it tells you once when you turn it on then lets it go. Not sure I feel that’s constant or too much.
As a MH fan, I am curious about the game. I’ve watched some streams. However it looks very static in comparison to MH. The “fights” are seemingly 2 to 10 minutes of players wailing on a monster that seems to have forgotten to move or attack most of the time. It looks like some PETA nightmare film as people just hammer on this thing that is just sitting there. The owl thing moves more. Again, maybe I am coming from MH where there appears to be much more movement and energy in the fights.
Just downloaded on the Xbox to play. All servers full. Estimated place in queue? 35,000
The biggest change from MH:W for me is that the controls feel more ‘responsive’. I’m a bit of a button spaz, so MHW and I don’t always get along because I swear the MHW ignores my buttons/control input. Dauntless combat is a touch faster, so is less prone to ignoring button/control spam. For actual good MHW players, this is probably a bad thing overall.
they move plenty if you aren’t staggering it. If you are correctly staggering and booping then they don’t. MHW was mostly the same for me though, if you were ‘doing it right’ you could mostly prevent monsters from doing much. Also see sub 1:30 Nerg kills and the like. Only major differences here for me is less running to get to the fight and different graphical style.
Am I watching vastly over geared fights? I won’t deny what you say happens in MH, but that is usually only in helping someone clear quests or farming lower encounters. A traditional hunt in MH has a lot of movement and staggers are spread out throughout the protracted fight as an opportunity to be pounced on by the party. As a GS user, it was my goal to clip off out of reach parts or stagger for the party. Both were much more scattered occurrences than what I seem to see in Dauntless (if it is stagger) streams. I’d have to be farming way below my rank/gear to see a fight anywhere close to the stunlock beatdown I am (maybe) seeing in Dauntless.
Dont get me wrong. Arena fights were cool too. The multi area chase was annoying at times. I kinda like what I see in Dauntless that way. It’s just the fights seem so… static. Where is the movement? Even the idea that it’s combat is faster seems odd. I watch streams looking for the players working the openings, but I just see piles numbers as the players surround something that maybe does a belly roll or turns around every now and then. Monsters just…sit there-- Except the owl thing which moves more. If a fight (at my gear) in MH was like i was seeing, I’d think the monster got gliched. But again, maybe I am seeing over geared farming. But I do see it everywhere.
So is there a Qt3 guild for this? It strikes me as the kind of game that’s really best played with people you kinda like. That’s you follks! :)
I’ve got a guild but it’s not strictly Qt3. Anyone is welcome to join. HHrazors is the name.
Fights are definitely a bit more simplistic, but you are probably also watching high tier players and speed runs if you don’t see any mechanics at all. Once someone has the timing down perfectly basically every time the behemoth does something, they can stop it with the right combo of weapons and timing.
Fired this up last night and it’s pretty good! Fought the first four monsters a couple times (regular dude, fire dude, ice dude, shock dude), and they were all pretty easy. Alternated between the sword and the axe. Feels very button spammy. All the combos are super simple. The charge up meter is pretty cool. I like that different weapons in the same class (fire sword, ice sword, etc.) have different special attacks after charging the meter.
I guess the word everyone is using is “streamlined” regarding the Monster Hunter comparisons, and I won’t disagree with that, but the streamlining comes by way of really paring down the combat and crafting, speeding up each encounter (including the way you “track” the monster), and effortless matchmaking.
The thing that’s really stood out so far is how they do loadouts. After you’re matched up with other players for a fight there is a brief window (I think 2 mins?) where you can customize your loadout. Here you can see a picture of the monster you’re about to face with a little card showing you what kind of weapon and armor is strong/weak against it, with a brief combat tip (hit the monster when it charges you to stagger it).
From there you can customize your loadout. You don’t have to putz around in the gathering hub staring at your box while your fellow hunters wait for you.
Have no idea how much meat are on these bones, but I’m enjoying it. It’s no substitute for monster hunter. Feels more like a wow version of monster hunter. Or an action RPG-monster hunter-alike-arena shooter.
shrug. It’s free. Check it out.
Edit: oh and there are monster mechanics. Some are very simple: tail swipe, stomp to the left, stomp to the right, charge. Others are more complex: impenetrable ice shield that needs to be whittled away while attacking adds that give you a stacking damage buff.
Edit 2: another welcome change from MHW: the main hub area is populated by other players! Including anyone you’re grouped up with.
I’m not sure what you mean by streamlining the way you track monsters. This is one of the only ways that I feel MHW makes it simpler by showing a path to the monster. In Dauntless you pretty much run around like a madman until someone in your group finds the behemoth, then shoot a flare letting the team know to go there.
In MH you do have to level up your investigation before you unlock the scoutfly path…but still, I guess you’re right.
In nearly all the hunts I’ve done in Dauntless so far (with the map being so small, and the sprint powerups so plentiful) the monster has been located in the first minute or so.
Why not just dump the players in a battle arena then? Seems pointless.
Streamlining…
; )
1.0 on 9/26
Tried this today with my 7yo, cross-play with him on Switch and me on PC. He’s been infatuated with watching me play MHW, so thought this could be interesting to try co-op (without needing two PCs or two Switches).
Seems alright for that, five fights in. It’s a lot more forgiving than MHW and less complex controls help for him too. Will give it another crack methinks.
Thanks for the heads up. I have been tempted to look at it a few times and the cross play might be the nudge I needed. Is it cross account too? That is, could I play on the Switch on the go, but play on the PC at home while in either case playing with a friend who is only PC?
It is cross play and cross progression!
Sweet! I love it when games offer that. That was one of my favorite features of Paragon (being able to play towards unlocks on both PC and PS4 and their respective friend groups).
