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The Chatterbox => Gaming => Topic started by: vladgd on February 04, 2018, 07:16:18 PM
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8:30
I was enjoying street fighter 5 arcade edition then this hit...other than catching the hell bug that has America sick aint nothing stopping me from playing this bitch
video crack
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I'm thinking of renting this on XB1/PS4 (to evaluate whether or not I should grab it on PC when it drops). As much as I love the concept, crafting, upgrading, most of the mechanics, etc, the combat never really gelled with me. I get that you have Very Large WeaponsTM and they want you to commit to your actions, but compared to games that offer a similar style of combat (the Souls series, etc) it just feels overly slippery to me.
I suspect that it's still not going to grab me. I definitely wouldn't blame Capcom for not changing something that so many people like (I'm well aware that I'm an outlier here :P). I definitely want to like it, though.
On the plus side, if MHW doesn't work out for me, I still have Dauntless.
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I knew I was going to enjoy the game because I put over 120 hours into the psp games only doing local wireless co-op, and I dabbled in monster hunter 4 on 3ds. If I can get past tiny screens, horrible controls, and a worse camera in those games, and this game fixes all 3 of those things...no brainer for me.
Combat is the main appeal, and it's not for everyone. I feel like that animation priority is what makes it, if you're trying to play god of war in here, you ain't going to have a good time. It's meant for you to think more about what you're doing, and if you fuck up, you fuck up, try and learn from it and git gud. Changing it would totally 100% ruin the game imo, and piss off the entire fanbase who's supporting the game at the same time. They already made this game a lot easier than all of the past entries. I entered high rank in ~30 hours in this game, and in freedom unite it took me...80...90? So it's the most accessible game in the series already. I'm not even good/bragging, I'm actually kinda bad at the game, but yknow, the series is really damn hard and I don't think people really talk about that. Freedom unite is 100 times harder than dark souls, yet, dark souls is way more known for being a hard game than freedom unite is. To keep on the tangent I like to make this comparison a lot. Super mario brothers 3 doesn't have a reputation for being a hard game, and the original nes contra does. I firmly beleive smb3 is a harder game than contra, I can beat contra, and I have beaten it multiple times. I always die in world 8 in smb3, never beat it even with warps. But yeah tangent aside, it's an easier game, just need to find a weapon you like and put a little bit of time into learning it.
Comparisons to dark souls are kinda legit though, but I think it needs to be flip flopped, dark souls should have been compared to monster hunter. Because Monster Hunter essentially is a game entirely of bosses, and bosses of which are a lot harder and more time consuming than those in Dark souls (only beat the first game, so my comparison only applies to dark souls 1).
Second though is gear, so you already know if you're in for that or not.
I think it's a mediocre/ok game to play solo, and a fantastic time eating game to play with friends.
There's not really anything like it, it's kind of it's own thing and that's really cool. Maybe god eater is similar, but i've never looked into them to really know that for certain. I like it, over 50 hours in so far and still having a blast. I'm not going to try and convince nay sayers, but I mean, that clip I posted up there was A PRETTY COOL MOMENT YOU GOTTA ADMIT.
It's not a fighting game so I assumed someone here would play it, maybe I'm just not into the hip popular games anymore? I swear this game was blowing up all over the place. I can hardly talk videogames to people in person because it's pubg this, league that, dota this, fortenite that, destiny this, minecraft that. If I don't shooter, or moba, I may as well not be a gamer I guess.
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I don't really have a problem with the animation priority at all. I have no problem with having to commit to moves, and I certainly didn't play it as if it were made by PlatinumGames.
The problem that I have (which may be fixed with the console releases since they have proper controllers) is that if you aren't in a precise position you can actually slip past the monster in mid-animation and hit the ground. I've had that happen plenty of times and due to the awkward controls and fiddly camera it was something that was impossible for me to look past. It definitely doesn't help that my last real Monster Hunter 4 experience was on the OG 3DS, a system with no C-stick and a framerate that had a tendency to randomly tank. At least with the PSP you could use a claw grip to sort of wrangle the camera in place (I haven't played the PSP MH games, but I've seen plenty of pictures of the claw). With the 3DS that's way more awkward with the analog slider being above the d-pad.
I do recall having a better time with Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii (with the Pro controller, because fuck their nunchuck/Wiimote controls), so eh, maybe this will work out.
It is unfortunate that MHW doesn't have any sort of cross-platform play planned. Honestly getting really tired about how the console wars and the insistence of online platform exclusivity (both Sony and Microsoft are guilty of this at one point or another; Nintendo doesn't give a fuck because they're Nintendo) are ruining online games. I'm pretty much deadset on waiting for the PC release, and it kind of looks like everyone I would want to play with has it on console. Considering I'm thinking of selling my PS4/XB1 since I haven't used either of them in months, that's kind of annoying.
And yeah, the clip was a good watch! I always love watching MH gameplay. The problem is when I'm actually given a handheld with MH on it. ;D I might give it a rent this weekend and take it for a spin. It's a shame that the PC release is so far off, but I'm just sort of done with trying to find reasons to continue having a non-Nintendo console. I was considering the PS4 Pro until I found out that it has no support for UHD Blu-Rays. Not a good look for a media company (I mean, the goddamn XB1S supports them!), and not something that I'd want to pay a premium for considering it only has a small collection of exclusives that are worth playing. And I wish people would stop calling it a 4K console, ffs.
As far as the community here is concerned, keep in mind that there aren't many of us left. I think we have, what, 4 regular posters now? Independent forums have been basically dying in favor of places like Reddit.
As far as I'm concerned, aside from fighting games and MOBAs (not like I don't play those genres, I'm just ridiculously casual with them) I'm game (hah!) for pretty much anything. The problem in my case is that I tend to focus on PC/Switch nowadays, so when there's a game like MHW that isn't getting a PC port until later this year I'm not going to have much to say about it. :) That said, if my local video store (going to feel weird walking back in there) has any copies of it I'd like to rent it for the weekend to see if the improved controls make it more enjoyable and so that I can give my thoughts on it.
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Yeah that's kinda right on the small amount of active users thing...forums kinda died a long time ago. Reddit is fine, but it's like less personal than a forum. There's no place I can go and feel like Cheers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7U3lo80YrQ) anymore.
Shame on the pc release though, I have no intent on getting it now because by time that rolls out, I'll have derived all I wanted out of the ps4 release. It's a fantastic game, but I ain't going to reroll on another platform. 2018 still isn't the multiplatform multiplayer future yet.
Control wise though, there's no camera or control issues anymore. You're on a real mans controller now, and the default camera settings are kinda shit...but you can change them a little bit and they work fine for me without issue. I think that's the big kicker, it was kind of an unwieldy game on portable releases, but it's a non issue for this one.
As for missing, there's camera lock on, but no "lock on" lock on, so yknow, player skill comes in there. However with as much as is fixed, it's still monster hunter, so it may convert people who had issues on the camera/control front, but not those who just didn't like the game.
ANDDDD the last point. It's just frustrating being into videogames, and having damn near nobody to talk game with. Yeah more people than ever like games now than ever before, but ain't the stuff I play. I am super big into fighting games, and not online, not irl have I really anyone to discuss with or even play. I need a local gathering or something, instead of having people over for dungeons and dragons I'll have people over for tekken or street fighter, or virtua fighter or something. Only issue with that, I've been hitting up people for a decade and no takers. Figure I live close to a major state university, a community college, and my local town has an arty college that neil degrasse tyson made an appearance at, THERE'S GOTTA BE SOMEBODY OVER THERE WHO WANTS TO THROW DOWN WITH BOBBY FLAY!
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Yeah, I know how you feel when it comes to rerolling characters. I'm peeved enough that I'm going to have to grind through Hyrule Warriors again when the Switch version comes out (to the point that I seriously want to play the Wii U version right now, but I'm forcing myself not to because I know that's just going to be wasted time), and Monster Hunter is probably about as grindy as that when you start getting into the kickass armor and weapon tiers.
Glad to hear that they're taking advantage of proper controllers. The Wii Pro controller did work well enough, so I'm thinking they just expanded on what they had there. It's going to be nice to not have a Wiimote tethered to me at all times. As far as the triggers go, are they just simulating digital inputs with them? If so, I'll probably wind up using the Wii U Pro controller for MHW if I get it for PC. It barely got any use on my Wii U, but it's working out really nicely as a PC controller now (my new mobo has an onboard Bluetooth module, which has been coming in handy).
So if I'm reading your description of the lock on system properly, it sounds like the camera locks to the target but your character still moves independently of the camera. Can you nudge the camera around with the right stick while you're locked on? If you do, does it spring back into place when you release the stick? If so, that sounds absolutely perfect to me.
And yeah, none of my local friends share my taste in vidya at all, so I know how that feels. I know there's a pretty good fighting game community in the Columbus area, but that's about 2.5 hours from me, and I really don't have any interest in progressing beyond "filthy casual" in fighters anyway. When I was going to Youngstown State University it seemed like the only game that people had any interest in was Halo, and even now I haven't really seen any local meetups happen, and my area's not really big enough to sustain something like a gaming cafe. We had a decent DDR community for a while, but that largely died off a little more than a decade ago.
Sigh. Oh well.
Edit: No copies in stock this weekend! Better luck next time.
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It's a grindey game, but it doesn't really "feel" like a grindey game. Like, to me it feels like an open world game in the sense that after low rank, the game opens up and you can kinda tackle whatever you want whenever you want, and the farther you get, the more open it gets.
When I log on, I typically have some sort of goal in mind, like right now I want to complete...all of the quests in the game, so yknow, I try to knock a few out each day. Having those goals, like "I want to try HAMMER, let's see what I need and go about acquiring the materials to make that stuff", it IS a grind, but so are like many many many many other games. It's not everybodys cup of tea, but I'm sitting here with over 117 hours played...and I've yet to be bored.
I've abandoned my pc for the time being, like all month. I am a person who is on the computer all the damn time, and I've probably been on my pc less than 2 hours this month because of this damn game.
As for the camera, default camera is kinda not great, but you can adjust it to your own preferences. I had to muck with it a little bit to get it how I like it, but I have settled on my own settings and I have minimal problems. Not perfect, but LEAGUES ahead of the portable games, which after this games release, those games are unplayable anymore due to horrible controls.
&t
And I'll end this post with that. Players are rated by a "hunter rank" in this game and 1-15 is like the main story, then you get capped till you complete the final story mission, then you get locked at 29? till you complete some horseshit ass bullshit that I don't want to do again mission, which raises your cap to 49, and then you have to fight this asshole who can die for eternity in the flames of evil, and beating this pony fucker whos skin shall be rended by my spear will unlock your cap to infinity as far as I am aware, which in turn lets you fight tempered elder dragons which is the end game real shit for the best loots.
