Not sure what the level of interest is around here, but I figured it would be nice to have a little niche were people could discuss and/or learn about this very imminent little game. Feel free to talk about your personal history with the franchise, what you‘re excited about, what you’re not excited about, or even why you might sit this one out. I‘m personally a bit averse to spoilers (whatever constitutes those for MH), but don’t feel like you need to hold anything back if it would make some interesting discussion!
I would definitely not describe myself as a MH superfan--the first game I put any significant time into whatsoever was MH: World for PS4. I had bounced off a few of the demos of a few of the PSP and 3DS iterations, which were just so darn obtuse and clunky, clearly carrying forward a lot of legacy features from the very first handful of games. The tweaks to the gameplay in World--especially the lush, continuous maps and streamlined inventory--really helped me get over the hump. After maybe about 400 hours spread across the three platforms it was released for, what really sticks with me is the rewarding technical combat and, surprisingly, the positive and adventurous attitude of the whole game. Sure, you are relentlessly slaughtering majestic creatures (often unprovoked), but the cast of characters are doing so with an air of supportive comradery that allllmost justifies the cryptozoological genocide.
I played a little bit of the demo and have been following some of the MH social media accounts, but I am going into this one mostly blind. It seems like there will be a decent learning curve with the new wirebug abilities, but they open up some wild new weapon techniques. My main weapon has varied over time, but my top tier would include the Gunlance, Greatsword, Bow, Hunting Horn, and Charge Blade. What are everyone else's weapons of choice?
With respect to the platform, I have to say I am a little concerned that the Switch will be a significant technical downgrade, but hopefully not to the extent where it is impacting gameplay. It seems inevitable that a PC or PS port or more powerful Switch console will drop, but that didn't stop me from pre-ordering months ago!
Monster Hunter was always one of those games that I wanted to try, but was always intimidated by. I finally got around to diving in with the release of World, after hearing about significant updates / QoL fixes / etc. Maybe old fans of the series see these as downgrades? I really don't know.
I largely played the game solo. I _suspect_ this isn't the One-True-Way, and players are expected to create online Hunts and just lobby up or whatever... but that is not something I like doing, in general. I love playing through a thing with a group of friends, I very much do not like (to the point of perhaps feeling anxious about?) the same with open matchmade lobbies. I signed out of PSN to play Journey!
After I had worked my way through the game and made it to High Rank, and I had transitioned away from playing through the campaign to doing hunts to grind for gear, I felt far more comfortable about searching for other players' emergency signal things to go join their hunts and do things in multiplayer. I never hosted my own, however.
I think I'm interested in Rise, but I'm not sure! I did not get the World expansion, so it has been quite a while since I last played Monster Hunter and am probably ready to give it another go. My weapons of choice were the Hunting Horn, Charge Blade, and Dual Blades. When joining online hunts I almost exclusively brought the Horn, because nobody else would and the support it provides is pivotal to success (while still being pretty good at dishing out the damage itself)
I'm also interested in the new dog. If I didn't constantly wish I had less "stuff" in my life, I'd try and get that amazing dog plushie.
I'm looking forward to it. I liked world but have enjoyed the handheld-ness of the handheld games. Wonderful little textures, skyboxes, environments, etc on the psp and 3ds games. So hoping that rise is a bit more like those games than the visual design of world, which I thought was a little ugly in places. I did not like looking at those neon green bug clouds everywhere
and re PC vers I thought I read 2022 was the plan....
Started playing a Monster Hunter game for PSP that a friend lent me and I've forgotten the title since. I picked up World in 2019 and put a good amount of hours into it. I really enjoyed the combat! Not sure if ill invest in Rise quite yet, but man, that insect glaive was my favorite. I liked messing around with the hunting horn, too. I thought the online integration for World was really chill. I usually played solo but I stopped because the grinding eventually caught up to me. I ended up beating the story and puttered around a bit until I called it quits. I recall the last goal I had was to complete the Odogaron armor set. I had a blast fighting that thing. I never did get to take on Big Pickle, but I know ill never forget the first time I saw it.
Man do I enjoy the way those monsters leave such a lasting first impression.
@rejj#23480 My habits were pretty much the same as yours with regards to multiplayer. I had perceived multiplayer as a core tenet of MH, which was one of the larger impediments to actually trying it out. Once I realized, like you, that it could be treated as a single player game it was a real revelation. The only multiplayer I participated in was helping out others who had fired those signal flares and participating in the Kulve Taroth raids. I also kept voice chat firmly disabled and always played Hunting Horn in order to keep vibes as positive as possible! I‘ll probably keep it the same way for Rise–I don’t really know anyone else who plays, anyway.
