Topic: Monster Hunter Generations (Our Toothy Lord and Savior)

Using my Seltas Queen set along with a level 4 Grimclaw Gunlance (Wide), I was able to not only keep my heat in red for an entire 30-minute (Hyper Yian Kut-Ku and Hyper Shogun) hunt, but also in white sharpness thanks to Razor Sharp and Absolute Readiness... really not seeing the issue here. Even if it was true that you had to maintain red heat just to make par, that would be ignoring everything else it got in Generations. Arts give it a great approaching move (that can mount!), a surprisingly fast explosion of power, and for those who haven't come to grips with the heat yet, a plan B that also boosts the power of shelling. Aerial makes full bursting easier than ever before, Striker makes Gunlance much more fluid by removing the slam and providing a wide selection of arts for either mobility and/or power, and Adept makes Guard skills unnecessary just like with the Lance.

If you still can't be bothered to make something with an Artillery skill, consider seeking out Long shots; they have the most forgiving red sections.

@Tsurii Are you talking about the shoryuken move? Huh... never noticed it was gone in 4th gen. And Zinogre's my favorite monster, even.

That's the other thing that bugs me about this game, most monsters have been dumbed down a lot, especially after dealing with them in 4U. Less combos, Zinogre doesn't do his G-Rank claw slam anymore, no more poison breath from Chammy...or the giant tornadoes Kushala spawns don't move anymore. From what I could tell, Alatreon is basically the same as he was in 3U...

....Kinda why I want the 4/4U director back, he mixed things up for the monsters. Even when going into high rank, the monsters changed slightly in some way...

@Joeynator3000 This is why most subspecies are dumb. They only serve to hold back their originals. And that 4U director ruined regular Diablos just to make Black more distinct.

Everything High Rank monsters do in Generations is the same as High Rank equivalents in 4 Ultimate. No dumbing down present except for ones that didn't have a high or low version to begin with (Chameleos). I have every reason to believe that G-Rank monsters in XX will be exactly like those in 4U.
But that's another issue that bugs me with these expansions... the mindset that G-Rank is all that matters.

I'm fine with subs, like with Black Diablos, it gives it more reason to be around. Doesn't need to be like in FU/3U where it was "just another Diablos". Maybe they could Diablos a few more new moves to make it even more different from the sub.

And honestly, Hypers should've did something like Apex/Frenzied did to mix things up. Apex Diablos using moves that Black Diablos and White Monoblos had. Or have the monsters use moves that were in 4U's G-Rank, I was kinda hoping Khezu would do this. But nope, same ol' Khezu but with more attack....that was it. :/

Don't even think Khezu did the thing Red does with that mouth swiping thing when walking forward.

They decided to increase Amatsu's and Alatreon's health over 10,000....you'd think poison would help take down Amatsu quickly. But nope...I end up running out of time, even with Status Attack +2 and Specialist.

Capcom did all this so that Double Cross can exist. Now let us cease talking about things that could've been.

@Joeynator3000, sorry, but you should've known better than to take a weapon with only a sliver of blue sharpness at best and that low power without any kind of actual damage boosting skill solo versus such a colossus.

....What?

You said you used the Chameleos Insect Glaive for Amatsu, no? Fully upgraded, that's 190 power with "some" natural blue sharpness (more than I thought, but still goes by real quick for IG). Not terrible, but unless you're facing a Daora or boost it's actual damage in some way, all the poison in the world won't make up for it's low power solo. Just look at Dreadqueen's weapons.

Dreadqueen doesn't have a Glaive...

That's besides the point. Dreadqueen weapons have very large poison attributes, but abysmal raw power, making them rather poor solo weapons. Being able to poison a monster repeatedly doesn't mean much if you can't inflict truly meaningful damage otherwise.

I'm gonna get a bit of multiplayer going. If anyone would like to join, then the ID is 36-0992-8822-9004 and the passcode is 3334

@Tsurii He had it in 3U, I know that much (I remember it and didn't play Portable 3rd for obvious reasons).
Though I think his one-two-three forearm slam was more of his signature anyways.

I'll be hunting for a couple hours ^^

Fought my first Alatreon last night, and it was pretty boring. Yeah, he hit's like a truck, but his ground based moves are easy to work around and when he's in the air you can't really do anything but run. Did it with two other people and it took 18 minutes- I've seen a full group of four take nearly 30. Guess it really does help to have a crag-spamming gunner on your side sometimes.

Isn't it possible, if difficult, to flash him out of the sky?

@meleebrawler It has to be during certain moves- the gunner (who really carried us in the fight) did it a couple of times. Both the moves involve thunder (his aerial dash and his downward claw slash)- considering I'm running around with Dreadking armor, the aerial dash can go across most of the area, and the fact that he can reposition during the start-up of his claw attack, I wouldn't have even risked throwing a flash bomb if I had one.

Just fought him a bunch of times with a solid group. Averaged about 7 minutes a hunt, and without any gunner. The only restriction I noticed for flashing is that it can't be done when he's raging. Otherwise any time is fine as long as you aim it right. Mounting helps, even if you can't pull off the minigame it still grounds him. If you say the gunner carried you, I don't know what to say. Either your weapons were inadequate or you were playing way too scared, if it's taking that long. I even got around 10 minutes with three people, by skillfully locking it down with my Deathprize.

Other observations:

• He does this similar move to his hailstorm, except he doesn't fly high to do it. Don't remember this from 3U.
• Is it just me, or does he sound a bit different in this game? His initial roar sounds kind of like Teostra's.
• It's amazing how a simple change of stance compared to other elder dragons makes a world of difference.

@meleebrawler Well, whenever he was on the ground me and the GS user pummeled him a lot, and I got half a dozen mounts off. The issue was that he spent half the time in the air, and we obviously didn't know how to fully combat him there. 15-20 minutes seems about average, though, judging from youtube vids.

I had Dreadking gear with about 600 defense and the Baraq Sedition- factoring in basically unlimited sword mode with power phials and attack up large, I had 240 attack (not even counting the white sharpness modifier and essentially 100% affinity on his head due to weakness exploit + Energy Charge III 30% affinity buff + 20% natural affinity on weapon). I don't think I was under equipped, what with one of the best armorsets and the best SA for Aerial style (you functionally have infinite white sharpness with it).

I find that infinite white sharpness with aerial Switch Axe hard to believe unless you also have Razor Sharp.

And maybe it's just me, but I don't find that Alatreon is as keen on staying in the air like in 3U, where he'd gladly stay there for a really long time until you binded him, flashed him, or he decided to use his even more time-wasting hailstorm.

But really... flashing him isn't that hard in this game. Not to mention all those moves that he always stops to taunt afterwards, like his bigger thunderclaw sessions.

One of the GS's I was hunting with used Epitaph Eternal, a strong dragon element... considering Alatreon generally spends more time in his ''ice mode'' where he is weak to it, maybe that's something to consider.