I don't know if I made that look easy, but that fucker can kill you dead in one hit, hit him ANYWHERE but the head and your weapon will bounce AND HE MAY KILL YOU OUTRIGHT IN THE STUN YOU RECEIVE FROM SAID BOUNCE, he can put autokill bullshit under you from any range, and he can blight you which causes any lightning to just stun you, and from stun you can die.
fuck kirin, I am glad I did 0 deaths on my second attempt where I decided to tryhard. HE IS LITERALLY THE REASON I QUIT THE PSP GAME AND MY 90 HOUR SAVE, IM GLAD TO HAVE MY REVENGE! fought him once, said FUUUUUUUUUUUCK THAT, and outright quit cold turkey.
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Oh yeah, I definitely didn't mean "grindy" in a negative way. If the gameplay loop is solid and clicks well with you, it doesn't feel like a chore to play through the content. Plus, grindy games can be very relaxing to play (I've been playing Slime Rancher a lot lately, so...yeah).
I'm definitely willing to wait for the PC release of MH:W before I jump in. I'm going to have Final Fantasy XV for PC (god it looks so pretty) and Hyrule Warriors for Switch to keep me occupied, so I figure I should be done with both of those by the time Fall rolls around.
Nice kill! He looked like a tricky monster even without knowing about having to consistently get headshots, between his quick movement and attack patterns. Having your weapon bounce if you miss the head just feels like the final slap in the face.
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So...I...beat...EVERYTHING...in this game...
I went from getting killed to easy shit in low rank, to beasting the final mission without even being close to death. My skills have improved.
~192 or so hours
(https://i.imgur.com/0Ewgh0H.jpg)
ALL QUESTS complete
(https://i.imgur.com/FZ3DK0r.jpg)
And my "lol I couldn't die if I tried" super safe build. Damage ain't great, but id take a longer mission over a failed one.
(https://i.imgur.com/CXFFSM2.jpg)
Here is an example of how much I like this game. My back is bad, for the past 3 or 4 years I have had regular back pain, every single work shift I finish, I have 3-4 hours of not fun back pain that happens every time I stand up from a sitting position. I now know it's because of my horrible posture on my COMPUTER CHAIR, because I've been away from my pc for over a month and a half, and my back pain is minor at best now, I haven't had that sharp pain from standing up in damn near a month now, and I know it's because I've been on the recliner in the living room on my ps4, and not on this pc I'm only on to make this post before...back to the ps4 for monster hunter...
This is a really really really good game guys. Even sales wise it's smashing records over at capcom, and I'm almost 200 hours in, all missions complete, and I want nothing more than to play more to make a new set to try a new weapon or mess around with a new build.
I don't rate games with a score, but this is a 10/10 game if I ever seen one. I seen the damn credits at hour 82 or whatever and I'm sitting on hour 195...still playing every single day...
The game ain't perfect, but any cons are vastly outshined by the pros.
And yeah, I literally only turned on my pc to jizz on about this game, before turning off the pc to go back to playing it...yep.
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Just picked up my "evaluation copy":
(https://i.imgur.com/fdtXzGZl.jpg)
They didn't have any copies for PS4, but that's not a huge deal. This is more to get a taste of the gameplay so that I know whether or not I'm going to want to drop full price on the PC version down the road. I'll post my thoughts after I've played it a bit.
Hopefully the PC port is as solid as FFXV. Holy shit, does that game look gorgeous.
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Omg Family Video still exists!?!?!
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So I played through it a little bit last night and things are already looking up for me. The combat still feels very weighty but it doesn't feel as awkwardly stiff as it used to. I'm going to play through it a bit more, but I think MHW is going to be the one that ultimately hooks its claws into me. Um...so to speak.
I've gotta say, even on the OG Xbox One it's quite a looker (and the framerate generally does stay around 30fps), though it does seem a bit fuzzy in some areas. Probably some sort of dynamic resolution scaling if I had to guess. Seriously can't wait to see what it's going to look like on PC (and if they botch the port even with the extra time I'm going to be annoyed...then I'll cut my losses, buy a PS4 Pro, and get it for that instead).
Definitely going to play it a bit more throughout this week before I make my final decision, but my first impressions are definitely favorable so far. It seems like MHW fixes the things that irked me about the older games.
Also, some of the new QOL features are freaking great. Just having infinite whetstones alone is amazing, and I like how some essentials like the BBQ spit no longer take up inventory space. All of the little UI improvements are certainly welcome as well, like being able to select a simple, prefabbed meal buff if you so desire. Even in the early game it feels like it's much faster and easier to prep and get into a hunt without really sacrificing the level of control that the previous games give you.
One thing that I do wish is that it gave you the option to skip some of the hand holdy tutorials. Just having a "Have you played one of the previous Monster Hunter games?" prompt that controls what the game displays would have been very useful. I'm not a Monster Hunter buff by any means (though I did sink around 40-50 hours into Tri), but the tutorial really didn't go over anything that I didn't already know. Not a huge deal, but I would have preferred to be able to get into the game a bit faster.
Omg Family Video still exists!?!?!
Yep! The one on the corner of Yo-Poland and Midlothian is still clinging to life (the one on State St. in Girard is still open, too). I honestly think a large part of that is because they now share a building with Marco's Pizza and do a bunch of cross-promotion.
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Yep! The one on the corner of Yo-Poland and Midlothian is still clinging to life (the one on State St. in Girard is still open, too). I honestly think a large part of that is because they now share a building with Marco's Pizza and do a bunch of cross-promotion.
Yeah that's the one I was thinking of. I saw it a year ago when I was in town and was shocked even then. My buddy lives right on Gypsy. That's close to your parents if I remember correctly.
Those stores are a dying breed. I miss those days though.
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~10 minutes away. I live over on Elm, in Struthers. I work on Belmont, though, so I'm on that short, busy stretch of Gypsy almost every day.
And yeah, that was the funny thing about the Family Video experience. I was in there with my dad and, aside from the clerk, I can safely say that I was the youngest person in the store and my dad--who is 30 years older than me--was the second oldest. The game section had more PS3/Xbox 360 games than current gen stuff, and the prices have gotten pretty goddamn high over the years. It was around $9 for MHW for 5 days!
Fun trivia: I once worked as a video clerk at Giant Eagle (Poland, on Center Rd) from Dec 2000 through May 2002. I was there during the transition between the fifth and sixth generation consoles. We were a pretty small shop, but it still felt weird selling off all of our PSX/N64 stock to make room for PS2/Xbox/GameCube/Dreamcast stuff.
I also distinctly remember renting Genesis games from that same location (when that Giant Eagle was located across the street from where it is now) all the time when I was a kid. Mmm, nostalgia.
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I think I'm more or less done with the game, still going to casually play, just not obsessively anymore. I managed some 200 hours on my save, and I will be back for DLC.
I can do other things now! YEssssssssss
Glad you are having good first impressions, they added a TON of quality of life stuff to make getting into missions and killing big monsters something you do more than dicking around picking flowers and killing wee bop enemies. Most of the bigger issues stem from the end game and how investigations work, but you won't hit that problem before you're past hour 100 most likely. How they handle story missions is a bit dumb as well, say we both want to play a mission, MOST of the missions early on are story missions, and you have to solo them until you watch a cutscene. So like, enter mission, get to big scary monster, watch cutscene THEN you can fire off an SoS flare...as said monster is about to hit you for 50% of your life...it's a horrible system to be frank.
And the end game stuff with tempered monsters, that's all investigations, which you get randomly on quests after collecting tracks (for tempered monsters, tempered tracks, and you arent guaranteed a tempered investigation either), and these things are limited use at that. You want to do some tempered Teostra with me, but neither of us have the investigation for it, either A we farm for those investigations and get one at random, or we both just don't play with each other and use the search for SoS feature refreshing 10, 20, sometimes like 40 times to find an investigation...and you can't group join, so yeah we'd be running separate.
It's a fantastic game, but there are still annoying things I should be critical about.
What weapon are you using/planning on using? I hope it's none of those pleb longswords or double pleb bows.
And lastly, we got family videos up here, got one in town, and I know of a few more within an hour of here.
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Oof. Thanks for bringing the mission thing up. I'm going to try to get a friend into it when the PC release happens, so that'll be good to know when we do that. I've been soloing on the XB1 version since I don't see the point in buying a Gold subscription for a 5 day rental so aside from the NPCs not wanting to leave me alone for five minutes I haven't run into those sort of issues.
What I don't get about the cutscenes being that bizarrely broken is that I seem to remember previous games handling them without an issue in co-op. Weird.
I'm thinking that by the time I get to tempered monsters I'll probably be close to done with the game anyway. Like I said, Tri was about a 40-50 hour game for me, and that felt about right. Then again, considering the gameplay in World feels more fluid, who knows? That figure might end up doubling.
The way you describe investigations makes it almost seem like Capcom designed them around solo play. Seems like a weird choice given what game series this is.
I'm currently using the sword and shield, but I'm thinking of swapping that out for dual daggers. I've been using hit-and-run tactics pretty heavily so far, so I think swapping would give me a decent DPS boost.
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I've literally played a story mission to get the cutscene, abandoned the mission so I could do it multiplayer. It's something they'll need to address whenever they make the "monster hunter world ULTIMATE" edition whenever they do that, since it seems to be how they pump those out. Not sure I have it in me to play something this taxing and time consuming every year though, or even every other year, I got other things to do than spend a month and a half each year addicted to one game.
Can't speak much on dual blades other than if you enjoy a hit and run playstyle, a lot of weapons do that, great sword and hammer come to mind as two of the best examples for that playstyle.
Sword and shield is great though, 95% of my playtime is lance, and the other two weapons I put the most time into are sns and heavy bowgun. Sword and shield feels like a goddamn racecar compared to lance, ohh no I gotta sheathe myOHH WAIT THEY SHEATHE BASICALLY INSTANTLY VROOM VROOM MOTHERFUCKER. Good at sticking to monsters like glue (a feature I enjoy about lance, more on that later) however lack of range makes hitting certain weakpoints hard, albeit this isnt an issue specific to the weapon, lance just has...fantastic reach which I do miss when trying other weapons. It's got a reputation for being a new player friendly weapon, but I honestly think it's one of the more intricate weapons in the game.
