Video Game / Monster Hunter 3 (Tri)

The hunt continues

Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) is the fourth game in the mainline Monster Hunter series and the first game of the third generation serving as the direct sequel-of-sorts to Monster Hunter 2 (dos). The game opts to go for a Soft Reboot of the series up until then, removing most previous monsters (only Rathian, Rathalos, Diablos, Kelbi and Aptonoth came back), removing the Dual Blades, Hunting Horn, Gunlance and Bow while also introducing a new weapon type: the Switch Axe. The game puts a stronger emphasis on story, creating a fully continuous storyline and having a fully antagonistic recurrent monster. Online servers for the original game shut down in April 2013, therefore leaving Loc Lac City, the entirety of the High Rank campaign, Deviljho, Jhen Mohran and Alatreon unavailable to hunt anymore.

The game's plot follows Moga Village, a coastal town in the Deserted Island home to the Sea People, a humanoid race descended from fish, who have for years lived in harmony side-by-side with the seas. However, Moga comes under the threat of earthquakes that threaten to sink the village and the entire island it's in into the depth of the seas. A Hunter is dispatched by the Guild to help out the Moga villagers, with the seeming culprit being the terrifying Leviathan, Lagiacrus, who has scared off all other monsters to claim the Deserted Island as its territory. With the help of a Shakalaka companion named Cha-Cha, it's up to the Hunter to help the villagers and stop the threat of the Lagiacrus.

It received an Updated Re-release in 2011 for Japan, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It marks the return of underwater combat after its removal in Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, new and old monsters absent in Tri, the weapon classes removed in the base game and a new Hub City for online missions; it was released for the Nintendo 3DS, though without online play available. However, like the aforementioned Portable 3rd, it received an HD version/port for the Wii U, with built-in online play in December 8, 2012. A special app was later released to allow users of the 3DS version to play online by linking with a Wii U game. Both versions of the game were exported to the West in March 2013.

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Tropes applying to both versions of Monster Hunter 3 (Tri)

• Acid Attack: When tired or enraged, Deviljho begins drooling. This saliva turns out to be acidic, and if the hunter has contact with it their defense will lower drastically. This also happens with the Savage variant introduced in 3 Ultimate.
• Animals Lack Attributes: The game subverts this with the Gigginox. A cutscene clearly shows one laying eggs out of one of its orifices. Of course, since it's a reptilian hermaphrodite, any sexual organs are not visible.
• Art Evolution: Returning monsters Aptonoth, Kelbi, Rathalos and Rathian get some revamps to their designs. Aptonoth lose most of the rock-like textures on their bodies as do Kelbis. Rathalos' body proportions are made more akin to those of real-life birds with a thicker neck, larger and more muscular wings and it's underbelly has a less bright color; Rathian receives the biggest overhaul in her design, receiving the same kind of changes that Rathalos had in body proportions while also having a brand-new color scheme with a faded cream underside and a green/brown back and upside with a less uniform pattern overall.
• Autocannibalism: The monster Deviljho will eat any meat lying around on the ground to recover stamina, including its own severed tail.
• Autobots, Rock Out!: Alatreon's theme is a mix of this and Ominous Pipe Organ, fitting the chaotic nature of the multi-elemental Elder Dragon.
• Background Music Override: The game has four non-Elder Dragon battle themes for each stage: The Great Jaggi/Baggi theme, each stage's normal Monster Battle theme, the special track for the Arena, and the theme for the online-only nomad beast "Deviljho". Each overrides the themes before them (Jaggi/Baggi < Stage = Arena < Deviljho). Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate adds a few more songs to the mix, thus becoming Jaggi < Arzuros < Stage < Nargacuga < Zinogre < Brachydios < Tower = Arena < Deviljho.
• Black Blood: The game has an option allowing the player to turn off the blood splashes and the green splashes (or whatever bugs bleed) and possibly some other visual effects. This is actually justified by the game as it hints that it helps the Wii in the performance of the game if it's turned off. Either way, the blood effects are on by default.
• Boss-Only Level:
  • The Underwater Ruins, an Under the Sea area which is divided in only three zones and serves as the battlefield for Ceadeus (the offline Final Boss). In 3 Ultimate, it's also where you hunt two other monsters, both in G Rank: Goldbeard Ceadeus and Abyssal Lagiacrus.
  • The Great Desert is a wide, sandy wasteland where Jhen Mohran roams frequently; the sole objective when you're here is to at least drive it away so it doesn't attack Loc Lac City. In 3 Ultimate, you can also find and fight Hallowed Jhen Mohran in this area, but only in G Rank. And in Monster Hunter 4 and 4 Ultimate, you instead fight Dah'ren Mohran to at least drive it away from Val Habar.
  • The Sacred Land is a volcanic field that has only one area, and in it you have to slay Alatreon (it's not possible to just repel it).
• Breaking Old Trends: Usually the cover monster would be the overall major threat of the game's story (if there was one) and while stronger monsters come after it, they would be ones not important to the narrative. Here Lagiacrus' defeat is only the beginning of the last section of the game, as the Final Boss of the Offline Campaign is also the true threat overall: Ceadeus.
