Review (2025 December)

Introduction

Monster Hunter 3G (as "MH3G" afterwards) is a hunting action game exclusive on 3DS and Wii U developed by Capcom and released in 2011. It was my first ever Monster Hunter game, as well as my favourite. It was visually different from other games in the series back then, MH3G used cooler tones while others warmer. The 3D function worked fine, but just like other 3DS games, usually it was not used very often.

As there are always heavy debates in this series, it is not easy to conclude whether a Monster Hunter game is universally good or bad. That said, MH3G was a decent pick without major flaws back in that era, receiving mostly positive reviews with minor criticisms.

Thanks to Citra, I moved my old save from 3DS to PC and continued the journey there. Playing on a 3DS with such a small screen was no doubt a unique experience, but it is no match for playing on a PC with an enhanced resolution and a higher frame rate. I did a few extra challenges after travelling back to Moga Village. By the way, Moga Village is still considered as one of the most atmospheric hubs in the whole Monster Hunter series.

Old Story

Introduced by an old classmate, MH3G was my first ever Monster Hunter game. I saw others playing Monster Hunter before that, when I thought it was boring. At that time, I was unfamiliar with action games and hardly played them – a fresh beginning.

Started with the demo for MH3G, which had only 2 quests: an easy one with Lagombi (ウルクスス) and a hard one with Plesioth (ガノトトス). Those challenges may seem childish now – I can clear both with all 12 available weapons in MH3G – but at that time, even Lagombi took me hours to beat. And then I started my journey with MH3G, before even clearing that hard demo quest with Plesioth.

Not knowing about skills or builds, I just made whatever armours had the highest defense – child's play. I cooped often, with the previously mentioned classmate or other players in my hometown, but still spent more time with myself – the lone wolf trait was already there back then. When I got stuck with some quests, I would spend long time thinking about them at school during the week: which skills and weapons are better suited in this case? And fought again with new strategies the next week – becoming stronger every week.

Some elder players in my hometown did insane challenges at that time, something I obviously could not handle then, but heavily desired to attempt in the future – which I not only did eventually, but also got successful.

Difficulty

Comparing to Monster Hunter 2G (which I am not very familiar with) and Monster Hunter 4G (which I also have played a lot), MH3G overall has a much better difficulty design to me –friendly to new hunters while still leaves room for veterans.

• Generation 4's difficulty curve is well-known in the series for being "too much".

• The average level of difficulty between Monster Hunter 2G and MH3G is very similar. While monsters in MH3G overall cause less damage, their movements are smarter.

• The toughest quests in both Monster Hunter 2G and MH3G are challenging, again in a similar way and are designed for veteran hunters. Though being tricky, most of those quests are not specifically designed for coop (like modern ones). They can be disastrous for immature solo hunters at first, but are great challenges as learning opportunities – bulky enough quests to test if you can focus your concentration for the next 30–50 minutes.

Comparing to the Monster Hunter games nowadays, MH3G is probably already becoming something too hard. That said, many old veteran hunters have retired from modern Monster Hunter games because they are way too easy – disappointing!

Balance

Regarding balance in weapons, MH3G is arguably one of the best in the whole series. Though as some weapons are always stronger or more effective against specific monsters – perfect balance just does not exist, MH3G is pretty balanced overall because of the new added ailment called Blast.

Being introduced in MH3G, Blast was so broken that, apart from some special quests, you could braindeadly just pick any Blast weapons, in particular Brachydios ones, or the award-winning Slingshot ;). Forget about which monster you are going to fight (except Brachydios itself) nor hitzones, just keep attacking and spamming Blast ailment. It offered not only ridiculously high extra damage but also more knockdowns for extra attack opportunities.

Though balance in weapons is pretty decent in MH3G, that in element and ailment is definitely terrible, both because of Blast. This broken ailment was reasonably nerfed right after MH3G; it was still usable, but never reached the broken level as it did in MH3G.

Underwater System

The underwater system is very controversial, just like the mounting system in generation 4. The big difference is that, while the mounting system still exists in modern Monster Hunter games, the underwater system has totally disappeared after MH4G – clear to see which one is the long-term winner.

Hunting or fighting underwater is different – perhaps too different – everything becomes weird. A few weapons that are fine and smooth on the ground are pure garbage underwater, where all their advantageous traits have been removed. And others while being a bit slow and silly on the ground, suddenly become god tier underwater! Guess how many hunters start to learn Lance or Gunlance just for those underwater quests?

In short, balance in weapons underwater is absolutely terrible, no joke. If your main weapons cannot perform as expected and you get bashed awfully by those gangsters hiding in the muddy water, switch to something smarter for a while – the key to success when underwater.

Signature Collection

• 黒曜石は砕けない / Jojo Brachydios: All 12 Weapons (More)

• 獄界の門番 / Gokukai Stygian Zinogre: Sword and Shield (More)

• 電撃・ランディープ / Dengeki Ivory Lagiacrus: Sword and Shield (More)

• ケロロ軍曹・侵略作戦 / Gunsou Green Plesioth: Gunlance (More)

• ガノトトス3D / 3D Plesioth: Lance and Gunlance

• 神の再臨 / G Rank Alatreon: Sword and Shield, Long Sword, Gunlance and Slingshot (More)

• 活火激発 / Dire Miralis Plus: Gunlance (More)

• 星天月地 / Lucent Nargacuga Plus: Dual Blades, Switch Axe and Slingshot (More)