, even if it can't cut tail or bash skulls. I have no idea how I'll kill Rathian with one, though. He's really big.

Edit: Oh, and good job killing giant sand wurm. That's really cool. Did you use those weak points on his spikes?

Edit again: Oh, wait, I mentioned my beef with R. Lodroth in my last post. I haven't tried sword 'n board with him yet. I'll do it tomorrow. It can't go worse than my lancing; I suck with lance.

[Yumil]

Longsword isn't scrub itself, just most people just use it incorrectly online.

Most people I've seen, besides myself, play this way:
1. Attack till your meter is full.
2. Press R till you can't press R anymore.
3. Press X to unsheathe weapon.
4. Go back to 2 if your gauge is still full, else 1.

This is wrong and will piss off everyone in your group...and isn't even an extremely effective way to play with it. The last of the spirit strikes is an extremely wide swing that will hit everyone else targetting the monster you are. Unless you are in a party with only gunners, this is stupid.

Anywho, you have to be calculating with the longsword...no you aren't Sephiroth with it, just like you aren't Cloud with the greatsword. Here's some tips for the scrubs.

Your bread and butter will be X,X,A repeat. Know your openings as with any weapon to use it effectively. Learn how many hit's you can do in each window and stick with it. You need this to up your gauge and you'll start every fight with it.

X+A is an extremely useful move. It acts as both a hit and a dodge, so use it accordingly. Depending on the monster, I typically end my X,X,A spam with this right when the window closes. It gives you that little extra safe time.

When your spirit gauge fills, you now need to find time to get your attack buffs. This is going to be hard due to your party being in the way and the only way to get the buff is to land the last hit on the spirit combo. Thankfully, you'll only need to land it twice in any fight. DO NOT GET THE RED BUFF(it goes white, yellow, red). Yes, the red buff is useful, but it is temporary, if you stop on yellow, it will stay until you let your meter run's out. You won't get too much of a chance to do it safely, so it's best to stay at yellow.

How to get it without interrupting team members. You really have three options.
1. Inform your team that you are about to do it and tell them to watch out. This will annoy them as theyll have to get away and you screw up their awesomeness, but it's better than hitting them and getting them killed.
2. Hit a minion monster with it.
3. Snipe it. As in do it in the air a good distance away and just barely hit the boss with it. This is the method you'll do quite a bit, so I suggest practicing your spacing and seeing exactly how far away that last hit takes you.

Now, you that you have your yellow buff, your bread and butter shall change. It is now your spirit combo(R repeatedly), but do not ever do the last hit of the combo again. Roll after you do that last downward slash right before the extremely wide horizontal slash, as it has quite a horrible recovery. If you have a bit more time, throw in an X or 2, such as R,X,R,X,R->roll. It'll increase your damage output quite a bit. X+A can also be worked in, but near the end of the spirit combo it wont let you do it anymore, so be careful.

If you follow those steps and learn the spacing of your moves, you should not interrupt anyone and your damage output will be through the roof and no one will ever accuse you of being a scrub. Now ya just gotta watch out for up swinging Switch Axe people:)

[PhoenixFlame]

Qurupeco can die in a fire. I swear for lord, I can kill that punk without taking any damage, but capturing him... oh my god. Where's he even hiding for the first five minutes? God, I hate that stupid, ridiculous-looking bird. Rathian isn't even helping you, you overgrown parakeet. Quit summoning him to jump on my shock traps. I can't even break your wings; the dang dragon does it for me. Just fight fair and let me capture your stupid chicken-butt.

But, yeah, Sword and Shield is so awesome, even if it can't cut tail or bash skulls. I have no idea how I'll kill Rathian with one, though. He's really big.

Edit: Oh, and good job killing giant sand wurm. That's really cool. Did you use those weak points on his spikes?

Heh. I fought a high rank Qurupeco today, and I was doing just as you are mentioning, killing him slowly while taking no damage with my trusty Ravager+. Then he summons Deviljho, causing me to shit a brick and repeatedly say "No way! What the hell?" Deviljho proceeds to one-shot kill me with his breath attack (it's a panning beam, dragon aspect and I was wearing Rathalos. Rathalos has -40 dragon resistance. PAIN.) Anyway, I eventually killed Peco, but by avoiding Evilll Joeee.