• Breath Weapon: The game ups the ante considerably. Rathalos and Rathian still spit fireballs, but Rathian can spit three at once or a "mortar shot" which blows up everything a good ways in front of it. There's also the Qurupeco, which spits an oil-like substance as one of its attacks; the Royal Ludroth, which spits water; the Gigginox with poison; the Baggi and Great Baggi with sleeping agents. Up until now, it was sensible. But then there's the Lagiacrus, which shoots ball lightning from its gaping maw, the Barioth ejects a miniature blizzard as its breath weapon, and the Agnaktor fires what is essentially a heat beam! Lastly, Ceadeus launches a powerful stream of water and Alatreon launches ice breath.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: The Flooded Forest is a rainy marshland that serves as home to several underwater monsters like Royal Ludroth, Gobul, Lagiacrus and (in 3 Ultimate) Plesioth, and due to the water's impurity it's difficult to look at the surroundings while swimming. Subverted in Portable 3rd and Rise, wherein the submerged parts of the forest have dried up due to the summer season.
• Bullying a Dragon: The original game instroduces the Jaggi picking fights with large monsters, both in-game and in cutscenes. Most of the time, they quickly learn the hard way that they're Too Dumb to Live.
• Casting a Shadow: Deviljho is an enormous Brute Wyvern that looks similar to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. When it gets angry, its blood begins boiling (which is reflected in several parts of its skin glowing red) and proceeds to expel a wide Dragon-elemental breath that reduces the victim's attack affinity, which leads to a lower chance of giving critical damage (or even the side effect of inflicting less damage if their attacks had no affinity to begin with); from 3 Ultimate onwards, this breath nullifies elemental powers instead, as do all other Dragonblight-inflicting attacks.
• Catapult to Glory: One of the masks your Shakalaka companion (Cha-Cha) can use is the Artillery Mask, which will produce a cannon that fires him at a nearby monster. It does a massive amount of damage, but completely depletes the health of whoever serves as the ammo. This can also be done with Kayamba in 3 Ultimate.
• Colossus Climb: The now-unavailable online campaign introduces Jhen Mohran, an Elder Dragon that hunters can jump on if he gets close enough to the Dragonship. In fact, it's necessary if you want to mine scales and ores from it as well as to hit the two weakpoints on it. The monster is later available offline in Portable 3rd and 3 Ultimate (with the latter even introducing the purple-colored subspecies Hallowed Jhen Mohran as a Superboss).
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • Going from the Monster Hunter Freedom games on the PSP to this game on the Wii or backwards can be very frustrating at first. While the actual controls in battle are more or less exactly the same, the confirm (A on Wii, X on PSP) and cancel (B on Wii, Circle on PSP) are shifted around. Also, bringing up the menu (done by pressing the Start button on the PSP) is done on the Wii by hitting the Minus button. The Plus button is another attack button.
  • If you've played a game where you fire a gun/bow/whatever on the Wii, you're pretty well used to using the B button for that. Guess what it does in Monster Hunter Tri? It has you roll forward, which has lead to many very dumb deaths.
• Darkest Hour: After Lagiacrus is revealed to not be the true overall threat to Moga, the villagers end up learning that the Guild has issued an evacuation of the Island as they fear that the actual culprit, Ceadeus, will sink the islands into the seas with its activities; then to twist the knife Cha-Cha disappears for a long time and you're left on your own wondering what to do to stop the monster... Until Cha-Cha comes back and helps find a solution to finding the beast responsible.
• Decon-Recon Switch: The game deconstructs and reconstructs its premise in a single quest. The quest's client includes a message about how excessive monster hunting has caused wyvern populations to dwindle. The objective, as given by the client, is to deliver Wyvern Eggs, in order to help build the population back up, thus allowing hunting to exist without dramatically disrupting ecosystems.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Defeating the Lagiacrus turns out to have not done anything to stop the earthquakes, nor it unlocks the High Rank. As the true culprit, Ceadeus, is only found out about later.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Barroth is a Brute Wyvern that coats itself in mud to serve as protective armor and can also spray gobs of mud that will trap unwary hunters, forcing them to either take a massive drain on their stamina bar to escape or apply a Cleanser. The mud attack is also performed by Rust Duramboros in 3 Ultimate.
• Enough to Go Around: The game takes it to absurd lengths. If you kill a smaller monster, its corpse disappears like normal when you carve an item(s) from it, but it remains on your partners' screens until they carve from it also. It's justified with carving items from larger monsters, as their corpse doesn't disappear after you've carved all items from it... except that it raises the question of how your partners can carve more items while you can't when the corpse is still there.
• Extreme Omnivore: Deviljho is a dangerous endgame-level monster only encountered in the online mode. It's an Extreme Omnivore not in the "eats cars and lightbulbs" sense so much as apparently having no standards for what kind of meat it'll eat. On top of being a voracious predator that hunts nonstop due to its extremely high metabolism (to the point of driving other species to extinction, according to the game's description), it's also been observed in actual gameplay to munch on slain or captured members of its own species.
• Eyepatch of Power: Your character has 2 if you are female and one if you are male, the female has an exclusive helmet in the deviljho gunner set with an eyepatch, and both genders have the Wyvernking Eyepatch which has 3 slots and is upgradeable.
• Fiendish Fish: Most fish in the game are pleasant and friendly, including the ones you can fight rather than just fish. Not so much with the Sharqs and Catfish who will attack you on sight. And most definitely not the Delex, shark-like enemies that dwell in the sands and will become a major hindrance in both the Sandy Plains and the Great Desert (and subsequently in the Old Desert in the fourth generation).
