what have I gotten myself into and how can I enjoy it?
monster hunter is the only game series where you can bludgeon dragons to death with a 200lb bagpipe
take advantage of this opportunity
If you have Iceborne too, people are going to say to not use the mid tier armor it starts you with as a boost, but I strongly disagree with that. It's really not worth grinding the easy mode tutorial monsters a bunch to iteratively grind out trash gear that doesn't even have skills on it that becomes literal trash as soon as you hit the halfway mark of the base game's base story, because you're going to then go and grind out the mid tier version of that anyways and then you'll be grinding it yet again when you get to Iceborne.
At least weapons you upgrade along trees so you'll keep upgrading them and making more trash tier weapons to upgrade even into the late game, so make and play with those.
The defender armor and non-defender weapon is probably the ideal way of learning in the tutorial stretch of the game that's introducing the maps and the more common monster types: you can take hits so you can keep trying again without restarting, and you're doing less damage so you have longer to focus on learning the movesets of both the monsters and your own weapons.
I disagree and I think defender weapons is the better way to go. I felt like armor was crutch anyway (to a point) in that if I'm getting hit I'm making the mistake and I should try and learn the attack pattern better. However, the weapon being good against everything was nice because it let me succeed and win faster. Lotta those monster fights are so long so the OP weapon felt great to me.
Edit: this sounds a little "git gud". Do what you want to enjoy the game but I liked the challenge of being hot and brought low in few hits.
Regardless, the best armor is the one you look most stylish in.
PS: does anyone know if there is a mod or something to get both types of armor regardless of the sex of your character model? Hated some of the female armor sets but others were awesome. Frustrating they were locked.
I felt like armor was crutch anyway
It definitely is, but I think it's a good one for the tutorial stretch while people are learning how their character and the monsters move, and since it's a flat boost it becomes less and less impactful as the story goes on, giving a smoother learning curve for new players. By the time someone gets into the meat of high rank if they're not moving right they're going to get fucked up even in defender gear, but at the same time in high rank they get to branch out and do basic buildcrafting with armor skills so there's an active incentive not to use it then as well.
Roll insect glaive, do jumpy hop swirl smack, gg ez (I am an insect glaive enjoyer
)Glaive is good because you get a free bug friend. I main it along with gunlance because KABOOM
This game is all long boss battles and fighting them again and again to get better equipment. You will learn the monsters tells and get slightly better each time. But keep in mind this is a long game with a learning curve. Much like a souls game, I found the sense of accomplishment from being terrible to getting better every time rewarding, and also the monsters are cool. However it's not for everyone so if that commitment isn't for you I don't blame you if you bounce off. Just don't feel bad if at first you suck, that's normal.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m8B1RUe7se8&pp=ygUhbW9uc3RlciBodW50ZXIgd29ybGQgd2VhcG9uIGd1aWRl
Here is a video to help you pick a weapon
Try a few weapons and when you find some that gel with you, look up some weapon tutorials if you want a good idea on how to master them, however there is no wrong way to play.
Sincerely, a gunlance main
how can I enjoy it?
Turn off the English dub
Stick to one or two weapon types until you really feel like you've mastered them (but try everything first so you know which to go with).
You don't have to do every quest. There are "key quests" that advance the story. If you feel like things are too easy just focus on those until it gets hard.
Play with people. Even randoms online are fun to play with. The chaos of 4 people unloading everything on a stunned monster is beautiful.
I can never get into Monster Hunter. I guess I just don't see what the whole point of what I'm supposed to do in game. I just track and kill monsters. Is that it? I would love to get into it by the time Wilds comes out. I do have Worlds.
I just track and kill monsters. Is that it?
Yeah, the genre is basically like if soulsborne games were all bosses, all the time (despite predating soulsborne as a genre), with some fighting game combo systems mixed in to give you more things to pick up and learn to use. Seems like people either really like that gameloop or they bounce off it hard, with no in between.