Actually you can cut tails and bash skulls with the sword and shield, it just takes a bit more work. Your leaping slash will reach the tail normally, and if you cut near the nub, you can hit it with the uppercut strikes. Also, look for any opening where the tail is close to the ground (IE: After Rathian's backflip) to normal combo it. I've been perfecting a little neat, but perhaps questionably powerful trick called "Bariothing", which I do by wearing my Barioth armor and emulating the Tigrex-wannabe's wild jumping attacks by doing the jump slash, immediately rolling, doing the uppercut slash, and then resheathing. It's only two hits, and it carries you absurdly far, but with evasion +2 a good half of this time is invincible frames, and you can do it in mid-run without really breaking stride from a sheathed position.

As for Jhen, yes, we did. The hardest part of the Jhen Moran fight is keeping it from destroying the ship, so you have to be aces with the timing on the Dragonator, Gong, and Ballista Binder so you can interrupt a lot of attacks.

[Yumil]

Heh. I fought a high rank Qurupeco today, and I was doing just as you are mentioning, killing him slowly while taking no damage with my trusty Ravager+. Then he summons Deviljho, causing me to shit a brick and repeatedly say "No way! What the hell?" Deviljho proceeds to one-shot kill me with his breath attack (it's a panning beam, dragon aspect and I was wearing Rathalos. Rathalos has -40 dragon resistance. PAIN.) Anyway, I eventually killed Peco, but by avoiding Evilll Joeee.

Actually you can cut tails and bash skulls with the sword and shield, it just takes a bit more work. Your leaping slash will reach the tail normally, and if you cut near the nub, you can hit it with the uppercut strikes. Also, look for any opening where the tail is close to the ground (IE: After Rathian's backflip) to normal combo it. I've been perfecting a little neat, but perhaps questionably powerful trick called "Bariothing", which I do by wearing my Barioth armor and emulating the Tigrex-wannabe's wild jumping attacks by doing the jump slash, immediately rolling, doing the uppercut slash, and then resheathing. It's only two hits, and it carries you absurdly far, but with evasion +2 a good half of this time is invincible frames, and you can do it in mid-run without really breaking stride from a sheathed position.

As for Jhen, yes, we did. The hardest part of the Jhen Moran fight is keeping it from destroying the ship, so you have to be aces with the timing on the Dragonator, Gong, and Ballista Binder so you can interrupt a lot of attacks.
I can barely get my roommate on and I hate playing multiplayer with people I dont know so I'm still at 3 stars online>.< HR isnt that hard to grind, get Felyne Exchanger and do a quest where you kill lots of easy monsters(The four great Jaggi event quest did nicely since it's like 2000 HR points to kill all 4 Jaggis and the Qurupeco).

I might try the event Jhen Mohran with my roommate(we'll probably lose since it'll just be the two of us, but it's worth a try).

[PhoenixFlame]

Don't do the event, it's damage based. It's possible to do the actual quest with two people, but you won't be able to kill it. I managed to successfully repel Jhen with a friend after our two PUGmates disconnected, using everything in my power to stop him from hitting the ship.

As long as you intelligently use the dragonator, it should be possible to do enough damage provided you survive the full 30 minutes.

[lazy man]

So I just managed to kill a Rathalos today. And if what I'm hearing from PF about a Barioth is true, I'm screwed. Rathalos took me 3 tries, 2 of those times I had to end via subquest (Gotta love a great sword's limb chopping!) just because I was running out of time. Course now I could probably kill it a lot easier, but the fact remains that it was a lot more challenging than I thought. Damn thing never stayed on the ground long enough for me to get a good charge going!

So yeah, I may just go for Diablos first and maybe attempt to upgrade my sword (that possible in single player?) before I go up against Barioth.

More on that later, I've gotta get back to killin' things.

EDIT: HA! Eat Jawblade Barioth! Yeah, killed it, and damn am I happy. And you were right PF, blocking saved my ass. Although I probably would've killed it faster if I hadn't gotten a phone call while it was charging me...

Although my usual strategy of running like a bitch while I looked for openings was pretty damn good against him once I figured his patterns out. He always pauses after his 3x claw swing, which gave me time to run up for a level 2 charge usually. That made things a lot easier, for sure. Still took a Max and Ancient potion, along with a couple Megas, though... And I probably had about 20 seconds left to kill it.