• Fooled by the Sound: This is Qurupeco's most famous ability. Similarly to Real Life forked-tail drongos, this Bird Wyvern can summon other Large Monsters by imitating their sounds (and the latter always fall for it). In low-rank quests, the summoned monsters are relatively manageable Wyverns such as Jaggis and Rathian, but things change in High-Rank quests, where Qurupecos can call Deviljho, lead it to the hunter and run for its life (Deviljhos are infamous for their Horror Hunger and sheer strength).
• From Bad to Worse: Things are already bad as they are when Lagicrus is revealed to not be the culprit, but then you learn Moga Island's inhabitants were given an order to evacuate by the Guild, the true culprit is an Elder Dragon known as Ceadeus, Cha-Cha disappears and to make matters worse the Ceadeus lives at such depths that you likely would drown before getting to it; luckily Cha-Cha and the ancient mask in the farm prove to be the key for you to reach the Ceadeus safely.
• Gimmick Level: The quests where you have to face Jhen Mohran and (in 3 Ultimate) Hallowed Jhen Mohran. Whereas in most hunt-based quests in the series you have to fight, chase and master a monster (including Elder Dragons on rare occasions), the Mohrans are instead fought in two phases on a single part of the map: the first is a Battleship Raid style, where you attack the leviathans with ballistas and cannons while preventing them from destroying the ship you ride, and occasionally leaping on top of them to deal damage or gather materials from their back. While most enemies have a roulette of attacks, the Mohrans' attacks are largely scripted in the first part. The second phase is an Advancing Boss of Doom where you're on solid ground and have to stall until time runs out or you manage to kill it, occasionally using the ship's defenses to prevent damage to the ship. Even the other Elder Dragons in the series whose battles involve Tower Defense-based sequences (like Lao Shan Lung in the first generation of games and Ceadeus from the same third generation as Jhen Mohran), as well as the crustacean Shen Gaoren in the second, are fought with closer gameplay to the usual formula. Dah'ren Mohran in Monster Hunter 4 is confronted in a similar way to Jhen Mohran, however, being a closely-related Elder Dragon thereof.
• Green Hill Zone: The Deserted Island, which serves as the first hunting zone visited and is devoid of environmental hazards and bad terrain. The northern areas (numbered 10 to 12) are Under the Sea, however. A variety of monsters like Great Jaggi, Rathian, and Lagiacrus can be found here.
• The Hat Makes the Man: While not shown when in Moga or the online Hub City, the Shakalakas who accompany you change personalities depending on the mask they wear. Cha-Cha acts like a tough old man with the Ancient Mask, while Kayamba in 3 Ultimate, when wearing the False Felyne, behaves like a Lolcat.
• Hell Is That Noise: The first quest that introduces the Deviljho is one which has you hunt the Qurupeco, a small wyvern which serves as a Wake-Up Call Boss. The Qurupeco has the ability to call other monsters by imitating their calls, and this one will call the Deviljho by making a noise which sounds less like a Mighty Roar and more like a bomb going off. Not long after, you'll come face-to-face which a colossal Tyrannousaurus-like creature with jutting out all over it's jaw, which will probably turn on the Qurupeco and eat it alive before it turns on you.
• Heroic Rematch: You against the Lagiacrus after swimming away from it in pure terror (or attempting to kill it and failing miserably), then repelling it, then finally a full-length showdown.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The nastiest thing the Qurupeco can do to a hunter is call for the Deviljho, a massive Tyrannosaurus-like monster. This naturally tends to be a suicidal move by the Qurupeco, as the Deviljho is extremely powerful and aggressive and will often curb-stomp the dumb Qurupeco who called for it.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The very first fight against the Lagiacrus in the 1-Star Quest "Guts, it's what's for Dinner!". Not only will your weapons and armor be too weak to do any meaningful damage, but it also has infinite health which means that you won't be able to kill or capture it even if you return to the quest to try and slay it.
• An Ice Person: Barioth is a white-colored Flying Wyvern with orange fangs capable of creating snowy cyclones. On rare occasions, it will also spit icy fluids at the hunter.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Two of the most recognizable monsters in the Monster Hunter franchise are Lagiacrus and Deviljho (interestingly for different reasons), and they both debuted in this game.
• Inconsistent Dub: Despite having an otherwise wonderful translation overseas, the game can't seem to decide whether the little leech-esque monsters should be called "Gigi" or "Giggi."
• Indy Escape: The Uragaan Ecology video does this with a Felyne and two Uragaan. You can tell precisely what the poor kitty is thinking shortly into the video.
• Knockout Gas: Uragaan has pores on its back that it can use to release sleep-inducing gas.
• Land, Sea, Sky: This game groups Rathian as the Queen of Earth, Rathalos as the King of the Skies, and the debuting flagship Lagiacrus as the Lord of the Seas. Relatedly, the three Elder Dragons that appear in 3 (as well as 3 Ultimate prior to G Rank) are Ceadeus (which swims in the Underwater Ruins), Jhen Mohran (which dwells in the sands of the Great Desert) and Alatreon (a winged dragon who guards the Sacred Land).
• Lethal Lava Land: The Volcano (it's the only hunting area that didn't gain a unique name, unlike the others which do have new names to stand out from their past games' equivalents). As usual, it will be necessary to consume a Cold Drink or wear an equipment that provides the Heat Cancel skill to prevent heat from causing health depletion. Uragaan and Agnaktor are the new monsters that appear here, alongside series classic Rathalos. The game also features the Boss-Only Level Sacred Land, where Alatreon is found.
