Octopus Overlords

Anyone else picking this up on Friday? I know Coop's on board.

I was going to pass, but after watching reviews last night I think I'm going to give it a shot. It's a series that never really clicked with me until Monster Hunter World, but they made enough QOL improvements in that one that I could finally wrap my head around it. MH Rise looks like it could be even better. Doubt I'll ever get around to finishing it (the tougher monsters always destroy me), but the added mobility options with the Wirebug look really awesome.

I will certainly get it pretty soon if not this week. I think these games are WAY better handheld, but I guess that all depends on your setup. The amount of gameplay you get for your dollar is pretty insane. I know my BIL will pick it up right away so maybe I can team up with him.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:33 pm Anyone else picking this up on Friday? I know Coop's on board.

Well, my older son is. I don't get the Switch much. I've seriously considered a second Switch just for this but that seems kind of ridiculous.

I'm tempted even though I rarely play the Switch. The terrible Monster Hunter movie I just watched actually got me in the mood to jump back into Monster Hunter World, because I didn't even know a new title was coming. I'd rather just dive into this new one.

Octavious wrote: ↑Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:03 pm I think these games are WAY better handheld, but I guess that all depends on your setup.

I don't get this take at all. Why try to squeeze these beautiful worlds onto that tiny little screen? Of course I don't really play any games on handheld.

The nature of the game is many many many short quests/hunts. Which lends itself very well to something you can just pickup and play for a few minutes and put it back down.

would kill for a switch, pretty sad that it isn't on xbox this time. I had not played any monster hunter until World and it hooked me hard. Put in almost 700 hours and am pretty bummed the new one isn't on it but looks amazing.

I've never played a MH game but tried the demo. It didn't grab me, but it was also completely overwhelming. They really just drop you into the deep end.

From the reviews I've read this is likely the most accessible one from the start. I'll probably end up grabbing it tomorrow because self control isn't a thing I have. It's really not that complicated if you just ease yourself in.

By tomorrow I mean now as I thought it would unlock at midnight. So far it has not. Oh well. It just looks to good to wait.

Good lord, this game opens the fire hose like few I’ve seen. I can see how newcomers would be completely lost in the first hour or two. Hell, I played nearly 80 hours of the last MH game, and even I’m a little fuzzy on how some things work.

Ya they really toss A LOT at you right out of the gate in this one.

I took a bit to get the hang of the controls, but this certainly has it's hooks in me again. The Wirebug is a fantastic addition and makes the whole game feel so much faster and less clunky. Having the monster marked right on the map (as opposed to having to follow glowbugs or search all over for it) is awesome. I can run around the map gathering things, knowing exactly where the mob will be when I feel ready to take it on. I'm going with Sword & Shield to start (I'm a wuss), and have taken down my first couple monsters.

For those who may be coming in new, hang in there, use the Training Room, and have patience. It takes some time for things to click, but it's pretty awesome when they do.

Got about halfway through the 4 star quests last night. Still really enjoying this one.

Two thoughts:
1. I really, really don't like tower defense. Glad those segments are few and far between and aren't mandatory, cause they kinda suck.
2. Maybe it's just the vastly improved movement controls or maybe it's just that I have more experience with the series now, but this game feels much less punishing than previous versions. In MH World, I died multiple times the first time I went up against most monsters, and didn't really start seeing success until I started figuring out their patterns. In MH Rise, I've been able to beat every monster except one on the first try (and even that one was more just bad luck than anything). This is definitely a positive in my book, as the difficulty was what ultimately drove me off MH World.

No it's not just you. The large monsters in solo are way easier. I haven't died to one once. I'm really enjoying it too and also dislike the tower defense stuff.

Everything about this game is so well done. The controls are fantastic. The sound is awesome. The monster design? Top notch... And it runs like a dream. And I haven't even touch mp yet.

I don't play. But I found this amusing. For those of you that do play...

