Monster Hunter Wilds

[I'm Really Feeling It]

On a separate topic, how are the stories games? I have 2 on my wishlist but my jrpg backlog is also obscene, but I wouldn't mind bumping it up a bit thanks to word of mouth.

I made somewhat of a start on Stories 2, and it's... fine? It's way less tense. Feels definitely like a game you'd play on the go, makes sense why the first was on 3DS. It also feels somewhat kiddish; you could hand this game over to a 10-year old and they'd enjoy it.

Get if you commute a bunch and can play while travelling, otherwise IMO you'd get bored. I'll try playing it more and see if it gets better in this regard.

 

[Croaking Spider]

Monster Hunter is my shit but Rise felt like a step backwards from World in so many ways.

Maybe I'm the odd one out on this opinion, but I felt the opposite. Granted, I enjoy Worlds and have put several hundred hours into it, but it feels like the weird child of the Monster Hunter family. My biggest issues with World are how quests are organized and some minor quality-of-life things. I will say one thing World does better than other MH games is feeling like it has an actual ecosystem and good monster interactions.

Rise, while not as aesthetically pleasing, feels and looks more like what I've come to know of the Monster Hunter series as someone who has been playing the series since Tri. I find the added ability to traverse the map quicker with wirebugs and palimutes a nice touch. Being able to fully gather from a plant or mining spot with one button press instead of having to do it three times is also one of those things I hope sticks around in the future. Being able to cook as many items at the canteen as you want instantaneously instead of one at a time between hunts as well. Also, Hinoa > Handler, any day. Bunny Dango will never hit like chef's meat meals or granny's pot roast though. I'll give World that, the meals are some of the most appetizing food I've seen in video games.

I'll admit I'd rather be able to just use items to max out health and stamina instead of spending time collecting permabuffers, although I do like that you keep the added stats on carting. Wirebug abilities feel more seamless and intuitive than clutch claw mechanics, but I understand why people feel they take some of the difficulty out of the game. Also, Rampage missions were dogshit.

As far as Wilds goes, it's far too early to really judge how the game will be, but like with Armored Core, will be a day-one purchase for me simply because of my love of the series and my expectations of them to stick to what makes the games fun. As long as they don't fuck it up and turn it into some form of Horizon Forbidden West, I can predictably say I'll probably enjoy it. Capcom managed to somehow butcher Lost Planet and I hope they don't find a way to fuck up Monster Hunter. Something about Monster Hunter scratches my primitive itch to hunt megafauna with the bois.

 

[I'm Really Feeling It]

I'll admit I'd rather be able to just use items to max out health and stamina instead of spending time collecting permabuffers, although I do like that you keep the added stats on carting.

I'm trying to warm up to Spiribirds still, despite having reached Anomaly Missions now. I try to figure out routes that let me pick up as many of them as possible (sad they gate easy viewing behind the doggo, healing Palicoes are too good in multiplayer and traversing with Wirebug is more fun) but it continues to sting a tad. I guess this is the compromise for customizable meals.

Also, Rampage missions were dogshit.

So glad they got rid of those come Sunbreak, lol.

Also, Hinoa > Handler, any day.

Her gimmick annoyed me at first. Then when I got her and Minoto as Followers, I slapped HHs on both of them to beef myself up when playing solo. Honestly felt even better than multiplayer. Now I love her for existing.

Wirebug abilities feel more seamless and intuitive than clutch claw mechanics, but I understand why people feel they take some of the difficulty out of the game.

It's true they make the game easier, but man. MHX combat styles walked so that Wirebug combat could run. I never knew I wanted a parry on my DBs until I played MHR.

 

[Hitchhiker]

I made somewhat of a start on Stories 2, and it's... fine? It's way less tense. Feels definitely like a game you'd play on the go, makes sense why the first was on 3DS. It also feels somewhat kiddish; you could hand this game over to a 10-year old and they'd enjoy it.

Get if you commute a bunch and can play while travelling, otherwise IMO you'd get bored. I'll try playing it more and see if it gets better in this regard.

I've played both all the way through. Stories 1 is a fun game, but feels really limited in monster selection. Stories 2 has a lot more monster options, and more stuff to do in the post game, but it lost some of what made the original so appealing. Though it was a really cool feeling getting a monsters egg before actually fighting the monster, it feels like you've broken the game a bit. I got lucky and this happened to me with Nergigante. It's definitely meant for the 10-13 age demographic though.

