Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

Only thing that sucks about the sound is...well, Rathian remains to sound like she did in World. I could've sworn I could hear the old Rathian in one of the weapon trailers. :c

I'm gonna guess it's the same with Barioth, would've been nice to hear their old voices in this game. At least Mizu's hasn't changed.

They sound the same. Just... better.

The old games had cheap budgets and cheap sound effects, but World stepped it up with much higher quality, much more natural and believable roars because they don’t sound synthetically compressed.

There’s really nothing I miss from the old games in terms of audio or visuals. Just rumble. That’s the only thing it’s missing.

...Cheap?...What? World roars for the old monsters were mostly...boring, and forgettable.

Call me crazy, but the World roars seem waaaay better and noticeably improved

Large Monster Roar Old vs New Comparison

New Monster Roars

@JaxonH
Bomb dunk? (looks on YouTube) OH SNAP! That's awesome. I have a feeling this game will be like BOTW in that there will be a lot of unknown and unmentioned mechanics that ppl will be discovering for the longest time.
While I've got your ears...um...eyes, thank you so much for your posts and positivity. You've sold me on Sniper Elite 4 (I'm very much an observer here but my New Year's resolution is to become more active here on NL) and Immortals Fenyx Rising. Your opinion on IFR was heads and shoulders more informative than the "review" here on NL. So thank you, you deserve some sort commission from someone, because I doubt I'm the only person that has been swayed by your posts.

@Taceus
Haha lol, just enjoy the games, that’s commission enough for me! I just want to see others enjoy these amazing games. Nothing sucks more than playing a game that blows you away and nobody seems to care, nobody wants to give it the time of day... it’s a bad feeling.

I play a lot of games, all different genres and types, which is good because I kind of get to separate the wheat from the chaff. I must have tried 50 games last year, but only a half dozen or so really stood out as incredible. Lots of good games, but Sniper Elite 4 and Immortals were definitely two of the highlights. I’d also add Borderlands 2 to that list.

We seem to have similar taste, and that same willingness to venture outside of normal comfort zones and try new games. Probably the first person here I’ve spoken to who likes Monster Hunter, Sniper Elite and Immortals (lots of people like one or the other but never all 3, really). I think we’re gonna get along just fine 😁

Please, post more. We need more discussion on this site, especially when some of these games get very little attention on Nintendo Life forums (trying to talk about Sniper Elite was like talking to my pillow at night lol, soon as the game gets mentioned, crickets...).

@JaxonH I just slayed the great izuchi with dual blades. Must say that it worked a lot better than the great sword. In most games I usually skip two handed weapons because they feel sluggish anyways. Getting a better understanding of the mechanisms also really helps. Yesterday I was constantly drinking potions or eating steaks in the middle of a fight scene because I was pressing Y to enthusiastically and you're right, auto sheathe is weird and makes the game unpredictably harder somehow.

I'd be game for an online hunt somewhere the coming days. Should we become NSO buddies for that?

Also - what's the game about outside of monster battles? What's the exploration/progression system usually like? Or is it basically a monster slaying take on most common sports games (not meant derogatory by any means - I love a sports game like FIFA from time to time)? Is it worth the while to explore a region for supplies? Or is everything limited to one particular hunting session?

I must admit I'm close to being sold. The immersive visuals of the beasts and the surroundings so far make up for the complexity in gameplay (which also may actually grow on me). Even so, I don't really feel the urge to play 28 more rounds and explore all different weapons. And besides that, the Mizutsune outright scares me 😉

Edit: stakes 😑

@toiletduck
Ya, FC js 1947-6504-9005.

Outside of battles you're back at the hub. You'll have alot going on in between hunts- preparation via crafting items, crafting weapons, crafting new armor, upgrading armor and weapons, increasing defense on armor with armor spheres, buying items from the supplier, eating pre-hunt meals for buffs (never ever ever take on a quest without eating a meal first, though the demo doesnt let you obviously).

You'll also be growing items and over the course of the game, upgrading your fertilizers and storage capacity in the harvest box, you'll eventually unlock the melder to meld talismans/decorations, you'll have someone who travels the seas and brings back rare items you can request, you'll be tending to assignments and delivery requests, upgrading your canteen to get better ingredients, new meals and better buffs for pre-hunt meals.