Lance doe, I gotta pimp my weapon. Out of the 14 weapons in the game, it's rank 13 in terms of use ahead of hunting horn. I don't know why it's not popular, I've probably seen less than 10 other lancers in my over 500 hunts..and it's not a bad weapon (spoilers, there are no bad weapons). It's like, you have this huge monstrosity who is 50 feet tall charging up some mega attack, all other weapons would react "ohh shit gotta get out of the way", lance just says "hold my beer" and counters that shit. This weapon don't give a fuck about no monster roar, counter, no monster beam, counter, no monster hipcheCOUNTER. It took a lot of practice, but I don't even put guard on my lance gear anymore, with proper timing you can counter the fuck out of anything and it feels great. Seeing your team mates cower in fear after a monster roars, when I'm just countering through it using it as an opportunity for more pokes, it's delicious. I always liked lance in the other games, but it feels so good in this game due to how great counter (and a broke as fuck power guard which allows 360 degree blocking with a power counter attack afterwards). You know the whole "class fantasy" you play great sword you get the biggest numbers in the game, you play hammer you bash heads and stun monsters like nobody else, you play sword and shield for one of the most versatile kits in the game, you play lance to not give any fucks about no monster attacks because you gon keep attacking while everyone else is running around dodging. Low ish damage, but your uptime is higher than any other weapon, so while they are running around doing no damage, you are poking doing damage while they aint...unless you're fighting a flyer...then yknow......yknow...bring your flashbombs...yknow...be a good hunter and bring the proper equipment for the hunt.
tldr I love lance in this game, just wish I knew why nobody else does. But hey, I'm having fun with it.
Ohh and DevilJho however you spell it is next week? So i'll defs pop back on to give that a whirl. In the meantime I'm looking for another game to play and...learning python on the side whenever I'm not lazy...I got my text editor running...and I got python working in it...and I can type things and they will work properly...so might not have got much done but I AM STARTING, might be a while before I have the attention span to put many hours into learning that at one time.
*forgot about investigations*
It's kind of a dumb system. Not a fan. Monsters leave tracks, after X amount of tracks (not listed for the player to see) you get an investigation, might be something you want, might not. They have X amount of uses then they're gone, pass or fail they will get used up. Tempered tracks give you a CHANCE to get a tempered investigation, but not guaranteed...it's kinda really horseshit since the end game augment items for the tier 8 weapons (good news, tier 6, and 7 weapons are just as viable as the tier 8, really just depends on the weapon type and or what build you're using) ONLY DROP FROM TEMPERED ELDER DRAGONS, ONLY, AND THEY ARE STUPID RARE. I think I got 5? Hammer, Lance (thank god), Greatsword (and longsword, each stone works with two weapons), Switch Axe (charge blade), and Sword and shield (and duals). I think it's a 2% or less droprate, Ive gone a week and a half only doing tempered elders and haven't seen one stone, not even a common stone, just nothing, the rng for endgame is kinda horrible. So I'm guessing here but I wanna say I've been on the tempered elder train since hour 130-140? AFIAK? With that, 5 stones in 70-80 hours...it's gross, horrible, not good. At least the tier 6-7 stones are more common, and available in tier 2 tempered investigations (elders being tier 3, little wee bop enemies like pukei pukei and tobi kadachi being tier 1), so you can always switch weapons for the augment bonuses if that's what you're feeling. Lance wise, I don't even use the highest damage lance, and that's a tier 7 weapon, not even a tier 8.
I guess since im tldring all over I'll explain augments right quick. It's a system you flat out wont see unless you put 80-120 hours into the game, but after you do t2 or t3 tempered investigations and you get lucky enough to get a drop, you got warriors and heroes streamstones. 7 stones for 14 weapons, used on t6-8 weapons. At the end of your weapon upgrade tree, end of the line for upgrades, if said weapon is tier 6, you get 3 augment slots, each requires one warriors stone and some other rare stuff. If tier 7, you get two slots, each requires TWO warriors stones. If tier 8, you get one augment slot, requires one HEROES stone. It's like the "more powerful" weapons got less aug slots, and the "less powerful" got more, which is a cool way to balance things I think. I think that covers it...
However as dumb and fucking insane as the rng is at the endgame, you can make every piece of gear in the game quite easily. Any armor or weapon doesn't really take that much work, it's augmenting the weapons which takes a shit ton of RNG, it's augmenting the armor that takes a shit ton of $$$ and spheres (do your bounties bro, you'll need spheres), it's less..but still a lot of RNG for those decorations, some of which I literally haven't seen in 200 hours of play...yeah......rng...yeah...BUT HEY, any armor or weapon I want, I either have it, or can easily get it, and that's the stuff you're looking at on your character, so I guess at least the big stuff is easy, it's the modifications that's hard.
It's dumb, but apparently it's fun enough to where I engaged with that system for over 80 hours, so credit where credit is due.
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The way the story missions work in co-op sounds bad enough that I think they'll definitely address that in Ultimate (or, preferably, in a patch).
You're not alone when it comes to lances. One of my friends swore by them in Tri (not sure if he still uses them, but I imagine he does). I used them toward the end of my experience with Tri and enjoyed them, so I've been thinking of trying them again at some point. The game feels different enough (and it's been long enough) that I'm definitely going to fiddle around with all of the different weapon types again.
Smashing heads with the giant fucking hammer sounds pretty appealing. Might try that tonight.
I'm in that awkward position where I don't want to get too attached to this save file (because if I do buy it on console I'd get it on my PS4 rather than the system I'm considering selling) but I want to get a good idea of everything that's on offer to streamline future playthroughs a bit. On the bright side, that gives me plenty of room to fuck things up a bit since nothing is going to persist.
Investigations do sound like something that would make me switch off after a while. It's sounds a lot like primal (or even ancient) hunting in Diablo 3 seasons. When I get to the point of having zero forward progress in 4-5 hours I typically abandon that character.
That being said, the fact that they threw augments in does seem like it would ease the grind a bit. By how you describe it, it sounds like if you do a bunch of hunts you're typically going to walk away with at least some sort of stat improvement. Is that fairly accurate?
Also, insert obligatory "yay, Python!" comment here.
Edit: Ughhhh, I really hope the in-game tutorials peter off to nil very soon. I was dodging fairly flawlessly for a while when I was fighting the Great Jagras, when I--heaven forbid--mistimed ONE dodge, the unwanted tagalongs yelled "YOU NEED TO DODGE ATTACKS" with a gigantic fucking button prompt popping up in the middle of the screen. Not to mention Mr. Huntmaster yelling "HEY! OVER HERE!" when I'm trying to carve. It would have been one thing if I'd never pressed A or RT, but I was. Repeatedly.
I'll be the first to admit that MH did need a bit more instruction, but it really feels like the needle swung too far in the opposite direction.
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Investigations do sound like something that would make me switch off after a while. It's sounds a lot like primal (or even ancient) hunting in Diablo 3 seasons. When I get to the point of having zero forward progress in 4-5 hours I typically abandon that character.
I'd say it's worse than ancient hunting (I quit before primals were introduced), I think I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few decorations I HAVE YET TO SEE IN TWO HUNDRED HOURS. The RNG is straight up horseshit, I can't defend it. HOWEVER, any piece of gear you want, you can get, so it's probably more similar to hunting zod runes or other rare runesin diablo 2, you'll probably never see them in 1000 hours of gameplay, but they theoretically exist. To note, I have probably put over 1k hours into d2, and have never seen a zod rune, or even other less rare runes like jah and a few others. So maybe...not as rare as those, but hundreds of hours to get one, yeah.
That being said, the fact that they threw augments in does seem like it would ease the grind a bit. By how you describe it, it sounds like if you do a bunch of hunts you're typically going to walk away with at least some sort of stat improvement. Is that fairly accurate?
Not exactly, you're getting monster parts and whatnot, and more rarely gems (rare crafting materials basically), but for the most part if you go "i want those gloves, or that weapon" a few runs on whatever monster it is, you'll have it. The farm isn't so much for gear since it's fairly painless to get, but the end game stuff augmentation stones and decorations is the real hell. But like if you're me, and play lance, then decide "man I kinda wanna try heavy bowgun, might craft 2-3 top end bowguns and get a set of gear to play it" you can kinda just do that, and either you already have the mats, or they won't take too long to obtain. It's real easy to switch to different sets/weapons in this game.
Also playing low rank and high rank, totally different games. Low rank is pretty linear, mostly shoehorned into story missions. High rank is where the game opens up into a more open ended experience, still story missions to do to progress, but you can kinda tackle it as you please. Post story completion (aka watch the credits) the game introduces you to the third portion which is still high rank, but tempered monsters, which has a few missions to it, before the actual end game grind starts. So you may get your fill of the game before you even hit that point, because it could be either hour 80 or hour 120 before you hit that point. I would not consider the end game RNG bullshit as a con against playing the game, mainly because it occurs so late.
Also, insert obligatory "yay, Python!" comment here.
Figured if I am to try and get myself to learn programming, it's a pretty solid first choice language. Slow goings right now though, installing a programming language was a bit more complicated than I had thought, and getting everything all set up with a text editor...it's a lot of common sense stuff that I just don't have, having never really bothered to learn before now.
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Oh. Oooh. Yeah, rune hunting. That was...fun. I think I ended up scoring one Jah rune ever but I was never able to complete a runeword using it before I lost that save. Nothing in Diablo 3 quite lives up to that degree of RNG (at least not anymore) and, to be honest, that's probably a good thing.
Given how the weapon/armor crafting system in MH works, it still sounds like you're making forward progress even if you're not necessarily getting what you want. My late season Diablo 3 experience typically goes like this:
1) Do bounties for Horadric cache mats.
2) Do rifts.
3) Run grifts.
Between those steps, this is what usually happens:
1) The only legendaries that drop suck and/or have powers that aren't useful (or I already have).
2) The only set pieces that drop are either worse than what I have or are for a different class, or they're rings/amulets with exactly two things that need reforged off (thus making them practically useless).
3) I get a *chance* of getting a minor stat boost on my legendary gems.
So all I end up with are a bunch of crafting mats that I have no use for. Gah. Rarely I'll get enough pieces to try out another set, but nine times out of ten the thing just drops 1743 poorly rolled Tel Rasha's Relentless Pursuit pieces, and rerolling those to different pieces from that set just gives me what I already have. GAH.
At least getting to that point is generally enjoyable, though.
When I do get the game and play through it more I'll probably be able to form my own opinion and weigh in. I ended up playing enough of the XB1 version to know that I want the game, and I'm willing to wait for the PC port. I already have too many games on my plate right now, haha.
I kind of figured that early game and late game were two different beasts entirely. I just think that they went a bit too far on the railroading and tutorials to the point where I kinda want the option to stab the friendly NPCs in the throat. I've been begrudgingly accepting of it because the game definitely needed more than what it had, but ugh, I wish I had the option of tuning down some of that.
Figured if I am to try and get myself to learn programming, it's a pretty solid first choice language. Slow goings right now though, installing a programming language was a bit more complicated than I had thought, and getting everything all set up with a text editor...it's a lot of common sense stuff that I just don't have, having never really bothered to learn before now.
Yeah, it's a great language to get started with. Free, available on pretty much every platform, doesn't require compilation, etc. Most importantly, it forces you to practice proper indentation style, and that latter point will stick with you even if you move on to a different language.