To me, the fights in MH World felt like they always went on just a bit too long. Not even the ones where I was struggling, but even the basic monsters still felt like they took forever.

MH Rise has tweaked the formula to be exactly right. Most of the fights are still challenging and require skill, and you can't button-mash through anything but the one-stars. Every time I think "I'm pretty sure I've damaged it enough", I seem get the capture message from my Palico companion at exactly that moment. It feels remarkably intuitive and battles feel just right.

I went up against Tobi-Kadachi for my final 4-star today. He's still a bugger (knocked me out once). I approached him with a little more patience and caution, and managed to capture him. Was the funnest battle so far.

Octavious wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 11:14 am And I haven't even touch mp yet.

Same. I finished all the 4-stars today, and may dip my toes in after I do the Special Quest that lets you bypass a few MP levels if you've completed it in solo.

EDIT: Well, that was odd. I beat the urgent quest after completing all the 4-stars...and the credits rolled. Granted, there’s still lots more game to play, but to have the “main quest” end after such a short time felt rather strange. Took me around 18 hours.

Finished all the 5-Stars and unlocked the 6-star quests today. Definitely further than I’ve been in any previous MH game.

This is likely to be my skill cap, I think. While I haven’t failed a mission yet, the Almudron carted me twice and had me within a sliver of HP for my third. Will see how the rest of these go, but I’ve absolutely gotten my money’s worth, even if I plateau here.

The 2.0 patch came out today, adding a bunch of higher level quests and monsters, as well as some bug fixes and QOL improvements.

While I doubt I'll ever see the highest level stuff, I did jump back in for a couple hours tonight and finish off the 6-star quests. That felt like a solid bit of progress.

Comes out on PC in... 3 minutes. Green man still hasn't given me my key. Grrr...

I haven't played the switch version is so long that I have have a billion new things to do. I highly doubt I'll upgrade to the PC version even if the higher resolution would be nice, but being portable is much nicer.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:57 pm Comes out on PC in... 3 minutes. Green man still hasn't given me my key. Grrr...

Key showed up 1 minute after my lunch break ended and two hours (and a minute) after the game released officially. Thanks GMG.

I'll be playing co-op with my older son. Two PC keys is much cheaper than another switch (plus another copy of the game for switch).

edit: ok the keys actually came in 9 minutes before the two hour mark. I just didn't notice earlier.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:52 pm EDIT: Well, that was odd. I beat the urgent quest after completing all the 4-stars...and the credits rolled. Granted, there’s still lots more game to play, but to have the “main quest” end after such a short time felt rather strange. Took me around 18 hours.

Since Isg bumped the thread and it appears I never really updated with my experience, I:ll throw two things out there:
1) credits rolled for me after 12 hours
2) meh. Pretty much the entire time I was playing it I was thinking I would be much happier just playing more World.

It seems like a game full of mostly self-directed busy work. In World I felt like the upgrade cycle for gear meshed with the story progress much more cleanly and intuitively and that just continued through Iceborne. In Rise you hardly needed to upgrade anything because the "story" was over before you got a chance to outgrow your starter gear.

This may express it more clearly:
Monster Hunter: World - 313 hours (on PC, I played 100+ hours on PS4 as well)
Monster Hunter: Rise - 12.4 hours

I must say I'm surprised I'm having fun with this one on PC via Game Pass. The anime aesthetic and Japanese gameplay aren't usually my thing these days, but outside of how syrupy the characters are (I've done about five missions), it's a lot of fun to play in co-op. Not sure I have much interest in playing it solo though. But it's very polished and player-friendly, and the systems, while complex at first, are fairly simple and logical. I have some gripes about the UI and controls, but that's probably par for the course with Japanese console ports... I rarely play them.

Rise and World were (are?) both 20 bucks canadian on Steam. My eldest wanted world. I asked him what the difference was. He mumbled something. I didn't follow up.

He chose World. Sounds like he made the right choice.