You'll be sending your meowcenaries out to fight monsters and gather mats for you while you're on quests, micro managing your palico and palamute armor and weapons which can also be crafted with new sets from each monster you hunt. Theres a training area too. And a story with cutscenes and stuff. Also online play in the hub.

All that said, when you're out hunting you'll typically be doing different quests each time. You really never repeat a quest unless you need a material for crafting, like if you decide to make a new armor set or upgrade your weapon. Of course, gathering used to be half the game. But now it's so streamlined you'll spend way less time doing it. As long as you meander and gather some on every quest you'll probably never need to specifically go out and just gather for an hour.

Theres also a free hunt mode without a timer, good for gathering and just hunting whatever shows up.

It's good to be scared of the monsters btw. That's what makes it so thrilling. You truly feel the terror of hunting these incredible beasts, and fearing them is part of the experience (of course, as you improve you'll fear the lesser monsters less and less, but there are things much scarier than Mizutsune, and one day you'll hunt them).

Overall it's a good balance of hunting and the management in between hunts.

I'm hoping they will add a advanced hunt, Like the other demo's Plz it would be great to have three monsters to hunt.

@Snatcher
It’s been leaked the March demo will have an advanced hunt (I believe it said Magnamalo, but that could be speculation).

@JaxonH OMG plz I need a chance to fight the main Monster.

Great news for hunters looking to voice chat. The ARCTIS 9 WIRELESS is finally in stock, providing full dual wireless for Nintendo Switch, with a dedicated wireless dongle for game audio and Bluetooth for connecting to Discord on your phone, mixing the audio.

Up until now, the ARCTIS 3 WIRELESS w/BLUETOOTH was the best option, but it had to connect to Switch via headphone jack. Not a huge deal but full wireless is so convenient. It’s still a good option for $100, if one doesn’t wish to spend the $200 on the Arctis 9 Wireless, but personally I’m gonna spend a LOT of time hunting in MH Rise, and would prefer a fully wireless option to mix Discord chat and game audio, so I just ordered one. But again, if one just wants a cheaper option and only cares about gaining access to voice chat on switch for any game, either option works.

https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/arctis-9

Light Bowgun is amazing with that wirebug move that lets you plant a wyvern blast shell on a monster’s back.

Plus the gyro aiming on top of it? Muah! I typically don’t run gunner, and when I do it’s always been Heavy Bowgun, but I’m seriously loving LBG.

Amiibo Layered Armor unlocks. So dope

@JaxonH Yeah, I noticed piercing rounds did a TON of damage against Mizutsune when I was using HBG.

LBG looks pretty sweet, though. I might try that out soon.

@Ralizah
Oh ya. Piercing rounds absolutely destroy long monsters. Hit from front or back so it goes all the way through the length of the monster... Mad damage.

LBG is so fast and has great evasive maneuvers. I also like HBG, which has typically been the one ranged weapon I gravitate towards, but in this game, Idk. LBG just felt better for some reason.

I still think Charge Blade is the most fun weapon ever made though. Old habits die hard. It’s just so satisfying to use. Love the depth to the weapon. Switch axe is glorious too in this game. As is Hunting Horn. Honestly Horn is the 2nd most satisfying to use imo, right after charge blade.

I also enjoyed Lance, gunlance, Greatsword, Longsword and hammer. Dual blades are good too, and I used to love them. They were my main in MH3U and part of MH4U. But they just no longer feel satisfying. And I hate Sword and Shield. Bow also wasn’t quite doing it for me. It’s ok, just not as good as the Bowguns. But there will be others who absolutely love the bow, absolutely love sword and shield and absolutely love dual blades. That’s why this game is so great- there’s a weapon for everyone out there.

Something I realized, I didn't play the demo all that much (it is just a demo, I don't usually play those for long, lol), but I've noticed that the turf wars aren't in this. Kinda bugs me since they said they're also revamping this for Rise, was hoping to learn more about this. Ah well. TwT

@JaxonH I'm heavily considering maining the HH in Rise, which is funny, because I didn't enjoy the thing at all in previous games. I imagine the weapon must have been pretty unpopular to justify such a drastic revamp.

Longsword is fun as always. The hammer is okay, although Mizutsune was so fast that I could barely hit it with the hammer.

I need to give the Charge Blade, Switch Axe, and Insect Glaive another go in the demo. I really didn't get on with them before.