Which editor did you end up going with?
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I think the big difference between monster hunter and diablo in the loot sense is you can do a greater rift or normal rift in a short time with speed builds (which is the majority of peoples farming), monster hunter, it's a bit longer, you fight one thing, and have a few chances to get a .0000003% drop.
I forget what season it was, I may or may not have posted it here, not even sure. But I played one season, got a crusader up to competitive grifts, then got a witchdoctor to REALLY competitive grifts (like 1-2 levels outside the top 1000), full ancients best in slot gear that really only needed minor tweeks and good rng in the rift.
Both of those took me less time than it took me to get a guard up gem in monster hunter. I think I put over 120 hours that season, I got around 201 in monster hunter. I got full best in slot ancients for my witchdoctor in that time....that guard up gem I said I got one in 200 hours...I didn't, because I don't have it...and I never will. I don't even need it, I just want it.
Yeah, it's a great language to get started with. Free, available on pretty much every platform, doesn't require compilation, etc. Most importantly, it forces you to practice proper indentation style, and that latter point will stick with you even if you move on to a different language.
Which editor did you end up going with?
Considering my knowledge is VERY DAMN NEAR non existant, I went with whats popular, sublime text. Still have no goddamn idea what I'm doing, fuddling around with hello world and whatever new people do. Managing the text editor, a shell, and an open python file I can edit, I don't really understand it. If I can have my test.py(file I use as a sandbox to type things and see if stuff works) open, and code in that, what use is sublime to me? I'm not really that far at all in this book(we're talking i open the book and invest 10 minutes into piddling with the keyboard here) and it's introducing the wild world of VARIABLES, I try that shit in sublime, errors and shit, open my test.py file in whatever generic interface that gives me, shit works fine.
I'll probably start investing more and more time as I obtain more knowledge, it kinda reminds me of working out. The first few weeks suck, you don't feel good, you're sore, and don't know what you're doing. Therefore, it's hard to get going because every time you try, it's a chore, not fun, and you don't want to do it...so you push it off a few weeks...months...years, whenever you get past that hurdle though, it's fine. I feel the same way with programming, I've invested very little time into this book (https://www.amazon.com/Python-Crash-Course-Hands-Project-Based/dp/1593276036) and If I just worked on it two weeks ago instead of putting it off, I'd be damn near done with it by now.
I'm more or less done with monster hunter till DLC (which I'll consume in a short amount of time before shelving the game till the next farther off DLC), so I got the free time...it's just A struggle with something and get frustrated for a bit, or B find next vidya I'll sink my teeth into. I can do both, and I will do both, but I really should at least get a few chapters done in this fucker before I pop in next 100 hour jrpg I'm contemplating playing.
Dat procrastination lifestyle.
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Yeah, that's very true. You do progress very quickly from level 1 to the beginning of the endgame in D3, and knocking a few grifts out is pretty quick.
I dunno. I guess we'll see how I feel when I actually get to that point in MHW. :) It's going to be a while before I'm really able to start, per se.
Programming.
Sublime is fantastic. I use it a ton, both at home and at work. I even ponied up the $80 for it (well, technically $60 when I bought it; the price went up within the past year).
As far as just launching Python and using a sort of sandbox within the interpreter is concerned, that's a great way to learn an interpreted language. However, when you want to write complex programs spanning multiple files, you're going to need an editor that can keep track of all the files in your project and allow you to quickly and efficiently jump between functions in the file.
For example, if you want to jump to a function called "DebugPrint" in Sublime, type CTRL-P, then "@DebugPrint" (@, then the function name). If you have multiple files open, you can type "Filename@Function" to jump to a function in an arbitrary file. Getting to know your editor can allow you to work extremely efficiently without having to hunt around for what you want. A lot of people wonder why programmers are willing to pay so much money for a good editor--that's why.
Another motivation for using a proper text editor is syntax highlighting. I'm going to use a bit of code from Doom as an example. This is what the D_ProcessEvents function looks like without syntax highlighting (note that I also enabled visible whitespace so that I can see the difference between tabs and spaces):
(https://i.imgur.com/mJZHKCI.png)
Everything kind of blends together. The comments (the lines starting with "//") have just as much weight as the actual source code do. This is what it looks like with syntax highlighting enabled:
(https://i.imgur.com/H4a6V0X.png)
Comments are dark and many elements (function return and argument types, the function name, strings, numbers, operators, etc) are all given unique colors. This seems like just window dressing, but look at what would happen if you were to remove the closing quotation mark from one of the string literals:
(https://i.imgur.com/XWarmnt.png)
Yeah, one look at that and you know that you fucked something up. There's countless other features, like giving you a visual indication of paired sets of parenthesis and countless other things that I know I take for granted.
It's definitely a struggle to get started with this sort of thing. It requires an entirely different method of thinking than many things do, and it can feel like a near-vertical climb. The worst part about putting it off, however, is that the only way to really commit this stuff into memory is to keep working at it, steadily progressing.
The fact that we have to spend so much of our day adulting definitely doesn't help matters. I have a few projects that are moving forward at a glacial speed because I don't always feel like programming for 10 hours a day then going home and programming for another 6.
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So it's more or less the same, but packaged in such a way where it makes working with code easier to read and more efficient to work through. In all honesty, i'd probably have it figured out by now (working with sublime that is) if I just didn't procrastinate it off.
As you said, after a day of work, last thing you want to do is more work. I wanted to work on stuff monday, but...two doctors appointments plus errends...there's 10 hours of my day gone right there.
I'll get to it eventually, I'm basically dipping my toes in very slowly, but as soon as my foot is in the water, the learning should come more rapidly. It's something i've wanted to do for a long time now, and it even has the carrot on the stick of "if you learn me, I am an employable skilll..ooooo!!!!" which is a bonus, but secondary to me just wanting to learn it for the sake of learning it.
I may drag this discussion onto another thread whenever I make one, whenever I get more into this to where I have something to talk about. Could be next week...could be next month...
*edit*
another factor to me being lazy is i've been trying to be away from my pc since I know now that it's the cause of my back problems...so looking into a laptop so i can take some basic computing into the living room and a place where I have better posture.
Any recommendations? Kinda wish netbooks didn't turn into tablet's with keyboards attached to them, because I liked the small form factor they offered, but maybe with 2018 preformance that should be able to handle anything that came out pre 2010.
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Yeah, pretty much. People have written operating systems in fairly barebones text editors. The first language I put a serious effort into learning was QBasic, whose editor looked like this:
78 columns, 18 lines (a few more if you could resize or close the immediate window--I don't remember if you could or not), no syntax highlighting, and the only thing it really did for you was split subroutines and functions into a different view. Yeah, I don't really want to go back to that for any serious length of time.
Funny you mention getting a laptop. I actually have an extra laptop that I'm looking to sell. It's a nice little machine, but it became redundant faster than I had anticipated. Here are the specs:
- Dell Inspiron 5570
- Intel Core i7-8550U CPU
- Integrated GPU (Intel UHD 620)
- 8GB DDR4
- 128GB SATA M.2 SSD + 1TB 5400RPM HDD
- DVD+-RW drive
- 15.6" 1080p TN LCD panel
- Fingerprint reader (OooOooOoo!)
The display is definitely the weakest part on the system. It's fine for normal use, but I wouldn't suggest trying to do any graphics stuff on it.
Aside from that, the system is surprisingly speedy. Even under load it doesn't get stupidly hot. The CPU's base clock is 1.8GHz and can boost up to 4.0GHz on a single core, around 3.0GHz for two, and 2.4GHz for all four. The laptop is capable of maintaining 2.4GHz under heavy load for quite a while before throttling.
I'm not sure what kind of battery life you'd get running Windows. I've run Linux on it exclusively since I bought it and I've gotten around 2.5-3 hours and in my experience Windows tends to net you an extra hour or so. I ended up taking an image of the SSD before I installed Linux, so I can restore it at a moment's notice.
I paid $700 for it in mid-January, so I'm looking to get about $600 (shipped) for it. Interested?
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I may be, but I'll have to raincheck. Birthday + expenses = not much free money to go around for a bit.
Might want to look around, not entirely sure what I'm looking for in a portable machine.
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Gotcha! If you opt for something a bit cheaper, here's a few tips on what to look for:
Screen resolution. Make sure you can get 1600x900 at the very least, preferably 1920x1080 or above. I tried developing on an 11" MacBook Air (1366x768) and it was pretty unpleasant. Not bad if you were doing simple stuff, I guess, but when you try to use a full IDE like Xcode it feels extremely cramped. My primary development laptops at this time are a 17" Dell Precision 7710 (3840x2160 at 150% scaling, so effectively 2560x1440) and a 13" MacBook Pro (2560x1600 native, and I'm running it at an effective resolution of 1920x1200). With the MacBook I can very comfortably have two columns of code side-by-side and the Dell can do three (that's including the UI trimming of Xcode and Visual Studio, respectively). That might sound excessive, but when you're working on more complex projects it can be a godsend.
You don't need a ridiculous processor. My MacBook runs an i5 and it's more than fine. For most development work an i3 is perfectly serviceable. Hell, up through most of 2012 I was running a vintage 2005 Pentium M with Visual Studio 2012 and while performance was nothing to write home about it was certainly usable.
Your OS doesn't matter...especially if you're sticking with Python. macOS and most Linux distributions ship with it as part of the default installation (in my Linux distro of choice, Gentoo, most of the package manager is written in Python) but, as you know, it's a quick install away in Windows. Additionally, Sublime Text is cross-platform and works equally well in all three environments. There are some technologies that only work with some operating systems. For example, if you want to target WPF (Windows Presentation Framework) with a .NET language, you're going to have to run Windows. Even so, that's not part of the meat of the language. You can still learn and be very productive with C# without having a Windows system, for example.
Memory. 8GB or bust. Don't get anything lower than 8GB. If you find a killer deal on a system that has 4GB, make sure you can upgrade it. When you start using code editors and IDEs (integrated development environments) more heavily you'll quickly find that they can be quite hungry.
Try to get an SSD. For work with Sublime and Python you can definitely make do with a standard hard drive. However, if you want to use a heavier IDE like Eclipse or Visual Studio, you'll notice a huge speed boost if you have them running from an SSD. Some IDEs are so complex that they're essentially operating systems, so giving them plenty of I/O bandwidth is going to save you a lot of headaches.
Make sure that the keyboard doesn't suck. Cheap laptops tend to have really nasty keyboards. Mushy, unresponsive keys, uncomfortable layouts, you name it. Obviously this is difficult to judge without seeing the system for yourself, but skim through some reviews to try and get an idea of what it's going to feel like before throwing down any cash.
The GPU doesn't matter...unless you're developing high-end 3D games. Intel GPUs are more than capable of slinging pixels. Most of the grunt work on my Dell's 4K display is done by an Intel HD 530 and the MacBook's "Retina" display is completely driven by the integrated Intel Iris Plus 650.
