Monster Hunter: Rise. Sunbreak confirmed for June 30th, 2022

[BitterToad]

Holy shit I just had a brilliant slog of a fight with Tobi Kadachi. He was flooring me constantly, every hit I got in he fought back and hit me too. Made the decision that it was such a great fight that I wouldn't capture him. That I'd see it through. One of us was going down. I chewed through all of my potions, managed to luck a couple of herbs as I got him back to his lair, saw both of those off and caved him in with 50% of my health bar left. First fight so far that's felt like a proper equal. 

 

Great game, this. I feel like it might do me good to slow down a bit... it is quite repetitive, but the monsters are so good that I just want to see more of what it has to offer. 

[Jamie John]

1 minute ago, BitterToad said:

Great game, this. I feel like it might do me good to slow down a bit... it is quite repetitive,

 

I feel this way a little bit, too. By having the monster icons on the map from the start, they've streamlined it to the point of it becoming Monster Fighter rather than Hunter. It's got an almost arcade-like feel to it, which makes it great for quick bouts but stops you from exploring the wonderful environments as much as you did in World. I think I prefer the scoutflies.

[Sie]

@Jamie John The icon indicating that the monster is capturable appears under the target icon in the top right corner of the UI rather than on the map. And yeah, I definitely miss having to track the monsters down. I feel far less compelled to just poke around and explore because of that one small change.

[scottcr]

Oh this is a bit good... finding wee books and crannies and nice items with the wirebug is really satisfying too.

[ChewMagma]

2 hours ago, Sie said:

@Jamie John The icon indicating that the monster is capturable appears under the target icon in the top right corner of the UI rather than on the map. And yeah, I definitely miss having to track the monsters down. I feel far less compelled to just poke around and explore because of that one small change.

 

It appears on the monster's icon on the map as well.

[deerokus]

Kotaku article about how hard the game is to get into. https://kotaku.com/monster-hunter-rise-is-tough-to-get-into-as-a-newcomer-1846579126/amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

 

Problem - he booted up the game, skipped the tutorials and repeated warnings that he was doing difficult content meant for four player groups and went straight into the multiplayer stuff (against Aksonom, no less, the first monster that can give you a bit of a fight). Presumably with the starting equipment. Then struggled, came away confused and not sure what he was doing. And then bothered to write an article about it. At the end he even says 'I might try the single player with its tutorials I guess'. 

 

Games journalism is one of the weirdest jobs. What was the point of that? 

 

Do games like this need to lock off the multiplayer stuff until you've played a certain amount of single player? That wouldn't be a good solution. 

[ChewMagma]

13 minutes ago, deerokus said:

Kotaku article about how hard the game is to get into. https://kotaku.com/monster-hunter-rise-is-tough-to-get-into-as-a-newcomer-1846579126/amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

 

Problem - he booted up the game, skipped the tutorials and repeated warnings that he was doing difficult content meant for four player groups and went straight into the multiplayer stuff (against Aksonom, no less, the first monster that can give you a bit of a fight). Presumably with the starting equipment. Then struggled, came away confused and not sure what he was doing. And then bothered to write an article about it. At the end he even says 'I might try the single player with its tutorials I guess'. 

 

Games journalism is one of the weirdest jobs. What was the point of that? 

 

Do games like this need to lock off the multiplayer stuff until you've played a certain amount of single player? That wouldn't be a good solution. 

 

There is a point that the supposed "accessibility" of Rise is only relative to other MH games - it is still a poor onboarding process for new players - but on the other hand that article is utterly woeful.

[deerokus]

12 minutes ago, ChewMagma said:

 

There is a point that the supposed "accessibility" of Rise is only relative to other MH games - it is still a poor onboarding process for new players - but on the other hand that article is utterly woeful.

In many ways I'd argue MHW was better at that (it's where I first played the series), although it's a bit subjective. MHR gets you into the game much faster.

[wretcherd]

The most newcomer-friendly addition is probably your hunter shouting "HERE IT COMES!" or similar when the mon is winding up its hardest-hitting attack.

[Garwoofoo]

9 hours ago, Jamie John said:

 

I feel this way a little bit, too. By having the monster icons on the map from the start, they've streamlined it to the point of it becoming Monster Fighter rather than Hunter. It's got an almost arcade-like feel to it, which makes it great for quick bouts but stops you from exploring the wonderful environments as much as you did in World. I think I prefer the scoutflies.

 

I was feeling a bit like this to start with but then I got a side quests to find some obscure items I'd not seen before and decided to go exploring to look for them. The amount of detail in the environments, and all the hidden places you can get to using the wirebug, is absolutely off the charts - I spent a good hour just poking around in the Shrine Ruins, and I didn't find everything by any means. There's more detail here than there ever was in World, and it's an order of magnitude more complex than the earlier games. I'm suspecting that as the game gets harder, I'll need to actually explore for materials more, which will bring these two halves of the game together a bit.

 

In the meantime, Monster Twatter with its focused, ten-minute fights is a surprisingly good fit for a handheld system - I'm not saying I'd want every game in the series to be as arcadey as this one but it's one of the best pick-up/put-down games I've played for a long time.

