I love old monsters. Happy to fight them again and see them with a (hopefully) improved ai, and in higher fidelity. I agree with your assesment of the direction of the series gameplay wise. I actually do wish we went back to how combat felt in 4u, my personal favorite of the series.I thought that was a good refinement of monster hunter's gameplay up to that point. And then when base world came out, i noticed they worked on smoothing out that initial difficulty curve to the point where new players would start to feel "challenged" around the 6th-7th monster(tobi/anja), as opposed to how we felt challenged by probably the first, second or third monster in the older series. I thought that this was a fair adjustment that would prevent players from bouncing off the game early like most did in the 1st~3rd gen. But then i feel like rise took this further and wilds seems to also be even more forgiving than world was, for a lengthier portion of the game. Of the footage I've seen, quematrice, congalala and lala barina seem to be very forgiving fights. Rey dau hits hard, but is very predictable. Chatacabra can be excused because he's the first monster(and he's adorable). Balahara is also quite easy. Doshaguma is the most surprising one so far. They clearly worked hard on that feller. I don't want the game to be anything the series hasn't been before difficulty wise, I just want regular monster hunter difficulty, but i want to feel a bit of friction at least well before the halfway point in the "story", and not just have smooth sailing until late high rank. Also damn that congalala looks bigger than i remember.
The only actual straight up nerf i noticed was that the tremor when he falls over got removed. Otherwise he's full of new tricks and indeed gained a bit of speed. Maybe i should replay MH4U and see how, idk, Frenzied Emerald Congalala's fight goes in terms of pace
God this is the sort of thing I miss. Just good old-fashioned longsword gameplay. Not even to diss the parryspam weebstick too hard because I mean I literally enjoy playing it, but it's literally not the same weapon as it was back when the dynamic was 'the contents of your spirit gauge actually matter literally at all whatsoever'. Back when wide sweeps and good positioning were positive traits that mattered. I didn't need ten counterattacks to feel like a god fighting Deviljho with this thing, it just Worked, and it was Great. Also, to address the description: My pet theory as to the primary problem with fight design since World-- like, what I personally think is the cog in the complex machine turning all the little things in the wrong direction-- I think it comes down to weapons evolving in the direction of getting their big fancy flashy supermoves that look good in trailers. Ever since Iceborne introduced the absolute fucking mistake of the Clutch Claw, the designated 'here is a stagger designed to be taken advantage of with your Clutch Claw Tenderizer Attack' in the most square-peg-for-the-square-hole game design I've ever seen in an action game (other than FF16's utterly dogshit 'fill up the stagger meter and then spend your Two Minute Cooldowns'), they keep inventing mechanics that basically mandate having wide open windows so you can do your fancy cinematic move. Clutch Claw obviously, but also Silkbinds and now Focus Finishers. I think they're afraid of people being bad at getting topples and using traps and forcing windows for these things, so now every monster has to stop and taunt or otherwise do its Very Animated And Very Realistic-Looking Pause after the hitbox comes out. And I mean, I don't think it's... *terrible* to do this per se? I just think that. well. Primordial Malzeno is the pinnacle of this kind of fight design. That shit was literally turn-based in the final phase, and it went crazy and it was great, and you know what, it kinda has had me like 'okay we can put that back on the shelf for now' kinda like Modern Longsword being Monster Parrier Rise: Sunbreak has me like 'hmm maybe we don't need so many counters anymore I think we got our fill'. Like, just for comparison, while I'm posting this comment under a Freedom Unite video: have yall fought oldschool Yian Garuga in a while?? Compared to how unbearably Polite the average World/Wilds fight is, that guy is downright obnoxious, and I think absence is kinda making the heart grow fonder for 'fights that don't give a shit if you get your flashy supermove off or not'. That motherfucker has absolutely zero chill, just linking attacks into attacks into attacks and he literally stops when he Exhausts Himself and starts drooling out the mouth because he went too hard for too long, and otherwise even the littlest tiniest potshots you'd go for would put you at risk of getting double-beakslammed. And yeah, we all complained about how unfair that was at the time, but to be super literal about it, it *was* skill-testing. Surviving and getting off tiny hits and punishing exhaustion are skills to be tested and that's fine. Deadeye in Generations really proved how little effort it took to take that fight and make it go from 'obnoxious' to 'actually really fun'. ... One final tangent but speaking of exhaustion, where did that mechanic go? Like. Why in fifth gen, which otherwise pushed so hard to be this big annoying step towards realism, does it feel like I never see monsters go someplace to Eat anymore? Did they think it was too unrealistic to watch the monster you've been beating up ignore you to munch on a carcass? Because I really hope they didn't think the tension of trying to beat the monster into a stagger before it actually recovers its stamina was a bad thing worth culling. That *should* be one of the big important Windows To Do Your Super Move that they're so hard-up about! But it just feels like monsters don't do that stuff anymore! I don't care if it's a little silly that the dragon is stuffing its face while I'm beating it with a hammer, I've ignored worse when supplied a good enough sandwich, that's totally fine.
I love old monsters. Happy to fight them again and see them with a (hopefully) improved ai, and in higher fidelity. I agree with your assesment of the direction of the series gameplay wise. I actually do wish we went back to how combat felt in 4u, my personal favorite of the series.I thought that was a good refinement of monster hunter's gameplay up to that point. And then when base world came out, i noticed they worked on smoothing out that initial difficulty curve to the point where new players would start to feel "challenged" around the 6th-7th monster(tobi/anja), as opposed to how we felt challenged by probably the first, second or third monster in the older series. I thought that this was a fair adjustment that would prevent players from bouncing off the game early like most did in the 1st~3rd gen.