I completely skipped Rise, and just kept playing World. I didn't like the art style at all. Is it worth it to actually play, or should I just hold over until they release Wilds?

I just realized that it's going to get very confusing now with two monster hunter games being shortened to MHW.

 

[Focken Kiwi]

I completely skipped Rise, and just kept playing World. I didn't like the art style at all. Is it worth it to actually play, or should I just hold over until they release Wilds?

2025 is a ways off. Rise/Sunbreak is pretty fun and could help fill out time till Wilds. It's probably faster paced than what you'd be used to though. Monsters have less health leading to quicker hunts. I think in Master Rank, most hunts ran 10-25 minutes depending on monster and if I was doing an anomaly quest.

 

[I'm Really Feeling It]

I just realized that it's going to get very confusing now with two monster hunter games being shortened to MHW.

Perhaps they hope that people refer to World as MHW:I; I do see some people call it that already.

(ETA it would be great to play MHR with Kiwis! If anyone wants to, coordination can happen via PM.)

 

[derpherp2]

Man I just want nondangoshit food scenes and tonfas in monhun again. Please.

MHW food stuff inspired me to make shit. Like saucing up salmon while searing it then covering it to steam as well, or that thing with shrimp skewers, or au gratin.

Some child singing at me about fluffy dangos isn't going to inspire food ideas for me. Or at the least tell me about dishes I didn't know even existed.

 

[Hiphopopotamus]

I hope that you can drop into missions before having to see the monster, watch a cutscene, and then shoot a flare. That was just really tedious in World.

 

[ShitLurker]

Maybe I'm the odd one out on this opinion, but I felt the opposite. Granted, I enjoy Worlds and have put several hundred hours into it, but it feels like the weird child of the Monster Hunter family. My biggest issues with World are how quests are organized and some minor quality-of-life things. I will say one thing World does better than other MH games is feeling like it has an actual ecosystem and good monster interactions.

Well, I played Ultimate 4 till master rank where I ended up genociding Zinogres in mass just to never be able to get the fucking gem to do the full armor set and got bored with it. Then played World which I loved (didn't play Iceborne though), and played like for an hour XX. So that's my Mon Hun experience. Now that I'm starting Rise, I honestly am rally liking how it feels.

Rise, while not as aesthetically pleasing, feels and looks more like what I've come to know of the Monster Hunter series as someone who has been playing the series since Tri

Hell, I already disagree with this, graphics are definitely simpler, but the art direction feels so much better to me, and the colors are very welcome, World was a bit too "super serial". World was amazing at the "WOW" factor of just running around and seeing everything feel like an ecosystem of sorts, but that WOW factor just banishes after a few hunts. The whole hunter flies thing becomes completely irrelevant once you know the territory/nest of what you want to kick the shit out of and even then on rehunts you just know where they are. I prefer the quick and snappy from Rise, here, have a neat cutscene when you go for a new monster for the first time, it's there in your radar, fuck it's shit up

I find the added ability to traverse the map quicker with wirebugs and palimutes a nice touch. Being able to fully gather from a plant or mining spot with one button press instead of having to do it three times is also one of those things I hope sticks around in the future. Being able to cook as many items at the canteen as you want instantaneously instead of one at a time between hunts as well. Also, Hinoa > Handler, any day

The mobility improvements are huge, traversing the map is a joy (wish there were alternative camps though, but I understand the maps are smaller than World) and being able to gather in an instance is one of those things that you don't think about initially but now that it's there, I cannot unsee it. The Dango as food is lame as fuck, but the Dango song still gets me (playing Japanese) and yes, Hinoa is miles ahead than the fucking World hunter.

Bunny Dango will never hit like chef's meat meals or granny's pot roast though. I'll give World that, the meals are some of the most appetizing food I've seen in video games.

Definitely, those roasts looked like the best thing ever.

I'll admit I'd rather be able to just use items to max out health and stamina instead of spending time collecting permabuffers, although I do like that you keep the added stats on carting. Wirebug abilities feel more seamless and intuitive than clutch claw mechanics, but I understand why people feel they take some of the difficulty out of the game. Also, Rampage missions were dogshit.

I haven't had a rampage mission yet, supposedly it's the next urgent one. I think I can live with it as long as they aren't shittier than the Zora Magdaros missions (what a boring piece of shit, Christ almighty) or the Kulve Taroth ones where till you can actually fight the thing proper it's a damn slog. If rampages don't hit those lows, I can survive, specially if Sunbreak drops them.

