Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

@Ralizah
I remember you playing MH4U- we had a blast together in that game. Those were the good ol’ days. But MH3U was so long ago I couldn’t remember.

For the record though, I don’t think fan service has anything to do with the two included maps. I liked these maps back then because they were just really, really good maps. Third gen was notorious for its excellent maps, though they were designed around underwater combat (some of them, anyways), such as Flooded Forest. But they revised many of them to eliminate the underwater sections. Portable 3rd had a version of Flooded Forest without underwater sections, and MHGU had Deserted Isle without the underwater section in Area 12.

That said, it is pretty amazing seeing these maps reimagined in an open world format having played the original versions years ago. Now that I think about it, all the MH3U maps were bangers. The Flooded Forest and Sandy Plains which are reimagined in Rise were the two best, but also Deserted Isle was a classic, the Volcano was really good, the Ice map was really good... they were all good. I don’t think reimagining previous generation maps is viable before 3rd Gen. But MH3U and MH4U maps are ripe for the picking. The MH4U maps would be particularly good with the verticality for the wirebug.

@Ulysses
Ya. Updates will be elder dragons and apex monsters only. Wouldn’t make sense to put lower-level monsters in an update because people will be at the end of the game by then.

But the expansion? Ya. I think that’s when we’ll see Lagiacrus. I am personally hoping for Seltas Queen, because I have this imminent desire to ride it charging into battle, with the little steam chugging sound clip right before the charge.

Also Seregios and Astalos. I’d like Great Jaggie just for nostalgia, but we don’t need another raptor given we already have G. Izuchi, G. Baggi and G. Wroggie.

I LOVE that they included small jaggies and jaggia though. You can actually make jaggi armor for your palico! And Great Jaggi was my first ever armor set in the franchise, so that particular armor set means a lot to me. I’m definitely going to make that for my palico to wear in high rank starting out.

Yay! My copy finally arrived!

First impressions: excellent. The demo was nice for getting a peek, but getting a real look at the full experience is still pretty impressive.

I don't have much else to say that hasn't already been said. As for the debate over whether or not it has been over simplified or, more disparagingly, "dumbed down", my gut says no. It seems like whenever a developer decides to remove the tedious bits from a popular franchise and put less in the way of the fun bits, long-time fans tend to complain. It's almost like the tedium is seen as a right of passage, that you have to earn the privilege of playing the enjoyable parts, and that you can't call yourself a true fan if you don't grit your teeth through the downtime between hunts and click through menus to perform various mundane tasks.

Admittedly, most of my Monster Hunter experience has been with Generations Ultimate on the 3DS and Switch, so I haven't been playing as long as some others, but I think Rise is a winner.

@JaxonH Yeah, I'm admittedly a bit disappointed by the lack of MH4U maps. The Ancestral Steppe would have been amazing with the wirebug. And the Frozen Seaway is still my favorite ice map in the series.

@Ralizah
Ancestral Step was beautiful and colorful, but I never felt like the actual map design itself was that great. But the maps in MH4U fell victim to the 1st Gen verticality. If it was re-designed around the wirebug I think it could be pretty impressive. Frozen seaway was also good.

@Mountain_Man
Happy Monster Hunter Day! (For you, anyways... though I suppose for us, too- every day moving forward is a Monster Hunter Day now!).

It’s a really charming game. You’re going to discover so many little details, things that some people will never discover even putting hundreds of hours into the game. You’re going to want to send your owl to perch certain locations and there are at least two I’m aware of. One is incredibly cute and one is incredibly funny. Also make note that in the Buddy Area, you can climb the giant tree in the back (theres vines behind it), which leads you to your cohoot’s nest, where you can gather once after every quest. This is how you get lagniapples.

And ya, I got into the series with MH3U, and I have a deep appreciation for the old school mechanics. I really do. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate was, at least until Iceborne, my favorite game ever. But Rise is just so much better.

And I gotta say, for all the talk of being easy, I just got my butt handed to me by Volvidon, in Low rank Village quests no less. And I have Aknosom armor. One of the things that kept destroying me was actually the wirefall technique. He’d paralyze me, then roll me over, I’d go flying, then I’d wirefall right into him again because he’s so unpredictable with his directions rolling. And I couldn’t heal because I was stenched! I was down to a sliver of life so many times it’s a miracle I somehow didn’t cart.This happened multiple times. Just paralyzing me over and over and over again. So ya, that wirefall can be a double edged sword. Use with caution.