So in conclusion: Great Swords are definitely NOT the best against the Barioth. GAH.

[Yumil]

So, I ended up doing the event Jhen Morhan since I have yet to get the normal one due to lack of online play. He's not hard at all to repel with two people, we usually repeled him right at the 20 minute mark. Gong and binder were paramount to us succeeding.

Anywho, on our third repel(I wanted the quan dao, so I was breaking his fangs), a freaking Earth Dragongem was in the quest rewards. I thought that was a carve only type thing... Oh well, now I have my Jhen chest, but man was I surprised, the wiki says it cant be a quest reward, maybe it's just for the event>.<

[PhoenixFlame]

So in conclusion: Great Swords are definitely NOT the best against the Barioth. GAH.

Blocking sensei! It's tempting to dodge with the GS when you don't need to, or can't actually do it, because of the sharpness loss. However sometimes it's best to just deflect, ride the recoil, and counterattack before bugging out.

Sword and shield. Particularly Djinn, and use his own spastic jackrabbit jumping slashes back at him. If you jumpslash into his shoulder and take a few hacks at his wing, then roll forward to continue your combo, you should go under his wing and his attack will miss you entirely, while you continue to savage his tail and rear leg. For added awesomeness, this works on Gigginox too.

Edit: Well, congrats Yumil. I got my Earth dragongem yesterday too from a quest reward (but we killed it), and I really like the Hinata set. Fastcharge and recovery speed are great abilities for a greatsword user, letting me pull off charges when I normally couldn't, and basically take half damage from attacks as long as I don't get cornered.

I guess my trouble with the event was because we were still learning what the heck the dragonship weapons actually did. I normally just do the actual quest now.

[lazy man]

Blocking sensei! It's tempting to dodge with the GS when you don't need to, or can't actually do it, because of the sharpness loss. However sometimes it's best to just deflect, ride the recoil, and counterattack before bugging out.

Yeah, it's tough getting out of "DODGE!" mindset. I was eventually just standing there blocking when I realized he was doing a claw swipe in my direction. Those swipes are SO WIDE. GRRRRR.

But now that I've actually killed one I don't think I'll be having as much trouble since I can slowly get its gear set. Actually having Ice resistance might be helpful (-5 from Lagiacrus armor definitely wasn't exactly helping >_>).

And now to kill a Diablos. Wooo!

[PhoenixFlame]

Barioth's set is great for fighting barioth, but the ice resistance has nothing to do with it. Evasion +2 lets you get away with using a weapon that doesn't have a block function. So far as I'm concerned, I refuse to fight Barioth with a Slash axe, longsword, or hammer unless I'm wearing his set.

I wouldn't fight him with a bowgun anyway. That's like trying to use a bowgun underwater.

Diablos is a fun one, if you consider Dwarf Fortress to be fun. Where Barioth taught blocking, Diablos'll make you master the panic dive. Panic like you mean it!

[lazy man]

Panic dive, yay!

And I have managed to fight Diablos once before I went home for the weekend, but I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out the timing to sonic bomb him. It was a lot easier than I initially thought, because I had it WAY off at first. Dunno why...

But anyway, I can't wait to fight him again. It was a lot of fun chipping away at his health once I figured out his charging patterns for the most part. And now that I know how to sonic bomb him properly, I can get a helluva lot more damage on him.

And after that... Well, I don't know really. Gotta progress with single player more and fight me an elder dragon!

[PhoenixFlame]

Amusingly I find the easiest place to attack Diablos is between its legs. A lot of his wild swinging attacks hit everywhere around him BUT between his legs, and I'm pretty sure he can't hit you with his charge there either. Yes, you'll get trampled and hit with pinkie toes a lot, but it's a sight better than getting taught how to fly, and you can do some damage to boot. His hipcheck detection is a bit wonky though (this is nothing new, PLESIOTHHHHHHH!!!!!) so prepare for that.

It's also fun to panic dive away from him as he's charging at you, and do some ridiculous invincible diablos bodysurfing and land within striking distance. Oh, and remember the sonic bomb timing (complete submerge, but don't wait any longer.), Agnaktor is just as bad about this.

