Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

Is that the final story mission before you start getting the elder dragons?

@Grumblevolcano
Have you completed that quest and are ready for Sunbreak?

@JaxonH No, as Three Hopes releases before Sunbreak the plan is to finish the Black Eagles path of Three Houses and then prepare for Sunbreak. I plan to pick Golden Deer for Three Hopes (picked Golden Deer first for Three Houses) but with all the Three Houses paths complete there'd be no chance of Three Hopes spoiling anything.

@Grumblevolcano
So how far are you?

@JaxonH 5 star rank I think, as for Three Houses around the half way until the timeskip. 1 and a half months should easily be enough time for both.

@Grumblevolcano
If you're on it, that's enough time.

But it depends if you mean 5 star village or 5 star hub. If you mean 5 star village, you still have all of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 star hub to get through. Which is a lot. You can still get through it relatively fast though if you only focus on key Quests. I always do every quest, so it took me a lot longer.

And Three Houses post time skip is another 10-12 chapters, depending on the route. I did Black Eagles, which was 22 chapters. But the Church route is only 16 I think.

@Pizzamorg yes.

Thanks for confirming everyone. I should be good then to play via PC or Switch. Guess it'll just depend on where my friends end up playing.

@JaxonH I missed the stream, and I ended up forgetting, the monsters are hype! This year is just so good for games!

@Snatcher
Sunbreak seems to address all the major issues with Rise. Choosing whether to attack or mount a monster in a mountable state was a big complaint. That's fixed. Bleed status is in the game. Master Rank will provide the difficulty people crave. Amazing new monsters like Seregios, Astalos and Malzeno. Switch skills that were previously ignored due to a better option available can now be used via Switch Skill Swap. Rampages are nowhere to be seen (though I still appreciated them in the base game to spice things up), and some single player Quests now allow you to bring NPC followers with you.

I love the more experimental portable entries. Not everything they try works, but they're willing to take risks and do new things. Rise is all about speed, agility and vertically. This will likely be the only MH game we ever get with this type of focus.

@JaxonH The main thing is that MK8 Deluxe is a big distraction, in the 3 months since the Booster Course Pass was announced MK8 Deluxe went from like 6th most played to 1st. A similar thing happened in the Wii U era, my MK8 usage on Wii U (only Wii U, not Wii U + Switch) was like 900 hours and a large chunk of that was a result of Nintendo expanding the game further with DLC.

@JaxonH Wow? I thought I only missed monsters, but there is a whole bunch of QOL changes!

...Still hoping for another new map...I mean, Iceborne gave you two. Also hoping it's another remake because seeing the Flooded Forest and Sandy Plains like this was fun.

I wouldn't mind an HD Deserted island

I feel like the Misty Peaks would be their choice since it fits Rise's overall theme. As for me, for some odd reason I want the Tundra. xD

Also, HD? HD D. Island already exists. lol

@iLikeUrAttitude
I love Deserted Isle also. But I'd rather see that remade for MH6, where the underwater sections can properly return.

Misty Peaks would be a quality pick for Rise. Then again, pretty much any new Mao would be great.

As long as it's not a 2nd ice, desert or volcano map.

@Snatcher
Oh, ya. Tons of updates and changes. Layored armor for everything, rampage weapons can be skinned with other weapon designs, tons of other stuff I can't even remember. But it's a lot.

...Well, with the expansion nearly here, I decided to play this game again. I figured that I would try and take down the emergency apex quests (and record them of course. >.>). First of all, playing this after playing Iceborne on PS4, ugh...the "confirm" and "back" buttons are reversed, it's annoying. lol

Anyways, I managed Emergency Apex Arzuros, the first time I tried I died pretty easily and I'm like "eh, screw this" and left the game alone after that. That was last year at some point, anyways I took it down this time...Anjanath had the final hit via riding, thought that was funny.

That reminds me, if we do get more Apex monsters (so glad they're not replacing subspecies, though) I do hope we get some for monsters that didn't have a Deviant. I mean, Zinogre is very different from Thunderlord, yeah, and Mizutsune is more aggressive than Soulseer...but other than that, the others were kinda "meh". I just wanna see some that aren't based on existing Deviants, or give me Apex Shogun Cenataur, because Rustrazor was my favorite. lol

Also, if Gold and Silver return...then please...PLEASE...bring back freakin' Lucent and Molten already (and Abyssal, if Lagia returns, they can make it work, lol). I miss them...also a new rare would be nice, Zinogre is overdue for one. lol

I'd definitely be down for Lucent Nargacuga and Molten Tigrex. Though something tells me those were one and done variants, never to return again.