Hope this helps!
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I wouldn't mind being able to play older stuff on the thing, like elder scrolls and some blizzard stuff here and there, but that's not my primary want for the machine.
Not entirely sure I want to go away from windows since it's what I'm used to, and Linux seems like I would have a lot of random issues trying to get stuff to work that would just work with no fuss on windows, but I have no personal experience myself.
I think mostly I'd want something comfortable on my lap while I'm in the living room in my recliner. If I have access to it in that environment, i'd be more likely to casually code and whatnot. At least that's the theory, "if it's there I aughta use it".
Then that price point, in what I can afford, which I'm not entirely sure what I'd be willing to drop at this moment. Need to get some home budgeting down before I can nail that number.
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The Intel GPU could probably handle stuff like that if you drop the resolution and detail settings. I didn't really do much gaming on the 5570 (and my 7710 has an AMD GPU, so I use that for games), but I was able to play Portal fairly comfortably at medium/high settings at 1080p. It stayed over 30fps, though whether or not that's acceptable is completely subjective. That's also under Linux, YMMV when it comes to Windows.
I did do one test on my 7710's Intel GPU using World of Warcraft. IIRC, it was playable with medium settings at around 900p. I tried 4K just for kicks and that went about as well as you'd expect. :P Not sure how the Iris Plus handles things--the only game I've actually played on the MacBook is Undertale. It does handle SketchUp and Slic3r (a CAD program and a slicer for my 3D printer, respectively) at native resolutions, though, so that's something.
I dunno, lately I've found that Linux works far more consistently than Windows 10. It seems as though every one of my Windows 10 installs has some sort of annoying, niggling issue, while my Linux installs--while occasionally a bit clunkier in terms of UX--just keep trucking along. Back in the Windows 7 (and even 8/8.1) days I used Windows as my primary OS. Nowadays? Not so much.
As far as comfort goes, 15.6" is a pretty nice sweet spot for most people, offering a nice balance between portability and lap usage. 17" is fantastic if you primarily use it on your lap and don't mind dealing with a bit of extra weight. 13" is definitely usable on the lap (not to mention super portable!), though that's as small as I'd recommend going. I used to have an 11" MacBook Air and that was a bit awkward to use if I didn't have a table or lap desk handy.
In terms of price, I'd say you're going to probably spend $500-1000 on something that's going to be solid and reliable. There are some available cheaper, but when you go too far under that mid-range bracket you can find yourself in a world of hurt. The motherboard and friends are generally still okay, but that's where you get mushy keyboards, terrible trackpads, unbelievably cheap, brittle plastic, unreliable chargers, unreadable screens, stuff like that. If you want a dedicated GPU for gaming, I'd aim for the $1200-$1500 price point (the higher the better, naturally, but in my experience that's the magical spot right before the prices shoot way past the $2000 mark).
tl;dr prices are definitely lower than they were, but you still get what you pay for in a lot of ways.
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Just started up a new hunter in MH4U. Not really crazy about playing on a 3DS, but I'm curious to see if my brief experience with MHW, more significant Soulsborne experience, and the fact that I have a New 3DS now will make it a better experience.
The framerate on the N3DS is already proving to be significantly better, and being able to use ZL/ZR to pan the camera left and right (not to mention that handy C-stick) is fantastic. I didn't really have time to jump into the game proper, but I ended up getting through the intro at least.
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I believe mh4u has more content than world (beleive it or not in the 200 or so hours I dumped into world), but I just can't deal with the horrible 3ds controls. I literally prefer it on psp, and it aint much better...
Either way community still hails it as a great game, it just suffers because of platform imo. In the 20 or so hours I played mh4u, I didn't use the analog laptop mouse nub, it's horrible, atrocious, I'd almost rather it not even be there if they aren't going to make it function half way decent. The touch pad d pad ended up being more reliable for me than the nub personally. Either way, a good holdover till you get access to world.
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I didn't really have a problem with the nub, personally. I was using that to look up/down and ZL/ZR to look left/right and it worked well. I wouldn't want to use it as a critical game control since it has zero tactile feedback, but for quickly bumping the camera around it's passable.
Now the problem is that the way I had to hold the 3DS in order to comfortable reach all of the controls is so goddamn uncomfortable that my hands were aching after a single hunt. Ugh. I think I might have to design and print some grips if I want to play it for any real length of time. I even tried to do a PSP-esque claw grip, but it's way harder to do that with a circle pad than the analog nub, not to mention that the shape of the system itself makes it difficult to do.
And yeah, I totally agree that the platform held it back. Even if the system were more comfortable to hold, huddling over a 3DS for hours on end doesn't sound very appealing to me. Games like PokΓ©mon, Ace Attorney, and Zero Escape work because their control sets are relatively minimal. They don't use every single button on a routine basis like MH does. Not to mention that the 3DS really doesn't have stellar battery life...
I wish they would have released MH4U for the Wii U or something. I still have mine hooked up (and it's gotten more playtime in the past 6 months than my XB1 and PS4 have, which is kind of hilarious). Instead the best the Wii U got was MH3U. I mean, I did enjoy playing Tri on the Wii, so I guess wouldn't be opposed to going back to 3 to pass the time until MHW/PC comes out.
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PC port. Two weeks. Hype!
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I played for about five hours last night andβ¦yeah, it's a pretty good port!
I was hoping to be able to hit 4K/60 on my rig but I was only able to get around 40fps average. I ultimately pulled the resolution back to 1440p and it runs at a smooth 60fps. One thing that surprised me is how consistent the framerate is. Even when I was fidding around with 4K it never really dropped much below 40. If I were interested in 4K/30 it would have been more than adequate, but I'd rather have the extra FPS.
It features native XInput support (naturally), works with DirectInput, and even plays surprisingly well with keyboard/mouse! I favor an Xbox One controller, though if I ever decided to use the bowguns at some point I'd probably switch.
I'd say my biggest complaint is still that the tutorials are so overbearing. I'm pretty sure The Handler told me four separate times how to open my map, yet important movement features like swinging from vines was left completely uncovered. Having spoken to someone who picked up MHW as their first game in the series, he also feels that too much emphasis was placed on exceedingly basic controls and not enough time was spent on the nuances of armor/weapon crafting. He felt that I explained the armor upgrade system better in a handful of sentences than the long, drawn out text tutorials in the game.
The game feels best when it takes a step back and lets you figure things out, but I'm still at the point where it vocalizes some blindingly obvious stuff. Like, if I get paralyzed they make a point of saying "YOU'RE PARALYZED! You'll have to wait to recover!" as if the little lightning bolt effects on my character, the fact that he was trembling, and the fact that my controls didn't work weren't obvious. It also commits that egregious sin where you can be dodging attacks perfectly for several minutes, but the second you slip up and get smacked in the back by a little jagras it pops up this giant "A + LS" prompt on the screen and yells at you for not dodging. Yeah, no shit.
While that does make it a bit more accessible than previous titles, I still think they missed the mark. They spend so much time covering the mechanics that have been beaten into people repeatedly over the past decade that they ignore the numerous nuances that make Monster Hunter what it is. It's as if they simultaneously assume that people are beginners to video games in general, yet they know all there is to know about Monster Hunter's various systems. It just seems backwards to me.
But obviously there's far more good than there is bad. MHW resolves pretty much every complaint that I have about the series, such as reducing the menial grinding (having unlimited whetstones, BBQ spit taking significantly less time, etc), improving the fluidity of the controls, making the game world seamless and open, streamlining monster tracking (this point is probably pretty heavily contested, but I enjoy the scoutfly system significantly more than paintballs). Best of all, it manages to do all of this while still retaining its quirky and fun identity.
As soon as the tutorial-related headaches pass, you're left with an incredible game with a ginormous amount of content. There's no way I can't recommend it.
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If you got any questions, I aughta be able to answer most. I think I ended my time with that game with over 200 hours played and over HR rank 105 or something.
And to be totally honest the entirety of low rank is basically a tutorial, when people say "the game doesn't start till high rank" they're kinda right.
I'll have to find my stats, but I played like 95% lance. 5% heavybowgun/sns/gunlance. As much variety as the game has to offer, I can't really have much fun unless I'm lancing. I loved hammer in the psp games, to the point where I played hammer over lance, but hammer feels so nerfed in this game with the multiplayer scaling effecting stun as well as monster health that hammer feels kind of worthless.
Late game I did find myself preferring certain weapons and setups for certain monsters. I'll lance everything, but I kinda like heavy bowgun against kirin, and gunlance on kushala. Tried to enjoy sword and shield, but hitting weak points with such a stubby weapon is impossible, I don't really get how people use that weapon. Maybe if I ever play again (burned out for it taking 1.5 months of my life) I'll give greatsword another go. It's a hard weapon, but it has the biggest numbers in the game.
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Yeah, I've been more or less skating through the low rank content. Even monsters that have always given me problems (hi, Barroth) have gone down relatively easily. Not sure if that's just because I have a lot more experience with these sort of games than I did when I played MH3 a whole bunch or if the game's learning curve is just that much more gradual, but it feels much better for me at least.
For now I've settled with the switch axe. I just really like how the weapon feels at this point. I thought I'd enjoy the dual blades since I tend to prefer mobility, but I've found that the only way to do any serious damage with them is to just stand stationary in demon mode, and that's really not feasible unless the monster is already stunned. It felt more like I was chipping them to death than doing any serious damage.
Shame to hear about the hammer getting nerfed. I wonder if the people I know who primarily used it just coped with it or if they switched off for MHW.
Tried to enjoy sword and shield, but hitting weak points with such a stubby weapon is impossible, I don't really get how people use that weapon.
I think that's my favorite part about Monster Hunter: the weapons are so varied that some of them just don't click for people at all, yet they all tend to be very effective.
I used the sword and shield when I was fiddling with the Xbox One version several months ago. For me it offered a good balance of attack, defense, and mobility. The main issue for me is that I'm bored to death of sword and shield in general when it comes to ARPGs. :P I also have a tendency to prefer dodging over blocking, so the switch axe fit my play style well.
Oh, I also took this opportunity to finally fiddle around with ShadowPlay. I've certainly has faster Great Jagras kills than this, but I think this is my cleanest one:
I've been recording almost all of my gameplay so far (two video files ended up getting corrupted, and I forgot to record a few minutes of some light multiplayer I did with a friend, but other than that all of the non-town stuff is there). If I end up doing anything nifty I'll at least have proof of it.
It is kind of odd that the video files turned out to be 1080p60, though. I set up ShadowPlay to record at the selected resolution at 60fps, so they should be 1440p. Similarly, a bit of Doom 2016 that I recorded turned out to be 1080p60 instead of 4K60. Gonna have to look at that.