• Luring in Prey: The Gobul is largely modeled after shallow-water anglerfish such as monkfish. Notably, it does not use its glowing lantern as the lure. Instead, it burrows itself into the soil and lures cow-sized herbivores in by disguising its catfish-like barbels as plants, and then it proceeds to swallow them whole with its enormous mouth (it will also casually inhale small schools of fish if they group around it). The lantern, meanwhile, is just used to blind its enemies with bright flashes.
• Magic Music: The Qurupeco is able to produce similar benefits for itself and other monsters in its vicinity by singing. However, hitting its throat sac before it finishes a song can cause it to mess up and heal/buff you, instead.
• Making a Splash:
  • Royal Ludroth is a spongy yellow Leviathan that attacks its enemies by shooting water globules, be it while standing still and aiming at different angles or while walking from one spot to another (and often turning back to repeat the attack).
  • Gobul is an enormous Leviathan modeled like an anglerfish that is adapted to fight underwater as well as on land, and has a wide array of attacks (such as paralizying opponents with its spikes or stunning nearby hunters and small monsters with an intense flash from its lamp); however, the only water-based attack it has is creating an enormous suction torrent while swimming to swallow prey and inflict serious damage to the hunters caught within it.
  • Ceadeus is a gigantic whale-like Elder Dragon that can absorb a large amount of water to expel it as a massive torrent to attack hunters. It can do it either while looking frontward or from above after rising to the highest spot of the Underwater Ruins. The Updated Re-release 3 Ultimate introduces a bioluminiscent, gold-colored subspecies in G Rank whose water shots are far stronger.
• Mascot Mook: Lagiacrus, the main threat of the offline campaign at least in the first half is also the cover monster of the game.
• Monster Threat Expiration:
  • In the original Wii game, as soon as you hit rank 31 and the High Rank quests become available, you start fighting the monsters from the bottom of the pecking order: Great Jaggi, Qurupeco, and Royal Ludroth. Except that in any high-rank quest, there's the possibility that Deviljho will appear, which you're nominally not qualified to fight until rank 51. Thus when you initially encounter Deviljho, you have to run like hell if you want to live, and hope that either Jho or the monster you're tracking retreats from the room, but then you have to take down Jho like any other later on.
  • In 3 Ultimate (3DS and Wii U), the same thing happens when you start the sixth rank chapter (which corresponds to high rank). One of the first quests requires you to kill 10 Jaggia, but with the twist that Deviljho will lurk around (and it's even introduced in a cutscene where it crushes Great Jaggi from above). And you'll have to avoid it once again during any quest where it might appear, until you're tasked to hunt it in one of the post-finale quests in the ninth rank chapter.
• Oddball in the Series: Monster Hunter 3 does a lot of things differently compared to games before and after it (including, to a lesser extent, its own expanded version Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate):
  • It was the only game in the series prior to Monster Hunter: Rise with motion controls, although it is also compatible with the Wii's Classic Controller.
  • Until the introduction of Palamutes in Monster Hunter: Rise, this game and its Updated Re-release 3 Ultimate were the only mainline games (i.e. not Frontier, Stories, etc.) to have non-Felyne AI companions, and remain the only games to have Shakalakas as companions, as well as the only ones to have underwater mechanics.
  • It is the only game to remove weapons (Dual Blades, Gunlance, Hunting Horn, and Bow), and in which Bowguns come in mix-and-matchable parts rather than being entirely-fixed weapons. It is also the only game to have Medium Bowguns.
  • A lot of mainstay monsters that appeared in previous generations of games were removed for this game, with some of them being brought back for Portable 3rd and/or 3 Ultimate. As a direct consequence, and much like the very first game in the series, no subspecies or variants are featured at all in this installment, not even those of Rathian, Rathalos and Diablos (the only veteran monsters to appear); this is another omission that was rectified in Portable 3rd and 3 Ultimate. 4 would bring back a lot of the usual 1st- and 2nd-gen monsters, including subspecies (and, in a reversal, ditches all monsters from 3 except Great Jaggi and Deviljho, though more of them would return in subsequent games).
  • Its flagship monster, Lagiacrus, lacks a specific Battle Theme Music (instead, the battle track from Deserted Island is named after it). The only other flagship monsters in the series to lack a proper battle theme are Rathalos and Azure Rathalos (from the very first game and its expanded version respectively), having instead the otherwise normal boss music of Forest and Hills typically associated with them.
• Oxygen Meter: One is introduced for this game, giving you a time limit for remaining underwater, you can refill it with portable air suppliers or with bubbles coming out of certain parts in the various underwater areas. They're exclusive to this game and its Updated Re-release.
• Pirate Booty: One of the items found in the best treasure location is literally Pirate Booty; it sells for as much as a golden egg though.
• Playing with Fire:
  • Qurupeco is a pelican-based Bird Wyvern that can attack with either fireballs spit from its mouth (created from its organic sac), or the fire bursts created by clashing the flints located in its wings. It can also cast other skills to heal itself, increase its attack or defense, make all surrounding enemies fall sleep, or even call other large monsters like Rathian or Deviljho.
  • Agnaktor is a lava-dwelling Leviathan capable of firing a wide, powerful fire beam at its enemies, including hunters. Normally, it prepares this attack by clapping its beak and performs it in a forward line; but when it's enraged (or when it stops moving underground to return to the ground's surface), it aims the beam at a wider arc, making it more difficult for hunters to dodge it.
