Friday, August 14, 2009

Finally Reach HR9 in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

After 35 hours of gameplay in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, I’m now at HR9 (solo). This is not an easy task, but at last I have accomplished it. If you want to know about the key quests to advance from HR7-HR9, you can refer to my HR Guide here. However getting to HR9 is not a major accomplishment as long as I haven’t hunted all the monsters in the HR9. Monsters like Rajang, Gravios, Diablos, Elder Dragons and Fatalis will be next in my list. All these monsters will get my end game weapons.

Surprisingly I’m still wearing my Monster Hunter Freedom 2 Akantor armor which only gives me 501 defense. This is a weak armor in standard of G-level quest. Armor like Kut-Ku Mail X with fully upgraded will have better defense than Akantor Armor. The reason I’m still using it is due to it’s skills. Artisan, Expert and Earplug are just too good. This is just to prove that you can still wear your Monster Hunter Freedom 2 armor for reaching HR9. I’m planning to get Rathalos Soul Z armor but I’m still haven’t get one of a material which is HvnlyRathalosScl. This material is equivalent to Rathalos Ruby but for G-level quest. HvnlyRathalosScl is extremely hard to get with 2-4% drop rate.

To get to HR9, you need to have the strongest weapon available at your level. I’m a Hammer hunter, therefore the strongest weapon available at this time Juggernaut. It’s extremely powerful raw damage hammer and easy to made. You can refer to my guide on how to create Juggernaut. Get this hammer easy in the game to make your hunting easier (if you are hammer hunter).

Hope this will provide motivation for you to solo and reach HR9 soon. Happy hunting.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite HR Guide

HR means Hunter Rank. HR Quest is initiated from Gathering Hall. You can start the quest either offline or online. In online mode, up to 4 players can take the quest. You need to level up your HR in order to fight stronger monster. Stronger monster provide materials needed to make end game weapon and armor. In Monster Hunter Freedom 2, highest HR is HR6 while in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, highest HR is HR9.

Below are the key quests to advance from HR7-HR9:
HR7 key quests
Quest 12: Daimyo of Sengoku Fame (Plum D.Hermitaur)
Quest 14: Old Jungle Lightning (Khezu)
Quest 17: Eyes in the Underground Lake (Plesioth)
Quest 20: Pelagus Pride (Emerald Congalala)
Quest 23: Old Swamp, Shrouded in Mist (2 Purple Gypceros)
Urgent Quest: Ever-Present Shadow (Nargacuga)

HR8 key quests
Quest 6: Lavasioth Sighting! (Lavasioth)
Quest 11: Under the Gaze of Heaven (Shogun Ceanataur & Terra S.Ceanataur)
Quest 13: A King, Robed in Smoke (Rathalos)
Quest 15: Her Eternal Majesty (Rathian)
Quest 21: Wild Monk of the Dunes (Copper Blangonga)
Urgent Quest: The Floating Dragon (Yama Tsukami)

Congratulations, at this point you are HR9 now. Enjoy fighting HR9 monster that will make you wanna cry.

Juggernaut Hammer Guide - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

In Monster Hunter Freedom 2, Onslaught Hammer is a favorite hammer due to its high raw damage and easy to made. In Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Juggernaut is an upgrade version of Onslaught Hammer. Below is the path of creating Juggernaut:

Weapon Path:
War Hammer --> War Hammer+ --> War Mace --> Iron Striker --> Iron Striker+ --> Anvil Hammer --> Onslaught Hammer --> Blacksmith --> Juggernaut

Weapon Description and Materials required to made:
Blacksmith
Attack: 1196
Sharpness: White
Defense+10
Rarity: 9
Slots: 2
Affinity: 0%
Materials: Eltanite Ore, Carbalite Ore, Emperor Cricket

Juggernaut
Attack: 1404
Sharpness: White
Defense+10
Rarity: 9
Slots: 2
Affinity: 0%
Materials: Mellanje Ore, RobustWyvernBone, PhantomButterfly

Where to find materials:
Eltanite Ore: Pokke Farm Mining Point+4
Carbalite Ore: Pokke Farm Mining Point+3/4
Emperor Cricket: Pokke Farm Insect Thicket+4 point, Bug Tree using Black/Gold Cat Hammer
Mellanje Ore: Pokke Farm Mining Point+4, Mining in G-level quest
RobustWyvernBone: G-level Velociprey
PhantomButterfly: Pokke Farm Insect Thicket+4 point, Bug Tree using Gold Cat Hammer
Piercing Claw: G-level Conga/Hermitaur

