So I’ve been playing a shit ton of Monster Hunter: Rise (Capcom) and it’s highly addictive. In my last post, I wrote about some of the issues I have with the game. However, over all, it’s very much a popcorn game. Meaning, I want to glut myself on it even though it has no emotional/nutritional value It’s empty calories, but very tasty ones. It has that ‘just twenty more minutes’ feel to it and I can melt away hours with it without even being aware of it.
As I said in my last post, I tend to do all the smaller quests first. In part, it’s a good way to stock up on materials and monies before tackling the big guys. The beginning quests aren’t that hard–in fact, they are downright easy. Ian thinks the one, two, and three-star quests (how far we both are) are easier than Monster Hunter: World so far. I tend to agree as I haven’t broken a sweat with any of the big mons and it seems to be taking less time than it did for the same level of quests in MHW. I never carted in the first three star levels in MHW, but killing some of the monsters took more than half an hour. In MHR, the only reason they take that long is because of the goddamn maps. I’m still getting fucked up on the verticality, especially in the forest region. I just discovered/remembered that the map shows the different levels of the biomes, which should be helpful, but somehow isn’t really.
I just fought the banana monster (Royal Ludroth) whose mane looks like puffy bananas. It’s a water leviathan, and there was one of them, Jyuratodus, in MHW, who gave me some trouble. Royal Ludroth, on the other hand, was a piece of soggy wet banana bread. Er, cake. Piece of cake. I got to ride the other big monster and smack into Big Banana Boi, though! That’s a cool addition to the game. I really wish I could get the timing down, but I’ll gladly accept it when it happens.
I will say that in MHW, four-star quests is when the difficulty ramped up. That was when Angy showed up and she kicked my ass! She was the first time I carted in that game and she taught me a thing or two about respecting the monsters. I just got my urgent quest from the scrummy blacksmith which will be the first four-star quest, so the difficulty will probably ramp up. I laugh with Ian about our completely different styles of monster hunting. He likes to forge agead and take on the biggest, baddest monster as soon as he can. I, on the other hand, do everything else I possibly can before facing the new big baddie because I like to be prepared.
But MHR is not the main point of this article–Elden Ring is. Lest you have forgotten, it is slated to come out in a month and a week. Elden Ring, need I remind you, is the open world action adventure game from FromSoft that has been hyped to the heavens. It has the ethos of the Souls games, which is exactly my jam. It’s moody and dripping with atmosphere. It’s high fantasy at its finest, which is right up my alley. I have watched the trailers, all of them, several times each, and just cram it into my mouth, please.
I know I’m going to be playing this game for many months. By the way, there is a small part of me that is afraid the game won’t be as good as it seems. I mean, I trust FromSoft to do high fantasy and to do it well, but…what if? They are amazing developers, but they’re not infallible. In addition, they have more pressure on them now than ever before. The closed network beta for Elden Ring received rave reviews and expectations for the full release are sky high.
The announcement for Elden Ring was in June of 2019. 2019! That was the year Sekiro was released and several months before the world collapsed. I want to say that this is the longest between new FromSoft content (including DLCs, not including Sekiro DLC because it was just make the hard bosses harder which fuck that). Man. Sekiro. So many complex feelings about that game. Am I glad I played it? I guess? I’m not sure. It broke something in me that I don’t think can be repaired. As I’ve said, I don’t play the games because they’re hard. The last boss in Sekiro was way above my ceiling and I have no desire to go back to play it some more. I’ve always said if Bloodborne was on PC, I would play it more. Well, Sekiro is on PC, has been this whole time, and I’ve only played it one-and-a-half times. I’ve started other games, but not gotten that far. Honestly, I don’t like playing it. I’ve tried to embrace it, but I have not been able to care at all about it. I like the titular character. I think it’s an amazing game. But I suck at it and do not enjoy playing it in any way, shape, or form. I’ve tried really hard to learn the deflect, but I just can’t. My reflexes aren’t good for a multitude of reasons and in Sekiro, it really matters.
The combat in Elden Ring seems to be more Dark Souls, which makes me happy. Rather than BB/Sekiro, I mean. I like the weightiness of the Souls combat and I love me a shield. Also, magicks! I love them. They are back with a vengeance in Elden Ring, and it cracks me up how many journos are gushing over them after emphatically denouncing magicks in the rest of the games. But I will admit that the way it’s handled in Elden Ring is especially cool. They’re called Ashes of War and they can be attached to any weapon in the same category. Plus there are NPC summons such as three wolves. This is in addition to the regular magicks, which look sick as hell. I was afraid at first that there was no Pyro because I didn’t see any in the the vids I watched, but there are some. Some really cool ones.
I’m so excited for this game. I don’t get hyped for games except for FromSoft games. More specifically, Souls games. But even then it’s nothing like what I feel right now. I was just thinking about Elden Ring so I put on the video I included in this post and felt the excitement ramp up again. Everything about this game is as if it was made for me specifically. Big, fuck-off dragons. Grotesque, but beautiful monsters. Pyromancies for days! Other magicks that seem really neat. And I’m sure there’s a really cool axe or two as well.
I like that all my expectations were blown away by my medical trauma. Beforehand, I was planning to do a solo playthrough and a co-op playthrough. I was going to do all the bosses solo first, just like I do in the other games. But once I ended up in the hospital, I didn’t care about that any longer. I was just so glad I was alive to see a new FromSoft game. My new goal was to explore it and enjoy it. That was it. No other restrictions or parameters. I get to play a new FromSoft game, one with an open world and high fantasy. What more could I ask for?