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Decided to try out long swords. They're pretty fun!
I did an easy hunt just to see how greedy I could get. Turns out, I could get pretty damn greedy. I could dive in, do a decent amount of damage, and roll away.
I ended up getting further in the story as well, making my way to the Rotten Vale.
I've, uh, also figured out the format that the game's textures are stored in and wrote a quick and dirty converter. Here's some of the Great Jagras's normal map:
The diffuse textures are compressed with DXT1/BC1 with 1-bit alpha (yuck) and the normal maps are compressed with ATI2/BC5. There's another format in play that I haven't worked out quite yet, nor am I entirely sure of the purpose of those particular textures. All I've sussed out so far is that the compression format in question each 4x4 block in 16-bytes.
And sure, I could have just wrapped the compressed texture data into a DDS wrapper and called it a day, but what's the fun in that? :P
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So I'ma necro this thread because Monster Hunter Rise comes out on the 26th of march, and the more I look into it, the more I wanna play some fucking monster hunter right now.
Any of you guys have switches? I have generations ultimate on switch but only played like...20 minutes so far. I would like to get more time invested so I'm not going into rise green. Fully intend on staying lance, but instead of a 95 lance to 5 allotherweaponsinthegame ratio. I wouldn't mind spending more time with other stuff. Still, might dump a few hours into mghu (unless anyone wants to play iceborne on ps4, which im only half way through) and try to brush off some of this rust, or maybe get better...since with all the 210 hours I put into world; and the 100 hours I put into freedom unite back in the day. I think I have always been a horrible player...
Might update here if I do end up playing more generations ultimate, it is an older styled game so it's a big adjustment coming from playing world. I managed to beat Shen Gaoren (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HPfOwUeToEl) with lance and hammer back in the day on psp(doing ad hoc multiplayer with an irl friend, good times), so while I am no stranger to the old hard as nails games, I have been spoiled by world.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jsWulkr5cgQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
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I have a Switch, and I have my eyes on MH:Rise. That said, I have a huuuuuuge backlog I need to get through, so at this rate I might get around to playing it sometime around 2024.
It's a shame MHW isn't cross-platform. I'd love to play Iceborne with you, but I'm a PC player. :(
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Not gonna lie, I really did consider buying mhw on pc...but Rise is out in like a little over 5 weeks, and I did get mhgu on sale a few months ago...so gonna dabble with that. Only real concern is how switch multiplayer is, and my internet while decent here, does like to cut out every few hours for some odd reason which could ruin a few hunts. Something I want to troubleshoot before release, but if hunts are in the sub 20 minute range like in world, 1-2 lost hunts a day due to d/c aint the end of the world. If they are harder like in freedom unite where my average hunt was going on 40+ minutes (I think the guild missions in those games were perma scaled to 4 players, and I mainly hunted with one friend of mine, so monster hp was not tuned for 2 people), losing a hunt or two like that would be concerning. Didn't really affect me playing world of warcraft that much, and monster hunter doesn't have 2+ hour dungeons, so shouldn't be a huge deal. Generations might be a good guinea pig to test the online waters, whenever I get far enough to kill anything worthwhile of grouping, and pay for the surprisingly reasonably priced Nintendo online service.
Unnecessary ramble aside, if im as into rise as I was world, I'll be playing for at least a solid month/month and a half if you find the time to get a few hunts in. Best part about monster hunter, no leveling, and the moment to moment gameplay is actually fun, so helping people out on earlier quests is always a good time.
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Oh jeez, I didn't even think about the Switch's multiplayer. I know it was kinda rough when it first launched, but I imagine (rather, I hope) it would have improved since then. Pretty sure it still lacks a reasonable voice chat system, but that's why Discord and tablets were invented.
I might pick this up. It would be nice to have a Switch game to play that isn't Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, especially considering how much of a slideshow Age of Calamity wound up being.
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Obligatory "I got the game and I can say it is gud" post.
Too early (only hr2) to really get into the nitty gritty, but I can safely say despite being on switch, this game is a worthy successor to mh world. While the maps are smaller, and the switch framerate does dip in areas, there's a ton to explore. I'd argue, with the new mobility of the dog+wirebugs, this game is a lot more enjoyable to explore the maps than in world. Especially now that we no longer have the insanely big, labyrinthian maze like, "if a monster is on that map im going to hunt something else", abomination of a map called ancient forest in mh world, the 4 maps I have access too so far are pretty good.
More to come as I play the game, only 9 hours played so far, and way too much dicking around and way too little actually making progress. If you were worried they were going to go back to old monster hunter style of generations ultimate and the past games, this game is not that, it's got all of the QoL of world and then some.
*edit*
AND I MUST SNEAK THIS IN, despite some pretty decent framedrops in areas, the load times in rise on switch are a hundred trillion times better than mh world on ps4. It's not even a comparison, loading into missions takes a fraction of the time, and entering different areas in town is maybe a second? not even. Very noticeable how fast the
load times are.
*edit*
Lance got a new move which is very un lance like in rise, and I didn't like it. Since the psp games it got a swipe move used by hitting the two attack buttons at the same time, it was a novelty move, and pretty much useless against everything. In rise it's still mostly useless (albeit, good for attacking the bushes that hide wildlife), but it has a charge version which you can do by holding the two buttons...
Lance is amongst the most precise weapons in the monster hunter series, and this swipe aint, range is meh, and its slow...but it can fit into the 3x poke combos, can be counter or guard cancelled like a poke, and does as much damage as 3 pokes combined...ACTUALLY starting to enjoy how this move fits in with the lance moveset. Sometimes I poke poke poke, sometimes ill poke poke swipe, and if I know I have a small opening, I'll change the order again, maybe swipe, poke, evade. I really hated the move coming into the game, but as I play more, it feels good to use. Not to mention on a downed monster, lance had like the lowest damage in the game, now, you can actually do some decent damage when a monster is downed. It's almost as if the game developers knew what they were doing...
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That sounds promising. I also heard that they revamped the potions to have a partial instant effect (like, it heals half instantly and the second half is a HoT).
I'll probably pick it up at some point. Gotta whittle down my backlog a bit first, though. <_<
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I am not as far as I could be, but I have hit HR 6 (High rank starts at HR 4) so I still have an incomplete, but wider view of what this game is.
This game in my opinion should be viewed as "monster hunter world 2" to people on the fence. Generations ultimate was the last of the "old" monster hunter styled games, Rise is basically refining what world did to refine the old games.
And what I mean by that is the game is really fucking good, so if you liked world, it's kinda impossible not to like rise unless you hate on the switch or something. Which in that case I actually prefer having some framedrops in areas if my loadtimes are lightning, because loading into missions/areas is very speedy.
Biggest complaint so far is that I am kind of luke warm on the Lance weapon, seems to have the least exciting changes out of the weapons that I've seen. New swipe while a good move, still doesn't fit with the lance moveset. An easy solution to this would be to add a power thrust instead of a swipe...they did this in generations ultimate already...so it's not like capcom hadn't thought of the idea. And the new toys are either redundant, require too much skill to make use of, or are uninteresting. Switch skills, one replaces the charge with...a shorter range charge that is more defensive? It's fine, and I use it over the default charge, but it isn't drastically different.
The other replaces your block with a parry styled block...so like the lance has what, 4 different counters/parries now?
-Standard counter
-power guard
-wirebug counter
-instant guard
I know the kit is designed to say fuck that monsters attack im gonna disregard that and keep attacking while all other weapons have to back off, but when is enough enough? I don't think the weapon needs 4 different counters when the two default ones fit just fine. However my skill level, despite the large time played, is kind of low, so having these new counters that if you use incorrectly, you kinda die...isn't as fun as getting a new hittey damage thing. At least with the standard counter, if I fuck up the timing (WHICH I DO ALL THE TIME EVERY SINGLE FIGHT), I can just powerguard to save my ass. Wirebug counter I can't do that, big whiff animation, and instant guard takes away normal guard...
TLDR LOOKING FOR ANOTHER WEAPON, hammer is a big maybe, gunlance is probably a no, might put together a heavy bowgun set to try that out. Still love the lance, but I got a little bit of envy looking at the cool stuff other weapons received. Not going to abandon the weapon, but instead of having 95% of my hunts played with lance...maybe lower that number to 60-70%.
Ohh yeah, the wirebug mechanics for movement are fantastic. It's actually really fun to zip around the environment with the wirebugs. You have an upward swing and a forward swing, and in the air you can tap A to hold onto a wirebug mid air that doesn't cost wirebug meter. So what you can do to say cross a large gap, upswing to move forward, mid air A to swing again for free, still midair upswing again, tap A to go again...you can get some pretty impressive distance without even touching the ground in some areas. Slight learning curve to it, not a lot of skill, but enough skill to feel good and fun to use. Very nice addition.
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I don't hate the Switch (though I'm really eagerly awaiting the next major hardware revision to smooth things out), but with the number of games I still have on my to-do list I figure I can wait a year for it to drop on PC. If the load times are fast on the Switch's eMMC storage (which is pretty slow in terms of flash storage) I figure it'll fly on a decent SSD.
I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most is playing around with the wirebugs. One of the few things that was a bit of a slog in MHW (at least until they added rideable monsters in Iceborne) was the movement, so I imagine that'll help speed things up a lot.
Gotta say, for as conservative as Capcom usually is with the Monster Hunter series, I'm surprised that they were so bold as to put out two major releases back to back with such sweeping gameplay changes. I do find it kind of funny when people complain about them removing mundane elements, though, such as having to friggin' collect whetstones. I mean, if I want to stockpile stone I'll just play Minecraft.
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Well if you don't need it now, pc release will replicate a "game is new everybody is playing it" environment online, so it's not a bad call. I think im already near the "endgame" content already, so it feels a bit lighter than base mh world. Mind you it's still 30-40 hours to get there instead of...I think 50-70 hours it took me to get to xenojiva in world? So pc release will have all the addons and stuff they're bound to keep releasing over the coming months.
Still, for me, it's plenty enough content for me to chew on. Maybe it feels like less because the content is...I hate saying it, easier? I don't think this is an easy game, but for monster hunter standards, it's probably the easiest one yet. You can cart, and I have carted, but I am in HR6, HR7 is the current max, the hardest fights I have done so far are still easier than low rank anjanath (who is scarey enough to where I have avoided fighting him in this game so far), or diablos, or pink rathian, those eariler game fights timed at points in the game that felt especially challenging for me in world. And I think I have to mention high rank kirin, maybe not for current players, but when the game was new high rank kirin was a milestone, I think I uploaded a video celebrating beating it earlier in this thread. But that said, with monsters being currently more managable, it obviously means you progress through content faster. But in my eyes as a filthy casual, still plenty challenging to me, if I wasn't lancing, I would be carting a lot more.
such as having to friggin' collect whetstones. I mean, if I want to stockpile stone I'll just play Minecraft.
