Teach me how to play old school Monster Hunter

[Bebpo]

Trying to understand some of these cooking skills. What does unstable environment mean? A lot of them are this large monster will appear in unstable environment skills.

[Bebpo]

After spending a couple days doing lots and lots of high rank quests in Solarium 7 star (aka first tier HR), almost beat it and at 8 star. Didn't end up having to grind MP for gear, still haven't even grinded in solo (aka re-doing a mission I've already beat), I just keep doing new missions and sending my palicos to get parts from monsters I've fought and thanks to the upgrade system my gear is pretty ok, I can take enough hits to give me time to heal.

So couple things after about 5-7 hours in high rank in GU. At first it seemed rough, aka enemies having way more health, doing more damage, being more aggressive, but after getting used to it, it's not much different from low rank outside some monsters being way more agile which just makes them a lot more annoying (Tetsucabara suddenly gets superman agile in high rank lol; Royal Ludroth feels about the same aka annoying ass monster to fight in melee range).

I'm about 35 hours in GU which is about how far I got in World (35-40) and I'm roughly around the sameway through the SP campaign through the end of high rank (well probably about 25 hours more in GU vs like 10-15 left in World) and difficulty-wise the games feel pretty close. Like GU was harder at first just getting used to the enemy patterns and stiffer longsword combat but after getting the hang of those, the games feel pretty dang similar.

I'm also starting to get burnt out on GU, just like I got burnt out on World after about 35-40 hours. There's something about just fighting the same enemies over and over (enemies you've already beat in low rank and now in high rank but slightly different/harder) that starts off fun and gets a bit draining. I still enjoy the new monster fights, but the low rank monsters in high rank are a bit tiring to do one after another in multi-hour solo sessions.

Still gonna gun for clearing through Solarium 10-star in solo and "beating" the SP campaign, but might bail in 8-star depending on how it goes. Maybe just take a break from MH in general and then get back and finish up GU & World. I like them both a lot, but the SP just gets tiring after enough hours. The MP though is a lotta fun so maybe I'll stick with that instead.

[Maiden Voyage]

I only put in around 2-5 hours a week, so that's helped me keep my interest in the game. I've also got a buddy that's hardcore into MH that I play with on occasion. I am noticing that there is a ton of grind in terms of playing the same areas and monsters, like you mentioned Bebpo. I haven't done a mission twice either, but it's still a grind. Thankfully, I really only play when I am running on the treadmill, so it keeps me entertained.

[Bebpo]

So I think I'm done with Generations Ultimate single player at 8-star. Every fight I do is more bullshit than fun. I have pretty good armor and weapons about as best as I can at this point, but the monsters are just nothing but bullshit over and over again. Roar stunning -> Poisoning knockdown -> hitting you when you get up combos; hitting you with a status effect and then hitting you again with it when you get up, dizzies to roars to trembles to whatever it's nothing but annoying shit. Roars outta nowhere knocking you out of skills you've build up. Hell, one of my style moves as a long sword is a parry counter that gives a few seconds to pull it off, even when I know the monster's pattern, I miss it like 50% of the time because the monster will go instance a stance that shows they're ABOUT TO RAM ME so I go into parry counter and suddenly because they see I'm going into parry counter they just STOP THEIR ANIMATION AND SIT UNTIL MY PARRY IS DONE AND THEN RAM ME.

Sometimes I feel like the monsters in this game don't have patterns. Like I play a ton of character action games and those you learn the patterns, you dodge, you counter, the end. Here it's like their move windows and timings are constantly changing and it's all just kinda random fuckery and good luck.

And then even though the next rank upgrade is available for my Poison Wyvern sword, to get it I need a Rathian Plate which apparently has a 4% drop rate from carves & captures and 1% drop rate from mission rewards. So essentially it's forcing me to change to a different weapon (changing to Thunder sword) because I'm not spending 5-10 hours grinding some 5% drop to get to the next weapon level.

It's just not fun. Even some of the hitboxes feel totally off, like I fought the big spider at the end of 7-star and it's dash move would miss me and I'd still get hit and enrage. Basically at this point the game just makes me want to throw it out the window in SP.

That being said, I'm not going to bail on GU entirely. I'm gonna try sticking with MP only and seeing if it's a lot less bullshit and tedious and more fun. Since MP seems completely separate here, what I'm potentially learning is that Monster Hunter is a great multiplayer game and a stupid single player game for Masochists who hate life.

