Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

@Snatcher
Ya, for the main series, definitely. I could, however, see them experimenting in an MMO follow up to Frontier Z.

A persistent online world like that could allow for a single, massive map with various towns and villages scattered throughout. An MMO might allow for a different core structure that doesn't compromise the mainline series formula.

@Pizzamorg Nah, I agree with you, its not like I hated the scout flies or anything, but with how big some of the areas are, it was eating time that I could have used, killing the monster.

@JaxonH Yeah, it would need to be a side game, like pokemon legends I think.

@Snatcher
At first I didn't like scout flies but, they eventually grew on me. The maps were so big you needed something to help guide you to find the monsters so, it was a necessary mechanic for that particular game.

As for Rise, it's my favorite MH game to date. Obviously the base game can't compare to both World + Iceborne but base game to base game, I like Rise more, and I'm fairly certain Rise + Sunbreak will top World + Iceborne for me- not to diminish World + Iceborne, which is still one of my favorite games of all time.

That said, no game is perfect and I do have some criticisms toward Rise in hindsight now having put in neatly 600 hrs in my save file (more if counting 40 hrs in demo and time spent playing on Steam).

• Sunbreak is still using dango 🍡 for meals- it was cool for the base game but I wish full course meals returned in the expansion
• Monsters are immediately visible on the map, and that negates the fun of searching and discovery. The maps are already small- it makes sense for the cohoot to alert you to monster locations, but the specifics of which monster is where should be left as a ??? so you still have to search them out to find the right one- I think that would strike the right balance between quick paced action for a handheld entry without completely negating the searching aspect
• Monsters departing to other areas don't require any strategy to follow such as in past games watching their shadow direction, due to the icons permanently conveying their location. Perhaps fleeing monsters could have their map icon fade out to invisible as they exit line of site. And since your cohoot was already used, you then have to chase them down and find them again. This could prove problematic, however, and require a mechanic like paintballs to return. So I'm not 100% sure this is something that should be changed, but I do think it's worth discussing to determine if a better option could potentially exist.
• Both Rise and Sunbreak have timid quest givers. They're great characters, but I want a sassy quest giver again like MH3U and MH4U had. Maybe it's just the nostalgia talking. I need to give Chichae a fair shake first.
• We never fight two monsters at once. When a second monster enters the fight, it immediately puts the other into a mountable state. I miss the chaos of fighting two monsters at once. Monsters fighting should only happen when turf wars are triggered to limit the mountable states and provide more challenge against multiple monsters. They could scrap intermittently while you fight them in tandem
• Make triggering wyvern riding optional by requiring the player to attack. This does seem to be solved in Sunbreak with a menu option to change the trigger, so that's good to see.
• It's too easy to wyvern ride. I like the mechanic but it needs to be toned down some. Elder dragons should not be rideable, or require a special red wirebug to trigger the mountable state. Other monsters should double the mount damage required. Eliminate the puppet spider, keep the marionette spider.
• No bed to save game. Keep the menu as an option but add a bed for nostalgia purposes.
• Add hidden areas you can eat food skills for like previous generations had.
• Change wirefall to require 2 wirebugs, OR, increase the time it takes for the gage to recover by 100%
• Rampages played solo result in too much aggro on the player, and they're too hard to fail with unlimited carts. Add AI partners for single player rampages to balance aggro, and make the rampages harder to fail by limiting to 3 carts like other quests.
• Armor and weapons are too easy to craft and don't require rare parts nearly as much as past entries, which lessens the grind and actually hinders the addictive aspect of hunting as a result. I understand they wanted to make it easier in this game in order for players to craft a larger variety of weapons, but I feel like they could balance it a bit better by reeling it in just a bit.
• Add smoke bombs back into the game.
• Add the bleed mechanic back into the game. This will presumably be addressed in Sunbreak since Shogun Ceanataur is returning, and Lunagaron's sharp claw attacks seem similar to Odagaron's which also caused bleed.

This is all minor stuff in the grand scheme of things. But it would be great to see at least a few of these things addressed or mitigated in Sunbreak.

@JaxonH Bleed would be cool to see return.

I do think they should have kept the monster covered on the map when you first start, as you said, smaller map, on top of actually having a mount, I just didn't get it.