I put ~120 hours into monster hunter freedom unite on psp, and I do remember this. While kind of obsolete now, the biggest QoL changes in my eyes are three things that made a release like monster hunter 4 on 3ds something I put 20 hours into, compared to monster hunter world something I put over 210 hours into.
-The local wildlife fucks with you less in modern monster hunter. BULLFANGOS CHARGING YOU OVER AND OVER WHILE YOU FIGHT A RATHIAN, fucking sucks. Little mosquito guys buzzing around, PARALYZE YOU, monster charges you, cart. Goddamn bullshit, super annoying, the small monsters still fuck with you in rise, but it's barely something I notice anymore.
-Paintballs. Cool concept for the time, but mostly annoying. Monster runs away, forget to paintball...search the entire map for the monster, maybe the monster changes zones, 10 minutes pass, can't find him. Now you just see all the monsters on the map, much nicer.
-Controls. Fuck Claw, I think I need to say no more.
But yeah having finite whetstones in essence made melee weapons had the potential to "run out", and you couldn't resupply in those games...and if you didn't bring pickaxes to mine more stones...and these axes break frequently and you can only hold so many...you get my point. Realistically speaking though I don't think it was ever an issue for me even with those hub fights with bloated hp taking almost the full 50 minutes to hunt.
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30-40 hours still ain't bad. Considering how well-supported modern Monster Hunter has been, I imagine special events and the like will easily add another dozen or so hours to that count. Kinda makes me wonder how much the new movement system factors into that as well. Like I said, the movement in World was fine, but having to traverse an entire zone took a while, and that sort of thing definitely adds up when you're farming.
Heh, funny you mention LR Anjanath. That motherfucker will definitely make you humble. I ended up going back to LR Anjanath on my MHW save after beating Xeno'jiiva, got a little too cocky and aggressive, and wound up carting...on low rank. Whoops! Definitely didn't make that mistake twice.
I actually forgot how much of a hindrance the wildlife was in classic MH, but yeah, that's definitely not something I miss. It's also kind of unrealistic when you think about it. You've got a human swinging a big fuck off sword at a big fuck off predator and some little insect is going to just stick around and start poking one of them? What? Not to say that MHW doesn't have stinging, stunning insects, but they don't seem to be nearly as ruthless/annoying as they used to be. I don't recall ever having to worry about those fuckers when I decide to hunt Pukei-Pukei (I think the game might even despawn them altogether?).
Oh, also, don't forget about their nasty habit of placing smaller monsters right on top of the goddamn level load triggers just so you'd take a nigh unavoidable hit during the screen transition. asdfjkl;
And yeah, I don't miss paintballs at all. Scout flies 4 lyfe. Also, the removal of paintballs and the infinite whetstone also led to another awesome bit of QoL: since those items don't exist in their original form, they don't waste inventory space (nor do pickaxes, nets, and all that other stuff).
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Watching the credits right now. ~42 hours played. This game is seperated between village (single player only) and hub (the meat of the game, single or multiplayer), and progression is seperated between the two. So my time played is to get to the end of both, if you just do village...you could probably do it in 10 if you really just bee line it. I did hub first because multiplayer is where all of my monster hunter enjoyment comes from, and village is low rank only...so it's a joke finishing village with high rank gear. Funny no credits for the hub, even though it's where a vast majority of the content is located, but either way, monster hunter has never been about the "story", so don't expect much here. SPOILERS, the village eider gives you a longsword...like it's the canon weapon now or something...like getting coal for christmas, gross.
I mean It's clear I already recommend this game to any fan of the series, but having had sunk my teeth into a majority of what the game currently has to offer, I am happy with the product they put out.
And as I get to the end of this post and the credits finally end...there's still more village quests? Well I'll edit when I beat them all because this feels like a bayonetta where they rope a dope you with some credits....only for more game to be there to play for credits aga....for more game to play FOR THE THIRD SET OF CREDITS where the game story ends. Monster hunter games don't really end, but they do have a story that ends, so color me confused.
*edit*
Well that was...weird. So hub goes from HR 1 to HR 7 quests. Village goes from HR1-4, then you have credits "the story is done", but then you have HR5 quests, you do the mandatory quests for an urgent to fight an...almudron...just some normal mid tier monster and after that(a very annoying hard to hit despite him being huge, but still not that bad of a fight)...HR 6, but it just kinda stops. There are quests to do, but thats it. I mean Village monsters feel like they have 60% the health of a hub monster, so for farming certain low rank parts it's useful, but what a strange way to end a story. The story isn't over, they kind of cliffhanger it in the hub, but still, strange. But again these games aren't ones you just stop playing because the game stops giving you a story incentive to do so, so...I still got a lot of random sidequests/unfinished not mandatory for story progression quests/get my lance set fully decked out/play other weapons/arena quests/ECT ECT ECT, plenty to do. HOWEVER compared to the two monster hunters I put the most time into, freedom unite, and world, this one has by far the least amount of content...which is still a lot of content worth the price of admission in my humble opinion. YMMV, I enjoy it, play it now, wait for dlc, wait for pc, no wrong way to go at it. I'm playing it now on switch, and when im done, it'll be like world, I'll probably be done till the next new release years in the future.
Time played as of this post 46 hours 43 minutes.
More or less my "review" of the game. Going back to even playing world is probably impossible for me now. GUD GAM
*edit*
Some random notes I notice. I think part of the ease of this release is specific to wirebugs. You can do a knockdown recovery move, kinda similar to a fighting game in this game. Monster knocks you down, durring the knockback animation where you ragdoll helplessly, you can just wirebug in any direction away from danger with your weapon sheathed so you can pop a potion or something. It's a bit odd to use at first, get knocked back, hold ZL and hit A and a direction, its probably the single biggest cart prevention mechanic in the game to be honest.
*edit 4/10*
So I changed my mind AGAIN on lance sweep. I was against it, then for it, then against it, now FOR IT. 60 hours played. Here's what lance sweep don't do. ITS SLOW, doesn't hit very high up, it's not a poke so lance aesthetics.
Heres what lance sweep do, it's a sweep with a BIG AS FUCK ARC JESUS, the monster is sometimes behind me and I'll still hit, great for out of position stuff. Actual good damage for downed monsters. But something I noticed as I played, and as the community brings up, it's slow...and does a lot of damage but it's slow...you know how fast lance loses sharpness by it's poke poke poke? Very fast, but liberal usage of sweep (which I find I use it a majority of the time now) means sharpness is less of an issue than ever. Less attacks = less sharpness loss = even more damage. It may be an attack that goes against the spirit of the weapon, but I think it overall makes the weapon more fun to play after you get over the learning curve.
*edit 4/13*
"cough" 77 hours "cough"
I have done all of the village quests finally, all the high rank hub quests, just need to get through the low rank hub stuff. I finally played another weapon, heavy bowgun. I don't know jack shit about it, but slap a shield on it with a few points in guard and I got through the "rajang + zinogre" quest in hr7 with minimal fear of carting. Current meta seems to be pierce, when I want to play spread...so maybe I'll figure out what I need to do spread, but pierce is fun enough. I run my lance with guard 5 evade window 4, so im mixing guard and evasion, which is something people don't do, so yknow fuck the meta. All damage does in this game is reduce the time a hunt takes, and in a lobby of 4 players, not dying is my priority. Just because the community at large believes something to be optimal, doesn't make it more fun for you as an individual.
People are complaining about the talisman rng postgame experience being horrible, but imo it's not much different than the .000001% augment droprate meta of base pre dlc world, so it is what it is. Keeps people playing, which keeps people in lobbies, so it ain't a bad thing.
A monster hunter fan who does not like this game is actually wrong. Yes an opinion can be wrong.
*edit 4/16*
Last edit to this post, about 81 hours played. Pretty much done with what I want to do with the game in it's current state, may come back later when dlc hits. To call it a "short game" would be silly. There's plenty to do.
*edit 4/19*
Uhh...85 hours played. Made a switch axe, really like it, finally finished EVERY SINGLE VILLAGE AND HUB QUEST....now I think I am done till dlc.
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Sorry if you already covered this, but did they improve the way that co-op questing works? Having to juggle with the monster introduction cutscenes in World was kind of a drag.
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It works a little different. Each monster has its own intro cutscene. If a player has not seen the intro, it'll play out(unless they skip), but by the time you're in high rank pretty much everybody has seen them, and I haven't seen one in over 50-60 hours of play, and I play PREDOMINANTLY multiplayer games.
The multiplayer experience is a lot more improved.
-You can make a lobby for people to join, and anyone can post/join quests within the lobby.
-The way I mostly play is to go to the board and join a quest in progress. I currently need Magnamalo gem to make a hunting horn, so I just go to the board, pick the quest with high rank Magnamalo, wait anywhere between 5-20 seconds, and I'm in with 3 other players good to go.
-Or if the quest you are on isn't that popular and you can't find other players, you can host one, and players will be able to join you via the second bullet point.
World multiplayer felt pretty jank with how they handled some multiplayer things, Rise feels as good as you can get it imo. Sometimes you'll eat, join a game, fail to find game...and your food meal wears off, but meals are cheap, so it's not a huge deal.
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That sounds like a huge improvement already. When one of my friends started playing World with me, we'd always have to go through that song and dance where he would start a quest solo, watch the cutscene, abandon the quest, and then we could play together. So...utterly...bizarre...
I'm kind of on the fence. I'd much rather play the PC port when it comes out, but everyone I know has it on Switch. Then again, by the time I get to it, my friends might have moved on to other games.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa halp
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Pretty easy choice to make. If you're friends are playing it on switch right now, get it on switch. If they're waiting for pc, wait for pc. The game will get supported with dlc, and with dlc will be influx of players playing said dlc. Also, pc release will have the same influx of new pc players.
I don't think there's a wrong answer, unless you're playing solo months after release inbetween content releases.
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Yeah, good point.
Iβll let you know when I pick it up. :P
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The only thing I would have you hesitate on is how bad do you hate framerate drops.
They happen "enough" where you notice it, but it's not bad enough "in my opinion" to hamper the overall experience. I think I said earlier the load times are so fast the frame drops don't bother me, but if that isn't you, pc for sure.
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Any idea how it compares to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity in terms of frame rate? I'm not super gung-ho about framerate drops as long as the game is fun, but AoC is what I'd consider at the upper end of unplayable.
If it's better than that, I don't really care if it's running on a console. Besides, it would give me a good excuse to play with my Switch.
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Pretty unfamiliar with that game. However I'd say a vast majority of this game runs fine, it's just certain areas, of if too many things are in one area, the frames dip and become a bit choppy. Choppy means choppy, not unplayable. Enough to notice, but enough to get used to and sorta forget about after a while. I'm used to it to the point where I can't think of any area in particular that bothers me, none of it actually impedes a hunt to be honest. It's just there, and that's a thing some people are more picky than others about, so it's definitely worth noting, I could be on the less picky side of the spectrum so I figured Id mention my own personal bias.
