Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

@Ralizah
I've been holding off on talisman melding knowing better melding keeps unlocking as you play. Don't wanna waste all my mats until I can go big.

Do you have a headset to chat with? People were talking about a Discord. Which, I have a Discord set up already for me and my brother (and TeeJay used it with me and my brother in MHGU). Not looking to make it public or anything, but definitely wouldn't mind using it when hunting with you, Fatty, Ulysses, TJ, etc. I have an Arctis 9 that connects to Discord over Bluetooth and mixes the audio but I'm guessing most ppl don't have a headset like that. Can still use it though.

@Magician
Mario Rabbids is an excellent game. Superb. One of the finest strategy games I've ever played. But Monster Hunter Rise is better. The gameplay is so good- it never gets old running around these maps gathering, exploring and hunting. Just got a flashy new thunder charge blade. It has a turquoise luminescent glow and looks insanely cool.

Glad to see you're enjoying it as much as I am. So glad they decided to go with open world maps. The devs said originally it was going to be segmented, but after the success of World they challenged themselves to meet that new standard. So ya, we have World to thank for it. That game paved the way to the masterpiece we have now.

@Northwind I've seen you online the last few times I've played, fancy joining up for some co-op?
I'm pretty sure I won't be invited into Jaxons clan as I'm not 100% in love with the game

Good tip about the Amiibo as well, thanks

@Northwind will do, I usually just go to the board and pick which monster I'm grinding lol. Didn't think about opening a lobby

Just rolled the credits. Really enjoying this game and can see why people have loved the series, glad I gave it a chance and stuck with this one. Can't wait to see how it evolves over time with updates and expansions. Definitely all-in on this one.

@Gamer83
This was your first Monster Hunter, ya? I'm kinda surprised you didn't jump on the World train a few years ago, tbh.

Just so you know. Credits = end of tutorial (only half kidding). You still have 5 star and 6 star village Quests, and the story continues in High Rank (HR4, HR5, HR6 and HR7) Hub Quests. You also have Low Rank Hub Quests but you can skip those if you pass the exams in the village you get access to in 5 and 6 star Quests.

Now is when the real game begins. You haven't even seen half the monsters yet. Some of them you'll see in 5 and 6 star village Quests, but some are High Rank Hub exclusive, such as Jyuratodus, Rakna Kadaki, Rajang, etc.

Hub quests can be played solo offline too, BTW. They're just not confined to offline like the village Quests.

I wonder how folks would feel if MHW2 didn't have the wirebug?

@Magician
You don't have to wonder.

You're gonna get to see firsthand in a few years time 😉

As much as I love the wirebug, I already know it's a Rise specific mechanic that won't carry forward. Palamutes? Maybe. But wirebug? Can't see them doing that.

They'll come up with something else though. I doubt it'll be as good as the wirebug, but you never know

If the next game has open maps like this, but a bit more complicated in layout like the Volcano in Rise, then it'll probably be my favorite one in terms of just maps alone.

@JaxonH

Yeah, we'll have to see. It just seems that going from the wirebug back to the clutch claw + exposure mechanic would be a disappointing step backwards.

@Magician
Oh, I doubt we'll see the clutch claw either, if it's any consolation. That was Iceborne's unique mechanic, like wirebug is Rise's unique mechanic.

They'll dream up something new entirely. I'm sure it'll be mobility related, whatever it is.

@JaxonH Rampage skills are basically augments, and are active during any quest. It's just that you need rampage materials to get them.

@JaxonH
World never clicked with me the way this game did, but again to be fair to that game I also could've put in more of an effort than I did. As for this game, good to know there's still plenty to do plus that update on the way soon.

@Northwind That's so funny, I found the difficulty flipped with Diablos and Goss Harag. Goss was hardly able to touch me (and when it did, making a quick escape to heal was pretty easy) while Diablos was the only monster in the village quests who caused me to cart twice.

Diablos has been a thorn in my side since the Wii days of Tri though

@Danondorf
Can't wait for Black Diablos in G rank expansion with Bloodbath Diablos attacks integrated into the moveset.

Gonna be less of a thorn in the side and more a giant horn up the rear end 😀

@JaxonH 😭My last MH before Rise was 3 Ultimate, so I have no idea what that is (I only made it to high rank in that game too)... I shudder to imagine the horrors of a monster with “bloodbath” in its title lol, but it sounds exciting! Hopefully I climb that mountain someday too... even if I’ve got a few thorns in unholy places by the end of it 😁

@JaxonH the only one I have ever fought is black, OH man g rank just keep sounding better and better.