• Poisonous Person: Gigginox is a strange-looking Flying Wyvern that inhabits the Tundra, and is the King Mook of the Giggi. During combat, it can either shoot projectiles imbued with poison, or emit a toxic mist around its body. Also, from the same organ where it deposits its Giggi eggs, it can excrete a sac made of poison that explodes after a while.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Most of the monsters from the first and second generation are gone, with only five remaining in the game: Aptonoth, Kelbi, Rathian, Rathalos and Diablos.
  • The weapon types introduced in 2 (dos): Bow, Hunting Horn and Gunlance along with the Dual Blades are all removed.
• Red Herring: The Lagiacrus isn't actually the cause of the Moga Earthquakes. The true culprit is the Ceadeus, a colossal underwater Elder Dragon.
• Required Party Member: Some Moga Village quests require you to bring at least one of your Shakalaka comrades to begin the quest.
• Sand Worm: Jhen Mohran is a 350-feet Elder Dragon with a whale-like appearance and two large tusks, and is capable of swimming within the sands of the Great Desert. The Updated Re-release 3 Ultimate introduces the subspecies Hallowed Jhen Mohran, which not only attacks more aggresively but also has a very powerful attack that allows it to vomit a gigantic torrent of sand.
• Sea of Sand: The Great Desert, the area where you exclusively fight Jhen Morhan is a large dune field where the aforementioned monster and the Delex swim in, you also fight them with the help of special desert land ships to boot, akin to whaling.
• Shamu Fu: In this game you can get the Sharq Attack Lance. Which is basically just a stuffed Sharq with its mouth wide open. And it comes with a "no swimming" sign to be used as a shield.
• Shark Pool: There is a mission which consists of killing 30 Sharqs in a water filled arena, completely without any armor. Fortunately, the sharqs are one of the weakest waterborne creatures. Unfortunately, they are not the only monsters swimming in the arena.
• Shifting Sand Land: The Sandy Plains, which retain the thermal fluctuation first seen in the second generation's Desert (very hot in the most open areas during day, very cold in those same areas during night), thus requiring a specific type of Drink to negate the current temperature's harmful effects. There's also the Great Desert, a Boss-Only Level where Jhen Mohran appears (no drink is necessary here).
• Shock and Awe: Lagiacrus is a large, aquatic crocodile-like monster capable of unleashing electricity from its body, though it fares better at fighting underwater than on land. The Updated Re-release 3 Ultimate introduces two cousins: Ivory Lagiacrus (which spends far more time on land but is better adapted at fighting outside the water) and Abyssal Lagiacrus (which can only be found in the deepest aquatic areas and has a repertoire of electric attacks with unprecedented power). Lastly, there's Alatreon (an Elder Dragon), which has electricity among its list of elemental attacks.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Tundra, whose low temperature requires hunters to either consume a Hot Drink or wear an armor with the Cold Resist skill active in order to let the cold cause reduction of the stamina meter. It serves as home to new monsters like Great Baggi, Gigginox, Barioth and Deviljho; the latter one is capable of opening a path to two areas whose access are blocked from Area 2 (in Portable 3rd, Jade Barroth and Tigrex can do this as well, while in 3 Ultimate Brachydios is added in Tigrex's absence).
• Soft Reboot: This game opts to overhaul most of the previous contents of past games, including almost every single monster in the previous games. It also removes the weapon classes introduced in the second generation and the Dual Blades (though keeps the Long Sword/Great Sword and Bowgun splits). Every new setting in the game is also completely disconnected from the old ones and many old monsters receive varying redesigns. That said, it's still set in the same continuity as the old games.
• Soft Water: The game treats water in this fashion when transferring from one zone to another; you're never knocked into the air enough to actually go into water. Even if a Rathian knocks you off a cliff, you have time in the zone change to adjust your trajectory so you don't break your back. Also, regardless of the height, you fell from, if you fall into water while carrying a wyvern egg, you always get the "egg sinks to the bottom" animation you get when you lose an egg by entering water, not the "egg shatters" animation you get from falling from a height.
• Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography:
  • The first area unlocked in the game is the Moga Woods/Deserted Island, a vast forest island filled with no hazards or threatening geography and where the first missions take place.
  • The second area unlocked are the Sandy Plains, a desert area which while threatening with its environment, is also lighthearted in appearance and has many areas in-between the hot places for you to rest and even a cave system which to rest in.
  • Afterwards comes the third area, the Flooded Forest is filled with muddy waters, dark caves with strange ambience noises which might remind one of the rather creepy ambience of the original Swamp; and the waters have lots of algae blocking your view which makes the monsters that attack you capable of ambushing.
  • The Tundra is next and it is a hostile environment where almost every area is unforgivably cold and dark, the caves take it up to eleven as they're perpetually dark and you won't be able to see a thing without bringing in torches or with guidance from the light of monsters such as Gigginox who will gladly use the darkness to ambush you.
  • The last regular area unlocked is the Volcano, a gloomy, dark place in the lava-less areas where the strongest monsters are; with many areas filled with magma that will drain your health without Cold Drinks.
  • The final area in the game is the Sacred Land, an area which is entirely filled with lava and desolate land, whose sole inhabitant is the Alatreon, as it is the only creature that can survive in the hostile environment. It works like the Volcano with the exception of it being an arena-like area with no resting spots.