[phil_]

Hey, guys, I need some advice concerning underwater fighting. Do you have any? 'Cause I'm fighting Gobul and not sure how I can improve my fighting tactics such that I can actually hit him when he's underwater without getting my butt NEEDLE FILPped every few seconds. I mean, I've got his number on land, I know how to fight there, but underwater... I just can't figure out a smart way to fight. For now, I'm hovering around his face and wailing on him when he's in his recharge frames then getting out of there, but I keep missing tells due to the swimming and camera controls being the same.

[Yumil]

Hey, guys, I need some advice concerning underwater fighting. Do you have any? 'Cause I'm fighting Gobul and not sure how I can improve my fighting tactics such that I can actually hit him when he's underwater without getting my butt NEEDLE FILPped every few seconds. I mean, I've got his number on land, I know how to fight there, but underwater... I just can't figure out a smart way to fight. For now, I'm hovering around his face and wailing on him when he's in his recharge frames then getting out of there, but I keep missing tells due to the swimming and camera controls being the same.

Keep the camera on him 100% of the time, if you do that, you can always swim toward him when you need to and and keep an eye on tells. Unless you have Olympic Swimmer or at least Evade +1, you are going to want to sheath your weapon constantly. I suggest you just go and learn his pattern and learn his windows first, that way you can learn how many hits you can get in after each attack.

Anywho, always fish him out. Starting the fight on land makes everything easier.

There is kind of a cheap way to kill him. Get good at being able to find where he is underground. If you attack him a few times before he notices you, he'll be pulled out of underground and be on his back for a few seconds letting you get a few more hits. If you leave the area and let him calm down, he'll go back underground. So you can repeat this over and over till he dies. It's kind of lame, but it works. I suggest you learn how to fight underwater as the Lagracius doesn't have any trick like that and he's a major water enemy coming up.

[PhoenixFlame]

I, on the other hand, cheese Gobul in an entirely different method. I don't really like fighting underwater, and since you can't panic dive or effectively dodge underwater, I don't like to use any weapon without a block function. Of these, the SnS seems to lose half of its attacks, and the Greatsword feels more cumbersome (if that were even possible) since you can't hit the ground. It does have huge swing arcs then, though. This leaves Lance, and who cares if you can't dodge when you're lance, it's a goddamn lance! Lance is also possibly the only weapon that is faster underwater than on land.

I never fish Gobul out, because you can carve him while he's hiding, and get pieces off him. Yes, it's stupid, and he will ambush you, but you can always taunt him with "Got ur whiskers!" afterward. I tend to keep the camera on him and stay beneath him, counterthrusting whenever he spins or swims away to 'Rush', since he really doesn't charge. Underwater enemies seem to have difficulty navigating the Z-axis, compared to a level plane.

For Gobul especially, and Lagiacrus too, I like to get "Stick ins" with the lance, where I wedge it between the ground and Gobul's belly (or in Lagi's armpit) and rack up about thirteen attacks with an elemental lance, and repeat. It's inefficient, but effective, and it is reminicent of using a Lance in dwarf fortress.

I can see it now, "You twist the embedded agnaktor firelance in the Lagiacrus' left foreleg!"

Edit: Soloed Blood Sport. LOL god this is chaos.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

I have found a damn effective way to cheese capturing the Lagiacrus: Baggi set with Perception decorations. It makes the monster map mark flash white when capture time is ready. Saves a lot of frustration and resources.

As for underwater fighting: yes the lance is the undisputed king of the underwater weapon territory. Sure you're pretty much screwed out of choppin off Lag's tail..but such is the price for a more manageable fight.

[TheSaylesMan]

Alright, I went and massacred a bunch of Rathians lately but I still haven't gotten any of those Wyvern Claws I need. What the hell? The sheer amount of them makes me think that they are easier to obtain but I haven't seen one. Hell, I got the Rathian Plate my first try and as I understand it that's an incredibly rare drop.

Am I just looking in the wrong place? What drops Wyvern Claws?

[PhoenixFlame]

Am I just looking in the wrong place? What drops Wyvern Claws?

High rank wyverns of all colors, but you probably don't want to wait that long to get them. Alternatively, Argosy captain's wyverian hub trades, you can get them in bulk this way easily.

In other news.

Alatreon has fallen. None can stand before me.