Yeah, but that's kinda like reducing fighting games to "just win the match." The idea is that you find the boss fights themselves fun and you want to get better at it.
The only game like it that I've been able to totally get into was Daemon X Machina, which mixes MonHun with Armored Core of all things.
MonHun feel like the kind of games that would be really fun if you had friends who also regularly play them, idk
Play longsword so that instead of learning how to dodge monster attacks you can just counter them to boost your combo meter and continue attacking at all times.
That or play greatsword or hammer to ungabunga.
Do not use the clutch claw.
No clutch claw?
is the potential that you'll be thrown off and damaged too high?
Nah, just personal bias towards a mechanic that I don't find to be enjoyable.
Get a controller, and look up the weapon combos, i think you start with the sword and shield? Dont use that lol
I was a switch axe fan, but everything is pretty fun! Find something you like and then make a few so you can have different elements for different monsters
oh and youre gonna want the wiki open all the time, weapon trees, monster drops and weaknesses, etc
My best monster hunter memories were hinting with a lil squad but world kinda ruined that with the sos flares, try find some friends to play with ans take turns picking quests
It was great in Tri where you would get the same group chilling in the gathering hub for a few hours
I played 3U for about a month before its closure and experiencing this again was the coolest thing.
me too comrade! I remember some germans helping me beat the last boss the first time, people being so generous, felt special. I loved monster hunter for it being so cooperative, just dont over think the lore lol
SnS is great, it's just that it's like bringing a workhorse truck to a fancy car show. Not flashy but it'll do any job you need it to.
I played solo for a really long time and wasnt capable of getting past some of the early monsters in tri until i switched, its good for status effects in cobo with comrades, but i never block so i'd still favour dual blades or something 🤓
You haven't said a weapon so I'll just give you some generic tips.
First step in any fight against a new monster is to learn how to not get hit. So spend maybe 5 minutes just dodging the attacks. It's very easy if you don't draw your weapon because you can sprint. Learn the attacks see where you can stand and how long the monster takes to recover.
Once you can manage to not get hit by the monster for minutes at a time, start drawing your weapon and trying to get some hits in during the gaps in attacks you've already noticed. This will be easy with quicker weapons, but should help with any weapon. Great sword would be the hardest to figure out.
In general that's how you fight any monster, learn the attack patterns and hit during the gaps and weaknesses of their attacks.
If you want specific weapon or monster advice I can provide that as well.
There's also many items that can be useful in a hunt, base World flash bombs are super op against anything that flies.
Thanks for hitting me up everyone.
So far, i've gone with dual blades and insect glaive, and have not used the defender or guardian stuff because i feel like i need to grind a bit to learn what the fuck i'm doing. I did have some fun trying to track down the Kulu-Ya-Ku dipshit bird because I started in completely the wrong area and had to spend 30 mins actually getting on its trail instead of getting yeeted by the Rathalos.
I haven't had the wiki open solidly yet, but i think i'll need to because i'm probably missing heaps. There's some suggestion i can capture instead of kill, but no NPC has actually advised how i do that yet. Also, there's probably a whole world of traps or bullets that I literally haven't considered yet, i've just been sneaking around until i'm up the monster's ass and then just dodging and slashing to infinity
to capture a monster you need to get them down to ~20% hp and use an electric trap or pitfall trap then hit the monster with two tranq bombs while they're stunned/trapped.
To know that you have got them down to ~20% hp the monster will start limping and try to retreat to their nest to sleep. Also their heartbeat monitor will become red and faint, or if you've hunted that monster like 2-3 times already you should have enough research points to see a skull icon on the monster's portrait on the minimap.
hey, thanks for that - I was aware of them going into limping retreat at critical health, and the minimap showing what I thought were "mortal wound cries" with the skulls coming from their icon, but i never would have picked up on the method of trapping unless there's an optional quest i haven't got yet
