Author Topic: Monster Hunter  (Read 20174 times)

Spectere

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #45 on: April 04, 2021, 09:13:15 PM »
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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vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #46 on: April 06, 2021, 05:44:58 PM »
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.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2021, 04:47:47 PM by vladgd »

Spectere

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #47 on: April 21, 2021, 09:01:03 PM »
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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vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #48 on: April 21, 2021, 09:35:17 PM »
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.

Spectere

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #49 on: April 21, 2021, 09:56:11 PM »
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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vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #50 on: April 21, 2021, 10:21:45 PM »
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.

Spectere

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #51 on: April 21, 2021, 10:32:59 PM »
Yeah, good point.

I’ll let you know when I pick it up. :P
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vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #52 on: April 21, 2021, 10:35:59 PM »
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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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #53 on: April 21, 2021, 10:46:22 PM »
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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vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #54 on: April 21, 2021, 11:29:11 PM »
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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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #55 on: April 22, 2021, 04:04:06 PM »
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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vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #56 on: July 09, 2022, 11:21:39 PM »
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. 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.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2022, 11:44:29 PM by vladgd »

vladgd

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Re: Monster Hunter
« Reply #57 on: July 27, 2022, 11:26:59 PM »
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.



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.