• Story-Driven Invulnerability: You can encounter the flagship monster of the game, the Lagiacrus, during a mission in the first tier of the game in which most missions consist of gathering materials. Naturally, at this point in the game, even if you have all the best armour and weapons you can have at your level, the Lagiacrus is more than capable of taking you out in one or two hits, plus it can't actually die no matter how much you attack it, making retreat the only option. You eventually face it in a Heroic Rematch in the fifth tier of offline missions, but even when you replay this mission with the best armour and weapons in the game it's impossible to actually kill the Lagiacrus in the time alotted to complete the mission; you can get it to limp, but that's close as you'll get.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Investing 10 points in the Oxygen armor skill eliminates the Oxygen Meter completely, allowing you to stay underwater indefinitely.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Some of the monsters that debuted in the game are similar in appearance and behavior to monsters from the previous two generations. Gigginox to Khezu (both being pale-skinned monsters that lurk within caves and cold areas, though the former relies on poison attacks while the latter relies on electric ones), Qurupeco to Yian Kut-Ku (both being Bird Wyverns that attack with fireballs), Great Jaggi to Velocidrome (both being standard theropod Bird Wyverns that rely on the assistance of their smaller bethren), Great Baggi to Giadrome (both being theropod Bird Wyverns that live in cold regions). Great Jaggi and Velocidrome appeared together in Monster Hunter 4 and 4 Ultimate, averting the trope with them.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: The game introduces the series to the Switch Axe. A mechanical weapon that folds out into an axe when you take it out and can be rearranged into the shape of a huge sword that explodes on each swing.
• Tactical Suicide Boss:
  • The Agnaktor will commonly dig into the ground to attack you. The drawback is that its hard magma armor melts once it's done, making it prone to breaking. The Glacial Agnaktor has the opposite problem: its ice melts due to prolonged exposure to the elements, so it digs to restore the makeshift armor.
  • Ceadeus and Goldbeard Ceadeus both have this problem regarding the Dragonator, a super powerful weapon situated in only one point of the arena, meaning you have to time activating it perfectly for whenever it's in range. Or you would if it didn't drop everything it was doing, swim to the opposite side and then swim all the way to the side with the Dragonator and wait there for a while for the Dragonator to attack it directly in the face.
• Temporary Online Content: The entirety of the Online High Rank Campaign, High Rank materials, armor and weapons; along with the Deviljho, Jhen Morhan and Alatreon aren't available anymore after the server shutdown in 2014.
• Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Barroth. Monsters before it are slower, hit for lower damage, and have many openings. Barroth is fast and strikes hard, changing the pace from the previous fights while havings openings that are much more difficult to discern.
• Under the Sea: The game has the northern zones of Deserted Island (where monsters like Royal Ludroth, Gobul and Lagiacrus can be found and fought), as well as the boss-dedicated Underwater Ruins (home of Ceadeus, the Final Boss of the single-player campaign). The game's expanded version, 3 Ultimate, adds the Tainted Sea (where the multiplayer Final Boss, Dire Miralis, lies), as well as new aquatic monsters for the existing areas (Goldbeard Ceadeus, Ivory and Abyssal Lagiacrus, and series veterans Plesioth and Green Plesioth). While the Deserted Island appears in Portable 3rd and Generations as well, it averts this trope in them because it's no longer possible to swim due to a lack of underwater gameplay (for this same reason, the Flooded Forest appears dry in the former game as well as Monster Hunter: Rise, with the justification that it's summer).
• Underwater Boss Battle: A new feature introduced in this game is underwater combat, in which you can confront certain monsters underwater. Most Leviathans are fought in both land and water (the exception is Agnaktor, as it's purely a land-based monster). As is the Ceadeus (an Elder Dragon).
• Underwater Ruins: Sunken beneath the waters that surround Moga Village and the Deserted Island are the Underwater Ruins, which once belonged to a now-extinct civilization. It is where Ceadeus, an Elder Dragon that is threatening the peace of Moga's inhabitants lies, and the player's character has to repel it during battle. In 3 Ultimate, it's possible to find the subspecies Goldbeard Ceadeus, as well as Abyssal Lagiacrus, here as well during G Rank.
• Voice Changeling: The Qurupeco can mimic an array of monster cries. Which can turn a simple hunt into a nightmare.

Tropes exclusive to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Online Quests are now available offline, as are all materials, events and monsters. Thus preventing a future server shutdown from locking out players from online content.
  • While the 3DS version lacks an in-built option for online gameplay a special app allows you to link the Wii U and 3DS versions to play online on the latter platform.
  • Weapon types removed in Tri come back.
• Anti-Magic: Starting from this game, certain monsters (usually Elder Dragons) can inflict a status known as Dragonblight on a Hunter, which strips the elemental damage properties and the status effects from their weapon (in the original Tri, it reduces a weapon's affinity, not only reducing the chances of a Critical Hit for weapons with a possitive affinity but also increasing the chance of inflicting less damage for weapons with nil or negative affinity). This makes it so that if you'd prepared to fight a certain monster, now your weapon no longer has the element that monster is weak to, making the fight much harder until it wears off, or until you cure it with a nulberry.
• Artifact Mook: Each area has their own monsters, and variants made to fit other areas, and otherwise the areas they appear in fit their habitat. Later in the game however, almost every enemy can appear on the tropical Deserted Island though free hunting at night, even if it doesn't make sense. One example would be Brachydios, a Brute Wyvern (usually favoring volcanic areas and snowy landscapes) who typically avoids water since it dilutes its blast slime walking around near the beach, which makes it easy to get rid of Blastblight by rolling around in water, something that normally can't be done in the areas you normally fight him in.