I feel like sumbreak will make armor harder the craft, not harder but just need more rare mats, which means you have to go hunt the monster more, I mean its high rank after all, got to be hard somewhat.

And do you think they will bring Palico hunters back? I just find it so odd thats the one weapon they removed from the game, and it has to suck being a player that really enjoyed that weapon, as we have yet to get other for a wile.

But I wanted the know, Did anyone else drop the great sword because they found it made the game to easy? I want to pick it back up, but I just didn't really have to put as much effort into my hunts, I mean It has been a wile, I might suck at it now, who knows.

@Snatcher
I don't think Prowler Mode will return. It was a gimmick specific to MHGen/MHGU similar to underwater in MHTri/MH3U, wirebugs in MH Rise and clutch claw in Iceborne. It would be cool to see return but I don't think it's going to happen. I know some refer to it as the 15th weapon type but, I don't think it's the same. Weapon types are actual physical weapons hunters equip and are permanent fixtures of the series moving forward. Prowler was a special mode exclusive to a specific entry.

As for Great Sword, I've always found it the hardest weapon to use in the game. I get destroyed every time I've ever used it. Even in Rise I managed ok, but I definitely wasn't as efficient as I usually am with Switch Axe or Charge Blade.

@JaxonH Yeah, your right, it just sucks because it was so much different compared to the other gimmicks I think.

Well I started learning it in world because I heard the bash could knock down monster, never did that but I sure did tank a lot of hits, and it had a pretty good shield.
But I saw the charge blade and man, did that bad boy have everything I wanted, blunt damage, sword damage, a shield, and a stronger mode, its the best weapon for me.

@Snatcher
Oh, Charge Blade is simply divine

I mained LS/HH in MH3U, but in MH4U I chose IG rather than CB. And I loved Insect Glaive. Still do.

But once MH Generations released and I tried Charge Blade, I never went back. It's just... So. Dang. Good! Experimented with HBG and SA in MHGU, but kept coming back to Charge Blade. MH World? Charge Blade. MH Rise? Charge Blade... at least at first.

The thing is, soon after starting Rise, I decided to use Switch Axe for a bit, and that turned into 50 hours, turned into 100 hours, turned into 200 hours, turned into 400 hours... I eventually realized I preferred it just as much as Charge Blade, and eventually considered myself a "Charge Blade and Switch Axe main" rather than just Charge Blade.

Something clicked with me for Switch Axe in Rise that didn't in previous games. It feels like a natural extension of my Hunter. The Invincible Gambit might be part of that. Being able to super armor through roars without needing Earplugs is chef's kiss.

I look forward to the next entry on power consoles that hopefully will introduce a new weapon type.

So I've been playing this game some more again, mainly because it's getting closer to Sunbreak's release. What's the Home Theater option for exactly, in the audio options section?

@JaxonH Hm, I might want to start trying more weapons, because I keep saying I don't like it, and I end up loving it, I was a big charge blade hater, I did not like the weapon for whatever reason LOL.

Geez, I'm on a freakin' roll with these Deviant G5 quests somehow over on MHGU...it's also stressing me out so...back to this game for a little bit. xD (I'm bouncing back and forth here, lol)

That said...

No one? I figured it would have to do with surround sound but, apparently not? It seems like surround sound is turned off during this mode. Does it have to be a specific speaker system or something? I have a 5.1 sound bar. (yes, actual surround sound, it has a wireless subwoofer with rear speakers hooked up to that)

Also, today I went back to the Charge Blade and, for some odd reason, whenever I do that Ultra Burst thing via one of the Switch Skills, I don't unleash a shockwave type attack anymore? I used to do this constantly but every time I did it today...nothing. It's weird, I made sure to have full phials, BOTH shield and sword charged...still nothing. I forget what the Switch Skill is called, the one where you leap into the air and slam your axe down.

@Joeynator3000
I always thought it was a 5.1 mix, but I can't say for sure since my Ambeo has an "Ambeo 3D" mode that upmixes 2 channel audio to 5.1 and creates immense Soundstage. So even games that aren't 5.1 still sound pretty similar to 5.1

Could be dynamic range, but I think dynamic range already has a separate option.

