Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

@Ulysses
Don't mind me. I've got a lot of cutscenes and speech bubbles each quest

No worries, I've got my dogs distracting me here at home

And here we go, Malzeno!!

@Ulysses
Bazelguese mantle! Hoo-rah!

@JaxonH @Ralizah Nice hunting with you guys today! How was fighting your first Malzeno Jaxon? Malzeno's music is incredible!

Here are some highlights for me from our hunts =p

@Ulysses

Actually hadn't hunted Gore Magala before today since MH4U, so that was fun.

I hunted Gore a few times with the HH in Sunbreak and generally found it a surprisingly easy fight, but on the lance, it is pretty rough. Any monster that combines delay with multi hitbox attacks is my nightmare on the lance. The turtle and counter playstyle I have built for the lance just doesn't work in this context, it is a shame, as I would really like their lance, but the fight is so rough.

It is funny how that works in the opposite direction, too. Monsters like Volvidon, Seregios, Nargacuga, Diablos, Kushala all gave me so much trouble on the HH, but those fights all really suit the lance playstyle I have adopted.

Pretty much any monster which doesn't have long delay on attacks, and attack with multi hitboxes in one animation or doesn't activate delayed post damage after the initial hitbox is pretty fun on the lance, as you just joust until one of you falls and it is just so satisfying, in a way other weapons really haven't been for me.

I will say the Kushala suck you in and then send out the dirty tornadoes thing though is kinda wild, as if you aren't using at least two Guard Up, even if you block all the way through that attack, the amount of hits will give you enough chip damage to kill you.

Also weird observation with the Lance. Maxed out Attack Up seems to make a remarkable lack of difference on overall damage output, for some reason. I swapped out almost all of my defence boost and comfy skills as I had my shield, to try and max out my damage. My damage barely increased, but now I carted after almost every time I made a mistake with my counter so I quickly undid that change. Another weird thing about the Lance, is what you can and can't counter for a damage buff with Anchor Rage is completely inconsistent. You can take the same attack two times, the first time it will fail and the second time it will proc, it can make things a bit of nightmare at times.

@JaxonH @Ulysses - Thanks for the invite guys and sorry I missed this... was out last night and only just caught your messages this morning! Sounds like you had a fruitful hunt though

My switch ID is SW - 6657 - 2171 - 6029

Add me if you get a chance? I already have @Ralizah - and am really keen for some MP action soon!

On a side-note, @Ulysses I like the idea of eliminating (or at very least minimising) all the HUD options. I am sure there are plenty of visual nods I could live without, and at the moment my screen feels incredibly 'busy' ha! What weapon do you main btw?

tries going back to Iceborne, uses multiplayer and tries to finally kill Furious Rajang, still fails constantly, gives up and goes back to Sunbreak

...People can whatever they want about Sunbreak being a terrible and easy game...I don't care, it doesn't infuriate me like IB. I actually enjoy Sunbreak...lol

I would say Sunbreak has sorta hit my maximum tolerance for difficulty, while still having mostly a good time. To me, I felt like Rise "solved" so much of the frustration and ***** of World/Iceborne. Maybe they went too far in the other direction and made it "too easy", but you still had hard quests in the form of Event and Emergency quests and then your regular quests were just a fun time.

Sunbreak seems to have really built everything more around that Event difficulty and made it mandatory to bang yourself against it. Then when you get to the endgame, it is just bullet sponge city and I think it is such lazy design.

Like I love all the extra power you can amass in Sunbreak, but monsters are so oppressive, I just feel weaker than ever. That doesn't have to inherently be a bad thing. But for me, the biggest problem with World/Iceborne's difficulty design is no matter how strong you got, eventually the incoming damage would become effectively insurmountable. 99% of the time you died, you would have no clue as to why, there would be nothing to learn. A monster's hitbox brushed you as they walked next to you and for some reason it took all of your health.

Sunbreak really leans into this a lot, where like a monster will just spam a volley of five, six or seven attacks in rapid succession and it is just like... what were you even supposed to do there? Just full on run away? Because that seems to be completely antithetical to the core of Rise's design. Even running maxed out armour at like 750 defence or whatever, you can easily be killed in two to three hits by basically anything. You can throw on Divine Blessing, max out defence boost etc and maybe you will survive four hits.

