Current Events > Started playing Monster Hunter Rise (first time MH player)

(+) Yeah! (+)

And holy crap. The game just floods you with info, UIs, buttons, tutorials, etc. I've gotten so far now that I think I have a basic grasp on things. It's pretty fun but I get the feeling that they've added a fair bit of "depth" just to make the game a lot longer.

Also, I didn't realize before how much Pokemon Legends copied this formula. The gameplay loop is nearly identical!

Got any tips for me CE? I'm doing single player so far because none of my friends play. And I bought it expecting to only play it in single player. And I use the bow right now, but I've a really bad grasp on the various weapons.

The tutorial pop-ups and menus are definitely overwhelming, even if you have played a MH before. Try to take in what you can, then experiment with the systems they're describing and learn by doing.

Don't be afraid to look up weapon tutorials on YouTube because there are a lot of combos and gimmicks that the game doesn't explain well, if at all.

To start, just work on quests you get from Hinoa, the sister that sits outside. Her quests are scaled for a single player and are meant to get you used to the game. Advancing there will also unlock some systems and resources that'll come in handy when you move on to Minoto's quests.

If you have the Guardian armor set and the weapons that are already way stronger than the ones you can craft, don't use them. They're deliberately OP and meant to quickly get vets to the endgame and dlc.

Right. There are a lot of activities in town that I kinda don't wanna bother with, but I'm worried that I'll miss out on crucial components down the line.

I did check out some weapon tutorials and felt even more overwhelmed, lol. Not sure I'll ever feel up for those complex charge weapons. Maybe I'll feel better when I'm not totally bad. The bow feels pretty good though, just one combo that you extend as much as you want. But we'll see, I still haven't really gotten to the point where I feel like I need elemental weapons.

EDIT: Oh yeah I have those Defender weapons and black belt sets. But they kinda feel like cheating. I'm not trying to hurry to get to endgame anyway :)

Yeah, you can kinda ignore some of the activities in town until you have a feel for the gameplay loop if you want. Nothing is missable. Do be sure to eat some dango before each hunt though. The meowcenaries and Rhondine/Argosy are both nice ways to gather resources you use a lot and items that you can't get anywhere else. You just hafta hire (buy) a couple extra buddies to use them.

It's totally fine to get comfortable with one weapon and play the whole game with it. It helps you learn about new monsters without having to learn all the intricacies of a new weapon at the same time. Once you've mastered it though, it's fun to try out a new weapon and see that it's like playing a whole new game. They all feel so different lol.

are the older games worth playing? i have a friend who's been into the series since like 2009 but she insists that people should skip to Rise >_>

the twins

KhlavicLanguage posted...

are the older games worth playing? i have a friend who's been into the series since like 2009 but she insists that people should skip to Rise >_>

Rise is imo one of the weakest entries in the series. Feels like it's cut almost everything out and is just "rush to monster and hit it a bunch", instead of feeling like you're hunting. I still think MH4U on the 3DS is the best of the best.

Rise does cut out the tracking aspect if you're into that, but the games before World feel so dang clunky now. I tried playing Generations again for a bit last year and it was agonizing going back lol.

I'd love more focus on tracking... If it were a shorter game. As it stands, I know I've barely scratched the surface and I'm like ten hours in. And that's having used like two weapons!

scar_the_1 posted...

I'd love more focus on tracking... If it were a shorter game. As it stands, I know I've barely scratched the surface and I'm like ten hours in. And that's having used like two weapons!

I guess I also got it at launch and the game was blatantly not finished, and that truly soured me on it. I have Sunbreak but I don't really like the flashy combat and skills and such, but I'm just old fashioned. Same way how I disliked the clutch claw in World

Kaldrenthebold posted...

I guess I also got it at launch and the game was blatantly not finished, and that truly soured me on it. I have Sunbreak but I don't really like the flashy combat and skills and such, but I'm just old fashioned. Same way how I disliked the clutch claw in World

I can see that. The combat is very flashy. For me, the only similar game to this I ever played was Dauntless, and I had a blast. But that was a long time ago now and I only played like three monsters. I like that the combat is complex, it's just very very overwhelming at first.