2025 is a ways off. Rise/Sunbreak is pretty fun and could help fill out time till Wilds. It's probably faster paced than what you'd be used to though. Monsters have less health leading to quicker hunts. I think in Master Rank, most hunts ran 10-25 minutes depending on monster and if I was doing an anomaly quest.

That's the thing I'm noticing the most while playing this. Could be I'm only in hunter rank 3 going into 4. But I don't consider myself a god of the lance yet shit is dying pretty fast (no, I'm not using the OP gear, once I noticed that's what it was I went with standard monster setups) compared to what a first time hunt was in World. I frankly also appreciate this as well, hope that stuff won't suddenly feel spongy as fuck in master rank but I also hope stuff gives me a bit more of a challenge going forward.

I hope that you can drop into missions before having to see the monster, watch a cutscene, and then shoot a flare. That was just really tedious in World.

Yeah, after going into how snappy Rise is, I'm not sure if I want so much theatrics to go into a hunt in Wilds. Well, maybe the first time it can have the spectacle, the hunt for trails and all of that, but on repeats, quick and snappy should be the name of the game. But who knows, "open world" is so opposite to how Monster Hunter has usually worked that I still have a hard time picturing what the plan is for Wilds.

 

[Hammr2]

2025 is a ways off. Rise/Sunbreak is pretty fun and could help fill out time till Wilds. It's probably faster paced than what you'd be used to though. Monsters have less health leading to quicker hunts. I think in Master Rank, most hunts ran 10-25 minutes depending on monster and if I was doing an anomaly quest.

That part right there is false. All monsters in Rise have more health than monsters in World. It's part of rebalance against your hunter mobility, damage uptime and wirebug attacks. You can check value at kirainico stats.

Kulu-Yaku, In Rise - village rank 3 has 2706HP. In World - LR 3* has 1696.

Your hunting time is definitely much shorter than World, if comparing Low Rank equivalent. It's normal to have 10-minute hunt. It's only when going up to High rank, then it becomes usual around 15 minutes again.
Low rank quests, monsters are still slow, not as aggressive and no new moves really for old monsters. Overall, it definitely feels easy for experience player or experience in action game general.

Anomaly quests are weird, because like low level anomaly investigation, levels from 40-50 (I forget exact levels range) and below, monsters actually have less health than their normal version. Hunts around those anomaly levels are unironically shorter.

 

[ShitLurker]

That part right there is false. All monsters in Rise have more health than monsters in World. It's part of rebalance against your hunter mobility, damage uptime and wirebug attacks. You can check value at kirainico stats.

I don't feel I'm using my wirebug tech enough to really speed myself up that much with Lance though, half the time I forget to use the stab and the other half I misstime the counter. If it were other weapons where wirebug = damage I could definitely see my speed going up even with higher health.

 

[Hammr2]

I don't feel I'm using my wirebug tech enough to really speed myself up that much with Lance though, half the time I forget to use the stab and the other half I misstime the counter. If it were other weapons where wirebug = damage I could definitely see my speed going up even with higher health.

I don't have the game installed anymore, I don't remember exact base Lance wirebug move set. Guard Dash or Shield Tackle in image for example. And don't ask me exact button keybinds, you have figure out yourself.

But put it this way, the triple pokes isn't your best damage combo anymore. It's Guard Dash into Leaping thrust on repeat or Charge wide sweep with shield tackle combo. That doesn't mean you can't do like 3 pokes, or leaping thurst into 2 pokes or having charges between pokes. I mean, poking is more precise on hitting weakspot and faster animation, safer and less commitment.

Another thing Leaping thrust has over normal poke is that, it deals damage 3 times (multi hit) with a single attack animation. Which means, you get lot more damage than a normal poke and consume less sharpness, since it still only counts as 1 attack on monster.
Also, if you manage to get to Sunbreak, since Elemental are lot better, multi-hit or fast attack benefits a lot from that.
But you can still go for raw damage lance in base game like Tigrex one or Diablos.

Guard vs Instant block. Instant block all the way, try practice timing in training hub. Because if you block at the right moment, it counts as parry (no health damage nor stamina consumption). Then you can either press "poke" to follow a cross attack (free big damage) or keep timing perfect parry against combo attack (it's more relevant on later monsters high/master rank).
You can also quite easily messing up consecutive instant block if you accidentally (habit) press another direction moving button.

The stab, Twin Vine, let you tether to monster. Ignore it, it doesn't help much, unless you want to do fancy shield bash into flying monster. Even the supposed increasing aggro monster to you, not really for solo play anyway.