• Book Ends: Lagiacrus is the first monster encountered in the village questline, like in the original Tri. Ivory Lagiacrus is the Final Boss of the village questline, and Abyssal Lagiacrus is one of the last Superbosses unlocked.
• Boss-Only Level: 3 Ultimate adds the Tainted Sea, a coastal area that consists of only one zone, and your only objective is to slay Dire Miralis (without the option to repel it).
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • The 3DS version is the first game in the franchise to lack online multiplayer capacities on its own.
  • The first Updated Re Release in the series to be released for more than one console from the start, Monster Hunter (2004)'s own re-release: Monster Hunter G technically got that before with it receiving a Wii Port in 2009, but that was made long after the first version released.
• Bullying a Dragon: Kayamba is introduced in a cutscene where he tosses his boomerang at the weighted tail of a Duramboros, a very large monster. Upon waking up, the Duramboros turns around to see what disturbed its slumber, and then Kayamba runs for his life.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • In the context of the original Monster Hunter Tri, the monsters Bullfango, Anteka, Nargacuga, Gold Rathian and Silver Rathalos return (their overall return already happened in Portable 3rd). Nargacuga is also accompained by the still-recent Green subspecies (also of Portable 3rd fame), and gains a new Rare Species (Lucent) for G Rank.
  • Plesioth and its subspecies, Green Plesioth, return after their absence following Freedom Unite. The subspecies Azure Rathalos and Pink Rathian also return, being absent in the other games from the third generation.
  • Epioth, Fish, Gobul, Lagiacrus and Ceadeus all return as well after being absent in Portable 3rd due to the return of underwater combat.
• Casting a Shadow:
  • 3 Ultimate introduces Savage Deviljho, a variant of Deviljho that is permanently enraged and can expel its Dragon-powered breath anytime, but also has an additional rage mode that makes the breath stronger and wider.
  • The expansion also introduces Stygian Zinogre, a subspecies of Zinogre which trades the Shock and Awe attributes of its cousin for Dragon-powered dark energy, thanks to its diet of Dracophage bugs. The energy balls it throws from its chest double as a Homing Projectile, hovering for a couple seconds before aiming at the hunter(s). A unique trait is that Stygian Zinogre is actually immune to the negative effects of the Dragon element, unlike the majority of monsters (including Deviljho and Elder Dragons) that have it but are also paradoxically weak against it.
• A Dog Named "Perro": One of the supporting characters intruduced in this expansion is a Felyne who helps the Argosy Captain called Neko (Means Cat). Yes, the clarification encased by the parentheses is part of his name. He also makes an appearance in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and both versions of Monster Hunter Generations, alongside the aforementioned Argosy Captain.
• Epic Fail: The game introduces Hunters for Hire, in which you can hire 1-4 CPU-controlled versions of hunters you've met (e.g. via StreetPass) to do a quest for you, with varying odds of success. Occasionally, hired hunters will fail quests that should be trivial given their equipment, Hunter Rank, and party size, such as failing a simple "Hunt a Great Jaggi" quest (one hunter apparently hired a team of G-Rank hunters to do this, which failed anyway) or, even worse, failing a low-rank quest in which the objective is to deliver items that can be easily gathered.
• Hair of the Dog: There is a quest that is actually called Hair of the Dog, and consists of collecting several Slagtoth Oils to cure a hangover.
• Having a Blast: This expansion introduces Blast (known here as Slime), an element that accumulates on a monster every time an attack connects until it reaches a certain threshold, like most "ailment" type elements. Unlike most elements, rather than a poison or paralysis effect, Blast simply creates an explosion which deals a large amount of damage at a single spot, good for breaking off and harvesting monster parts. The only monster to use this explosive status in 3 Ultimate itself is the flagship monster Brachydios, which covers its foes in slime that explodes after a few seconds. When the monster is enraged, its slime loses the delay and its punches just explode on contact.
• Hellhound: The expansion introduces a subspecies of the Zinogre called the Stygian Zinogre. Unlike the regular Shock and Awe Zinogre, the Stygian deploys dragon element attacks in the form of eerie red lightning, is Red and Black and Evil All Over as opposed to its teal-blue colored cousins, and can be far more volatile. According to the designers, evoking the image of a hellhound was the point with this subspecies.
• Human Cannonball: The game features the Artillery Mask for your Shakalaka companions to wear. The mask's special power is to turn the wearer into a cannon and fire the other Shakalaka out of it, making for a surprisingly effective projectile.
• Infinity +1 Element: Slime, a new element introduced in this game courtesy of Brachydios, is by far the most powerful of the elements being neutral against all types of monsters, easily chipping large chunks of HP with repeated strikes and breaking even parts that make weapons bounce with a few repeated strikes.
• Mad Bomber: Brachydios, a Brute Wyvern introduced in this game, attacks with a volatile slime produced in its mouth. This slime explodes a few seconds after it's been placed in the floor or the opponent's body, causing a lot of damage (the hunter has to either soak themselves in water, use a cleanser, or repeatedly roll with the dodge move to remove the slime until it's too late).
• Mascot Mook: The Brachydios, who introduces the new element: Slime.
• Nostalgia Level: In addition to the original settings from Tri, the game also features the Misty Peaks from Portable 3rd and the Tower area from the second generation of games.