Also, on top of all this in the last week my pro controller has kept disconnecting at random times, maybe once or twice an hour which is extremely inconvenient. It's at full charge and googling it, it seems like the switch has some disconnecting issues with its bluetooth connection controllers. So now I gotta play plugged in and pull the switch close to my couch and then I accidently knock it over mid-fight

What's up with all gaming hardware being shit at connections these days? My PS4 no matter what HDMI cable I use still has handshake issues where it goes black for a second or two every hour or two and now this switch disconnect stuff. It's all so annoying  :'(

[Bebpo]

Welp, ended up switching over to MP and blew through HR2 & HR3 key quests and now I'm at HR4 high rank in MP and just a little behind where I am in SP (seems like HR5 equivalent). MP seems a lot more lenient with other people and also more fun and less frustrating. Gonna stick with it and see how far I can get before getting frustrated in MP. Would be nice to make it to G-rank.

My stats at this point are about 321 Def with ~200 ATK (30-ish being poison). Dunno how far that'll get me, but will upgrade as I get drops in MP.

[Maiden Voyage]

How many hours do you put in a week?

[Bebpo]

No idea, I think I went from about 13-38 hours gametime in the last two weeks? But I don’t play every day, just like one or two days a week.

[Maiden Voyage]

I picked up World today. Only 2 hours in but so far I'm surprised at how differently they play.

[Maiden Voyage]

I played more of each today and I see the similarities now. I think I'm at maybe 40 hours of GU and only 5 in World.

Overall, I think they're both great. World feels like a console game--story driven, meant to be played in several hour increments. Generations Ultimate feels like a great portable game--no real plot, session driven. I am preferring the moment-to-moment combat in World more, simply because I can change attack direction mid-combo. I prefer the combat in GU however, because the Hunter Arts add a great layer of strategy and customization to the hunts, making them far more satisfying. Environment, including exploration is definitely in the favor of World. They are both incredibly satisfying.

My play style lends itself more toward the shorter sessions that GU is built around but I find myself longing for the engrossment that World provides with the environments and story. I'm curious if I will keep playing them in tandem.

[Bebpo]

Played a little bit the other night and made a room for HR4 key quests and got through them in about an hour, up to HR5 now. Still enjoying the MP and still coasting on my current gear. I look at some of the HR5/6/7 peoples that join my room and their DEF is like in the low 200s and weapons are like 150 damage, whereas I'm rocking about 350 DEF and almost 200 ATK damage. Plus everything's just easier in 4p MP.

Wondering at what point in the MP progression playing with randoms will we hit a wall where people are carting and having to retry missions and upgrade gear. I'm sure by G-rank, but wonder if the last couple HRs (6/7) in high-rank will bring that.

I also noticed that solely playing key quests I'm missing out on a ton of monster fights. At some point I should just fuck around and fight some of these monsters I've never touched in high rank with people. They might have nice gear!

[Bebpo]

Since I turned on my Switch for the first time in a while for Smash, loaded this back up and while the online is really dead atm, sitting around a lobby for 30 mins I got a team and did half the HR5 Key Quests.

Fought Zamtrios

That was...interesting  Did not expect the giant fat bouncy ball form haha. Was a lot of fun. Hopefully the MP remains active long enough that I can get back to this and get to G-rank (and maybe through G-rank). I know World is more active since it's the current MH, but for whatever reason I have no motivation to get back to playing World until I clear GU as far as I can take it. GU in 3p or 4p is one of the most fun games I've played in a long time and makes me see what the hype is about for MH. Just like with Smash, MP >>>>> SP.

[Bebpo]

Finished up HR5 and got to HR6. Only 2 more ranks to go until my first G-rank!



So satisfying when you clear your final urgent quest on Mizutsune with a perfect counter straight to its head for the finishing blow.

[Bebpo]

Played another session today and went through HR6 key quests. All those 40 hours in SP to village 7 or 8 grinding gear paid off. Haven't had to grind any weapons or gear since starting MP through HR7. HR7 monsters are finally starting to hit hard (Seregois did some attack that did like 75% damage to me).

I might want to start upgrading my gear. I looked around and the latest monster gear parts start around 66 DEF each and I'm rocking upgraded pieces that started around 44 DEF, so I could probably get another +20 DEF per piece if I upgraded them all so maybe another +100 DEF. My Wyvern blade lvl.3 poison sword is still ok-ish thanks to poison being really useful. I need some Rathian HR drops and Rathalos drops to get it to lvl.4 so I can get it further. Looks like at this point in MP I should be able to get it to about lvl.5 if I work on it.