A majority of this game is being in combat with a giant monster, most videos you see of the game should give you a good enough representation of what to expect I'd think.
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Yeah, I can generally deal with that. I mean, I started off with Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii and Monster Hunter 4 on the OG 3DS XL, so if it isn't any worse than those I'm sure it'll be fine. I'd say I'm somewhere in the middle of the frame rate spectrum. I like being able to play games at 60hz+, but I don't consider games unplayable if they run at 30 with the occasional dip (that said, I'm also not prone to simulation sickness, so that probably has a lot to do with it).
I was a bit less picky when I was a kid, but I think that's all part of jumping on the FPS bandwagon very early. :P
Thanks for all the info!
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So my other habitat on the internet apparently moved to PC...whether I play with them at all before they chew through the content is beyond me, but I got the game on pc with sunbeak.
-Runs at 4k/whatever fps it's at it looks good to me, quite well, since it's a switch game ported over.
-Game doesn't look visually as good at world, but yknow, it is what it is.
-I got 2 ps5 controllers, so I can use one for pc games and the other for the ps5. The game supports xbox/ps4/ps5/switch/and some other xbox button icons for the UI, very nice.
-the defender weapon is kinda like an mmorpg "exp boost" to get you to the expansion earlier, it's basically a weapon tree that costs almost nothing to upgrade that's better than...everything...in low rank, and high rank...so just use that and bee line the main game because the garbage of a higher rank >>>> the best of the rank below it.
-took me about 15 hours to rush through low rank/high rank in hub(playing with randos the entire time), doing so got me to start sunbreak stuff
-I think the movement in this game was made better than base rise? I feel like goddamn spiderman sometimes, I feel the wall climbing isn't really limited anymore, so you can just go till your stamina runs out...then you jump off wirebug back (the time you're jumping you restore some stamina), and run up the rest of the wall. FEELS REAL GOOD, the movement in this game is scrumptious.
I am not that far into actual sunbreak stuff due to, not playing videogames 24/7 and seeing sunlight sometimes. But I can indeed say uhh...I'm playing the game on pc and it runs fine? Game ain't going anywhere so if you need some idiot who still after all this time isn't that good at monster hunter to get you through some lower rank monsters, I AM THAT GUY.
Unrelated note but related to the thread subject, thinking about playing monster hunter freedom unite on an emulator...I hear those things can do like online play now a days...would be cool to find some interested parties to play old hard as fuck monster hunter, maybe see if I could even play such a thing after being spoiled with how free rise is.
*edit*
~30 hours in, taking away from my DNF Duel time (really good new fighting game) pretty hard.
Just hit MR5, I "think" the main sunbreak story ends at the end of MR6? then it does that thing it seems to do where the rank unlocks to infinity, and you get incremental stuff at 10, 20,...90, 100, then it stops but you can go to 999. So I am relatively far as the story goes. Mostly bee lining the story, because the farther I get the better gear I get, the easier going back to do the other missions will be. Also having an unlocked rank means going back to do said missions will passively increase that.
The new town is good, compact, but everything is in the right spot. Feels like they really put time into making a small concentrated hub town where everything you need is quick and easy to reach. There was no issues with the old town, and on pc, you can just warp there in under 5 seconds to hit up anything you need, but it's good they are keeping consistent.
New switch skills/wirebugs. Hearing you can have different loadouts that you can swap between on the fly didn't seem something I'd use much. Well, I still don't, but I do sometimes, so it's a fine enough addition. Lance has a new "switch skill" for it's forward + horizontal poke attack which is a shield bash thing. Doesn't look very flashy, but you can do it after anything, and you can do it in any direction, and it's a shield bash, so...it blocks stuff.
ITS REALLY GOOD. You're attacking and need to reposition mid combo? Shield bash in that direction and keep the damage coming. You're attacking and need to reposition mid combo while a monster is about to hit you? Shield bash in that direction and keep the damage coming, it's a shield, and you just go through attacks as if they never happened. When I am able to play lance properly, I take monster attacks, say "not tonight dear" and keep the flow going.
Switching loadouts comes handy because the move that it replaces is like a charging guard thing, which is nice for approaching monsters. However, out of that, you can enter a jump, and from said jump a triple air poke thing, which can be canceled into a backhop, into the charge guard jump tripple poke thing. It's good damage that doesn't use up a ton of sharpness, so it's worth swapping to on downed monsters.
It also feels like you have a lot more skills in general to play with on armor/decorations, so if you want to run more defense to not cart, while also having some damage skills, you totally can.
Having more fun with this than I expected probably going to keep Lance only until I finish the story beat which unlocks MR rank, then maybe try a few other weapons I have had my eye on.
Only problems I have with the game is it's a time where none of my friends are playing. Not a graphics whore at all, but looking back at how good World looked, it is a pretty significant step back in the visuals department. And you can change the town BGM to other stuff in game, which is a neat feature, but the god tier town music from World unfortunately ain't an option. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C21ln9supc) Pretty nitpicky stuff, and stepping down graphically to release on the switch, when nobody has a ps5 right now, was a good compromise imo.
*edit*
So, I finished MR5, and the urgent quest to take you into MR6 is the "final boss" so think xenojiva from world where you do that, the main story is done, credits, and your rank unlocks.
The "final boss" of sunbreak I enjoyed a bit more than base rise. I don't want to speak too soon maybe I'll change my tune when I play more, but out of world, rise, and sunbreak, I think the final boss of sunbreak is the most enjoyable out of the 3. I did cart once in a "if you aren't ready for it you just die" situation, more of a knowledge check death, so nothing too cheap. The last boss of base rise is really annoying and I strongly dislike doing it, and at the end of rise, before content updates, the meta was farm that boss over and over and over for parts to melt down into talismans...and you can see I liked that less than the endgame to world, before content updates. 80-90 hours compared to the 200 I put in world...yeah...
However I got to catch up doing every quest in base rise, since im not on my switch file, and all the quests I didn't do in sunbreak having just bee lined the story. There's also single player "follower" quests, where you do a single player hunt with various town NPC's. I haven't done any of these yet, but I do know a set of armor is locked behind one of these, so it's a cool addition.
Probably going to figure out what I want my lance set to be and farm for that, then look at trying a new weapon. I know I like hammer, I still want to understand sword and shield, switch axe was fun in base rise, I hear things about insect glaive kinsect heal shenanigans, shield + spread HBG is fun, there's a lot to play with.
I guess now the game starts and we'll see how long I play. I think part of the reason I put so much time into world was the small 3ish week window I was playing with irl friends most every day, and I lack that now, so staying power may not be as much. We'll see, pretty happy with my purchase so far, even though I had to buy the damn game again and zoom through to the end again.
*edit*
Just hit me, rise/sunbreak is a bit easier than World, which was a challenging game on its own right, but a lot easier than old monster hunter. I am saying that because fuck Teostra.
I don't think I need to elaborate.
Fuck Teostra.
*edit*
I didn't expect to buy this expansion, let alone put in "cough" 70 hours so far "cough".
Kinda didn't like iceborne from what I played, clutch claw tenderizing spots just meant they increased health on all monsters by a flat percentage, not really fun.
Out of my 200+ hunts, I only have one hunt with hammer, and one with sns, so I can't comment on really how not lance feels, but lance feels good. I think they just did some flat damage increases, because looking at what other weapons do, damage wise, I don't feel too under-powered in the damage department anymore. Sure greatsword can do 1500 in one hit, and my average hit is anywhere between 60-110, but "dps" wise, it feels pretty fair to me. Shield bash feels better than the parry in most situations, so you kind of just ignore what the monster is doing to attack more.
Playing a lot of the "follower quests" which are the single player component. They are pretty cool from a fluff perspective, and the AI of the followers are pretty good. I was combat carving a tail, the monster was about to divebomb me, and the follower flashed it out of the air. They also use endemic life, traps, the lance follower uses the endemic life that "draws aggro" towards her, it's all really cool. They also can go missing for a second or two, come back riding another monster to help with a knockdown. There seems to be a lot of these quests, and you can unlock weapons/armor/misc stuff through them. Do all the missions for one follower and it seems like they become pickable on the follower "surveys", which I haven't played, but I assume they are like follower missions in which you pick whichever followers you've unlocked. So if you wanted even MORE single player only stuff, it's easily 20...with surveys probably well over 30-40+ hours for this TOTALLY OPTIONAL part of the game alone.
I do think I am starting to feel some hunting fatigue playing so much in so little time, but at the very least this feels like a complete product, and the base game while robust, was an unfinished game at launch.
Still think I overall enjoyed mh world more, could have been the time I played it, maybe I am more sensitive to graphics/music than I want to admit, but world had some magic to it that I think only world could have. Rise is the second of the "modern" monster hunters, so I guess it would make sense that you can't capture lightning in a bottle twice, even if it is better in 8 areas out of 10. Not a knock on the game, it is made by a different team, on an under-powered platform, but world man...that game might crack top 10 all time favorites for me.
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Gonna double post because last post is ttooooo loonlong.
102 hours played, MR102 (weird coincidence), Scorned Magnamalo defeated "cough" even though I carted twice due to being new to no shield on the bowgun"cough", and uhh...waiting for content updates now?
This stat doesn't count story/single player stuff, else it would look even more lopsided towards lance.
(https://i.imgur.com/uuFCD97.png)
TL;DR only playing switch axe because it fit into my "don't wanna cart" set. I initially liked the weapon, but having played it more, not a big fan. It's ok, but kind of annoying to play. Good range, but not very sticky when a monster moves. Monster always seem to run away when you're powered up, kind of frustrating.
HBG playing exclusively spread so far, essentially melee with laughable gunner defense. Tried shield like in world, but feels really unreliable even with guard/guard up maxed. Throw a power barrel on there, and try to play the weapon the correct way, very scarey being immobile, with gunner defense, and in melee range...but the damage is really really juicy and it's a lot of fun. Feels rewarding to play due to lack of mobility, but with the wirebug dash, the greatsword tackle (just give HBG a greatsword move, alright), and it's REAAAAAAALY long roll made even longer with evade extender 2, it's playable. Do intend to check out how pierce plays, and maybe some more niche setups. My gun has cluster bombs which are really fun when a monster is pinned down, curious if there's a gun that can get more juice out of em. Playing lance, then going to gun, it's like playing a different game, something that monster hunter did and does very well.
I like this game, and it shines when you got a few bros to play with, which I happened to have for roughly 20% of my playtime. I'm done, but I'm not done because there's still more guns to try, and sets to make. Next weapon I want to try is savage axe charge blade, seems quite nice this iteration.