WithMonster Hunter Risearriving to Switch, there’s never been a better time for newcomers to approach the series, thanks to a host of new quality of life changes in this latest installment. So, withMonster Hunterbranching out toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateand other cross-promotional events bringing more eyes onto the series, this newest title will likely have a lot of new players coming in for the first time.
The changes toMonster Hunter Risefrom the previous game don’t quite reinvent the wheel, as the core gameplay of jumping into timed hunts against giant monsters hasn’t changed much over the course of the series. What has changed more than anything is the tedious moments in-between, where the player is forced to find ingredients out in the wild in order to best prepare for each fight.
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Quality of Life
The phrase “Quality of Life” has gathered a certain amount of buzz around it, due in part to the constantly evolving nature of games though patches and remasters, though its origins in gaming culture come more directly from the modding community. Generally, the phrase refers to fixes or updates that improve the overall experience of a game, usually by cutting down on tedium or grinding. These are the types of features that won’t appear during initial tests, instead being brought up as the player community of a title likeValheimasks for changesto some of the more frustrating aspects of a game.
In theMonster Hunterseries, these often boil down less to adding new features, but instead easing some of the existing features, like gathering materials while out on an expedition or hunt. One of the most obvious examples of a change like this for the better involvesMonster Hunter Rise’s ore, and how players collect it. This had already been streamlined to a degree inWorld, with material type items being separated into a separate pouch from other items used in a hunt like potions. However,Risegoes a step further to make gathering the material itself only require one button press instead of three.
Opening Tutorials
Aside from the improved quality of life,Monster Hunter Risealso uses training areasand tutorials to get players up to speed on what they’ll need to know to play. This comes in the form of both a fairly lengthy tutorial to get the player introduced to movement mechanics while introducing the different things to do in Karuma Village, but three optional tutorials for the intricacies of combat. These can be a huge help for new players, especially since so much of theMonster Hunterseries is dependent on player skill and familiarity with their chosen weapon.
While many of the tutorials do admittedly appear as giant blocks of text, that are a bit too small for anyone playing the Switch in handheld mode or on a Switch Lite, they are always available in the menu after being closed. So, if a player does skip through it too quickly and miss an important detail on how the game works, they can find them again for a refresher on anything that isn’t quite clicking right away. Though, for a more in-depth guide on everything from weapon movesets to capturing monsters, Game Rant hastons ofMonster Hunter Riseguides, and the veteran community is generally welcoming to newcomers.
Separate Online and Offline Experiences
One key criticism that players had forMonster Hunter: World, was the way that the online section of the game worked, with the main storyline simply being made available both offline and in multiplayer. The issues that came from this was that players always had to do their first fight solo, or at the very least, they couldn’t join a friend until both have gone into a hunt separately and saw the intro cutscene. However,Monster Hunter Riseseparates offline Village Questsfrom the online Hub Quests in order to build the two sets of progression apart from each other.
This means that the second a player signs in for the first time, they can jump right into the online mode and start hunting monsters with their friends or random players online. The game suggests against this at first, considering that these Hub Quests are significantly harder than the Village Quest versions of the same hunts, since they are intended to be taken on by groups of players. So, while veteran players might be able to jump right into the online section of the game, newcomers will findMonster Hunter Rise’s Kamura Villagemuch more welcoming at first.
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Two Buddies For Village Quests
Looking at these Village Quests and how they are different from the Hub versions of the same hunts, there are a few advantages players have when playing offline that they won’t have when online. A major difference comes in the form ofMonster Hunter Rise’s buddies, the animal helpers that accompany the player through hunts in both offline and online quests. When going on Village Quests, the player can take two buddies with them, one palico and one palamute, instead of being limited to the single helper that is available when playing online.
This means that offline players have access to the support items and features from both the palamute and palico at the same time, but is also able to split a monster’s aggro between two separate AI companions. Considering that letting these buddies faint doesn’t count against the mission’s success or failure, while the player’s does, being able to divert attention away can be a huge help for new players still getting the ropes of a new monster. Similar features have existed in previous titles, but often requiredplayers to complete a questto unlock, as opposed to being available from the start.
Streamlined Preparation Process
There is a fine line in game design between complex and complicated, and theMonster Hunterseries tends to use that line as a jump-rope as it has continued to add in new features over the years. This has often led the game to coming off as more tedious than would normally be something that a newcomer would be ready to tackle right away. However,Monster Hunter Risehas cut down the intricacies of everything from theMonster Huntercanteento the botanist, which has been replaced by a trading submarine.
Some of the options for how to beef up have been stripped in the canteen especially, but this has come alongside making the most important stat increase a static increase. For example, getting a player’s health to the maximum inMonster Hunter Worldrequired using specifically fresh ingredients, otherwise it there was a give and take for how useful the boost would be to the overall increase. InMonster Hunter Rise, Yomogi’s Tea Shop sells dango that always increases the players health by an amount determined by how far they have progressed in the story. It’s a small change, but it’s an ease of access that continues to makeRisethe most welcoming game to newcomers in the series.