I am a noob too and Rise is my first MH.

I am about 22 hours in now and I can't stop playing it. I feel like I still don't know a lot of the systems going on, but I finish most hunts first time so I guess I understand it enough.

billcom6 posted...

I am a noob too and Rise is my first MH.

I am about 22 hours in now and I can't stop playing it. I feel like I still don't know a lot of the systems going on, but I finish most hunts first time so I guess I understand it enough.

Yeah I feel roughly the same. But I'm going in knowing full well that the endgame content might just not be for me.

I still get claw grip PTSD every time I see a topic referencing this game. Don't miss those days.

Aridi posted...

I still get claw grip PTSD every time I see a topic referencing this game. Don't miss those days.

Oh yeah? Gotta say, at this point, while I'm enjoying the game, I'm not sure I "get it". Like how does it get worse than this? Will monsters have like really really high defenses and HP so that you're essentially forced to maximize your DPS to ever kill them? Will they have really tricky movesets where it's difficult to find openings? Etc.

And now there's a tower defense mode?? Give me a break

scar_the_1 posted...

And now there's a tower defense mode?? Give me a break

thankfully sunbreak gets rid of this garbage so you won't have to worry about that when you reach the sunbreak content

scar_the_1 posted...

Will monsters have like really really high defenses and HP so that you're essentially forced to maximize your DPS to ever kill them?

definitely not. if you run zero offensive skills it may take you a while but rise is generally pretty good about not having monsters with zero good hitzones anywhere

scar_the_1 posted...

Will they have really tricky movesets where it's difficult to find openings?

until the endgame content of sunbreak, not really

the main thing with rise imo is just practicing your weapon(s) of choice (there's a lot of them and they unlock more moves as you progress, so they can seem pretty overwhelming. i'd recommend you just stick to a small number until you're more familiar with the game's systems and monster behavior)

the rest should come naturally as you become more experienced. don't be afraid of searching the area for spiribirds/endemic life/etc if you think they'll help you during the hunt

I still enjoy Rise. I can't go back to the old MH games anymore.

Is capturing really important? I'm quite bad at noticing when a monster is low enough to be captured, and it's a bit of an anyone process. But I don't wanna miss out on good gear.

World was my first and only one, but I loved it and sank a ton of time into it. Started Rise for the first time today, put in a bit of time, but I gotta find my bearings a bit again and glad I remember a lot because i'm just burning through some of the early dialog now. Not sure if i'm going to stick with it right now or not, I know what kind of investment the game is and i'm into a few others right now I don't wanna drop.

scar_the_1 posted...

Is capturing really important? I'm quite bad at noticing when a monster is low enough to be captured, and it's a bit of an anyone process. But I don't wanna miss out on good gear.

in your hunter notes you are able to see the droprates of specific items for carving vs capturing, you can capture a monster when their icon on the top right has a little blue head with cross eyes. the monster will also limp when moving to a different area.

Try focusing on learning one aspect at a time rather then all ay once. And create habits.

For example, utilizing the wisperbug for movement options Instead of the dog for both the map and monsters is a good start. Which helps whenever it's to inconvenient to summon the dog, or for maintaining pressure on a monster. Also learn you weapon skills. Many of them are very powerful.

Switch axes skills for example either give them super armor for atks and roars or recharges their Phair guage swiftly.

scar_the_1 posted...

Is capturing really important? I'm quite bad at noticing when a monster is low enough to be captured, and it's a bit of an anyone process. But I don't wanna miss out on good gear.

Capturing isn't important at all imo. Monsters have different drop rates for each part with carving vs capturing, but those aren't necessarily better rates. Between carving and quest rewards, I'm pretty sure you can get any part eventually. Capturing can save a little time by immediately ending the hunt once the target's health is low enough, but imo it's boring.

You can tell when a monster is ready to capture if you have a cat on your team. They'll tell you in a dialogue pop-up on the screen. After it loses a little more health, there'll be a blue icon next to the monster's portrait in the top right. Once either of these things happens, you can trap and tranq it.

