Introduction

"Will it Cat?" Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate: Prowler Mode

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Overview

Monster Hunter is an action RPG series by Capcom. It features ridiculous/huge weapons that you use to smash giant world-destroying monsters in the face, carve up their skin, and wear their skin as a hat so you can beat up even bigger and meaner world-destroying monsters. The main thing setting it apart from other hack-and-slash type games is that MonHun makes you commit to everything. There is no dodge cancelling. There are effectively no i-frames. Once you make an attack, you gotta finish that shit, son. Even something so simple as drinking a healing potion requires you to put away your weapon (in most cases), press a couple buttons, stop, quaff it down, and do an "Oh yeah!" flex animation. None of which can be skipped, and all of which can be interrupted by aforementioned world-destroying monster knocking you on your ass.

It's great fun!

The Actual Game I'm Playing

Monster Hunter Generations is a side game of the 4th installment in the series. It features several new mechanical additions, most of which are not relevant to the scope of this LP.

One such addition, which is a series' first, is very relevant to this LP. In most Monster Hunter games, you can hunt with AI controlled companions. Usually, they're Felynes- intelligent cats that sprinkle their speech liberally with cat puns. In 4U and Generations, your Felyne hunting companions are called Palicoes, and you can customize them and forge gear for them just like your human Hunter.

In Generations, you can not only hunt with cats. You can be the cat.

See this cute little guy right here? You can kill monsters with him!

Generations introduced Prowler Mode, where you take control of your very own Meownster Hunter. There are even Prowler-specific quests with objectives tailored to the Prowler's strengths and abilities. But the game does not restrict Prowler use in any way. You wanna be the cat? You can be the cat all you dang want.

In this LP, I will be doing the single player campaign of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate as a Prowler. I may rope in some friends to help meowt in multiplayer quests, but frankly those losers don't cat nearly as well as I do.

And then it went Ultimate

Generations Ultimate is the "G-rank" expansion of Generations. Usually, when Monster Hunter games are released in not-Japan, Capcom skips straight to the G-rank, or Ultimate, version. In Generation's case, they didn't do that. Because they said Generations wouldn't get a G-rank version. They lied. Monster Hunter XX was released in March 2017... with not a whisper about localization. And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. In fact, with the announcement, and subsequent release, of Monster Hunter World, most fans of the series gave up on ever seeing XX localized.

Which is a shame, because XX added a bunch of really nifty stuff!

Then out of the blue, Capcom announced XX would indeed come to the west, in the form of Generations Ultimate! This announcement happened when this LP was a good chunk of the way through the main game. So the LP was put on hold for a bit to await Ultimate. Part 25 and onward take place in GenU, moving from the 3DS to the Switch.

More about Prowlers

Let's face it, Prowler mode is a gimmick. It's a good gimmick, but it's clear the game doesn't take Prowlers very seriously at all. Prowler quests won't even make you fight a proper, large monster until you're Rank 4, and you don't have to actually kill one until Rank 6. Rank 6 is endgame shit. For comparison, regular human Hunter quests dump you right into killing large monsters almost from the word go. That said, there are reasons to use Prowlers, but even I won't deny they have drawbacks.

Pros

Don't need items. Prowlers don't need to carry around pickaxes, bug nets, potions, traps, or any of that silly human stuff. This frees up a lot of space in your inventory. Because of this, regardless of how good/bad you are at Prowler mode, Prowlers are purrfect for gathering quests.
They can gather/mine/carve faster than humans can, making them even better at such quests.
They don't use stamina. Prowlers can run forever and don't need puny things like well-done steak to keep them going.
Palico armor is very cheap to make. Monster Hunter is notorious for requiring you to farm for rare drops from monsters to craft your armor and weapons (and then not giving you what you want). Cat armor is crafted from generic "scraps," made from any monster part. So that pile of lizard scales you got while farming for its rare drop will do you just fine!
No armor skills. Hate the fact that your fashionable armor has lousy skills? Worry not! Prowlers don't do any of that shit. Fashion Hunt all you dang want. The only thing you have to worry about is your defense, and even then... not really.
Prowlers excel at support. They can learn skills that heal and buff their allies, cure statuses, and even give their companions infinite stamina for a short period! That's not to say they can't kick ass on their own, but it takes some set up... More on that later.
Cats can automatically see the location of any large monster(s) on the map. For that reason alone, it's worth it to hunt with at least one Prowler. They can save you a lot of time tracking down your quarry! Certain Palico builds can also tell you when a monster is weak enough to capture! (Note: this functionality is only available to human controlled Prowlers in GenU.)
Lastly, and most significantly, they have 9-lives. Oh pshaw, you say, of course they do. They're cats! No, no. That's not what I mean. When mere humans drop to 0 HP during a quest, they are "carted," dragged back to base camp by a helpful band of Felynes before the monster can finish them off. If you cart three times, it's game over, quest failed. (This also holds for multiplayer quests.) Prowlers work a bit differently. When they reach 0 HP, they eat a stashed acorn for a partial HP refill. They can do this twice before being carted for real. So, they quite literally have 9 lives. Oh, and your acorns are refilled if you sleep in the bed at base camp. This means, Prowlers are only really constrained by time on quests, if you hoof it (paw it?) back to base camp after losing your acorns.
They're cute, and fun to play as!