Anchor Rage, this is your bread and butter counter now, not only you counter back and you get damage buffed. This part is mostly learning monster moveset and abusing it on one of their hardest hitting attack. As long as the monster attack doesn't have hit lag, or have another quick follow combo.

There is spiral thrust, which was the best attack for lance before Sunbreak. It's okay and good, just very awkward to use and not the traditional Lance playstyle. You can use it for quick repositioning, helps a lot in arena quest fighting 2-3 monsters at the same time. It's not really mandatory to use most of the time. This has same silkbind slot with Anchor Rage, pick one.

For comfy skills-decos. Because of Anchor Rage (more damge boost for you if block against harder hitting attack) and Instant Block, you probably need like Guard 3 and Guard up 1. But you can still go for Guard 5, in case of messing block so you'll use more stamina and being pushed back more. Evade extender, you only need up to LV2. LV3 is overkill.
Evade window for lance dodging, no. Because Rise-Sunbreak gives strong counter tool (silkbind), so the invicible frame for dodging and rolling is lot less than World-Iceborne.

Edit: edit is in red.

 

[ShitLurker]

But put it this way, the triple pokes isn't your best damage combo anymore. It's Guard Dash into Leaping thrust on repeat or Charge wide sweep with shield tackle combo. That doesn't mean you can't do like 3 pokes, or leaping thurst into 2 pokes or having charges between pokes. I mean, poking is more precise on hitting weakspot and faster animation, safer and less commitment.

Thanks for the guide. I do use leaping thrust a decent amount, though I tend to default more to triple thrusts since I'm still fighting the muscle memory. The only switches I have access to right now is charging shield bash (the running one, not the forward leap one) and the instant block. I'm sticking with the normal spear charge for now since I heard shield charge eats stamina like mad. I do have insta block set, though I'm still getting used to how I can't just do a front leap raw instantly due to how long the parry animation is, so also need to break that muscle memory to buffer it after a poke, but getting it and doing a cross slash does feel nice. I'm also trying to get used to putting the charge sideswipe into my rotation since it seems to do chunky damage when charged and the wide arc is very nice to have every once in a while.

Anrchor rage I sucks balls at, at least for now, always kind of feels like it would last longer like the standard turtle and counter, on my defense I'm still learning the monsters, and I've barely had to do repeats for now, but the long windups completely throw me off half the time, but I guess it's key to maximizing the poker. Very keen on getting the other switch actions, the forward shield bash leap seems to be huge and I want to fuck around with both types of spear drills.

Though, kind of goes into what I mean that I feel like I'm killing faster than ever on first run in with monsters yet as you can see, I'm far from being optimal with my pointy stick. Kind of makes me wonder if the weapon just does more damage than compared to world or if it just happens that me using the fire lance is giving me huge gains against the last 2 monsters that I went into that were water (though I would have expected it to be the opposite).

 

[Focken Kiwi]

That part right there is false. All monsters in Rise have more health than monsters in World. It's part of rebalance against your hunter mobility, damage uptime and wirebug attacks. You can check value at kirainico stats.

Kulu-Yaku, In Rise - village rank 3 has 2706HP. In World - LR 3* has 1696.

Weird. I had been convinced the hp values were lower because my hunt times were so much faster compared to World. Mobility aside, it felt like things were dying much faster than I was used to. I guess I was wrong. Rise is still fun though.

 

[ShitLurker]

Weird. I had been convinced the hp values were lower because my hunt times were so much faster compared to World. Mobility aside, it felt like things were dying much faster than I was used to. I guess I was wrong. Rise is still fun though.

Yeah, I have the exact same impression. Maybe stuff will get more "demanding" on the higher ranks, since I also feel I don't take much damage with my hodgepodge armor set. Though I still prefer hunts to be on the shorter side at least till I hit master rank. I imagine since it was going to the Switch, they wanted to keep things in short burst to play to the handheld aspect.

 

[Oilspill Battery]

I didn't try rise because it seemed like a cash grab switch port, but I am hyped for this, the one thing in rise that seemed mildly intresting was the wirebug combos and the verticality was nice too, I wanna see how they expand combat for this one taking what they've learned from worldborne and rise.

 

[Mobster Monitor]

If wilds has unskippable cutscenes and an insufferable handler I'll be pretty upset. It is why I will never start a new World file without mods to disable story cutscenes and put a paper bag on the handler's head while muffling her dialogue.


I would like to see my boy Gobul return along with water combat... I get it if this doesn't happen though.

