Amusing note: I called this the same thing I called my last Monster Hunter post. I thought to myself as I was typing the title, “Hm, I’ve probably used something similar before, or even the same.” I went to the last post so I could reread what I had written. Lo and behold, there was the exact same title.
I’ve put in several more hours into Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom), which is how I play games. I pick one big one at a time and then get well and truly stuck in. There are things I like. better about MHR than MHW and things I like about the same. There are very few things I like less, but that’s because the games are pretty similar. It’s hard not to compare the two as they are the only Mon Hun games I’ve played (well, I tired an earlier iteration on the 3DS for a few hours and hated it, but I don’t really count that. I put well over 300 hours into MHW and really enjoyed it until the Tempered Elder Dragons. That’s when it zoomed out of my capability zone and while I was able to kill the Tempered Eldered Dragons, I didn’t have any fun doing it and it didn’t feel like skill at all. I had a Switch-Axe that was made from Nergigante material. It greatly negated other Elder Dragons’ ultimates. Until I got to Tempered Elder Dragons and then it didn’t. At that point, I was no longer adept at dodging the ultimates and I didn’t want to relearn how to do it.
That and Iceborne killed all interest I had in that game and it made me wary in picking up MHR. Really, it was Ian’s positive response to the game that pushed me to giving it a try. As is my wont, I jumped in with both feet once I bought it. I am a weirdo in that I do all the gathering quests first and then the slaying small monsters quests before doing the hunt the big monster quests. I don’t know how I got in that habit, but it’s stuck from MHW.
One thing frustrating about the Mon Hun games is that they throw so much at you in the beginning without differentiate between what’s important and what isn’t. For example, it’s nice that you can talk to so many villagers, but I would like to know which are important and which aren’t. It’s not hard to figure out, but it is a bit frustrating. Knowing how to use the camera? It that really necessary? Knowing how to use the wirebugs? Very important! The candy girl is cute and all, but she’s not giving me anything that helps with my questing. The blacksmith who smiths armor/weapons for my pals? VERY important! Also, the scrap system for said armor/weapons, also important. Fish merchant who doesn’t sell me anything? Not so important.
I can appreciate flavor and environmental story-telling, but in a game that has so much information, some indication of which is pertinent and which is just flavor would be appreciated. Take the Cahoot, for example. It’s an owl. Call it an owl. I named mine Owlie because my brain was just too overwhelmed to think of anything clever. Anyway, she is this game’s Poogie and there’s aa brief explanation of what she does, but it’s gone in a sec. I was talking to Ian about missing the Poogie and he said the Cahoot was this game’s Poogie. He mentioned walking around the village with his Cahoot and wait, what? You can do that? Turns out, you can. And you can send her flying around if you want. Which, I mean, that’s important information!
There is new information almost every second. Every time I see a red exclamation point, I sigh in exasperation. It bothers the compulsive side of me not to click through the new stuff, but it takes so much time. And there’s never a time when you’re done with it, either. It’s thrown at you pell and, indeed, mell, and it’s overwhelming. I do appreciate that they have a lot to tell you, but they need an editor who can tell them that not every idea needs to be in the game.
I’m going to say something that sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out. Hunting the big monsters in Monster Hunter games is my least-favorite part of the games. And the reason I do enjoy hunting the big mons is not the reason most people like the games, I presume. I’ll get to that in a sec.
What do I like most about the games? Exploring. That’s probably not a surprise, considering that’s also what I love about Dark Souls games. I’m not going to lie. I get big into the boss fights, which are the main point of the games. But I’m not in it for the difficulty itself, which is something I don’t think most people understand. Most people who don’t play Souls games, I mean. What do most people know about the games? They’re hard. Famously so. So much so that at the beginning of the game, going the wrong way down one of two ‘wrong’ paths that are harder than the ‘right’ way to go doesn’t even make someone blink an eye. Hardened Souls players laugh incredulously if someone says they went to either the graveyard or New Londo Ruins in at the beginning of the game. “It’s obvious it’s too hard going that way!” they will proclaim merrily. The thing is, though, when all you know about the game is that it’s supposed to be backbreaking hard, the nuances of HOW hard it’s supposed to be might pass you by. I remember going to the graveyard in the beginning and not realizing that it’s MUCH harder than it’s supposed to be. Same with New Londo.
Ahem.
The best part of the games by far is to wander around, discovering new and surprising things. Which is similar to Monster Hunter games. I love the different environments and seeing what’s new in each of them. I will reiterate that I hate the maps in Monster Hunter games because it does not denote the layers well at all. But it’s still cool to ride about on my palamute, seeing what’s new. So far, I’ve discovered four or five different areas, each very distinct. I will saw that it’s interesting…how do I explain this. One of the areas is sandy plains. That was also an area in Monster Hunter World as well. The area isn’t laid out the same, but there are some of the same creatures/plants that there were in MHW as well. Two of the big mons were the same–Kulu-Ya-Ku and Barroth. Barroth is a himbo (big, lunky, and stronk) and one of my favorites. Dear, sweet, thick-as-rocks (literally) Barroth. I had to capture him rather than kill him because he’s my favorite. Kulu is the saddest monster in MHW and I always feel sorry for him. In his intro in MHR, well, let me put it this way. Every other big monster is presented as a predator, scary and chowing down on small monsters. Kulu, on the other hand, is shown stealing eggs from a nest and small little cute mini-dinos chase him out.
I hate the story quests because they are tower defense aganist horde waves, which is not fun at all. I didn’t like the tower defense in the first game, either, and it’s almost as annoying here, though not quite. And it has spawned Rampage Quests, which are in the arena , I think as well. Yawn. I hope I can avoid them as much as possible because it was so fucking boring. And I didn’t understand how all the defense weapons worked.
One thing I like to do is repeat the delivery quests to build up my stocks and to make a bit of pocket change. I don’t like to rush into the big monsters…oh yeah. I was talking about how hunting them is not my favorite part of the game. It’s partly because they’re not doing anything wrong. They’re just living their best lives when I jump on them and try to murder them. Secondly, I’m not big into combat. Ian helped me realize this fairly recently. I enjoy it to some extent in Souls games, but not many others. Hades has good combat. Really good. But for the most part, that’s not why I game. I’m ok with that. I’m also ok with falling off MHR at some point, which I will. I’ll just enjoy it while it lasts.
U