Monster Hunter Rise on the Switch and PC

Sadly, yes. Need to move the game to the mostly empty SSD too, as I think it’s one of the few that’d benefit from it.

Iceborne monsters aren’t hit sponges, really. The real problem with them is how much they move and how fast they are, which means you hit them less, and thus it takes more time to beat them, which may give the impression they’re hit sponges.

I guess that’s why my main weapon in Iceborne is pretty much the Sword & Shield - the added mobility, coupled with the ability to do big damage when you get an opening, is a pretty good option against the super-mobile monsters in Iceborne.

Iceborne also had the clutch claw - there was the classic rotation “tenderise, bash them into the wall twice to enrage them” before actually fighting which meant monsters spent almost all their time enraged so at max hyperactivity. Is there something similar in Rise? Maybe the wyvern riding bits?

Oh that sounds in some ways similar to the pattern to properly fight a lot of monsters in Rise, although it is not required, as the game is much easier.
Monsters do spend most of their time enraged, because of the fixed conditions at which the rage state should happen, and because of all of those flags being queued and triggered in succession for 20 minutes. Not my favourite part, as I always enjoyed exhausting and knocking out monsters in MHGU.
Also, I don’t know about World, but Rise makes exploiting bad status very pattern-ish. You get to trigger each one once per fight, usually quite early, and that’s about it. It makes a lot of the special ammo/moves/stats on weapons redundant, and going for pure damage the only “right” way.

I’ve seen my group play (the console T_T version of) Iceborne for a while, and any hunt was taking well over 30 minutes. If those are not sponges to you!
And with the monster being enraged all the time, it looked absolutely exhausting.
Rise suffered from the same lengthy fights in its current endgame, until a few crazy builds were found.
I have the feeling those super healthy monsters were the result of a sort of powercreep happening in the game because of a couple of very strong builds (light bowgun and double blade were the ones I recall) making the game easier, and the workaround they found was to pump the hit points ten-times on post endgame monsters. Which leaves the standard weapons builds as mosquitoes flying around the monster, a mere distraction to them.
I guess that’s why I focused on the lance and shield in that game, ha!

Yeah, I really did not like the clutch claw “one way to play” railroad they introduced to Iceborne. I loved the base game so much and the expansion really left a bad taste in my mouth. I want to go back and finish it, but I’m afraid it will just suck all the way through because I find the claw way too fiddly to be fun.

There are ways around it. I mean, Sword & Shield has an attack that will wound the part it attaches to automatically, and it’s often easier to pull off correctly than a “normal” claw attach. It was another reason I played S&S a lot in Iceborne.

On the other hand, if you’re a lance player (and I love lance in MHW), you might have a much harder time softening the parts you want, so there’s that. :(

Well, I’ve always danced around the edges of being an SnS player so maybe I ought to give it a shot.

~35 hours in I finally made it to high rank.

I like the idea of the gunlance, but I keep getting beat up due to the commitment times of all the different moves/combos, so I can never get my shield up quick enough. I ended up finding myself turtling a bunch and doing shield pokes, at which point I might as well play lance.

So now I’m debating going to lance, bow, or maybe give charge blade another shot (and ignore the sword until I start getting into a flow). I just want to change to a weapon that allows me to react quicker.

I’m trying to decide if I want to buy this. World was my first game in the series, and even though my playthrough feels incomplete since I quit before the end of Iceborne, I have no desire to go back to it now. This game seems like a simple way to get some Monster Hunter action without having to play World again. Rise seems to be shorter than most MH games, which is a plus. $48 on sale is a minus.

My other concern is what weapon I’d use. I really liked insect glaive and longsword, and I liked the charge blade. I’d be tempted to use one of those again but that feels a little boring. So I’m a little paralyzed and might just forget the whole thing.

It’s a fine game for what it does, which is a friendlier World environment to play in. Sadly, it also means the game is much more predictable, and if you’re looking for challenge, you might want to wait for the expansion, hoping it doesnt simply turn into grind but actual challenge.

Otherwise, MHGU is right there, still active as ever, and with the best gameplay of the series ;D

Keep in mind Rise is releasing on PC in 5 days too.

I don’t think I’m looking for a challenge. I just want to have fun hitting stuff.

Yes indeed.

I love how Capcom thinks anyone cares about some video filters.

There is a demo to figure if you find the hitting stuff part pleasurable. There is also one for the VASTLY SUPERIOR mhgu.

I am up to about 60+ hours in Rise. I really enjoy it but definitely enjoy World better, and if it wasn’t for the fact that World won’t let me pause the game I’d probably be playing world instead (I like the environments more, plus I’m not that far into Iceborne).

Rise’s special quests (called rampages) are more fun than Zorah by far, but I absolutely hated it the first 1-2 times until it finally clicked.

Thanks. If anyone is willing to take the time, I’d be happy to hear from more veterans whether they think my use case is a good fit. I’ve already played the demo and thought the combat was fun as always. The environments are boring but didn’t really bother me. I just wanted to ride quickly to the monster.

HLTB shows it’s a much shorter game than other recent entries. Is that just from the lack of expansions or is the base game smaller in general? It’s actually a major plus for me. If I can get in, kill monsters for 20 hours with minimal extra cruft, and get out before the February gaming deluge, that would be perfect.

Lack of expansion, and also the 3ds and Switch games were utterly massive. It altered what to expect from such a game.

Expect a good hundred hours of good time, double that if you don’t mind the grind. Which is enormous, but you’d be just getting your feet wet in mhgu at that clock time, which is why it’s labelled as “short” by insane people like some of us.

I quit Monster Hunter World base game originally at around 60 hours, and that was when I hit the Nergigante wall. When I came back to world to try out Iceborne recently I probably hit Xeno-Jiva at 65 hours.

I’m at about 60 hours in MH Rise, I’m at 7* quests (which I think is the last tier??) and almost about to hit the last key quest which should get me to the “final” boss. That’s not counting the monsters added after the fact that become available (though that’s similar to base World as I understand it)

I prefer Rise to World. Everything feels just that bit more evolved. Note to purists: I do appreciate the MHGU style greatly also… :)

World obviously looks nicer and has great mazy-style environments, but I love the expanded traversal toolset in Rise, zipping around the place, and the verticality. And as you say, quickly riding to the monster. The wirebugs handily beat the clutch claw, once you get the hang of it. Glad to wave goodbye to the scout flies.

It is shorter due to lack of expansions (soon to be rectified with Sunbreak DLC). From memory, the progression rate of encountering new monsters to fight seemed higher in Rise.

But it is still Monster Hunter, and is not a short game. Fights still take time and you’ll still eventually be gathering and grinding etc to try get the equipment you want.

Personally, if you want to play some new Monster Hunter now, I’d just get it and have fun for however long it lasts until the shiny new Feb releases. No need to be hung up on getting through it. :)

What in the hell. How is a game that’s designed around making each monster you fight feel so good get boss fights so bad.

This narwa fight is so awful I may just quit the game. Instead of trying to get past him.

Edit: beat him second try but ugh, why do they end up making end bosses so underwhelming, at least between xenojiva and narwa.

Oh, congratulations on finishing the tutorial! Now get online to the real game, since they didn’t bother to include any single player way to experience it (those monsters are massive hit sponges).