I finally gave the cross platform a whirl and this is a decent little Monster Hunter. I am not too far in, but it is feeling like a Monster Hunter light with a free-to-play layer throughout.
This means battle passes and constant hands held out for money (splash screen reminders) along with a progression that seems very grindy and designed to get people to pay. Also the monsters, sorry “Behemoths”, feel less distinct or developed than MH ones. That is their movesets seem a bit limited and don’t seem as “alive.” This criticism could just be the earlier/ easier monsters as they seem to stand around a lot. And to be fair, early MH monsters tend to slow down their attack patterns too.
Dauntless also got a massive 2.0 or overhaul to take it into the “Reforged” release. This added some new monsters, a new weapon, a glider movement mechanic, and totally reworked how progression and hunts work. I am intrigued and tinkering with it while I await Monster Hunter Rise for Switch. I just feel the traditional MH feels better in that it is game with systems. This is different that a series of monetized systems tied together by a game (which Dauntless feels like). Then again, the color pallet, theme, and service model of Dauntless could be a fun side game for years to come.
One big plus of Dauntless over MH for someone that has dumped hundreds of hours into Monster Hunter is that it is new. Even if it is monetized as FtP, it is still new weapons, new fighting mechanics, and new fights. Each MH release heavily borrows from the others so there is a repeating cycle of “can’t go home again” with the franchise. Not only have I killed Rathian 1000s of times, but I have done so with the same unsheathed great sword strike and charged strikes in multiple game releases of the franchise. While fun, the demo of Rise was part deja vu mixed in part new hotness.
After the Monster Hunter Rise demo on Switch, I had the itch to do some monster hunting. Rise is not out for a few months so I have given Dauntless a good try since it is a Free to Play MH type game.
Keep in mind that my thoughts are after the “Reforged” update which overhauled Dauntless’ progression systems from its first few years of existance.
As I progressed, the monsters started getting more interesting. The waddle, wiggle, and hip checks became not too, TOO dominant in monster behavior. I am seeing more belly slides, flips, and backup checks. Additionally, they have some cool moves as they dial up the cartoon fantasy to 11 on some of them. I played the Riftstalker last night. He is VERY different than any MH franchise encounter that I have played. There are also island events or special monsters that really change things up from frozen crystals around downed players to turret spines getting planted all over the field. Still, I think I prefer MH’s highly polished monster movement and body shapes. Dauntless feels like every fight is a MH styled Picine fight.
The progression was totally revamped in the Reforged update (December 2020). It is a barber shop pole type deal where you grind xp on a weapon then reset the weapon for a tiny boost to all weapons then regrind the xp on the weapon again in the same 1-20 areas. It has a Call of Duty “prestige” feel. There are also cores which are like decorations from MH. However, you have to find them from loot (like MH) and THEN spend tons of time in the mobile phone like/ FtP combiner that takes chunks of real world time (that of course you can spend money on to speed up).
Weapons and armor are super easy to craft as you basically just need to kill something a few times and you are good. You will be killing them a lot (see weapon xp grind). However, outside of a special ability and core modifier slots, weapons and armor don’t matter too much. All of your power comes from your weapon skill. My weapon and armor contribute a tiny fraction of my offensive and defensive score. The rest is weapon skill. When I reforge (prestige) I go back down newbie numbers until I regrind xp again. I see why they did it. It is to keep players grinding forever, but I vastly prefer the MH system of advancing by gear and learning monsters. The progression in Dauntless SCREAMS FtP.
Speaking of FtP, I was shocked at how few monsters are in Dauntless. There are not a trivial number, but they recycle a lot. And they are not even THAT different from each other. I find myself wondering what they have been doing for three years. Then I remember. It is a FtP game. They have probably been devoting all of their development towards making cosmetics to sell. I mean, why reward players with new weapons they can build or monsters to fight when you can create the bare minimum and then sell cosmetics, have a barber pole xp grind, and let transmog and dyes drive all the player incentive?
I do really like the cross play and cross progression. It is pretty neat to be able to seamlessly play on PC, PS4, or Switch. This is a big plus.
Overall, I am having fun. I think. I am starting to wrestle with the “why keep going” as I can clearly see the repetition and business model now (rather than just the game in MH). In fairness, Monster Hunter has that point where you have seen all the monsters. However, there is a lot more to do and see as fights get tweaked and gear can be earned. In Dauntless you just hit this point where it is obvious you will be regrinding every monster and every fight. Not a harder, faster reskin with a few new moves or another monster thrown in to earn that new gear. No, in Dauntless you will be going to the exact same earlier hunting areas and fighting the exact same stuff with the exact same gear as you pass level X over and over and over again as you grind weapon xp to “reforge” (prestige).
Positives:
- Cross-play, cross-progression, cross-party, and cross-chat (even Switch)
- Cartoon aesthetic is nice, especially for the more fantastic directions they take
- Good reason and reward for playing multiple weapons (MH I tended to focus on one)
- The weapons were fun and flashy. I enjoyed that so many of them had range options which was enjoyable when playing on PC with M/KB (I am an old dude)
- Island events are pretty cool (MH does’t really have an equivalent)
- You get a lot of game for free
Negatives:
- Free to Play hobbles a lot of the game. It is a business model more than a game. If MH was a cell phone game, Dauntless would be it.
- The monsters are less varied. Most are just oval blobs with a head and a tail above some legs that dash, twist, or roll. MH is much more polished on monster animation, behavior, and geometry.
- Reward path is completely skewed towards grinding. Outside of “best in slot”, gear doesn’t matter. All power is from grinding XP or core/cells. Time is the enemy, not the monsters.
Basically, Dauntless is not terrible. It is kinda good. It is just obviously FtP and it definitely is not Monster Hunter.