My main issue with IB was that I play Gunlance, a defensive weapon. I use Guard-Up and I STILL can't block some attacks sometimes...and it feels random. Like, wtf?...The attacks I try to block are pretty basic, too...but no I'll just take full damage instead. Or get pinned by a powerful monster and take an insta-death or something.

So glad Rise/SB got rid of this, only time I can't block anything even with Guard-Up here are the final bosses. (Allmoth kinda annoys me here especially with Master Rank, lol) I'm guessing you can't block Valstrax's dive-bomb attack either but I've never tried. xD

@Joeynator3000 Is it just me or did Hunting Horns get SEVERELY NERFED in the update that accompanied the Sunbreak expansion? I don't have Sunbreak, but the weapon rebalancing effected the base Rise as well and from what I can tell damage has been reduced, effects have been weakened, and the weapon attacks seem slower. 😑

Here's some highlights of clips I took, though most were after Ralizah left

I gotta learn how to wake a monster with a TCC without setting the bombs off first lol

@TowaHerschel7
They may well have reduced its damage along with Longsword to bring them in line with the other weapons. Hunting Horn was extremely powerful in base Rise. Sunbreak introduced a weapons balancing patch based off statistical data collected by Capcom, so rest assured if it did get changed, it was only to bring parity with other weapons.

@JaxonH TBH it feels stupidly weak now. Seems like S&S can outdamage HH and items are VASTLY superior to its support skills now. 😱

@TowaHerschel7
Likely just feels weaker by comparison than what you're used to. Maybe Sword and Shield can outclass it, but if so it won't be by much, and the weapons will never be exactly equal so it's only natural one is ahead of the other to a slight degree. The goal is typically to ensure all the weapons are as closely matched as possible. But they change spots with each new entry and balancing update, ensuring every weapon gets its time in the rotation.

For base Rise, it was Longsword and Hunting Horn. For Sunbreak, it's Greatsword and Switchaxe.

Oh, you all had a hunting session.

@TeeJay
I was so far behind. Helped me get all the way through MR4 and most of MR5. Next up is Shaggy.

Does layered armor require mantles, btw? I was gonna make a couple new armor sets, but they're not much better than my current set. If mantles are needed for layered armor I'll likely hold off and save them for that

I'm gonna keep a current HH at all times, but it'll only be my go to in multiplayer because of the buffs. Currently maining long sword for solo, but heavily considering learning another weapon as well.

Might try out one of the heavier bladed weapons. I was considering keeping a current bowgun for flying enemies, but I really haven't been enjoying the playstyle, and it feels like I run out of good ammo long before the monster dies most of the time.

@Ralizah
I recommend Switch Axe, Charge Blade and Great Sword.

If you're yearning for more weapon complexity, Charge Blade is your huckleberry. Switch Axe also offers a fair bit of complexity, though not as much as Charge Blade.

And honestly, in Sunbreak you really don't want to miss out on the Switch Axe experience. It's the best the weapon has ever been by a country mile. The new counter is insanely fun. It allows you to be more offensive with a risk vs reward playstyle. It does require 2 wirebugs and gage though, so it's not really able to be abused (which is a good thing). Invincible Gambit is easily THE best silkbind in the game imo, with super armor yanking you toward the monster with a triple Slash combo. Perfect for roars and incoming attacks.

Great Sword is the opposite- it's the most simple weapon (though simple in MH is still complex) but imo one of the most rewarding. It will make you a better hunter as you have to learn timing and predicting how many seconds of an opening you have, whether you should Charge or not.

And like Switch Axe, Great Sword in Sunbreak is by far the best it's ever been. The Strong Arm Stance allows you to counter mid-charge and go right into a True Charge Slash. It's incredible. There's also an alternate mode that eliminates the Lv. 1 Charge and replaces it with 3 super fast slashes- using X, A or X+A you can do vertical, horizontal or upward striking combos. And mix and match. It's like if Great Sword was mixed with Dual Blades.

I'm so glad I'm playing GS though. It's taken me back to a more old-school playstyle where managing animation frames and looking for openings is paramount.

@JaxonH None of the layered armour sets require rare drops. Most of them just need Outfit Voucher+s plus whatever random materials from the monster.