I'm hoping Lagi doesn't come back. It's just not very interesting without the underwater gameplay. Save that for MH6.

I gotta admit, the more I read about Sunbreak, the more I get excited and the more I get nervous about it.

I personally think Rise is the best Monster Hunter game I've played by a long mile, but you don't have to go very far to see people claim that Rise is the worst Monster Hunter game. They say it is too easy and that it didn't provide them what they think the Monster Hunter experience should be.

And in some ways, this is hard to argue with. Like I don't agree with where they landed, but Rise did make a fundamentally different MH experience, even while retaining a lot of the trappings. They streamlined the experience more than ever before, made a faster and more immediate experience, made it more arcadey, gutted the grind, upped the action focus so it was less hunting and more fighting and the silkbind gave unparalleled mobility and power to the player unlike basically anything that came before.

In Rise I get to feel powerful as a Hunter, whereas in past games, you seem to always be at the mercy of whatever monster came next, no matter how much power you amassed. Maybe that should be the whole point, but games like World, Generations Ultimate, or even going back to some of the older titles I remember playing back on like the Wii and stuff with friends, I always found the experiences delivered more frustration than fun, whereas I just think Rise really rebalanced the scales on the fun and frustration scale. Monsters felt powerful, they felt like threats, they would punish greed and mistakes, but a good strategy, learned skill and a bit of luck would result in you feeling like a God. I don't think this undermines the experience, but I know many feel otherwise.

I bring all this up, because with the inclusion of things like a new difficulty rank, I do wonder what that means for a game as a whole. Will they use this opportunity not just to make the monsters stronger, or expand their move sets or whatever else, but also introduce mechanics which'll slow down fights, diminish player power and put a greater focus on the hunt, rather than the fight? It seems like it's what a lot of players want and it will bring the game more in line with past entries. Or will they stick to their guns, with Rise's perhaps more player friendly, more "casual" approach? This is what I want, but I am fearful due to all the backlash to Rise's shift in focus.

I also dunno how I feel about the new multiple sets of switch skills you can change on the fly, either. I already think Rise can be quite a clunky game to play, they did generally simplify a lot of the control schemes and make some of the more awkward weapons easier to use, but there is still a lot of stuff to remember, learn and get used to still every time you swap around a weapon or take any time away from the game. I still remember looking at some Hammer tutorials and being told the optimal way to use the weapon is to swap between stances mid combo for different effect and like that is just way too much for me. Will this be the future of Rise? Stringing together massive fighting game style combos as you chain together different switch skills? Giving the player even more inputs to think about? Like I am sure it will result in some incredible YouTube montages, but I am really worried this just won't be fun to play at all.

That said, I am looking forward to trying out some of the new Switch skills individually, I wonder if there are any weapons I'll be incentivised to use for the first time, because they come with just unmissable skills. I am excited to fight against these new monsters (and returning monsters) and seeing what gear or weapons they make. I though Rise kinda oversimplified the gear system to the point where it just wasn't all that exciting, so I am hoping we see a more expanded gear system in Rise. More sets with bonuses and clear identity, more sets with perks that actually directly impact the game, rather than just providing minimal bumps in stats etc

Honestly, I am just really just excited for a reason to play Rise again. I love the game feel of Rise (should that be retained for Sunbreak) but for me game feel is not enough to keep playing, if I don't have some sort of chase, or goal or progression. I played through the game all over again on PC because I just love it and wanted to feel that chase again. I am fully ready to do it all again through Sunbreak as well.

I am also really intrigued by those quests that let you bring an NPC with you to fight alongside you. It honestly sounds really cool, and will maybe be a good answer for those like me who usually have to rely on online randos for hunts, but we will have to see how it is balanced. If the NPCs are just rubbish, you may as well just run solo, but if they are too strong they might create their own issues. I just hope they draw aggro and don't die straight away so I can lop off some tails.

New Sunbreak videos have started dropping for the 14 weapons showcasing new silkbind attacks.

Switch Axe is getting a discharge counter.