 

[ShitLurker]

I didn't try rise because it seemed like a cash grab switch port, but I am hyped for this, the one thing in rise that seemed mildly intresting was the wirebug combos and the verticality was nice too, I wanna see how they expand combat for this one taking what they've learned from worldborne and rise.

I'm having fun with it for sure and the mobility is pure bliss (that now it's in heavy discount land helps too). Biggest question going forward though is if you are stupid mobile in Wilds as well, that the monster account for this a lot more since it's not the first time I've heard that a lot of monsters in Rise don't have responses to all the mobility hunters get.

 

[Croaking Spider]

But the biggest crime to me is that how they ruin hunting horn playstyle.

I feel this. There are SOME things I like about Rise's HH, but it feels like an overall downgrade from the old one. I like how easy they made the songs, but I hate that they blended the performance mode attacks into the Melody attack mode. Not being able to encore or store songs sucks as well, both for combat and buffing reasons. The attacks certainly come out faster, but they feel weaker overall and lost some KO potential. Plus they took out some of the player skill expression by getting rid of stab cancel inputs and Flourish double inputs. Being able to crank out all your buffs in just a few swings is a flex your hunting buddies will enjoy every time.

Wishful thinking, but I hope we get a Hunting Horn analog in Wilds, kinda like how Heavy and Light bowgun are both fundamentally ranged weapons, but have different playstyles. They could bring back the old spear, drop a mic on the end, and have it focus on dealing damage with bursts of short-range sonic waves and fast combos instead of buffs and heavy swings. Offensive songs on HH in World were a nice idea, but you could get better damage out of echo combos and quick-slinger kinda makes the crowd control songs underwhelming. I feel like having a HH with a similar operation concept but different gameplay would be a welcome addition.

I know Hunting Horn players are a minority, but I'd kill to have a Hunting Mic. Hell, even a lute would be fine.

Biggest question going forward though is if you are stupid mobile in Wilds as well, that the monster account for this a lot more since it's not the first time I've heard that a lot of monsters in Rise don't have responses to all the mobility hunters get.

Their movesets accommodate for it somewhat. I've noticed in Rise that a lot more monsters than usual have mid-long range 360 AoEs that players are expected to wire bug over, now that everyone essentially has Insect Glaive hops now.

There's also more moves that either knock you on your ass or throw you, both of which usually being animation locks before a big finishing move. As long as you have a wire bug, you can break the animation or recover mid-air to avoid it. If you don't, you usually take a good chunk of damage unless you somehow manage to escape at the very last second with the extremely unforgiving iframe window on a dodge.

---

A side note (spoiler'd because this post is long enough as-is):

Spoiler: Even more MH rambling

After some thought, I think I've found the reason why I love this series so much.

There's not much else like it out there, thematically. The technology and tools of Monster Hunter feel like the in-between period of caveman times and the birth of invention. Civilization is still in it's exploration phase while being just barely advanced enough to tackle the challenges of a new uncharted world.

There's also an air of reverence and respect for the creatures of the land. This is extremely apparent in characters like the Handler. While she may say and do questionable/dumb shit, her character has an undeniable fascination and respect for the life of land. The creatures aren't as much "monsters" as they are large animals that have adaptions to support their lifestyle and feeding habits. The hunters rely on the land to sustain themselves. Except for the Elder Dragons, most of the creatures of Monster Hunter feel like they actually fit in their environment. This leads to me my final point:

The monsters are the star of the show. While memorable NPCs may come and go between titles, people ultimately care more about the unique and interesting creatures that the series is known for. There's no need for an overarching story or complex cast of characters because they aren't the focal point. While I appreciate World for attempting to craft some form of narrative story for itself, it really just hammers down the point further that it's the monsters' world, and mankind is just a curious tourist stopping by. The games are Bronze Age caveman simulators and I love them for it.

 

[ShitLurker]

This video came out speculating on Wilds

Half of it feels kind of like a shitpost but I can definitely see some of his takes panning out.

That aside, I'm still trucking with Rise, did my first Rampage, and it wasn't as annoying as Zora Magdalos, but nothing I'd file as thrilling either, did some searching and from what I gather there are only 2 more obligatory rampages and I intend to keep it that way. Aside from that, I'm just "blazing" through since no monster has really given me much issue and I haven't felt the need to properly farm any particular monster as of now, Crane bird I've killed 3 times and is my highest "repeat hunt" as of now. Have also started alternating between the Lance and the Funl