@yeso#23490 Thanks for the tip, I hadn't realized there was any official or semi-official word about ports! I hear what you are saying about the visuals--there were a lot of distracting flourishes with World that made it a bit hard to parse what was going on or appreciate smaller paths and crevices on the map. On the other hand, I did like how the more realistic looking materials mapped onto the weapons and armor gave them a sense of heft or tactility...when I look back at some of the designs from older games I sometimes get an inflated pool-toy vibe from the gigantic colorful low-detail assets if that makes any sense. It seems like they struck a nice balance with this game.
@SuperEffective#23496 I completely agree with you re: first impressions from monsters. That's actually one of the main reasons I've been actively avoiding most in-depth pre release coverage or footage...just discovering some of the monsters and variants for the first time is awe-inspiring! Its really that sense of wonder that keeps me interested. If it starts to feel like a grindy MMORPG that's when I'm out.
@Syzygy#23509 I'm quite glad they are leaning hard into this setting and aesthetic. There must be countless examples, but I have been blown away by some recent instances of Japanese creators drawing explicitly from their national heritage to evolve otherwise non-Japanese settings, such as Bowser's Castle in Mario Odyssey, Kakariko Village in BOTW, or the Wano arc of One Piece.
MHW was the first one I put a lot of time into. I found it too uncomfortable to play on the 3DS, but saw lots of people talking about World so put Tri on my Wii and liked it enough to get the new one. I played GU a bit on switch, but I played world so much I felt like I needed a break before Rise came out. Actually almost didn‘t buy it because, even though I really liked the new environment exploration in the demo, I didn’t really want to get another big time-sink game. But I got excited watching YT vids and did a pre-order on the 24th.
Picked it up this morning and I love it. The town's really great, the insect glaive is not shite like the demo implied, and there are some new trinkets to find in hard-to reach parts of the map. Just doing single-player stuff at the moment. My favourite part of these games is actually the chill collection quests, and all the verticality in this one makes those kinda things extra interesting. Been playing insect glaive like I mostly did in _World_. I don't really like the hunting horn changes, but every other weapon I'm familiarish with seems to be better than ever?
@yeso#23490 So hoping that rise is a bit more like those games than the visual design of world, which I thought was a little ugly in places. I did not like looking at those neon green bug clouds everywhere
If def is. No more scout flies! I really came to dislike how I would end up just chasing them round instead of paying more attention to the neat levels.
Ack, I was really looking forward to this and to maybe playing with some folks here on the forum but I no longer have access to my Switch!! Oh well.
I'm a pretty big fan of the series, I put dozens of hours into 3U, hundreds into 4U, probably at least a hundred in Generations, and several hundreds into World/Iceborne.
I dated a girl who wanted to get into Monster Hunter but didn't like that when you injure the monsters they move like hurt animals. This girl is a vegetarian.
I hadn't looked up anything about Rise, so wasn't aware they changed the Horn. I just did some very quick searches and reading and I'm not sure I entirely understand. Every horn has exactly 3 melodies now, and there is a way to gain all 3 buffs in one move?
I've never even touched another weapon than the Great Sword going back to 3 but to avoid that samey feeling I might have to dip my toes in something new here to start, not a single clue what though!
@ttzop#23597 My cousin is also a Great Sword devotee, the way they explained their choice was that to take down a big monster you‘re gonna need a big sword. Can’t argue with that.
Also Great Sword rules, I dabble but I tend to want to play it in a way that requires an elaborate skill set up which means I'm often stuck not enjoying it as much until I can get juuuust the right one and just the right suit of armor and charms and... then I end up just playing something else.
I‘ve only really played the 3ds one, and by play I mean I binged it. I picked up World on the ps4 when it was on sale, but felt burnt out even 3 years later and didn’t get too far along. Looking forward to Rise, and welcome any streamlining as I'll probably have forgot how to play anyway.
I rotated between the great hammer and hunting horn. I tend to like slower, weightier stuff, but I'll be trying out every weapon in the early going to see what sticks.
I hadn’t looked up anything about Rise, so wasn’t aware they changed the Horn. I just did some very quick searches and reading and I’m not sure I entirely understand. Every horn has exactly 3 melodies now, and there is a way to gain all 3 buffs in one move?
Yeah, each horn has three buffs, and also mixes up which button those tunes are on. The big difference is that you don't have to play the song, it just happens as you hit the monster (though you can switch it to be a little bit like it was before, but there's no encore move). So it's like a hammer that does buffs without you really having to think about it. I miss walking round going doot-do-doot :( but my co-op partner's probably won't?
(I stopped using glaive 'cause it's a pain with the small mons at the start and have been using horn~)
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