Nightmare_Luna posted...

in your hunter notes you are able to see the droprates of specific items for carving vs capturing, you can capture a monster when their icon on the top right has a little blue head with cross eyes. the monster will also limp when moving to a different area.

Hambo posted...

Capturing isn't important at all imo. Monsters have different drop rates for each part with carving vs capturing, but those aren't necessarily better rates. Between carving and quest rewards, I'm pretty sure you can get any part eventually. Capturing can save a little time by immediately ending the hunt once the target's health is low enough, but imo it's boring.

You can tell when a monster is ready to capture if you have a cat on your team. They'll tell you in a dialogue pop-up on the screen. After it loses a little more health, there'll be a blue icon next to the monster's portrait in the top right. Once either of these things happens, you can trap and tranq it.

Right, thanks for this. There have been some allusions that I unlock some weapons/equipment pieces only by capturing certain enemies. Might I be missing out if I just don't bother?

And about weapons. There are so many. Like it feels like there are so many weapons that do more or less exactly the same thing? Is there a meaningful difference here, or should I just go with whatever? As for elemental weaknesses, the elemental numbers on monsters are always lower than the physical damage ones. Have i just not reached a point where it's worth it to spec for elemental damage, or is it a different scale? Like, if a monster has a 20 or 30 in elemental weakness that's like the highest I can find, but physical weaknesses go up to 70.

Prismsblade posted...

Try focusing on learning one aspect at a time rather then all ay once. And create habits.

For example, utilizing the wisperbug for movement options Instead of the dog for both the map and monsters is a good start. Which helps whenever it's to inconvenient to summon the dog, or for maintaining pressure on a monster. Also learn you weapon skills. Many of them are very powerful.

Switch axes skills for example either give them super armor for atks and roars or recharges their Phair guage swiftly.

Right. I'm getting to a point where I feel like I know the bow well enough, but at the same time it feels like I'm missing out on melee gameplay. So I'm thinking of picking up either the Kinsect thing or one of the phial weapons, now that I have a basic understanding of the combo philosophy of this game.

Another couple hours and I caved and went for the high level gear, hehehe. Probably would have gotten killed by at least one more monster otherwise. And I'm already quite tired of the tower defense thing.

I wanna get into these games, but every demo Ive played turned me off for some reason.

Fortunately, there are only three mandatory rampages iirc

The joy of the series and all the weapon types is you really can just pick up and play them whenever. Like I've been playing since 3U and only just now started trying Dual Blades. Theres no rush, just pick one you're comfortable with and branch out when you're ready.

As for elemental and damage numbers on weapons, it's not super important early on. Towards endgame, you'll have a variety of choices in the same element, like massive element with lower raw or vice versa. This can really depend on the monster, so check your notes to see what their weaknesses are!

FF_Redux posted...

I wanna get into these games, but every demo Ive played turned me off for some reason.

Also the demos are pretty bad in general, you don't really get a feel for anything but the bare minimum of combat with them

FF_Redux posted...

I wanna get into these games, but every demo Ive played turned me off for some reason.

If you start soon I'll help you and we can multiplayer!
I'd say that there's a big threshold. Lots of concepts, lots of buttons, etc. But once you get into it, the fighting is pretty fun and there are lots of styles to try out to see what fits.

What platform you playing on TC?

ProboBum posted...

What platform you playing on TC?

Second this.
I'd definitely be down to hop in some hunts and share some of my elder knowledge.
I am on Switch however, which most players have moved on from.

I'm on Switch. I'd happily play multiplayer, if/when I'm at a point in the game where I'm not just dragging people down. But since I'm in Sweden, it's not necessarily a very comfortable timezone for most of you all to play with.

scar_the_1 posted...

If you start soon I'll help you and we can multiplayer!
I'd say that there's a big threshold. Lots of concepts, lots of buttons, etc. But once you get into it, the fighting is pretty fun and there are lots of styles to try out to see what fits.

Sure, but I dont have much time or energy to play games anymore so commiting to multiplayer I dunno. Also is MH Rise on sale? I dont buy games anymore that arent on sale.

FF_Redux posted...

