Monster Hunter 4G, Another Expansion

The Monster Hunter Series have been widely popular with the Japanese public ever since it burst through the ranks and started a new category of gaming. Going as far as being a PSP seller, literally boosting the purchases of the PSP console. Of course, all this was back in 2005 and since then, the Monster Hunter Series have released almost 20 games and spin offs spanning different consoles. Capcom has always had an extremely bad practice, more so than many of the other Japanese game developer companies, and that is over milking their franchises and doing the bare minimum when it comes to game releases and often times "Expansions" to already released games.

Monster Hunter 4G feels a bit like that. To be extremely honest, the Monster Hunter games has always managed to prolonged it's relevance by releasing a "G" (Japan) or "Ultimate edition" (NA, Euro, etc) often times putting a few additions and charging people the same price as a new game. Unfortunately, it seems that Capcom's financial woes for the past few years have actually affected the amount of content in this most recent expansion. Let's take a look as some of the additions from the game, I will be citing 1 primary source from a Taiwanese gaming website as well as my personal experiences with the game 

For those who wants to know what's new at the release of this game 

http://gnn.gamer.com.tw/9/104639.html

Dondruma after entering the town through the world map selection

New Contents:

New Weapons Skins (as always)

New Town: Dondruma

This hub seems to be the settings to some of the newer content of the game. I have found that the New G Arena can be accessed in this new town. There will be new characters added in this map ie. Singer, a Mononofu with Afro, etc

The arena menu (as of this video I am unable to start this game mode as I am too low HR)

筆頭ハンター仕様 (Lead Hunter Specification) "Pardon my Japanese translation, I can read it well but translating is a chore for me"

With the addition of Guild Quests there is a new addition of 筆頭ハンター仕様, mainly 4 confirmed types (not sure if Capcom added more or will add more)  Lead Gunner, Leader, Lead Lancer, and Lead Novice.

Due to not being anywhere near this content I can only state what I know, These hunters will probably be put into the storyline somewhere down the road so you can interact with them at some point.

Added around 20+ Monsters

Capcom brought back some fan favorite Bosses as well as released some more different variants

The Return of the Desert Map

There was no desert map in Monster Hunter 4, in the expansion this map has returned with a Night and day version. This map will be the arena for some of the higher rank and G class Guild quests.

Added Moves for Weapons

Almost all the weapons have had been tweaked or had 1 new technique added. From my personal experience with the Charge Axe (Sword Shield Hybrid with switching ability to Axe) they added a new technique set which allows the weapon to be buffed by releasing the power in the Shield for a temporary amount of time 

Mononofu or Palicoes Buffed

New skills and higher level can be acquired by your feline pals.

Conclusion

Let's face it, this game is designed with one consumer market in mind. While there are fans in other regions this game really is catered towards the Japanese tastes. Sadly, because of the release of Soul Sacrifice Delta (an expansion of Soul Sacrifice) this year which gave us so much more content as well as a complete makeover of the entire game.  Capcom's efforts in this expansion just felt a bit lacking for a game that sold with such a high price.  1750NT, 5800 Yen around 50+ dollars in US currency. Granted that SSDelta did not have a town system, the amount of content added (Missions, magic powers, story) just felt like there was more weight towards the game than Monster Hunter 4G

A suggestion to those who are interested in this game. In order to have a better, less frustrating experience you will either need to buy an add on pack for the 3ds or the "New" 3ds (seriously? My 3ds LL isn't even a year old and you guys released a new 3ds) for the 2nd analog stick to control the camera. 

This game is Ok, the content felt a bit lacking and the gameplay remained unchanged, I'm sure there will be people willing to shell out the money to buy it and due to the nature of this game, it will provide you with hundreds of hours of gameplay. 

-Thanks for reading and I'll see you all alittle later

RinniePie