For Hunter using hammer, Juggernaut is a must to have for early stages. I believe when you first try to solo G-level quest, you feel your weapon is underpower. Previously you need 10 mins to kill, now required 15-20 mins to kill. Therefore Juggernaut will definitely help to hunt in early stages while building your most powerful weapon later.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Love Your Felyne Comrade - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

One biggest welcome to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is you get to hunt with a Felyne as your companion. They are refer to as Felyne Comrade. You get to choose your Felyne characteristic, some like to use bomb and some like to use weapon. For me, I use them mainly for buffer (add attack and defense with flute skill). This way, I get to boost my attack and defense for free. You need to grow their fondness level to make them more frequently activate their skills. You start with fondness level 2 and maximum is 5. If the fondness is at low level, your Felyne will frequently sit in the battlefield and do nothing. You can cancel this by kicking them and get them to work again.

In Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Felyne can attack monster, set trap, paralyze monster, throw bomb and cover your ears when monster scream (cool). Your Felyne Comrade acts as a good dummy for distracting monster focus. When monster attack your Felyne, use this opportunity to heal yourself, set trap or attack the monster. Your Felyne never dies. When their health reach zero, they will dig underground and recover themselves. After awhile, they will come back to your. You can minimize this downtime with enhancing their armor, reduce their recovery time underground or better block ability.

Your Felyne can help you gather item on the battlefield. They can’t carve item from dead monster, but they can do mining and gathering materials. There is a skill that they can learn to just focus on attacking instead of gathering item. Therefore they main purpose is to hurt monster. Lastly they are just too adorable not to take them around for hunting. They serve as a loyal companion no matter what situation you are in.

My First 10 Hours in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

After playing Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for 10 hours, I would say the expansion is fun. Previously I have completed all my quests in Monster Hunter Freedom 2. With Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, they added a few more quests for some category like Village Quest 3-5 stars, One exciting thing about hunting now is you can take up Epic quest. Epic quest is where you will fight monster after monster, one after another, in a single quest. Example you will fight Yian Kut-ku, follow by Hypnocatrice, finally Yian Garuga. For hardcore hunter, this is a real test for their hunting skill.

I have killed both Hypnocatrice and Nargacuga from Village Felyne Quest. Hypnocatrice attack is similar to Yian Kut-ku, but it spew Sleeping Gas Ball. Hypnocatrice consecutive 4 Flying Kick is a killer, but quite easy to dodge as long as you roll to his side. Overall Hypnocatrice is easy to kill. Next is Nargacuga, the feature monster in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. This monster is a pain in the ass. During my first run, I get hit a lot by his Tail Whip. His movement is fast and likes to move around. Some of his attacks are similar to Tigrex. My overall strategy for Nargacuga is to stay near his hind legs where his Tail Whip cannot hit me.

Now the interesting part, you get to do G-Level Quests. In Monster Hunter Freedom 2, G Rank Quest now call High Rank Quest in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. I can tell you, G-Level quest is a lot harder compare to High Rank Quest. The monster now has more health, higher defense and higher attack. Also they get some new attack that is deadly. After playing G-Level Quest, I feel High Rank Quest is so much easier now. Since G-Level Quest is twice harder than the old G-Rank Quest, I wonder if G-Level Quest can be done solo.

Pokke Farm - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Capcom did a great job for enhancing the hunting experience in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. First thing I notice is doing Pokke farming is a lot easier now. Capcom had removed a lot of repetition gathering into a single gathering. Example is gathering Honey. With one gathering, you can collect 5-8 Honey, sweet. Any excessive item that you gather, if your inventory is full, you have the option to send your item directly to your item box. Therefore you do not need to discard your item during gathering.

In Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, you get 2 new renovations: Mining Point+4 and Insect Thicket+4. You need to get these 2 renovation to get your new high grade weapon and armors. The new mining point will get you Eltanite Ore and Mellanje Ore. With new insect thicket point, you will get Emperor Cricket and PhantomButterfly. These new items are vital for creating Blacksmith and Juggernaut Hammer.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Finally Get My Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

After months of waiting, finally I get my Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (US) version. Previously I was disappointed for getting Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (EU) when I was unable to import my Monster Hunter Freedom 2 character. Imagine my HR6 characters with almost all Hammers and high grade armors cannot be carried forward to MHFU. I do not want to start all over again.