 

6 hours ago, deerokus said:

Kotaku article about how hard the game is to get into. https://kotaku.com/monster-hunter-rise-is-tough-to-get-into-as-a-newcomer-1846579126/amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

 

This, meanwhile, is an absolute embarrassment. I probably should have stopped reading when the author said "the monster did not have a health bar, so it was impossible to gauge progress".

[CheekyLee]

That Kotaku article reminds me of a stream I popped in to. The player was in the last 5 minutes of the online Kulu fight alone, with the starter equipment. Why? Because he didn't want to do the 1* village delivery quests. I didn't see him start the quest, but assume he didn't put out a join request, because he was complaining that nobody was online so nobody was joining him.

 

I tried to offer guidance. I told him that he had chosen the harder version, he apparently  knew that. I tried again. "You just need to find them, it's easy." But, he wasn't having it. "I know it'll be easy, but it will be boring!" He kind of has a point, as he's bought an expected experience and isn't prepared to play it in any way other than what he planned for. A little of it was arrogance, maybe, but it's the earliest set of levels. They're meant to ease you in, aren't they? So, he possibly assumed he would be good enough, and yet even when I told him how to, he still never even got his Long Sword to white Spirit gauge.

 

Is that the game's fault? Probably. I remember how annoyed I was with Tri, that my first official quest was "Find mushrooms", but now I can see why it was done that way. Other than forcing a weapon tutorial, how does the game show people to combo up and get that all-important last hit to activate the Spirit? 

 

He timed out. "This game is just not my cup of tea. I'm more of a shooter guy." No consideration that he's made it as hard for himself as he possibly can, just assumption. I was, and still am, at a loss as to how to help people like that. Perhaps a mandatory Utsushi quest with each weapon before going out for real? Gen U had them as optional Great Jaggi fights, and surely nobody did all 14 of them? (Other than me...)

 

"Gamers" have this belief that they are always going to win. I've seen how it can affect people when the game requires skill. They refuse to invest, they blame the game, it's rigged, it cheated. And, ultimately, that's just something we'll have to accept. I've likened MH to learning to play guitar.in the past, and I fully accept that I don't have the patience to do that. (Well, the pain threshold, actually, it really does hurt my fingers.) So, maybe don't blame the player, or the game. Just accept that it is what it is.

 

But definitely take the piss out of the guy at Kotaku! He should know better, and deserves to be laughed at. Fuckin' scrub, git gud.

[Garwoofoo]

Quite.

 

It's just that overall sense of "I can't cope with this, it's slightly different to the games I play" that really rankles me. Especially coming from a so-called professional games writer. Skipping the tutorials, complaining that the attack button isn't the same one he's used to, then moaning because he hasn't been able to button-mash and be rewarded with instant success.

 

I'll fully accept that the MH: Rise new player experience is woeful (I don't think anyone can defend all those tutorial popups) and I think in many ways World or even MHGU did it better, but it only really takes an hour or so and a little application to get your head around most of what you need to know to get going. If you're not prepared to put that time in to appreciate your new £50 videogame, what hope is there really? Just play the old stuff you clearly prefer because you're good at it.

[scottcr]

I'm worried about marking items that you want to track down to complete sets etc... surely this feeds DIRECTLY into the Desire Sensor for extra trolling.  I don't fucking trust it.  No siree. 

[moosegrinder]

We all know the cycle of Monster Hunter. New one comes out, new people buy it expecting Generic Third Person Action Game 482 and find it's an arcane, archaic, nuanced yet somewhat repetitive experience and they can't be fucked with it. They write it off as some dinosaur of ancient game design without health bars, lock on and a flat out fucking weird combat system and cry about it before fucking off to the new shininess. I know this because for ages I was that guy.

 

Fuck em. Let the articles wail and the comments gnash their teeth, I've got some big honey badgers and lizards to twat in the face with my massive exploding lance.

[Hyper P]

Is there a way to just review your Wishlist without having to select another piece of equipment that you don't actually want to put in the list, just to get the menu up?

[ChewMagma]

17 minutes ago, Hyper P said:

Is there a way to just review your Wishlist without having to select another piece of equipment that you don't actually want to put in the list, just to get the menu up?

 

+ then it is the bottom option under the same tab as the Hunters Notes.

[Hyper P]

8 minutes ago, ChewMagma said:

 

+ then it is the bottom option under the same tab as the Hunters Notes.

Ah okay! I must have missed it!

[Pungee]

That first big monster that poisons you every 30 seconds is really showing up my 'stand there and block everything' gunlance strategy. 

I suppose it makes sense, but I do find it surprising that this is the first Switch game that I think looks noticeably better in handheld mode. I guess it's inevitable that the flaws show up more when everything is blown up for a 65 inch screen.

[Melon_Bread]

22 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

We all know the cycle of Monster Hunter. New one comes out, new people buy it expecting Generic Third Person Action Game 482 and find it's an arcane, archaic, nuanced yet somewhat repetitive experience and they can't be fucked with it. They write it off as some dinosaur of ancient game design without health bars, lock on and a flat out fucking weird combat system and cry about it before fucking off to the new shininess. I know this because for ages I was that guy.