@JaxonH Yep. It's kind of a shame, because the first three talisman melding methods are essentially a waste. You get WAY more of a ROI by just keeping your materials until you unlock the final two talisman functions. I've actually already melded a few that I'm really happy with after farming the final boss five times or so, but I think I'm going to keep farming until I get some combination of Partbreaker and Weakness Exploit.

I currently have max Earplugs, Bludgeoner, Stamina Thief, and Partbreaker. I previously also had max Mind's Eye, but now it's down to level two because I substituted a pair of leggings that gave me Weakness Exploit level 1. Also have level 2 in Hunger Resistance, and Flinch Free, and four or so level 1 skills aside from Weakness Exploit.

(I may or may not have been playing literally all day. This gacha crap with the talismans has its hooks in me pretty deep, lol)

As to voice chatting... I think I've used the Nintendo app to listen to live chat from other people once or twice, out of curiosity, but I never talked, and I didn't really see the point of it, tbh. I'm not... really into that sort of thing. I'm super awkward during telephone calls, too, despite having great rapport with people IRL.

Thankfully, MH Rise isn't really a game that's dependent on super close coordination between party members as long as you use common sense.

It took a long time for me to build up the nerve to go online in MH4U, and I was nervous about it here as well, but I've actually really been enjoying group hunts. Mostly with strangers, but hunts are hunts. The only thing that sucks about hunting with randos is that people want to capture EVERYTHING. It might be more efficient, but I just prefer a good, old-fashioned fight to the death, y'know? Capturing a monster at the tail end of a long battle feels anti-climactic. There's a very primal satisfaction to beating a monster to death and then carving its body apart.

@Ralizah
Ya, they designed the game to be completely playable with the preset communication options. Chat is more of a, "its fun to talk while playing and texting is too much of a pain when holding a controller" kind of thing. I never do it with randoms, but my brother, TeeJay, that's a different story. Think I also chatted with what's his name. Zionich? Ya. Haven't seen them around here in a long time, but they're still in my Discord. But no worries. I'm tempted to still connect my headset so other people can hear me, but that feels kind of weird to me when nobody says anything back. I can't help but wonder, are they thinking, "dude, shut up and let's hunt in peace and quiet!" Probably not, but without any response you never know.

I can't believe how quickly people are getting to end game despite me putting twice the hours in. Probably because I'm doing all the Quests (right now I'm knocking out the remaining expeditions in High Rank which needed check marks, plus I needed to farm all the areas for high rank Ore and small monster mats, since I don't have many high rank mats yet. Getting there, though.

I beat Juyrutodus this morning before work, so I'm now HR5, but I'm finishing all the HR4 stuff before moving on.

Oh, dude. I got this killer chainsaw Switch Axe! Even in the still weapon poses, it runs on gasoline and you can see the chains spinning and revving lol... it's so awesome. And I got this origami crane Switch axe too! I gotta say, Switch Axe has the best weapon designs in this game. At least from what I've seen.

@JaxonH Regular Diablos already has a Bloodbath move in high rank. lol
Gonna guess Black Diablos will be even more nightmarish or something.

But yeah, they better bring back subspecies...and if they do rares...PLEASE give us more than just Gold and Silver! >.<

I've been playing Monster Hunter, sans a four hour break in the middle of the day, almost continuously from nine in the morning to... looks at clock... two in the morning of the next day. That's nuts. I never binge like that. And the crazy thing is I kinda wanna go back and grind a few more hunts for talisman purposes, but I... think I'm done for a bit.

@JaxonH Maybe, although I think you're also 'stopping to smell the roses,' so to speak, instead of aggressively making progress through the game. For my part, I skipped the first three hunter ranks entirely and mostly stuck to the required quests for the others, although the number of quests I've grinded for materials for talisman melding today is probably equal to the number of high rank missions I skipped. I did the final boss alone nine times today.

I did complete all of the village quests, though, sans the rampage missions. Really don't like doing those solo, although I've learned to not mind them in mp.

And, really, it's just not that big of a game in its base form. I'm continuing to play it, but that's mainly because I enjoy it.

Yeah, a lot of the Switch Axe designs in this game are pretty awesome. I'm fairly happy with my current hunting horn, which is another 'creepy' one: the outside looks like it was crafted from the body of a xenomorph, and the strings are spider webs. Very neat.

I think I'm going to re-spec and ditch the earplug-heavy build I've been going for, because they're just not that useful in this game. Even max earplugs don't block the roars from the bigger monsters.