Blazevoir wrote:

It's probably easier because we're used to attack patterns, even if new monsters are added.

There are several reason's why Monster Hunter has become much easier in comparison to how it was back in MH1.

One reason is that they've removed/improved 'old monster tendencies'; Monsters used to randomly tail whip or charge with no preemptive signal. Like one second you just have a Rathalos just standing there then suddenly it goes into a full blown charge. Stuff like that doesn't happen anymore.

Second reason is that damage taken has been severely decreased. The first Yian Garuga you faced in MH1 and MHF1 used to be able to one shot you with nearly any of it's moves. The tail smash of an enraged Narugakuruga in MHFU was a one shot; the water spit of a Plesioth in MH1 and MHF1 was a one shot and it's body slam did nearly as much damage.

Third reason is better hitboxes. The hitboxes in previous games, especially MHFU was atrocious but that's what also made MHFU the elitist game of the series that difficulty enthusiasts loved since small mistakes were punished hard. This was the time where 'skillful' montage videos became popular in the MH community where you'd see people start posting cool lvl 3 charges with a GS against a running Tigrex and other things or no armor, no damage taken HBG solos against G-rank monsters.

Fourth reason is that gameplay has become a lot more diverse. With each new generation of MH they add new things, new moves. Charging on GS never existed in 1st generation; rapid fire didn't exist for LBGs and certain weapons didn't exist.

Fifth reason is that they balanced the game so that you do more damage. They wanted to decrease the time taken to kill a monster so they've increased the damage of weapons and removed some resistances from monsters. Weapons bounce a lot less compared to older games.

Sixth reason, Felynes...

Final reason is that they have made the game more easy through the ability to go multiplayer. Back in 1st gen and 2nd gen, the series was heavily notorious for it's difficulty and back then it was mainly a PSP game making it a really hard game to have online multiplayer options. Because of this, despite being marketed as a multiplayer game, it was mainly a solo game. In the days of MHF1, MHF2 and MHF, people played it for the difficulty, people bought the game because they wanted to prove to themselves or other people that they could finish it solo. MHFU for example was a 300+ hour PSP game and only around 10-20% of the people that bought it could actually finish it solo. Those people were the kind of consumer base the series had at the time, elitists and I'm not even going to lie, I'm one of them. But because of this, it made the series harder for newer people to pick up so Capcom decided to fix their issues and make the multiplayer actually viable to play by moving the game into a more suitable console and here we are now.

Which is probably why they stopped making Sony Monster Hunter games, I'm assuming.

And yes, Palicoes are very broken on here if it has the right support moves and skills (Big Boomerang, Pierce Boomerang, and Boomerang Pro at minimum).

They kill the experience for me so I just never use them. I feel like it abuses the monster's AI by making it constantly change aggro and I like to learn everything about a monster through my own experience. Back then, people could predict the exact hit that would stagger the enemy, the exact time frame and exact angle you could dodge a move that would normally seem un-dodgeable and abuse it to be able to do a lvl 3 GS charge where it would normally seem impossible and all of that was possible because people took their time to learn everything about a monster through their own solo experiences.

Err... I meant if you played as them (Prowler)...

If you're actually playing solo I find Palicoes to be a real hassle since you never know what the monster is really going to do next. Hunting alone (as in your hunter only) is much more preferable to get better hunting times, assuming you are proficient with the weapon you use and have knowledge of the monster. All the little bonuses the Palicoes provide are outweighed by high player skill. Even nowadays every single solo speedruns is 1 Hunter / no Palico, so core MH players skills such as prediction and damage calc on the fly is still very much a thing, which tends to disappear in multiplayer due to the randomness of aggro switching and lag. Instead it leaves its place to occasional teamplay or group lockdown runs, which also require knowledge of the mechanics of the game, but is much more plannified and leaves no room for unknown factors.

I think MH4U's end game's difficulty is on par with MHFU's, if not harder. Annoying hitboxes are definitely gone, but downing 2 Apex Rajang on a level 140 quest alone is definitely no small feat compared to whatever challenge previous games had in store. At least I most likely can't do it (and that's coming from someone with nearly 2000 hours over every MH games I've played), and I don't think 10 to 20% of all players can do it, I'd go as far as to say under 1% of the playerbase is skilled enough to pull that off.

