As a long time player, what did MH Rise offer to me?
A modern redesign of my favourite maps:
One of the things that blew my mind about Rise is how they recreated older generation maps, modernising them in a much needed way. Not only are they now in high definition but they have also been reworked into seamless maps. Some of those were my favourite and Rise makes you feel like you’re replaying a game from Gen 3 again.
The greatest addition to the maps is a lot of verticality. You can climb and find a lot of secrets or resources. Fights don’t take advantage of this though, for the most part.
The only regrettable aspect is that you can still see the corridors separating areas, an obvious leftover from the original design idea. We’ve learned that the developers didn’t initially intend to make the maps like this but after seeing the development of World, they decided to rework the maps. In my opinion, the result is worth it.
Solid roster and old favourites:
One of the undeniable additions that Rise did to World is bringing back many of the older monsters, which needed to be reworked into the newer engine. The selection is great and they didn’t just focus on the big classic ones, we get a lot of the smaller ones like Arzuros or Lagombi too and I think it’s great. Once again, the game just digs into my Gen 3 nostalgia.
The newer ones are also cool and Rise has a unique identity in that regard. For once, the monsters are not based on nature as much as they are designed on Japanese folklore. Still, I think they fit well into the series. I don’t think I was disappointed with any of them and I was especially impressed with Magnamalo, which I learned to love after grinding it in the demo challenge.
Further improvements to MHW’s weapon redesigns:
Rise takes the weapon redesigns in MHW and continues to improve them. As an example, the Switch Axe has many more moves during which it can now change forms. Additionally, the game brought back the hunter arts from MHGU into a new form and they’re also great additions. The combat is dynamic and perhaps the most refined the series has ever seen.
Some problems arise though. First, the new wirebug skills can be quite spammy for some weapons. The hammer meta for example is to throw Impact Crater as many times as possible. Of course, nobody forces you into doing that and it’s perfectly playable otherwise, just don’t aim for speedrunning times.
I also am not a fan of the Hunting Horn rework, it feels like a completely different weapon from World. Using the right move according to your position does not matter any more and the main combo is pretty much to spam A. It feels much faster paced and less heavy.
Some problems regarding immersion:
Immersion is a big deal for me and I have always loved what the Monster Hunter series has done. I am a person who enjoys spending hours gathering or going on hunts to kill small monsters, knowing I am hoarding a wealth of materials I would never need. It was a relaxing activity for me. I also happen to like the item management part and I wasn’t a fan of World removing a lot of them: pickaxes, hot/cool drinks… Well, Rise is pretty much the same in this regard.
The monster AI is where immersion suffers the most and I dare say it’s the worst the series has seen. For example, the ways the monster moves in the now seamless maps can get quite ridiculous and it also happens way too often. The monster encounters are also not only annoying but immersion breaking. They are very scripted events and the outcome is always the same: monsters which are not your target have a mount threshold which is very low so whenever they meet your hunting target, one hit from it will make them available for mounting so it’s always the same pattern. Whether you mount or not, which monster you chose to knock down: the outcome is always predictable and you just choose the most optimal choice, if not the most annoying.
You can also instantly locate them now, removing the entire searching process. This is not entirely a bad thing but it does contribute to giving the game a more arcadey feeling. I hope the next game will improve in this regard and find a proper immersion formula.
Some things have improved, others have not. I also don’t disagree that the games are getting easier. However, I am still very hopeful for this series. I can tell the devs understand what they’re doing and I appreciate that they always try to do something new, whether it’s hit or miss. If I want to play the older games, I still can and if I don’t enjoy an entry, maybe I’ll like the next one more!
A modern redesign of my favourite maps:
One of the things that blew my mind about Rise is how they recreated older generation maps, modernising them in a much needed way. Not only are they now in high definition but they have also been reworked into seamless maps. Some of those were my favourite and Rise makes you feel like you’re replaying a game from Gen 3 again.
The greatest addition to the maps is a lot of verticality. You can climb and find a lot of secrets or resources. Fights don’t take advantage of this though, for the most part.
The only regrettable aspect is that you can still see the corridors separating areas, an obvious leftover from the original design idea. We’ve learned that the developers didn’t initially intend to make the maps like this but after seeing the development of World, they decided to rework the maps. In my opinion, the result is worth it.
Solid roster and old favourites:
One of the undeniable additions that Rise did to World is bringing back many of the older monsters, which needed to be reworked into the newer engine. The selection is great and they didn’t just focus on the big classic ones, we get a lot of the smaller ones like Arzuros or Lagombi too and I think it’s great. Once again, the game just digs into my Gen 3 nostalgia.
The newer ones are also cool and Rise has a unique identity in that regard. For once, the monsters are not based on nature as much as they are designed on Japanese folklore. Still, I think they fit well into the series. I don’t think I was disappointed with any of them and I was especially impressed with Magnamalo, which I learned to love after grinding it in the demo challenge.
Further improvements to MHW’s weapon redesigns:
Rise takes the weapon redesigns in MHW and continues to improve them. As an example, the Switch Axe has many more moves during which it can now change forms. Additionally, the game brought back the hunter arts from MHGU into a new form and they’re also great additions. The combat is dynamic and perhaps the most refined the series has ever seen.
Some problems arise though. First, the new wirebug skills can be quite spammy for some weapons. The hammer meta for example is to throw Impact Crater as many times as possible. Of course, nobody forces you into doing that and it’s perfectly playable otherwise, just don’t aim for speedrunning times.
I also am not a fan of the Hunting Horn rework, it feels like a completely different weapon from World. Using the right move according to your position does not matter any more and the main combo is pretty much to spam A. It feels much faster paced and less heavy.
Some problems regarding immersion:
Immersion is a big deal for me and I have always loved what the Monster Hunter series has done. I am a person who enjoys spending hours gathering or going on hunts to kill small monsters, knowing I am hoarding a wealth of materials I would never need. It was a relaxing activity for me. I also happen to like the item management part and I wasn’t a fan of World removing a lot of them: pickaxes, hot/cool drinks… Well, Rise is pretty much the same in this regard.
The monster AI is where immersion suffers the most and I dare say it’s the worst the series has seen. For example, the ways the monster moves in the now seamless maps can get quite ridiculous and it also happens way too often. The monster encounters are also not only annoying but immersion breaking. They are very scripted events and the outcome is always the same: monsters which are not your target have a mount threshold which is very low so whenever they meet your hunting target, one hit from it will make them available for mounting so it’s always the same pattern. Whether you mount or not, which monster you chose to knock down: the outcome is always predictable and you just choose the most optimal choice, if not the most annoying.
You can also instantly locate them now, removing the entire searching process. This is not entirely a bad thing but it does contribute to giving the game a more arcadey feeling. I hope the next game will improve in this regard and find a proper immersion formula.
Some things have improved, others have not. I also don’t disagree that the games are getting easier. However, I am still very hopeful for this series. I can tell the devs understand what they’re doing and I appreciate that they always try to do something new, whether it’s hit or miss. If I want to play the older games, I still can and if I don’t enjoy an entry, maybe I’ll like the next one more!