Sure, but I dont have much time or energy to play games anymore so commiting to multiplayer I dunno. Also is MH Rise on sale? I dont buy games anymore that arent on sale.

I know the feeling. I don't think it's on sale right now, but I'm not sure. I bought it for ~450 SEK without any DLC or anything. Just give me a shout if you get it and I'll be able to give you another newbie's perspective on stuff. :)

scar_the_1 posted...

I'm on Switch. I'd happily play multiplayer, if/when I'm at a point in the game where I'm not just dragging people down. But since I'm in Sweden, it's not necessarily a very comfortable timezone for most of you all to play with.

Hey don't fret bud.
We all started somewhere, and anyone that gives a new Hunter grief for having a hard time is just a jerk.
I'm in western Canada, so wildly different time zones unfortunately.

Bow was my favorite weapon in world, as you said the simplicity is nice. Shoot - dodge - shoot - dodge - shoot and throw in some power shots depending on the situation.

A few general tips that I didn't see posted:
You can create loadouts that will significantly reduce time spent restocking or switching gear. Item loadouts for quickly replenishing potions, berries and traps, and weapon loadouts for quick gear swaps based on the monster you will be facing.

For reasons I still don't fully understand, fast and light weapons excel at elemental damage while heavy weapons do better with raw. I'm pretty new to Rise so idk how true this is for this game, but it was pretty consistent in previous titles as I understand it. Early game it won't be as important, but it's worth thinking about once you get a grasp on things.

Using the aerial recovery with the wirebugs is typically pretty safe, but if they happen to be on cooldown and the monster is about to attack, you can take advantage of i-frames while on the ground. It's as simple as not immediately trying to stand back up. Wait for the attack to be over, then get up and return to fighting/healing.

Another similar technique is the running leap. With your weapon sheathed, sprint in the opposite direction of the monster and press dodge. You'll do a super exaggerated leap that has enormous i-frames, can be useful during nova, beam or combo attacks.

There are lots of collectables during a hunt, but some things you pick up can't be taken back to the village and are meant to be used during a fight. They will typically have a * on the icon them and have varying effects, make sure to experiment with them.

scar_the_1 posted...

I'd love more focus on tracking... If it were a shorter game. As it stands, I know I've barely scratched the surface and I'm like ten hours in. And that's having used like two weapons!

You're literally learning dang near 20 years of incremental additions and evolutions to monhun in one go.

Once you get the core, you'll get the 'click' and then you'll become like a sponge.

As for what you're talking about, once you feel well off enough, you can remove the map from the screen (going into the plus menu beings it back up).

When you do this, you can literally track down monsters, by going to high places and visually scanning, watching the movements of prey animals (when a monster enters their area, they run away to neighboring areas) following their dropped parts trail (monsters tend to leave behind drops whenever they perform a particular interaction with an area before they move on).

It's a lot of fun. Sometimes I just go on a expedition to an area and do this for multiple monsters.

I've been playing since first gen and I ignore a bunch of the systems in Rise because I just don't care. Don't worry if you feel flooded with info, you can let most of it pass by and have fun hitting big monsters with big weapons as much as you want. Almost all the fluff you can do in between hunts and even the customization of your felynes and canynes can be completely ignored. obviously you won't be operating at full efficiency, but if you are like me and just want to pick up and play the core of the gameplay, its no problem that can't be fixed by learning your weapon and monsters.

Nice work Scar! I highly recommend picking one or two weapons and watching a YouTube tutorial on how to use those weapons. The game shows you basic stuff but really misses a lot. Theres so much more to weapons then the game itself will tell you.

Id stick to an easier weapon (and I see you picked bow which is an easy choice but a bit beyond my pay grade for optimal use) if you watch a speedrun of a bow player they are insane. But most speed runners are

secondly pay attention to what the quests give as rewards. Some will list things like new Dango flavours or new Argosy submarines. These are essential. Other stuff like new Weapons can be ignored if you dont care about it.

there are another form of quests which are Optional quests. These are small little gathering tasks or combat challenges. These reward armor spheres. These are highly important too. Youll want your armor at max level as much as possible later in the game.

finally you really want to pay attention to merchant delivery quests which are a 3rd type of quest. These can give you new camps in each map. Very important for fast travelling

And holy crap. The game just floods you with info, UIs, buttons, tutorials, etc.