Btw the Raths and the likes still have their no-tells charges / tailspins for whatever reason Capcom had as far as 4U goes. Happens much less in Generations (well, surprise tailspins are still pretty common), if at all, however they also spend much more time airborne.

Speaking of which, Generations is kind of a wild card in the series. Capcom used this game to throw in a lot of ideas which would not have made much sense in a direct sequel to 4U. I think it was a good move from them to create this "side" game to test a crapton of new mechanics on a large scale to eventually sort out what to keep and to balance for the actual next "main" game (MH5?).

Holy shit, this is amazing: https://twitter.com/R8_Core/status/759713847854796800

Zinogre disrespected hahaha, it reminds me a lot of how Apex goes and down monsters in a similar fashion.

Regarding set mixing in my post in previous page, it's actually better than I had thought. Sets are, as expected, not nearly as customizable as they were in 4U, but we can still get some cool results considering Generations caps out at High Rank (whereas 4U had G-Rank). I've seen plenty of people running around with 4-skills sets, and a few with 5-skills sets, all with pretty cool skills, so I'm glad Deviant sets are not the be-all and end-all of late game gear.

You realize the world is small when one of your friends' page is being posted :^)

Blazevoir wrote:

Which is probably why they stopped making Sony Monster Hunter games, I'm assuming.

Oh wow I thought that localisation, the game's marketing on the west and Nintendo's more profitable partnership and higher popularity (mainly in Japan) were the main factors but now I get to realize Capcom changed the system it releases MH for because... difficulty?

More like catering to everyone.

That and Sony's PS2/PSP at the time didn't have any easy way to access online multiplayer, whereas the Nintendo DS could, hinting that Nintendo was already more fit for multiplayer games than Sony was. Remember MH was designed for multiplayer first and foremost, and it was played as such in Japan due to how they're willing to go outside and meet people to play video games. We simply didn't and still don't have the same gaming culture, so it made sense for Capcom to use Nintendo's high popularity and wide online support to make MonHun the coop series they wanted it to be, even with people staying at home to play, and that is especially true for us westerners.

I swear I have never seen so many gunners in a MH game before Generations. I regularly find myself in hubs with 2/3 gunners. It does not mean they're always good, but I'm happy to see ranged play getting some love. Who knows, maybe Capcom will add some new ranged weapons in the future, although apart from a boomrang-ish weapon I can hardly see what they can come up with. Throwing daggers could be an idea, with a range shorter than that of the Bow's, and CQC moves...

Just a reminder that if you see a Prowler in your room, they might actually be just as good or way better than you:

PyaKura wrote:

I swear I have never seen so many gunners in a MH game before Generations. I regularly find myself in hubs with 2/3 gunners. It does not mean they're always good, but I'm happy to see ranged play getting some love. Who knows, maybe Capcom will add some new ranged weapons in the future, although apart from a boomrang-ish weapon I can hardly see what they can come up with. Throwing daggers could be an idea, with a range shorter than that of the Bow's, and CQC moves...

And also T A C T I C A L E S P I O N A G E
I'm skeptical about gunners even though I am one, a bad blademaster at least has the armor to survive the attacks, a bad gunner can decide the hunt's outcome.

Just a reminder that if you see a Prowler in your room, they might actually be just as good or way better than you

Nothing new, it's just that scrublords keep claiming that prowlers are only a gathering tool

I swear to god late game prowlers are like mini-Rajangs on steroids.

Kinda disappointed with Generations' Alatreon. It's not as powerful / overwhelming / big as I thought it was in Tri or MHP3rd. Or perhaps I just got used to playing MH in general. I wish I could forget how to play at times to get back that overpowering vibe some monsters give off - especially Elder Dragons. Amatsu is a blast though, it's even more epic than I remembered it.

And this is why it's important to read quests:

This... Is... What have I done?

same

So according to Gaijinhunter, there's gonna be a live action Monster Hunter movie. Not sure how to feel about this, but they pretty much already show how it'd kinda look like in some cutscenes in the games, so...

https://twitter.com/MHKogath/status/779224293724950528

Lovely. Another puzzle game I'll probably spend tons of hours on (the first being Pokémon Shuffle for 3DS).

World is small once again wheeee
Check out Apex Gaming, Ceph0rend (though you've already done this), Javietron and Shanthien while you're at it