For me, MH4U improved a lot. The climbing is fun, the new weapons are a blast to use and from what I've heard, it had the largest amount of monsters in the series, so I'll give it to MH4U.  It's pretty much turned into my favorite game in the series.

Well, I suppose I'll go with 4 Ultimate. There are some things I don't like a whole lot compared to 3 Ultimate, but I've only just reached high rank so I think my feelings may change over the next hundred hours of play time. In spite of the slightly less comfortable controls and too-muddy visuals, I didn't dislike the water sections and I actually miss them a little bit.

I like that almost every quest feels like it comes from an NPC with a small story attached to it, rather than almost all of them simply being handed out by the guild for the sake of tradition. The egg collection quests in particular benefit from this change.

I'm a little bit ahead of you. The options have increased slightly, but I don't think they'll change much more from here. Item Melding is kind of like using a slickaxe (the slickaxe is still an item in 4U; melding is an additional option). I agree that the farm was a cool place. I love the towns in 4U though, especially Cathar (you should check out its music if you don't consider that a spoiler).

Guess I'll be the one to buck the trend: Monster Hunter 3 wins for me.

Don't get me wrong; 4 is awesome, and in some ways the better game; there's more content, and the new mounting system is badass.

Monster wise, it's about equal; both have their share of gems, like Nerscylla, Kecha Wacha, and Seltas Queen in 4, and Lagiacrus, Barroth, and Uragaan in 3.

But 3 has better environments, and thanks to being on a console, more comfortable controls and a big screen to showcase the action.

I also prefer underwater fighting to fighting while climbing. The trick to the underwater combat in 3 is to play defensively; the lance is ideal. Wait for them to come to you, block their attacks, then punish their openings. You don't even really need to move, just stand your ground and wear them down.

I don't think of 'fighting while climbing' as a separate thing from fighting on the ground. The terrain has more verticality to it, and movement works really well. Jump attacks and climbing are just new tools in your arsenal in familiar conditions, whereas 'underwater' was its own environment with its own rules. I think the environments are way better and more varied in MH4U, with all the walls and cliffs, the multi-layered battlegrounds, the poison-inducing environmental hazards.

Although Lagiacrus was great, I'm more impressed with the monsters new to 4th gen so far.

Funny, the one thing I'm not crazy about is the mounting mechanic. At least partly because in multiplayer when one hunter has mounted the monster, everyone else has to just stand there awkwardly watching them for 10-15 seconds. They can't attack because that could knock the hunter loose. It breaks the flow and it's just kind of a drag. Mounting makes it too easy to knock monsters down, too.

The only environment in 4 that really felt atmospheric and memorable to me is Heaven's Mount, the rest are kind of forgettable. And I hate sunken hollow, it's such a bore. I also miss the way Moga Woods and Flooded Forest had zones that were partly underwater and partly not, so the battle could shift from one to the other on the fly. The webs/vine mats in 4 were kind of similar, but I got sick of climbing up and down as the monsters switched layers.

I guess I don't mind letting others take their turn mounting; for me it added to the sense of teamwork, in that we had to avoid fouling up each other's attacks.

I would get the Wii U version. I do not envy those that attempt to kill their fingers by playing this on the 3DS.

Lol you ask like its a genuine question, everyone knows MH4U is the best game in the series. The only 2 reasons you would disagree is having not played it or nostalgia.

MH4U is leagues better than MH3U. MH4U is a significant step up in quality over all other Monster Hunter games. Capcom really did a great job.

some of the advantages include:

There's greater monster diversity and many more large monster types.

There's an actual story and multiple towns.

Areas are better since in the case of water being bad, it held true for mh3u. On top of that you can climb very quickly all over the place, which gives things a whole other dimension to explore, including multiple levels. There's also the addition of expedition zones. Mh3u in comparison has very basic areas. MH4U probably marks the biggest improvement in locations since the inception of the franchise.

Combat is much more fun with the addition of charge attacks and mounting. It is a much more smooth and intuitive experience than mh3u, and there is a lot more you can do.

Hunt-a-thons make anything you want to grind easier, but also mh4u is much less grindy than mh3u.

Overall it's just a much bigger, more rewarding, and more lively game.

Wish I could comment, but don't own 4U. Got the demo, but that doesn't count...

So do I. If 4U ever gets a WiiU release, then I'll be able to comment.