Yep. I got turned away by the demo because of this, and died repeatedly + timed out against what I'm guessing was a boss because I simply had no idea how to beat it and nothing I was doing seemed to be working, most likely because there was some key action I didn't know how to perform because it was buried in pages of pop-up info.

They really do not have a grasp of the whole "sometimes less is more" concept.

Lots of good tips guys, thanks!
I'm thinking that once the story moves over to hub quests, I'll do the low level ones to practice a new weapon. Might as well, instead of blazing past them with license tests.

I dunno what's considered easy weapons though. Seems like every guide has its own opinions. I did start off with the long sword but that was before watching a guide, so I was really just messing around. Today I tried the insect glaive and it just didn't feel as good as I thought it would. I'm thinking of trying either switch axe or charge blade? I dunno they seem kinda interesting. And I like a lot the idea to have more ways than just dodge roll to avoid/block attacks.

scar_the_1 posted...

Lots of good tips guys, thanks!
I'm thinking that once the story moves over to hub quests, I'll do the low level ones to practice a new weapon. Might as well, instead of blazing past them with license tests.

I dunno what's considered easy weapons though. Seems like every guide has its own opinions. I did start off with the long sword but that was before watching a guide, so I was really just messing around. Today I tried the insect glaive and it just didn't feel as good as I thought it would. I'm thinking of trying either switch axe or charge blade? I dunno they seem kinda interesting. And I like a lot the idea to have more ways than just dodge roll to avoid/block attacks.

Switch Axe and Charge Blade are both crazy fun.
I'm a Swaxe main personally. They can be complicated, but they don't have to be to start.
If you want to know more about either one, I can post a short blurb.

scar_the_1 posted...

Lots of good tips guys, thanks!
I'm thinking that once the story moves over to hub quests, I'll do the low level ones to practice a new weapon. Might as well, instead of blazing past them with license tests.

I dunno what's considered easy weapons though. Seems like every guide has its own opinions. I did start off with the long sword but that was before watching a guide, so I was really just messing around. Today I tried the insect glaive and it just didn't feel as good as I thought it would. I'm thinking of trying either switch axe or charge blade? I dunno they seem kinda interesting. And I like a lot the idea to have more ways than just dodge roll to avoid/block attacks.

Switchaxe has a lot of information to digest immediately, namely the two different gauges you want to pay attention to. But once you get the hang of it, it's a pretty simple weapon. I've never played Charge Blade, but I imagine it's the same deal. What weapon is easiest to use is ultimately subjective, but the one thing most MH players can agree on is that all weapons are good and viable against every single monster you will come across. So pick one that you think looks cool, learn it, and see if you enjoy it.

Bear in mind as well that the Sunbreak expansion also makes virtually all the weapons a lot better. So something that may not seem to work for you in base Rise might be more appealing if you end up playing Sunbreak.

This is completely my opinion and May vary

Easy:

Light Bow Gun - I think this is the weapon everyone uses to cheese every monster.

Heavy Bow Gun - this is basically a chain gun. Easier to dodge enemies and fairly simple to use but I find the gameplay boring

Dual Blades - fast and not much positioning but I dont find that much variation in the moveset

Hammer: slow but very easy to use

Greatsword : fairly easy to use, but does require a lot of precise positioning for optimal use

Sword and Shield - I really like this. Fast easy combos, can use items without putting your weapon away. Metsu Shorugekyi is a game changer and when you pull off a successful counter itll give you more serotonin then drugs

Medium:
Bow - I would place this one here

Longsword - ok this really should be in easy but I find the combos are a bit more difficult and have a bit more variety than other weapons I put in easy. That being said it has a lot of counter attacks that others dont have. Its considered an easy weapon because it basically makes the enemies a joke.

Insect Glaive - fun weapon to use. Very fast and easy combos plus the most aerial weapon. There is some difficulty regarding the Stat Bugs you use to get temporary Stat boosts and some monsters will knock you out of the air really easy without them ever actually touching you on screen.