@Ralizah
It has its following (I mained horn in MH3U on Wii U, alongside Longsword and Dual Blades), but it’s true that horn users are far and few between compared to other weapons. Or at least, they were before Rise. Now everyone loves horn. So clearly they did something right.

Longsword is all about counters and I love that. Once you learn Iai Spirit Slash and helm splitter you can rake monsters across the coals. It’s easy to learn, difficult to master. But so good.

Hammer is tough to use on fast monsters, that’s for sure. But connecting feels fantastic. So easy to KO.

I will swear by Charge Blade though. It’s probably got more depth than any other weapon in the game and it’s so incredibly satisfying once you know how to use it properly.

X, X, A (hold), X+A and that can loop back into itself or into other sequences of combos. As you attack with the sword it causes your phials to change color from white to yellow. If you hold ZR and press A it charges 3 phials. If you got past yellow into red, it charges all 5 phials. So you can get a full charge from charging two yellows, or one red. The phials then expend elemental bursts in axe mode.

So if you hold ZR and press X you morph into axe mode with an overhead swing. In axe mode, each attack with A expends one phial with extra damage. Attacks with X do not. But you can combo your A attacks up to 3 times, and the second one does two swinging attacks for the cost of one phial, so you get more bang for buck with that second A attack. So what most people do is attack with X in axe mode (morphing overhead swing counts too), then hit A to go right into the double swing, then hit X, then A for the double swing. This way you consistently get 2 phial attacks for the cost of one phial. If, however, you hit A again after the double swing, you go into an AED (amped elemental discharge), which is a really big attack that morphs you back into sword mode at the end. If you do it with all 5 phials charged, you do an SAED (SUPER amped elemental discharge). You can immediately do an AED with X+A if you have all 5 phials and want the SAED without expending phials in the double swing first.

There’s also a shortcut to the AED from sword mode. After the X, X, A (hold), X+A combo, the X+A does a shield bash. Well, if you press X+A again after the shield bash, you automatically morph into axe and do an AED! But here’s the awesome part- you can press ZR while rearing back for the AED to spin back into sword mode and charge all your phials into your shield, giving you way better blocking abilities and extra damage in shield bashes. You get a pink glowing shield icon next to your phials in the upper left corner of the screen when you have a charged shield.

But wait, there’s more.

IF you have a charged shield, you then gain the ability to charge your sword, too. How you do it is, attack in sword mode to get your phial color to yellow or red, then when you press ZR+A to charge the phials, immediately press and hold X afterwards and your hunter will crunch into a stance, charging the phials into the sword. When you let go they do a massive overhead strike with a now amped sword, and then you get a pink sword icon in the top left, just like the shield.

It’s so satisfying to do the X, X, A (hold), X+A shield bash, then X+A again into AED. Or after shield bash, assuming phials are red, ZR+A to charge phials, then ZR+X to morph into axe mode with overhead strike, then A to double swing. Ahhh it’s so satisfying!

There’s more to the weapon. Other combos. Like, in the X, X, A (hold), X+A combo, if you’re moving the left analog stick when you press A, you do a ground slide in the direction you were pressing, ending with a round slash. Great way to reposition around a monster or under their body to the other side. But it’s also something you don’t want to accidentally do when you were trying to hold the button for the charged double sword slash. So you do have to make sure you’re stationary when you do that combo, at least, when you get to the A button part of it.

There are also the wirebug attacks which rock. ZL+X does a Morphing Advance where you zip toward the direction you wirebug in and morph into axe mode, and if you press A you go right into the double swing. ZL+A does Counter Peak Performance which puts your shield up, and if you get hit in the generous counter window it auto charges all phials and you can go right into an AED.

That’s not even mentioning the guard points! There are certain moves that naturally put the hunters shield in front of them during the move or after the move, and if you get hit in that brief moment of time it does a complete block. Morphing back into sword mode is the most well known guard point. Your hunter spins as they change back into sword mode and the animation ends with them standing there with their shield in front of them, and there’s about a half second window where if you get hit it does a complete guard. That’s what a guard point is. And charge blade is chock full of them. Once you get the timing down you can build guard points into your strategy so that you’re automatically blocking things as you’re pressing offense. There are also aspects from World that just aren’t present in the demo, but that the leaks have verified are returning.

it's a no buy for me, I could not grip with the game sigh, the demo is horrible because the tutorial explained nothing to beginner like me(first time i am trying this series) I could not understand nothing about the game and the controls are horrible !!