@JaxonH I'll look again, but I don't think so, it's Home Theater, Console Speakers, External Speakers, and TV. For whatever reason my surround sound turns off (I think) when I select Home Theater, it also lowered my volume quite a bit.

EDIT: Yeah I'm not even going to bother trying to search it up, I have the worst luck ever...it just gives me info on an audio glitch, or talks about the movie...or gives me random speaker systems...lol

Nah Greatsword isn't that hard once you get the fundamentals down (that applies for alot of weapons) but it's far from an easy mode weapon. The nature of it requires you to understand the patterns of a monster very well and proper spacing probably more than any weapon to it's playstyle of waiting for openings then dishing out strong hits.
There are far easier weapons I could list that make the game easier for you: any of the ranged weapons will obliterate monsters with half of the effort of a blademaster weapon, LS as well is much easier to pick up than GS and out DPS' every melee weapon as well etc.

Ugh, that counter thing on the Gunlance (that recovers your sharpness) has been there the entire time...WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN USING THIS?! >.<

I do think the wirebug took out a lot of the risk from the risk reward push and pull of the Greatsword. In past games, you had to really pick your spots and commit, as the weapon was unwieldly and if you overcommitted and missed, you were kind of a sitting duck.

Now, there isn't really much punishment for mistakes. In a way, they sorta lowered the risk in World too, with the draw attack focused playstyle which created a sort of hit and run playstyle, rather than really committing to charged meaty chops, but Rise really took that further. You got super generous iframes for engagement initiating moves and now if you miss you just use a switch skill or just zip away and you're right back in it, no worse for wear.

I personally sorta don't care, because I like that Rise made combat generally faster and more forgiving but I do think it takes away some of the Greatsword's identity. Like I feel basically every other weapon found some kind of new identity with the wirebug, but the GS is the one that sorta lost it. Like it still has meaty damage and simple combos, so there is definitely a role and place for the weapon still, but I'd argue it is probably the weapon with the least amount of unique identity in Rise.

@iLikeUrAttitude Yeah your right, I guess I just learned how to use it, I still would say im a great sword main, my first being charge blade and my 3rd, well idk, I would say long sword because that was indeed my first real main, but I dropped it, because once you get the counters down, (In rise not in world) It really is a easy mode, not that its a bad thing, but dang I wish people would learn to cut the damn tail.

But yeah, when I get back on MH, which might be soon, I will go and get be a better GS to play, because what you said, its probably in my head, or I might have been playing early game monsters, I will probably get ruined with later ones.

@Pizzamorg I agree, when I played it in rise vs world, if you mess up from just swinging the thing all over the place you don't really get punished for it, idk why they had to make the GS mobile, like it was the great sword, weapons like the SA didn't need it, but it was very welcoming because man was that thing just slow in other games, and it felt sorta odd, but I like how much faster it is in rise, the GS, not so much.

I think they had to make the GS more mobile, because the game had been sorta entirely rebalanced and redesigned around all the freedom of movement the wirebug gave the player. If the Greatsword was as slow as it was in previous games, I think it would be next to useless here. You could have I guess explored more around the defensive side of the weapon (like how you can block with it, and tackle with it etc) but I dunno, there are already a bunch of weapons that already sorta fit that niche already and I dunno what the Greatsword would offer uniquely there. So I do sorta get it and the Greatsword is definitely more fun to use than it was in previous games thanks to the wirebug but I dunno, compared to all of the other weapons, I sorta don't get the selling point of the GS anymore. Like if you want big damage, to learn about positioning and easy combos, that is the benefit of the GS, it is like the new tutorial weapon I guess.

MH Rise Sunbreak CE up at GameStop

Confirmed GS exclusive in NA

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/nintendo-switch/products...

UGH got my preorder in with gamestop...I don't know why folks use exclusive retailers.

Back to the open world point. While I don't want it to be, I think @Ulysses is correct that it'll happen eventually. BotW and now Elden Ring are increasingly pushing loads of franchises that weren't open world to open world. Comparing the base Rise maps to what we've seen of The Citadel so far feels like a Sword/Shield Expansion Pass to Legends Arceus esque transition and as we saw with Pokemon, Legends Arceus was preparation for Scarlet/Violet. So I'd guess World 2 (whatever the MH for PC/PS5/Series X|S is called) goes open world.