Hard:
Hunting Horn - operates similar to the hammer but has songs as well that buff. If you use this weapon almost everyone online will love you. But its tricky to use

Charge Blade- this is like 3 weapons in one. It has Guard Points that are very timing specific and each part of the weapon has different meters that need to be filled and then have buffs applied. It also has two varying modes with different combos. People who use this weapon are amazing.

ive never used these
Lance - I think you can put on a dark souls mode with this and don yourself in a Heavy Armor and hide behind a shield and then poke the enemy. May be Gunlance though
Gunlance - I hear its somewhat OP in Sunbreak due to a new move.

Switch Axe

Philip027 posted...

Yep. I got turned away by the demo because of this, and died repeatedly + timed out against what I'm guessing was a boss because I simply had no idea how to beat it and nothing I was doing seemed to be working, most likely because there was some key action I didn't know how to perform because it was buried in pages of pop-up info.

They really do not have a grasp of the whole "sometimes less is more" concept.

Yeah... I mean I managed the first few fights alone but they took waaaaay longer because I was doing such utter crap damage. Having watched some guides it's like yeah, this is needed. Like I need to spend serious time in the training room just to learn the combos enough that I remember them.

I feel like doing a quick summary.

Charge blade basics:
Use your sword to build up phials. The Hold A double slash is very good for this.
X+A as an opening move is decent mobility, in the middle of a combo it'll do a shield jab.
Press ZR+A to put the glowy yellow or red energy into the phials.
With phials hit XA > XA then hit ZR before you attack. This charges your shield and makes blocking much better.
Press ZR + X to swap to axe mode. X attacks are vertical, A attacks are horizontal and use up phials
If you have a big opening, pull the axe out and hit X+A to do a big slap.
My favorite is XA > XA > XA to do SAED (big explosion)
A + FORWARD in a combo will do a slide slash, great for mobility.

There's much much more to it, but that's basics. Swagaxe will follow.

meestermj posted...

Switch Axe and Charge Blade are both crazy fun.
I'm a Swaxe main personally. They can be complicated, but they don't have to be to start.
If you want to know more about either one, I can post a short blurb.

I'd love to read your opinions on either one if you don't mind. Understanding the weapons more helps a lot. Am I right in thinking that the swaxe is "simpler" than the charge blade?

I'd recommend hammer if you find you like how the weapon feels. You don't need to worry about elemental damage too much with it until the end of sunbreak, and it has a ton of moves for you to play around and experiment with (some better than others..)

scar_the_1 posted...

I'd love to read your opinions on either one if you don't mind. Understanding the weapons more helps a lot. Am I right in thinking that the swaxe is "simpler" than the charge blade?

Personally I find it less complex, as it has fewer playstyles and doesn't have to worry about guard points, perfect charges, and stuff like that.
Switch Axe basics:
You have two guages, the orange bar inside the sword icon and the energy outline around it.
The orange bar is how many sword attacks you can do, the outline guage is the "amped" mode of your sword.
Doing axe attacks will fill the orange guage.
Doing sword attacks will build the outline guage.
Once the outline guage is full, it glows. Sword and axe both get stronger and will make explosions on hit.
Switch skills:
Invincible gambit is a trap, Soaring Wyvern is better mobility and overall safer. Switch charger is perfection. Overhead slash is king, as is finishing discharge (not Compressed for now).
Notable attacks:
ZR switches between axe and sword. You can start a combo that way, or mix it into a combo.
A is horizontal, X is vertical.
Axe A is called Wild Swing. Big sweeping hits from side to side. Do two swings, then X to make sword charge faster.
Forward + X is excellent, backward + A will swing and back you up.

A hits in sword charge the guage faster.
If you have a safe opening when your guage is charged you can X+A to latch onto the monster, then spam X to do explosions.
If your orange bar gets too low, you'll be forced back to Axe mode. If you try to switch back, you'll be locked into a long animation.

The most important combo (imo) is Sword mode A > A > ZR > ZR repeat,
But only if you have a safe opening like the monster is knocked down or in a trap.
That's the bare basics. There's so many combos and things I could list, but i don't want to overwhelm.