Cons

You're a dang cat, what do you expect? If normal human Hunters are outmatched and outgunned by the vast majority of monsters, Prowlers are doubly so. They aren't as durable as their human counterparts and they don't hit as hard. Hunts will take you longer than average. You would think Prowlers would be relegated to suppawt-bot role and... well you might be right. But we'll see, won't we!
You're tiny. Prowlers have a tough time targeting specific monster bits to break/hack off/etc. But since you don't strictly need those parts to craft cat equipment, it's less of a big deal than you would think.
Less variety. Prowler Mode essentially counts as a separate weapon. So, they only have one moveset while human Hunters can have over a dozen, based on what weapon they have equipped. Prowler weapons can have slightly different properties, such as being blunt or sharp, or being better at melee or ranged attacks, but it's nothing compared to the variety proper Hunters get. Note that this problem is mitigated somewhat in GenU.
No armor skills. I know I also listed that in the pros, but it also is a drawback. Prowlers can have some of the same skills Hunters can get on their armor, but they're innate- determined when you recruit a Palico. This means Prowlers, and Palicoes in general, are heavily dependent on the blessings of the RNG. It can take ages to get the cat you want. I will go into Palico builds in more detail later. Just keep it in mind for now.
They can't use items. See above, but it can also work against them. Your ability to heal/buff/set traps/etc. is determined by your innate skills. Didn't roll a cat that can set traps? Too bad! Try again.

To be honest, it can get preeeeeetty tedious trying for an ideal Palico/Prowler build. Fortunately you don't need to be ~*Optimal*~ for most things. I did the entire single player campaign, that's every single quest, and went all the way to the end of G-Rank in multiplayer as a cat, and it was fine. The game doesn't really punish you for being a cat... up to a point. Yeah, you start getting into late G-Rank or super ultra post-game challenge stuff, you might want to try putting on your big girl pants and crafting yourself some proper armor and weapons. Unless you're me, that is.

And anyway, being a Prowler is just plain fun!

Ultimate Cats?!

Generations Ultimate gives Prowlers a shit ton of new toys to play with! The biggest change is that some of the "Styles" that humans get to play with in Generations get baked into Prowler movesets. We will go over this more in-depth in the videos and the "Prowlers and Mew" write-ups.

Before we dive in, Thread Rules

1) Don't spoil shit! Not everybody watching this has played Monster Hunter (Probably?), so don't spoil monsters we haven't seen yet. If you just can't help gushing about your favorite monster, at least spoiler tag that shit.

2) Don't be a dick. This is a chill LP for chill people.

Useful Resources

There's a wealth of MonHun information to be had out there! Here are some helpful links:

Kiranico's MHGen Database has pretty much anything you would ever need to know
a Google Doc Spreadsheet of Quest unlocks and other useful info
another Google Doc Spreadsheet featuring monster info, cat skills and moves, and more
Ye olde Monster Hunter Wiki
MHGU DB an app for Android havers who want MonHun info on the go
There's also Ping's Dex, which is a comprehensive desktop app. Unfortunately the official download currently returns a 404 error. Here is their Facebook page, which may or may not get updated... or go (ahem) here for a rehost in the meantime

Episode List

Episode 1 Character creation and Our First Quest.

Episode 2 Wherein some cats are recruited and we finish the tutorial.

Episode 3 We fight our first large monster and see what the game really thinks of Prowlers.

Episode 4 Time to check out the other three towns.