 

Fuck em. Let the articles wail and the comments gnash their teeth, I've got some big honey badgers and lizards to twat in the face with my massive exploding lance.

 

Yep, and they are missing out on one of the best games out there, I love seeing people hate on Monster Hunter, then they appear a few weeks later having finally 'got it' totally obsessed with the game.

Monster Hunter is a strange one tho, some of us have been playing it for over 15 years, the move sets are ingrained into our muscle memory, it's probably the only game I could tell you some of the moves by heart, the basics have not changed since the second game, yeah, things have been added or tweaked but I can jump into a new one and know exactly what I am doing. Capcom somehow need to cater for new players and the long term fans, it's very hard to balance. Making the village super easy def goes someway to help new players.

Sometimes I wish they would just have a massive banner at the start that's tells new players to not worry, just get stuck in and experiment, you can't do anything wrong, every failed quests you build up new skills with your weapon of choice and in no time that monster that frustrated you so much will go down easy.

 

[StephenM]

Just read that Kotaku article. The no health bar complaint is really maddening — you’ve hit the thing with a massive sword hundreds of times, let’s just assume it’s taken a bit of damage!

[shirubagan]

Got to HR3 in the Hub Quests last night. I fucking LOVE the revamped Hunting Horn.

[Nobuo's Organ]

Getting stunned hurts more than ever when you're used to wirefalling out of trouble, and that's how my first cart was to a Tobi-Kadachi

 

As much as I appreciate the QoL, the end credits rolled on the village after about 12 hours and the first hunt I did in the hub was the one which unlocks High Rank I haven't really explored the later maps properly yet or unlocked any more submarines, which I probably would have done if I'd had to play through everything again in the hub with end-of-low-rank gear.

 

Even so, the game's only just beginning as I'm just taking first steps away from my traditional Long Sword for the village quests - I've just set up loadouts for my first Pierce 1 and Normal 2 rapid fire Light Bowguns in Rise and they're delightful

 

What do people think of the rampage? I did the first mandatory one entirely from the ballista you set up in the mini-tutorial it starts with, and only other one I've done so far was the one to get you into High Rank, which I jumped online for. So one a bit boring, the other absolute chaos, but neither really felt like Monster Hunter. I appreciate that the old-style sieges would be out of place in this game, but I'm not sure the rampage is the way to fix it.

[Garwoofoo]

I've only played two Rampages so far - the mandatory one you get in the Village, then another one that the Hub gave me halfway through the 2-star quests - and I've not particularly enjoyed either of them.

 

Then again, the big Monster Hunter set pieces are rarely much fun - I didn't enjoy Zorah Magdaros much in World, for instance. As long as it doesn't become a huge part of the endgame or anything, I can live with it.

[Melon_Bread]

Yeah the rampages are not that great, at least you don't have to do many of them, maybe they will come into their own in High Rank. I sort of hoped they would bring back Jhen Mohran for some siege action.

High rank is def harder, about to hit HR6 I think. Barroth and Ludroth just seem more vicious in this, maybe it's because it's all faster and so damn hectic.

Again, if you haven't yet, try the mighty GUNLANCE!

[Garwoofoo]

Oh yes! Silly question time from me.

 

In the weapons upgrade tree, I want to upgrade my current weapon but the next upgrade is just shown as ???. Any idea why? I thought I'd be able to see what items I needed for it but it's not showing me anything.

[Melon_Bread]

13 minutes ago, Garwoofoo said:

Oh yes! Silly question time from me.

 

In the weapons upgrade tree, I want to upgrade my current weapon but the next upgrade is just shown as ???. Any idea why? I thought I'd be able to see what items I needed for it but it's not showing me anything.

 

It's either you haven't found the one part that unlocks that upgrade or it's locked behind progression, keep playing and gathering and it should open up. 

[CheekyLee]

14 minutes ago, Garwoofoo said:

Oh yes! Silly question time from me.

 

In the weapons upgrade tree, I want to upgrade my current weapon but the next upgrade is just shown as ???. Any idea why? I thought I'd be able to see what items I needed for it but it's not showing me anything.

Typically, weapons and armour have always had a "required piece" that you need in your inventory before it appears. Best guess is that you've yet to see what unlocks it.

[ChewMagma]

I've got the RLLMUK connect lobby up if anyone is about.

[Mafro]

55 minutes ago, Garwoofoo said:

I've only played two Rampages so far - the mandatory one you get in the Village, then another one that the Hub gave me halfway through the 2-star quests - and I've not particularly enjoyed either of them.

 

Then again, the big Monster Hunter set pieces are rarely much fun - I didn't enjoy Zorah Magdaros much in World, for instance. As long as it doesn't become a huge part of the endgame or anything, I can live with it.

 

I'm finding the online rampages pretty fun due to how chaotic it is with all the stuff going on with other players. It thing my favourite set piece fight is still Jhen Mohran though.

[CheekyLee]

Don't sleep on Meowcenaries! I have several new armour sets that have come from things I assume I only picked up from that. The Jelly armour set, in particular, is fabulous. It appeared after I got Cutejelly from sending my pals to a shiny fish line in Frozen Islands.