But then i feel like rise took this further and wilds seems to also be even more forgiving than world was, for a lengthier portion of the game. Of the footage I've seen, quematrice, congalala and lala barina seem to be very forgiving fights. Rey dau hits hard, but is very predictable. Chatacabra can be excused because he's the first monster(and he's adorable). Balahara is also quite easy. Doshaguma is the most surprising one so far. They clearly worked hard on that feller.
I don't want the game to be anything the series hasn't been before difficulty wise, I just want regular monster hunter difficulty, but i want to feel a bit of friction at least well before the halfway point in the "story", and not just have smooth sailing until late high rank.
Also damn that congalala looks bigger than i remember.
A good read, and agree
Lynn with LS 😮 Wow...that was really cool to see 👍! I'd say it's Breath of fresh air but there's no fresh air while Congalala is nearby 😂. GG Lynn 😊
It saddened me that they nerf Congalala speed on top of removing quake on all of its moves
Bruh why'd he look back at you like that at the start 😂
I love the fart monkey! I'm mad he uses the low tier scarlet forest theme cuz bruh
The only actual straight up nerf i noticed was that the tremor when he falls over got removed. Otherwise he's full of new tricks and indeed gained a bit of speed. Maybe i should replay MH4U and see how, idk, Frenzied Emerald Congalala's fight goes in terms of pace
Do NOT fight a frenzied for comparison, those guys are on drugs 💀
@magnabueno5360 I've fought it before and it ISN'T worse than Hyper Congalala 💀
Mmm…monke
(Great run tho ❤)
Monke slayer
God this is the sort of thing I miss. Just good old-fashioned longsword gameplay. Not even to diss the parryspam weebstick too hard because I mean I literally enjoy playing it, but it's literally not the same weapon as it was back when the dynamic was 'the contents of your spirit gauge actually matter literally at all whatsoever'. Back when wide sweeps and good positioning were positive traits that mattered. I didn't need ten counterattacks to feel like a god fighting Deviljho with this thing, it just Worked, and it was Great.
Also, to address the description: My pet theory as to the primary problem with fight design since World-- like, what I personally think is the cog in the complex machine turning all the little things in the wrong direction-- I think it comes down to weapons evolving in the direction of getting their big fancy flashy supermoves that look good in trailers. Ever since Iceborne introduced the absolute fucking mistake of the Clutch Claw, the designated 'here is a stagger designed to be taken advantage of with your Clutch Claw Tenderizer Attack' in the most square-peg-for-the-square-hole game design I've ever seen in an action game (other than FF16's utterly dogshit 'fill up the stagger meter and then spend your Two Minute Cooldowns'), they keep inventing mechanics that basically mandate having wide open windows so you can do your fancy cinematic move. Clutch Claw obviously, but also Silkbinds and now Focus Finishers. I think they're afraid of people being bad at getting topples and using traps and forcing windows for these things, so now every monster has to stop and taunt or otherwise do its Very Animated And Very Realistic-Looking Pause after the hitbox comes out. And I mean, I don't think it's... *terrible* to do this per se? I just think that. well. Primordial Malzeno is the pinnacle of this kind of fight design. That shit was literally turn-based in the final phase, and it went crazy and it was great, and you know what, it kinda has had me like 'okay we can put that back on the shelf for now' kinda like Modern Longsword being Monster Parrier Rise: Sunbreak has me like 'hmm maybe we don't need so many counters anymore I think we got our fill'.
Like, just for comparison, while I'm posting this comment under a Freedom Unite video: have yall fought oldschool Yian Garuga in a while?? Compared to how unbearably Polite the average World/Wilds fight is, that guy is downright obnoxious, and I think absence is kinda making the heart grow fonder for 'fights that don't give a shit if you get your flashy supermove off or not'. That motherfucker has absolutely zero chill, just linking attacks into attacks into attacks and he literally stops when he Exhausts Himself and starts drooling out the mouth because he went too hard for too long, and otherwise even the littlest tiniest potshots you'd go for would put you at risk of getting double-beakslammed. And yeah, we all complained about how unfair that was at the time, but to be super literal about it, it *was* skill-testing. Surviving and getting off tiny hits and punishing exhaustion are skills to be tested and that's fine. Deadeye in Generations really proved how little effort it took to take that fight and make it go from 'obnoxious' to 'actually really fun'.
... One final tangent but speaking of exhaustion, where did that mechanic go? Like. Why in fifth gen, which otherwise pushed so hard to be this big annoying step towards realism, does it feel like I never see monsters go someplace to Eat anymore? Did they think it was too unrealistic to watch the monster you've been beating up ignore you to munch on a carcass? Because I really hope they didn't think the tension of trying to beat the monster into a stagger before it actually recovers its stamina was a bad thing worth culling. That *should* be one of the big important Windows To Do Your Super Move that they're so hard-up about! But it just feels like monsters don't do that stuff anymore! I don't care if it's a little silly that the dragon is stuffing its face while I'm beating it with a hammer, I've ignored worse when supplied a good enough sandwich, that's totally fine.
Lots of good points, especially the big flashy moves and there needing to be big openings from monsters to use them