Episode 5 What's the big deal with those Big Boomerangs, anyway?

Episode 6 This is what happens when a hunt goes... poorly.

Special Episode 1: Let's Cat Together! The first multiplayer video!

Episode 7 Accidentally unlocking the Urgent for Rank 3

Episode 8 Croaking the Toad

Special Episode 2: Leeloo Nyallas Multicat Here be the second multiplayer video!

Episode 9 Fishing and Fashion

Episode 10 POOGIES!

Episode11 Grand Fashion Plans, thwarted!

Episode 12 The Clusterfuck

Episode 13 Squirt the Big Damn Hero

Episode 14 Totally Safe Gathering Quest

Episode 15 Our way to Rank 4 is clear!

Episode 16 Clearing out a few things. Next time, the Urgent for Rank 4!

Episode 17 The real Monster Hunter starts here!

Special Episode 3: Flavor Finds a Way Third installment of multiplayer shenanigans

Episode 18 Questing in Rank 4

Episode 19 Cleaning up Village Quests in Rank 4

Episode 20 Defense Prowler demo

Episode 21 Bombing Cat Demo and our first Capture quest

Episode 22 Featuring special guest Cichlidae

Episode 23 Amaterasu and the Bombing Cat Squad

Episoe 24 Cleaning out more village quests

Special Episode 4: I Ran out of Angry The Fourth multiplayer shenanigans

Special Episode: Breaking Felyne News part 1

Special Episode 5: Qualification in Animal Multiplayer Shenanigans the Fifth

Special Episode: Breaking Felyne News part 2

Monster Hunter World Stream

"Will it Cat?" Ultimate Begins Here

Special Episode 6: Droppin' Bombs on Yo' Moms The first ULTIMATE multiplayer shenanigans!

Episode 25 The first proper ULTIMATE update. We finally rank up to 5*

Episode 26 Fighting and Beast cat demo

Episode 27 The two flavors of Adept

Episode 28 The last of the key quests in Rank 5

Episode 29 Clearing out a few things before we take on the Urgent for the next rank

Episode 30 That's the last of those pesky requests. Next time, Glavenus!

Episode 31 Ranking up to 6*!

Episode 32 New friend! (Who none of us like)

Episode33 Edgelord dragons and Smash chat

Episode 34 A very loud boy

Episode 35 Punch-a-saurus

Episode 36 Sir Reggie Fils-Amie and Shagaru Miyamoto

Episode 37 Onwards to High Rank!

Episode 38 New friends!

Episode 39 Muddy Buddy

Episode 40 Wetland chat and spider facts

Episode 41 Wherein Liquidy is right about things

Episode 42 Fox McCloud channels his inner redneck

Episode 43 New friends!

Episode 44 Another new friend who is not as annoying as Thardus

Episode45 Beast Cat vs. Niblesnarf

Special Episode: Breaking Felyne News part 3

Episode 46 HIPCHECKS

Episode 47 Not as many hipchecks

Episode 48 Liquidypoo's favorite monster!

Episode49 Last Key Quest before next rank!

Episode 50 Onwards to Rank 9!

Episode 51 Prowler Quests, they are still terrible

Episode 52 Another new friend!

Special Episode: Breaking Felyne News part 4

Episode 53 BEEP BOOP

Episode 54 Yarr, Spoopyween!

Special Episode: Breaking Felyne News Part 5

Special Episode 7: Nyakarkos

Episode 55 New friend and new main Prowlers

Episode 56 Cervantes' Revenge

Episode 57 Damn portals!

Episode 58 No, we have not fought the SPOILER! yet!

Episode 59 He's the last member of The Fated Four (huh)!

Episode 60 Last hurrah before Valstrax!

Episode 61 Scratch one jet-fighter dragon!

Episode 62 Cat vs. Giant Angry Pickle

Episode 63 That Fucker

Episode 64 You sure we didn't fight this guy already?

Episode 65 The last of the non-Elder Dragon Key Quests

Episode 66 Decision time!

Special Episode: Breaking Felyne News part 6

Special Episode 8: G-rank cats! Special stream of the LP crew reaching G-rank, LIVE!

Episode 67 Will the real Nakarkos please stand up?

Episode 68 The King of Hellfire

Episode 69 The Frozen Titan

Episode 70 The Stormlord

Episode71

A silly drawing by your OP

The Let's Play Archive

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

by Silver Falcon, liquidypoo

Introduction