** The Official Monster Hunter thread **

Rey Dau is the dragon isn't it?

I've tried again this morning (determined to give it a fair shake) and gone to basics with a sword and board. Spent 30 mins stood in the middle of a plain fighting fresh air to practice and get a feeling for combo timing (must've looked odd if you were another player running by).

Anyways I've made some progress and actually kited and successfully killed a couple of chattycabras with some satisfying combos. I even accidentally managed to mount and open some wounds on their backs & latch onto a leg and do some big knockdown damage but I'll be fucked if I know how I did either.

Swapping the consumables selection from X & A to D-pad left & right and swapped the focus mode to a toggle and it's starting to feel much more natural. I don't know what the majority of the consumables do apart from healing so I'm sticking with that. I did have a moment where I equipped a fishing rod and had to mash all the buttons to get rid of it.

Ive attempted to fight Doshugama(sp?) but my sword kept bouncing off. Took me a while to realise it needed sharpening and that's what the green blade icon is on the UI. My biggest problem was getting in close, alleviated somewhat by RT+Y which does a slide + blade swipe but it was still difficult to get hits in.

Theeeeennnn everything went to shit, Rey Dau dropped in and started fighting too, 2 Asian players joined in and then chattycabras were dragged in and one of the burrowing things while lots of other minor creatures were running all over. Rey Dawn lit the place up with lightning and fire and rocks were flying all over while these other players were raining arrows doing multiple 50-90s of damage ... and there I am with a tiny sword doing the odd 12.

Still it's positive progress and it was starting to feel much better to play with less frustration.

• Turn off other players damage stats in the options. They will only create weapon jealousy - if you find a weapon you like stick with it.
• If you're still using charge blade make sure you've watched the tutorial videos - its one of the hardest weapons to play.
• Have a go with sword and shield if you like mobility, it's massivly underated by "pro gamers", but it's really good fun.

  

The weapons with lower damage tend to hit more often.

Your FG squad buddies will help you out. Not sure how cross play voice chat will work though.

If nothing else, MH demos are usually for fans to see the new stuff. The monster health pools are amped up significantly higher and you're going in with worse gear sets and weapons against them. The games themselves ramp up a lot more slowly, the early monsters drop a lot quicker, etc.

Full game stuff.

It depends, I've got Chatacabra down in like 5 minutes. The only ones that seem to have giant pools are Alpha Doshagamu and Rey where I counted 6 times where it left battle. It was kinda silly. I don't know if they've tweaked something between the PS Beta and the current open one but Rey definitely feels a bit tougher.

Nah, I'm playing Charge Blade and even then if you just stay on it and give it multiple wounds you can just keep it in a loop of getting knocked over. Great Sword is your big numbers per attack but it's very high risk/reward.

You also get a big fluffy cat pendant to put on your weapon or seikret

I spent over an hour in the character creator 😅

It's a good looking game, but confusing as hell. I took down the hairy lion mammoth thing in over 30 mins. My thumbs and wrists are tired!

Seems to run at 30 on ps5? Is there a performance mode? I trawled the options but couldn't really see. I'm quite sensitive to 30fps these days...

AHH thanks! I'll give it a try, pesky main menu options 😅

Had a proper go with the insect glaive, reckon I might main it for this one.

Seikret is much better after you change the controls off the insane defaults.

Speaking as a long time SnS user, if you’re looking for high damage numbers then SnS just can’t match some of the weapons for sheer damage output and it never will. But what you do get is mobility, and the option to use items while your weapon is drawn which can be a life saver if you’re inexperienced - no need to sheath it to use a potion!

Also bear in mind that the beta is not the full “Monster Hunter Loop” as it misses the crafting and armour customisation which is big factor in this series. Passive skills in the game are linked to different armour parts, and so a big section of the full title will be discovering armour which fits your play style - and hunting monsters to enable you to make those parts. As others have said, it’s really a taster for old players to see some new stuff, and the actual game should do a better job at easing you into it lightly - although while later titles have gotten far better at the new player experience, I’d say it’s still a steep learning curve.

There is an opinion on the game not having as much hitstop which is dividing some opinion. I'll be honest and say it's not something I really noticed

I didn't see it at first in the video, but essentially the weapon stops momentarily as it hits the monster. Correct?
I think this is one of those things I've never noticed before but will now see all the time!!