But I think for now next time I sit down and play I'll see if I can eek out the HR7 key quests with a team, do Black Diablos and start G-rank proper. If I can survive to G-rank on my current gear set I'll start upgrading when I hit G-rank with G-rank armor. But if I start dying in HR7 I'll upgrade.

I feel like MP fights are starting to get a bit more intense at HR6/7, up through HR5 with 3-4 people always felt like ez mode, but now it's more fun (and still pretty quick compared to SP fights). Haven't fount any of the special permit monsters yet like Dreadqueen Rathalos and Snowrabbit guy or whatever. Should give them a shot sometime. 

[Bebpo]

If I can get a couple people together tonight I'm finishing High Rank in MP. Unlocked the final urgent quest last night against the double headed bone dragon. Just gotta do that and then I guess the gate keeper for G-rank (black diablos) unlocks?

The hardest part about GU is honestly that it's an old ass game and the community has moved on. I usually can get 3 other people to join in on a key quest lobby I make, but sometimes I can't and sometimes it takes 30-60 mins to fill.

At some point I really need to go back to my World save lol before World's online community dies too, I'm thinking I might wait until right before the G-rank expansion Iceborn comes out and people get back on the game prepping to enter G-rank, double dip and grab the PC version and start over with an active community and speedrun my way up to G-rank entry point for the expansion.

I don't play a lot of MP games (almost nothing) and I'm usually real late to the party, so I run into this issue a lot where the online is kinda dead by the time I'm playing. This doesn't usually happen in SP when I'm a year or two or three late to a game.

[Bebpo]

So I don't get online etiquette in MH. Sometimes people join 2p and get mad if you don't start and then you start and the fight takes forever because it's only 2 people and they get mad and leave. Just had that happen on Nakarkos final elder dragon fight. Was just 2 of us but the other guy was pushy about starting and then we barely beat it after a long ass time and the guy got pissed and left immediately.

Generally I don't like to start a quest until there's at least 3 people and I prefer 4 people.

Also what's the etiquette on who picks the next quest? Are you supposed to take turns? Or the room creator keeps picking?


Oh and now that I'm at G-rank hub (trying to get people for Black Diablos to open G1 quests), I haven't tried any of these special permit monsters. What's the different between Special Permit monster and Hyper Monster and any other monster types?

I looked at the 93 monster list for GU and I think I've fought most of the non-variant ones outside like 4 or so and a handful of Elder Dragons. Didn't realize Shagaru Magala was an Elder Dragon fight. Thought it was pretty normal good fight with no gimmicks.

[Bebpo]

Had even worse experience on Diablos. 2 other people joined (3p) and of course they pressure me to start instead of waiting for a 4th. Then one of them dies and decides to sit in the camp hoping the 2 of us will beat it for him giving him the clear -_- yeah we didn't

Got my first quest fail in MP!

Diablos moves way faster here than World!

[Bebpo]

So I was gearing all up to grind out some good armor set since I was still rocking some older HR stuff with almost no skills equipped, was going to look into how long it'd take to grind out Dreadking Rathalos for the armor set with Attack L, HG Earplugs, Tenderizer.

But then I stumbled into a good group and we took out Diablos and then we went through all of G1 and did great, I didn't even have any carting and the monsters weren't hitting horribly hard or anything with my armor set. Got to G2/HR10 and did the first key quest (Rathian G-Rank) and beat it with only 3 people since one person left.

So now I'm not sure what I really want out of GU anymore before moving on to World. Despite doing lots of G-rank quests and beating the urgent quest guy like 4x in a row (Barroth), I don't have enough to make any pieces without more grinding.

-Like there seems little point in grinding out any HR armor sets or anymore weapon upgrades since all the G Rank armor has like 2x the DEF stat and the entry weapon tree weapons start at higher than the max level weapons from HR/Hyper monsters. So it seems like if I was gonna grind anything I should just grind like Barroth over and over until I can make a G-rank Barroth full set and max upgrade it. And with weapons, just grind out some new long swords.

-But, I really don't feel like grinding.

-Also I seem to be managing with my current armor stuff (~500 DEF, 186 ATK + 40 Poison) in G2 with a good team. So not super motivated to grind.