• Playing with Fire: The Dire Miralis is a sea-dwelling Elder Dragon similar to Fatalis that can expel fiery rocks from its volcano-like back, and can also send them skyward so they rain like meteorites. According to the series' lore, Miralis can make the seas and oceans boil, and it's one of the most feared Elder Dragons in the world alongside Fatalis and Alatreon.
• Poisonous Person: In addition to adding the poison-empowered Great Wroggi from Portable 3rd, the expansion introduces Lucent Nargacuga, a rare species of Nargacuga unlockable in the G Rank's postgame. It is capable of unleashing poisonous spikes from its tail upon performing a slam with it. And in Sunbreak, it borrows an attack from the base monster from Frontier that consists of unleashing the spikes skyward to they fall down like a rain.
• Put on a Bus: From the previous game (Portable 3rd), the monsters Bulldrome, Tigrex, Brute Tigrex, Akantor, Ukanlos and Amatsu are all absent. They all return later in the fourth generation.
• Retcon: Some parts of the Low Rank's Story Arc (which corresponds to the entirety of the story of Tri) are changed in order to incorporate new elements onto it and greatly expand it overall: Great Jaggi's first appearance taking place in Sandy Plains instead of Deserted Island, Kayamba joining the quest during Cha-Cha's temporary absence, and the addition of Arzuros, Great Wroggi, Lagombi, Volvidon, Duramboros and Nibelsnarf (all of them courtesy of Portable 3rd). Also, the original sixth quest chapter from Tri, which offered seven urgent quests available after the defeat of Ceadeus to serve as a Playable Epilogue, is eliminated so the game provides the immediate start of the High Rank quests right after the Ceadeus quest.
• Sand Blaster: In addition to featuring Nibelsnarf and Sand Barioth from Portable 3rd, both capable of attacking with sand, this game introduces Hallowed Jhen Mohran which, during its second phase, is capable of inhaling a gigantic amount of sand and then exhale it as a massive sandstorm onto the endangered Dragonship. The standard Jhen Mohran can do this as well, but only in G Rank.
• Satanic Archetype: Dire Miralis. Its entry in the Monster Notes describes it as "the devil prophesied to destroy the world", and its introduction certainly gives off a sense of entering Hell, plus a Leitmotif full of Ominous Latin Chanting.
• Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography: 3U introduces a new area as its last one for the True Final Boss, Dire Miralis: The Tainted Sea; which is a revamped version of Area 10 of the Deserted Island, only with blood-red sea whose only inhabitant is Miralis itself.
• Spectacular Spinning: Both Duramboros (which is added to this game after its debut in Portable 3rd) and its newly-introduced subspecies Rust Duramboros in G Rank can perform a wide spin to launch themselves skyward and fall onto the hunter to cause them a lot of damage.
• Spoiler Opening: The Stinger at the end of the trailer shows a gigantic serpentine monster at a lake letting out a low-pitched roar. Said monster is Dire Miralis, the final boss of the game's guild quests.
• Superboss: Hallowed Jhen Mohran is only accessible after the player slays or captures every single large monster (including previous Elder Dragons like regular Jhen Mohran and Alatreon) except Savage Deviljho, Lucent Nargacuga and Abyssal Lagiacrus (which happen to be Bonus Bosses on their own; as Savage Deviljho can only be fought in quests with unstable environments or alternatively through a DLC quest, Lucent Nargacuga is unlocked after reaching HR 40, and Abyssal Lagiacrus is unlocked after reaching HR 70). DLC goes one further, providing G-rank hunts for Alatreon and the normal Jhen Mohran that are even tougher still.
• Super Title 64 Advance: When localized to the West, the originally-named Monster Hunter 3G was renamed to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, referencing its availability in the Wii U version. Interestingly, this was also the name given to the 3DS version (which was localized overseas alongside the other at the same time), and the Ultimate subtitle was carried over to the expansions of the fourth-generation installments (which weren't released on the Wii U at all).
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The game introduces Dire Miralis as its Final Boss for multiplayer, the third generation alternative to Fatalis from the previous two.
• Trial-and-Error Gameplay: As of 3 Ultimate, the monsters' AI has become noticeable more random in their attack combinations, leaving very few openings to get in reliable attacks and causing frustration for players while turning some fights into guessing games. Brachydios, for instance, can spam as few as one or as many as four fist slams at any moment, after almost any attack; meanwhile, other attacks, such as the "standing horn slam", cause random sets of fixed explosions in order from closest to furthest from him, giving the player no good understanding of when to attack. But you have to attack at some point, because you're on a time limit every quest. Therefore, you must risk damage/death at a moment's notice just to get some simple damage in during certain parts of the fight. It isn't always a problem for all weapon classes on all monsters, but particular weapons are clearly inferior to others in a fight due to this trope occurring.
• Underwater Boss Battle: In addition to the Leviathans that could be fought underwater in Tri (Royal Ludroth, Gobul, Lagiacrus) and the Elder Dragon Ceadeus, 3 Ultimate allows this to Plesioth and its subspecies as well, and both Goldbeard Ceadeus and Abyssal Lagiacrus are exclusively fought this way (due to them being located in the Underwater Ruins, like the standard Ceadeus). Interestingly, Ivory Lagiacrus is almost never seen swimming underwater (as it prefers to fight on land), and Purple Ludroth is incapable of swimming to begin with.