@Ulysses Eh, I just hope Zamtrios comes back, since I really like it.

Same, also Agnaktor, my original favorite monster. Screw Great Jagras, he's basically a dried out/dehydrated Royal Ludroth anyways. lol

Man, I LOVE the armor and weapons in this game. They look so good! I feel like I want to make all the armor and weapon sets that were in the demo, or at least, some of them.

Definitely need Great Wroggi armor. And I need Basarios with the hunting horn. And Royal Ludroth with the hammer, and the yellow poodle to match. I want the Volvidon armor, I want the Rakna Kadaki armor and charge blade, I want the Almudron armor and Switch Axe, AND that crazy futuristic spinning tire hammer of his...

There’s just so much good stuff! And that’s not even mentioning Magnamalo, which I want the full armor for me, my Palamute and palico, and countless other monsters. I love the Hunter armor, the leather armor, I like the Kamura armor, the Deluxe Kit layered armor and the amiibo layered armor for Magnamalo which looks nuts...

I’m gonna spend an enormous amount of time crafting armors and weapons in this game.

Maybe one day I’ll actually make it to high rank lol.

@Joeynator3000
Ok, this I will agree on. Agnaktor used to be my favorite monster in MH3U. He’s not anymore but I still really like him. Especially Ice Agnaktor.

Great Jagras was cool, but one of my least favorite starter monsters. Was basically a punching bag and Anjanath meal fodder.

It’s tradition to have a raptor be the first monster.

Great Jaggi in MH3U
Great Maccao in MH4U
Great Izuchi in MHR

And I love Royal Ludroth. He’s also one of my favorite monsters.

I feel like the weapons are another reason why the monsters aren't all in at launch, since they spent more time on making Weapons and armor look more unique and interesting.

Yeah some of Ludroth's new attacks caught me off-guard in this game. lol

@Mountain_Man You've probably noticed now that you have the full game, but the red arrow is optional and it's off by default. The monster icon still appears on the map though. Tbf, I have the arrow on but I tend to not even look at it, I just look at the map. It still doesn't have the "find the monster" search that way. I like not having to do that, but some hate it.

The tracking of footprints was done as hell and tedious I hated it so much it added nothing to the game because as soon as you earned enough points it would just tell you were to go from the get go anyway so I honestly don't get why people are complaining that rise just tells you where to go

Monster Hunter was always about the fights, not...wandering the area following little green bugs and stuff. It's one of the few reasons why I disliked World...

Only thing I don't like about Rise is that it does tell you where the monsters are right off the bat. I kinda miss the surprise in past games, you'll be fighting some monster then all of the sudden Jho is right on top of you or something.

I feel like World's tracking system would be nice if they just sort of toned it a bit, and made it instead of getting points, it actually led you straight to the monster itself.

@JaxonH The verticality of MH4U's maps is one of my favorite features of that game. And it's probably one reason why most of Generations' environments felt a bit boring in comparison (lack of color is another; that game was really drab).

And I'm going to defend the Ancestral Steppe. It's just a great environment. You have that initial plains area where you first learn about jumping off of ledges, and the mix of golden grass and blue skies is pure scenery porn. The second zone, I believe, is the one with the canopy. It has multiple layers and gives you a variety of ways to interact with monsters (especially the ape-like one that swings around on the underside of the canopy). You get cool mountain areas with giant cliff faces to scale (and jump from when attempting to mount the monsters). In terms of variety, interactivity, AND aesthetics, it's top-notch.

But, I mean, yeah, you'd have to re-design it a bit with the wirebug in mind, given how much it changes the feel and flow of traversal.

Honestly the shrine area feels kind of drab, with the muted color in the sky, and lack of many colors, but the other locations look more interesting to me.

starts making a new armor set, has one piece left and it requires a plate
Welp....here we go. >_>

@Joeynator3000 a friend of mine got like four of them in a row once.

I already got some plates, but of course ones that I don't need...gotta love that stupid sensor. lol

I finished all the village quests I guess? The game didn't acknlowdge it in any way. Maybe more unlock after I've done more Hub quests, not sure.

For now I'm going to concentrate on mopping up the rest of the low rank Hub quests, then I can finally begin High Rank!

...Yeah, I was expecting to fight Rakna at this point, still got to finish the last bit of quests, but she's not there...she's high rank i guess? Ah well, gonna focus on making armor and weapons and finishing up the village stuff before finishing hub stuff.