Two weeks after that, I get called from my friend, Steven. He told me he got the Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (US) version and able to import his old character from Monster Hunter Freedom 2. This is very good news for me. We used to play MHF2 together in the office.

Once I have imported my character from MHF2 to MHFU, I start to check my items and equipments. Nothing changes in items. Nothing changes in weapon as well except my beloved Akantor Bow get nerf. Damage is reduce quite significantly. My biggest disappointment when I see my uber Akantor set get nerf. Capcom remove 5 points on earplug skill from the Akantor set. Therefore I can no longer able to have High Grade Earplug with this set even with decoration. Also Capcom replace the negative Protection skill with negative Short Charge sill. Negative Short Charge means you need longer time to charge your Greatsword/Hammer.

Overall I believe these changes are to bring balance to new Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. I’m looking forward for a better armor in the end game now. Time to get my Hammer and hunt again.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Killing Rathalos Using Hammer - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Rathalos is the King of Dragon in Monster Hunter series. Most people have difficulty fighting it first time but once you learn its attack pattern, you just need to have patience to wait for an opening. This guide will teach you how to kill a Rathalos using Hammer. But for other weapon hunters can still benefit from this guide to know the opening for attack. Before we start, let's learn more on the Rathalos. There are 3 species of Rathalos:
  • Rathalos (weak to Ice / Dragon)
  • Azure Rathalos (weak to Water / Dragon)
  • Silver Rathalos (weak to Lightning)
In early stage, you can find Rathalos quest in Gathering Hall. Search for HR1 2-star quest with title "Hunt the Rathalos!". Rathalos carve usually used for fire base weapon or Rathalos armor. For this quest you will fight in Forest & Hills map. Fighting Rathalos on this map is annoying because it frequently go to area 9, where the map is narrow and hard to see due to camera angle. Therefore you need to wait for him at area 3, 4, or 5. You will need Earplug skill to fight Rathalos.

When you see the Rathalos, don't attack immediately. Wait for him to see you first. You can throw a paintball as Rathalos likes to fly around. If you are Hammer user, you will be using Superpound and Triple Pound to attack. When Rathalos do this:

1. Fireball (Ground)
When Rathalos slowly turn around to face you, he will most likely shoot fireball. Just run beside his head and start charging your hammer. When he finish shoot fireball, do a Superpound on his head.

2. Aerial Attack (Sky Kick / Fireball)
This is a favourite, you are guarantee to land a Superpound on his head. Whenever he jump up to do his aerial attack, just stand below him (on his shadow). He will not able to attack you. Once he finish his attack, you will hear a scream, start charging your hammer (you can charge earlier actually). Rathalos will always try to face you, therefore you just turn around and run some distance away from the shadow and wait for him to land. When he land, Rathalos head should be right in front of you, unleash your Superpound on his head, then roll to your left.

3. Dash Bite
Rathalos will dash at you, if it cannot hit you, it will try to bite you. To avoid, just roll away. At this moment, you can attack whatever you want (Short charge, Medium charge or Superpound). If you know you can make it stagger, do a Triple Pound.

4. Glide Attack
Rathalos will charge at you and then fall down. You will charge your hammer and chase him. You will stop right behind his tail. This part is tricky and he will do any random attack after this. If Rathalos is in rage mode, before he gets up, just do a Superpound then roll away. Why, if he does backflip fireball, you will hit him. If he does tail spin, you may avoid his attack and if you are lucky, you may hit him. If Rathalos is in normal mode, once he gets up, do a Superpound. When he turn to you, you should be able to hit his head, then roll to your left. If he does backflip attack, you will miss but you didn't get hit.

5. Roar
If you have Earplug skill, this is a good opening to do Triple Pound. Else just do Superpound.

Why roll to your left?
Starting from Monster Hunter Freedom 2, Hammer can stun if you hit on the head. The probability is around 15-30%. When Rathalos is stunned, if will fall to your left. After you roll to your left, you should be standing right in front of a stunned Rathalos. From here you can just do 2 Triple Pound from where you are standing. Neat. Sometimes, I can do 3 Triple Pound if I'm pushing it.

Hope you learn something from here. See you on the hunting ground.

