| Monster Hunter Tri | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Capcom Production Studio 1 |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Year released | 2009 |
| System(s) | Wii |
| Series | Monster Hunter |
| Genre(s) | Action RPG |
|---|---|
| Modes | Single-player, Co-op, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |     |
Monster Hunter Tri (モンスターハンター3（トライ） Monsutā Hantā Torai?, "Monster Hunter 3 (tri-)" in Japan) is the third console installment in the Monster Hunter franchise, developed by Capcom and released for the Wii in Japan on August 1, 2009. Monster Hunter Tri was released on April 20, 2010 in North America, April 23 in Europe, and April 29 in Australia.
The game was originally planned to be a PlayStation 3 title, but due to high development costs for that console Capcom instead decided to develop it for the Wii. Prior to its debut, a demo of Monster Hunter Tri was included with Japanese copies of Monster Hunter G. A special bundle was also released on August 1 featuring the game packaged with a black Wii console and a Classic Controller Pro. In America and Europe, separate servers are used and Wii Speak is supported, making the first game in the franchise to include native VoIP capability. An enhanced port called Monster Hunter 3 (tri-) G in Japan and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate in other territories was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in December 2011 and in North America and Europe in March 2013.
Gameplay[edit]
Players choose a weapon and complete quests for "The Guild". There are several types of quests, categorised into gathering quests, hunting quests, and capturing quests. Completing specific quests will allow one to embark on an "Urgent Quest" which will allow progression to the next tier of quests, which applies to both offline and online play. Online players receive points and have a Hunter Rank which will increase once a certain number of points have been obtained. After several rank ups, and having a certain criteria of quests completed, a player will unlock the next Urgent Quest. Players will need to gather materials to prepare for hunts which include herbs, mushrooms, bones, hides, horns and seeds to make "potions", various other consumables and new equipment to give one the edge when fighting a formidable foe. Fighting a monster entails first finding the monster then dealing enough damage to either kill it, weaken it to be captured, or cause it to flee (not common, made specifically for certain quests). Players will need to learn the environments and the behaviors of the creatures. Online, many players will work together to try and take the monster or monsters down. Once the player slays a monster they will be able to carve off pieces which can be taken to the Wyverian Artisan (the blacksmith) to create new weapons and armor. Several other materials are used to make weapons and armor as well, including ores and certain bugs. A player can fail a quest several ways, the three most common being dying too many times (most quests allows 3 deaths total), running out of time (standard quest time is 50 min), or killing a monster when the quest goal was specifically to capture. Both online and offline players are given a house which they can decorate with various objects found throughout the game, although online players receive "upgraded" houses when they progress in rank.
Modes[edit]
Offline Specific (Village): The offline plot opens with the player traveling to a small island right after an earthquake has happened. The player meets the village chief and he speculates a large monster is behind the earthquakes and sends you out to develop your skill as a hunter and find the monster behind the quakes. In single player the player has the option to Free Hunt, where they can venture into the Deserted Island map and slay monsters or forage for herbs, mushrooms, honey, seeds or ore. Also while in Town the player will have access to a farm which can be upgraded by providing specific materials. This farm allows Felyne farmhands to produce additional materials that will be helpful to the hunter, in addition to greatly reducing the need to gather items by hand. A traveling item-trading ship, the Argosy, will arrive in the village occasionally to provide several harder to find items, that he will trade to the player for other various items which are items found during free-hunts made with the designed purpose (sometimes) to be traded to this merchant. Also, the player can send boats (which can be upgraded to a maximum level of 3) to find fish, ore/treasure from the ocean, or to occasionally hunt large monsters for various parts.
Online Specific (City): Online gameplay has more quests available than offline. Up to 4 players can meet online in a city and embark on quests together. The quests are scaled up in difficulty to accommodate the increase of hunters. You have to complete each quest to get to higher difficulties. However, rewards are usually better in online play. Players will be able to give materials to a combination specialist for him to fill a jar, after a set amount of quests the player can return to find their items have become a new item. An interior decorating Felyne will also take items and can perform several different methods such as "brainstorming" to make items to decorate your house. Capcom will occasionally post differing "Event Quests" which are quests only available for an allotted amount of time, usually having special conditions, increased difficulty, or rare item rewards which are used to make special weapons or armor pieces. A change from previous Monster Hunter titles is that each tier of quests requires players to be of that tier or higher in order to join the quests. Previously there were only 2-3 lock out points, usually for the Plus and/or G rank quests. Unlike other games on the Wii, Tri uses a more traditional lobby system instead of friend codes or matchmaking for online play. The player chooses a server and room to join to play with other hunters, and can also add friends by simply sending friend requests to people they meet. As a player's Hunter Rank rises new features and items are available in the city for purchase, trade and creation. Once Hunter Rank 31 is achieved, players gain "elite hunter" status can then embark on elite quests (formally known as "plus" or "high rank" quests). These quests are more difficult and provide new "plus"-grade pieces of monsters or other gathered materials to make/upgrade higher grade weapons and armor, identified with a "+" after its name. Nothing changes from regular weapon upgrade to elite weapon upgrading, except for the higher part quality (and sometimes quantity). "Plus"/high grade armor sets have higher defense as well as different and/or better skills, but can sometimes require the occasional low-grade monster parts to make. Since skills between high rank and low rank armors are different, sometimes people opt to upgrade their older pieces of armor to "high grade," allowing them to gain the added bonuses of much higher defense, but retaining the skill set of their previous armor, which can be advantageous for certain styles of play.
The online servers were shut down on April 30, 2013.
Two special bundles of the game were announced. One bundle for North America and Europe includes a black Classic Controller Pro. A European-exclusive bundle includes a Wii Speak device and Classic Controller Pro. GameStop has offered a demo disc of the game free of charge in North America. GAME has officially confirmed a European Monster Hunter Tri: Exclusive Edition bundle containing the game, Wii Speak, a black Classic Controller Pro and one other item which appears to be an ornamental head of the monster which appears on the game's cover art, the Lagiacrus.