-I could try to "beat" the game by getting through G4's final boss. But I have a feeling I'm gonna have to grind G-rank armor/weapons at some point to do that and that doesn't sound fun. Also, now that I've seen G-rank I'm not super motivated to keep going in it. The monsters don't seem much different. Just a little higher stats and maybe a new move or two. The G1 monsters were all little guys and they went down so fast. Barroth was a solid fight though. Rathian G-rank was cool. I also feel like if I jump into some teams at G2 and I'm always going to be the weakest link in any group because my armor/weapons are not even endgame HR.

-I could try to see and beat all the monsters I haven't seen yet. I haven't done any of the 15-20 special permit variant monsters. And for the normal HR monsters there's like 5 or 6 I never encountered because they weren't key quests and no group I was in every did them. Like I've never fought Deviljho. The problem with this is getting a 4p group online to go around doing non-key quest, HR monsters is tough, not a lot of people are interested in that and I'm not strong enough to solo these MP fights with 2.5x HP tanks.

Or I could bail at this point and go back to World. Idk. Next time I have a free night/afternoon I'll look around the online lobbies and see if I can find any groups to do the special permit monsters or to grind G-rank Barroth to get my G-rank starting armor set.

[Bebpo]

Just sorta been joining people's games all night and doing random stuff. Ended up with a mis-match of G-rank armor on each part so I've got like 650 DEF but no skills oh well. Using a boring G-rank weapon with no element but like 288 ATK and it seems ok enough.

Did Lan-Shao G-rank (terrible stuff, I hate missions like this), a Shogun Centaur G-rank hyper (kinda fun with a good team), Dreadking Rathalos HR (ok yeah this variant feels pretty different than normal Rathalos!), Did Deviljho Savage HR (holy shit this was hard, I still haven't done regular Deviljho so dunno if the Savage one is what made it so bad. Freaking evil beam of death), did a Gypceros Hyper solo just cause I needed a lvl.1 hyper commedation, then did a Kirin fight (Kirin is annoying in every game, isn't it?).

Still not sure what my end goal is with this game. I probably have enough DEF/ATK at this point to finish G-rank if I want to, I also can probably do all the special permit deviant monsters but getting teams for them will take a while. And there's still the handful of monsters I haven't fought yet. Might try to do all of that stuff over time until I get tired of it and then shelve the game. Dunno.

Playing with people is fun though. MH in MP feels like the old Call of Duty days of just jumping on and beating up stuff with some people for a few hours for fun. Fights are short enough with 4p, have just enough challenge (or a lot of challenge) at hyper/special permit/g-rank versions, and fights always feel doable with a team of 4 because even if you suck you can just sorta poke around until the monster gets knocked down by someone else and then get a bunch of damage in.

Also I had a HR70+ hunting horn guy join one of my groups and daaaaamn hunting horn hi-level is amazing support. We had like Attack/DEF+15%, Unlimited Stamina, HR Earplugs, constant good healing, etc... the entire fight. Feels like every team should have a hunting horn person since they're essentially the white mage of the team. Maybe I should play Hunting Horn when I get back to World.

[Bebpo]

Well since I'm just talking to myself here I'm gonna keep talking to myself 

Did a few more monsters yesterday. Fought a Gold Rathian which was just kinda annoying because it's Rathian except most areas deflect. Fought a somethingclaw Tigrex (Tigrex Variant) which was pretty cool. It threw boulders.

I'm finding that joining online groups that say TURNS works out good for what I want at this point, which is fighting every monster at least one time to experience it. Including special permits, out of the 93 large monsters in GU I've probably got about 20 left. I think once I fight them all and beat them all at least once I'll move on and back to World. In World I think I'll just try to beat High Rank (aka ending credits) and any monsters I haven't fought by that point at least once and call it a day until the expansion.

I just have zero interest in the grind game in MH. Everyone is running around with complete armor sets and I have like a different piece from every monster on each body part  I don't care, I don't want to grind the same monster over and over to get complete sets and have to look up where to get all the small other items needed. Same with weapons, just give me something that does decent enough damage that I feel like I'm contributing and I'm happy. I've got too many games to play to grind.

[HardcoreRetro]

What else is there to talk about? The student has become the master.

[Bebpo]

Haha, yeah I'm far from it.

I dunno, just wondering what you guys who play non-world MH think about various stuff? Like favorite monsters, weapons, strategies, what your goals are, what skills/armors you like, etc...? I'm new to this whole MH community and want to learn more!

[Tasty]

Bebpo

[Maiden Voyage]

I fell off the train in favor of Sea of Thieves. Since I won't be able to play that as much I might get back into MHGU. At least then you'd have someone to talk to.