Item Guide - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Before you start your hunt, make sure you have bring all your essential items. Bringing the correct items can make your hunt a lot easier. Some item is absolutely necessary, for example Cold Drink in Dessert map or else you will slowly die from the heat. Below is my guide for Items in Monster Hunter Freedom 2. It will be divided into basic items and advance items, depending on your Guild Level. If you are Gunner, just remove the Whetstone from the list.

Basic Items
  • Potion
  • Mega Potion
  • Antidote
  • Cool Drink
  • Hot Drink
  • Well-Done Steak
  • Paintball
  • Whetstone
  • Herb

Advance Items
  • Potion
  • Mega Potion
  • Antidote
  • Cool Drink
  • Hot Drink
  • Psychoserum
  • Max Potion
  • Lifepowder
  • Powercharm
  • Powertalon
  • Armorcharm
  • Armortalon
  • Well-Done Steak
  • Paintball
  • Whetstone
  • Herb

With these Items, you can take any quest and wonder into any map. When fighting certain monster, you will need to bring extra item. But again, it's optional, you can still win the battle.
Congalala - Deodorant
Kushala Daora, Blangonga - Thawing Agent
Chameleos* - Gourment Steak / lots of Well-Done Steak

*Take note on Chameleos Fatique Breath attack. This attack will bring your stamina to very low, thus you can't run or use any attack that requires stamina. In this state, you are very vulnerable. Therefore you need Gourment Steak to fully restore your maximum stamina or lots of Well-Done Steak. I remember Chameleos has an attack that will corrode your armor and make your defense very low. Using Armor Seed will fix that.

If you wish to make your hunting easier or faster, you can bring the following:-
Flash Bomb - to blind the monster and do additional hits (almost all monsters weak to this).
Sonic Bomb - to bring underground monster to the surface (useful for Cephadrome, Monoblos, Diablos).
Pitfall Trap - most monster weak to this except those monsters that can move underground.
Shock Trap - this is my favourite, easy to make and cause the monster to stand still. Easy to target the head.
Tranq Bomb - for capturing after the monster is trapped from Pitfall / Shock Trap.
Lightning Rod - can only be used during raining (useful for Plesioth).
Power Seed - temporary boost your attack.
Power Pill - temporary boost your attack more than Power Seed.
Armor Seed - temporary boost your defense.
Armor Pill - temporary boost your defense more than Armor Seed
Lg Barrel-Bomb - use 2 bomb to deal a lot of damage to the monster when trap / sleep. Use the + version is even better.
Sm Barrel-Bomb - use this to trigger the Lg Barrel-Bomb.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite may have new items that will change this combination. I'm still waiting for my copy actually. Happy hunting.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

For those of you who are new to the Monster Hunter series, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (MHFU) is an expansion to the popular Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (MHF2). It's developed by Capcom for Playstation Portable (PSP) platform. This game is so popular in Japan, it sold million of copies on the first week of release. For English players, you can get either the North America version or the Europe version, which already released on June 2009. This time the feature monster is Nargacuga. You can import your character from Monster Hunter Freedom 2 to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, so you get to keep all your weapons and armors. Another cool feature in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is you can load the game using both UMD and the memory card to speed up loading.

New Features
  • More missions, equipment, and monsters
  • Felyne fighter to help you on your quests
  • Rarity-10 armor and weapons
  • Epic Hunting Quest - enable the hunter to take on, one by one, up to 4 different monsters in one quest
  • Weapons can now have purple sharpness which is higher than white sharpness
  • HR9 quests in the gathering hall
New Monsters
  • Nargacuga
  • Hypnocatrice
  • Yama Tsukami
  • Ukanlos
  • Lavasioth
New Subspecies
  • Copper Blangonga
  • Emerald Congalala
  • Plum Daimyo Hermitaur
  • Terra Shogun Ceanataur
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a very unique action role-playing game, where your character does not level up. In most role-playing game, the more time you spent in the game, the stronger your character will be, which is measured by level. Monster Hunter Freedom does not have a leveling system. You actually improve your own hunting skill. With greatest weapon and armor, you can still get killed from weaker monster. The key to advancing in this game is to keep on practicing. Master your weapon of your choice and keep killing the monster. Learn its attack pattern and strike when there is a opening. Personally I like hammer as it can stun and do heavy damage. You can find a lot of newbies video in youtube on how to kill certain monster. Frankly speaking, i improved my skill a lot after watching these videos. Recommended videos are from VehemuZ, MHNoodles, and naijiao.

Keep practicing and happy hunting, fellow hunters.